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CLEAVE TO THE LORD
Deut. 10:20
Fair Avenue Baptist Church
Sunday Morning Sermon
January 18, 1998
“to Him shalt thou cleave”
Here is an expression we no longer use in our modern vocabulary.
“to Him shalt thou cleave”
Deut. 11:22
“cleave unto Him”
Deut. 13:4
“cleave unto Him”
Deut. 30:20
“that thou mayest cleave unto Him”
Cleave - what does it mean?
The Hebrew word for cleave is basically the same definition as our English word.
It means, “stick, stay close, keep close, follow closely, join to, pursue closely.”
Moses, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, was telling the children of Israel,
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
One of the important ways for the children of Israel to make it and stay in God’s will and with God’s plan was “to cleave unto Him.”
And ladies and gentlemen, if we expect to make in this wicked world,
if we expect to stay in God’s will,
if we expect to stay with God’s plan,
we must “cleave unto Him.”
The message here is clear.
Love Him,
Obey Him,
Serve Him,
Cleave unto Him.
Joshua 22:5,
“cleave unto Him”
Joshua 23:8
“cleave unto the Lord your God”
Joshua, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God, once again reminds the
children of Israel:
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
From the time that Moses had encouraged the children of Israel to “cleave unto Him,” to the time of Joshua, many years later, the children of Israel had done just that.
They had followed the instruction of God as given through Moses.
God had blessed,
They had entered the promised land,
They had been blessed greatly by God,
and Joshua reminds them of that in Joshua 23:8, “as ye have done unto this day.”
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
They had followed the words of God for many years.
They had been greatly blessed.
And I wish this story had a happy ending.
The day came when the children of Israel forget about God.
They didn’t “stick to God”
They failed to “stay close to God”
They did not “keep close to God”
They forget to “follow closely to God”
They did not remain “joined to God”
They stopped “pursuing God closely”
In fact, the Bible says that they went after other gods.
They left the true God and went and followed other gods, false gods.
The Bible gives us terms for their condition:
rebellious
stiff-necked
disobedient
hard-hearted
foolish
backslidding
And if you and I are not careful, we can fall into the same trap.
The children of Israel loved God,
They served Him,
They followed Him,
They stayed close to Him,
They obeyed Him,
They were blessed of Him,
They were God’s people.
But what happened?
I believe it follows several steps, steps in a
progression from following God,
loving Him,
serving Him,
obeying Him,
cleaving to Him,
to total rebellion,
to disobedience,
to hard-heartedness,
to backslidding,
it all begins when we start to drift from this blessed Book, the Word of God.
When we get so busy we no longer have time for the Word of God, we are going to drift.
We are going to find it very hard to:
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
We are not going to be able to cleave unto God when we stay away from His Word.
When we start moving away from God and
toward something else, we have failed to cleave unto Him.
When we fail to keep close to God,
when we fail to follow closely to God,
we have failed to cleave unto Him.
When we stop pursing God closely and start pursuing other things more closely, we have failed to cleave unto Him.
When our job is more important to us than our relationship with God, we have failed to cleave unto Him.
And we know it is true. We begin to work more and more and more to earn more and more and more and we neglect God’s Word, we neglect God’s House, and eventually that close relationship with God begins to deteriorate.
And to make matters worse, we take a second job which takes more of our time and the truth is that we are now serving God less,
we are reading the Bible less,
we are praying less,
and we have failed to cleave unto Him.
When our hobbies are more important to us than our relationship with God, we have failed to cleave unto Him.
When we give our hobbies, our favorite activities, our desires,
when we give those activities more time and effort than we do to God, we have failed to cleave unto Him.
I know guys who will spend several hours each week tinkering with their cars and trucks and spend only a few minutes in the Word.
I know guys who will spend five hours a week on the golf course and five minutes with God.
I know guys who will spend five hours a week going to the car races in Ardmore and five minutes with God.
I know women who spend more time at Walmart than they do with God.
That’s why one guy said that when he dies, he wants to be buried in the Walmart parking lot so his wife will visit him every day.
I know people who spend more time on the phone talking about little of nothing and give God a few minutes a day at best.
And our lives are a wreck,
Marriages are weak, and falling apart,
We have nothing but problems with our kids,
Our grown children are a disappointment,
We are not happy,
We are empty,
We have no joy,
And our lives have no real purpose.
“CLEAVE UNTO HIM”
“STICK TO HIM”
“STAY CLOSE TO HIM”
“FOLLOW CLOSELY TO HIM”
“PURSUE HIM”
I wonder how many people would totally honest and be able to say, “I have a good, solid marriage.”
My husband is a godly man who lives by the Word of God and practices Biblical principles,
or my wife is a godly, scriptural wife who lives by the Word of God and loves the Lord,
we love one another and get along fine,
we love the Lord together,
we serve the Lord together,
our kids are saved,
they love the Lord,
they are serving the Lord,
no divorce,
no abuse,
no fussing and fighting,
a peaceful home,
a home that would please the Lord,
We have a happy home.
If everyone was totally honest, most would not be able to say that.
And the reason is that somewhere, somehow, we forgot to:
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
I wish some of you knew what it was like to try and pastor.
There are families here this morning where the marriages have just almost broken up.
Wives have left husbands,
Husbands have left wives,
Children are breaking mother’s hearts,
And yet, they have most people fooled.
You think that everything is okay.
You would never dream that in the past few years my phone has rang and a voice on the other end says, “My wife left, what am I going to do?”
Or, “My husband left.”
Why are Christians having these kinds of problems?
Because we have a tendency to drift from God,
We have a tendency to stray from God,
We fail to:
“cleave unto Him”
“stick to God”
“stay close to God”
“keep close to God”
“follow closely to God”
“join to God”
“pursue God closely”
And an unhappy marriage means an unhappy person which makes for an unhappy Christian.
We can’t be right with God and wrong with our mate.
We can’t be right with our mate and wrong with God.
It just will not work!
You and I must decide to “cleave unto Him” if we expect life to work.
If we expect life to be a blessing instead of a burden, we are going to have to “cleave unto Him.”
It is our choice.
We can ignore God and His Word,
We can fail to serve Him,
We can fail to obey Him,
We can fail to cleave unto Him,
and one of these days you will stop and realize that your marriage has never been a good one, it is merely a tolerable relationship,
you are not happy,
you are dissatisfied with life,
your kids are an overall disappointment,
your life did not turn out like you expected,
and the more you think the more you will get discouraged.
And if you were to take the time to examine your life carefully, you would find that the time came when you lost your love for the Lord,
when you stopped serving Him,
when you stopped obeying Him,
when you stopped keeping close to Him,
when you begin to devote your time to other activities,
when church became a nuisance instead of necessary,
when everything began to rob from your time with God.
It happened to the children of Israel and it can happen to each and every one of us.
You say, “Preacher, I want my life to be better. I want my Christian life to be better. What can I do?”
Let me give you several simple points that are very familiar but they are the ones we neglect the most:
1. Get something from God’s word every day.
2. Spend time in prayer ever day.
3. Decide to “cleave unto Him” by giving Him more of yourself than you do to any other thing.
(1998 Sermons I - Cleave)
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