Morning, all. This morning, we're going to be starting a new book. We'll be in Numbers this morning. But before we start, let's go to the Lord and pray. Father, we are grateful for this morning. We're grateful, as we've already prayed, for a beautiful sunrise this morning, for your glory displayed as the sun rises. Father, we see that glory and we wonder at that glory, but we know it's only a small tie of the token. of the true glory that you have revealed in Christ. So, Father, as much as our hearts rejoice in that glory, Father, we come this morning here because we want to see the greater glory that you have shown. So, Father, as we look into your word, I pray that you would open our eyes to see that glory. Father, I pray that you would open our hearts to rejoice in what we see of Christ as we look at your word. Father, I pray that you would work in our wills to to cause us to desire to run after the things of Christ as we see them in your word. Father, for that to happen, we need your spirit to be among us. We confess our own inadequacy before you, and so we pray that you would keep your promise that where we gather together that you would be here in our midst, Father, that your spirit would be enlightening us to help us to see Christ well. Father, I pray for myself as I come to preach your word. Father, I pray that you would give me words that are only true and glorious of Christ and words that are beneficial to those who are here listening. So I pray through all these things that Christ be glorified. In His name we pray. Amen. Actually, we're going to be in Revelation this morning. Fast one. Kurt took that joke way too seriously. Never had Kurt come up and stop me before. Okay, so I am going to start in Revelation. Revelation 3, verses 7 through 13. And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write, the words of the Holy One, the true One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So, we actually went through that. Once again, last time I was in Revelation, the last sermon I did. But I wanted to come back there because that's actually a great springboard for entering into the Book of Numbers. Because as we look at this, as we look at the letters to the churches and we look at the themes that we went through, we saw this theme of patient endurance. We saw themes that called us to hold fast. Ooh, going the wrong way. Hold fast to what we have so that no one may seize our crown. We saw this repeated call to the one who conquers, I will. And so, actually, those themes are the themes that we're going to be seeing in numbers. We're going to be unpacking this idea that on the way to the promised land, there will be many dangers, there will be many things that might distract us, but we need to patiently endure, keeping our eyes on the promise, so that no one can seize our crown. And if you think I'm making kind of a tenuous connection, if we go back a few, A few verses to Revelation 12-17, actually numbers get quoted in the letters to the churches. So we come to the church of Pergamum. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who is killed among you where Satan dwells. So it starts off like a normal letter to the churches, but then it says this. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. So as we come out of Revelation and go into Numbers, we see right off the bat that there's a connection between the two books. When John is writing his letters, and Jesus is writing his letters to the seven churches, he pulls out of Numbers to give the warnings to the people. And there's reasons for that. And what I'm going to try to do this morning is give us an introduction to the book of Numbers, because Numbers is well known. It's a book that we joke about, as if you try to read straight through the Bible. Genesis is probably going to go okay. Exodus might get a little rough. Leviticus is going to be pretty rough. If you make it through Leviticus, you're probably not going to make it past Numbers. And so it's well known for being kind of a boring long-winded book. And there are portions that, if you're trying to read it straight through, might get a little boring and long-winded. It's a little repetitive. There's a lot of numbers in the Book of Numbers, as you might guess, which is why it gets its name. But what I want to show this morning is to step away from what might draw us away from the book and show us the grand themes of the book and why it's actually really important to understand as we walk through the Christian life. So my proposition this morning, I'm not going to read the whole Book of Numbers. We tried that once already. It didn't get very far. on Wednesday night. It turns out it's going to take a long time to read the book of Numbers out loud. But what I want to do this morning is go through and try to understand what Numbers is about. And so to understand Numbers well, we need to understand how it fits into the bigger story. So once we understand how it fits first into the Old Testament and then into the New Testament story, then we can begin to understand how numbers applies to us. That's what I want to get through this week as an introduction. I'll have three points this morning. First one is we're going to put numbers in its place. In other words, we're going to step back and do some biblical theology and ask, why is numbers in the Bible and what is the story of numbers about? And then once we get there, we want to put it in its context. Then we'll actually start to look at numbers a little closer, start saying, what is the content of numbers? What is the story that it's telling? What's the pattern of the book that we're going to unpack over the next couple months? And then finally, we're going to try to answer, what does numbers have to do with us? Why do we care whether a census was taken in the wilderness of Sinai? Why do we care whether a census was taken in the wilderness of Shittim? There's kind of a long disconnect between us and the book of numbers, but I want to show that it's actually very applicable to us today. So we'll just go through those three things this morning and try to answer those questions. I would say it would be a shorter sermon, but I might be wrong, so I won't have Kurt come after and tell me that I was wrong. So we'll leave that off to the side. So, three points this morning. First, we'll put numbers in its place. And so I want to take a step back and say, numbers can be a hard book, a daunting book to come and try to study, even a daunting book to try to read. You start reading through it, you get bored by about the 47th