This is the morning's sermon of the morning's worship service of the 4th Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, Maryland. This is the 4th of November 2001. The sermon this morning is delivered by Dr. Robert Norris, an entitled partial obedience. It's the night in the series of possessed in the promises of God. The text is numbers 32 verses 1 through 42. The Lamb of the Lord is in view before the people of this world are suitable for livestock and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes, they said, let this land be given to your servants as opposition. Do not make us cross the door to me. Moses said to the God I can rule the night. Sharia's sermon goes to war on your sister. I can discover in fields like some I know for into the land, but the more it has given to them. This is what your father's did when I sent them from Cadet, Spardner, to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Escholom, viewed the land, they discovered the Israelites from entering the land. The Lord was a rose that day, and he swore this oath, because they have not followed me wholeheartedly. They are one of the men, twenty as old or more, who came up out of Egypt, will see the land, I promise, on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus. Not one except Caleb, Simon, Defuna, Penetite, and Joshua's son of none, for they followed the Lord's whole heartedly. And the Lord angered Bernadette as well, and he made them wonder in the days of forty years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone, and here you are. A bruise of sin was standing in the place of Los Arbus, and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from Halloween, you will again leave all these people in the desert, and you will be the cause of this destruction that they came to be. He said, we would like to build ten years here for our livestock and cities for our women and children, but we are ready to arm ourselves, and go ahead of the Israelites, until we have brought them to that place. In while our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land, we will not return to our homes until every is your life to receive these inheritance. We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan. And those who said to them, if you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle, and if you will all go over London to the gardens before the Lord, until you have driven these enemies out this orphan, then on the land is the beauty of the Lord. You may return, and this peace from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land will be your possession of all the land. That's great. Or, heavenly Father, we ask that in this year's word, you will buy your spirit, now draw close to us as we seek to follow Jesus. Are we praying in his name and for assistance? Amen. How do you live your life for the Lord Jesus Christ? If it's right most people, it is a constant battle between the interests of God and between self-interest. And it's a battle that goes on in our soul and in our mind, seeking to follow Jesus at the same time, oftentimes seeking to please ourselves. Every Christian says they want to serve the Lord Jesus Christ because He has saved them. And yet every day, every one of us finds ourselves confronted with situations in which we either serve God or serve ourselves, we do what it commands, or we do what we choose and what we want. And in this very second chapter of numbers, we see conflict between what God says and self-interest. And in a story that is intended to bring home what the practical application of what it is to me, walk before Jesus Christ, we have given an instruction in the way of following God. You see the destruction of religionites had resulted in their land, their wealth, their cities, all being laid available for the race of the conquerors. And the individualites were able to rejoice in everything that they had gained. The episodes that we have there for us in this very second chapter, you see two of the tribes, God and Ruben, religiously say, who look at this great land, who look at the cities, look at the beautiful pasture, it will support us. And so they grow some Moses and they go to Amiensa and they go to the leaders of the people of Israel and they say, we don't want to cross the Jordan and the Canaan. We want to stay here on the West Bank, we want to be able to enjoy all that we have. We want to take this land, we will be pleased to stay here. And in their request they were prepared to take what they had been given. They didn't realize what they were saying. And that becomes clear to us as we read on in the story and when Moses points out to them the implications of what they are saying and what they are doing, they are amazed because they speak fast and then we realize that what they have said is really not matching their confession, they realize what they have done. The story, you live as a message because with the defeat of King Seahawim, of the Amorites and all the nations, there is an opportunity to possess a land. And when Ruben and Dad bring their requests to Moses, they are joined by half the tribe of Manurster who say, that's not a bad idea. We fought long enough, we can stay here and we will enjoy this blessing. Let the others go on and possess King and we are content with King Seahawim, this part of the land and we will settle here. And he didn't realize that what they were doing was reaching apart the commandment of God. He didn't realize that they were no longer serving the Lord and setting themselves. Much of what we do, we cook as in spiritual and what is really self-influs. We apply to being God's way and that's exposed in this passage, in a way in which we find out all our challenge. Moses exposes self-influs as he asks me very simple questions and addresses them to these tribes in their request. And as he does that, he shows them what really their hearts are like and what their request is. His first question asks, you ask for this. Does that mean that your countrymen will go to war while you stay