Numbers 14. As we continue to make our way through numbers. Numbers is where, at least where we're at here, Israel's been in the wilderness for about a year and a half. They've been, you know, through the Red Sea, God brought them through there and to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments, and now they're starting their wilderness journey. And actually in this story, they're at the edge of the promised land already. So in the first year and a half, they actually, the cloud leads them to the edge of the promised land, but then we'll see what happens there. Numbers 14, verses 20 through 38. And one other quick thing, we're going to kind of go in the middle of the story here. Right before this, the Lord was angry because of Israel's sin and Moses prayed that God would spare them and have mercy and forgive them. So that's where we're picking up the story. God's Word, Numbers 14, verse 20 through 38. Then the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. Now since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing, I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number listed in the census from 20 years old and upward who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. But your little ones who you said would become a prey, I will bring in. and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure. I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die. And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land, The men who brought up a bad report of the land died by plague before the Lord. Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive." God's word. Many Christians, and probably some of you, have phrases or words that you remember, that you remember for a long time. Maybe a long time ago somebody gave you a good line of advice, or somebody repeated a word of comfort to you, or guidance, and it stuck with you. For one person I heard, they remember hearing when their little attitude is everything, and that stuck with them. Or say, you know, one day at a time. That's how the Lord wants me to take my life. One day at a time. And we know, right, as Presbyterians, the chief end of man, right, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And so maybe you have some of those statements in life that somebody told you some time ago and you remember them. They stick with you. Now one of them for me is actually in the Canons of Dort, which is a document written after the Reformation. There's some history behind it obviously, but one of the things in the Canons of Dort starts with is the justice and mercy of God. And so this is what I remember. It says in the beginning of the Canons of Dort right away, God would have done no injustice if he would let all men perish in their sin. And when I first heard that as a teenager probably, when I remember it, that stuck with me. God would still be just if he let everyone perish in sin. Now that's a Bible way or a biblical echo of talking about God's justice and man's sin. And so that's kind of what we're gonna see this morning in numbers, in this story. We're gonna see the justice of God, but we're also gonna see God's mercy. So let's look at these things in the scriptures in Numbers 14. Now if you've got a handout, you'll see the three different points this morning. First of all, rebellion. Second of all, retribution. And thirdly, relief. Okay, we're going to look at the different verses in this text that talk about rebellion. Then we'll look at different verses in the text that talk about retribution, you know, punishment. And then we'll look at the verses that talk about relief. So this word rebellion and this first point rebellion, we kind of know this by now in Israel's short career in the wilderness, that they're a rebellious people, aren't they? So look right away in verse 22. It says basically, when we're talking here, God says, they have seen my glory, kind of a paraphrase, they've seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt in the wilderness, but still they put me to the test and disobeyed. So basically, God is saying right off the bat here, I've been with them through the Red Sea and in the wilderness for a year and a half, and they've seen my glory, the plagues and in the cloud, and they've seen the miracles that I've done, the signs, water from the rock, the quail, the manna. God says, look, they know about me, and they've seen my power. But yet, they've sinned continually. So God has been close to his people, but they've been far from him in their hearts. That's kind of what's going on. Now, for the next couple of minutes, I'm going to just kind of explain all the texts that we read, the different sins that Israel committed. That's listed in the text. Okay, so in verse 22, it says, they tested God ten times. Now, ten times could be a figurative way to say a lot. And you know what it is to test God, right? To test God is to tell God what to do and be angry if He doesn't do it. They're basically saying, God, we want you to do it this way, and God didn't do it that way, so they're angry with Him. That's testing God. They