In his sermon titled 'Loving Your Neighbor While On Your Heavenly Journey,' Scott Brown draws parallels between the 40-year journey of the Israelites and the personal journeys of the congregation, particularly those around the age of 40. He emphasizes the lessons of obedience and the wisdom found in the book of Deuteronomy, which is often neglected due to its challenging teachings. Brown discusses the three elements of the gospel as presented in Moses' first speech: the goodness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the rewards of obedience. The sermon highlights the Israelites' interactions with four nations—Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and the kingdom of Sihon—emphasizing God's common grace and the command to love one's neighbor. The importance of obedience, both in personal journeys and in treatment of others, is underscored as a reflection of God's love. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to abide in Christ's love and to fulfill His commandments in their heavenly journey.

I find myself constantly amazed at the beautiful, practical, applicable scenes that the Word of God brings to us. Here we are peering into what is the end of a 40-year journey of the children of Israel. It strikes me that so many of us here, husbands and wives, you too are probably right in the middle of your 40th year on average. So many are right around 40 years old who are leading their little flocks here in this church. Here we find ourselves looking into the dynamics, the commands, the lessons of a 40-year journey of the children of Israel.

What about your journey? Those of you who I'm speaking of have been around right around 40 years, maybe a little less, maybe a little more. I really pray that this passage of Scripture as well as all the ones we'll continue with in this series will help us to understand this heavenly journey and that we would find ourselves learning these lessons that God has for us in the midst of this. What do you get today out of this text? Lots of things, but here's one thing, wisdom for your own journey.

This journey of the children of Israel is an example for every father and mother, for every child here in this room today. We look back and we see the great lessons that are there. But Think for a moment of the journey that you're on now. Well, this journey here that we're looking at, in terms of just the big picture, contain the words of Moses and his instruction about how his people should relate to the surrounding nations. That's the subject on the table here.

And so Moses is standing in the plain of Moab. The children of Israel have traveled for 40 years and they're just on the edge of the Jordan River getting ready to enter the promised land. Moses is 120 years old. He's going to die. These are his last words.

And he's given final instructions. You know, in our Tuesday morning Bible study, one of the men said that it was like Moses sort of speaks like a coach before his team goes into the game, except this one thing. The coach is not going into the game. The coach is just giving his final instructions for his people as they go in. I pray that we can really grasp the passion of the moment that we find here.

And so Moses is delivering his last words in the last month of his life. And he begins a series of three speeches. The first speech goes from chapters one through four. And then the next speech goes from chapter 5 to chapter 28. And then the last speech is from 29 to the end of the book of Deuteronomy.

And now we're in the first speech. We're in chapter 2 of this first speech, which is contained in chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. So now we're just in chapter 2. But what is this speech all about? Let's first get a sense of how what we're looking at today fits in the whole scheme of things.

In the first part of the speech, In chapter 1, verses 1 through 18, we see a brilliant display of the fatherly kindness of God. This is the first element of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That God is a kind, benevolent Father. He does all things well for his children, and he calls his people to come to himself so that they might be blessed. Then in the second half of chapter 1 is the second element of the gospel, and that is the sinfulness of man and the terrible destruction that awaits those who would ignore his commands or rise up in rebellion and say, no, I'm afraid to obey God because something bad might happen to me.

The second half of chapter one addresses this call of the gospel for men and women and children to abandon their fears of obedience to God. And just obey God. Don't worry about how you think things might turn out if you obey. Just obey. God will bless you.

That's the second half of chapter one. And now we enter into chapter two, and there's a third element of the gospel, and that is the element of the gospel that really speaks of the rewards of obedience. And so, he's speaking now of the rewards of obedience from now to the end of this speech. So, do you see where we are here? The Gospel is being proclaimed in this first speech.

The first element is the goodness of God, the second is the sinfulness of man, and the third are the rewards, the inheritances, the blessings that are there, and also the threatenings for those who would add or subtract from the law of God. So that's where we are. We're in the first speech of this book. So now in chapter two, we're finding ourselves in a section where we're learning how to apply the gospel in everyday life. And so this chapter documents the ways that God commanded His people to relate to the surrounding peoples.

