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[0:00] Let's go with me to the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 33. That's where we will be at this evening, Numbers chapter 33. And we're going to look at it in its entirety.

[0:13] Hopefully, we have the light flickering issue resolved. We've had people here all week. Ms. Shannon had called and lined that up.

[0:24] They've been up there. It's amazing what wires that are loose and rubbing together and not covered up, not insulated, would do to lights. So if you see those flicker, let me know because there's other issues.

[0:37] But we had a lot of loose connections up there. You know, I don't know if that's a major damage with some sawmill lumber that was put up in the 1800s. But I would think that it probably is not real good.

[0:48] But thankfully, all that's taken care of. And we hopefully have it resolved. So those matters have been taken. A lot of work has been going on, at least on this portion of the church building, in the last couple weeks.

[1:03] So hopefully things will get ready there. Numbers chapter 33 is where we will be at this evening. And as we said, we'll read it in its entirety now.

[1:13] It's one of those chapters. You have to stay with me during it. Because quite honestly, it's one of those chapters that make us scratch our head.

[1:24] I believe it was even in the first century. In the first century church, someone questioned. And I can't remember the name of the individual who questioned it. Someone questioned really the reasoning for it being in Scripture.

[1:38] Said there was no need or no necessity for this chapter to even be included in Scripture. And one of the early church fathers said, if God breathed it and God ordained it, then there's a reason that God has it.

[1:51] So we're just going to read it as it is. And we're going to seek to look at the truths that it contains and hopefully find some applications for us. And I'll just say, you know, for my own benefit, I'm thankful we're making our way through the Old Testament this way.

[2:07] Because it forces me to address passages like this that in my natural tendency, I wouldn't come to. So we are forced with them. We are faced with them. And at least on my part, I'm thankful that I've had this week to look at this chapter and to see the truth that it contains.

[2:24] And hopefully we will as well. So let's pray together. And then we'll just jump right into it. And we'll read the text with one another. So let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for this evening. God's so thankful for the opportunity we've had to be together and fellowship.

[2:38] Lord, we've had to spend some time encouraging one another, hopefully in a midweek service. Lord, we pray now as we come and we open up your word. Lord, that the truth of Scripture would speak to our hearts.

[2:51] Lord, the revelation that we see of you would be renewed within us. Lord, in each and every passage we understand there's a divine purpose and a divine reason for its inclusion in Scripture.

[3:03] So Lord, we pray you would open our eyes, open our hearts, and open our mind to the truth of it. Lord, draw us closer to you through it. And may you be glorified and honored in it.

[3:14] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Numbers chapter 33, again, nearing the end of Moses' life. So there are a lot of issues which Moses is kind of tying up, if you will, a lot of loose ends.

[3:26] And one of them being this recounting of the journey of the nation that we find in Numbers chapter 33. If you remember, the generation, the older generation has all passed away.

[3:38] So now you have just three remaining of the older generation. That would be Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Moses is about to die. He's about to leave. He's about to depart.

[3:49] We understand that historically and biblically. He is not going to be around very much longer. And he is now recounting to the younger generation their travel. He is telling them the places they have been.

[4:00] And some of them may would have remembered it. Some of them would have possibly been very young in a number of these places. We know that they would have all at least been under 20 when they were going through these places starting out.

[4:13] Or actually, you know, after they went through some of them, they would have been quite a bit younger than that. Some, of course, had been born during that season. And maybe they had not remembered any of them.

[4:26] So they were going to see them for the first time. And here we have a reminder. It's kind of like when we get to the book of Samuel. And Samuel was raising up these Ebeneezers, these stones of help, looking back and seeing where they have been.

[4:41] Looking back and seeing God's faithfulness. And the whole reason for an Ebenezer is not so that we can be fixated on where we have been. If you remember, he says, here I raise mine Ebenezer.

[4:53] We sing that song, right? But we understand Samuel lifts that stone up because he says, thus far the Lord has helped us. So the reasoning for looking back is to say, God helped us there.

[5:08] So now God will help us here. So I don't think, even before we get into the text, I want you to understand that. I don't think that it is useless that Moses does it here.