did that over and over. Now, also in verse 22, it says they have not obeyed His voice. They've disobeyed. In verse 23, it says they've despised God, or the NASB says they spurned God. Remember last week we looked at how the Israelites kind of accused God of being homicidal even and foolish. They despised God. And in verse 27 it says they grumbled and grumbled and grumbled and grumbled. If you look in verse 27 and right around there, four times God refers to their grumbling. Over and over and over they've grumbled, provoking Him to anger. And in verse 31, they rejected the promised land. They said, no, we don't want the promised land, we want Egypt. They rejected that land of promise. And in verse 33, it says they were faithless. Now, I didn't look at all the different translations, but you may have a footnote there. This word faithless, actually it's a word for something like prostitution, you know, sexual sin. They were spiritually adulterous, or adultery they committed. Or the Hebrew would be, you shall carry your own whoring. They were faithless to God. And in verse 35 it says they gathered against God. It's like they came out to protest God and His ways, to do big pickets. God is unfair, God is unjust. So I just kind of did a run through of all the different sins that Israel has committed here that God brings up. They're rebellious, aren't they? This is why in the last story we read in Numbers 14, Moses and Aaron and Joshua and Caleb, you know, did things like lay on the ground and tear their clothes and pray and preach and rebuke because of Israel's terrible sin. And this is why God is so upset. He's displeased with them. Remember what Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 10, with most of them, God was not pleased. Sometimes when we read this, you think, wow, God is super angry. You think, why is he so super angry? Well, you have a list of the sins here. It's not like they told two or three white lies and they crumbled once and God blows his lid or whatever. No, they're very rebellious. He even calls them a wicked congregation in 26 and 35. So even though it doesn't say guilty as charged, that's what's very much implied, correct? Here's their sins and they're guilty of them. They're a rebellious people. It's no contest. Sometimes you have it in life maybe where you hear a true story and it makes you rethink some of your own actions or habits. You hear a story that makes you actually change your behavior. Did you ever have that? Maybe you heard a story of how somebody had a friend who was texting while they were driving and they went in a ditch and they got paralyzed from their waist down or something. You rethink your life and you think, I really have to stop checking my phone when I'm driving. And it really shakes you up. Or maybe you hear of a story of somebody who is terribly anorexic and they end up in the hospital for weeks and you think, I seriously gotta eat better than I do. It makes you change your lifestyle and habits. Or maybe you hear somebody who's overworking, and they're always busy, and they have a panic attack. And it makes you rethink your life habits, and you think, I've got to scale back. We have it in life where we hear a true story, and it makes us rethink life and change our habits. That's one thing that this story should do for us. The story of Israel's grumbling and complaining and wickedness and doubting God and testing God should make us evaluate our life and make us change our habits. Remember, that's what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 10 where he said this is an example for us that we might not sin like them. We talked about some of these things already as we follow Christ, right? We don't want to covet or grumble or have unbelief or fear like the Israelites did. We're not going to revisit all that application. But there's two points this morning of application on this. As we think about their story, re-evaluate ours and change for the better by God's grace. So one thing to think about is Israel's attitude. In the wilderness here, Israel's attitude was not, thy will be done. What was their attitude? My will be done. Right? They did not want to do God's will. They wanted things to go their way. Their food, their timing, back to Egypt. Forget God's way. That's, again, putting God to the test. Now, do we do this? Or do you do this? You know God's way and God's will, but you think, I'm not going to do that. I'd rather have my way and my will. Maybe you know that God wants you to follow him more fully, but you refuse to change your habits and your schedule because you think you know better. Or maybe you know the Lord is calling you to be less selfish with your time and with your money and with your gifts. He wants you to stop thinking about yourself so much in your projects and your desires and start serving others more. But you refuse, and you say, no, my will is to have me at the center. Sometimes this happens to us, right? So when we hear this story, we should reevaluate and think, wait, am I being like Israel, saying my will be done and not thine? Now there's one