here? That simple question, they are faced with the fact that their request is really grounded in selfishness. Let the rest of the tribes go possess, that which God has given to them. Let the other nine and a half tribes of Israel possess Canaan as far as we've done enough fighting, we're going to stay here. Let them battle it out with the Canaanites. Let them face the consequences of a hard campaign and war in Canaan and across the Jordan. We are going to stay here. It was a betrayal of the remainder of their people. And what Moses pointed out to them was that this was a case of self-interest, triumphing over duties. The thought only of the prosperity that they could enjoy in Gilead and they would be able to avoid the hardship of taking Canaan. And they wanted to quit while they were ahead. When we got these fine biospaces, Gilead will do. Either Canaan, the rest of you can have Canaan, we will settle here. And in an understandable impulse, they thought that they could serve God. And yet the reality is, what they were asking for was a cheap and unjustifiable abandonment of their own people. They were bound in fellowship with the tribes. They had been rescued together by God out of Egypt. They had been brought to a wilderness together. They had been forged, people together. But now when they could see that they could land on this pleasant pasture, what we can separate from the bomb news that you might have. We can stay here. They didn't even think through what they thought they simply said, this is good land, this can be our land, we can stay here. They didn't even realize. But what they were asking had a spiritual interpretation for their own souls. They were asking the bombs of fellowship with the people of God. For what they would really say was that they would become spectators. They would receive news about how their brothers and their cousins were hiking in Canaan but they would be raising herbs. They would be living in the cities that they captured. They would be spectators to the conquest of Canaan. They wouldn't share in the hardship. They would face the enemy. They would simply kill the soil and enjoy the spoils of war. They would be spectators without raising a finger to help. Most of them showed them, and he shows us, as we often talk about following God's will, about living our lives for God's glory. God's will can never be found with self-impressed triumphs over duty, where we say what I want is more important than what God says, where there are duties given to us, and with self-impressed triumphs it is never God will and you can't rectify self-impressed. No matter how spiritual we make it sound, the Christians can be good at that. God will assault self-impressed. You remember how our Lord Jesus Christ himself gave us an example of that. When he spoke to his disciples and he said, I must go to Jerusalem and there must suffer all things. And Peter said, never Lord, you can't go to Jerusalem and suffer. And we will lose your friendship. And what about all those things, those hopes that we've pressured? We've followed you for three years. We don't want to see the Lord crushing Jerusalem. He said, Professor, for you, we love you. Do you want to throw it all away by going for a city where we know people eat you? It's a thunder. It's not the high you sit. Do you not realize that my mission is to do the will of the Father? And you want to put self-interest above the will of God? In fact, there was no such a soul in the request of God and do them. And for us, it becomes one of those three questions that go into the soul. And we want to elevate self-interest above the beauty that is out in Christ. And what is it after the second question? And as he asked that question, he taught a second lesson to those who said they were following God and wanted to sanctify their own wills, discussing the simple. How do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given to them? And what did he showed in that simple question? Was the self-interest of Ruben and Gad was really an incitement for the rest of Israel? Or when they presented their request and said, well, you will stay here immediately half the tribe of Manasseh said, well, other than a bad idea, we'll stay here too. And the contingent began to spread amongst all the tribes, and said, well, yes, it's not such a bad idea to stay here. We've got what we've got. We don't need to face more hardship. There's only pain waiting in conquest. There's only further stress. What's right for Ruben? What's right for Gad? Why isn't that right for all of us? We can stay here. And an example was little said. And the example was one that said, we do not have to follow God's will. Oh, those say Moses. Do you remember what this was like? Do you remember 40 years ago? Your forefathers came here, and they saw the land that God had said, with this is the land that I am giving to you, and to turn that back, who said, we don't want to give you too hard. The vision of God's future, the blessing of God's provision is too difficult. We would rather face some other task, and they walked away from it. And the consequence of that was they walked into the wilderness for 40 years. They realized that you could lead God's people away from the pathway of beauty. It is never God's will to lead other people away from fulfilling His purpose and calling and His high calling. It is never God's will to say to them, you don't have to go where the Lord has land. It is never God's will to draw other people from solemn commitment. The example that was being said by Ruben and Gad was a bad one. It proclaimed the primacy of self-interest. It spoke about immediate gratification. We can have the land, and we can have it now. It spoke about the avoidance of responsibility, and it was a unilateral declaration of renaming on solemn commitments. All of that was spoken as they said, and they didn't even know. They didn't realise what God's interest was doing. But it was seeking into their soul and it was drawing them away from God Himself because it was drawing other