Numbers Chapter 27:1-11

“The 5 Daring Daughters Of Zelophehad”

 

Now There are only two incidents recorded of ALL the decisions which Moses made about civil and family affairs in the governing of the children of Israel as they came TO Canaan.

A)This is one of them, and the other also is connected with the daughters of Zelophehad, found in Chapter 36 of Numbers.

 

B) It is interesting that these five girls are singled out as an example from many incidents unrecorded on the pages of Scripture.

1)   The time of this incident occurred during the wilderness journey, as Israel very close to entering the Land of Promise 

 

C) Moses was now a very old man. He had led the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness

1)      All those who had left the land of Egypt had died, except for Joshua, Caleb and Moses.

 

D) A whole new generation had arisen and were about to enter the land. They were now anticipating the dividing up of the land.

1)   In the midst of this division of the land by lots there came to Moses these five daughters of Zelophehad.

 

We learn that their father had died in the wilderness wanderings.

A)There is no mention at all of their mother, so it seems clear that these five girls were left as orphans when their father died.

 

B) And They were disturbed about their threatened loss of inheritance.

1)   And so they take a huge step of Faith by bringing this matter before Moses and the Leaders of Israel. { Something women didn’t do ….

 

C) The Bible declares Heb 11:6 without faith, it is impossible to please God,".

1)   That is true whether you lived in the 1st century or the 21st  "

           Faith is the keynote to blessing, the watchword of blessing

But what is Faith ? Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

A)Put it another way It is a expectation  that God has promised to do something, and that he will follow through. That is what faith is.

 

B) There is a wonderful acronym built on that word:  F:  Forsaking / A:  All / I:  I/ T:  Trust/ H:  Him

 

C) That is faith, isn't it? Forsaking all else (i.e. not looking to any other resource, not depending on something human),

1)   Forsaking All, I Trust Him.

 

D) That is what motivated these girls to do what they did 

1) For the rest of our time this morning I want us to consider 3 things about the faith of these 5 Women { The 5 Daughters of Zelophehad

 

 

1st Their Faith had DETERMINATION

A)Webster defines Determination as A FIRMNESS OF PURPOSE – A FIXED AIM –

 

B) Determination has been called a MINDSET THAT SAYS I WON’T QUIT

1)   Those of you who have been to a little league game Know how exciting they can be !!!! – Especially the little guys

 

C) In one game the centerfielder – was coming into the dugout after chasing down a ball hit deep into the outfield –

1)   Asked by a MAN who just arrived at the game how it was going - The youngster replied that his team was doing well, but that they were trailing 17-0.  

 

The bystander asked if he was discouraged at being so far behind, and if he was ready to admit defeat.  He came back immediately with this retort: "We aren't beat--we haven't even been up to bat yet!"

 

Here were these girls facing the problem of the possible loss of their inheritance.

A)The family had been promised a part in the land that lay before them, flowing with milk and honey.

 

B) All their lives  they had been imagining what that would be like / all of their lives – DREAMING ABOUT THEIR INHERITANCE

 

C) But when their father died their inheritance seemingly vanished w/ him –

1)   See By custom throughout that whole Middle Eastern region, only males could inherit property. So It looked like a lost cause.

 

D) Their father had died and there was no male heir. It looked as though they had lost everything they had hoped for. At first discouraged

1)   But something made these girls hope that things could be different - It was a determination that existed despite discouragement.

 

It seems this women understood a very important factor about the Promise land – and the inheritance God had for the Israelites

A)Which was:  it was not according to merit but according to grace.

 

B) In other words: God was not asking the Israelites to earn the land of Canaan, but he was giving it to them.

1)   It did not depend on how hard they worked but rather upon the grace of God that would make it available to them.

 

C) He only wanted them to believe Him & move in to Possess it

 

D) SO they came upon that basis thinking – It won’t hurt to ask – maybe God has already made provision for a situation like ours

1)   There's nothing revealed that is against it, and, perhaps, in HIS grace, God has found a way to supply what we lack."

 

E) That is faith!!!! And I like that – faith that is willing to explore the Possibilities – Jonathan & his armor Bearer –Lets just see …….

