The sermon, titled 'Not According to Our Sins,' draws from Psalm 103:10 to explore three key themes: circumcision, Passover, and the transition from manna to the produce of the Promised Land. These themes collectively emphasize God's grace, highlighting that His covenant, forgiveness, and provision are all unearned gifts. The sermon recounts the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River, which paralyzed the opposing Amorite and Canaanite kings, demonstrating God's power and favor towards His people. The act of circumcision, though seemingly a poor military decision, underscores reliance on God's promises rather than human might. The transition from manna to the produce of the land signifies God's continued provision, now through natural means, reminding the people not to take His gifts for granted. Overall, the sermon calls for spiritual preparation and obedience as essential to receiving God's promises, stressing that favor with God is paramount.

The title of the sermon this morning is Not According to Our Sins. I'm lifting a line from my favorite psalm of 150 psalms. Psalm 103 is my favorite and I've stuck to my story on that. It really is my favorite. Psalm 103 verse 10 says, he, God has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

Now why would our sermon be titled by a phrase from that? He has not dealt with us according to our sins. Well there are three themes in our text today. The first is circumcision. Circumcision is a sign of the covenant.

God gave them a physical mark that he was in covenant with them. Second theme is a Passover, which is this remembrance of the time that God passed over them for their sins. He didn't pay them the wages of sin for their death, but he passed over them when he was paying the Egyptians the wages for their sins and bringing death into every household. The third theme is the provision of manna switching over from to the provision of the land flowing with milk and honey. So God's provision for them for 40 years had been manna that would just appear that would go out and collect it.

And now it's switching over to the provision of a land from milk and honey. The commonality of these three themes, the sign of the covenant of circumcision, the remembrance which is Passover and what kind of provision they were getting, is that it's all of grace. Being in covenant with God is all of grace. It could never be earned. The remembrance of God passing over your sins is all of grace that can never be earned.

And God's provision isn't because we have done or haven't done something, It is all of grace. All of these things are a mark that God has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. So it really is the commonality of the three themes in our text. So this is a text about a God who is full of grace, who doesn't deal with his people according to their sins or punish them according to their iniquities, but he is a God who is gracious and has paid the price for his kindness to us. So understand that.

Everything in our text is telling us that our God is a God who is dealing with us according to his goodness because he's paid the price so that he could be good to us. As we go to the text let's ask for God's help. God I thank you that you are in covenant with the people. That is all of grace. Thank you that you have passed over the sins of this people.

That's all of grace, nothing of their doing, and that you have always provided and will always provide, and not because of what this people is like but because you're a faithful good gracious God all these things are of grace so these themes of our text bring us to praise you you are worthy of our praise You ought to be loved and adored for your grace towards us that you haven't dealt with us a day of our lives as we deserved but that you have have dealt with us because of a price that you've paid in order to be merciful towards us. Thank you for Jesus. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I'm going to be subdividing today our 12 verses into three parts.

The first is just the first verse but it's a very long verse. So it's a, I mean it is a significant section because of the length of the verse. So hopefully your Bibles are open to Joshua chapter 5. Follow along as I reread verse 1. Joshua 5 verse 1, So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel Until we had crossed over that their heart Melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel We see here in verse 1 that it is the fulfillment of the previous two verses.

So if you actually printed out the hand out so that you're taking notes in your handout by by filling in the blank verses, fills in the blank. The fulfillment of the previous two verses. Well let's look at these previous two verses, the last two verses of chapter 4. Chapter 4 verses 23 and 24 we read here, for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea which he dried up before us until we had crossed over that that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty that you may fear the Lord your God forever." These last two verses of chapter four show us the purpose that God had in mind for drying up the Jordan. It wasn't simply to bring two million people across the geological barrier.

It was that the people would know that the God of this people was a mighty God acting on their behalf. And so he dried up the Jordan. He did something miraculous to bring them across this geological barrier and to show himself mighty. And verse 1 says, yes, that happened immediately. It happened in the eyes and in the hearts and in the spirits of the king of the Amorites who were just across on the west side of the Jordan where they had just crossed to and also the Canaanites who were on the western side of what would be Israel on the Mediterranean.