Now, in your 40-year journey, there are peoples around you. You've passed by many nations, cities, neighbors, municipalities. You've been passing by, right? This is very practical to you and I because we, as God's people, are planted in what is really a wicked and perverse generation. But we're planted there and we have certain responsibilities to those that we pass by.

Notice the ministry of Jesus and this principle of passing by. The glory of God is expressed as God's people pass by the various nations, the various cities, the various circumstances, the various people that he places his people in. Jesus' ministry happens while he's passing by. It's true with us as well. Your ministry is not some program you plug into.

Your Ministry is not some institution that you're part of. Your ministry is the glory of God working through your life as you're passing by through the nations of the earth. That's your ministry. Who's your ministry? It's the next person you meet.

Where is your ministry? It's the place that God has placed you in. That's your ministry. You don't have to go looking to find it. God has given us in nature, in the way that He's constructed life in the world, just a natural platform for our ministry.

So your ministry is this morning. Your ministry is when you drive out of here and drive by these other towns and how you relate with the people that are there. Your ministry happens with your neighbor. And so this passage raises questions about how we treat those around us while we're passing by in the land of our pilgrimage. And particularly this, how do you relate to those around you who reject God?

Even those who are part of your lineage, like Esau, like Lot, those who had been part of you at some point, How do you relate to them? How do you relate to the nation states of the world as well? Love your neighbor means living with your neighbor in a way that glorifies God. And Moses is instructing the people here for how they would glorify God in the midst of this kind of situation. And really, it's an appeal to live the vision of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All of the law is summed up by one word, love. All of the gospel is summed up by one word, love. This is why Solomon in Proverbs chapter 3 said, do not devise evil against your neighbor who lives trustfully near you. Do not strive with man without a cause if he has done you no harm. Or as he said in Proverbs 14, 21, He who despises his neighbor sins.

But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he. So these four stories here, four stories of four nations, the Edomites, the sons of Esau, The Moabites, the sons of Lot, the Ammonites, the sons of Lot, and Sihon, the king of Heshbon. The context of this is the passings by of the children of Israel of these four people groups, these four nations. So these four stories, each of them is a story of victory and obedience. Do you catch that for a moment?

I hope you noticed that when you read this. This is not a story really necessarily of rebuke at all. It's a story of victory. This is an example of victorious people who obeyed God when they passed by. When they passed by the Edomites, they obeyed.

When they passed by the Moabites, they obeyed. When they passed by the Ammonites, they obeyed. When they passed by Sihon, king of Heshbon, they obeyed. It's wonderful that God has given us such a beautiful example of how we might pass by. Okay, so that's where we are.

I just wanted to locate where we were in this text. Now, the importance of this testimony is enormous And I want to give you ten considerations for the importance of this testimony. You've seen now where this fits. I also want us to see this text in terms of where it fits in the whole book of Deuteronomy and the importance of the testimony that's here. First of all, this is the book that Jesus loved.

He quoted it most when the devil tempted Christ, when Jesus was teaching about family life, when he was teaching about oaths, when he was teaching about riches and how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, when he was teaching about genuine love, when he was teaching about the resurrection, he quotes Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is so important to the Lord Jesus Christ and it should be to us. These instructions here are for us, absolutely. Secondly, Deuteronomy is called the Romans of the Old Testament because it has many of the same structural and thematic points to it. And it is the Romans of the Old Testament.

There's a reason we went from Romans to Deuteronomy, by the way, because they really are companion texts. The third thing I want to say is that this book is about heartfelt obedience. It's about the obedience of God's people and the disobedience and the great appeal in the book of Deuteronomy is found in 529. Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it may be well with them and with their children forever." Would you say that with me? Deuteronomy 5.29.

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. That's the heart of this book. The heart of this book is not obeying this law or that law. It is about obedience. But it is about a heart for obedience, absolutely.

And you can see it all through the book. Because it's about obedience, the fourth thing I want to just say is that it's really a very neglected book. Pastors avoid this book like the plague, because there are two very disturbing aspects of this book. The commands here pose limitations on our thinking and they impose limitations on our behavior. It makes us think outside the box of our own dark little hearts.

That's what it does. And so it's very threatening to us. We hate to consider the things that God has called us to obey. Secondly, the message is to obey and reap the rewards of the manifold mercies of God and reject the poisonous ways of this world. The message is trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus.