The Martins in coming to America – Lets just see ….. { Rob what you think about Africa? { Our Trip lets just see

 

I Believe that God has much more for all of us than we can ever imagine

Ministry that he wants to open up / blessings pour out

A)He wants us to all dream of something so huge that if God is not in it, it is doomed to fail -   BIG GOD

 

B) That is one of the reasons – look at this Property thing – All the challenges County neighbors – Finances – cost – 7 million

1)   Not that big of a deal to God – He has blessed this Church – He is going to continue to bless this Church –

 

C) I admit I wrestle w/ this Personally – Why would God want to do anything great w/ my life – so average –

1) Resisted Calling– Not Chuck / Not Richard

 

D) But here is the thing Before seeing them in those settings – we would say – there is nothing special about that Guy

1) They were just available to God & surrendered to God – and God said I can use you !!!!!

 

I believe that God has more blessings in store for us than we could ever contain – or ever imagine

A)He desires to see us walk w/ in those blessings to enjoy the fullness of the Christian life -  But He wants us to seek after them –

 

B) Listen God does not force his blessings upon us. Many young Christians,  make a mistake in this regard.

1)They think that having received the Lord Jesus Christ that everything they need is going to come automatically pouring in whether they want it or not.

 

C) But that is not true. If you do not want what God wants to give, HE will not force it upon you.

1) If you do not take what God offers you, you will never have it.

D) Therefore faith is particularly manifested by this quality of determination, a determination to have what God wants to give.

1) It is possible that You are now living at a level of spiritual growth & blessing  because you have decided deep down that you don't want more.

 

E) A friend of mine explained it this way – talking about his daughter – approaches life w/ the Lord – water slide  arms in { He arms out / slow down

 

Listen If you are ever going to have more of the fullness of God's blessing you must awaken a desire for it within yourself.

A)You must want what God wants. You must determine to have it. The limits are never on God's side, they are always on ours.

 

B) Every doorway into blessing is framed with the words, of  Matt 5:6

"He who hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled,"

 

C) Sharing w/ our staff this week from 2 Cor 8 where Paul was telling the Corinthians to follow thru on their desire to be used in aiding Jer Church

1)   You desired  it – to flow in that grace – be used in that way  but bring it to completion

 

D) Commenting on how many times that we have goals or desires that we know are given to us by the Lord – never are completed because of

1) Distraction / Laziness / complacency or lack of Determination

 

E) The Scriptures are filled w/ Exhortations to diligently seek after the Lord

1) James 4:2 Says you have not because you ask Not – or because you ask amiss – Keep on asking ….seeking …. Knocking

 

F) These girls had a desire to obtain their inheritance – but they didn’t just sit around talking about it

1) They did something about it – They were determined to enter into the inheritance & blessing that God had for them – He honored them for it

 

 

2nd Thing : Their faith was DARING V.2

2 And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting,

 

A)Now think about this – they came & stood before close to 3 million people to address these leaders

1)   Surely that exemplifies something of the daring of faith.

 

B) Alan Redpath said that Fear is the greatest enemy of our faith – But these girls put away fear & stepped out in faith – face the Multitude

1)They were determined to have the inheritance God had promised, and they DARED TO make it known. 

 

C) But it wasn’t just coming before the crowd that made what they did DARING  – it  they were going against TRADITION

1)   The tradition & custom of the Land was that women didn’t approach leaders in this way -& only Males could inherit property

 

D) By doing what they did they were Challenging TRADITION

 

Tradition has been called one of Satan’s greatest weapons for opposing growth & progress in the Church

A)Think about all the vision that has been squelched all of the Plans & Projects that have been – killed by the Phrases

 

B) WE JUST DON’T DO THAT HERE – OR WE’VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE !!!!

 

C) Now Tradition isn’t all bad – in fact one writer put it this way Quotes &

Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we.. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of the old standard  tradition.

 

D) Think about how blessed we are in this day & w/ Worship because Martin Luther – took Bar Songs – Melody – Made into Hymns

1)   Pastor Chuck allowed the Hippies to bring their Electric Guitars & drums into the Church 

 

E) And in both cases there were those who objected – we don’t do it that way – that hasn’t been done before – No Biblical Precedence for it !!!

1) Why we need to always ask is what we are doing a Man made tradition or is it something directed by the HS

 

Listen we need to guard our hearts against settling into ruts !!!

A)We as a congregation & as individuals need to watch that we don’t settle into Mediocrity by getting to comfortable

 

B) This is what I like & we never allow the Lord to move us forward because we don’t like it when our boat gets rocked a little

 

C) Having said that remind you that the Bible declares that Faith comes by hearing & hearing by the word of God

1)   Pt being faith is based on the word – and God is not going to Dare us to do things that are not in line w/ the word – i.e. Toronto Blessing

 

D) God is not going to challenge us to do things that will contradict His word but He may challenge us to do things that Contradict man made Trad.

