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All right, you can turn to Deuteronomy chapters and then rehearses their history in terms of their disobedience and rebellion against God in the past. So I'll read beginning in Deuteronomy chapter 9 at verse 1. Here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself. cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, who can stand before the descendants of Anak?

Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you. Do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Also, in Horeb, you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry enough with you to have destroyed you.

"'When I went up into the mountain "'to receive the tablets of stone, "'the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, "'then I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. "'I neither ate bread nor drank water. "'Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone "'written with the finger of God. "'And on them were all the words "'which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain "'from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

Then the Lord said to me, arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded image. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me saying, I have seen this people and indeed they are a stiff necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain and the mountain burned with fire.

And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God, had made for yourselves a molded calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin, which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him. So I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

Also at Taborah and Masah and Kibroth Hadovah, you provoked the Lord to wrath. Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, go up and possess the land which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God. And you did not believe him, nor obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

Thus I prostrated myself before the Lord. Forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the Lord had said He would destroy you. Therefore I prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Do not look on the stubbornness of this people or on their wickedness or their sin. Lest the land from which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty power and by your outstretched arm.

Amen. Well, if you look back with me for a moment to chapter seven in the book of Deuteronomy, notice at verse six, it says, for you are a holy people to the Lord, your God, the Lord, your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people. For you were the least of all peoples.

But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." And then over in chapter 8, specifically at verse 17. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.

So the children of Israel would not inherit the promised land because they were more numerous than the nations around them, or because they had superior power to get wealth, according to Deuteronomy 8, 17. And here, the specific emphasis in Deuteronomy 9 is that they're not inheriting the land due to their righteousness.

And so God, through Moses, is telling them to cast such thoughts out of their minds and to realize that God alone is the power of Israel. Should they go successfully into the promised land? Should they conquer the heathen? Should they take inheritance that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?

It wasn't because they were better. It wasn't because they were more righteous, it wasn't because they were smarter or wiser or more numerous or more powerful to gain wealth, but it was the living and true God that backed them, that used them, and that sent them in on this particular mission.

And so in Deuteronomy 9, I think there's two specific parts to the chapter. First, the anticipation of the conquest in verses 1 to 6, and then secondly, the recapitulation of their history in verses 7 to 29. And I think the recapitulation serves to emphasize and enforce that admonition that they not lean on their own righteousness or argue that it was their own righteousness that brought them victory when they entered into the promised land. So let's look first at the anticipation of the conquest. Note the anticipation in verses 1 to 3. Here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven. This is repeated from Exodus chapter 20 in a summary fashion, and then it's spelled out very clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 1 to 5.

Remember, they are freed from bondage in Egypt, God leads them through the wilderness to the plains of Moab, and based on the promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they're going to go in and dispossess the land. They're going to engage in the conquest. They're going to get rid of the Canaanites, and they're going to take what God had promised to the patriarchs. And so the crossing of the Jordan and the conquest of the heathen is specified by God with reference to their position now on the plains of Moab.

Notice in verse 2 a reminder that the threat is great, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim whom you know and of whom you heard it said who can stand before the descendants of Anab. If you remember back in Numbers in chapters 13 and 14, this is one of the arguments posed by the ten faithless spies. They said the land is filled with these giants, and if we go into the land, then we will be slaughtered by the giants.

In fact, the land itself devours its inhabitants. So already they had had this pattern and this program of defeatism because they didn't believe the promise of God that he would give the land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course, the congregation listens to the ten faithless spies and do not listen to the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb.

And as a result, God does away with that first generation. And so to the second generation, He is reminding them of the potential threat that lay in the land. But notice the encouragement in verse 3. He says, Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly as the Lord has said to you. Again, a similar emphasis that you find back in Numbers.

It wasn't that they had no promises. It wasn't that they had no revelation. It wasn't that they didn't have the knowledge of the promise of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They just didn't operate by faith. They didn't live in light of those things. In fact, if you look specifically at verse 23, and you did not believe him nor obey his voice.