The message is have thine own way Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Make me and mold me after they will. That's the message. Because it's a message of obedience, it's despise.

And that makes it even more important. We live in an age in which we so need this. The book of Deuteronomy really shows us why we must preach the Old Testament in our churches. Jesus believed that Moses testified to him, and he spoke from Moses and the prophets to establish his own authority. Every Old Testament message needs to be seen in light of Christ.

So as we go through this text here, think of Christ. How does Christ fulfill every principle that's here? And when we get to our time of instruction afterward, I trust that God will have given you much to help us even understand more than I can even say here this morning because there's no way that this passage can be covered adequately in such a short period of time. This book is written to a people in transition just like you and I. You who are in your 40th year, so called, are people in transition.

You've had a certain kind of life, and many of you have had experiences that have harmed you, as all of us have. We are always a people in transition. And God is speaking to this people who have been delivered from Egypt, they've spent years of disobedience and now they're any in the promised land. You and I are a people in transition and this is so important for us to understand God desires to form his people so that they would love him and obey him. There are many key words that reveal the message here.

The word heart and obey and observe and be careful and abomination occur many, many times in this book. There are themes that continue to arise to help us in our discipleship journey. This book confronts the antinomian spirit that is alive today. That the only law for today is the law in my heart. That is absolutely one of the silliest, most unbiblical ideas that anyone can teach.

We don't promote that idea at all. Deuteronomy, nor the Lord Jesus Christ does either. And we see that as Christ uses the book of Deuteronomy to establish the things that he holds as dear. Another thing I just want us to understand here again, this book, Deuteronomy, is written in the same format as a treaty between a king and his subjects. It's an ancient Assyrian literary form that's being displayed before us.

And It's in the form of a stronger ruler, the suzerain, who provides protection for the weaker. There are covenants and treaties that the greater makes to the lesser. And then there are obligations and promises that are made from the weaker to the stronger. The book of Deuteronomy assumes this great king who makes a covenant with his people. He makes promises.

He states his purposes. And then there are his subjects who have responsibilities and obligations for how they might live. So that's the format of this whole thing. And this text that we're in today, you see that as well so clearly. And then lastly, it's a case study for our treatment of the pagan nations around us as we are on our journey.

And so we'll be answering the question this morning, what did the Edomites, what did the Moabites, what did the Ammonites, what does Sihon have to do with me today, and what should we do about it? So let me just start with this, God is instructing his children to be a blessing to these four nations. Do you see that? God is instructing his people to obey him and therefore to be a blessing to them. And we find here the doctrine of common grace, that God gives grace to all the peoples of the earth, not just his own people.

He also does make covenants with the nations of the world, and he exercises his goodness toward them, and so should we. So that's what we see. Let's dive into the text now and let's look at the commands concerning the treatment of the surrounding nations. You have an outline in front of you. We're in the third section of the outline and this first instruction concerning the Edomites who are the descendants of Esau.

First of all, in verse 1, that after many days, it says, after many days, now that's sort of understatement. Like we're talking 40 years, OK? We sometimes like to use nice terms about really bad things that happen to us. And so that's what seems to be here. Although what we find here is these 40 years could have taken 11 days.

The journey from Mount Sinai to the location they are now could have taken 11 days and it took 40 years. So after many days in verse 3 God says to them through Moses you have skirted this mountain long enough turn northward You've been doing this long enough. Moses has already said this in chapter 1 verse 6. This is the second time you read this statement. You've been there long enough.

God's leadership in our lives does not leave us in the same place. We do not have a dull faith. He takes us from one place to another. And he uses many, many means in our lives. He takes us into one neighborhood, into one church.

He moves us to another town. And God is so faithful to continue to minister to us during that. And he does cause us to move. And that's what's happening here. He provides new challenges, new trials for his people, new problems, new disappointments that we might be fashioned according to his likeness.

Some of you are here today in your 40th year, so-called, and you have new disappointments that you've never had before. You have new challenges right now today. You've never had them before. And how will you look at them? You might say, oh, I wish I could go back to Egypt.

Well, that's what the children of Israel did many times. But God has appointed all challenges and disappointments for His own glory. If you have them, no. Mark them. Mark them well.