verse, which is still in the first chapter, which is still just listing off numbers of Israelites. And so I want to step back and say, where does Numbers fit into the picture? And what is it trying to tell us? How does it connect the books before to the books after it? And what does that tell us about its message? To do that, I really want to step back into biblical theology and go, and what is the story of the Bible? And then what is the story of the section of the Bible that Numbers is in? So I just want to go through and do a quick, broad overview, a reminder of what is the story of the Bible. So if we look at the Bible, we can start to look and say there are some distinct differences in different areas of the Bible. We might be able, I'll break it up into four large sections, actually three large sections and a very small section, this morning. But we can look at this and say we have histories in the Old Testament. Then as we go through the Old Testament, eventually we get through the histories. We have a section of wisdom literature and Psalms, which I'm not going to talk about this morning, but it's very interesting. But then the second half of the Old Testament seems to be mostly prophets. And then we get to the New Testament. So there's three big divisions that we just take a huge step back, say those are the things that are going on in the Bible. But as we go through these, we want to say what is the purpose of all these different divisions of the Bible and what story are they telling together? How do they all interweave together? So I'm just going to go through and talk through the story of the Bible and try to say what's going on. So we start with these beginnings, which is actually the small section they pull out. It could be argued that beginnings is part of histories, but I like a threefold division that I'm going to do in a few minutes, so I pull that out. I say that the first stories of the Bible, approximately Genesis 1 through 11, are introductory stories. We have the stories of Adam and his generation, and then Noah and his sons and the flood. And this first story is primarily about what is the pattern of what God is trying to do. We have the story of the Garden of Eden, where God's people are put into God's place under God's rule. But the problem is that doesn't last very long. The first man and woman rebelled. They corrupted God's place. They rejected God's rule. And they forfeited their place as God's people. And so at the beginning, everything seems to fall apart. But we also get a promise at the beginning that it would not always be that way. Then we go through the histories. And the histories can be full of interesting stories, but sometimes you go through the histories of the Bible, we're not sure 100% what everything is going on. But I want to say there's three major divisions to the histories of the Bible, if we're thinking about the story of the Bible. And so after we get to the beginnings, and we had God's kingdom set up, and then it all fell apart, and finally it's destroyed with the flood, we have another story. We have the story of Abraham and then similarly the stories of Isaac and Jacob and Judah and Joseph will all kind of go together. So the rest of the book of Genesis, where we see a new people called out. And so Abraham is told that you and your descendants will be the people of God. You and your descendants will be called back into God's place. And so we have a new people identified in Abraham and the patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob and Judah and Joseph. But then after we finish the book of Genesis, we have a new people, a new people identified that are going to be the people of God. But everything isn't right, because at the end of Genesis, they don't enter into God's place. Instead, they enter into slavery in Egypt, far away, at least in relative terms, from God's place. And so not only do a new people need to be identified, a new place needs to be prepared. And so we get the stories of Moses through Joshua. So we get the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, where that people that was identified are now redeemed. They're rescued from slavery, brought to make covenant with God in the wilderness, and then eventually enter in to God's place. And so with Moses, with the redemption of Israel, and especially with Joshua, the entering into the land and the inheritance that is passed out, we get a high point in the Old Testament. We think, okay, now we've got God's people identified and they're put back in God's place. Everything should be great. But it turns out that's not the case. So after Joshua, we get Judges. Judges shows that as the people of God entered into God's place, everything falls apart again. We get these spiraling circles of things get worse and worse in Israel to the end of the book of Judges. I mean, it's pretty scandalous stuff, stuff that you don't always want to talk about because terrible things happen at the end of the book of Judges. But at the end of the Book of Judges, we get the conclusion of the Book of Judges. There was no king in Israel. Therefore, everyone did what was right in their eyes. In the garden, God's people were in God's place, and they were under God's rule. We had identified a new people. We had brought them to the new place, but we hadn't put them under God's rule. So the third set of stories in the histories talk about reinstituting God's rule. So there's a stumble where they identify a king who is a king in the worldly sense, Saul. He fails, but God says, I will install my rule over my people. He identifies David and David's descendants to be the kings that would rule over his people. So we get these great stories of the Old Testament, which are this picture of God taking a people and putting them in a place and installing his rule. And we think, OK, now that we've gotten to 2 Samuel, everything's going to be great. But the stories of 1 and 2 Kings, again, tell us that that's not the case. We had God's people and God's place under God's rule, but everything fell apart again. David wasn't the perfect king. Solomon, his promised son, was not the perfect king. Neither was any descendant that came from David. So we get this long history of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, and they all fail. Some of them do better than others, but none of them are the perfect king. And so that's when the prophets start. The prophets start with the prophets that don't have their own books with Elijah and Elisha. And then we start getting the prophets written down. But the stories of the