Don't read the text up front, but being that it's, it's a,
quite a long text, I'll read it as I go through it.
So we're going to open in a word of prayer and then we will jump
into the sermon this morning. So will you, will you pray with
me? Our heavenly Father, we, we pray
and we plead for your grace to be upon us now as we study your
word. Lord, would Your grace be upon
the preaching of it, that it would be proclaimed in humility,
and in power and truth, and in love?
And would Your grace be upon the receiving of it, Lord, that ears
would be open, hearts would receive it, and that the
implanted word would accomplish all that You intend for it to.
Lord Holy Spirit, please come now and awaken our souls to the
glory of Your Word and the truth in it.
I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. When Jesus turned water into
wine, he didn't turn a cup of water into a glass of wine, but
rather he transformed 6 stone water jars, each holding 20 or
30 gallons. When Jesus fed the 5000, He did
not feed them with one sardine and a small piece of bread, but
rather they ate until they were all so full that they had 12
baskets of leftovers. When Jesus told the disciples to
cast their Nets on the opposite side of their boat, they didn't
catch just a handful of fish, but it was so much that their
Nets were breaking. When God opened up the rock to
yield its water, it was not a trickle.
Person could get one sip, but it was a fountain that satisfied
their thirst, including all their livestock.
When the widow was gathering sticks to prepare her last meal
and then die, God did not give her a really good last meal, but
instead her jar of flour and her jug of oil did not run empty for
three years. And when the Israelites fought
the Midianites, God did not give them simply a few sheep and a
few cattle, but he gave them far more abundantly than they could
have ever imagined. That's what the sermon is about
this morning. God's abundant provision.
I want to give the context. We're jumping to the middle of a
story this morning. I'll give the context and then
I'll give our application, our exposition and application that
I'll be weaving together this morning.
Here's the context if you were not here last week.
The Moabites and the Midianites have hired, had hired A Pagan
diviner named Balaam to come and curse the people of Israel.
But God used it as an opportunity to bless His people.
After 4 failed attempts, it was time for Baylor to go home.
The only problem is, is that Balaam didn't go home.
Instead, he went and lived with the Midianites.
And he gives them counsel. He advises them to use their
women as a stumbling block to the people of Israel.
The Midianite women and the Moabite women led the Israelite
men into idolatry and immorality, and as a result, God
put 24,000 Israelites to death. But they weren't going to get
away with this. God told Moses to enact
vengeance on the Midianites, which is what we looked at last
week. The Israelites sent 12,000 men
into battle, 1000 from each tribe.
They killed every male. They initially let the women and
the children live, but then Moses commanded them to kill
every male child and every woman who had laid with the man.
All of the virgin women were allowed to be kept alive either
for slaves or for wives. And that's where we left off
last week. And now we're going to pick up
with the second part of our text this morning and we're going to
look at the rest of the chapter. So let's start by looking at
verses 19 and 20. I'll be weaving the exposition
and the application together this morning.
So let's look at verses 19 to 20.
God tells them and camp outside the camp seven days.
Whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched
any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day,
and on the 7th day you shall purify every garment, every
article of skin, all work of goats hair, and every article of
wood. So as the soldiers return from
battle, Moses has instructions for them.
He tells them to encamp outside the camp seven days.
Now why do they need to do this? Well, anybody who has killed any
person or even if you have touched a dead person, they must
be purified. They must be purified on the
third day and on the 7th day. This rule also applies to all
the captives, all of the virgin women that they brought back,
they also must be purified. The reason for this is that if
you remember back in numbers five that we looked at a long
time ago, God said that anyone who is leprous or has a
discharge or in contact with the dead, all of these people would
be considered unclean and nothing unclean enter God's
camp. It must be terrified.
So in addition to all of the soldiers and all of the women,
they need to purify also every garment, every article of of
skin, all the works of goat's hair, every article of wood,
everything, everything must be clean to enter God's camp.
Now here's what's interesting to me about these instructions.