If we are faithless with reference to God, then we're not going to be obedient. It is faithfulness that drives our obedience, and that is precisely what lacked in the first generation. And as we know from subsequent history with reference to the plains of Moab, that's what's going to do in this second generation. This is going to be their downfall. They don't believe God. They don't take His promises seriously. They don't appropriate them, and they don't live in light of those realities.

So go into the land, understand there is a real physical threat, but God Most High is over that physical threat, and He goes over before you as a consuming fire, and He will destroy them and bring them down before you. Then on the heels of this anticipation, He gives this caution in verses four to six. So in verse 4a, do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you.

Notice as far as God is concerned, it's a done deal. And if it's a done deal with God in terms of His covenant promises, it ought to be a done deal with the people of God. We walk by faith, not by sight. Whether there's anarchy or there's other threats or there's other dangers, if God has promised to overcome, then we need to side with God on that.

When Jesus says that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, and that he has promised and testified that he will build his church, we need to live in light of that particular promise, and we need to live in accordance with that particular promise.

So they need to understand this reality. Do not think in your heart. It doesn't say don't verbalize it, not that that would be okay, but don't even begin to let it crawl up in your heart. don't think for a moment that it's somehow owing to you and especially your righteousness that you will inherit the land that is before you do not think in your heart after the lord your god has cast them out before you saying because of my righteousness the lord has brought me in to possess this land again the temptation to self-righteousness the temptation to a corporate self-righteousness to think, well, these Canaanites are so bad and therefore we're so good. That doesn't necessarily follow.

It can be the case that the Canaanites are bad and that the Israelites are bad too. And that's the bulk of the chapter in verses nine and following or nine to 29. It is a reiteration or recapitulation of how bad Israel is and that they stand by God's grace.

So the temptation to boast in numbers, Deuteronomy 7, the temptation to think that their power gained them wealth in Deuteronomy 8, is now furthered by this temptation to a self-righteousness on their part, that we must be getting this because we're good. We must be getting this because we're righteous. We must be getting this because God owes us.

See, the self-righteous man thinks God owes him. The two men who went to the temple to pray in Luke 18, the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, thank you God that I'm not like other men. Thank you God that I'm not an adulterer, an extortioner, or I'm not like this publican here. The self-righteous man thinks God owes him specific reward. The publican, however, can't even look up into heaven, but he beats his breast and says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

Seems to be a lesson that corporate Israel never quite got. And we see again positively in Joshua the conquest, but by the time we get to Judges, it is all negative. It is cycles of degradation with reference to the Israelites who take on the characteristics of the Canaanites and the land.

So the prohibition is very clear, verse 4a. Because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to process, or possess rather, the land. And now he gives proof of this in verses 4b to 6. Notice the wickedness of the heathen. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. So God agrees that these are wretched peoples.

God agrees that the heathen are wicked. But again, that does not mean that Israel is righteous. Just because you're not as bad as somebody else doesn't mean you're not bad. Just because you're not as lawless as somebody else doesn't mean you're not lawless. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. Notice in 5a, it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land.

Remember back in Leviticus chapter 18, you can turn there. Leviticus chapter 18, a chapter devoted to a prohibition of sexual sin. in Leviticus chapter 18 at verse 24. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you.

For all these abominations the men of the land have done who were before you, and thus the land is defiled. Lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore you shall keep my ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God."

Now when it comes to the conquest, Again, it's not the case that Israel is a holy, law-abiding, righteous nation or entity that somehow deserves the title to the land of promise. Certainly the Canaanites were wicked, and certainly the Canaanites were going to vomit out the inhabitants. But when Israel, as I said, apes the conduct of the Canaanites, they get vomited out of the land in 722 B.C., in 586 B.C., and then in A.D. 70. They enter into exile as a result of violating the covenant given by God. I like what Dale Ralph Davis says in his commentary on the book of Joshua.