When you're a king who is relatively near a nomadic people, in order, in other words, a homeless people. Israelites had been a homeless people since they left Israel. Well, when you're a king who's relatively near this homeless people who you know are seeking a home and they cross over the geological barrier into closer proximity to you, essentially into your turf, into your territory, you hear about it. You make it your business to know that. And so the kings of the Amorites and the Canaanites hear about the miraculous crossing.

Now kings of the Amorites, kings of the Canaanites, sometimes Amorites and Canaanites are used in a narrow technical sense and sometimes they're used in a more general sense that wraps up a number of peoples under those headings. The use here is the general sense and what is being said is all the people in the land of Canaan as a general term, the promised land, all these kings have heard that the people of Israel have been brought across to Jordan miraculously. And these reports have come to these kings and in every instance it's had an impact on them. What's the impact? Their hearts melted and there is no longer any spirit left in them.

Now you have to remember that the heart in Hebrew, the heart to the Hebrews or to Israelites in this language, is more than just the fountain of emotions. For us in our usage of the word heart we're thinking the fountain of emotions. Emotions flow out of our heart but to a Hebrew it's more than that. It's a person's command center. It's the center of their intellect.

So your thoughts are coming out of your heart. It's the center of your will. Your decisions are coming out of your heart and it's the fountain of your emotions. Your emotions are coming. So it's the central command center for the person.

So when your heart melts, not just the fountain of your emotions, but your your intellect and your will and your emotions. So when your heart melts, your central command center melts and there's no spirit in you, you're paralyzed. Matthew Henry says when their heart melted their hands were tied. So that's exactly what's happening in their text. Their hearts melt and so their hands are tied.

They're paralyzed by the reports. I'll draw your attention to Proverbs 21 verse 1, very familiar verse. You'll recognize it instantly. The king's hand is in the... The king's heart, The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water.

He turns it wherever he wishes. So we think of the mighty of the earth kings as being something that they're not, as being outside the immediate influence of God. That's a wrong way to think of them. Hopefully we don't think of them that way. Their heart is actually in the hand of the Lord and and He directs it just like a water course wherever He wants their heart to go.

So what is being said in this text? Here's what's being said, God is paralyzing the enemy kings by making their hearts melt, by leaving them with no spirit in them, he's actually paralyzing them, he's making them inactive when they ought to be active if they're going to serve their own interest in opposing God by opposing his people. They ought to be active right now. But God has paralyzed them by sending these reports of him bringing his people across a dry riverbed and they know that this is a miracle that shows that God is mighty and God is with them. So he's paralyzed these Amorite and Canaanite kings.

Strategically they need to fight and strategically they need to fight now. Now is the time to defend their land against the Israelites. If two million people need to cross a river, So we're not just talking about an army. We're talking about a people, a people of families. If two million people are going, of families are going to cross the river, the crossing points are few and predictable.

You can't just bring two million people of families, men, women, children, elderly, you can't just bring them across this river at any point, especially around harvest, when the river always overflows its banks. That's what chapter 3 verse 15 said. It's the time of harvest and so it's the time when the river has always jumped its banks. It's flowing deeper and faster than it ever does all year long and this is the time when God has dried it up and so especially now the crossing points for two million people of men women children old young where the crossing points would be few and predictable God short-circuited all that by drying up the river. They would have been able to know that the enemy kings would have been able to know they can only cross here, here, or here, but God short-circuited all of that.

They would have had time to prepare. They would have had time to anticipate by knowing when this group of people, this great people of two million people, were approaching one of the few predictable crossing points. But all of that has been short-cutted by God. And so the report comes to them that all of this has been short-cutted. Their ability to anticipate, their ability to prepare, their ability to attack right away has been taken away and so this dynamic of fear that Rahab described in chapter 2 is now on steroids.

So just flip back to chapter 2 and remember to let's remember together what Rahab said in Joshua chapter 2 verses 8 through 11. We keep coming back here but it's so relevant. Joshua chapter 2 verses 8 through 11. Now before they lay down, before the spies that Joshua had sent lay down, She, Rahab, came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, this is 40 years earlier, for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og whom you utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted exactly the same language. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Lord your God he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." God had shown himself mighty and cutting off the Red Sea and parting the Red Sea for them 40 years earlier. They had heard that report. They still remember that report.