They were victorious in battle, They were obedient in going to
the battle, and yet they were still considered unclean.
Let this be a reminder to all of us that even in our victories,
even in our obedience, we must still be washed clean.
We never need the cleansing power of Jesus any more or any
less. On our most righteous days, on
our most obedient days, we need the cleansing power of Jesus
just as as on our most wicked days.
I think that often when we're not walking well with the Lord,
which is true for for all of us from time to time, maybe we've
been in sin, maybe we've just neglected God.
We feel our need to come to the cross.
We feel our need to come to the cross and be reminded as the
apostle Paul says, and such were some of you, but you were washed
on these particular days. We identify with Simon Peter
when he said, Lord, wash not only my head, but my, my feet,
but my head and my hands as well.
But it is not only our sinful days that we need to be washed
clean. We need the cleansing power of
his blood or most righteous days as well.
Apart from Jesus, the older brother was just as dirty as his
rebellious younger brother working the pen.
Brothers and sisters, there is no can wash count of obedience
or morality that can wash us clean.
There is only 1 fountain and it is filled with blood and we
needed as much today as we did on the day we were born again.
We never need me less. The verse 2124 Then Eliezer the
priest said to the man in the army who had gone to battle.
This is the statue of the law. The Lord had commanded Moses.
Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and
the lead, everything that can stand the fire.
You shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean.
Nevertheless it shall also be purified with water for
impurity. And whatever cannot stand the
fire, you shall pass through the water.
You must wash your clothes on the 7th day, and you shall be
clean. And afterward you may come into
the camp. So Eliezer, the current priest,
gives the people instructions. He says everything that you're
bringing back from the Midianites, everything that can
stand through the fire, you need to pass through the fire.
In other words, the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron,
the tin, the lead, all of this needs to be put through fire,
and the fire will clean it, but in addition, it also shall be
purified with the water for impurity.
Now we looked at that back in Numbers 19.
If you remember the ashes of the red heifer, they would take that
red heifer and they would kill it, slaughter, take its blood,
and they made this concoction. It was kind of like a instant
sin offering. All you have to do is add water
to the ashes and then you could use it as a sin offering.
That's the water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand fire
is only going to pass through the water.
So some things will go through fire and water, and some things
will only go through water. Interesting that when John spoke
of Jesus's baptism, remember what he said to the people.
I baptize you with water for repentance, but He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
You see, we all desire to be baptized with the Spirit part of
that equation. Everybody wants the Spirit.
But the fire portion is a bit more difficult, isn't it?
Nobody likes to be put through the fire.
So why does God do it? Why does God put us through the
fire? I'll give you 2 reasons #1
because God has given us the ability to take it.
God has given us the ability to take it.
Just as the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin
and the lead are put through the fire.
Why? Because they can take it, so we
too are put through the fire. Because we can take it.
When you put gold and fire, you may think that you have ruined
it. Here you had precious metal and
all of a sudden it's melted down and it's become this liquid.
You're like, Oh no, it's ruined. But in fact, it has not been
ruined at all. In fact, it has been purified.
In the same way God puts us through the fire.
And sometimes we feel wrecked by God.
We feel like he has ruined us. You ruined my life, God, you
ruined my dreams. But the refiner knows what he's
doing. He has not ruined us at all.
In fact, He is purifying us. He is burning off all the dross
that sits like sediment at the basement of our hearts.
Second reason? God puts us through the fire now
so that our work will not be burned up later.
God puts us through the fire now so that our work will not be
burned up later. Just as God would not allow
anything that was unpurified to enter His camp, likewise when we
stand at the gates of heaven, God will not allow anything that
is unpurified to enter His camp. The apostle Paul writes.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will
become manifest for the day. We'll disclose it because it
will be revealed by what? By fire, and the fire will test
what sort of work each one has done.
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward.
If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he
himself will be saved only as through.
What Paul is saying is that everybody's life, everybody's
fruit of their labor, gets put through the fire.