other area of application before moving on to the next point. The Westminster Larger Catechism says that some things make certain sins more heinous in God's sight than other sins. There's a debate sometimes, right? Are some sins worse than others? Well, the answer to that would be yes. For example, if somebody deliberately sins on purpose against God, that's worse than an accidental sin, where you just stumble kind of accidentally. Or if your sin causes a whole bunch of other people to stumble too, that's a worse sin than if it just causes you to stumble. And one thing that the larger catechism says, one sin that makes it more heinous in God's sight is if you sin with repeated frequency over and over and over, like Israel, what did they do over and over and over? They grumbled over and over and over and over. So what sins do we keep committing over and over and over? And are we fighting them or just going on in that sin? So again, as you think about Israel's stumblings and sins and failings, this is a true story that should cause us to reflect on our lives and say, you know, I need God's help in changing in these areas. Not my will be done, but thine. And God help me to stop repeatedly sinning in the same way. So that's rebellion. Now the next point is retribution. So rebellion, God shows, there's sin, and basically we know that they're guilty, right? Again, no contest. And there's going to be a punishment then. There's going to be retribution or a reckoning. God doesn't just ignore sin and say, you know, no big deal. It's alright, I get it, let's just go to the promised land, we'll start over. But God has a retribution. So here's justice. In verses 22 through 23, God says that the ones who tested me and disobeyed me, what will they not do? Enter into the promised land. You guys who kept on grumbling and who did not believe and who put me to the test, you're not going to go in. And remember, they're at the edge of it right now. And that's what it says there in verse 25 essentially. They're going to have to turn back and do an about-face and go back south. Because you're not going into the wilderness. And in verse 34, right around there, 33, 34, 35, it says that they're going to have to spend how long in the wilderness? Forty years. And that's based on the number of days that the scouts were in the land. Forty days. There's justice here. And also in verse 34, it says, you shall bear your iniquity for 40 years. You shall bear your iniquity. You're going to have to carry your sin in the wilderness because you did not believe and because you tested me. And it's the same thing. It says in verse 33, you're going to have to suffer for your faithfulness, faithlessness. That means another translation would be they have to carry their own whoring, their own spiritual adultery. You're going to have to go bear your own sin in the wilderness for 40 years. You sinned boldly and on purpose over and over, and now you're going to feel it for a long time. You're going to have not a scarlet letter on their chest, but they're going to have to bear their own sin out in the wilderness. That's one part of their reckoning or justice, retribution. Now another one is in verses 29 and following, It says that the people who are over 20 years old, who are complaining, what's going to happen to them in the wilderness? They're going to die there. Remember, 20 years old was the fighting age, right? So, 20 years old and over, who are in the wilderness, not only are they not going to enter the promised land, they're going to die in the wilderness. They were afraid to fall by the swords of the giants in the promised land. Now they're going to fall in the wilderness, outside of the promised land. Once again, God is giving them what they want. Remember the whole quail thing? We want meat. God says, you want meat? I'll give you meat. And he stuffed them full. So they were overwhelmed by it. And remember earlier they said, oh, we don't want to go into the promised land. Lord, just kill us in the wilderness. And now God says, really? You want that? Here you go. Be careful what you, you know, sinfully pray for. Be careful what you whine to God for. And there's even an oath in verse 35, as I live or I the Lord has spoken and elsewhere, as I live, I will do this. This comes up in the Psalms and in Hebrews, I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest because of their unbelief. So God is not unjust here, is he? Again, if you think of all the terrible sins Israel committed, and now you look at their punishment, you think, well, that's fair. It's kind of like in parenting, right? If a kid mouths off to a parent, well, there's going to be a punishment. That's fair. That's just. Right? If a kid is disrespectful to another adult, there should be a punishment. That's fair and just. So, God is punishing Israel here, and it's not unjust. It's fair. Now there's one more instance of justice, and that's in verses 36 and 38. The ten cowardly, faithless scouts, they're going to die by a plague before the Lord. So they're going to be killed instantly, because their sin was even more