Then they had vanquished the king in recent recent history, vanished the kings on the east side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og and the people had heard about it and they were afraid and this was before God had dried up the Jordan. Now something immediately miraculous has happened and they've heard the reports and they're paralyzed. Now moving on to the next section about the circumcising of the people. Joshua 5 verses 2 through 9. Follow along as I reread 2 through 9.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the Hill of the Forskans. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. All the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

The children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to the fathers that he would give us a land flowing with milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of this place is called Gilgal to this day.

In this section we have the circumcising of those born in the wilderness. So if you're taking notes by filling in the blank on the handout, born fills in the blank, circumcising those born in the wilderness. Friends, I submit to you that this is the worst military decision in the history of mankind. Unless, unless your military success doesn't depend on your military but on a promise-making God who is determined to fulfill his promise. If you just bring this down to the human plane, to the human level, and think about an army that invades an enemy territory to only immediately perform a surgical procedure on the majority of the men in that army, that is the worst decision ever.

But the future of this army isn't going to depend on the might of this army. The future of this army is going to depend on the might of a promise-making God who has made promises to this people and who is bent on fulfilling those promises. Psalm 20 verse 7, Psalm 20 verse 7, David who knew something about warfare says, some trust in chariots some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. David won many victories and David understood that he didn't win any victories because he didn't trust in chariots and he didn't trust in horses. He remembered the name of the Lord his God and he knew that he would win or he would lose based on what God decided and whether God acted on his behalf or not.

As we see in verse 8, this mass surgical procedure leaves Israel completely vulnerable to attack. They can't move, they can't fight, they need to stay in one place and heal up. But God has already covered that base. They don't need to move, They don't need to fight because God has paralyzed the enemy kings. Their hearts were in his hand and he has paralyzed them.

He melted their hearts. He left them with no spirit to act, to fight, to attack. God has already made provision for that. Now I want to talk about what circumcision is and the status of the people. In other words, who is and who isn't circumcised among the people.

What is circumcision? If you want to begin to understand circumcision, you must start in Genesis 17. So I'll ask you to turn there. Genesis 17. And you should turn there.

Otherwise you're stuck listening to me reading a long reading and it'll be better if you could follow along. Genesis 17, Abram's name is changed to Abraham because God promises Abram that he will make him a mighty nation and as a result he changes his name to Abraham This is where we find the beginning of the practice of circumcision among the Lord's people under the old covenant. Listen to Genesis 17, verses one through 14. Follow along. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me and be blameless, and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.

Then Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you." Now I'm in verse 8, which is a very important verse for our text. Genesis 17 verse 8, Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God. God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you.

Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised every male child in all your generations. He who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who was bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people.

He has broken my covenant. Circumcision in Genesis 17 and in everywhere that follows is a sign, it is a physical sign of God bringing Abraham and his descendants into relationship with himself. It is God saying in a physical sign that he has marked out a people for himself. He has separated out of the nations of the world a family and then multiplied that family into a nation and he has claimed them for himself, has brought them into relationship with him with himself into a Covenantal relationship and verse 8 told us clearly That the land was promised as part of this look again at verse 8 also I give you and your descendants after you the land in which you were a stranger all The land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God So so the land and the promise to be the God to this people Go hand in hand now So that's what circumcision is It is a sign of having been brought into covenant, having been brought into relationship with God as Abraham's children or even foreigners who came to be associated with the people of God through circumcision, through the physical mark of being in relationship with God.

Now what was the status of the people? We're back in our text, we're back in Joshua 5 now, and Joshua 5 verse 5 tells us the status of the people. For all the people who came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. So let's map this out so you understand exactly who is who, who has been circumcised, who hasn't been circumcised. All males, zero, so newborns, up to 40 years old, had been born in the wilderness among these people and Joshua 5 verse 5 says they hadn't been circumcised.