prophets are all the same. They look at Israel. They look at this new people placed in God's place under God's rule and say, something went wrong. Something isn't right. And so then we have the pre-exilic prophets, the really pre-exilic like Elijah and Elisha. Then the written prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, a variety of other prophets we have in the Bible. We have the peri-exilic prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel and a variety of others. Then we have the post-exilic prophets like Malachi and various other prophets in the Old Testament. And we could talk about the difference between the pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic prophets, but if we were to summarize their message, it's a two-fold message. All the prophets looked back at Israel, and they said, something went wrong. This wasn't the end result. God promised salvation, and it looked like it was working. God's people were back in God's place under God's rule, but it must not have been the end of God's work because it failed. We need something better. And then they look forward and say, you know what we need? We need to go back to the exodus. We need the exodus to happen again, but we need it to happen better. They look back at David and say, we need a new king like David, but we need it to happen in a better way, a better king. We need to have a new people chosen like an Abraham, but we need a better choosing of a better people. So they look back and say, that was good, but we need something better, which is going to connect us to the New Testament. The New Testament takes the prophecies that look back and said that that was a good picture but was not enough and says this is the fulfillment. So we see that the gospel is a story of Jesus who comes he comes to be God's people in God's place under God's rule and he sacrifices himself so that he can choose a new people welcome them into his place and put them under his rule. so that the fulfillment will have happened in Jesus. Then again, we have a three-fold division. We have the Gospels. We have the Epistles, which are the letters that the apostles wrote to the churches that went through and started to unveil the theology, the truths of what Jesus did. And then finally, we get a final looking forward and says, the fulfillment has happened, but the consummation is not yet. Wait for the final consummation. So if we start to step back, we can say each of these divisions of the Bible has a purpose. The histories of the Bible are working out a pattern. The beginning set a pattern. God's people need to be in God's place under God's rule. The history set a pattern for what salvation is going to look like. Salvation must look like God calling out a new people. bringing them into his place and putting them under his rule. But they were never meant to be the final solution. They didn't fail in their purpose. They just were never meant to be the final solution. They were meant to be types, a picture of what God was going to do. The prophets start to understand them as types. And so they look back and think through the pattern and say, the pattern seemed good. We had a new people and a new place under a new rule. But it was just a picture. It wasn't a final fulfillment, a final promise. And so they look forward to something better. And the New Testament is the pattern is going to be fulfilled in Christ. And so as we take the story of the Bible, now what I want to do is say, OK, we've got this book out of the Old Testament. We need to put it within the story of the Bible. So we go back and we figure out where it fits. The story of Numbers fits in this story of a new place where the people of Israel are redeemed out of the land of Egypt through the Exodus. brought through the wilderness and enter into the promised land in Joshua. So I want to zoom in on that. Look at this little section of the Bible at Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. And think about, what do each of the books in this section tell us about this story? So we do have these five books in this section, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. Think of through a very high level, what is the message of each book? Exodus, we probably all know Exodus to some degree. We preached through Exodus several years ago, if you were with us. And if we're at, say, a very high level, we might say something like this. God's people need to be redeemed. They have been sold into slavery in Egypt. They need to be redeemed if they're going to enter into God's land. And so God's people are redeemed from slavery, and they enter into covenant with God. They are taking and now going to receive the fulfillment of the choosing that happened in Abraham. Then we have Leviticus. If God's people are taken out of slavery in Egypt, made covenant with God, they're on their way to the promised land. They're on their way to God's place. But God looks at his people and says, I am holy. If you are to live in my place, you also must be holy. And so we have the laws of Leviticus, the ritual laws and the applied laws which are teaching us what does holiness look like and what does it look like in day to day life. If you are to dwell in my presence, if I am to be your God and you are to be my people, then you must be holy. Then we have Numbers. Numbers is an interesting book. God's people travel from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land. That's what the book of Numbers is, is they walk a lot. But along the way, we're going to see they face various hardships. We'll talk about that in a minute. We'll come back to numbers and zoom in there in a few minutes. Then finally, they make it skipping over the story of numbers. But numbers, they're going to be walking through the wilderness. They get to the edge of the promised land. But during the story of numbers, we see one generation die because they weren't holy. He needed to redeem them. He needed to bring them through the wilderness, enter into covenant with them, tell them of His holiness, and now they can enter the land. They enter the land, they take possession of it, and divide it as their inheritance. So that's a story of what's going on here. And what we're looking at, that's not what we're looking at. We're looking at numbers right in the center there. But what I want to do is say numbers exist in the center of this passage. It exists between Exodus, where God's people are redeemed from slavery and enter into covenant, and between Joshua, where they actually enter into the land, take possession of it, and divide their