THROUGH THE BIBLE - Deuteron..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Deuteronomy chapter 2. Then we turned and sojourned into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, and the Lord told me, and for many days, as the Lord told me, and for many days we traveled around Mount Seir.

Then the Lord said to me, you have been traveling around this mountain country long enough Turn northward and command the people. You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau who live in Seir, and they will be afraid of you, so be very careful. Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of your foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall purchase food from them with money that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money that you may drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands, He knows you're going through the great wilderness.

These 40 years, the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. So we went on away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Syria, away from the Araba road from Ilath and Ezion-Geba. And we turned and went into the direction of the wilderness of Moab, and the Lord said to me, Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession. The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many and tall as the Anakim.

Like the Anakim, they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites also lived in Syria formerly, but the people of Esau disposed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in the land in their place, as Israel did, to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them. Now rise up and go over the brook Zered. So we went over the brook Zered and the time from our leaving Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was 38 years until the entire generation, that is, the men of war had perished from the camp as the Lord had sworn to them. indeed the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from the camp until they had perished.

So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people the Lord said to me today you are to cross the border of Moab and when you approach the territory of people of Ammon do not harass them or contend with them For I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzumim, as people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, as he did for the people of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed their Horites before them.

And they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. As for the Avim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Khaftorim, who came from Khaftor, destroyed them and settled in their place. Rise up. set out on your journey and go over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hands Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon and his land.

Begin to take possession and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the people who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you. So I sent messages from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, the words of peace, saying, let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road. I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.

You shall sell me food for money that I may eat and give me water for money that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot as the sons of Esau who lived in Seir and the Moabites who lived in Ar did for me until I go over the Jordan unto the land that the Lord our God is giving to us. But Sihon, the king of Heshvon, would not let us pass by him. For the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate that he might give him into your hand as he is at this day. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon his land over to you.

Begin to take possession that you may occupy his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. And we captured all his cities at the time and devoted to destruction every city man Every city, men, women, and children. We let no survivors, only the livestock we took as our spoil for ourselves and the plunder of the cities we captured.

From Oreo, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley. As far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord, our God, gave all into our hands. Only to the land of the sons of Amon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities on the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us. Amen.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but this is the word of God and it remains forever. Let's come to our Lord in prayer before we begin. Oh Lord, we come before you this evening. We ask that you would be among us, that you would open our hearts, open our ears, give us, Lord, light. Please, Lord, I pray that you would feed us this evening.

I pray, Lord, that the words that are spoken from this feeble mouth would be only words that are corresponding and consistent with truth. Lord, your people are only interested in truth, and you are the God of truth. Teach us your truth this evening, O Lord. Give us faith to apprehend it, and Lord, give us the power and the ability to obey it. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, we have the privilege once again to open the fifth book of the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy, a book that we began to meditate upon last week. Providence of God has allowed us and extended our days that we're able to open the fifth book and we've been working systematically through the Old Testament, which is an incredible blessing. Now last week when we examined or at least meditated upon the first chapter in the book of Deuteronomy, if you may remember, I gave you a little bit of a context as to what is going on in that particular time and who are the people who are hearing Moses speak on behalf of God. And that is very important that we keep that in the back of our minds.

Very important. Because this is the second generation of people that have been delivered from Egypt when the Lord delivered his people from over 400 years of bondage in slavery and chains to the Pharaoh in Egypt as he promised Abraham that he would. But in the meantime, these people that are before Moses as he speaks and proclaims the word of God, these aren't the people, the first generation, that were rescued from Egypt, but the second. Most of these people, all of them, were under the age of 20, of course, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua and Moses for a few weeks at least. They were under the age of 20.

The men were not listed on the census, the fighting men, which had to be over the age of 20. So this is a young generation, you may say. The oldest would have been, what, 59. Or most of these, or many of these that are before us in this passage would not have even been born when they were rescued by the mighty hand of God coming out of Egypt. But they are a people who are able to look back.

And we said that last week. People who are able to look back at the failures of their parents, the first generation, the whole generation, that entire generation had passed in the wilderness. They may have been young, but they know that this is not a normal life. These people were living like nomads. They had no land.