This is God's appointed moment for His own glory. You have a trouble today? This is your finest hour, because it's your hour to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. To bring the wisdom of God to bear on this tough situation that God has you in. And as you move through these situations, you find different challenges and different disappointments and different times in your life.

That's the way that God has arranged life for us, so that we would constantly be looking to Him, so that we would never think, I've arrived, I'm on a broad place, I'm perfect now. No. God gives us heat and trials so that we would cry out to Him. You know there are out there in the persecuted church in this world there are people who are praying that the church in America would suffer great persecution so that she would cry out to God so that she would quit playing games so that she would quit being obsessed by her little toys that she holds onto so tightly. There are people who are praying that God would take it all away and send us into the caves, and that some of us would be killed so that our faith would be real.

Quite possibly, this may happen here. This is such a free and amazingly wonderful nation that we live in and yet we need to understand that there are people who are suffering greatly. Whatever suffering that we're going through now, we should see it under the view of God that he is using all these things to sharpen us, to change us. I pray that God would give us so much passion for him. In the midst of all of our prosperity, in the midst of all of our comforts, these are dangerous times to live in.

The most dangerous times for a believer are the times of plenty. Here we find the children of Israel. They've endured a terrible place. And it was the place of God's sanctification. It was wilderness.

It was privation. It was nowhere really very secure to lay your head. And so there are always lessons. In this whole scheme, God is saying, you've been there long enough, now move. They are moving to the land of milk and honey, but there is still sanctification in the land of milk and honey that needs to be accomplished.

So that's what's happening. Now, in the midst of all this, God is leading them every step of the way. He is the light of the world. He's been leading them by a cloud and by fire at night. And He's generous.

He's provided for them. He gives them guidance. He gives them money in order to pass through hostile territory. And in verse 4, Moses is instructed to command the people, saying, you are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. And they will be afraid of you.

So we know now what's happening. The children of Israel are passing through the land of their brethren, the descendants of Esau. And these descendants of Esau were a disobedient people. The children of Israel are commanded to give them money and buy food, to be a blessing. Don't attack them.

Don't meddle with them. There are many lessons here about how we should think about those around us. Verse 4 says that these descendants are brothers. God keeps his promises to Esau and Lot. God blesses even the less than exemplary, and so should we.

That's the point. To attack them would despise and contradict promises of God. And a very specific prophecy that was given in Genesis chapter 37. Esau was distraught because he had lost the blessing, and he says, Father, bless me! Bless me, Father!

And Esau lifted up his voice and he wept, and we know that it wasn't a weeping of true repentance. As often, people who weep are engaged in not true repentance. They just feel bad, as Esau did. And then Isaac his father said to him, behold, your dwelling shall be of fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. So here we find God has promised abundance to the children of Esau.

God promised through Jacob that they would have fatness in the earth. And so there's this recognition of the promise that God made to these people who even disobeyed the Lord. Yes, God does bless even those who disobey Him, and so should we. God is providing for His enemies. He grants them legal protection.

You see that? God is granting legal protection to those who are ungodly. He is calling his own people wandering through to do the same, that they are not to steal or encroach on their land, but to buy from them. The earth is the Lord's, and only God is wise to apportion one piece of land or another to a people. And he would not allow Israel to nettle with one grain of sand that belonged to Esau.

Isn't that interesting? So there are lessons of how you think about those around us. Well, in one sense they are your brothers and God Almighty is their king. And then there are lessons to learn for how to treat those around us. Don't expect gifts from the ungodly of this world.

Pay your way. People are always looking for a handout from the governments of the earth and fear the children of Israel commanded to treat these people according to the commands of God. Others may fail in their duties but we have duties that were obligated to perform. You may want to smoke the bad guys. This is not what believers do in this world.

They do not do what they want to do. They do what the Lord wants them to do. They do this. They bless those who persecute them. They bless and curse not.

And then they also rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." So there are lessons to learn how to treat those as we pass through. There are lessons for how to respond when God does not give you what you want. He says, do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land. The implication is they wanted that land. They wanted some of that sand.

But they couldn't have it. God wasn't going to give it to them. And God is protecting them from the dispossession of their land. This is the common grace of God. We read about this in Leviticus when we were there recently.