So 0 to 40 year old males have not been circumcised and needed to be circumcised. If you were 40 years old up to 60 years old you had been circumcised in Egypt and so you did not now need to be circumcised and if you were 60 years or above you had been circumcised in Egypt but you were dead unless your name was Joshua the son of Nine or Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Those were the only two men, those were the two spies that came back and said don't listen to these other ten spies, God has promised us we can take this land, we can take this land and so God exempted them from the death of anyone who was 20 years old and older during the 40 years of wilderness wandering. So 0 to 40, uncircumcised, need to be circumcised. 40 to 60, circumcised in Egypt.

So they're alive and don't need to be circumcised because they've already been circumcised and if you were 60 or above it didn't matter because you were dead although those those had been circumcised in Egypt So the Lord told Joshua to make flint knives and to circumcise the uncircumcised, those males who were newborn up to 40 years old. We know flint as obsidian. It's a lava rock that is flat and smooth and really good to be used as a knife because you can get a very sharp edge on it. And obsidian or flint was used for knives long after metals came into use. And so this was a common material to make knives out of.

In fact, just As an aside, I googled flint knives this morning and there's an Etsy shop and you can buy flint knives today. You can see it. It's flat and smooth and really sharp. So you can you can still buy them on Etsy if you'd like a flint knife. So Joshua circumcised the uncircumcised And I'm certain this is a place in Scripture where when a leader leads the doing of something, that leader is said to have done it.

In other words, there are many, many, many thousands of men who are circumcised. It's certain that Joshua didn't circumcise them all. God told him to make flint knives and so there's an assortment of knives and I'm sure there are many people who are performing the circumcisions but because God, Joshua is leading it, it is attributed to him here. And you find that all over scripture. That's not unusual at all.

Now that leads to a very obvious question. Why was any male uncircumcised? If you go back and read what we read in Genesis 17, no male among these people should be uncircumcised. The technically correct answer to that question is the text doesn't say because the text doesn't say so we don't know for sure but it is strange that two-thirds of the ages it may be not two-thirds of the people often age groups aren't aren't distributed exactly in a linear fashion, but from 0 to 40 none of them are circumcised and from 40 to 60 they're circumcised. So if you just assumed it was linear, two thirds of the males would not be circumcised when really according to Genesis 17, among the descendants of Abraham, that shouldn't be true of a single one of them.

So this is strange and it is even a bit strange that we don't know why. Here are three things that we do know that texts do say. Number one, The time when these uncircumcised males were born was a time of discipline for Israel. They're not wandering in the wilderness simply so that God can teach them a lesson about perseverance. They're wandering in specific response to the disobedience of the adult generation that was brought out of Egypt, those who were 20 years old and older.

So all of these uncircumcised males were born during a specific explicit time of discipline in the life of this people. Number two, the land promised to Abraham's descendants in the covenant of which circumcision is assigned was being withheld from them by God during these 40 years. Meaning, circumcision was a mark of being in covenant with God and that God had promised to give them this land. It was a sign that God had promised to give them this land. But during these 40 years, the promised land is being specifically withheld from them.

In fact, right after they disobeyed, they tried to reverse. After God said, I'm going to take you to wander for 40 years in the wilderness they said no now we'll go in and Moses said don't do it and they tried to go in then and they were they were greatly defeated by the inhabitants of the land and then their wandering started. So God has been specifically withholding from them the land of promise during these 40 years. In fact, our text says that God had sworn that he would not even show them the land. He would not even show the disobedient generation the land that he had sworn to give to Abraham's descendants because of their disobedience.

Turn if you'd like to Numbers 14. So Numbers 14 is the place where the people have just refused to go into the land and the death sentence on this generation, this disobedient generation, is pronounced upon them in Numbers chapter 14. So I'll be reading Numbers 14 verses 26 through 35. Follow along. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against me?

I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me. Say to them, As I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you. The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nunn you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would I would make you dwell in but your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in. And they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.

And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied up the land, 40 days for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know my rejection." Wow! I'm now in verse thirty-five. I, the Lord, have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me.

In this wilderness they shall be consumed and there they shall die. I believe that the next generation not being circumcised, all those born in the wilderness not being circumcised is part of their knowing God's rejection. They were a rejected generation so it seems like God held them back from circumcising their children. Number three, here's the third thing we know. In Exodus four, verse 24, so think about the sequence.