people away from the purposes of God. It was showing dissent. And they would have said, but that's not our intention. We didn't mean to do any of that. We didn't mean to hurt God's people and God's church by our speech. The pain that is spread through the people of God is enormous, and it will always work to destroy the purposes of God. Moses asked the very question, here he said, you brood of sin. Are you standing in the place of your God? I mean, that's a very simple question. You remind Him of another truth. You can't give to God partial obedience and say, this is my service. I will follow some commandments and neglect the ones I don't like. You reminded the generations of the sin of their fathers. They came to the promised land that would go no further. They gave partial obedience but not full obedience. There were content to be free from Egyptian captivity. They were not content to cross the Jordan and engage in the struggle. Ruben and Chad now wanted to follow the line of least resistance and divide the threshold of pain a night. Oh, it's true. They were not as intense on rebellion against God as they were in following their own desire to be less alone in Gilead's lusciousness. But in their desire to be less alone to do what they wanted, they were leading the people of God and beginning themselves to fall into sin. And the fact is that for many of us, the shallow enthusiasm of our life, sooner or later, leads to very deep problems. Things that started off like a good idea at the time end up on shipwrecked lines of faith. It comes to us in many different ways. You can't give God partial obedience. When you say to your children, clean your room. And they say, sure. And you go in and it's clean and you open the closet and you are catapulted by everything that has been pushed in there. It's partial obedience. Sure it looks clean on the floor. If you fall down when the door's open, partial obedience. Here are the commandments of God, yet I'll keep nine of them, seven of them, six of them, Lord. Five of them? I'll keep ten of them in parts. You can do that. But it's never God's will. And it's the five, seven, partial obedience. Yes. Who is the sanctifying of suffering? Any man will follow after me, so is Jesus. Let him deny himself. Gavin Rubin wants to deny himself. The tribes were prepared to go and say, I want what I want and I want it now. And Moses exposed that for them. And as he did so, it was as though there was a sudden bursting of lightning for their darkness. Rubin and Gavin immediately said, we never saw for it like that. As soon as Moses showed them the consequences of what they were asking for, they changed their attitudes. And you'll read them the 17 verses we read together. We are ready to arm ourselves. We will go ahead of thee in your life. And we will fight them till we have brought them into their place. They would do it. And that's no more. I'll be sure to ask how we can fully guard ourselves and explain that we like these times of all kinds of things. Now I see that our hearts will be as open to the radical God as worthy of service. And as Moses spoke to them as you read on in that chapter, you will hear those famous words uttered. When he said to them, you have spoken thus, Gavin Rubin. You have covenanted the cross into fight for God's people and to possess God's blessing. You have said you will go where he leads. Now, they do know this. You surely your sin will find you out. If you go back on your words, if all that you offer is talk, then the consequences will be disaster. Now, there's a celestial word for everyone. Before we offer to God, where he shows the self-interest of our heart, our word, and he expresses to us how deeply committed to us we are. So Lord, we'll do better next time. But we won't try hard. We won't rely upon your security. We won't rest in your grace. Then we hear those words part of our English language reiterated in our lives. Your sin will find you out. And it will come home and lose. Because Moses wanted the people of God to know that there is an unbreakable obligation laid upon God, but follow where he leads. And others and sisters in Jesus Christ, he has said this is the way we walk in. And he has given himself upon the cross that we should live. He has poured out his blood that we shall be cleansed. He has given us his spirit that we shall be called children of God and shall know how we shall live. Now, he says we walk in my way the heart of the matter for Israel and for if we are a covenant keeping people because we are called to the children of a covenant keeping God. And as we stand before these sacred endings, we see how God has kept his covenant with us. How he has looked upon us when we were wet sinners and Christ died for us. And as we take to ourselves the blend and the cup, we are reminded each one of us that we are called to die to self-interest and live to his covenant and walk in his way. Oh, it's true for you as it is for me that many of the times we don't even realize the consequences of what we ask God. We don't even realize how deeply rooted our self-interest is. We don't always understand the consequences of our words and our actions that lead us to places that we want him to be at. But when the reality is pointed out to us, we can't give our Lord Jesus and let your heart be broken by God. Let your conscience be touched and let Christ become the rest in place for your life. And you can say, my world is to do the will of him and call me and I will come to spirit my strength as I walk where he will be. I know this grace, like you shall do, overcome us. Heavenly Father, we come to the one who is our refuge who has saved us and whose glory still shines upon us as I like to form the darkness of David's motive. A Father who comes wanting to build light our Savior, wanting never to give partial obedience but to follow the will of the one who drew Jesus even to Calvary that we should be saved. Lead us now we praise Jesus, but our footsteps may be where he and me to his praise and for his glory. Amen.