The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was about getting the Children of Israel from slavery to freedom.  But something bigger was going on.  God was trying to spiritually transform them.  How?  God placed them in the desert to experience hard moments.  He wanted them to realize that with every challenge, they could trust and relax in Him and that He would care for them.  

Do you remember Sam’s talk last week?  Sam shared that the challenges they faced became harder and harder.  We can read the story and think they were crazy because God is obviously with them.  We can wonder, ‘Who would do that?’  Who would experience God as they did and struggle to trust and relax with every challenge?  The answer is, we would.  We do – don’t we?  Their story is our story.

Sam explained how when God showed up and provided for them, they were absolutely joyful.  They absolutely praised God.  But what happened next?  Another challenge popped up.  Immediately, it erased all their confidence in God.  And they were left with fear.  That’s when Sam said, ‘Their journey to the promised land mirrors our life journey.’   We can experience God in our past, but when a new challenge comes, it can erase our confidence in God, leaving us to walk in fear.  Have you experienced that?  

Their most recent challenge was in Numbers 13 and 14.  They can see the promised land.  It’s there for them to fight for.  But the reality is, they saw giants, strong cities, and danger.  They were concerned for their wives and children.  What did they do?  They turned away.  When you read the story, it sounds crazy, but when you slow down and put yourself in the story, what they did kinda makes sense.  They simply wanted to be safe.  We might even call it ‘being smart’ or ‘common sense.’  But that’s been the problem.  In the past two years of this journey, they can only focus on what they want now.  There is no spiritual transformation that places their trust in God.  In every challenge they faced, they consistently responded with complaints, questioning God, and rebellion against Moses and God.  

Then Sam brought out the tension in this story.  God saw how they responded and viewed it as ‘contempt’, ‘rebellious unbelief’ or ‘disobedience.’   Sam said that's the tension we feel in this story.  We struggle with the idea that there are real ramifications for not trusting God with all of our lives.  Such a powerful talk. 

The consequences of not trusting and following God were devastating.  What were they?  Back to wandering in the desert for forty years.  No rest.  No promised land.  Just wandering.  Why forty years?  It would take around forty years for the older generation to die.  It’s one of the worst moments in their history.

Let’s read what happens next.

Numbers 14:36 The ten spies who had incited the rebellion against Jehovah by striking fear into the hearts of the people were struck dead before the Lord. Of all the spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive. 39 What sorrow there was throughout the camp when Moses reported God’s words to the people! 40 They were up early the next morning and started toward the Promised Land. “Here we are!” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to go on into the land the Lord has promised us.” 41 But Moses said, “It’s too late. Now you are disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness. 42 Don’t go ahead with your plan or you will be crushed by your enemies, for the Lord is not with you. 43 Don’t you remember? The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there! You have deserted the Lord, and now he will desert you.” 44 But they went ahead into the hill country, despite the fact that neither the Ark nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hills came down and attacked them and chased them to Hormah. TLB

This may sound rough, but I read that and think that’s just stupid.  What are they doing?  Who would do that?  Who would charge ahead without the presence of God?  Who would blow it with God, sin, and then think, we can ignore God; let’s do something to make it all better?  

Does that sound strange to you?  It should, and here is why.  They reject God, they sin, and they know it.  And then all of a sudden, they want to charge ahead without God.  They felt bad briefly, but there was no heart change. Notice, they didn’t repent for their contempt against God.  They showed no humility or sadness for their lack of trust in God.  Their hearts were not broken by the way they acted.  They didn’t go to God for forgiveness.  What do they do?  They took the initiative and tried to fix the problem by themselves.  Their heart condition was a mess.  They still haven’t learned to place their trust in God.  Instead, they placed their trust in themselves and what they could do.  After rejecting God, they wanted to fix the problem themselves. 

Scripture says this.