Exodus three is the burning bush passage where God tells Moses to go and be the deliverer of his people because he's heard their cries. Then Exodus chapter 4, Moses is on the way from Midian to Egypt to be their deliverer and in Exodus 4.24, God met Moses on his way to Egypt and sought to kill him until his wife circumcises her son. And so it is unthinkable to me that Moses is so insensitive to the importance of circumcision that it wasn't a big deal to the leader of Israel during the 40 years. This is the man who was almost killed by God on the way to Egypt because he had an uncircumcised son. So this cannot be a man who is insensitive to the importance of circumcision.

In any event, our text makes it clear that for whatever reason they were not circumcised, God is now commanding them to be circumcised and Joshua leads the people in obedience to that command and the men are circumcised and then they they don't move they don't fight because they're staying to be healed. They must be circumcised for a reason looking back in time. God has promised the land to the people of the covenant. He has been withholding the fulfillment of that promise from the generation that refused to go into the land and God is now fulfilling his promise to the generation that he raised up in their place. Did you catch that?

Look in the beginning of verse seven, Joshua 5 verse 7. Then Joshua circumcised their sons, the sons of those who disobeyed and died, Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place. They wouldn't obey him and so he raised up their generation in their place to do what they refused to do. So they must be circumcised for a reason looking back in time. God had entered into a covenant with the descendants of Abraham and part of that covenant was to give them this land and now they're being brought into the land and they must be circumcised and they must also be circumcised for a reason looking forward.

Only the circumcised are to participate in the Passover. If you go to Exodus 12 which is really the the landmark Passover text it's where the first Passover happens where you get most of the the Passover law, it's clear that only the circumcised are to participate in the Passover and that you're you're not allowed to participate in the Passover unless you have been circumcised. So this is preparation for what comes next. The circumcision happens in our text and then the Passover is celebrated and it must be that way according to the law. Finally look at verse 9, the last verse in this section.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I've rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Gilgal or Gilgal means rolling, to roll. And so it's a it's a name. It's a location named after the rolling away of the reproach, the cleansing of the reproach of Egypt.

Now there are a couple of different views about exactly what the reproach of Egypt mean. It could mean the identification of slavery to a pagan people. That's what they were in Egypt. They were slaves to pagans. And it's a reproach to be the slave of a pagan when you are God's people.

Or it could mean the scorn that was heaped on the people during their wilderness wanderings by the Egyptians who knew they had left Egypt but also knew that they hadn't been given a homeland and it appeared to them that they had been abandoned by the God who had brought them out of Egypt. Now they've been abandoned to just die in the wilderness. So the reproach of Egypt could mean either one of those things, but in any event, let me find my place here, in any event it represents their slavery and or their years of wilderness wanderings. And both of those things have come to a definitive end with God bringing them into the promised land. So really the point of the reproach of Egypt is these days of discipline and these days of slavery are brought to a definitive end and now you've been given a homeland.

The disgrace that has been bound up with you has come to a definitive end. So brothers and sisters, can't you see that this is all of grace. God didn't bring these people into the Promised Land because they got their act together in the wilderness. You know the history, you've read the history, can we agree that God isn't bringing this people into the promised land because they finally got their act together in the wilderness and now they've earned their place in the promised land. No, this is all of grace.

Re-identifying with the people through this mass act of circumcision and then the celebration of the Passover God passing over their sins is all of grace. So let's look at the Passover in verses 10 through 12. Verses 10 through 12. Joshua 5, 10 through 12. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day of the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain or roasted grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. And the children of Israel no longer had manna but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. In this section we have hello Passover goodbye manna. Manna fills in the blank if you're taking notes on the handout.

Hello Passover, Passover, the observance of the Passover is back and they're saying goodbye to Manna. God is no longer going to provide for them through that means. If you go to Exodus chapter 12 you have Passover, the first Passover and Passover law which says on the tenth day of the first month you select a lamb and you keep it until the 14th day of the first month. So you keep this lamb for four days and then at twilight everyone kills their lamb and you celebrate the Passover. In last week's text chapter 4 verse 19 the text marked out that the people came across the Jordan came up out of the Jordan on into the promised land onto the promised land on that tenth day of the first month the day that you would select a lamb and you would keep it with you.

