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“These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, ‘They shall die in the wilderness.’ Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” (Numbers 26:63–65, ESV)

Paster Abel’s sermon on this passage is titled, “The Legacy You Leave”.

The story of the people who died in the wilderness is a sobering reminder of the consequences of sin. An entire generation fell without reaching the promised land because of their disobedience and lack of faith in God. It is as Paul said in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death….”

This truth is proclaimed again and again throughout the Bible. At the end of the road of sin is death. There is no escape, no way out. Here are some examples:

  • Adam was told that if he disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die. Adam’s death is recorded in Genesis 5:5.
  • In the first few chapters of 1 Samuel, Eli the priest had two sons who were greedy and out of control. God raised up a boy named Samuel to replace Eli. When Samuel was old enough, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and kill Eli’s sons in the process. Upon hearing the news, Eli fell and broke his neck.
  • When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed on the battlefield, God took the life of the son of David and Bathsheba. (See 2 Samuel 12)

Sin leads to death, and we can’t escape it. This is the legacy of all sinners, including you and me. Pretty hopeless and depressing. How does the gospel answer this?

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’… And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” (Mark 15:34, ESV)

This is the beauty of the gospel. God looked at the human race, sinking in the sludge of sin and death, and instead of abandoning us to that fate, he sent his own son down into that mire to save us. Christian, if you have ever felt a taste of the misery of your sin, know that Jesus endured that misery, that death, to its fullest. The gospel’s answer is not that Jesus offers us a way to cheat death, but that we are not alone in our death. Jesus is there with us, dying with us, so that when he rises, stronger than the grave, we rise too.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:5–11, ESV)

Our old lives of sin have been crucified with Christ, and our new lives with him have already begun. Now, our legacy can be one of sinners saved by grace, to the glory of God.

 

Further Study

 

Small Group Questions

  • What kind of legacy did your parents leave you?
  • Who is someone from outside your family, but within your Christian family, who has passed down a legacy of God’s grace to you?
  • Who in your life is looking to you to set an example for the kind of life that honors God?
  • How can we endeavor to live our lives so that our legacy is bigger than ourselves, pointing to Christ?
  • How can we support each other, and be supported in return, as we live for Christ?