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AudioVerse

Steven Grabiner

Borders of Canaan

Hope your hearts were drawn out in worship as well.

Again I want to welcome everyone this Sabbath morning.

If you are a bulletin reader you'll notice that the title of the sermon is Borders of Canaan and then there's a 2 for part 2 if you're not a bulletin reader I just informed you that's the title of our sermon and last week we began looking at this experience this idea of how Satan wants to derail God's people, divert God's people from entering into the promised land.

And so just to take a moment of review, last Sabbath, for those of you that weren't here, we looked at the experience in Numbers 25 as an example for us today.

We notice that Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 10, that what is written in the past is written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world has come.

We certainly live in the last hours of this world's history.

And so that, 1 of the experiences we looked at last week was when the children of Israel were right on the borders of Canaan.

They were on the banks of the Jordan River, they could look across the river and see the promised land.

And yet right at that moment, Satan came with a temptation, sexual temptation, both with the leadership and the people at large, and derailed them, and many thousands were put to death.

In fact, all those who had come out of Egypt, that was the last 1 who had come out of Egypt besides Moses, died in that experience.

And there's a warning for us in that account, that we living on the borders of Canaan face the same temptation, face the same attack rather I should say of the enemy who wants to derail us, who wants to keep us from entering in to Canaan.

And so you and I need to be aware, to be in tune, that Satan is trying to do everything he can and it's really a battle for our mind, it's a battle for our hearts, it's a battle for our characters.

And as we looked last week we noticed a number of areas in which again Satan used the familiarity with the culture around and the drawing the children of Israel into a worship service where they were mingling true and error and they were led into licentiousness, they were led into immorality.

Again, a very tragic experience in the account of the children of Israel, I pray that it wouldn't be our experience.

So turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 6 where we had our scripture reading.

And pastoring has certain challenges, amen?

But to pastor the church in Corinth must have been a nightmare.

If you read through the book of 1 Corinthians, there's all sorts of things taking place.

And we're going to read this passage, 1 Corinthians 6 and verses 9 and following, which focuses on a number of sins that are current in society.

We're going to be focusing on the sexual sins this morning.

But the background for it is Chapter 5, where Paul tells the Corinthian people in verse 1, that there's an immorality among you, 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 1, and a morality, immorality such as doesn't even exist among the Gentiles, where a man would have his father's wife." You know, very flagrant, arrogant, in your face, kind of, I'm going to do this.

Very similar to what we read last week in Numbers 25, where the leader, Zimri, came and in the front of everybody, when Moses and everyone is praying, he brings a Midianite-ish woman into the camp, just brazenly saying, I'm going to do this, and I don't care what anybody sees or think just high-handed rebellion First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 Paul asks the question Do you not know?

That the righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

I just did that on purpose to see if you were listening.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Paul says 10 times that expression, do you not know?

It's important especially for the Corinthian church because they claimed to know many things.

They claimed to have a some kind of superior wisdom.

And so Paul asked this question, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Now if that was the end of it, it would be pretty discouraging for all of us, right?

Because we all have had this experience of unrighteousness, don't we?

All of us by nature are totally, completely, fully unrighteous.

But Paul goes on and he emphasizes, he clarifies what he's talking about.

He's not talking about, you know, our condition as being born into this fallen world, but he's talking about activities, practices.

And that's important for us to keep in mind.

It appears that these people have lost the clear perception that if I live a certain direction, that is taking me away from the kingdom of God.

I can be on the borders of Canaan and yet be living like I want to be back in Egypt And again, that is Satan's entire technique for us and then he goes on and Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God and then he says do not be deceived or be not deceived and then he has this long list but that phrase be not deceived is really important Paul uses it also in Galatians chapter 6 in verse 7 where he says be not deceived God is not mocked Whatever a man sows, that he's going to reap.

And so if we sow to the flesh, we will reap Corruption.

And so we live in a world that's designed to draw us to sowing to the flesh.

Again, the terrible tragedy of people in leadership, pastors, leaders, teachers, using their position as a platform to commit sexual sins.

But we also talked about each 1 of us and the dangers we face, again, with internet pornography and the tremendous availability to have our minds tainted in the wrong direction.

Books, movies, just, you know, the entire impact.

Whatever a man sows, that he is going to also reap.

And it's impossible to be sowing to the flesh and think, I'm gonna reap a spiritual character.

He wants us to be deceived to think that we can live kind of spiritually schizophrenic lives where, okay, I'm gonna come to church, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna do these spiritual things, but inside in my home, you know, this is what I do.

And that's what Paul is trying to bring out here.

He's concerned, he's got a passion for this church in Corinth, which again is terribly messed up in many different ways, and yet the Apostle Paul is reaching out to them and he's reaching out to us as well.

I want to say something as well, after the sermon last Sabbath, more than I would have expected, individuals came up to me and said either they had been a victim of sexual abuse with a spiritual leader, or that they have had or have current battles with internet pornography or other things.

And there's probably others of us as well, maybe I don't have the courage to come up and say it, but that we battle with these issues.

But there's good news, and there's good news later on in the passage.

Before we do, I want to read a quotation to you.

This is from a book written in the 1800s.

It's called Volume 4 of the Testimonies, page 652.

And listen to this, what this writer says.

And I'm particularly, at this particular moment, concerned about the young people in this congregation, everything around us, everything around you is drawing you away from purity toward immorality.

I mean everything in your society is moving that direction And while the world may think friends with benefits is cool, God thinks it's an abomination.

So the writer says this, there is no influence in our land more powerful to poison the imagination, to destroy religious impressions, and to blunt the relish for tranquil pleasures than theatrical amusements.

There is no influence in our land more powerful to poison the imagination, destroy religious impressions, and blunt the relish for tranquil pleasures than theatrical amusements.

Now that was written in a day and age well before movies and internet and anything else.

It was written when people went to theaters and they watched plays.

In that era there was no influence more powerful to destroy your spiritual life than theatrical amusements.

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Borders of Canaan

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