grievous than everyone else. Not only because in the ninth commandment they didn't bear true testimony about the promised land, but also they led the whole nation astray in it. So they're going to die by a plague, by pestilence, by a blow. God shows what He could have done to the whole nation. He does to those ten scouts. Now, before we go to the next point, there's just a little kind of a side note here. One commentator said that this is kind of an example of Old Testament church discipline. Now, obviously, in the New Testament, we don't have, you know, excommunication in a form of death. But in the Old Testament here, these people, these 10 scouts specifically, were very much leading the whole nation astray. They were robbing God of His glory. And God said, look, we're going to purge you from Israel. because you're bringing the glory of God down and you're leading people astray. You're infecting the purity of my nation. And there's a kind of a similar story in the New Testament, can you think? In early in Acts, Acts chapter 5, remember who lied to the Holy Spirit? Ananias and Sapphira. They were leading people astray too and they sinned against the Holy Spirit and God destroyed them. So this is kind of an Old Testament example of church discipline. But there's relief. That's the last point this morning. There's relief in the midst of all of this rebellion and retribution. There's mercy in the middle of judgment. Did you see the mercy here? It's like Psalm 99 says, God was an avenger of their wrongdoings and a forgiving God to them. He's just and merciful. So one point of mercy that we can see is in verse 24 and 31, God says that your children will enter the promised land. Everyone under 20, they'll make it in. That's mercy. So if you think about it, a 10-year-old child at this time who was living, he'd be right around 50 when they would enter. The children are going to have to go through the wilderness because the sins of their fathers affect the children. But the children are going to go in because God promised to Abraham he'd be faithful to the people and to their children. It's covenantal. So there's mercy. And there's mercy in verse 20. The Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word, Moses. So there's something about forgiveness here. Now, this is a tough one because you say, well, God forgave their sin and then he destroyed them. But pardoned here isn't what we would think of in the New Testament as full and free final forgiveness in Christ. It's a different context here. So it's more that God will bear with them and suspend his anger. That God is holding back his wrath, which they rightly deserve. And so it says in Psalm 78, they were not faithful to his covenant, but he was merciful. He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time, he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. So there's mercy here in that God said your children are going to make it. And Joshua and Caleb will talk about that next week, Lord willing. And I will hold back my wrath. I won't destroy you as one man like Moses prayed that God would not do. And so this leads us to just pause and think about the merciful patience of God or the patient mercy of God. Like Moses said in his prayer in verse 18, God is slow to anger. We're seeing that here. Remember Psalm 103, He does not repay us according to our iniquities. Remember Ezra 9, God you have punished us less than our sins deserve. Have you felt that as a Christian? That God has not dealt with me like I deserve to be dealt with. That's a sign of a humble heart, isn't it? And this merciful patience of God is such a treasure for us Christians because we know that His mercy gives us reason to hope that we'll be forgiven and accepted. God is merciful. Just think about all of the sins that you've committed. Think about all of the horrible things that you've said. Think about the terrible things you did, and that you still do, and that you think. God would be just if He would just wipe us out now. But God is patient and merciful, and we can be so thankful for that. One author said, God's mercy is a great relief to those who are at the brink of despair. So when we think about the merciful patience of God, the first thing I want to tell you is don't abuse His mercy. What does that mean to abuse the mercy of God? Do you know? You abuse God's mercy when you think, God is merciful. I can have a few more drinks. It doesn't matter if I get a little bit drunk. God is merciful. I don't really have to pray or read scripture or go to church. He'll be kind. God is merciful, right? I can go on a shopping binge, He won't mind. That's abusing God's mercy. And Paul says in Romans, don't you know that God's kindness is meant to what? Lead you to repentance. God's mercy should not make you think, hey, I can do anything I want. God's mercy should lead you to think, I'm so sorry for my sin. Thank you for your mercy. John Stott put it this way, God's mercy gives us space in which to repent, not to give us an excuse for sinning. Or way before that, the church father Chrysostom said, God showeth his