Have you ever wanted something so badly and yet were denied the opportunity to receive it. This was the situation with Moses and the land of Canaan. Did that mean he changed his attitude towards the Lord? Take a look…
Deuteronomy 3: The Defeat of King Og
1 "Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
2 But the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'
3 So the LORD our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left.
4 And we took all his cities at that time---there was not a city that we did not take from them---sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages.
6 And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon, devoting to destruction every city, men, women, and children.
7 But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as our plunder.
8 So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon
9 (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir),
10 all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
12 "When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities.
13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim.
14 Jair the Manassite took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)
15 To Machir I gave Gilead,
16 and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites;
17 the Arabah also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
18 "And I commanded you at that time, saying, 'The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valour shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel.
19 Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in the cities that I have given you,
20 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also occupy the land that the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.'
21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So will the LORD do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing.
22 You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.'
Moses Forbidden to Enter the Land
23 "And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying,
24 'O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.'
26 But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, 'Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.
27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan.
28 But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.'
29 So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Deuteronomy 4: Moses Commands Obedience
1 "And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.
4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?
8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 "Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children---
10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.'
11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.
12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.
14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15 "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.
19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.
21 Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land.
23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you.
24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25 "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
The LORD Alone Is God
32 "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.
36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time."
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan,
42 that the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbour unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life:
43 Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Introduction to the Law
44 This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.
45 These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,
46 beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.
47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan;
48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon),
49 together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah..
Things to think about…
1. Moses reminds this next generation that the second Amorite king – Og king of Bashan came out against the Israelites and was destroyed. Sixty of the Amorite cities were taken. Og was a giant. His bed was over 4 meters long, Dt 3:11. An ancient cubit was about 50cm long. Which makes this man around 13 feet tall. God allows us to defeat the giants in our lives and take their cities for Christ. Solomon says “The sinners wealth is stored up for the righteous” Prov 13:22. Our trust is in Christ. Some of the giants we face today are obvious – a militant LGBT agenda, child mutilation through gender reassignment, abortion pandemic, the environmental movement promoting the worship of the earth, cancel culture and the woke wars. May Christ allow us to take the land by sending waves of His Holy Spirit.
2. Moses is forbidden to enter the promised land, Dt 3:23-29. God even says to him to stop asking, vs 26. God says Joshua will take the lead and the land. We need to recognise what season we are in. We should not keep pushing an agenda that the Lord is clearly not wanting us to pursue. The Lord raises up ministers and leaders, our role is to train them up and release them. Let’s be wise like Moses and know when this season is upon us and not hold onto things longer than we should.
3. Moses in Dt 4:1-14 also reminds them of the seduction of the Israelites at Baal of Peor as recorded in Num 25:1-15. They committed adultery/idolatry with the Moabite women. 24, 000 died. It was stopped by the zeal of Phinehas a grandson of Aaron. Moses reminds them of Mt Horeb (Sinai) and says this mountain burned. Our God is a consuming fire. We are told never to play with fire. Well…don’t play with God or His word. Hear it and obey. The message has not changed from the time of Moses until now.
4. The Lord knows our hearts and He certainly knew the heart of the ancient Israelis. He knows their hearts will turn away from Him Dt 4:26. They will not keep the land as a result, but suffer the judgement that the surrounding nations suffered. But our God seeks after us when we go astray, vs 28 and ultimately brings us back to a place of repentance and restoration, Dt 4:29
5. Moses reminds them that the children need to be taught the words and commandments of the Lord Dt 4:39, 40. The Lord blesses marriages as Malachi tells us, Mal 2:14-16, because the Lord wants to raise up the next generation that will worship him. This is done through training our children in righteousness. Do not think you are doing any favours to your children by going soft on sin or not sharing God’s word with them. Pray also that the words which are sown bear fruit.
6. We are all man slayers who need a City of Refuge Dt 4:41-43. Christ is our City of Refuge. Flee to Him and encourage others to do the same.
7. The law is about to be said, Deuteronomy Dt 4:44-49, it reminds this next generation of the great acts that the Lord did and that the Israelites were called out to be different for a purpose. This was to live for the Lord’s glory and not their own. You have been bought at a price – the precious blood of Christ. Stop living for your own means and your own pleasure. Start today to redeem the time. You don’t know when your time is up, and you will have to give an account for the way you lived.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Cell groups are encouraged to do alpha at church on Wednesday night 6:30pm at church. Be encouraged and join us.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Tad and family as they continue life after Andy. The comfort is they know where he is.
2. Pray for the Kids Klub starting Fri 28th July.
3. Pray for alpha course starting 26th July Wed 6:30pm at Church. Invite non-Christians.
4. Pray about Sunday’s message that it would change lives.
5. That those who are new to the church are encouraged and settle in well into the church.
6. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you saved.
7. Pray for Kids@church.
8. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Praise God for new life! Jennifer has been blessed with 2 more grandchildren. Twin girls – Aurelia Rose Blackwood and Callista Lily Blackwood – 2kg each. Both healthy and mum as well. Praise the name of the Lord!
2. Andrew has gone to be with the Lord. He is free from pain and rejoicing with His Saviour around the throne.
3. Give thanks for Sally who has consistently been able to come to church with Richard.
4. Some encouraging signs of those wanting to consider who Jesus was. People asking about baptism.
5. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Alpha Course starting on Wed 26th July – 6:30pm – invite non Christians to this course.
2. Friday afternoon Kids Klub – starting third term Fri 28th July – 3pm (3:30pm start) - 5:30pm.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Tune in again this week on our youtube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for July...
Q. 10. Where is God? A. God is everywhere.
Psalm 139:7-12; Acts 17:27-28; Jeremiah 23:23-24.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” Jer 33:3
