God Fights for Israel

How big is your God? How big is your God? There's a couple ways we can be asking that question. There's the objective question. How big is God? The real question we're pressing in here is how big do you think He is? How do you think of Him? Is He a great and mighty God? to save, to fight for you, to love you. What do you believe God can do? What do you believe God should do? One of the ways to examine and to think about how we think of God is to consider our prayers. Our prayers reflect our theology more than anything else. How often do we pray? What do we pray for? So, ask yourself, how much do you trust God? How often are you going to Him in prayer? What are you asking for? Are you asking that God would punish your enemies? Are you asking for the grace to forgive them? Are you praying that God would wipe your enemies off the face of the earth? Are you praying that God would pour out His grace to save them? The way we pray reflects who we think God is and what He should do. Do we pray for God to give us more and better stuff? Or do we pray for God to renew our hearts, purify our passions, and give us wisdom from above? Who is God and what does He desire for you? This is a question we need to ask. This is a question we have to ask, because how we pray will determine how we pray, and our prayers reflect this. So, what do we expect from God? This morning, we're going to continue our study in Deuteronomy. We're going to see that God is faithful to fight for His people. He is trustworthy. Regardless of our circumstances, He is trustworthy. He has committed Himself to a people, to be with that people, to fight for those people. We're going to have three points, and we're taking a large portion of text. We're going to be looking at Deuteronomy chapter 2 and chapter 3. If you're using a Pew Bible, you can find that on page 146 and 147. If you want to take that Bible home with you, we would love for you to take that Bible home with you. There are three things we're going to learn about God. First, God does not forget His promises. Second, God fights for His people. Third, God is faithful to lead His people. God does not forget His promises. God fights for His people. God is faithful to lead His people. If you're a mathematician, that's one, two, and three. I couldn't resist. I apologize. God does not forget his promises. Let's look at chapter 2. Let me remind us where we are. We're in Deuteronomy. It's only the second chapter, but this is significant to understand what's happening. Moses is giving his first of three sermons to the next generation. He's helping them remember. He's reminding them. This is what happened to the previous generation. The generation that every time something happened that they didn't like, every time things seemed bad or things seemed difficult, they would cry out to God, is it because you hate us? Is it because there were no graves in Egypt? They were grumbling and murmuring. He's reminding this next generation, you are commanded to go in. God has given you victories. Do not be like that previous generation. Go in. Trust God. Last week he reminded them of Kadesh Barnea, where they spied out the land and they saw the people were large. They were afraid and refused to go in. Then after God judged them, they said, well now we'll go in. They would not listen to God and so God said that generation will not inherit the land. So now Moses is speaking to the second generation after he's reminded them of... he's warned them. He's used their parents as a warning against them in the way they did not trust God. Now he's going to remind them who God is and what He does. First, God does not forget His promises. We're in chapter 2. I'll begin reading, and we're going to be reading a lot of text. The most important thing you're going to hear this morning is when I read the Bible. Everything else I say is just trying to make it helpful, clear, and apply it. The most important thing you're going to hear this morning is when the Bible is read. So, tune in, sit up, focus, Get your Bible out. Let's hear the Word of God. Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. For many days we traveled around Mount Seir. Then the Lord said to me, you've been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward and command the people. You're 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 their 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 this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, you have lacked nothing. The Lord your God has been with you, you have lacked nothing. So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Yisrael who live in Seir, away from the Arab road from Elath and Ezion-Geber. And we turned and went in 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 possession. Because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for possession. The Amim formerly lived there, a people great and many and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they are also counted as Rephaim, the Moabites. call them Amin. The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them before them and settled in their place as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them. Now rise up, go over the brook Zerud. So we went over the Brook Zerod in the time from our leaving Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Brook Zerod was 38 years until the entire generation, until the entire generation, that is the men of war, had perished from the camp as the Lord had sworn to them for 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 at Ar, and when you approach the territory of the people of Amman, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Amman as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for possession. It is also counted as the land of Raphaim. Raphaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzumim, a 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 live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. As for the Avim who live in the village as far as Gaza, the Khaftarim who came from Khaftor destroyed them and settled in their place." Let's consider what God is saying here, what Moses is reminding them. God promised, this is a promise, the generation that rebelled would not enter into that land. God made a judgment. He declared His Word. He declared to them, you will not see it. God told them, in chapter 1 verse 34, they would not enter the land. After the generation that witnessed the mighty right hand of God and the plagues and the Red Sea parting, They go down through the way of the Red Sea, down to Mount Sinai. They're declared the Holy Nation of God, the Kingdom of Priests. They're then led up to Cadaspornia. They refuse. Because of their rebellion, God says, go back. Go back toward the Red Sea. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. We had turned and journeyed in the wilderness, the direction of the Red Sea. For many days we traveled around Mount Sinai. They were traveling around. There's a difference between traveling around and traveling toward. They're just walking around the desert. They're going around in circles for a purpose. If they had a direction, if they had a destination, that'd be one thing, but they're just traveling around and there's a purpose. So that they all might die. Listen to verse 14 and 16 again. In the time for our leaving at Kadesh-Bernina until we crossed the Brook of Zareb was thirty years until the entire generation, that is the men of war, had perished as the Lord had sworn to them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from the camp until they perished. As soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, the Lord said to me, going across. This is a warning, again. The consequences of sin are that you do not get to enjoy the blessings of God. For 40 years they traveled until everybody who had died. It's estimated that somewhere around 2 million people died in the wilderness, if you count all the different deaths that are accounted for in numbers. Seems like a waste of life. unless you realize what life is really about, and it's about worshiping God, and knowing Him, and trusting Him, and obeying Him, and then you see God is removing those who refuse to listen, because they were going to leave their children to follow their example. God kept His promise that that generation would die in the desert, and they did. But I want you also to see God's keeping another promise. God said, I will have my people in my land. I will have my people in my land. This is why verse 2 is so helpful. You've been traveling around this mountain country long enough for them all to die. Turn. Turn northward. God gave them a direction. God gave them a destination. God said, now you will go into the land. Command them. The good news, this generation gets to go up. They get to take the land. Now, it's interesting what happens first. There's two different people groups. The Edomites, the Moabites. And God says, do not contend with them. Do not harass them. I will not give them into your hands. Now, this is very different from what we're going to see in the next section with Og. We're going to see something very different. These other two kings are going to be destroyed completely. But here, the Edomites and the Moabites, they're protected. It's worth asking why. There is an explicit reason why, but we can give a reason of some sort just looking at the rest of Scripture. The Edomites are the descendants of Esau. Well, God is recognizing and acknowledging that Esau was given land in Genesis 36. I believe He's acknowledging that that land was given to them by one of the patriarchs and He's letting them live there. We also see Moab. Well, those are the descendants of Lot. Abraham and Lot separated. They just chose two different lands. I believe God is acknowledging, you have been given land. Now, If you go back to Numbers, Israel is told, you will destroy Esau and his people. You will overcome Moab and all those people. I think what God is doing here is giving them grace. I believe just like He did with the Ammonites who were going to see Him destroyed next, I believe He's given them a time of repentance. He's given them a time of grace to repent, just as God promised the the Ammonites in Genesis 15. Before we move on, let's look at verse 7. Very important theological declaration. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you're going to this wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. As we'll see later in Deuteronomy, one of the things that nations are supposed to come and say is, whose God is so near to a people as this God, Yahweh, is to Israel? This is one of the sweet promises that we can't take for granted. Just as we can't take for granted God speaks, God is with His people. It's one of the great truths of Yahweh. It's one of the great truths of Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. And now we live with the Holy Spirit indwelling us. God desires to be with His people, and when God is with His people, they lack nothing. When God is with His people, they lack nothing. The problem with His people, or let's just go ahead and say it, the problem with us, is we want more than what God wants to give us. We're not thankful for what God provides for us. That's why we're discontent. That's why we grumble and quarrel. Let's look at our next section. The longer section. God fights for His people. And I want you to see here 1st chapter 2 verse 24 Rise up, set out, go over, begin to take possession, contend with him in battle. Verse 24 has six commands. Go, get up, fight. Flip over to chapter 3, verse 22. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you. Go fight! It is the Lord your God who fights for you. He is with you, He is for you. Do not be afraid. Again, let me read our section in its entirety. Rise up, set out on your journey, go over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sion, the Amorite, the 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 peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble in being anguish because of you. So I sent messages from the wilderness of Kedemeth to Sion, the king of Heshbon, with 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 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 live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over to Jordan in the land that the Lord our God is giving to us. But Sion, the king of Heshbon, 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 this day. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sion the land over to you. Begin to take possession that you may occupy his land. Sion came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jehaz. 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 that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured. From our Orer, which is on the edge of the valley of 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 Arnon did not..." I'm sorry, my printout, I don't think, covered that entirely. From our which is on the edge of the valley of Aran, 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 the land of the sons of Ammon did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river of Jebok, the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us. Then we turned and went up to the way of Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edre. But the Lord said to me, Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sion, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshpon. So the Lord our God gave him into our hand. Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people. And we struck him down until he had no survivors left. And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city that we did not take from them. Sixty cities, the whole region of Argab, the kingdom of Og and Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bards beside every many unwalled villages. And we devoted them to destruction. And we did decide on the king of Ashbon, devoting to destruction every city, men, women, and children. But all the livestock in this flow of the cities we took as our plunder. So we took the land, at that time, out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon. The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, where the Amorites call it Sinir. All the cities of the table land, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Silechah in Adrae, cities of the kingdom of Og and Bashan. For only Og, the king of Bashan, was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. It is not in Rabah of the Ammonites. Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to common Cupid. When we took possession of the land at that time, I gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites. Their territory beginning at Aror, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead were the cities. The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, the region of Argab, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. All portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. Ja'er the Manassite took all the region of Argab, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Gusharites and the Mechathites, and called the village after his own as it is to this day. To Mekir I gave Gilead, and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the valley of the Arnon. With the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the Jordan Javut, the border of the Ammonites. And Ereba also with the Jordan as the border from Chinareth, as far as the sea of the Ereba, the salt sea, under the slopes of the Pisgah on the east. And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor shall cross over, armed before your brothers, the people of Israel, only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock, I know that you have much livestock, shall remain in the cities that I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as to you, and they also occupy the land the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return his possession to his possession which I have given you. And I commanded Joshua that time, your eyes have seen all the Lord your God has done to thee through kings, so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you. The last section there is, I'm not sure how much it means to us with all the different names and places, rivers and mountains, but we all want to know where our property lines are. that means something to these people, because the tribes want to know where their property is. What has God given them? What is their portion, their inheritance? So, we see there that some of the tribes were given an inheritance on the other side of the Jordan, and then of valor from all tribes were called to go and fight. Now, if you look at chapter 2, verses 20 through 23, it's interesting, if we just look back to that very quickly, Notice that the giants are overtaken by Esau's descendants. Those who Israel was originally afraid of, they're actually overtaken by the people that God has commanded to be peaceful with. And the bigger picture of our text here is that God is calling Israel to fight. There are two kings, Sihon, king of Heshbon, Og, king of Bashan. Both are Amorites. God said in Genesis 15, your people will be in a foreign land for generations. And I'm giving those people, these pagans, I'm giving them years to repent, generations to repent. But now that time has come to fulfillment. That is why they're being judged. Very important look at verse 24 and 25. There's two sets of three commands. It doesn't jump off the page from the ESV well. Rise up, set out, go. Rise up, set out, go. Then begin, take possession, that actually should be a whole other imperative, and contend. Begin, take possession, contend. Go and fight. God has given you the land. Look at the promises. Behold, I've given into your hand Sion, the Amorite. Begin to take possession. I've given it to you. Verse 25. This day I'll begin to put dread and fear of you on the peoples of the earth. I'm going ahead of you to fight. Something else that's worth noting here is verse 30. But Sion, the king