inheritance. Numbers holds the two together. We have to connect what happened in redemption to what happened in the inheritance. And it turns out that's going to involve a lot of walking through the wilderness. And so numbers exist right in the middle of that. It also exists right in the middle of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. the first statement of God's holiness, and Deuteronomy, the second giving of the law, the second statement of God's holiness. And so somehow Numbers is going to serve to connect redemption to consummation, and it's going to focus on what does it mean to be holy. It's got to work out what does that mean in day-to-day life to walk from redemption to the promised land. Okay, so that's put numbers into its context where we want to understand what's going on. Now we want to start looking at numbers. What is the story of numbers? How does it connect the exodus to the entry into the land? So the first thing we can do is just go through and say, what stories are in numbers? I'm going to do this really quickly. But we can just start to list off stories. We have the census at Sinai. That's why the book is called Numbers, is because the first chapter in Numbers has a lot of numbers. They go through and they count all the males that are above 20 years old that were able to go to war. We get a list of numbers for every tribe. Then we get the camp arranged. We get the organization of the Levites. Then we get some laws. There's laws interspersed in Leviticus. If you're not paying attention, they might seem slightly random. We end up with periods of law, but we're going to address cleanness in the camp. We're going to promote separation from worldly things and the people. They're going to consecrate the tabernacle. They had gotten instructions in Exodus They'd start to put it together, but it's not complete. They're actually going to consecrate the tabernacle in chapter 6. We're going to look at the careers that the Levites were going to have. They're going to celebrate the Passover at Mount Sinai. Then they're going to set out. They're going to start walking towards the Promised Land. But it turns out they face a lot of hardships on the way, so we get a first complaint. Turns out the first complaint's pretty They don't tell us what exactly it was, but the people weren't happy. Then it turns out the people didn't like the bread. They didn't like the manna. They'd like meat as well. Then Miriam and Aaron decided that they'd like to be in charge instead of Aaron. And then we have the spies go into the land. They actually make it to the promised land. They're right on the edge. They send 12 spies in. The spies come back. They're like, nope, no way, except for Joshua and Caleb, who are going to go all the way through the book. But the spies come back and say, no, there's no way we're ever going to take that land. Then we get this another section of laws which focus on sacrifice, sins, and remembering. We get another complaint. Korah rebels against Moses and Aaron, tries to take over. We have the duties of priests and Levites, laws for purification. Then they go back to complaining. They don't like the water that they have. Then finally they have another complaint. They don't like the food or the water that they have. The Israelites like complaining. And so we have this long section. They're walking through the wilderness and they don't like anything at all. Then at the end we're going to get, this is actually really closely connected to the last complaint. We get a bronze serpent. And then we have the defeat of the Amorites. We have the stories of Balaam, the guy who started talking to donkeys. But we're going to talk about Balaam in here. We're going to see the story of Phinehas and his zeal for holiness. We're gonna have another census wandering through the desert turns out they're walking through the desert for 40 years Because the people of Israel never quite made it into the Promised Land. We're gonna have another census at Shittim And then we're going to see zeal for God's promise, the story of Zelophehad and his daughters. We're going to see a new leader chosen for the people of God. We're going to see a section of laws about offerings and vows. We're going to defeat Midian. We're going to talk about the first roots of the land. If we go in, what are we supposed to do when we're there to worship God? Then we're going to have this section of numbers which looks back and actually goes through. These are all the places you went. Then it's going to look forward and say this is what you're going to do in the future. It's going to talk about what are we going to do with the land and distributing among the tribes. We're going to start to look towards, OK, maybe we are going to enter the land. We need to start setting out cities for Levites and talking about justice in the land with the city as a refuge. And then we're going to come back to Zelophehad and his daughters and talk about Zelophehad and his daughters again. They actually become pretty major characters in the Book of Numbers. Okay, so that's a lot of stories we could go through there, but it doesn't tell us. What is numbers about? We just listed off those stories except if you start looking at these stories for a few minutes We might say huh. There's actually kind of four sets of stories There's four sets of stories that are going to make up the book of numbers so this first set is They're going to be at Sinai. They just finished receiving the law, receiving the instructions for the tabernacle, and then they build the tabernacle at the end of Exodus. And then we have all the laws in Leviticus. Now they're just about ready to go. And so as they're just about ready to go to the promised land, they're going to say, you know what? We need to organize our army. So they're going to take a census. How many men enrolled for war can we raise up in our group? They're going to arrange the camp. The camp's going to be arranged for war so that they can take over the land. We're going to have the Levites set aside. You're not going to be part of the war. Instead, you're going to take care of the tabernacle. And then the people are going to ritually prepare themselves. We're going to get rid of uncleanness in the camp so that we can beat God's people. They celebrate a victorious Passover as they start to head towards the promised land. And then they start marching. At this point, everything seems good. The redemption has happened. They've received the law, built the tabernacle, and they're headed off towards the promised