He says the conquest is not a bunch of land-hungry marauders wiping out, at the behest of their vicious God, hundreds of innocent, God-fearing foes. It's not like the Canaanites were there worshipping the living and true God. It's not like the Canaanites were in the land writing the Nicene Creed or the Second London Confession. They weren't meditating upon and contemplating on the scriptures. They were not obedient. In fact, there in Leviticus 18, the prohibition against sexual sin, it was abominable. It was wretched. It was godless.

Davis continues, in the biblical view, the God of the Bible uses none too righteous Israel as the instrument of his just judgment on a people who had persistently reveled in their iniquity. And if I was gonna add to that, I'd say God then uses not too righteous Assyria to deal the death blow to the northern kingdom. He uses not too righteous Babylon to deal the death blow to the southern tribes of Judah. He uses the Roman armies in AD 70 to take them out once and for all and send them into exile because of their violation and transgression of Deuteronomy 28. Christopher Wright says, the Israelites would be right in their estimation of the Canaanites, but utterly wrong in their estimation of themselves. The wickedness of the Canaanites did not prove the righteousness of Israel. So it doesn't follow. You see, they're going to pat themselves on the back.

We're entering into this land because we earned it. We're entering in this land because we're righteous. We enter into this land because we're good and God will reward us for that. He continues again to prove this particular statement. Notice in verse 5b, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You're not receiving the land because of your righteousness. You're receiving the land because a promise, because of God's grace and because of God's mercy. And then in verse six, he highlights their waywardness and he highlights the fact that they are rebels.

Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Now, I suppose that he uses stiff-necked people in light of Psalm 115a. In a condemnation of idolatry, that psalm that says they have mouths but they can't speak, they have ears but they can't hear, they have eyes but they can't see, it's a mockery of idolatry.

In Psalm 115.8, the psalmist says those who make them idols are like them. You take on the characteristics of that which you worship.

Now, the narrative is gonna shift and show, in terms of recapitulation, Sinai and the wilderness. What happened at Sinai? We know the giving of the law, the ratification of the covenant, and then the breaking of the covenant in Exodus chapter 32. What was the specific nature of the breaking of the covenant in Exodus chapter 32?

It was idolatry. Remember, we threw in this gold, now pop this calf. What's characteristic of a calf? Stiff-neckedness. I don't know if that's the way to say it. I said that in a sermon once many years ago and Frank Sanchez started cracking up. Stiff-neckedness? Stiff-neckedness, I guess, is the way to say it. Isn't that characteristic? those who make them become like them. Calves and other animals need yokes placed upon them. They need help. They need restraint. They need guidance. They need control. And these people took on those characteristics.

G.K. Beal has a book on idolatry. And he says, what you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or restoration. What you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or restoration. In other words, you become like that which you worship. And so that the narrative shifts directions in terms of recapitulation and goes to the Sinai event and then goes to the wilderness to highlight the reality that you are a stiff-necked people This is probably what's in view, the idolatry of these people in terms of rejecting and resisting the living and true God. So now, the recapitulation of their history in verses 7 to 29. In other words, he's going to prove it. He's going to declare. He's going to give several sort of substantial statements to confirm what it is.

In other words, don't get proud. Don't start patting yourself on the back for your righteousness any more than you should pat yourself on the back because you're more numerous or any more than you should pat yourself on the back because you've got this wealth.

No, it's God who has blessed you. It is God who has prospered you. So notice the provocation of God in verses 7 to 24, and then the intercession of Moses in verses 25 to 29. The exhortation, verse 7, remember, do not forget how you provoke the Lord, your God, to wrath in the wilderness.

