Numbers 33:50-56

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Numbers chapter 33 verses 50 through 56. Numbers chapter 33 verses 50 through 56. We're going to be talking about the Lord's instructions for what they're supposed to do when they enter into Canaan. So what the Israelites are supposed to do as they enter into the land of Canaan.
Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Good to last drop. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your word. God, we pray that you would please help us. We need your spirit to let us understand what these words mean, but also how they apply to our lives. Lord, we pray that you would be our teacher this morning and that you would teach us to glorify you in Jesus's name. Amen. Alright, so we are at Numbers chapter 33 verses 50 through 56. Here we go.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places. you shall dispossess the land or you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it. For I have given you the land to possess and you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families. To the larger you shall give a larger inheritance and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. There everyone's inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you did not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover, it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them." Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this and C, what are we called to do in response to these words? So, A, what is this about?
Remember, last time as we worked through the first part of Numbers chapter 33, they're right at the Jordan River. They're on the plains of Moab by the Acacia Grove. It's about to happen and the Lord is now giving final instructions, right? When you're going to go in the land, this is what you're going to do, right?
You need to take care of all the idolatry that you found. Notice what it said in verse 52, drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images and demolish all their high places, right? This is about the Lord of heaven and earth. He's saying, I am God, and you're not to let any of them remain in the land, and you're not to let any of their idols remain in the land, right?
Why were they being driven out, these native Canaanite people, these Hittites, and the Canaanites and all the ites, right? They're being driven out because their idolatry has lifted up onto heaven. Their transgression is full before the Lord. He has been patient with them. They haven't repented.
And now he's saying the land is no longer theirs. He's giving it to the possession of the Israelites, not because they're greater, not because they're stronger, not because they're somehow something special in and of themselves. No, but because God has made a promise and he wants the glory. So he tells them, right, I'm not going to share my glory with any other. You're going to go in, these people who have created these high places, created these graven images, created these different sacred stones, you're to get rid of all of it. Why? Because they weren't to be corrupted.
But if they didn't, right, this is kind of one of those if-then statements, right? If you don't drive them out, then something's going to happen. Then, They're going to be a thorn in your side. They're going to be like, right, I was mowing the lawn yesterday and as I was mowing the lawn, I got something in my eye and it just irritated my eye and irritated my eye, right? And that's what they're going to be like to you, right? They're going to be a thorn in your side. They're going to be a pain to you. They're going to harass you.
They're going to, they're going to do these things to you because you weren't faithful to me. God's telling them this is going to be both the natural and the supernatural consequence, right? The natural consequence under his governance, under his providence, they are going to be a pain in your side, right?
And so this is what the Lord tells them at the very end in verse 55. So what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I have verse 52 underlined as well as verse 55 and 56. So, Last seed calling, what are we called to do? Right? Well, do we take sin that seriously in our lives? Do I take the idolatry of my heart that seriously? The Lord himself is the one who brought the gospel to a Gentile like me. I don't deserve it. I'm no better than a Canaanite, or an Amorite, or a Perizzite, or a Hittite, or any of the other ites, right? I'm a Gentilite. I'm an Americanite. I have my own sin.
And the Apostle Paul is very clear that when I covet, I commit idolatry. And it always has consequences in our lives. When we tolerate idolatry in our lone lives, what happens is it becomes a snare to us, an annoyance, and it eventually can even draw us or drive us away from the Lord. And so we're to be those who put away that sin, who repent from it, drive it out of our hearts as much as we can. Be busy, as John Owen said, be busy killing sin or sin will be busy killing you. Do we take idolatry that seriously in our hearts, in our lives? Do we take God's holiness and his glory with this same type of vigor? And I got to tell you, historically, This is playing out right now, right? This will probably be dated someday, this video, right? But the war between Hamas and Gaza and Israel, why is it happening?
The Israelites didn't dispossess the Philistines. They didn't dispossess the land. And as they refused to do that, eventually the Lord would make good on this promise. And the people would be a scorn to them. They would be up in their sides. They would be constantly harassing them.
And so the Lord is true in this. So I hope that we take it seriously in our lives too. What this means in our own hearts. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much that you have made promises to us and that you have loved us and cared for us. Lord, we thank you that you do not hide hard truths from us, but you instruct us in the way that we should go, the ways that bring you glory. God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would give us strength. that we wouldn't give up the fight, that we wouldn't stop running the race, that we would not become comfortable with sin and just become easy with the effects it has on us. Lord, please help us to follow you. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. May he sanctify you through and through. May you strive to be holy as he is holy because his spirit is in you. I'll see you next time. Bye.