land. But it turns out the promised land wasn't a few steps away. And the people feel like the journey's long, and they start complaining. So we have a series of complaints. They're not happy with the journey. They're not happy with their food. They're not happy with their water. They're not happy with the land. They're not happy with food. They're not happy with water. Really, they're not happy with anything. And it turns out that those complaints create a problem. Eventually, God turns away from his people and says, no, you are not exhibiting the holiness that I require of you. And he looks at that generation and says, you will never enter into the promised land. But then we get another set of stories, a set of stories that are related to the complaints, but they start to turn the message. They say, you know what? God's people are full of complaints. They are full of unholiness and uncleanness. They aren't worthy to enter into the promised land. But we're going to have these stories, these stories that we probably know of, maybe out of context. We have the serpent in the wilderness. We have Balaam, the prophet, who spoke to the donkey. But the interesting thing about Balaam is he was called to go curse the Israelites. And at this point in the book, you might think, I don't know. Maybe God will let him curse the Israelites. But God says, no. No, you're going to bless the Israelites. Balaam himself looks forward a long way and says, I see him, but not now. I look forward to him, but he is not near. And he says, there is one coming who will fix all these things. And then we see Phoenix, and we see something's changing in the people of God. Where before they complained about everything, now when unqueeness enters the camp, we have this man who is zealous for holiness. And then we have a fourth section. Starts a lot like the first section. We have another census. But this census, after this census, instead of just setting out, we're going to see a different set of stories. A set of stories that are really hopeful but change the character of what we're going to look at. But this right here, the first census and the second census, are going to be the set points for the organization of numbers and understanding what the story of numbers is about. And so if we take these four blocks, we make a one-line sense about each of the blocks. First block, chapters 1 through 10. The people of Israel are going to prepare to set out with God in holiness towards the promised land. Everything seems good. Yes, we're going to go take the promised land. But then, the cares of this world distract them. The cares of this world cause them to take their eyes off the promise, instead to look at themselves, to care more about their situation now, instead of rejoicing in the land that they're going to. And those distractions, the cares of this world, end up distracting them so much that they disqualify themselves, and they never enter into the land. But instead of completely turning away, God doesn't completely turn away. He rejects his people, but then he chooses two, Joshua and Caleb. Then he says, the next generation will try again. So as a new generation arises, God renews his promises, his promises of redemption, his promises of blessing, and calls them to a renewed holiness. And this time, it actually works out in holiness. And so this new generation is going to set out towards the promised land. But what's different from the first set is they're going to keep their eyes on the promise. Their cares are going to be, the promised land is ours. We're going to look forward to that, instead of, we're walking through this wilderness and we don't like that very much. Or we could do it this way. We could just do a graph, which really pretty well tells the story of numbers. The people are going to set out. We're headed towards the promised land. Everything looks good. Your turn. We don't like how this is going. Complaints disqualify God's people. U-turn. God pronounces redemption and blessing for his people again. And then they're going to head towards the promised land. At this time, they're going to keep their eyes on the promise. That's the story of numbers. That's how we're going to go through numbers and see what numbers is about. So, that's first point, setting it in the context of the Bible. Second point, what's this story of numbers? We're going to set off towards the promised land, but it's really, really important to care about holiness and to keep your eyes on the promise. Otherwise, you'll never make it. So, what does numbers have to do with us? It's interesting history. If you can tell the story right, instead of getting bogged down in all the numbers, it's an interesting story. But what does it have to do with us? What does it have to do with the New Covenant? Turns out, you might not guess it, but numbers is quoted or alluded to quite a bit in the New Testament. I just want to go, actually, this is kind of my main passage for this morning. I want to go to 1 Corinthians 10, because 1 Corinthians 10 is going to talk a lot about numbers and tell us what it means for us. So let's go to 1st Corinthians 10. We'll start in verse 1. For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. That's actually a reference to the events in Exodus as they're called out of Egypt. The cloud leads them away and they go through the Red Sea. But as we keep going, he keeps telling the story. So they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual food. And they all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." Verses 1 through 5, Paul starts telling the story of Numbers again. He looks back and he says, you guys need to understand this story. The people of God, they were redeemed. They were baptized. They were brought out. And they started walking towards the promised land. God provided everything that they need. He provided food and water for them. And yet, nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased. That generation died in the wilderness. They never entered into the promised land. So Paul's telling the story of Numbers. And actually, we might not notice it, but Paul actually uses the name of the book of Numbers here. Because the name of the book of numbers in Hebrew is not numbers. Because the Hebrews wouldn't look at this book and say, there's a bunch of numbers in this book. They actually take, usually the Hebrew titles take from the first sentence, some words out of the first sentence that describes the book. And the first sentence talks about how Israel was in the wilderness at Sinai. And so the book is called In the Wilderness. It's actually a great title for this book and might make it less daunting to study if we think about this as the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. And so Paul says, Let me tell you the story of the Israelites as they were in the wilderness. So he's telling the story of numbers in 1 Corinthians 10, 1 through 5. He says, as I tell these stories, he says, now these things took place as examples for us. We might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. That's a reference to Exodus. But then we keep going. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. All of those are stories out of numbers. And Paul's saying, look at these stories in numbers, and this is what it means for you. This is what it means for you, the new covenant believer, the one who's found in Christ. These things happened as examples for us. Those things are going to be a pattern that you need to watch out for. A pattern that you need to care for because you can desire evil in the same way that they did. So look at these stories. See what happened to the people who experienced God's redemption, who saw God's mighty power, who received the manna and the quail and the water in the wilderness. And yet all of them died except for Joshua and Caleb. All of them died in the wilderness. Not a single one of them made it. Because their eyes weren't on the promise. They were on this world. And they loved the things of this world. And wanted the things of this world. So it repeats again in verse 11. These things happened to them as an example. Then he said, it wasn't for them though that these things were written down. Those things were written down not just to keep a catalog of the history of Israel. But they were written down for our instruction. and specifically for the instruction of those on whom the end of the ages has come. This was a picture of fulfillment that was happening in Genesis through 2 Kings. But now we've come to the real fulfillment. We've come to the final story. And you need to look back at the earlier story and say, what was the pattern of the earlier story? And be careful not to fall into the same pitfalls. And so Paul looks back at the book of Numbers, and this is what he says. Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. That's Paul's conclusion from the book of Numbers. You can experience all the goodness of the people of God. You can look like you participated in God's redemption, like God has provided for you on the walk, but if your heart is set on the things of this world and you desire the things of this world instead of keeping your eyes focused on the promise, you're gonna fall. Just like Numbers, the people in Numbers did. And so that's the first thing that happens. That's the first application of the book of Numbers is you need to make sure that you aren't keeping your eyes on this world distracted by what you want here. You got to keep going on to the promised land. But then Paul's pretty serious about that. He gives a stern warning. We see similar warnings which quote out of the book of Numbers in places like Hebrews 3. It says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the wilderness. But after being stern with them, he also says something encouraging to them. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to men. God is faithful. Paul takes two things out of the book of Numbers. If you don't follow after God, you'll fall in the wilderness. But God is faithful. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape so that you may be able to endure. And so there's both stern warning in the book of Numbers, you must be faithful, you must persevere. If you don't persevere, you're never gonna make it to the promised land. But then Paul also draws out promise. He says, if you do persevere, if you keep your eyes on the promise and trust God, God will be faithful and he will carry you there. And so we see that. Paul says, not only is there a stern warning in the book of Numbers, but there's a great story of the gospel as well. He said they all ate the same spiritual food. They all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them. The story is about how Moses took the staff and he struck the rock and water came out. And he says that rock was a picture. That rock was Christ. The people in Numbers were given all the benefits of the pictures of the gospel. The problem was not that they didn't have what they needed. The problem was they had their eyes on something else. But he says, if you keep your eyes on God is faithful, if you keep your eyes on the promise that God has held out, then you will make it. God will provide what you need. The wilderness does seem hard. The wilderness is a place that's hard to cross, but God gave them everything they needed. And that everything they needed was a picture of Christ. So he holds out a warning, but he also holds out the promises of the gospel. But why does Paul go here? This is just, we pulled out 1 Corinthians 10. How did Paul get to 1 Corinthians 10? We could talk a lot about Corinthians. I'm not going to do that this morning. But I'll just rewind and go back to 1 Corinthians 9. The last verses of 1 Corinthians 9. What is Paul talking about before he entered into this story about numbers? And he's looking at the Corinthians and saying, you know what? You guys got some things right, but you really got some things wrong and you got your eyes off the prize. And so he comes at the end of 1 Corinthians 9 and he says this. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So do not run aimlessly. Or I'm sorry, so I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Paul says, Corinthians, you've gotten off course. And here's the problem. There's a prize. The story of Christ is not a story that's void of reward. In fact, it's a story that there is an infinite reward for those who will set aside the things of this world and run after the things of Christ. He says, let's look at other places where there's prizes. You might win a race. You could rescind a prize. The runners, when they know they can receive a prize, they try hard. It's a run that you may obtain it. You don't see runners going out there and be like, I don't know, maybe I'll win, maybe I won't. Probably some do, but they don't win very often. So he says, you need to run like you're going to obtain it. Then he says, OK, let's step out of this running race and say, that running race, they do it to receive a perishable wreath. But we do it for an imperishable. The prize that is held out. and the story of Christ is infinitely more