The Dreadful Consequences of Sin

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(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's book, Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 8)

"What are the results of not driving out the inhabitants (sins) of your heart, when you willfully disobey God's command to remove them?  Two verses in the following chapter [of Numbers] show us what the consequences of our disobedience will be.  Let me warn you, though...you probably won't like what you find here any more than I did!  God spoke these words to Israel as He directed them to remove everyone from the land He had promised them.  He could not have been more clear and exact.  His words are prophetic, for this is just what happened to Israel.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.  And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.   (Numbers 33: 55-56)

When we let our sin off of God's hook and ours, this is the result:

1. Your sins will become as pricks in your eyes.
2. Your sins will become as thorns in your side.
3. Your sins' will cause you continual trouble.
4. Your sins might cause your very destruction.

Do you see that the sin that you allow to remain in your heart, possessing God's home in you, will become the very snare that traps you in its bondage?  Our full obedience to God's commands, to His call to holiness, is critical when it comes to dispossessing our sins and gods from our hearts.  And our full obedience is critical to our spiritual growth.  God takes very seriously our following Him fully, as you can see by these stories recorded in Numbers for our instruction.  When it comes to our gods and our sin, what God intends to see destroyed in us can actually end up destroying us!  As always, it is our choice as to whether we will fully follow God's commands to take full vengeance on our sin or willfully disobey Him and ignore them.  It seems beyond ridiculous that we would choose any other way but the way of obedience!

Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament.  During the course of the visit, a group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, then Lord Chancellor, wearing all the regalia of his office.  Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried, 'Neil!'  Not daring to question or disobey the 'command,' the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!  (from Today in the Word, July 30, 1993)

Can God say that you are taking such a proactive approach to obeying His command to take full vengeance on your sins and idols?

The Promised Land: Another Picture of Our Spiritual Journey

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POINT #1:  God wants our complete and full compliance to His words and commands.

"Now, let's make POINT #1 relevant to us.  Consider this concept that I want to share with you.  This is another picture of the journey to the complete healing of your broken spiritual heart.  It is very similar to the picture of the Tabernacle that we viewed and studied in Chapters 1-4.  Let's look at Israel's journey from the bondage of Egypt to their life in the Promised Land.

You hopefully have walked through the door of the Tabernacle into your salvation.  If you have, then at that very moment, you also walked out of your Egypt, the place of your spiritual bondage.  Now you are set free from the penalty of your sin, but you may have not yet arrived at your Promised Land, living in the moment to moment blessing and presence of Almighty God.  You have entered the Outer Court where you have been reveling in your salvation and are following God, but you not likely to have been constantly obedient to Him and His commands.  You, in a sense, are wondering there in a wilderness, not quite understanding how to consistently obey.

Then, when you purposefully stepped into the Inner Court (if you have), you found it to be a place where you began to remove (dispossess) the gods and sins that were in your "land"--your hearts.  This can be likened to the 'crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land,' where the Israelites began to remove the inhabitants because they were idolaters that worshiped other gods.  Sanctification takes place in you in the Inner Court where you begin to experience the Promised Land by systematically removing all that is in opposition to the God of your heart.  A similar cleansing of idol worship took place in Canaan, the Israelites' Promised Land, before God would  allow them to live in His Land of Promise.

Once all of the people of the land (the Canaanites) and their false gods were removed, then Israel could live daily in the constant and abiding presence of their God, in His blessing and favor, without the influence of false gods.  This is why it is called the Land of the Promise.  If Israel would do everything that God would command them to do, by removing all who were in opposition to Him, they would live in paradise on earth, in obedience to God and His blessing upon them.

God has a 'promised land' for Christians today. That promised land is on the other side of the veil of our crucified flesh. That promised land is the spiritual practice of obediently resting in God. The promised land, for us, is in the Holy of Holies, right here on earth!

Following God's Directions

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As children, we were all taught the importance of following instructions. We also learned that there were always consequences when we didn't! How well are you following God's instructions to you?

 In Numbers 36: 1-10 Moses recounts the story of God directions to enter into the Promised Land and spy it out, for the  purpose of bringing an encouraging account to the Jews who would be moving there soon.  Read this brief account before reading this blog, for more clarification.

 "Moses is recounting the story of God sending out the 12 spies into the Promised Land, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to look at the land that the Israelites would soon possess, having made their exodus from Egypt.  Ten of the spies saw that the land was 'flowing with milk and honey,' but they were afraid of the people who already lived there--the people they would now have to dispossess (remove) from the land, according to God's directions.  They came back and discouraged their clans, causing them to also fear going into the the land.  But Joshua and Caleb, the other two spies, followed the Lord's commands to the the letter.  They returned and tried to encourage the people that the Lord would be faithful in all He had commanded them to do.  There were the only spies who completely followed the command of God.  This is our first point to consider:

POINT #1:  God wants our complete and full compliance to His words and commands.

By examining the Scriptural text, you can see that God said this about His people, including the ten spies, who came up out of bondage in Egypt, regarding their response to entering the land and possessing it:  'They did not follow Me fully.'   But about Joshua and Caleb, the two faithfully, obedient spies He said this:  'They followed Me fully.'

Did you notice that God did not praise the ten spies for the time they spent spying out the Promised Land for His people?  He did not praise them for their bravery and courage as they witnessed giants in the land.  He also did not praise them for the gigantic clusters of grapes they brought back from the land or for the pomegranates and figs they found.  Have you ever wondered why it mattered to God to what degree  they followed Him and His commands?  You have to understand what God's purposes and goals were for His chosen people.  It was to give them the Promised Land to live and dwell in.  His goal was to lead His obedient children out of the wilderness that they had been traveling through and lead them into the beautiful and lush land of promise."

Israel's disobedience and unwillingness to follow God meant that His blessing would have to be delayed.  How this broke the heart of God!  The blessings that would naturally flow out of His love for them were trumped by their choice to believe the false report and obey it instead of the report that God was in control and that He would deliver the giants into their hands. 

God requires our complete and full compliance to His words and commands, not to be an overbearing Controller of our lives, but to be able to be our Loving Father who desires to give us all of His best things.  And He always is working to bring about the very best in our lives.  Israel faced the consequences of their disobedient, non-compliance.  They were not allowed to enter the Promised Land for forty more years, and none of the men who were twenty years old or older ever got to enter in!  Forty more years in the wilderness . . . a huge price to pay for desiring to walk their own way.  What price will you have to pay for following in their footsteps instead of bending your self-will to match the Father's?

(The quoted portion was taken from Chapter 8, "Fully Following God's Commands" d in Cheryl Gnagey's book, Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory , available for purchase at www.cherylgnagey.com or www.amazon.com).