Beth Moore - Your Faith Map - Part 3
Here we are. Now, I hope so much it does not hide the fact that we're going to be talking about the land of? The land of? Go ahead and go with me to Exodus 3 because he says it, I'm talking about the Lord, from the very beginning when he comes to Moses, tells him his name, and tells him what he is going to have him do for the children of Israel. And it says in 3:8, this is God talking to Moses, "And I've come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with," tell me again. A land flowing with milk and honey. Twenty different times in the Old Testament, Canaan, the Promised Land, is described as a land flowing, not just possessing, a land flowing with milk and honey. And that's gonna mean more and more to us as the day goes on.
I want you to hear with me now two different portions in Deuteronomy. So, you're close to it. Go with me to Deuteronomy 8, and then it's going to be Deuteronomy 28. Now, listen because we're making, this is imagery, we're building this metaphor, this type of. Our concept is that we're looking at the Old Testament Israelites. We're looking at the positive side of things we want to imitate by their faith and their patience, but we're also looking at what they fell into that we don't want to fall into that were examples too, so that we would know that we did not want to take on that kind of sin. And we wanted to come out of that wilderness and go into our places of promise.
So, listen to the way Deuteronomy 8:8 and 9, and then Deuteronomy 28:11 and 12 are going to describe it, 8 and 9. Well, of course I have to start at verse 6. "So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and a land of honey; a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. And then when you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you".
Now, come with me over to Deuteronomy 28 and see further descriptions of it. It says, "You will be blessed in the city, blessed in the country. Your offspring will be blessed, your land's produce, offspring of your livestock, including the young herds. Your basket, your kneading bowl will be blessed. You'll be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out". That was what they had coming to them in the land of promise overflowing with milk and honey if they were obedient to the Lord. And then it says in verses 11 and 12, "The Lord will make you prosper abundantly". That word "abundantly" is our key word. Abounding and abundantly and abundance all come from the same word.
So, I want you to look at it again, "The Lord will make you prosper abundantly with offspring, the offspring of your livestock, with your land's produce in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse," there it is. "You will prosper abundantly, because he's gonna open his abundant storehouse, the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow". This was the promise under the old covenant. Now, let me tell you because I'll make reference to this a couple of different times today. You and I are this side of Christ instituting the new covenant. So, the old covenant promises like this, these are not ours. Ours are spiritual promises that have a beautiful, beautiful connection to them, but we were promised a prosperity of soul, a prosperity of fruitfulness that we'll get into in just a moment. That's what we do when we live in the abundance of God.
So, what was very tangible for them, something that they could hold in their hand, these are spiritual blessings for us. Whereas he begins it by saying, "You'll be blessed in the country. You'll be blessed in the city. Your kneading bowl will be blessed". Well, Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ to the praise of his glory, according to the lavishness of his grace". It's a gorgeous thing because it says every spiritual blessing.
Let me take you back for just a moment to remember the very end of the book of Genesis and also the very end of the book of Deuteronomy. Both times, these books end with blessings being spoken over the specific 12 tribes. This one will, this is this blessing, this blessing, this blessing, this blessing. What we're supposed to understand from Ephesians chapter 1, every spiritual blessing, say listen, you don't have one tribe. You are blessed with the firstborn. You are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing is yours. Oh, I need somebody to respond with me. You don't just have like one little twelfth of the stream. No, no, every spiritual blessing in Christ belongs to you. And so, this gorgeous parallel between the two.
So, what are our New Testament verses? I know you have heard this many, many times, but I want you to jot this down somewhere under this category of abounding. I want you to jot down, of course, John 10:10 'cause where are we gonna draw our parallel between the two? Where's the rope tied between the two testaments? Right there at John 10:10. We've heard it so many times that maybe it's lost its significance to us. Maybe we don't hear the promise that he's making, but listen to it, he says this, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly". Do you remember what Deuteronomy chapter 8 and chapter 28 is telling us? It says in verse 11, "And he will prosper you abundantly". And 12 says, "The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse," all coming from the same word as abound, as abound.
There's this great, great portion in Scripture, in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that says that God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency, in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work. So, we literally were blessed by Christ when we came into the knowledge of him and we received the earnest deposit of his Holy Spirit. At that point, we became a people with the capacity and the calling to abound. This believer is where you and I are meant to live. As you and I are thinking about the four locations and are opening up the location app of our Bible, and we're looking for where we are, when we're looking for where we want to be, this is home to us over and over again. No matter where we find ourselves, in a different place, we're going like, "Lord, this is where I'm meant to be. My calling in you is to abound. You came to bring me life that is abounding".