valuable than any price you can obtain in this world. So think about how hard you work towards worldly prizes. How hard ought you to work to receive eternal inheritance? So Paul says, I don't run aimlessly. I don't receive redemption and then just kind of go about my life doing whatever I want, thinking Christ will come back someday. No, instead, I train myself. I look forward to that day, and I say, my eyes are on the promise that I'm going to do everything it takes to get that promise. So he says, keep your eyes on the prize. Make sure you know where you're going and what you want. Because if you don't, your heart's going to get distracted. You're going to wander off into the wilderness and die. So what does Numbers have to do with us? First thing I want to say is, Numbers is all about us. In fact, Paul says explicitly, Numbers was written for us. wasn't written for the ancient Israelites. It was written for us. And if we think about it, it makes sense. It tells the story of those who had been redeemed, but had not yet entered into the promised land. It tells the story of those who are in a land that is not their own, who are wandering through the wilderness, hoping in God's promise. It tells the story of how they got from redemption to consummation. So if we jump out of the picture and jump into the fulfillment, where are we? We are those who have experienced the things of redemption. We know this truth of Christ. We baptized ourselves into Christ. We know the truth of the gospel, but we don't have the consummation yet. Christ hasn't returned as king. The new heavens and the new earth have not been revealed. And so we're in the wilderness. We're in a land not our own. We walk through this land as pilgrims and as sojourners. And so the book of Numbers is all about us. We are like the people in the book of Numbers. And so as we read the book of Numbers, it's a message for us. I think there's three messages, three big messages that the book of Numbers tells us. First, Numbers is a sober warning. Numbers is a sober warning to us of the dangers of falling away due to the cares of this world and a reminder that God demands holiness of his people. So as we read this book, We should look at ourselves and say, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Say, if you want to keep going, you've got to take these things seriously. You don't run aimlessly. You discipline yourself so that you can obtain the prize. Numbers is a sober warning to us of the dangers of falling away, but at the same time, Numbers is a precious promise. It's not all doom and gloom, though we need to hear the doom and gloom of Numbers. It's not all doom and gloom. It's also a precious promise that God will provide what we need to persevere. It's a call to perseverance, but also a promise that if you want to persevere, God will give you what you need. If you keep your eyes on Him, He will provide everything that you need to make it through the wilderness. And third, the end of Numbers is keep your eyes on the promise. If you keep your eyes on this world, if you love the things of this world, if your heart is entangled in the treasures of this world, you're never going to make it to the promised land, because the cares of this world are going to choke out the seed. You're going to get distracted by your heart being where your treasure is. So he says, make sure your treasure's there. Because if your treasure's there, then you'll want to persevere. If your treasure's there, then you'll want to run that way. And you'll find that God provides everything that you need to get there. But if your treasure's here, if your eyes are on things here, you're going to turn off, veer off into the wilderness and die. And so that's the book of Numbers. So I think we can sum it up. We read Romans 11 this morning. Talk a lot about Romans 11 again, but I want to pull up one verse. Paul says, note the kindness and the severity of God. That's the book of Numbers. In fact, Paul doesn't specifically reference Numbers in Romans 11, but I think he has in the back of his mind the book of Numbers as he goes through Romans 11. He looks and he says, has God rejected Israel? He says, no, look at me. I'm one. Probably list off a couple dozen others. Actually, probably a lot more than that. But on the whole, most of Israel turned away. But Paul probably looked back at Numbers and said, you know what? Over and over again, most of Israel turned away. And there are only a few, like Joshua. He said, God hasn't rejected his people, but it is a warning. Note the severity and the kindness of God. Severity towards those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you. That's what we're going to hear in the book of Numbers. God is severe. His holiness is preeminent. He does not brook those who will not follow after him. But we also see God's kindness to those who are Traveling through the wilderness just trying to get to the promised land. He provides everything that is necessary, but God's kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness. Paul says, don't take the warning without thinking about it. You need to continue running after Christ. If you don't, you won't make it. Otherwise, you too will be cut off. So, as we start new books, I try to write a summary statement. Here's my summary statement for the book of Numbers. This is what I think the message of the book of Numbers is. Numbers describes the movement of God's people from covenant, which happened in Exodus, to consummation, which is going to happen in Joshua. And therefore, it's the Old Testament book that perhaps most represents our situation as well, in between covenant and consummation. We are like the people in Numbers. Therefore, the book stands as a sober warning to us. Perseverance is required to obtain the promise. Revelation and Numbers are telling the same story. Perseverance is required to obtain the promise. But the book holds out a precious promise as well. God will not abandon his people, and the truths of the gospel will be our preservation. We must persevere, but it will be God who preserves us. We must persevere, but it is the gospel that sustains us. So therefore, Numbers calls us to value holiness by trusting in redemption and keeping our eyes on the promise. Don't get distracted by the things of the world. I know that's a really long summary statement, so I went through and decided to make a shorter one. So, if you want to remember a summary statement, I try to work on remembering this one. Numbers reflects us in the now and not yet. We have received the truths of redemption, but