And then on the 14th day of the month at twilight, at evening at the setting of the Sun, everyone would kill their lamb and you would observe the Passover. So this is exactly what we're seeing in this text. So this Passover that we have in our text is a termination point to God's delivering Israel from slavery and bringing them into the promised land. We really have a book end Passover's on one end. The very first Passover with a Passover is instituted and the people are brought out of Egypt victoriously because of the the ten miracles that God works in judgment against Egypt and then then on the other end of their wilderness wanderings they're given a homeland brought into the promised land and they celebrate this Passover.

In Numbers chapter 9 there is a second Passover that is celebrated but it's before the people refused to go into the land and there's nothing that says that they celebrated a Passover during the wilderness wanderings after they had refused to go in. So it is an argument from silence because there's not a year-by-year history of those years of wilderness wandering but I believe that the Passover wasn't celebrated. In fact when you go to Exodus 13 and the completion of the Passover law it actually says when you come into the land of promise then you celebrate the Passover. So I don't believe there's been a Passover celebration since that second Passover that's recorded in Numbers chapter 9. You're free to disagree with me if you'd like because that is an argument from silence.

But I think this is the first Passover that has been celebrated in approximately 39 years and as evidence for that, that the two thirds of the men probably something like that were not circumcised would point to that as well. So the children of Israel celebrated God's grace in passing over their sins in favor of the death of a spotless substitute, of not dealing with them according to their sins as they came into the promised land. So just think about that. They're coming into the covenant land, the promised land, and they're celebrating, they're remembering the time that God passed over them and didn't deal with their sins, and now he's bringing them into the land that he promised to give them. So now they're in the land flowing with milk and honey.

I passed over that phrase in verse 6, not even commenting on it there, but the land that they're being brought into is called the land flowing with milk and honey. It's just a sign of abundance. There's abundance everywhere. So God has brought them into this land and they begin to partake of all that abundance and the manna ceases the very next day. Why?

Because God has made it unnecessary. They don't need it. The man is unnecessary. If you live in a land flowing with milk and honey, you don't need the bread from heaven because God has supplied an abundance in a different way. Here's what Matthew Henry says.

Says, of the manna as it came, as the manna came just when they needed it. So it continued as long as they had occasion for it and no longer. To teach us not to expect extraordinary supplies when supplies may be had in an ordinary way. That's exactly what is happening in our text. Just when they needed it, God gave it to them and he sustained it for 40 years.

But when he brought them into a land that he had made so abundant that they didn't need it, then it ceased because he had made it unnecessary. Listen to Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 through 12. Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 through 12. So it shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant. When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage." So what's being described here is a land of milk and honey, a land of abundance, none of which they're responsible for.

Large and beautiful cities, they didn't build those cities. Houses filled with all good things, They didn't build those houses or fill those houses. Vineyards that they didn't plant. Olive trees that they didn't tend. Wells that they didn't dig.

But in Deuteronomy 6, Moses says that there's a risk here to be guarded against. That when the supernatural food is taken away, food that there can be no denying that came directly from heaven and is replaced with something that's natural. Don't you forget, don't you forget that it's God as much as provider in the quote unquote natural types of provision as it is bread from heaven. This brings me to the applications. I'll give you five and I hope to give them to you quickly.

Five applications. Number one is an application we could do in any text in Joshua that God always keeps his promises. We just have another text where God is specifically keeping promises that he made. All the promises of God are yes and amen secured for us by the work of Jesus Christ. He has made specifically to us, to the New Testament people of God, exceedingly great and precious promises.

That's how Peter describes them in 1st Peter. And every one of them will be kept. We find that God has kept so many of them already to us. So that's application number one. God always keeps his promises to his people.

Don't ever forget that. Don't ever live like it isn't true. Always live like it is true that God is going to keep his great and precious promises to you. Number two, if we will not obey God, God will raise up a generation in our place that will. This is a really sobering truth and application from the text.