They went from place to place. Sure, they stayed in places more than others, but this is not usual. This is not the normal thing. They'd been promised the land, but they hadn't received the land because of the judgment of God. The judgment of God had fallen upon their parents because of their unbelief, because of their rank disobedience.

And these people that are before Moses have heard this. And so the first few chapters, as I said the other week, the first few chapters that are before us from chapters one through three in the book of Deuteronomy are very much a look back. It's a reminiscing of looking back and remembering what had taken place since the Lord had rescued these people from the land of Egypt till now some 40 years later. A lot of it is negative. A lot of it brings out the failures, the cosmic failures of their parents who lacked faith in God and as a result their bodies are scattered and buried across the wilderness as Moses even speaks.

But the fact that these people exist, the fact that they're standing, they're listening to Moses, is evidence that this God is a God who keeps his promises. Because God would have been well within his rights to actually destroy these people as well. Many of the nations, if not all the nations they will go into in the conquest, both the adults and the children are being destroyed, and is God not a just God? He is. The God had made a promise, and He's a God who keeps His promises.

He'd made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that a land He would give them flowing with milk and honey, and He will give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Maybe not to the first generation, but the second. But He's a God who always, always keeps His promise. But I want us to see that look back The look back and the reminiscing of what had taken place over the last 40 years was not without reason. Sure, they've been able to see the failures of their parents and they will be encouraged and exhorted to obedience.

In fact, the chapter that comes after the first three, chapter four, is Moses actually exhorting this generation not to be like their parents but rather to obey Yahweh because He's worthy to be obeyed. But it's not simply a few chapters that speak about the failures of the past generation, beloved. Because if it is that, and all that's happening here is Moses saying, this is what your parents did. Don't do the same thing. Try a little bit harder.

Then they're going to be set up for failure. Something needs to change. Something substantial needs to take place. A substantial change needs to take place in the heart. Faith.

True faith in this God needs to be present. Otherwise, these people that are standing before Moses as he opens his mouth are of the same substance as their parents. They are the same flesh, the same blood, the same genealogy, and the results will be exactly the same if they try harder and flex their own muscles, thinking that they can rely on their own strength, or their own intellect, or their own ability. No, something needs to change and it needs to be substantial, beloved. And as I said, that change has to be one that is predicated upon faith in this great God who rescued them out of the land of Egypt.

Fix their eyes upon Him. The fault of their parents was they looked to self. their own understanding. They figured things out and saw that they saw the occupants of the land that they were to conquer and they did the sums and they thought it through and then fear took over. No, no.

Fix your eyes upon Yahweh, upon the God of the universe, not on your own strength, your own abilities, not on your own fear. Take your eyes off self and place them on the One who keeps all His promises, the Almighty One and the Sovereign of the universe. I think that's the message of the first few chapters of this wonderful book. And if that is true, beloved, then the emphasis of these chapters is not the failure, simply, of the first generation of the people of Israel, but the emphasis of these chapters is where it should be, upon the God of the universe. Because in these chapters and moving forward, the whole Bible speaks to who this great God, the transcendent God, who's revealed himself through his word.

It speaks about the goodness of God, the mercy of God, the faithfulness of God. We read it here, even just this evening, we saw in verse 7, as they traveled, and they'd been 40 years in the wilderness, we read that the Lord your God has been with you, Moses says, you have lacked for what? Nothing. You've lacked nothing. God is emphasized in these chapters, and in particular, this chapter, the emphasis is on God's sovereignty.

And that's simply where I want to take us this evening. To see how God is indeed sovereign through the words, a few verses that we have before us. Because God reveals himself in a special way to his people. He has revealed himself through the attributes of who he is. And he is a sovereign God of the universe.

And we see that through these chapters. And beloved, unless these people, this generation, embrace who God is, In all that he's revealed himself to be in, in particular, his sovereignty, as we'll see in a few moments, and embrace that, and apprehend that, and appreciate who God is, then they have no chance of being obedient. Moses will compel them to be obedient in chapter 4, but they will have absolutely no chance to obey. No chance to accomplish that obedience unless their eyes are taken off themselves and placed upon God himself. It's not about performance, it's about faith.