goodness that you may get free from your sins, not that you may add to them. Don't abuse the mercy of God and think I can live however I want, as long as I want, God will be good to me. Don't abuse the mercy of God that way. There's a prayer by a pastor I read on this. This is a prayer we should pray. Let my frozen heart be melted by your mercies. and let your long-suffering kindness toward me be matched by ready repentance from me. O God, give me the treasure of a broken and contrite heart before it is too late. I do not have forever." God is patient and merciful, but don't abuse His mercy. Instead, secondly, improve upon His mercy. Now, what does that mean? Improve, that's an old word that we've used in theology before. Improve means make good use of. It's a beautiful day today, so if you're going to improve upon this day, you're going to go outside and enjoy the sun. So, don't abuse God's mercy, but improve upon it. And that means, obviously, believe and repent. Right now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of God's mercy. Now is the day where God says, come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest. So to improve upon his mercy is to go to Jesus and trust him and repent of your sin. And to improve on his mercy is to be humble. It's to not be arrogant and proud like the Israelites, but to be humble and really seriously think in your heart, I deserve nothing. I don't deserve anything that I have, not even food, not a crumb of bread, not a sock on my foot. I deserve nothing because of my sin. And that's a humble heart. Like the Psalms say, if the Lord would mark our iniquity, we couldn't stand. So stay humble. And another way to improve upon God's mercy is to thank Him and praise Him for it. Make that the theme of your song. Right? Thanks, Lord, for putting up with me. Thanks for not giving me what I deserve. Thank you, Lord, for over and over putting up with my sin. I will sing your praises with my life. Thank God for His mercy all the time. So don't abuse His mercy. Improve upon His mercy and finally diffuse His mercy. You know what diffuse means, right? Spread it. This is what Jesus calls us to do, right? Be merciful as your Father is merciful. Blessed are the merciful. So when we think about the mercy of God, this is another area where we as Christians can be liberal. There's not every area we can be liberal in, but in mercy and showing mercy. That's where we abundantly show mercy to other people. and be patient with them and think in your head, Lord is patient with me, I will be patient to others. So those are some application points on the mercy of God. Don't abuse his mercy, improve upon it and diffuse it, spread it. Now before we end in a moment here, there was justice and wrath in this story because of the people's sin. Makes sense. But why did God not wipe them all out in one swoop? Who did what? Moses prayed and begged for God's covenant promises to remain intact. Moses was a mediator and an intercessor. And we get this from Psalm 106. God said he would destroy them had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to turn away his wrath from destroying them. What is this a picture of? The work of our Savior Jesus. Isn't this a clear foreshadow of Jesus' work as interceder for us? And not only did Jesus intercede for us, pray for us, but also he laid down his life and take the wrath of God for sin so that we receive mercy. Moses couldn't die for the people and absorb their sin and pay for it. But Jesus could. So justice is going to be served. God will be patient for a while, that's fine, but His patience will run out one day. And justice will be served. And if you have a hard heart, and if you don't believe, you will have to carry your own sin. You will have to bear your own sin. You will have to pay for everything you've ever done and said wrong. It's on you. And not just for 40 years. but forever and ever. If you have a hard heart, you will bear your own sin. Justice will be served. But the good news is that God is merciful and he sent his son. If you believe in his son, he will carry your sin. He has carried your sin. He's paid for it on the cross and you don't carry your sin anymore ever. you get mercy because Jesus was justly punished. Amazing mercy. God would have done no injustice if he let everyone perish in sin, but thankfully he decided to show mercy and he sent his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Amen. Let's pray. O Lord, You are a just and righteous God, and everything You decree and everything that You make come to pass is just. And so Lord, help us never to forget that You are fair and just in all of Your ways. And we also worship You, O God, because You are merciful, because You are long-suffering, because You are patient, And we beg of you, O God, by your Holy Spirit, to give us a humble attitude in light of your mercy, to repent of our sins and have a soft believing heart. We do thank you, O Lord, that in wrath you remember mercy, that you sent your only son to take our sin upon his shoulder. We're thankful, O God, for that. In his name we pray, amen.