Everybody goes through the fire, either in this life or the next.
If it this life, it will not be burned up, it will be purified,
and it will last into eternity. But if it is not in this life
and it is in the next life, it will be burned up.
We may have our salvation, but we will not have the fruit of
our labor. Brothers and sisters, it is far
better to be put through the fire now than to stand before
the wall. Now whatever could not stand the
fire must be washed with water. Their clothes had to even their
own clothes had to be washed with water on the 7th day, and
only after that would they be considered clean.
So think about this. When they came home from a
victorious battle, they're coming home, they're excited,
they're ready to rejoin their family and, and, and celebrate.
But they can't. Why?
Because they have to stay outside the camp for seven days.
And only after they purify everything themself, every
metal, every article of clothing, every done to every
little trinket that they had, it all had to be purified.
It all had to be put to the appropriate fire and water.
And only after that were they allowed to enter the camp.
Praise God that we don't wait anymore to enter the camp.
There is no purgatory after death.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
There will be no season of of burning off like I've got to
achieve my way through fire after death.
When you die, you enter the camp clean.
We enter the gates as clean sons and daughters.
Likewise we enter these doors as clean sons and daughters.
If you are in Christ, here's why this matters.
I sweat very easily whenever I work out.
I sweat when I play basketball. I will sweat off anywhere from 3
to 5 lbs. I weigh myself after and I I
love it. I love weighing myself after
playing because I weigh like 5 lbs less.
It's just water weight. That's how much I sweat.
Even if I'm vacuuming my house, I will sweat vacuuming my house.
I'm sweating right now. Because of this.
I feel the need to get a shower. Often before I go to meet up
with anybody. I feel the need to get a shower
before I go to bed every night. I need to get a shower.
I have to get a shower. Why?
Because I feel dirty. This mentality can all too
easily creep into the Christian's heart and mind, and
especially a lost person's heart and mind.
I have talked to many, many people through the years who
miss church. They miss church one week, they
miss it two weeks, they miss three weeks.
I reach out to them and often when I ask them what's going on,
they say something along the lines that they did something,
they said something, they engaged in something, or they're
just not doing well spiritually and as a result, they just stay
away from church. Why?
Because they feel unworthy. They feel unclean.
Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you are always clean.
Always. You may be dirty, but you are
never stained. Dirt washed away.
Stains are perfect cause the garment to be thrown away.
The cross removed all stains and it prevents any new ones from
forming as well. Don't stay outside the camp
because you feel dirty. I don't care what you did.
I have talked to people who have said if I they I've been asked
this question for if I wake up on Sunday morning and I look at
pornography, should I come to church?
Yes. And I have had people confess to
me that they've done that on Sunday morning.
You should still. Spirit remind you that you have
been made clean. We come here to be reminded that
we are clean. He's made us clean.
Look at verse 25 to 31. The Lord said to Moses, Take the
count of the plunder that was taken both of man and a beast.
You and Eliezer, the priests, and the heads of the Father's
houses, of the congregation, and divide the plunder into two
parts, between the warriors who went out to battle, and all the
congregation and levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of
war who went out to battle. One out of 500 of the people, of
the oxen, and of the donkeys and of the flocks, take it from
their half and give it to Eliezer the priest, as a
contribution to the Lord. And from the people of Israel's
half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the
people, of the oxens, of the donkeys, of the flocks, of all
the cattle, and give them to the Levites, who keep guard over the
Tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eliezer the priest
did as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, when the Israelites
defeated the Midianites in battle, God allowed them to
plunder their enemies. And so the Lord gave them
instructions. He says, when you're coming
back, I want you to take a count of all the plunder.
I want you to count how much it is.
So they do that. Moses and Eliezer and all the
heads of the Father's houses, they count all the plunder.
They're to count both man and beast.
They're going to divide this plunder into two parts.
All right, Part A, Part B, Part A is going to go to all the
warriors who went into battle. Remember it's 12,000 men, 1000
from each tribe. So half of the plunder is going
to go to the 12,000 men who fought in battle.