And faith in the one who empowers you. to holy living. That's the focal point, I believe, that is on this chapter. And it begins with God telling the people, enough of this wandering around. Enough.

You were at Kadesh Barnea and 48 odd years ago, and you rebelled against me. Now I pushed you down towards the Red Sea. Last week we said that's in the direction of sin and the fruit of your own labor, which is unrighteousness. But now God said, no, now you're going to go back north. Because now my blessing is back in view.

That land flowing with milk and honey, that's where I'm going to take you. But before you get there, you're going to go through a series of experiences. The first of which, from verse 3 to 6, is that they'll experience going through the territory of their brother Esau. You remember that. The territory of Esau, we're told.

That is Mount Seir or Seir. It's synonymous with Edom. Okay. That's where you're going to go. Now, these people, the occupants of that land, are going to be in dread of you.

They're going to fear you. Our brother Pedro read this evening, if you remember, after crossing the Red Sea, that beautiful psalm of Moses in chapter 15, verse 14 and 15, from memory. Speak to the chiefs of Esau being in dread and being in fear. Why? Because the testimony, word of what Yahweh had already done with his people who came out of Egypt, who had no giftings at all.

did not know anything other than obeying commands. That's it. And through these people, with these people, he opens up the sea, collapses the army of Pharaoh, destroys the enemy, and sets them free from bondage. That is a scary thing. They're coming our way.

There's dread that will be in their hearts. Absolute dread. So God says, you need to realize this. But you also need to realize that you're not to pursue them. You're not to fight against them.

You're not going to contend with them. The exact words he says in verse 5, Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as the sole of your foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. Now, I said this evening, there's many things we can speak about this chapter. I only want you to see the sovereignty of God. Who's in control?

Listen to the words. I do not want you to contend with them, for I will not give you I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as your foot will tread upon. Because, why? Because I have given it. I have given Mount Sio to Esau as a possession.

Beloved, who is in control about who gets what? The saying goes on from verse 9 because now we're looking at Lot's territory, at least the territory given to the descendants of Lot from verse 9. And the Lord said to me, do not harass Moab. or contend with them in battle, for I, again, the same words, I will not give you any of their land for possession, because I have given, A-R-R, as to the people of Lot, for possession. I'm in control.

I'm sovereign over who gets what. I've given that land to Esau. I've given this to the descendants of love. You're getting your parcel, your inheritance. You ought to be satisfied with what comes from the hand of the Lord and don't go for more and don't go for less.

Obedience is what he wants. Trust is what he wants. And then he goes on and he says in verse 18, today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them. Again the same words.

For I will not give you any of their land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for possession. I'm the one who determines who gets what, is what Yahweh is saying. I am the sovereign of this universe. I'm the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. This is my planet.

This is my earth. And what I say goes. And what I say is always good. I'm going to give you an inheritance. But that's not going to be your inheritance.

That land is reserved for another. It's interesting. Because God says, I am the one who gave it to them. Esau would have fought. And so did lots of people.

They would have fought for the land. We're told that. They fought. These aren't really, these aren't the people of God. Sure they have a connection, they're from the same family as Abraham, but they're not the promised seed.

And yet it is God who fought for them. Verse 21, read that. Verse 21 tells us, it says, but the Lord destroyed them, speaking about the enemies, before he gave the land to Esau's descendants and to the descendants of Lot. They fought. They thought they had the victory in and of themselves, but it was God who ordained who gets what.

Same thing, if these people, the people of Israel, if they were to go against Esau now, or go against the land that has been given and promised to Lot, they will lose, because Yahweh's not with them. They tried that, remember, a generation ago. They went on their own, and what happened? They came back embarrassed. They were beat down.

is a stirred bee's nest. Beloved, God is in control. He is sovereign over everything. He is sovereign over who gets what. He is sovereign over his universe.

I love how the Peking King, Nebuchadnezzar, realized that. Do you remember the words? In Daniel chapter 4 he says, for his dominion, speaking about Yahweh, is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.

He does according to his will, according to the host of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can say, none can stay his hand or say to him, I love this, what have you done? No one. The Apostle Paul speaks to something similar when he's talking about allotments. You may remember in Acts chapter 17 speaking to the Athenians or the Aeropagus.