From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. So in other words, they're ponying up their so-called righteousness and God says, wait a minute, I must be remembering things a bit differently because once I got you out of the land of Egypt, all I saw was declension. All I saw was apostasy. All I saw was infidelity and covenant breaking. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

And I love this, remember, verse 7, it's good to remember, it's good to look back, it's good to see that our track records are not spotless, they're not pure, they're not holy. We cannot boast in a supposed righteousness apart from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We're not supposed to be the arrogant publican that stands and prays thus for themselves, thank you God that I'm not like other men. Thank you that I don't commit adultery. Thank you that I don't commit extortion. And thank you that I'm not a publican." Again, there might be a situation where we can pray that, God, thank you for your sovereign grace and mercy. If it wasn't for that grace, you know, where would I be now?

That's legit, but that's not how the publican is doing it. He is bringing His so-called righteousness before the God of heaven and earth, seeking vindication, seeking justification, and ultimately seeking reward based on what it was He had done. He's living in a covenant of works motif, thinking that He has satisfied the requirements of the law. Just like the rich young ruler, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? What does Jesus say? You know the commandments. Jesus rehearses the second table of law. What does that young man say? All these I have kept from my youth, what one thing do I lack? Really, you've kept those from your youth? You've never had a wicked thought? You've never told a lie? You've never had a murderous thought? So Jesus speaks specifically with reference to that young rich judicial law, chapters 21 to 23, and then covenant ratification in chapter 24. And then an extended treatment on ceremonial law in chapters 25 to 40.

And so what God is doing is highlighting that act of rebellion in the midst of covenant ratification on the heels of that, instead of faithfully carrying out what they swear in Exodus 24, 3 and 7, all that the Lord has commanded we will observe, they go and dance around a golden calf.

It's absolutely vile. So notice, Moses rehearses that or recounts that here, recapitulates that in this particular context. So he gives the setting in verses 9 to 11. He went up on the mountain. God gave him the Ten Commandments. Notice in verse 10, then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. That phrase is unique to the moral law. That phrase is unique to the Ten Commandments.

It's not to suggest that God didn't give the judicial law, not that God didn't give the ceremonial law. He did, but what we have in the moral law is trans-covenantal. The judicial law expired with the Commonwealth of Israel. The ceremonial law was fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. What abides? What is in perpetuity? It is the moral law of God. It's written with the finger of God. It is lasting. It is binding. It binds all men in all places, in all ages, in all times.

And on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. And then he moves on to the specific offense. Notice in verse 12, then the Lord said to me, arise, go down quickly from here for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. Do you see something interesting there? What God says, your people whom you brought out of Egypt.

This happens when parents are parenting children. It happens when, you know, mom lets the son get away. Well, it's usually the other way around. The father lets the son get away with something or the daughter. And the mom says, your child did such and such. She's not actually disowning him. She's not actually sending him off to the orphanage. No, she is showing her displeasure with the conduct of the son. So she's throwing it into the lap of the father. Your son did this.

So it's God's doing here to show his displeasure. Remember the Bible's accommodated language. It's spoken in the manner of men. It's given to us so that we can wrap our minds and hearts around what it looks like when scripture declares that God is displeased.

Arise, go down quickly from here for your people whom you brought out of Egypt. Moses, yeah, you could say on the one hand they were his people, and you could say, yeah, on the other hand, he did bring them out of Egypt, but they're God's project, they're God's people, they're God's redeemed, and they're God's project. They've acted corruptly, they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, they have made themselves a molded image. They have made themselves a golden calf and predicated of that calf that it was the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Notice the judgment in verses 13 and 14. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me saying, I have seen those people and indeed they are a stiff-necked people Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they."

This is Exodus 32 spelled out in detail by way of recapitulation to underscore the reality that you're not righteous. See, righteous people don't swear fidelity at the foot of Sinai and then a few chapters later dance around a golden calf. I don't know what universe of righteousness you're operating in, but that ain't it. And that's what's going on here.