[5:20] They're on the banks of the Jordan River. They're about to cross into the promised land. They're about to embark upon a number of battles. They're about to go against those giants and fortified cities in which they will look like grasshoppers in their sights.

[5:34] They're about to go against more established kingdoms. They're about to go into a land which they have never been. But what Moses is doing, just kind of in context, is he is reminding them of where they have already been.

[5:48] And he is reminding them of God's faithfulness where they have been in order to renew within them an excitement about God's faithfulness to where they are going.

[6:00] Okay? So we need to understand that before we even read it. Why he put it here. And then we're going to try to glean some applications from the text after we acknowledge that historical setting.

[6:12] It says in Numbers 33, These are the journeys of the sons of Israel by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the Lord.

[6:27] And these are their journeys according to their starting places. They journeyed from Ramesses in the first month on the 15th day of the first month. On the next day after the Passover, the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians.

[6:41] While the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had struck down among them, the Lord had also executed judgments on their gods. Just stop right there. Because I'll forget it if I don't say it now.

[6:52] Now, understanding the ten plagues, this again, commentary on scripture, the Lord had executed judgment on their gods.

[7:03] If you trace historically, each of the plagues was a judgment against a god or a deity of the Egyptian people.

[7:14] The end one, Passover, being that Pharaoh was God. And Pharaoh's descendant, his son, was the son of God.

[7:26] So that final judgment, God is not only judging the people, He's also showing his superiority to their gods. What it is they're trusting in, okay? We move on.

[7:37] Starting in verse 5. Then the sons of Israel journeyed from Ramesses and camped at Succoth. And they journeyed from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-Haharoth, which faces Baal-Zephon.

[7:51] And they camped before Migdol. They journeyed from before Ha-Haharoth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness. And they went three days journeyed in the wilderness to Etham and camped at Marah.

[8:03] They journeyed from Marah and came to Elam. And in Elam there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. And they camped there. They journeyed from Elam and camped at the Red Sea. They journeyed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.

[8:15] They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dofka. And they journeyed from Dofka and camped at Elush. They journeyed from Elush and camped at Rephidim. Now it was there that the people had no water to drink. They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.

[8:29] And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth, Hatava. They journeyed from Kibroth, Hatava and camped at Hazaroth. They journeyed from Hazaroth and camped at Ritma. They journeyed from Ritma and camped at Ramon Perez.

[8:41] They journeyed from Ramon Perez and camped at Libna. They journeyed from Libna and camped at Risa. They journeyed from Risa and camped at Kahlalath. They journeyed from Kahlalatha and camped at Mount Shefu.

[8:51] They journeyed from Mount Shefu and camped at Harada. They journeyed from Harada, and camped at Makkahaloth, and they journeyed from deleghold, and camped at Tehath. They journeyed from Tehath, and camped at Terah, and they journeyed from Terah, and camped at Mithga.

[9:05] They journeyed from Mithga, and camped at Hashmona. They journeyed from Hashmona, and camped at Masaroth, and they journeyed from Masaroth, and camped at Benajakhan. They journeyed from Benajakhan, and camped at Hor Haggagad, and they journeyed from Hor Haggagad, and camped at Jotbatha.

[9:22] They journeyed from Joprotha and camped at Brona. They journeyed from Abrona and camped at Azan-Gabr. They journeyed from Azan-Gabr and camped in the wilderness of Zin, that is Kadesh. They journeyed from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor at the edge of the land of Edom.

[9:37] Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there in the 40th year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt on the first day in the fifth month. Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

[9:51] Now the Canaanite king of Arad who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan heard of the coming of the sons of Israel. Then they journeyed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmona.

[10:02] They journeyed from Zalmona and camped at Punan. And they journeyed from Punan and camped at Oboth. They journeyed from Oboth and camped at I-Abirim at the border of Moab. They journeyed from I-Ium and camped at Dib-on-Gab.

[10:15] They journeyed from Dib-on-Gad and camped at Alman-Diblathim. They journeyed from Alma and Dib-on-Gab and camped in the mountains of I-Biram before Nebo.

[10:27] They journeyed from the mountains of I-Biram and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho. They camped by the Jordan from Beth-Jeshemoth as far as Abel-Shittim in the plains of Moab.

[10:40] Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.

[10:59] And you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families. To the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance.