You can pronounce that another way but I like to say Aeropagus because I can't pronounce it the other way. But you remember in Acts chapter 17 the Apostle Paul says, and he, that is God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined determined, nothing's left to chance, having determined whether these are pagans that are living in the land or whether it's people living in the promised land. Having determined, he says, a lot of periods and boundaries even as far as they go, not even a square foot more. Like he said, don't contend against these or you won't even get a square foot of land. having determined the boundaries of their dwelling places, that they should seek God and perhaps feel free, feel, sorry, their way towards Him and find Him, yet He is actually not far from each of us.

He's the only true God. He's sovereign. What Moses is saying to this second generation Israelites is saying, He's on your side. He's guiding, he's sovereign, that's great news! But that's not good news if he's not on your side.

Because you can be the Amalekites, you can be the Canaanites, you can be the Jebusites, you can be a lot ofites, and if he's sovereign, he can remain sovereign. And he's the only god in the universe, but if he's not on your side, that's not good news. He's on your side. And we're told here, we're given an example from verse 26 of the defeat of the king of Sihon. Now we've already looked at this in Numbers chapter 21.

It's been a while. But God had already marked that land to be given to the people of Israel. But it's interesting because when Moses retells the story, he tells us in verse 24 that the king, my apologies, that God Yahweh had already said to them, go and take possession of the land. I have given it, past tense, to you. But when Moses comes across and tells us the narrative from verse 26, he tells us that he approached the king and he said to the king Sihon, he said to him, look, please just let us pass through peacefully.

We need to go from here to here. We need to go through your terrain. Just let us pass through. If we eat, we'll pay for it. If we drink, we'll buy it.

But that wasn't God's plan. In His sovereignty, He had already planned to give them that land. Moses wants peaceful passages. God wants to give it to His people. So what happens?

The already hardened king, the already evil king, the already pagan king, who had a heart that is in enmity with God, God hardens his heart further. Gives him basically what he already wanted. And the people engage in war and what happens? God gives Israel victory and that narrative moving forward from verse 26 tells us about that occasion that took place by the hardening of Pharaoh's, my apologies, the hardening of King Sihon's heart. probably just heard me say, is so likened to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart when God brought the people out of Egypt.

Beloved, even the heart of man is under the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign, and we find that throughout the passages of Scripture. If we only had time, and we don't, we would look at the nuances that are found in these verses, and they're incredible, but let me just bring up two. Just two. In the previous chapter, the one that we looked at last week, in chapter 2, from verse 27 we're told something very interesting.

Because, beloved, the people in the first generation, this is spoken about, the people 38 odd years ago, the first generation Israelites that came out of Egypt, these were hardened people. They didn't believe. They practiced disobedience to God. They trusted in their own understanding, in their own, what they could see and assess. But they didn't trust in God or the word of God saying, go and take possession.

The spies came back and they were trembling. They didn't trust. And the very thing that God had promised them, the blessing that God had promised for these people, they considered a curse. Believe it or not. Listen to what is spoken of in the previous chapter in verse 27.

It says, And you murmured, remember this is the previous generation, only a couple of years or less from departing from Egypt. And you murmured in your tents and said, Because the Lord hates us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Again, only about a year after they left Egypt. Now they're saying it is because God hates us. The spies have come back, told us what's on the other side of the Jordan, and we now have made an assessment.

God hates us. He's rescued us from the Egyptians in order to destroy us at the hands of the Amorites. Think of it. The very blessing of God is now seen as a curse. Beloved, who is King Sihon?

Back in chapter 21 we're told he is the king of the Amorites. God didn't save you and rescue you from Egypt to bring you under bondage to another king and destroy you. In fact, on the contrary, He's brought you to the king of Amorites to destroy you and take his land as well. What they saw to be a curse was actually a blessing that God had prepared for them, but they did not want it because of lack of faith. Let's have a look at the second nuance in chapter 1, verse 28, it continues.

And it says, where we are going up, there's a continuation. Our brothers have told us or made our hearts melt saying that people are greater and taller than we are. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim. That was their excuse back then.