Notice the response in verses 15 to 21. Moses intercedes. And we're going to get that later in this chapter in the present situation, or as he amplifies this. But notice the indictment by Moses in verses 15 to 17. I took the two tablets, verse 17, threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. Not precisely what Moses does. He comes down the mount and he sees the people dancing around the calf and he throws the tablets down and he breaks that. And then notice he responds in prayer according to verses 18 and 19.

And I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin, which you committed and doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also."

In other words, God had his ear bent toward Moses to hear him. Again, this plays out exactly what we see in Exodus chapter 32. And then note the instrumentality of Aaron. You don't get this. I mean, you get Aaron in Exodus 32, but notice in verse 20 here. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him. So I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Meredith Klein says God's particular wrath against Aaron, not mentioned in the Exodus account, is cited here to demonstrate how completely devoid of merit and dependent on mercy Israel was.

Even their high priest was a brand plucked from the burning. If anybody should have been righteous in this group, it should have been Aaron. But Aaron was the one that sort of led the charge. I took the gold, I threw it in the furnace, and out popped this calf. As if that's ever happened in the history of the world. Out popped this calf. You mean the laws of physics and science don't apply when you're Aaron the high priest? So this is the indictment against Aaron, but Moses says, I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

And then notice he destroys the idol. Verse 21, that I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain. So Sinai was a provocation of God in terms of rebellion, rejection, and refusal. It certainly wasn't righteousness. And if that's not enough, notice in verses 22 to 24, the incident at Tabra. You can turn back to Numbers chapter 11. Again, I think this is idolatry as well. Idolatry as well. Not a golden calf, per se. Not an Asherah pole, not a temple to Dagon, but notice in 11.1, now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it and His anger was aroused.

So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Tabra, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.

They're looking for a new who. They want a new who. They don't want Yahweh, because as far as they're concerned, Yahweh only delivers this manna. And manna's not like what we had in Egypt. Lots of gods in Egypt, they seem to provide well for the table. In fact, we ate freely cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, but now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.

They're looking for a new who. This is an idolatry problem. They're looking back to Egypt, to bondage, yearning to go back. They don't want to be free men in the wilderness serving the living and true God, not if He's only going to provide for them a bit of manna. No, that's not what they're after. They want the good food they had under the rule and reign of the gods of Egypt. They've got an idol problem.

As well, the incident at Massah, this is in Exodus 17, 7, the water incident. The incident at Kibroth Hadovah. The incident at Kadesh Barnea. That's the Numbers 13 and 14 situation. You turn to Numbers 13, you're right there. Just a quick rehearsal. Notice in 13.1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan. Note the next four words, which I am giving. This is why I say it's a problem of faithlessness that adds or leads rather to disobedience. Faithfulness leads to obedience. And that's the obvious connection that you see here. Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them. So the 12 tribes go out, they do a reconnaissance mission, they survey the land and notice the report at verse 26. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us.

It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. So basically, their report is it's a good land. but there's some dangerous folk there.

Notice then in verse 30, then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it. Yeah, there's some dangers in the land, but we serve the living and true God. Let us go up at once, he says. Let's go right now. Let's do this.

Now note the revised report in verse 31. It's almost as if they won't entertain the thought that somebody actually has faith, somebody actually believes in God, and actually wants to take possession of what God had promised to them vis-a-vis Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the revision in verse 31, but the man who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land, which they had spied out saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak came from the giants. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their sight.

So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness. Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, let us select a leader and return to Egypt.

So back to Deuteronomy chapter nine. Okay, Israel, you're going to proffer up your righteousness as the reason why you've inherited this land. Just look back to Sinai. Just look back to these various places on the map with reference to the wilderness journeys.

You have sinned against the Lord Most High. And notice that summary statement in verse 24. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. So I think we learn from a passage like this that self-righteousness does not belong in the Christian's heart.