[11:14] Wherever the lot falls, anyone that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorn in your sides.

[11:31] And they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you. Numbers 33. It would be a great chapter for me to say, So-and-so, would you mind reading that for us?

[11:43] And next time maybe I would do that, because my tongue doesn't always work that way. And I always offer apologies for whoever has to listen to it. Because sometimes it is struggle for me.

[11:56] I know it's easy for you, but it's a struggle for me. Especially with a cough drop stuck in my jaw, but we made our way through it. So you see here, the historical setting, camped on the edge of the Jordan River opposite Jericho.

[12:09] Jericho is the first battle they're going to fight, right? It's the first city they're going to march around. And God has given direct commands here at the end of the chapter as to the division of the land. And we're going to see in this historical, and then we're going to try to break it up in its application.

[12:22] Right? And he's given them, this is the land that I'm giving you. You're going to go in. You're going to possess it. You're going to remove all the foreign gods. You're going to destroy all their bells. You're going to destroy all their asherah. You're going to destroy all their foreign objects.

[12:33] You're not going to let any of the stone carvings remain. You're going to completely wipe them out. They didn't do that. That's the command that God gives them. He says, you're going to divide the land up by lots. Now, by lot is the casting of the lots.

[12:46] Because the understanding was, he said, we're not going to let any man pick who gets where. Because in that day, that Jewish culture setting, even historically, they would cast lots and say, man, cast the lots, but the lot is determined by the Lord.

[13:01] Right? So they're really putting it in the Lord's hands. Where you were to live was literally being put into the Lord's hands. They didn't believe in chance. We would see it as by chance. They saw it as by divine interaction.

[13:14] We understand that even in the choosing of the 12th apostle in the book of Acts. Right? They cast lots or they drew straws. Again, following that Old Testament principle of, man cast the lots, but the results fall into the hands of the Lord.

[13:28] It's this real overwhelming feeling of God's omniscient control, even of the circumstantial. So what God is saying is, you're going to come, the larger will get more, the smaller will get less, but where you get it is not your decision.

[13:43] You're going to take it as the lot is false. And what you get, that's it. You're not getting any more. Right? But before he gives them that command, he encourages them in what they've done in the past.

[13:54] Some of these cities, this is the first and only time we hear of them. Our locations, necessarily not cities. Some of them, they all of a sudden stick out to us. Mara, for instance, that's a, for instance, as soon as they came across the Red Sea, remember when the waters were parted and they went across, they ended up in Mara.

[14:10] And that's where the water was bitter and they couldn't drink the water. And God cleansed the water. The water was clean, became clean because that's the first place they complained. Actually, it was the second place they complained because they had just complained on the other side of the Red Sea where they said, we're caught between the Egyptians and the, and the sea.

[14:26] What are we going to do? You brought us here to die. Moses said, just move forward. Right? So then they get on the other side, they rejoice, they celebrate, end up in Mara because the water is bitter and they're there. And then we also encounter again that place, after he showed them clean water, he showed them abundant water and he brought them to the place of the palm trees or the date trees and, and the springs and all the wells that were there.

[14:47] And then we see the place where there was no water. That place is mentioned for us as well, because this is where they complained. That's where Moses struck the rock and rock became water. He was supposed to strike the rock there.

[14:59] There are places of great success. There are places of great failures, but all these places are significant to the nation of Israel. But what significance do they have for us? Why does God record these?

[15:11] Why do we have this recounting of the journey? Well, if you understand, hopefully as we have tried to make the application, it took God a moment to get the people out of Egypt.

[15:24] It took them, as some have said, it took him a moment to get them out of Egypt. It took him 40 years to get Egypt out of them. Right? So we've looked at the release of the slaves, or the Exodus event as salvation, saved in a moment.

[15:40] And we've talked as the wilderness wandering as sanctification, right? That is, after the moment of salvation, becoming what we should be, in order that when we get to where we're going, we are who we are supposed to be.

[15:54] Right? We're supposed to be God's people set apart for his glory. Now, in our terms, in our application, we are redeemed and saved and forgiven in a moment.

[16:05] We are sanctified throughout our life. That way, as Paul says, I am not yet what I should be, but when I am face to face with him, I will be as he is.