The other half of the plunder is going to go to the rest of the
congregation. Half goes to the soldiers, half
goes to the rest of the congregation.
For the half that was given to the warriors, the soldiers who
went to battle there to take up a levy or a tax, and this is to
be given to God. This amount was to be one out of
every 500 or .2%. So whatever their half was, .2%
of that was to be given to the Lord as a contribution.
So 2%, a .2% of the warrior's people, their oxen, their
donkeys, their flocks, was given to Eliezer the high priest.
Now Eliezer there is being used as an autonomy.
Like this is not just Eliezer, it's the priesthood.
Everybody all right? It served as a contribution to
the Lord. That's part A from the half that
went to the people. So all the congregation from
that half, one out of every 50 or 2% was to be given to the
Levites. So their half .2% goes to the
priesthood. From their half 2% goes to the
Levites. If you remember why you say why
they why did the Levites get it? If you remember the Levites are
a tribe of Israel, but they don't fight in war.
God's instructions were you don't have any land and you
don't fight in war. But God made a way that they too
could receive the blessing of the Lord.
So this 2% was to be given to the Levites and Moses and
Eliezer did as they were instructed.
They, they told the people, you give .2% soldiers .2% of
everything you have. You people give 2% of
everything. You have Priest Levites.
Now, what we learned from this text, this giving here is that
in the Old Testament, tithes were a minimum, not a maximum.
Tithes were a minimum, not a maximum.
One of the questions that every pastor gets asked every year, or
I've never met a pastor who was not asked this question, is
this. Do we have to tithe?
And if so, how much, right? How much should I give?
How much do I have to give? Now of course that is a fair
question, but it is the wrong question.
Implied in the question is another question.
What's the minimum I can give and still be obedient?
That's really what the question is asking.
What's the minimum I can give and still be considered obedient
in God's eyes? Often what is taught is 10% you
say? Why 10%?
Because tide literally means 10th.
That's what tithe means. It means 10th.
If you read the Old Testament though, you learn that actually
the Israelites actually gave not just one tie.
They gave some 12 to 14 different ties over A7 year
period. They had 12 to 14 different ties
over A7 year period. If you do the math on that,
depending on how you do the math, the amount that the
Israelites were actually required to give was actually
somewhere between 20 and 30%. That's how much they were
required to give an audience. I'm routine 20 and 30%.
Now, I want to be clear on this. I am not sharing any of this to
get you or anyone to try to bump up their giving to 20 and 30%.
That is not the point of this. I'm sharing this to help us put
into perspective what God required of His people in the
Old Testament and what God may be calling us to do in the New
Testament. We see right here in this text
that God had blessed them with abundant plunder, but it wasn't
theirs to keep. It wasn't all theirs to keep.
God required them to give 2.2% back to Him.
That 2.2% is in addition to their ties.
Now I want you to imagine. Imagine if a soldier came back
home and upon hearing the news that you need to give .2% of
what you got back to the Lord. Imagine he said, I already give
my ties and offerings. You want more.
I shouldn't have to give more. Besides, we're the ones who went
and fought the battle. We're the ones who fought this
war and got this. Imagine if that was That would
be shocking, wouldn't it? And Christians and churches all
across America think I worked for this.
I went to school for four, 6-8 years for this.
I worked 40506070 hours a week for this.
You want me to give up 10%? You know how expensive gases?
You know how expensive milk is? Not to mention bubble tea.
When you read the book of Numbers, you realize God gave
the Israelites this victory. He gave them the victory.
Therefore all the plunder belonged to God.
All of it. God could have said, Devote all
of it to me. We must never lose sight that
God has given us the education we have.
God has given us the jobs that we have.
God has given us the assets that we have.
We did not earn it and it was given to us.
Therefore, it all belongs to God, all of it.
Look at verse 32 to 35. Now the plunder remaining of the
spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle,
61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 persons in all.
Women who had not known man by lying with him.