That doesn't mean there won't be any pain. That doesn't mean there won't be any tears. Even in our Old Testament parallel, they still died in the Promised Land. There would've still been tears in the Promised Land. There were still challenges in the Promised Land, several of which we'll get to in just a moment. But it was a place where they could abound and they could live out the reality of the promises of God over them. And we have that same exact privilege. And our Bibles tell us in Hebrews 3 and 4, God is telling us through his Word that we are not to fail to enter into that land of rest. He draws the parallel himself from the Old Testament people all the way to the New Testament believers in Christ. He says, "Do not, do not be disobedient to it, and rebellious, and not lend your ear to hear. Don't harden your heart, but enter into this rest".
And what it means is this place of being, this place of dwelling. Ultimately, it will be when we see him face to face, that's our Canaan. When we get home and we're there in Mount Zion, that's what it's driving toward. But we have the deposit of that even now. So, think about it this way because our land of promise, do you remember what Deuteronomy 8 said? I just love it so much, when it described, it says, "It will have deep water sources". Well, we have the living water. "It's a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without shortage, and you will lack nothing; you will be able to have rocks that are iron and from those hills you will be able to mine copper". So, in this earthly sense, it's where you and I are experiencing the fulfilled promises of God.
Remember where he says that we were called to be more than overcomers. It's where we do see that he is. We're walking enough with him and in enough fellowship with him and intimacy with him that we really do see some things work together for good. That some of those things he promised, that he would make us victorious. If we would allow him to fill us with his Spirit and fight the good fight of faith, that he would bring us to the place of victory, that we would put on the whole armor of God, and wage a good and faithful warfare. The abundance of fruitfulness, this is the biggest one, is that if you're thinking in terms of how can I picture this parallel, it's where we would be fruitful in him. Listen, we don't always have fun, but we can always bear fruit. And ultimately, we'll find that to be pretty fun.
I've realized something for the very first time. This is one of the things about studying the Word of God that I think is so different from any other book, even what would be considered holy books of the world. It's set apart in so many ways because it is a living Word. But you just keep calling deep unto deep because you keep discovering new things about it. And the last time you studied it, you never saw that. And then suddenly, you realize this, you'll read this in a commentary, and it will just open up to you. And so, I ran the word "abound" and "abundant" and "abounding," I ran it through a keyword search and brought up every single time the word is used in the Old and New Testament. And I was absolutely floored when I realized that every single reference to abounding in the entire Old Testament, except for one and it's about God making the waters abound, so it still ultimately draws back to him, every single reference except one is always about God abounding.
Now, listen 'cause this is key. An example of it is Exodus 34:6, "The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding". God doesn't just have steadfast love and faithfulness, he abounds in it. I mean, like it's in abundance, it's an abundance of flowing steadfastness, love, and faithfulness. And this is when I began to put it together that the reason why Christ gives us abounding life is because we come into his life and he abounds. Oh, I'm just gonna wait till y'all get it. Because do you understand what I'm saying? That because our God abounds in love, and he abounds in fruitfulness, he abounds in faithfulness, when we come into relationship with him and when his Spirit lives inside of us, we are invited into divine abounding, a divine kind of abundance. And there's nothing... see, we got the better into the deal than the Old Testament Israelites because theirs was just physical.
Listen, there are people that will never have to worry about money one day in their lives that are so miserable, some of them are suicidal. We think if we had all our stuff, we would be happy, and it's not true. We have a vacuum inside of us just longing to be filled. It's like it's something, it has to happen inside because there's nothing the outside can do to fix us. We got something only God can do in our souls, and he abounds. Okay, this is really, really important, so stay with me as attentively as you can over these few minutes. The first landmark in our land of promise, in our land of abounding, the first landmark is faith. I mean, it is absolutely required, and I'm gonna tell you why. The land of milk and honey differs profoundly from the wilderness that God supplied.
So, I'm thinking in the Old Testament original, in the type, it vastly differed from the wilderness experience, where God had through wonders without any effort on their part except to go gather it up, they would just wake up and there would be manna on the ground. They just had bread from heaven. Quail would fly in in the evening. All they had to do was cry out and they were gonna get water from a rock for crying out loud. And so, all of this, just wonders and wonders. Do you remember when we talked about one of the landmarks of going through a time of deliverance, when we're getting the Egypt delivered out of us, that it's so often that we'll see God do these marvelous, miraculous things? Well, in our land of promise, in the land of milk and honey, it's a different matter entirely. God is no less provider. Everybody say, "God is no less provider". Say it one more time. God is no less provider. But what he is chiefly out for, what he's chiefly providing in our place of abounding is maturity and might.
