Sermon by: Dr. Todd Morris
Text: Number 10:29
Title: Come With Us (#2 in series on Bible Invitations)
Date: January 19,2003
Introduction: Last week we began a series of messages on the "Great Invitations of the Bible." We looked at the invitation in Noah’s day to be saved from the wrath of God. This morning we look at another great Old Testament invitation. In Numbers 10:29 we find Moses talking with his father-in-law, Hobab. Moses is leading the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land, and he extends an invitation to his father-in-law to go with them.
This invitation can easily be applied to the church today. We are strangers and pilgrims going through this world today. We are in a wilderness here, but we are on the way to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our invitation is the same invitation that Moses gave Hobab, "Come thou with us."
If you are not a part of the redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ, you are invited to join this band of believers on our way to the "promised land." It is not so much a place to which we journey, but a person. We are traveling through the wilderness of this world to live eternally in the presence of Jesus Christ.
We are not a group that is marching because we are better than anybody else. We are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God. If you see yourself as a sinner and you know that you need a savior, turn to him by simple faith and join this march.
This is no protest march; it is a salvation march, a redemption march. It is the march that is going to Zion, not the earthly Zion but the heavenly one, the city that will some day come down out of heaven as a bride adorned like a bride for her bridegroom.
This morning all of those who are among the redeemed are a part of that march, and we say to those who are not marching with us, "Come with us and we will do thee good." Everyone needs to hear this invitation. Let us this morning examine it carefully.
I WHO GAVE THE INVITATION?
A. Those who were journeying to a better land
1. Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt.
2. They were headed for the "Promised Land."
3. Today Christians have been delivered from the bondage of sin by the grace of God and we are headed for heaven, and we need to issue the invitation to others, "Come and go with us."
B. The "Promised Land" was a gift from God.
1. "The Lord said, ’I will give it to you."
2. It was the future possession of former slaves.
C. Heaven is a prepared gift for God’s children.
1. Jesus tells us in John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you."
2. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20 that former slaves to sin are now citizens of heaven.
3. The gift of eternal life includes the gift of heaven. (Romans 6:23)
D. Those of us who have been quickened and made alive by the grace of God are on our way to the land called heaven that has been promised to us, and we invite all who will to "come with us."
II WHO GOT THE INVITATION?
A. This invitation was given to someone that Moses loved.
1. He was part of his family.
2. Moses wanted him to share in the blessings ahead.
3. Moses knew that God had given Hobab gifts that would benefit God’s children on their journey. (31)
B. This invitation was given to one who would be helped by accepting it.
1. "Come with us and we will do thee good."
2. Here is an honest desire to do good to another person.
3. God cares about those to whom the invitation is issued.
C. All who accept the invitation to salvation will receive good things.
1. They will travel with us to heaven.
2. They will share in God’s blessings along the way.
3. They will make it safely to the "promised land."
III WHO GUARANTEES THIS INVITATION?
A. "The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel."
B. Moses had received promises from God concerning Israel.
1. He received them at the burning bush.
2. Israel’s future was as secure as the promises of God.
C. The Lord guarantees our offer of salvation.
1. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
2. Beloved that is God’s promise to save all that come to Him.
3. Not only does He promise to save them, but to keep them all the way to the end of the march.
4. Philippians 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Conclusion: This morning if you are here and are not a part of the family of God, if you have not been saved by His grace, if you have never given your life over to His control, you are not here by accident. God the Holy Spirit has brought you to this place this day, in order that those of us here who have received that salvation that God offers through Christ Jesus might, might on His behalf offer to you the same invitation that Moses offered to Hobab, "Come thou with us."
Come join this band of pilgrims on their way to the "promised land." Come and accept the great salvation that God is offering. If He is calling you today, we ask you to come and go with us. Our lives are testimony that to walk with God is better than to live in bondage. And to live with God eternally is far better than to die a thousand deaths in a Devil’s hell.
The invitation has been issued. This morning you will decide whether to go with the redeemed or live in bondage. What is you answer to this invitation?
