Tasting the Fruit: Yet Losing the Land
September 29, 2002
Intro: Where are you headed? Are you going to get there? How?
Deut 1:25-26
25 "They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ’It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.’
26 "Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;
1. Tasting The Fruit
A. Moses’ Recollection
a. Moses’ is addressing the people as to the time they came out of Egypt…how they were at the very gate of the promised land
b. He reminds them of the spies…how they had brought the fruit of the land… grapes that had to be carried by two men
c. These people tasted of the fruit…they knew that it was rich…they knew it was from God
d. But along with the story, he reminds them about the bad report 10 of the spies bring back…afraid to go in and conquer
i. He tells them how they rebelled against God…how they were at the very doorway of the promised land…and ended up 40 years in the desert
ii. Simply because they refused to trust God and GO FORWARD
B. Not Enough To Know
a. Listen Christian, it is not enough to know about the joy and the blessing of being a Christian
b. It is not enough to even taste of the first ripe grapes of righteousness
c. We must enter the promised land through faith in Jesus Christ, through God’s strength to help us overcome the giants of sin and posses the land and claim our inheritance
d. The Israelites were at the very door of the land, and yet they went away to forty years of sorrow and sin …which led to the death of all who rebelled
Ill: Of the coast of England, during the gold rush years of California, there was a ship headed to England from California. The ship was filled with bags of gold. But it had hit a storm and it became shipwrecked…sinking to the bottom. The owners took out divers and sent them down to search for the wreckage. For a long time they could not find this ship of gold…but finally after weeks of toiling in the ocean, a diver came up and yelled out, “I have touched the gold! I have touched the gold!”
i. How many know this mission would have been a failure if it would have stopped there. Good, he touched it
ii. The mission wasn’t just to touch the gold, but the mission was to recover the gold
iii. I would dare say this morning that some here have, “touched the gold!”
iv. But you stopped there…you have come very near the Kingdom of God, but as you were laying hold of it…you stopped
v. You laid your hands on the gold of a Christian life, but you haven’t laid claim to none of it…you are still spiritually bankrupt
vi. You’ve had opportunities, open doors, calling, destiny…but you’ve gone no further
Ill: Dr. W.L. Watkinson was speaking on the subject of the importance of our steps. You often hear people speaking about “taking the first step.” To them, the first step is the most important. But Dr. Watkinson says that this is a mistake…that the most important step that a man ever takes is the last step.
C. Taking the Last Step
a. How much more true that is in the race of a Christian…that you may come a long way in the Christian life, but if you do not take the last step it is all a failure
Ill: Amiel said: “That which is not finished is nothing.”
b. You can make a ladder, but if it’s not tall enough it is nothing, “That which is not finished is nothing.”
c. Listen to me Christian, This is true in your salvation, in your calling, in your destiny, in your family, in your marriage
d. If you come near to the Kingdom of Heaven and do not enter it, it is just as bad as if you never saw it
i. As the Israelites wandered back into the wilderness for 40 years and died in that desert, them having tasted those grapes did them no good
ii. And so it will be with some who stand at the very door of heaven, and yet if you do not get in it is all in vain
iii. It is not enough to be ‘almost a Christian”…what in the heck is almost
Ill: I was reading about these diamond fields in South Africa…reading about how they often find a substance that is part charcoal and part diamond. It was intended originally to be a diamond, but it stopped on the way, and being partly jewel and partly charcoal, it was no good and so it was thrown out into the trash…it was no good.
2. Pressing In To Wholeness
A. No Almost
a. Beloved, God intended you to be a fine jewel and has started you on the way – He sent Jesus to be your Savior
b. You has sent you the Word of God…He has sent the Holy Spirit…but it is up to you and I to apply and allow the Spirit of God to guide and lead us
c. So that we may become the jewels God intended us to be…the question is, will you be a diamond or a piece of charcoal.
d. How many remember the rich young ruler…he wants the kingdom, he says he’s kept the laws…and Jesus’ response to this man
Mark 10:21
21 …One thing thou lackest:
i. It was only one thing…but it was the difference between peace and condemnation; heaven or hell
B. What Jesus Saw
a. Listen, as you read this parable…Jesus saw beyond the fronts…he went straight to the heart
b. Listen, I don’t care what you desire…desires are good…but if your heart is not into it…then it doesn’t matter
Matt 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Prov 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
c. The children of Israel’s hearts were not into war…they were not into crossing and obeying God
d. It did not matter how good the fruit of the promised land tasted…it wasn’t in their hearts to fight for it
i. God has given us promises…it is up to you and I to pursue those promises
ii. God has given us destinies and has called us with a great calling, but our hearts have to be into what God wants for our lives
iii. This is what separated King David from everyone else…his heart was after the things of God
Acts 13:22
22 "And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ’I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
iv. Not David’s heart necessarily, but what that heart was after…David knew what he was…we know what David was…but above all this, his heart was after God’s heart
v. There was something in David that wanted to be like God, to please God, there was something in there that would ultimately override and overrule rebellion of his flesh
When David sinned…he knew he blew it…but was able to cry out
Ps 51:10
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
C. A Clean Heart
a. David said, ‘God, there is nothing good in me…you are going to have to start from scratch…I don’t want any wickedness or sin in it.”
b. David asked God to give him a heart like His own…a clean heart, a pure heart
c. A heart that responds to sin the way God responds to it…when He sees sin, He moves to remove it… why? Because look a what is in our hearts…
Mark 7:21-22
21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
D. Decisions
a. Ok, now let me tie all this together…we have a people with a heart after themselves…what they desired (came out of their heart)
b. And we have a man…who was imperfect, yet because he had a heart after God’s, he was able to please him
c. So, the decisions that you make should not be made as to how you feel for the moment…you better weigh out all the circumstances before making it
d. One bad decision by the people of Israel landed them out of the will of God and wandering through the dessert for 40 years
i. David, one bad decision…when he should have been out at war…had tremendous amounts of consequences…that he had to live with
ii. Decisions you make don’t just affect you today, tomorrow, next week… they impact you the rest of your life
iii. Could you imagine giving up or changing directions in your life and ten years down the road find yourself out of the will of God
iv. One, you lost ten years…two, your so disconnected that it’s going to be a struggle to try to revive your spirit
E. David Stopped Praying
a. Listen Christian, David lost touch when David stopped praying
b. Israel lost touch when they stopped trusting God and began to look at their situation
c. The difference, David had a heart to repent and come back to God…the children of Israel walked in the dessert for 40 years and died thinking, “One bad decision”
d. Christian, you better be rooted deep down…cause one day, your faith will be challenged…and there will be decisions that you will have to make