If you remember from numbers 28 and 29 that we looked at a few
weeks ago, we looked at all the sacrifices that God required
them to make. They had to make sacrifices
every day, every week, every month, and every year.
And when I went through that, those two chapters, I counted it
all up and in total they were to sacrifice every year 1051 lambs,
male lambs, 101 bulls, 31 Rams, and 24 goats.
And that was that. That was nowhere near as much as
they were required to sacrifice. That was just one portion that
was recounted there. Here are these Israelites.
They are wandering in the desert.
They don't have a lot. They haven't been like building
up their portfolio in the desert.
They are nomads in the desert wandering for 40 years.
And God says to them, hey, you're going to need to offer
all of this every year, 1051 male lambs, 101 bulls, 31 Rams,
24 goats, and that's not even close to all that you're going
to be required to give. Imagine if they thought, where
are we going to get all that? Where are we going to get all
these animals, not to mention God?
We still need to feed our families.
Have you seen how much meat these four boys eat?
We still need animals to work our farmland.
Who's going to plow our ground? Where are we going to get all
that? And God says, guys, I'm not
going to give you 1051 male lambs, I'm not going to give you
101 bulls. I'm not going to give you the 31
Rams. I'm not going to give you the 24
goats. I'm going to give you 675,000
sheep and 72,000 cattle and 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 virgin
women. And that's just the beginning.
That is just one battle. They haven't even started
conquesting the promised land. This is not the conquest of the
promised land. This is just against Midian, as
the Apostle Paul writes now to him, who is able to do far more
abundantly than all we can ask or even think.
I know that many of you are in a season where you feel hopeless.
It's one of the reasons that our retreat thing this year is
abounding in hope. Perhaps you feel hopeless that
you will ever find a spouse, or that you will get a job, or be
able to change jobs, or get a promotion, or that you will
finish school, or that you will be able to get pregnant or get
pregnant again. Or that you will be able to
reconcile with someone, or that your children will turn out all
right, or that someone you love will be saved.
Brothers and sisters, let me remind all of us, God didn't
give them 1000 lambs. He gave them 675,000 lambs.
Don't lose hope, church family. God will give you what you need
when you need it. And if He doesn't give it to
you, you didn't need it. You didn't need it.
Look at verse 36 to 47, and the half the portion of those who
have gone out in the army #337,500 sheep.
And the Lord's tribute of the sheep was 675.
The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72.
The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61.
The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32
persons. And Moses gave the tribute which
was the contribution for the Lord to Eliezer the priest, as
the Lord commanded Moses from the people of the of Israel's
half, which Moses separated from that of the man who had served
in the army. Now the congregation's half was
337,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000
persons from the people of Israel's half.
Moses took one of every 50 both of the persons and of the beast
gave them to the Levites, who kept guard over the Tabernacle
of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
So again, as I mentioned earlier, this is just recounting
numbers. Half of the plunder went to the
warriors who went into battle. 300,000 sheep, 36,000 cattle,
30,500 donkeys, 16,000 virgin women.
Of that amount, .2% went to the priesthood as a contribution to
the Lord. 675 sheep, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys, 32 virgin women.
Now if you're wondering why does the priesthood need these virgin
women? These women would have either
become wives of the priest or possibly were employed in the
sanctuary. Now the congregation's half was
exactly the same. It was exactly half.
They got 50% as well. 330 thirty 7000 cattle, 30,000 donkeys,
16,000 virgin women. From this half, Moses took 2%
and told them to give it to the Levites.
The text doesn't specify the amounts on that, but if you do
the math, it's 6750 sheep, 720 cattle, 610 donkeys, 320 women.
Now if you're 1, because I had this question initially, if
you're wondering, wait a minute, why do the soldiers get half
even though they're only 12,000, right?
There's 12,000 soldiers. There's like 600,000 Israelites.
So 12,000 get half and 600,000 get half.
Why is that? I believe it's because of the
risk associated with going to war.