of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate." Sounds a lot like Pharaoh about 40 years ago. I believe here God is giving them an exodus-like event. He's trying to teach this next generation, I am in control of the heart. I am sovereign. He hardened his heart so that he would come up against God's people and so God could crush him. To show God's people, he is mighty in battle. Now, in all that, we learned some of what Israel did, but the main emphasis about what God did Listen to all the things that God did. Listen to the way God is described here. God, as the commander-in-chief, He identifies the target. Who? Not Edom, not Moab, people of Og, people of Bashan, or Og, the king of Bashan, Sihon. He says who. Then we see God initiates the war. He is the one who declares war. He determines when. Third, He determines a strategy for the war. You will go up. He is their commander. He is their leader. Israel is His army. He accompanies them. I'm with you. I'm for you. I'm giving them over into your hand. Notice, He puts fear in the hearts of all those who are fighting. He's already breaking their spirit so that Israel will come in and physically conquer them. And finally, he provides the victory. It's about what God's doing. He is a warrior. He is their God. He is going to fight for them. There's very little about what Israel actually accomplished. I think that the key lesson, as it should have been in chapter 1, the key lesson is this. Our circumstances will look bad, but if God gives us a promise, we must trust Him. We must trust God. He will win the battle. This is what He's trying to teach His people. He's trying to teach them now with these battles, these smaller battles on this side of the river, because once they go over to the other side of the river, it's going to be more difficult. Well, how can we apply this? Church. We are the army of Jesus Christ. We are the army of Jesus Christ. One of the ways the church in this age is described is the church militant. Now, that needs some qualification and some explanation, but it's called the church militant because we're not yet the church at rest. We're called to be the church militant because we're called to fight. We're called to go to war with sin, to go to war with the evil one, to go to war with the world and its pattern of rebellion. We're called to be the church militant, longing to be the church at rest and the church triumphant. While we wait, we must be faithful to our King who commands us. Now, we're militant in a different way than the nation of Israel. We're militant because we declare that Jesus Christ is conquered with grace. We're militant in that we're going out seeking to destroy the works of the devil, follow the pattern of Jesus Christ with the message of life. Jesus conquered sin and death. We're going out declaring His victory. He tells us who? All nations. Every kind of person. Every kind of sinner. Even us. When? Now! Now! How? By proclaiming the victory of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, by what means Jesus says that His authority is with us, His word will not return void, the outcome is His glory. If we look at this passage, there's an ethical question we need to wrestle with very briefly. How is it that God would just wipe out two nations? It's an important question we need to at least address shortly, briefly. We need to remember that God is the creator of life. He's the creator of every human being. He gave every human being dignity. He made us all in His image. He sees human beings and He sees the dignity they were created with, created for, and we have to realize something. The greatest virtue that God gave us is that we would reflect His glory. The responsibility of being made in the image of God is that we reflect His glory. The problem we have when we look at human beings is that we think the greatest virtue is our freedom. It's not God's greatest virtue for us. It's responsibility. God is not about defending our rights. God is about His glory. And He created us to be in His image. These peoples were given generations to repent of refusing to reflect God's glory. They insisted on their freedom to worship however they want, whoever they wanted. And God, as the God of life, God as the just judge, He poured out His wrath. This was good. It's difficult for us to hear. It's difficult in our age of tolerance that wants all freedom, but this is good because God says, I'm the Creator, I made you for this purpose, and they're refusing to acknowledge God. We see God's grace. He gave them generations to repent, but He is the just judge. If you're not a Christian this morning, you need to hear this. God is a warrior. He's against sinners. He's just, and He's good. God is against rape. God is against murder. He's against theft. He's against abuse. He's against violence. He's against slander. He's against liars. God is against these things, and we can all say, well, these things are bad. God should be against them. God is not worthy of worship if He's not against these things. Everyone can praise God for being a just God who would be against these things. We also have to realize He's against our lust. He's against our anger. He's against our covening. He's against our line. See, our sin makes us guilty before God. Ultimately, we're guilty because we refuse to worship Him the way He deserves. If you're not a Christian this morning, realize You're a sinner. We're all sinners. Everyone in this room, we've all said, I'm going to do it my way instead of God's way. And God fights against sinners. Sinners do not enter into God's rest. They enter into His wrath. But, it's a good thing with the Gospel. If you believe, In Jesus Christ, your wrath, the wrath that you deserve, we paid for. And you can enter into His wrath. Because God Himself, He looked down and He saw every human being was against Him, fighting against Him. He saw that there was no way we could be saved. There was no way we could save ourselves, so He came down and said, I will save you. I will come down, Jesus Christ, God with us. He became a human being, like us in every way, but with no sin. so that when He died on the cross, He died being punished for our lust, our anger, our coveting, our idolatry. He died so the wrath of God came down upon Him, so that if we believe in Him, we can be forgiven, we can be renewed. The punishment we deserve was put upon Him so that His righteousness is put upon us, and now we can be children of God. If you're not a Christian, you will enter God's wrath unless you enter into His wrath through Jesus Christ. Believe in the name of Jesus Christ. Believe He died for your sins. Believe He rose again and commit to living and worshipping and following Him. When you see one other way that this applies to us, We are at war. It's not a war like Israel, it's a war against sin. Paul tells 1 Timothy, but as for you, O man of God, flee from these things, the love of money. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you are called. and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." There's a fight, and it's not an enemy out there necessarily. The fight's against the sinful desires that are hearts, the deceptive heart that lies to us and says, we need sin. Christ came to overcome, to be the champion against sin, death, and the devil, and the primary enemy that we need to be worried about is that sin inside, because the heart is deceptive. Friends, we're called to fight. Here's the good news. God fights for us. That sin is too much for us to overcome. But God sends His Holy Spirit to renew us, to help us in that battle, to fight for us. What do we do in the midst of that battle? Will you be like the first generation and not trust God, or will you trust His goodness? Will you trust His Word? Will you trust His power? Will you trust His love? Finally, chapter 3, verses 23-29, And I pleaded with the LORD, at that time, saying, O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, Lebanon. For the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, Enough from you. Do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over as the head of the people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see. So we remain in the valley opposite Beth Peor." twice, Moses has prayed and changed God's mind. He wanted to smite God's people after the golden calf. God wanted to smite his own people after Kadesh Barnea and God interceded. Moses is a man of prayer who's been mightily used by God and here One of his final prayers, he declares, I prayed. I pleaded with the Lord. This word, it's a solemn, compassionate request. A sincere prayer. He says, O Lord God, Yahweh Almighty, the covenant name of God with His title of being Almighty. He remembers what He's done for him. You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. What God is there? Now, he doesn't believe there's other gods. This is a way of declaring that you are the greatest and almighty. You are the one true God. For what God is there in heaven and on earth, who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? He's recounting what God is, who God is, and what He's done. Who's like you? Verse 25 takes us to the request. Please, let me go over and see. Notice the request, please let me go over and see. For more than 40 years, Moses has been having to deal with this obstinate, stubborn people. Remember, Moses fled at first. When God first called Moses, Moses said, but God, look at all these problems with me. And God said, yeah, but I'm with you. I'm going to equip you. I'm going to use you. And now he's had to deal with these grumbling people for 50 plus years. The Lord responded. Moses wants to see the land. He wants to see the end. He wants to see the end result. But the Lord was angry because of you and would not listen to me. He said, enough. Do not speak to me this again. Do not speak to me about this again." Pretty hard words here. We've already heard how God went and lifted the rebellious generation, but this is Moses. Moses is making a plea, a solemn, compassionate request, and God simply says, no, quit asking, do not bring it up again, and read on. I'm replacing it with Joshua. The last way we want to hear God respond, no, you're being replaced. Now, the prayer, it's an act of worship. If Moses' prayer is an act of worship, we need to see here that our prayer should be worship. His prayer is humble before God. It's grounded in theology. He says, look, I've seen you do so many things. I know you're gracious. We'd be gracious once again. He sees prayer as a great privilege. Oh Lord, God! He sees prayer as an opportunity to request change. And again, God's requested that change twice, but here God says, no. You've sinned, Moses. In your pride, in your anger against the people that I've put you in charge of, you struck the rock. I also believe in the sense that he's blaming Moses. Moses blames the people, rather. Moses is being held accountable for the way the people have acted. He's the captain, so he's with the people. He'll be punished with the people. It's very sad. The end of the book is Moses' funeral. In my class, the way one of the students summarized it, Moses gives three sermons, sings a song, and dies. That really captures what happens. It's sad. Now, in order to really appreciate this prayer, I want to set it up against what Anthony preached on a few weeks ago. Remember, Pastor Anthony came when he told us to not give God rest. Keep praying. Keep praying until God will give you what you're asking for. He's gracious. He's generous. Keep praying. God says, stop asking for this moment. We need to think about those two things together. I fully stand by everything Anthony taught, because I believe he told us the Bible very clearly. But I think this challenges us and helps us think about prayer at another level. There's some basic rules that we need to understand about prayer. When we're praying according to God's promises, we need to pray boldly and trust Him to fulfill them. His ear turns towards His people when we're praying according to His promises. When we're praying according to our passions that are opposed to