[16:16] How does that happen? Well, some of it is miraculous, and that final moment of complete renewal, some of it also is that lifetime of sanctification, because each day we ought to be more Christ-like.

[16:31] Each day, we ought to be closer to being as he is. Each step through the wilderness should be a deeper process in our sanctification.

[16:42] This week, I've been going over a verse in my mind, I heard on the radio, that I haven't ever really put much thought into it. And it's a hard verse for me. It's a really easy verse for some.

[16:53] It's a really hard verse for me, right? And it's 1 Thessalonians 4.11, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Now, that's hard for me. I'm a talker. I like to be around people. To lead a quiet life.

[17:03] To mind your own business. To work with your hands, right? To pay attention to your stuff. To do those things. I'm like, ah, so the Lord's been really messing with me. I don't know what he's told me. Maybe he's told me I need to talk quieter.

[17:14] I don't know. But either way, those are things that he wasn't working with me on last week, but he's working with me this week. That's the sanctification, right? That's the wilderness wanderings.

[17:25] Because God is making us what we should be. And he is molding us in that season. So if we look at that, then we see there is really application, even in this chapter, looking back at how the nation got to this point.

[17:40] They're literally on the edge of the promised land. God brought them out in order to take them in, and they're about to go in. But before they go in, they need to look back and see where they've been, and they need to see the truths that apply from that.

[17:53] Number one, we see that there was a decisive moment of beginning. There was a decisive moment of beginning. Simply put, there was a point in time in history where they started.

[18:09] And he reminds us of it. Look at what it says. These are the journeys of the sons of Israel. So this is their journey. This is the trip they have taken. This is what got them here.

[18:19] And he goes all the way back to the beginning. He says, in verse three, they journeyed from Ramesses in the first month. Now, that wouldn't have been the first month of the Egyptian calendar.

[18:31] That wouldn't have even been the first month of the ancient Near Eastern calendar. But it was the first month of the Jewish calendar. Right? So, because God said, this is going to be to you the first month.

[18:41] They started a whole new calendar based upon, they started telling time totally different based upon this beginning. On the first month, on the 15th day, which is the day after Passover, because the day of Passover is what?

[18:54] 14th day of the first month. Right? So here it is. Here's the decisive moment of beginning. On the 15th day, they started out.

[19:06] And I love what the New American Standard says. It says, they started out boldly in the sight of the Egyptians. I had that underlined in mind. They started out boldly in the sight of the Egyptians, which means at that decisive moment, at that exact time, they didn't start their journey like this.

[19:26] Well, I guess, I guess we'll go ahead and get started. No, it says they started out boldly. As a matter of fact, they started out so boldly. The book of Exodus says that each of them looked at their neighbor and said, Oh yeah, we're leaving.

[19:38] And by the way, go ahead and give me your gold earrings. Go ahead and give me your bracelets and give me your necklaces. And it says, and God so gave them favor that they got it. They plundered the Egyptians as they left.

[19:49] This is how they had all the resources to build the tabernacle and all the gold plating around everything. And they plundered them being slaves who were untrained and unlearned and unskilled in warfare and had no weapons.

[20:00] They were bold. But look at what it says. After the Passover, as the Egyptians were burying their dead because God had cast judgment upon the Egyptians and their gods.

[20:16] The reason they can make a bold decision to start now was because God had already started working in their midst before them.

[20:26] God had shown himself faithful. God had shown himself powerful. God had shown himself stronger than the Egyptian gods. He had shown himself stronger than Pharaoh himself.

[20:40] He had shown himself not only powerful, but also protector because the death angel passed over the nation of Israel. They camped in the midst of that land, which was under judgment.

[20:51] So God showed his mercy. God showed his concern. God showed his power. God showed his strength. And when they saw that, they decided, I'm going.

[21:03] That's not much different than us. It's not much different than us. You know, I've told you this before. I used to be so mistaken. I remember, as a new believer, I came to Christ reading the book of Romans.

[21:18] Very deep book. Got very surface level of it. Wanted to read a little bit deeper, so I wanted to go into the Gospels. So as a new believer, and by the way, I don't ever counsel this to new believers, but I did it.

