Numbers 9:1-14

hey hey good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this where every day you and I we get together have a little bit of coffee get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2024 Lord willing will'll make it through the books of Numbers Deuteronomy and Hebrews so glad to be with you today why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into God's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word father we pray now that as you as we read your word that you would help us father it's easy to read your word it's hard to have it applied and God we pray that you would please teach us today that your Holy Spirit would help us and that you would indeed apply these truths to our lives in Jesus's name amen all right so we are at Numbers Chapter N9 Numbers chapter 9 kind of the first half of that chapter so Numbers chapter 9 beginning at verse one now the Lord spoke spoke to Moses in the wilderness of siai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time on the 14th day of this month at Twilight you shall keep it at it it as its appointed time according to all its rights and ceremonies you shall keep it so Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover and they kept the Passover on the four 15th day of the first month at Twilight in the wilderness of C according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses so the children of Israel did now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse so they could not keep the Passover on that day and when they came before Moses and Aaron that day those and those men said to them we became defiled by a human corpse why are we kept from presenting why are we kept from presenting the offering of The Lord At Its appointed time among the children of Israel and Moses said to them stand still and I may hear that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel saying if any one of you or your Prosperity posterity is uncertain let's try that again if any one of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse or as far away on a journey he may still keep the Lord's Passover on the 14th day of the second month at Twilight they may keep it they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall leave none of it until morning nor shall nor break one of its bones according to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it but the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover that person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the offering of The Lord At Its appointed time that man shall bear his sin and if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord's Passover he must do so according to the right of the Passover and according to its ceremony you shall have one ordinance both for The Stranger and the native of the land so we need to ask ourselves our three questions a what's this about B what's the best ver to summarize this and C what are we called to do all right so a what's this about well this is about the Passover right the Lord is instituting it they're in the desert here in the wilderness and the Lord is saying all right it's the first month it's a month of Nissan uh it's you're you're going to take the Passover and so here's a regulation so so they do it right so that's that that's what the Lord's commanded them but then interestingly right they keep the Passover in uh in the wilderness of Si according to all that the Lord commanded Moses but in verse 6 through 7 there's some guys who go well what about us maybe it's their Uncle maybe it's their mother somebody died and they they touched a dead body and they're like do we not get to take the Lord's supper and Moses says hold on boys let me go stand stand here let me go talk to the Lord and I'll find out right that's a good question I don't know said Moses is the mediator so he goes and he talks to the Lord and the Lord tells him there's a makeup day don't worry right not the first month but the second month they could do it on the second month same prescriptions same laws same everything but if they for some reason were on a journey or they were unclean something like that so they couldn't celebrate the Passover at the normal time there's a backup date okay so I don't want to purposely keep people from the sacrament right is is kind of what's going on here right but someone was clean and someone wasn't on a journey and they just decided I don't really want to take the Passover right they're to be cut off why though this is the interesting question why would that person be cut off see because they've missed the whole point of who they are as people and who God is as the Redeemer right the Passover isn't just a ceremony the Passover isn't just like saying eh you know I don't really feel like celebrating Christmas right no no it's it's saying this is a a renewal ceremony every year that I believe the historicity that I was a slave in Egypt my ancestors were slaves in Egypt and God really did these miraculous things and redeemed us out of the land of Egypt and I am part of this nation I am one of his people I'm one of his is redeemed and to say yeah I just don't really want to do that is to remove yourself from the group the Lord said if somebody's doing that cut them off move them away and so that's that's what this is about now if a stranger wants to come and they want to celebrate the Passover right one law right for Native person and for stranger one law that's where the very last part of this is getting at so uh what is the best verse for well probably in my mind uh I would underline verse five uh because that's them celebrating it in the wilderness but I could see maybe somebody underlining six and seven I don't know though let me know down in the comments what would you underline right what are we called to do though right well I think that this plays out right in the New Testament Sacrament now right what was the Passover pointing to the Passover is pointing to our redemption in Jesus Christ so we partake of the Lord's Supper not however we want not willy-nilly but examining our hearts examining Our Lives checking have I rightly discerned the body and blood of the Lord am I at odds with people in the church right is there is there unrepentant sin in my life that I that's ruling over me but also right one of the things that I think is incumbent upon Elders to do is for those who have been removing themselves from the worship services and ignoring the ordinances right they they don't come for the Lord's Supper they don't care about baptism they're just they're indifferent is to formally recognize that indifference that they've made they're they're still part of people's family and yet saying you know if you're going to be a part of the people you got to actually be a part of the people this a really difficult thing to do right I don't think it should be done h or without any type of pastoral care and working with families on this but the point is many many many churches roles are filled to the brim with a whole bunch of people who never actually come to worship who never partake of the Lord's Supper who ignore the appointed times for the sacraments because it's just not that important to them this is at the heart of who God is as Our Redeemer and US regularly partaking so as often as we eat and drink right we remember the Redemption and that he's going to come again and not care about that is a visible sign of where somebody's heart may be so I think the elders need to chase down that person try to talk with that person but eventually if they're indifferent being able to dismiss them as well and say you you've kind of removed yourself from the membership of the church and so remove we're removing you offici from the rules also it's a difficult thing to do right but I think it's a Christ honoring thing to do so how does that apply to you man drink deeply of that cup right eat with faith take of the Lord's Supper observe baptism and rejoice that your redeemer lives and that he loves you let's pray father we thank you so much that you are our covenant King you are Our Redeemer you have given us our Passover Lamb the lamb who was slain before the beginning of the world who takes away the sins of the world and who Reigns in heaven father we pray that we would Rejoice at the blessing we have in the Redemption of by our redemption in Jesus Lord please let us not forget what a beautiful picture and reality this is in Jesus's name amen may the Lord bless you may you rejoice today that your redeemer lives and I hope that you love him more and more even this day I'll see you next time bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week