And so, what he's doing is that he is making use of our gifts, he's making us productive and effective. He's calling forth our ingenuity and our effort. Think about what do we have here, our what? And our what here? All right, see, you can't just like, there wasn't just suddenly milk. You had to go milk the cow. Everybody understanding what I'm saying? So, they were like, they didn't just wake up in the morning and they had their bottle of milk on the table. No, I gave you a cow, go milk it. Because now you're gonna participate with me. Is anybody stepping in this with me? They didn't get bread from heaven, they grew grain and they went and they ground it, and they had the resourcefulness of what to do with it in order to put it on the fire and to make it rise. Anybody, anybody? If they were gonna get honey, they were gonna have to deal with them some bees. Because that's the difference is that now our resourcefulness, said, "I've gifted you. Come, participate with me in this land of promise because I want to show you that you, you are the most important wonder I am performing".
We are so often in an early or maybe a very difficult season of our walks with God, where it just seems like he's doing this, this, this, this. If you ever notice that when you come into more maturity, sometimes you see less physical wonders around you. And you know that he can. You know that he can. And you know that he often does, and we believe him to, and we pray for him to. I never stop praying for miracles. But I'm always extremely aware that the biggest miracle he's wanting to perform in my life is in me, not around me. Oh, can anybody get that with me? It's in us, it's in us. He says, "You are looking in the mirror at the wonder I most want to perform. It's you, when I transform the hearts of people, when I have changed you and you are not the woman, you are not the man that you used to be. I have performed a wonder that people cannot deny. You are the wonder". When it says, "And God is able to make all grace abound to us," the miracle of that is seen in the life.
When Ephesians 3:20 and 21 say, "Now, this I pray that God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think," how often do we say that verse over and over? It's one of our very favorite verses. "God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think". But what we miss is the next thing it says, "According to the power at work within us". We keep wanting him to do more than we could ask or think out there. And he can, he can. But he said, "You don't understand. I want to show that the power is in you, that there is divine power". Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. So, see, it takes faith because sometimes we're not getting all the miracles that we did in a different season. I want to remind you of what it said. I tried to emphasize it at the time, but I recall not even really reading it well. But it is in verse 9 of Deuteronomy 8 where it says, "A land where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper".
See, I got to tell y'all something. One of the things that I have loved most... no, no, no. The thing I have loved most about Bible study has been the search, without a doubt. It is God's penchant for revelation. I love, I love, love, love digging for something, and digging for something, and digging for something, and digging for something, and then finding it. And one of the things that I'm resisting in this public speaking and teaching ministry, I'm not gonna give way to it. God, help me, I'm not gonna give way to it. What our audiences want now is for every other sentence to be tweetable and something you can quote on Instagram. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Call me old school, call me boring, call me anything you want, but I'm not doing it because the beauty of it is no, let's get in there and work with it. I could come and figure out a message where I could wow you with every sentence.
I'm not interested in that because what I love is Bible study. I love getting in there for discovery, and I love watching something happen. I love starting out going like, "I don't even think I understand where this is headed". And then suddenly, boom, pay dirt. Don't you set my copper out on top of my hill. I want to dig for it. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Don't you do it. Don't hand me a bottle of grape juice. I want to crush that grape beneath my feet. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I want to participate in the works of God. That's what he's calling us to do. That's what abounding is. The cow has got to be milked, the hives and the honeycomb has got to be culled. It's gorgeous. So, landmark one is faith, the next one is fruit. This is key, this is key, fruit. So, this is gonna be your main indicator that when you're thinking, "Okay, what is the difference"?
Okay, this is your fruit bearing place. This is where Jesus says, "It is to my Father's glory". I promise you, each of you, each of you, if you are in Christ, he says that it is to his Father's glory that your individual life bears much fruit. That it glorifies God, it builds up the body of Christ, and it shows you to be Jesus's disciple. So, this I can promise you, no matter who you are, no matter what your spiritual gifting is, no matter where you work, no matter how old you are, no matter how new a Christian you may be, or how seasoned a Bible study servant you may be, whatever it is, I promise you based on the authority of the Word of God, it is to your Father's glory that you bear much fruit. And I ask you, make it a part of your prayers since you know that that's what's gonna glorify God. Ask him, continually ask him, "Lord, make me fruitful. Make me fruitful".