[21:33] I went to the book of Mark. You know why I went to the book of Mark, right? Because it's the shortest gospel. And it moves quick. Mark moves quick. He don't give many details. Mark's favorite word is immediately, or straight away, or straight forth.

[21:46] I mean, literally, you read it every time. He says, and immediately, and immediately, and immediately, and immediately, and immediately, and immediately. Mark was writing to people much like me. They had a short attention span. He was writing to a Greek audience who would have been consumed about like Greek gods and the power, and they really didn't care about genealogies.

[22:02] They really didn't care about where you came from. They just wanted to know what you could do. And so when he was writing to them, he was writing with that intended purpose and that intended audience. I didn't know this when I started reading Mark, right? And all I read was immediately, immediately, immediately, immediately, immediately.

[22:14] And as a new believer, I began to get under this conviction. Like, man, these disciples never even hesitated. Jesus called them, and it says, and immediately they followed him. It's like, man, I want that.

[22:24] I want, when he calls me, I want to immediately follow. And now that's true, okay? Stay with me on this. That is true. But I beat myself up because I'm like, I'm so hesitant. I don't, I don't go this way.

[22:36] Then, by the power and presence of Christ, I was able to read the rest of the Gospels, and then I found out that John the Baptist pointed out Jesus to them before they followed him, right?

[22:47] He says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin, singular, of the world. And then the next way, the next day, John the Baptist points them out again, and they go hang out with Jesus for a little while.

[22:58] And not only do they go hang out with Jesus, Jesus takes them to a wedding feast. And at the wedding feast, Jesus turns 12 pots of water into wine, and it's the best wine they've ever had.

[23:09] Then they go back fishing, and then, Jesus calls them from fishing, and then, you know what? John the Baptist said something about him. We saw what he did to the water. I think he's worth following.

[23:21] Then they followed him. You know what I found out? It's the same thing you have in the book of Exodus. When God draws you to himself, God's not drawing you to take a step of blind faith.

[23:32] God's calling you to make a decisive moment of trusting in the God who's already shown himself powerful and gracious to you. And that's true throughout Scripture. God is drawing and wooing.

[23:44] Now, we won't know everything. We won't. But God reveals enough about himself in Scripture and in nature.

[23:55] God reveals himself enough about us in our conscience that when we decide to follow him, it is based upon the sure foundation that God is worth it.

[24:05] And that's exactly what they did. They made a decision. And they said, you know what? I'm following him. I would dare say every one of us go back in our life.

[24:19] The moment of our beginning. We may not be able to tell you exactly when that moment is, but we can tell you the reason we're following the Lord is because of this.

[24:32] There's a decided, decisive moment of beginning. God's been drawing, wooing. Listen, you understand? Before they ever took notice of God, God took notice of them.

[24:46] God heard their cry. He took notice of them. He found Moses on the backside of the wilderness and told Moses what he was going to do. Not what he was thinking about doing, what he was going to do to show himself worthy of being followed.

[25:02] And God's love and mercy and power drew them in. A decisive moment of beginning.

[25:13] And when Moses points back, he says, this is where it started. This is where it started. Why is that important? Because the God who can slay the firstborn yet pass over you is going to keep you when you go into that land over there.

[25:31] The God who is that powerful then is the same God who is this powerful now. A decisive moment in the beginning. Second thing we see is there was a dependent following of the leaders.

[25:42] A dependent following of the leaders. Look at what it says. And they left under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. They left under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

[25:57] You remember Moses is kind of hesitant. Some 40 years prior to this, Moses, we find in the book of Acts and even in the book of Hebrews, some 40 years prior to this, Moses knew that God was going to deliver the nation through him.

[26:16] So Moses sought to take matters into his own hand and slew an Egyptian as he was beating one of the Hebrew people. So Moses thought that God's deliverance was going to come through his strength because Moses was most definitely the most well-trained Israelite there was.

[26:31] And then he had become something in the courts of Egypt so God put him in the wilderness so that he would become nothing in the sight of man. And 40 years later God goes and gets Moses and Moses is very hesitant.

[26:41] And then you remember that Aaron meets Moses outside of Egypt, right? as he's on his way Aaron meets him there because God is speaking to Aaron as God is speaking to Moses.