Leviticus 19, 18 says, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ here? Absolutely. He's right there on this page.

And so here Moses is instructing the people for the law of Christ that they would remember God's compassion. Remember God's Compassion toward Nineveh, how he sent a prophet to speak with them. Think of the prosperous and illustrious kingdoms that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus and Pharaoh. Think of the seed time and harvest, the sun and the rain that God gives all the nations of the earth. He causes his rain to fall on the evil and the good.

And it does cause us difficulty. We cry out like David, oh Lord, how long will the wicked triumph? Well, as long as God allows them to triumph. That's the answer. But God will not cast off his people.

God will preserve an inheritance for them, so they need not worry. And then there are lessons here for how to interpret your last 40 years. Could I direct you to verse 7? I hope this is your final summary interpretation of your last 40 years. You who are 40 years old now, give or take a few.

These 40 years, the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. These 40 years, the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. Now that verse is a sermon in itself.

And perhaps someday we can loop back around and just sink into those few words that are there. Every word is important. Every word has meaning for us. But God has appointed time for our sanctification. Here it's 40 years.

40 years of time wandering in the wilderness. This is God's school, 40 years of schooling. How long have you been in school? 40 years, that's how long you've been in school. And same with the children of Israel.

It's the school of the sovereignty of God. It's the school of tears. It's the school of privation. And it's the school of provision as well. It's practical theology, it's the school of miracles, it's the school of the faithfulness of God.

That's what this school of 40 years is and has been. Is anyone afraid? Be not afraid. The school will continue until God completes your heavenly journey. There's no reason to fear at all.

You have 40 years of evidence that God is faithful, that he has taken care of you. And this is how we should be interpreting these 40 years. So here we are in this 40-year discipleship internship where we're learning from God through all the different experiences that he gives us. We so often long for a different experience so that we might learn something, but God has given us all the experiences that we need. He's faithful.

He has provided you all that you could handle and all that you need. And you're there now. You're right there in that place. How do you interpret the last 40 years? By the faithfulness of God.

There's one big lesson here. Don't nettle, the Lord is your keeper. Don't meddle, the Lord is your keeper. Now they were victorious in this. They trusted God.

They seem to remember Moses of heel, based on his past care. For the Lord has blessed you and all the work of your hand. He knows you're trudging through this great wilderness these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you and you lacked nothing." There it is. And then we move to his instruction concerning the Moabites and the Ammonites. These are the descendants of Lot.

Now, we turn to the descendants of a different personality, one who had different problems in his life. And what we find here is a people, descendants, still alive after many years. Lot is alive at about 2000 BC. This speech on the edge of the promised land is at about 1405 BC. Several hundred years later, now the descendants of Lot have multiplied, and they've taken up residence in this land.

And God has blessed them, and he's multiplied them. And so there is instruction here. Having passed through the territory of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, now they pass through the wilderness of Moab, for the descendants of Lot are living and moving and having their being. And Moses issues the same command, do not harass them or contend with them in battle. And Moses gives the reason in verse 9.

For I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given our to the descendants of Lot as a possession. These strict instructions are given, And a limitation is placed on the children of Israel. You cannot have a grain of sand of the land of this brother. Keep yourself from it. There's limitation here that the people are hemmed in by.

And Moses is affirming that it was the work of God that gave them the land, that the giants were in the land, they were great and numerous, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And so the bottom line is this, the descendants of Lot go into the land of the giants. Imagine that. Imagine going into the land of giants, and God destroys the giants before the descendants of Lot. Who was afraid of the giants?

The children of Israel. The faithful of Israel were afraid of the giants. So for some reason, though, the descendants of Lot weren't. Or something happened, but they came in and they just wiped out the giants that were in the land. And God did that for the descendants of Lot.

And they engaged these giants that dwelt there, The Zanzoumim, my favorite personalities in Deuteronomy chapter 2, these great giants. Someday we will engage in a study of the giants, but that won't be for today. But Moses' point is that the land has been given to them by God himself. It's possible that the children of Israel, while migrating, were saying, I wish we could have that life. I wish we could have that land.

They looked at these established people and said, why not me? Why don't I get their life? And God says to them, you don't get their life. I'm not giving you their life. I'm giving you your life.