If we refuse to obey God, if we won't obey God, God will simply replace us with people who will obey Him, with children who are tenderhearted towards Him and obey His Word. We are not special in that sense. We are not special in the sense that God needs us to accomplish anything that He intends to accomplish. God is never at our mercy. We are always at His mercy.

If we won't obey Him, He'll simply replace us as He did. That's what He did here. There was a generation of people who had been delivered from slavery that God desired to bring into the promised land. He commanded them to possess it. He would have given them victory over their enemies and they would not obey him.

And his promises weren't brought to naught. The descendants of Abraham were given the promised land, just not their generation. He kept his promises. They didn't make his promises void. They just didn't enter into the benefits of them through their disobedience and God replaced them.

He raised up their children in their place. Now understand what happened there. The circumcised came out disobeyed and didn't receive the fulfillment of the promises. The uncircumcised were brought across the Jordan on dry land and given the promised land. And yet, yes, they are circumcised in our text.

But the point for us ought to be crystal clear. You can be baptized, you can take the Lord's Supper, if you won't obey God you will not enjoy the benefits of God's promises. You can participate in every one of the sacraments and not have the reality that it is to represent Happening in your heart and you get none of the benefits and God will raise up someone in your place to to be his Be his child to worship him Number three That was number two if we will not obey God God will raise up a generation in our place who will obey him, who will love him, who will worship him. Number three. We have these.

What are these? We have the New Covenant equivalent of circumcision. It's baptism. It's the way that we are publicly marked out as God's people. We have the equivalent of the Passover, which is the remembrance of God not dealing with us according to our sins, not punishing us according to our iniquities.

It's the Lord's Supper. It was important in the Old Testament because we need to remember that God has marked us out for himself and so he's given us this ordinance to remember him by. It's different but it's very much the same in many ways as well. They help us remember that God has not dealt with us according to our sins. Number four, we must never take the provision of God for granted.

Think of how twisted and wrong it is to despise God's bringing you into the land of milk and honey as his way of providing for you. Just think about what I'm saying. It is twisted and wrong to despise God's method of provision as bringing you into a place of abundance. Like, oh well this is a place of abundance. God isn't providing for me anymore.

That's twisted. That's wrong to think that way. Here's what Dale Davis says, really helpful. Dale Davis says, did that mean that Yahweh had quit providing for them? No, because they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan that year, verse 12.

It is still his provision, whether it is manna that falls from heaven in the wilderness, or grain that grows in the ground in Canaan. We must beware of thinking that God is only in the earthquake wind and fire, of thinking that manna, but not grain, is God's food. Most of God's gifts to his people are not dazzling and gaudy but wrapped in simple brown paper. Amen, amen. Let me just read the last two sentences there.

We must beware of thinking that God is only in the earthquake, wind, and fire. Of thinking that manna, but not grain, is God's food. Most of God's gifts to his people are not dazzling and gaudy but wrapped in simple brown paper. To look at the simple brown paper and to then conclude from that that it isn't God when what's inside the simple brown paper is wonderful and good and really coming from him is twisted and wrong. Number five, the favor of God is what matters the most.

When you have the favor of God, you can send your army into enemy territory and then perform surgery on them so that they have a recovery period in enemy territory. It might make no sense, but God is mighty. God is mighty. Favor with God is what matters the most. Here's what David Howard said.

That such spiritual preparations preceded the actual quote unquote conquest of the land illustrates the priorities we have noted. God was going to give Israel the land and Israel's task was to be sure it obeyed and was adequately spiritually prepared. Amen. That really is one of the great points in the text. God was the one giving them the land.

Their job was to obey God and make sure that their hearts were right before God and he would take care of the rest so that even when he commands them to do things that you would say no military in the world would do that that obeying God is is what matters because the favor of God is what gives them the victory. Let's pray. God thank you for this text and I pray that we wouldn't be those who have the mark without the reality. Having the mark of having been marked out by you, but have an unwillingness to obey you to prove that we actually do belong to you, that we're your children. Oh, save us from that, God.

Let us be those who are identified with you, yes, but have the reality of it really are yours, really do love you, really do obey you, and bear the fruits of repentance. Let it be so in Jesus' name, Amen.