1 Corinthians 7:10 The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives. This leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death. 11 See what this sorrow - the sorrow God wanted you to have - has done to you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to restore yourselves. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want to do the right thing. In every way you have regained your innocence. NCV

The kind of sorrow God wants, we call repentance.  Repentance is when we are serious and passionate about turning away from our sin and selfishness.  The world’s kind of sorrow is when you feel bad briefly, then you go back to life as if nothing happened.  That’s what the Children of Israel did.  They had no passion to change anything in their hearts.  Instead, they got up early and tried to fix things themselves.  Do you know what we call it when we think we can fix things ourselves?  We call this religion.  Religion is a way of living that says, I will make things right with God based on what I do.  When stuck in Religion, there is no repentance.

Reading this story, we should really stop and ask ourselves, ‘What is my relationship with God like?’  When I am confronted with my sin or selfishness, do I briefly feel sad, make no changes, and jump back into life?  Do I believe I can ignore repentance and fix what is wrong by doing a couple of good things?  Or am I serious and passionate about repentance, turning away from sin and selfishness?  When confronted with my sin and selfishness, do I go to God with a broken heart and ask for forgiveness?  

One last thing on repentance.  When we repent to God, it’s real when we see how helpless we are.  And we realize there is nothing we could ever do to make things right with God.  We are completely dependent on God.

I want to read how God responds when we repent with a broken heart.  

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. TLB

I believe the greatest challenge we have as Christians is what the Children of Israel faced.  They didn’t give themselves completely to God.  They didn’t understand how much God loved them and wanted to care for them, so they refused to completely trust and surrender their lives to God.  And because they didn’t give their lives to God, every challenge led to complaining.  Following God was hard.  

Have you experienced that?  Have you discovered that doing what God wants can feel really hard? 

To apply this to our lives today, I want to explain what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

Corinthians 6:19 Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; 20 he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God's glory. GNT

That's what it means to be a Christian: I give my life to Jesus.  When I give my life to Jesus, I don’t own me; Jesus owns me.  That’s complete and total surrender.  Here is the secret.  When Jesus owns my life, what He asks me to do is easier because I don’t own me anymore.  

But there is a problem.  I want to read it for you. 

Galatians 5:17 For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. GNT

The problem is we kinda don’t want to give our lives to Jesus.  Our sin and selfishness get in the way of the Holy Spirit.  There is a battle raging inside us between our sin, our selfishness, and the Holy Spirit.  They are enemies.  They don’t get along.  That’s the battle the Children of Israel faced.  They didn’t want to completely trust God.  So, with each challenge they faced, they consistently responded with complaining, questioning God, and rebellion.  They had contempt for God.  Everything God asked of them was hard.  That’s the same struggle we have today.  It’s why doing what God wants can feel really hard for us.

Okay, to make this practical and fun, let me give you four examples.

Example 1: What does Jesus say?

Luke 10:27 Love your neighbor as yourself. NLT Matthew 5:46-47 This is what God does. He gives his best - the sun to warm and the rain to nourish - to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. MSG

Jesus said, love your neighbor.  Why would this be hard for us?  Because I own me, and I don’t want to do that.  I want to decide who I am nice to.  In my selfishness, I want to be nice to people who are nice to me.   And I want revenge or justice if someone hurt me or my kids.  Tit-for-tat.  I will love my spouse based on how they love me.

But when I give my life to Jesus, everything changes.  I realize Jesus first loved me, and I don’t deserve His love.  Now that Jesus owns me, Jesus wants me to share the love He has for me with everyone in my life.  What I want doesn’t matter anymore; I gave my life to Jesus.  My sin and selfishness will try to get revenge, justice, and life tit-for-tat.  But if I gave my life to Jesus, His love for me will come through to others around me.   And that starts at home.

Imagine starting each day giving your life to Jesus and preparing your heart to give the love He gave you to others.  That would make being kind to others easier today.  If we gave our lives to Jesus and lived this out, no more tit-for-tat, it would radically change every relationship we are in.