[26:52] Isn't that so good? And then God brings them together and they meet and then they go in and they're leading them out. But they're dependent upon these leaders because here's the reality. The people of God had no idea where they were going or how to get there apart from the ones who were leading them.

[27:06] Completely dependent. Now I didn't say they happily followed the leaders because there are a lot of instances where they grumbled and they mumbled and they complained and they cried out and they said oh we wish that we were back there.

[27:20] Oh it amazes me how many times you hear them say I wish that we were back but yet none of them ever go back. You know why? Because they knew they couldn't go back on their own. They were completely dependent upon Moses and Aaron.

[27:35] Regardless of what they thought or even what they said they were dependent upon the fact that they were the only ones who knew the way. There was only one person really which was Moses that could ever take them to where they were supposed to be because they were nothing but slaves.

[27:53] They were born into slavery they were raised in slavery all they knew was slavery. They didn't know anything about warfare. Their whole life they had been belittled they had been abused and they had been cast down.

[28:05] Their whole life they had been made nothing. They knew nothing about confronting the nations they were going to confront and they knew nothing about the territory they were walking through let alone anywhere they were going. They were 400 years removed from the next closest of kin that had actually stood in the promised land.

[28:22] That would have been Abraham. Right? Abraham's descendants. They had no idea how to get there. They didn't know where to turn they didn't know where to walk they were dependent upon Moses.

[28:38] Moses makes this great declaration in Deuteronomy chapter 18 God will raise up for you a leader like unto me who we know is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

[28:56] The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our forerunner our trailblazer who goes before us. Listen we were nothing but slaves born into slavery raised in slavery enslaved to sin our entire life not trained for the battle none of us would ever train for spiritual battle in our natural condition not knowing the way because Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father yet through me.

[29:26] We were just like the Egyptians and we have to completely depend upon the leader. We know no other way. there is no other path there is no other one and unfortunately much like the Hebrew people sometimes God's people are not always happily following but dependent still the same.

[29:46] no one comes to the Father but through me. There is only one who can lead us that way.

[29:58] Psalm 23 some of you read it today as you are going through your reading the Lord is my shepherd he goes before me though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.

[30:10] Recently we moved our sheep from the back of our place to the front of our place just a few sheep our mom of sheep and Carrie said how are you going to do it? I said well I'm going to get a feed bucket and I'm going to walk before them.

[30:21] She said what do I need to do? I said just walk behind them make sure nobody is straggling. Ethan was helping move stuff around and other things and I put a little feed in my bucket and I just took off walking. Sheep are great but if sheep think you have something good in that bucket they're going to follow you they don't care where you go.

[30:36] So I walked them down the logging trail past the chicken every now and then I would stop and give them a little bit of something out of that bucket and they just kept following.

[30:49] They just kept following. They just kept following because they knew all they knew was I don't know where we're going but that man up there has got something I want. Listen I don't always know where Christ has taken me. All I do know is that every now and then Jesus will stop and show me what he has for me is worth it.

[31:06] Whatever he has in that bucket I want. So I'll follow him. And I'm dependent upon that leader and we see this.

[31:17] Moses is writing all these places they wouldn't have got there on their own. They wouldn't have. On their own they would have went back to Egypt. Let's be honest on our own each one of us would go back to sin. As much as we may like to think that we wouldn't own our own we would go back to our natural ways of sin.

[31:37] Dependent upon a leader. The third thing we see and this is probably my favorite thing in this whole passage. There was a daily renewal of commitment. A daily renewal of commitment.

[31:50] I love absolutely love what this verse says in verse 2. I don't know how the New American Standard reads it. I don't know how the other translations all read it.

[32:02] I don't think the New King James reads it this way. But I love the little reading of the New American Standard where it says Moses recorded their starting places.

[32:13] According to their journeys by the command of the Lord and these are their journeys according to their starting places. Some of them read camping places. Their starting places.

[32:25] I love that because this shows us every place listed is a starting place. The places of success, the next day you start again.

[32:36] The places of failure, morning, guess what? The next day you start again. The Bible tells us his mercies are new every morning. So every day when they woke up, they were in a new starting place.