And he confronts them on the matter of covetousness, of wanting someone else's life, someone else's land, someone else's situation. This is a great evil that creeps in our hearts. And it happens in many different ways. We see the success of someone, or we see that God has given something to someone, and darkness wells up in our hearts, and destruction takes place, first of all, in our hearts. And then it moves out, and the Bible says that it can defile many.

And here we find God is calling them to be satisfied with what he has given them, and not to harass them, but to have contentment. And so he keeps Israel from rashly attacking other nations. Did you hear the word rashly? I just used that word. Rashly.

He keeps them from rashly attacking the other nations. That's a word that I borrowed from John Calvin. That's one of his favorite words, rashly. And he puts his finger on the heart of the matter. As the children of Israel were going, We're tempted to ration us in our heavenly journey.

And we do things that we ought not to do. But we ought to be satisfied with what God has given. God is helping the descendants of Esau. Notice he says, I will give and I will not give. Two things.

I will give something to the descendants of Esau, but I'm not giving it to you. This is a tremendous point here that we'll find really developed as we go into chapter 5 in particular as we deal with the Ten Commandments. This issue is dealt with in a very careful way. So both Edom and the Moabites were hostile to Israel, and they were for hundreds of years. And yet, God preserves them at this time.

He protects them. Now, let's just click on some wrong thinking that might be part of our lives. Wrong thinking in the church. The idea that God only loves the church. One author called this the false chosen people mentality.

That holds that the people of God are the only ones that receive God's kindness and his providences. That the nations should just be destroyed for their beliefs and inferiority. That's a false view. That's not the view that we see here at all. We see that God is commanding his people to bring kindness and mercy toward those wicked nations that they're traveling through.

And then we come to the instruction concerning the Ammonites and it's very, very similar. Moses makes a warning at the beginning of this section in verse 16. He reminds them of the devastating consequences of disobeying the command of the Lord. He takes them back to the time of the twelve spies. Remember he's talking about these ammonites and he's saying, hey, remember what terrible things happen when you disobey.

Remember the twelve spies. Remember the benefits and the blessings that were withheld because you disobeyed. Remember that. He takes them back there first and then he reminds them of their judgment. So he's bringing up the past to give them courage for the future as to how they should treat the Ammonites.

So he's saying that these men perish for among the people. And then he continues to forbid Israel from attacking these people. And he continues to lead his people. Think of it this way. There are many beautiful things that God creates through the nations of the earth.

It's not all bad. And God does desire in his sovereign wisdom to preserve it. And there are times like these here where the people of God are called to honor what he has established in the great pagan nations of the world, or the great pagan peoples that live around us. He has chosen to establish it. And we should be careful not to have a wrong attitude about the providence of God, the kindness of God toward all people.

He is constantly causing the rain to fall on the evil and the good. That's God's wisdom. And so should we. As image bearers, we imitate God. We ought to set ourselves to blessing, even those who are in rebellion against God.

And so we emulate our Father in heaven. It wasn't for Israel to ask why. God has his own reasons, but he required obedience. Do not meddle with Moab and Ammon. But then he says something different.

Destroy Sihon. Isn't that interesting? You have four nations, three of them, they're commanded to protect and one they're commanded to wipe out. Well let's look at the story. The defeat of Sihon and Heshbon is recorded in verse 24 to the end.

God will cause battle Whenever and with whomever he desires and that's what we see here The children of Israel come in with a message of peace, and they're met with war. They came with the same message that they came with the other nations, but they were met with a different response, and this was in the sovereignty of God. God raises up enemies as he wishes. He will give you the enemies you need, no more and no less. He will harden those, he will harden and he will soften those, he will soften.

This is his will. It might be in the form of a boss, it might be in the form of a national leader, It might be in the form of a neighbor. But God will give you the battles that he intends for his own glory. And he does not keep his people in a battle-free position. There are enemies.

And God raises up an enemy here, Sihon, the king of Heshpon. And so we see the command not to go to war, in verse 24, do you see that? They're under command not to attack. There's a revelation that there will be a battle and that they should engage in it. He says that he will put the dread and the fear of God in them.