God, His ear is deaf. He doesn't listen. He hears them. But He's uninclined to them. If we're called to be faithful in prayer, that means we're praying according to His promises. God said He quit listening to that first generation because all they ever did was grumble and complain and accuse God of not loving them. They did not trust Him. When God tells Moses, enough! He's not saying you've failed. He's saying there's a consequence for your sin. Just as 1 Peter tells us. Fathers, if you exasperate your children, God's not going to hear your prayers. This is actually a rule throughout Scripture, I think. Our sin keeps us from fully benefiting and being blessed in every way God desires. Moses failed to fulfill his task. There's a consequence for his sin. How should this inform our prayer life? Pray boldly from Scripture. Pray boldly from Scripture and from the promises of God. Pray and ask that God's will be done. You see, what's interesting here is Moses is praying with God's promises, but he's not praying in accord with them. He's praying them, but God says, I'm going to fulfill my promise this way. It's not God's will. It'd be like the disciples saying, Almighty God, let Jesus come down, let him have a great mighty sword, and let him wipe all the Romans off the face of the earth. God says, not yet. He'll come. He'll come with a vengeance. He'll come as a mighty warrior to judge everybody, but this time, he's come as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. We have to realize our motivation in prayer affects our prayer. Our posture in prayer, one of being humble, one of saying, God, would you change me more than my circumstances? A desire to let God lead us in our prayer rather than to lead Him to what He should do? A desire that wants to be changed rather than for all the things in this world to be changed? See, somebody had to remember as Christians, God didn't promise earthly peace to the church. Jesus Christ did not tell us that we were going to have a white picket fence and a nice two-story house. You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have trouble. He promised He'd be with you and He'd be for you. Pray according to those promises. See, prayer is so important because if we're God's army, the only way we're going to align ourselves with His will is prayer. The only way we're going to receive the training, the instruction, the direction, the equipping, is by praying, God, plant this word deep inside of my heart to change me. So, I ask you again, what are you praying for? To be more effective in the Kingdom? Or to be more blessed in the things of this world? What kind of gifts do you want? Is it wisdom from above? Or is it stuff from below? Or are you spending more time on your Amazon wish list? Or asking for God? Give me a new heart! Because worship is what I desire. God will not say no. When God says no, it's for His glory and for our well-being. All things work for the good of those who love God. For instance, if you have a sickness, an illness, a physical ailment, God does promise He'll heal you, but He doesn't promise it's going to be before you die. It may be after your risen body is glorified in the heavens. Children, children, this is why it's so important to protect your purity and innocence. Sin has consequences. Youth, listen to me. Trust your parents. No are some of the most powerful, gracious, loving words your parents will ever say to you. When they say no, honor them and praise God for them. I realize that's completely counterintuitive. That means it's against what you actually want to do. But I'm telling you, children and youth, when your parents say no, praise God for parents who say No. Parents, grandparents, adult believers, when God says no, praise God for saying no. As we conclude, it is sad. Moses doesn't get to go in the Promised Land. Somebody after him does. His name is Joshua. And he actually fails at the end of the day. But there's another who's going to follow even after him, and his name's Joshua too. Some people pronounce it Yeshua, we call him Jesus. His name literally means Yahweh saves. You shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sin. It's a beautiful picture. Hebrews tells us Moses failed so that we can praise Jesus because he succeeded. Moses did not give them rest. Joshua did not give them rest. Jesus Christ came. He gives us rest. The failure is for us, so that we can see God's plan is perfect. He's been orchestrating it from the very beginning. He equips us. He finishes it. He's perfect in the way He executes it. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, He came. He conquered. He gives us rest. He's a true and great prophet. He's a true and great high priest. He's the King who rules with righteousness. And before us, He's given us something to remind us of that. It's the Lord's Supper. Remember, Israel is really forgetful. So are we. He reminds us, here before us, I have provided the perfect sacrifice. Jesus Christ says, I am the Great High Priest, I am the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. If you believe in Me, enter boldly into the worship of God. He reminds us our rest is secure. His love is sure. As we look ahead to the Lord's Supper, let us remember that rest He's promised and accomplished is ours. We must repent of our sins so that we love Him more and enjoy the blessing of it. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise You. We praise You that You've promised rest. We praise You for the way You've demonstrated through history, how You're going to accomplish that rest, and how beautiful that rest is, that we can rest in You, we can rest in Your presence. We can come before You and behold You in Your glory with full assurance. Not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ has done. We come to You with assurance. We come to You boldly in the name of Jesus Christ, because He is our Great High Priest and Leader. Help us, Lord, to unite around Him, to unite under Him, to worship Him together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.