[32:51] Which means yesterday's complaints, yesterday's failures, yesterday's mistakes didn't matter today because today this was a starting place, not an ending place. Today this was a place to start again, not a place to linger over and stop.

[33:05] As much as they might have wanted to stop any of these locations, even the one that had all the springs and all the date trees and all the palm trees, I'm sure that would have been a great place to end. That wasn't an ending place, that was a starting place.

[33:16] And each city, each day, each place they stopped, each location reminds us there was a daily renewal of commitment. Each day they got up and they said we're starting again.

[33:29] Because we're not there yet. We're not there yet. This isn't where we're supposed to be. Friend, listen to me. Whatever happened today, good, bad, or indifferent, guess what?

[33:42] If we're given tomorrow, tomorrow is the starting, today is tomorrow's starting place. See, our enemy stands on our shoulder and whispers in our ear and always wants to remind us of all of our mistakes, all of our failures, all of our mess-ups, and all of our stumblings, and all of our shortcomings, and all of these places, and what we did yesterday, and what we did two days ago, and what we did three days ago, and all we have to do is go, you know what, Satan, you're right, that's a good place for me to start being more committed.

[34:09] That's a good place for me to start following the Lord afresh, because I can't go back and redo it, but I sure can start again. This is why Paul said, I die daily.

[34:22] Nevertheless, I live, and it's no longer me who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I die daily. Paul said, every day I wake up and I start again. I'm living the resurrected life every day.

[34:35] You know why that's important? Because if I die daily, what I did yesterday, I'm dead to. I can't celebrate yesterday's successes, and I can't wallow in yesterday's failures, because I'm dead to those things.

[34:46] I've been crucified. I have been crucified in Christ, right? I'm no longer that guy. Today is the day he's given me to start following him today, and that is good news, because when you read this listing of locations, a lot of them were bad, some of them were good, but each one was a starting place.

[35:07] So when we come to a place of failure, we start again. We come to a place of success, we start again, and that's great news. It is a daily renewal of commitment, because none of these are the end.

[35:25] This is still God leading his people. wherever we're at today, God's still leading his people, and until we're in his presence, it's not the end.

[35:37] It's a starting place. That's why I love the fact that often in scripture, not just often, but most often in scripture, salvation is referred to as a present tense event, not a past occurrence, because we are presently saved, presently redeemed, presently forgiven, presently following, presently starting again, each and every day.

[36:12] Sure, there was a decisive moment where we began, but each day, each day is a new renewal. Fourth and finally, and we see this at the end of the chapter, there is a definite destination in view.

[36:29] The reason each day was a new start is because they knew there was somewhere they were going. And that somewhere God brought them out to bring them in.

[36:40] Right? That somewhere wasn't the edge of the Jordan opposite Jericho. It was on the other side of the Jordan. That somewhere was the promised land.

[36:51] That somewhere was the land God had declared what was theirs, was going to be theirs, and they were going to conquer. So until they got there, they kept proceeding, they kept following.

[37:04] Friend, listen, for the believer, and I'm wrapping up here because we're going to pray, there is a definite destination in view for the believer. God's and that is when I am face to face with Christ.

[37:22] Until that day, I'm not there yet. But when I'm in his presence, I'm there. And that's a definite destination.

[37:37] That's where he's taking me. And what I do today needs to prepare me to be there whenever I get there. I know where I'm going.

[37:50] It's not a hope so, it's not a think so, it's a know so. Moses didn't tell them, I hope we get to the promised land, or I think we'll eventually get to the promised land.

[38:01] It was always when we get there. For the believer, ours may be a long list of starts and stops, but we know where we're going.

[38:15] It's definite. It's secure. It's settled. And God could have taken them there in two weeks. He got them there in less than two years.

[38:27] They had to wander around for 38 more years. But guess what? Two weeks, two years, or 40 years, it was still there. It doesn't really matter the timeline because it was still there.

[38:45] God causes me to be face to face with him today, he'll be there. If I have another 40 years, he'll be there then. That destination is not going anymore.

[38:56] It's there, it's settled, and it's secured. And that's what I'm looking forward to as I recount the journey I've been on, knowing that each and every day there's a new starting place.

[39:10]  I'm still moving forward. Numbers 33. Thank you, brothers. Thank you, brothers. so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,