You've just come back and told us these giants, fortified cities, thick walls, these giants walking around and we're like grasshoppers. We can't go against them. What are we told in this chapter? Moses is talking to a people who are not to fear what comes because the God of the universe is with them. He's sovereign.

over all things and he's told them that you are going to claim that land that he has promised and he said so because the occupants of the land Seir which now belongs to Esau that was previously occupied by giants as well. He told them. Not just Seir which is Eden but also Ar, the land that is being given Lot's descendants, as well as Amon. Every one of these places were occupied by what we're told the Emim, or the giants that lived in the land. So if God has given defeat to a people who are not His promised people, and He's a God who is powerful enough to destroy the giants of the land, then how much more should you have confidence, now you have a promise that you can claim to, where God says, don't possess the land.

I have given it to you already. Fear not. Fear not. The God is softened. He can be trusted.

You can embrace Him and His promises. And this is why, even with what has already happened, Moses is able to say in verse 36, from Erere, which is on the edge of the valley of Anon, and from the city to the valley. As far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God gave all into our hands. speaking of what is taking place already, probably in faith of what is to come as well.

But there's no city too high, there's no nation too strong, there's not a people too powerful, there's not walls too fortified that our God cannot destroy. He is sovereign, he's all-powerful. In the words of King Nebuchadnezzar, who can stay in his hand? If he's promised, he'll deliver. The last thing I want us to think about this evening I've gone over time, my apology.

Last thing I want us to think about is this. He will deliver, no matter the cost. There's a sovereign God, and once he has promised to his people, he'll deliver, no matter the cost. And brothers and sisters, I want to apply this to us. There's many ways I can do that.

But I want to simply just remind you of the promise that God has made to Abraham, not to, because this is not really ultimately about a land in first century Palestine. In Palestine, we know it's not that. That took place in real history, but there's something bigger going on. This is about a greater inheritance. This is about more than just a physical people called physical Israel.

This is about the spiritual seed of Abraham. Because God promised that Abraham's seed will be a blessing to all the families of the world. That promise would come in Jesus Christ. We know that. God promised that there would be a people, a true remnant, a true children of Abraham that would be gathered unto God forevermore.

And I need to ask you this question. God is sovereign. He's proven he is. And if the sovereign God of the universe promises he will accomplish no matter the cost. You see, the cost here to give Israel the land was to destroy a people who were pagan, who were sinful, who were wicked at the core.

You don't have to read very much to think about or to acknowledge the type of sin they were engaging in. Shrine prostitutes, the killing of their own children, some disgusting, filthy things. And what God did was He poured out His judgment rightly on these people, but in order for God in order for God, in His sovereignty, to keep His promise to bring a people unto Himself. That Abraham would indeed be the blessing to all the nations of the world. Beloved, what cost did he have to endure?

You see, it's easy to think of God saying, He's a God who pours out His judgment on the unjust and He sits on His throne. Great, but that's not our God. That is a part of Him. But that is not the fullness. Beloved, we need to see the love of God in this.

Because in order for God In order for God to redeem a people and to keep his promise to bring a people who will eternally enjoy him for eternity, this God needed to be a man. This God needed to be united with humanity and shed his unbloodied hands of simple, evil, human beings. Was there not another way? You're sovereign of the universe. Was there not a lighter price to pay to redeem a people like us?

Answer comes back, no. Jesus in Gethsemane, He was on His knees and said, let your will be done. Can you take this cup, the bitter cup away from me? And the answer comes, no. The only way is for you to lay down your life.

And He says, let your will be done. I will lay down my life for the sake of my people. This is the sovereign of the universe. He owns all things. Yet when He has united the people in His Son, He knew from the very beginning, as the Sovereign, there is no shortcuts.

This will cost Him His life. This will cost the greatest sacrifice. Even as the Sovereign of the universe, there was no lighter price to pay. And beloved brothers and sisters, when we think of this price that this Sovereign God had to pay for your sins and mine, how can we not marvel at His love? that inheritance that is promised to us.

I was going to read to you 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5, but I won't for the sake of time. Preserved for us by faith, imperishable, undefiled, they came at a cost. You paid nothing for it. But the cost is unimaginable. The blood of God was shed.

Let's pray.