Whatever we have, we have by the grace of God. Whatever blessings or benefits we accrue, it is by grace and mercy. We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it. We didn't include ourselves in the covenant of grace. No, God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In love, He predestined us unto adoption as sons. It's that whole decree thing that we heard about at the conference. God purposed and planned the salvation of a great multitude by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You, on the other hand, us, me, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. And I would just suggest as well that they're preserved still on the plains of Moab. After these infractions, transgressions, and lacks of conformity, underscores amazing grace. That's why David can say, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

If you doubt the long-suffering of God, yeah, the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 are great, and we should memorize that, but the demonstration of the long-suffering of God is seen in spades in the history of Old Covenant Israel. So the provocation of God takes place in 7 to 24, but then the intercession of Moses in verses 25 to 29. He's going to tell them, kind of amplify how it was that he prayed with reference to these situations. And again, I think this corresponds to numbers 14, 13 to 19. So after the congregation sides with the 10 spies and says, let us choose new leaders and end up wanting to stone Moses and Aaron and Joshua and Caleb, What does Moses do? Moses prays. And Moses argues. And Moses petitions.

And we have something of that encapsulated here at the end of Deuteronomy 9. Notice posture in verse 25. Thus I prostrated myself before the Lord. Forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself because the Lord had said He would destroy you. What a good brother. What a godly, faithful man. What an intercessor we have in Moses.

And then note the petitions that Moses offers up. First, the petition to spare Israel. And here, note the language. Therefore, I prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. verse 9 it's your people that you brought out and here in verse 26 Moses is saying they're your people God they're your special possession they're your inheritance you have redeemed them And then the petition to remember is covenant in verses 27 to 29. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people or on their wickedness or their sin. Lest the land from which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.

I love that intercessory prayer by Moses. There in Numbers 14. and here repeated for us." That was his argument. God, if these people die, the heathen are going to say, Yahweh couldn't do it. Right? If these people perish, the heathen are going to conclude that God is just as impotent as our God. What is the obvious response from God?

Oh yeah, I'll bring them through. In spite of their faithlessness, in spite of their unrighteousness, I will accomplish the purpose that I have set in order. It is a blessed, blessed thing. And then he rehearses their redemption from Egypt. Yet they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought out by your mighty power and by your outstretched arm. Christopher Wright again comments, That's the way to pray! not just make it so that I have melons and leeks and garlic and honey. No, no, God's your glory. We don't want the heathen to scoff at you.

And I think about this with reference to what we call the five points of Calvinism, an old doctrine of perseverance of the saints or preservation by God. If we lose our salvation, who ultimately lost us? The Savior, He will save His people from their sins. He doesn't shed His blood to secure the redemption of sinners to lose them. I'm glad that's not true. I'm glad that Jesus saves His people or saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him.

Wright continues, as a model of intercession, his prayer stands at the head of a list of Old Testament prayers that follow a similar pattern and focus on the same priorities. Daniel 9, Nehemiah 9, Joel 2. It is a powerful model for God's people at all times. I would say amen to that. I think if you want to learn good intercessory prayer, certainly read Moses, certainly read Daniel, certainly read Nehemiah.

See as well the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He prays for His immediate apostles, how He prays for the disciples, how He prays for protection, how He prays for unity, and how He prays in the light of God's glory being had in the salvation of all those the Father had given Him. Well, in conclusion, the plan for Israel, being reminded along the way in the plains of Moab why we're here. We're here to go into there and to conquer it, to dispossess the land of the Canaanites, to cast them out, and to take their stuff. The prohibition for Israel, we see the arrogance of self-righteousness, this idea that God owes us, this idea that God must deliver to me because I'm righteous and have performed better than the heathen.

No, God doesn't argue that the heathen are good. God doesn't say, you know, well, they're just a step up above you. No, no, they're wicked. They're vile. They're evil. And that's why I'm raising you up to take you into the land and to cast out those wicked vile heathen. But it's not because you're righteous. It's not because you're good. It's not because you're excellent. And when you duplicate the conduct of the heathen, well, then you'll find yourselves cast out of the land as well. The land will vomit out its inhabitants.