Example 2: What did Jesus say?  

Luke 11:42 For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. NLT

Jesus said we should tithe.  Why would this be hard for us?  Because if I own me, I don’t want to give anyone my money.  It’s mine, and if I gave, I would have less for myself.  It’s a hard and painful thought that I would take my money and give 10% back to God.  It’s brutal, isn’t it?  It’s brutal because we think our money is our money.  And it is hard if I own me.  

Do you know what makes it easier?  When I give my life to Jesus.  If I gave my life to Jesus and Jesus owns me, it’s not my money anymore; it’s God’s money.  I don’t own my money; I manage God’s money.  I can give to God what is God’s.  Why?  My money isn’t mine anymore.

If we gave our lives to Jesus and managed our money like it was Jesus’ money, that would change things, wouldn’t it?   Remember the quote Sam gave us last week?  

“It doesn’t take much to be a Christian.  It just takes all of them.”  - Old Christian Proverb    

Example 3: What did Paul say?  

Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love [in all things - both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the Head - Christ. 16 From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love. Amplified Bible

See that part… when each part is working properly…?  Paul taught that we all come together to make Jesus’ body, the church, strong.  And when that happens, the church grows.  Why would this be hard for us?  Because Sundays are quickly becoming the only day of the week we can sleep in – right?  And let’s be honest, there are so many other things to do.  Golf.  Shopping.  Camping.  Kids’ sports.  Trail running.   Pickleball.  Planet Fitness.  Another ‘me’ day.  Who really wants to take the time out of their lives to build the local church?  To make matters worse, maybe you were hurt in church, and you concluded that you don’t like organized religion.  You see, if I own me, coming to church and volunteering at church consistently is a struggle because I own me.

But all that changes when I give my life to Jesus.  Jesus now owns me.  Now the most important thing in my life is God and advancing His kingdom.  I want to bring my part to Jesus’ body, the church, and be with my spiritual family.  Why?  I hope and pray we can share the gospel message with everyone that morning.

Imagine in every local church if everyone gave our lives to Jesus and lived to build the local church, it would radically change every church – wouldn’t it?

 Example 4: What did Jesus say?  

John 15:4 Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. Amplified Bible

Have you discovered that taking consistent time out of your life to read the bible, pray, and live out Scripture is hard?  It’s hard, isn’t it?  Have you found yourself saying, ‘I don’t have the time’?  Do you know why?  If I own me, I have so much to do.  I must accomplish it, and I won’t have time for Jesus.  I have kids, work, vacations, and on and on.  How is it even possible to add time with Jesus to my already jam-packed life?  What is being asked is almost a rude interruption to my day.  And you're right.  It will never work.  If you own you, giving time to be in a relationship with Jesus will always be a struggle.

But that all changes when I give my life to Jesus.  Jesus now owns me.  And I discover that I can’t produce evidence of my faith without being with Jesus.  I can’t be a happy content person.  I can’t consistently be a loving spouse.  I can’t be faithful at church or work.  I can’t encourage, forgive, or be kind to others.  I can try and fake it, but the truth is, I can’t do it.  When I give my life to Jesus, I discover I can’t live without being connected with Jesus.

Imagine how easy it would be to be with Jesus if we gave him all of us.

I want to close with this.  The reason it was hard for the Children of Israel to follow God was that they never gave themselves completely to God.  There was no repentance.  They would just feel bad briefly, ignore God, and try to fix things themselves.  

And without realizing it, that can be how we live.  And we discover that following God is hard.  Here is the secret.  Repentance.   Getting serious and passionate about turning away from our sin and selfishness. 

Corinthians 6:19 Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; 20 he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God's glory. GNT

Give ownership of your life to Jesus; it will radically change everything.  My invitation to you is to surrender your life to Jesus.  Every day, every moment, remind yourself: Jesus owns me; I don’t own me anymore.