I think that the amounts are given to be commensurate with
the risk taken. So the soldiers went to war,
they get half, and those who went home, they get half.
And I think that's why it's half and half.
Look at versus 48 to 49. Then the officers who were over
the thousands of the army, the commanders of the thousands and
the commanders of the hundreds came near to Moses and said to
Moses, your servants have counted the men of war who are
under our command, and there is not a man missing from us.
So after they get back home, the commanders, they go through the
army and they begin to count how many returning soldiers that we
have. We started with 12,000, let's
see how many we have so we know how many died in battle and it's
our county. 1-2 Three 9732 Eleven thousand 911,999 12,000
Did we count right? The commander say there is not a
man missing from us, meaning no Israelites died in battle.
Now how are we to take this statement?
Is this meant to be literal? Are we to believe that Israel
actually went into a battle with 12,000 soldiers and not a single
one of them died? I see no reason not to take this
statement at face value. If it is true, it would clearly
be a miracle. You don't ever go into battle
and you don't lose a single soldier.
If this is true, this would clearly be a miracle.
But I see no problem with that. We we serve a God who works
miracles. If you can raise the dead and
walk on water and turn water into wine and feed a widow for
three years without you can, you can save these 12,000 men.
Brothers and sisters. There are no missing persons in
heaven and there are no bald people in heaven.
What are you talking about? This life is a war.
We go to battle every single day.
We fight the world, we fight the enemy, the devil, we fight our
flesh, we fight our sin, temptation.
Every day we are at war. And on the day of judgement,
every single person who is in Christ will be there with every
hair of there Jesus says of those whom you gave me, I 1 John
18-9 And Jesus says not a head for called life.
And the king takes roll call. Everyone will be there with
every hair of their head. Look at verse 50 to 54.
And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found,
articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings,
earrings and beads to make atonement for ourselves before
the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest
received from them the gold all crafted articles, and all the
gold of the contributions that they presented to the Lord from
the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the
hundreds was 16,750 shekels. The men in the army had to each
take and plunder for himself. And Moses and Eleazar the priest
received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of
hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial
for the people of Israel before the Lord.
So the people bring the Lord additional offering.
Now this doesn't appear to be required.
Maybe it is, but it doesn't appear that way.
It's an offering they had when they collected the pleasure from
the Midianites. They collected articles of gold
armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and beads.
The purpose of this offering, according to them, was to make
atonement for them before the Lord.
Make atonement for what it could be.
This is 1 theory that when they counted the people that was
considered a census and anytime you took a census you had to
make a payment for atonement. Maybe it was authorized, maybe
it wasn't. That's all speculation.
That's possibly what this is for.
It may have served another purpose, we don't know.
But Moses and Elias, they receive all the gold.
Now how much is this 16,750 shekels?
If you do the math on that, that's about 420 lbs of gold,
420 lbs of gold in today's money.
If you do the calculation, that's about $20 million worth
of gold, $20 million. That's a lot of gold.
Moses and Eliezer bring the goal to the tent of meeting.
Imagine like go into a church and be like, I got a gift, $20
million for you guys. Moses and Eliezer bring the gold
to the tent of meeting to serve as a memorial for the people
before the Lord. What does that mean as a
memorial? It was to serve to remind the
Lord to remember Israel, that when he saw this memorial, God
would remember his people. And it was to remind the
Israelites of the victory that God had given them.
Now what is our memorial? We too have a memorial.
But God no longer looks at gold to remember his people.
He instead looks at blood. This gift of gold may have been
worth $20 million, but does not compare with the gift of His
Son's precious blood. Before God ever looks at us,
before God ever remembers us, before a thought about us ever
enters the mind of God, God sees the blood of His Son and it
perfectly colors His perception of us.
This memorial is forever planted in the mind of God.
It will never be torn down. 10,000 years from now the cross
will still be standing and still stained Crimson red.
Praise God for His abundant provision through the cross of
His Son Jesus Christ. Let's pray.