 

That is the delightful thing about these girls. They DARED to challenge a tradition that was entrenched in Israel.

A)There was no law that denied them their inheritance, but custom was against it.

 

B) But now these girls are relying  on a promise which is based on grace,  they dared to come before Moses.

1)   I would have liked to have seen Moses' face when these five girls stood up. He must have been SHOCKED .

C) Moses was used to solving problems among this murmuring people, but this one must have floored him. Moses did not know what to say.

1)   Their daring request moved him!! & he did the wise thing, he took it to the Lord, and his answer came from God.

 

Listen there is never faith without venturing. You must leave the crowd, you must leave the gang or the herd,

A)Faith often means that you are going to go against the grain but That is why true faith is so liberating.  So freeing

 

B) It is freeing thing to Know that even when going against the grain or the tradition of men – You are following God

 

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C) There are those who think that if they become a Christian – life becomes boring & restricted – they are told

1)     that if you become a Christian you'll become a slave, limited, narrow, never having any enjoyment of life. That is a lie right out of the pit.

 

D) It is completely false. It is daring & Exciting to walk w/ God / Believing in & living according to the promises of God

1)   that actually makes a man free, or makes him able to discover the fullness of life God has available for us.

 

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Christopher Columbus struggled for years to get an audience with Queen Isabella.  She and her husband, Ferdinand, had their hands full carrying on a war with the Moors.  She hardly needed a crazy sailor to tell her one could go east by sailing west.

Eventually, when he received his hearing and explained the need for money, ships, and supplies, the queen did what many "leaders" do today--she appointed a committee.

 

 For five years the committee studied Columbus's proposal and finally returned with their consensus:  "The idea is impossible." Columbus persisted!

 A second committee was formed and met for another year. Their consensus:  "The idea is too expensive."  Columbus persisted!

 

Finally, Isabella, wanting to rid herself of this self-appointed explorer, gave Columbus what he needed to make the trip.

 

Columbus is a good example of what we are talking about here –He was Daring & He was Determined

 

So there was Determination about their faith / Their faith was Daring – it went against the grain –

A)3rd Talk about the Dispersion of their Faith - There was a reproductive quality to their faith – v.5-11

 

B) Not only did these girls receive their inheritance themselves, but they began a whole series of similar reactions.

1) This became the basis of a new principle, and a new law, in Israel.

 

C) The significant thing about this new law, which was introduced into Israel by these five daughters of Zelophehad is ,

1)   centuries later it made it possible for Jesus to inherit the throne of David through his mother, Mary. Rightful Messiah –

 

D) Geneology of Jesus – Matt – Thru Joseph – Legal right – but in reality Joseph was not His Father – God was

1)   Luke records the Geneology of Jesus thru Mary who was also a descendant of David – thru David’s Son Nathan – Rightful Heir

 

Listen the affect of true dynamic of faith is that Others may be stirred to a new endeavor.

A)In Phil., Paul writes about his imprisonment in Rome, & he says "Many were made more bold to preach the gospel because of my Chains” Why ?

 

B) Paul’s attitude in Prison affected those around Him – to be bold in standing against the persecution of Nero – Way faith is/ Contagious

Jesus likened faith to being like a seed it has life in it!!! It grows – it carries over – it spreads it reproduces – Fruit is the result

A)Story of David Brainerd, who when he was about twenty years of age, felt the call of God to go out to the American Indians.

 

B) Through great hardships, alone in the wilderness, sick most of the time, that young man  gave himself in love for these Indians,

1) And through much prayer, heartache, & tribulation, there finally broke out  a great awakening among the Indians. They turned to Christ by the 100’s

 

C) He wrote a diary of his account, and over in Scotland a young man named Robert Murray McCheyne read the diary of David Brainerd,

1)   and his heart began to burn.

 

D) In Scotland he began to preach the same gospel, and to pray as David Brainerd prayed for Revival. 

1) Somewhat later McCheyne's letters & sermons were gathered together & published & they blessed the heart of a young man in England named CHS

 

E) Charles Haddon Spurgeon  went on to become the prince of Bible expositors - one of the greatest preachers of all time.

1) Another young man who was touched by the lives of McCheyne and Brainerd was Hudson Taylor, the great apostle to China. {Contagious

 

 

You never Know the impact that you LIFE  of faith is going to have on someone else –

A)Their faith was Determined / Daring / Dispersed – it had an affect on other woman for centuries to come