And they will hear a report and they'll tremble and they'll anguish. God is making things happen in the hearts of enemies that we know nothing of. And so they are to now engage in war. But in verse 26 through 29 we see that they were commanded to engage in peace. They came with words of peace in verse 26 saying, let me pass through your land.

I will keep strictly to the road. I will turn neither to the right or the left and you shall sell me food for money that I may eat." So they're coming with a blessing but they're not met with blessing. Sihon responds with an obstinate heart. Look at verse 30. But Sihon the king of Heshpon would not let us pass through.

For the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate that he might deliver him into your hand this day so God is hardening the heart of Sihon then in verse 31 God assures Moses he says no I have given you to them possess the land inherit the land and then Sihon attacks Israel. And then God gives the command that they would destroy Sihon. This is a complete destruction of a people. This is in a context of other relationships with other nations. This is not a command that God's people do this to every nation that they're engaged with.

This was a specific command of God to deal with a specific enemy at a specific moment. They were under commands to do this. And so Israel obeys and they limit themselves. Verse 37, only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon, anywhere along the river Jabak, or the cities of the mountains, or wherever the Lord your God is forbiddenness. There's obedience in the limitation, and then there's obedience in the reply in their attacking Heshbon and defending themselves.

And they were victorious. They were victorious because they trusted God, because they listened to God. And they remembered the appeal of Moses, that God had blessed them, that through their trudging in the wilderness they would lack nothing, that they could trust him in all the things that would happen to him there. And so God is providing for his people. Here we've seen before us four different nations.

All of the nations were approached in the same way, but one had special treatment because of the difficulties that were presented there, because of the self-defense that was necessary of the people. And they were called to wipe out that people. So here we find, in this chapter, tremendous stimulation for us to think about our journey and how we are traveling through the land that God has given to us. How are we traveling through this nation? How are we traveling through our city?

How are we traveling through our neighborhood? How would we treat those around us? Are we passing through with our own thoughts? Are we governing ourselves by ourselves out of our own hearts? Or are we governing ourselves according to the law and the commands of God?

That's the point. Are we traveling through with a proud heart toward the cities and the nations and the ungodly people who live around us? Are we traveling with an unloving spirit? Are we uninvolved in their lives? Are we condemning?

Are we condescending? Are we acting superior? Well, how did Christ pass through? He passed through with a heart of obedience toward his father to bring the glory of God into every passing by, to every passerby that he might engage. And he was applying the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we love because he first loved us. We exercise his will in this journey because of his love toward us and toward those other people whom he loves as well. There's a tremendous statement that I think captures the heartbeat of this text in John 15. As the Father loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." How do you know that you're abiding in Christ in your heavenly journey? One way is that you're keeping His commandments toward those nations that you're passing by. You're exercising His revealed will. You're doing what He's told you to do, to make the cycles of all the nations, to express love and hospitality and kindness towards those that you're passing through, and that you would be very careful to limit yourself, that you wouldn't be living out of the wisdom of your own hat, that you'd be living out of the wisdom given in scripture so that we would know how to engage the next 40 years of this journey. Jesus says, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no in the midst, and He lay down His life for His friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends.

For all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give you these things I command you that you love one another. So here we find the children of Israel under the commands of God as they're making their journey. And we're no different than that. We have the Lord Jesus Christ and we have many commands from him.

And we're called to carry out those same commands. We too, like the Lord Jesus, have many who have not found the grace of God. And in this heavenly journey, we ought to be very careful to fulfill all of his commands. I love what George Whitefield said. He said, I would loathe the time when I would let 15 minutes pass without sharing the gospel with my friend.

And I pray that we would be like the children of Israel who obeyed. Four instances of obedience, four very difficult moments where rashness was welling up in their hearts, where covetousness came, where their own thoughts about acquiring their own land came, but God said, no, not a grain of sand shall you touch. And we would be like that. We would say, yes Lord, your servant is listening. I hear you.

I will do what you ask me to do. And so here we find the message of the gospel found in this chapter that God has called His people to obedience. He is a fatherly person who cares for us tenderly. He does reveal to us our sins and He does command us to walk in His ways. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Would you pray with me? Lord, we pray that you would come and help us to live and move and have our being according to your commandments. In Jesus name, Amen.