we haven't had their consummation. Remembrance reflects us in the now and not yet, and it warns us against falling away, while encouraging us with the Gospel to keep going on towards the Promised Land. That's the Book of Numbers, and that's what I want to take out as we study it together over the next couple of months. So kids, you have on the back of your bulletin, you want to write down, you have a couple of kids' questions. First kid's question, for whom was Numbers written? The Book of Numbers is written for us. those who are redeemed and are heading towards the promised land. The book of Numbers is written for us, those who are redeemed and headed towards the promised land. Then a second question for you, to what does Numbers call us? Numbers calls us to devote ourselves to holiness. Numbers calls us to devote ourselves to holiness, to keep our eyes on the promise, and to hold fast to the gospel. We can do all three of those things. We'll go through the wilderness, and we'll make it towards the promised land. Let's close in prayer. Father, we are grateful this morning for the truths of your word. Father, we're grateful that you gave us a picture, that you told us your purpose. Father, that you unfolded this plan of yours in numbers, that we can look at it and understand what you are like, who you are, that you are both kind and severe, that you are holy and just, but also full of grace and mercy. Father, I pray that as we start to study this book, that you would give us a heart that would be soft towards those things. Father, let us take the warnings of the book of Numbers seriously. Father, let us examine our lives. Father, I confess on my own that there are ways in which I fail and ways in which I don't even listen. So Father, I pray for all of us that as we study, that you would give us hearts that hear in our soft, tortured words. Father, I pray that you would also give us encouragement through the pictures of the gospel in Numbers. Father, that we would grasp onto those things as we walk through the wilderness, as we wait for your promises. And Father, as the people in Numbers should have, Father, we pray that your promises would be fulfilled. Father, that you will bring to pass the end of all things, that Christ would return and that we would enter with him into glory. Father, we echo the promise at the end of Revelation of the prayer that, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Father, bring our promise to its consummation. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Let's open it up for any questions or comments here, or any discussion. Yeah? Can you go back about a half a dozen slides to where you have a list? I don't know about everybody else's experience. It seems to me that somewhere church training history, we moved from teaching on sober warning to more focused on precious promise. Because I remember as a child, to use the expression hell, fire, and brimstone, oftentimes teaching from the pulpit involved the sober warning. In fact, I would say more often than not. And now, since then, maybe I don't know what era, 70s, it seems like teaching from the pulpit seems to be more on the precious promise. And the sober warning gets overlooked. And any thoughts? Has that been others' experiences? And any thoughts on why is that? Why is it that we focus so much on God's grace and God's promise And we don't necessarily fully understand the sober warning. Is it that our humanity is not interested in the sober warning, but we only want to look at the warm fuzzy? I think that's part of it. I agree with your broad overview of what's happened over the last century. And so I think If we take way step back, there's this general principle I use a lot, that truth is usually at the pin of the needle. And there's always one side and the other side. And you can waver way too far to one side, way too far to the other. I don't think we should talk about sober warning without precious promise. But I also don't think we should talk about precious promise without sober warning. I think if we go back 50, 75 years, whatever, in our country's history, the general church would have gone way too far towards one side. And in reaction, much of the church has gone way too far to the other side without making a union of those two and saying, we need to hear the sober warning, but also the precious promise. Why? We could talk about historical reasons, we could talk about theological reasons, but I think you hit it on the nose when you said it's because people's hearts don't like the truth. They either like to be self-righteous, which will run towards the sober warning, Or they like to be licentious, which will run towards the precious promise. They don't want to hold both where you must be holy, but it will never be about you. And so I think that's the theological, the deep reason why it's so easy for us to swing from one side to the other side without holding both up. So what are some of the keys to getting there? That's a great question. So number one, identifying that that's a pattern of humanity is that we go towards one side or the other, which scripture talks about as well. That we'll run towards self-righteousness or towards licentiousness. Then we can say, you know what? What am I doing? Which way am I erring on? Do I need to come back? Do I need to care more about the sober warnings of scripture? Or do I care so much about the holiness of scripture that I've pucked myself up with pride and need to hear more of the precious promise? Think self-reflection, going through the word, doing it together as a church. Those are things that I would point out. Are you thinking something in your mind? Because I would be glad to hear. Yeah. what we do as a church here, going through a book as it's laid out. A lot of churches I've been to, it's topical. So then you can pick the more fuzzy topics that are all true, but you focus on that. But when you go through his word, line by line, verse by verse, it's whatever God presented in that book that you deal with. Yeah. I think about that often when First Timothy, the Lord, or Second Timothy, I don't know, The Lord knows those who are His on the one side. He will keep those who are His, absolutely. But at the same time, let those who name the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. That we can hold up both of those, that God will absolutely preserve those who are His. But sometimes that preservation is by coming with a strong warning, depart from iniquity, absolutely. Anything else? OK, I'll turn you over to Keith. Thanks Matt, appreciate it.