And again, this is all trending toward Deuteronomy 28, the blessings and the curses associated with the covenant. If you go in the land, you do what you're supposed to, blessings will accrue. You go in the land and you don't do what you're supposed to, curses will accrue. And part of the curses, in fact, a long extended portion of Deuteronomy 28 has to do with exile.

It has to do with being cast out of the land. It has to do with being cut off from God. It has to do with being banished. And we see that in the true Israel. He is exiled in death. He's resurrected on the third day. He ascends on high. He leads captivity captive and he gives gifts to men.

And then the power of Israel, the purpose of God, to dispossess the heathen, and to plant these people in the land that he had promised. So you see judgment upon the heathen and grace upon the Israelites. And again, judgment later when the Israelites are unfaithful to God.

But the purpose of God specifically is to bring them from point A to point B to receive the blessings that he had promised in his covenant with reference to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See, God's covenantal faithfulness is what is absolutely crucial. And then we see the perfections of God.

I think that's what Moses is on about in verse 28. Lest the land from which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. I think that's what right means by his name. The name of God is at stake in this particular plan. The name of God is at stake in this particular purpose. Should it fail? He will be looked upon by the heathen as a failure.

And then we see the grace of God that they go from the plains of Moab into the promised land is truly a testimony to amazing grace. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the book of Deuteronomy and how it summarizes the four books preceding it. And I pray that you would help us to learn the lessons in this new covenant era that we see fleshed out in the old covenant as well. Keep us from boastfulness. Keep us from pride. Keep us from arrogance. Keep us from this idea of our own righteousness being that which is rewarded by God.

May you humble us under your mighty hand, and may you build us up in our most holy faith, and may you cause us to always stand in awe at amazing grace, and may we give all glory and praise and honor to you for what Jesus, that true Israel of God, has accomplished on behalf of all those whom you had given him. We ask that you would continue to go with us in the remainder of this week, bring us together on the Lord's day that we may worship you, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Any questions or comments? Yes, sir? I think Baal was represented by a calf. Wasn't it Baal? Yeah, yeah. Well Dagon had the lower half was fish and the upper half was man. So yeah. The calf was pretty renowned in terms of a symbol for, I think, Baal and perhaps other gods as well.

When he uses the word stiff-necked, that on farms when a cow is in trouble, they pick it up by its head, its neck. I think that's why over and over again God refers to Israel as stiff-necked people. So does Stephen in Acts 7. He's stiff-necked, uncircumcised.

What is he saying? He's telling the Sanhedrin. You're a bunch of idolaters. You're uncircumcised. He's telling the Sanhedrin that. No wonder they picked up stones to stone him. And I'm not justifying it, but just like Jesus, Jesus told them the truth, and instead of humbling and causing them to flee to him, they picked up stones. You're either going to throw a stone at him or you're going to throw your soul at him.

But yeah, I think that's, that's what's going on. That book by Beal is really good. I think it's, um, we become what we worship a biblical theology of idolatry. Very helpful. Yeah. I mean, it's a bit dense and a bit technical, but not, not super difficult. And yeah, just traces from Genesis to revelation on the theme of idolatry. Yeah. And it's not that thick of a book, but it's not a pamphlet either. Idolatry. is, I would say, if not the sin of sins, a sin of sins.

I mean, there's no, you know, it's not a mistake that the Ten Commandments begin with, you shall have no other gods before me. You get that one wrong, and you get nothing else right. John, 1 John 5, 21, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. You know, Matthew 6, you can't serve God and Mammon. These constant emphases throughout scripture, this divided allegiance. We're gonna hate the one or love the other, you know, love the one and hate the other. So idolatry is, you know, yeah, big, big problem. A bad thing as far as God is concerned. All right. It's good to be back. I feel like we haven't had many Wednesday nights.