After talking about the generation of Israelites who died in the wilderness, the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 3:12-13, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
That’s a passage that we have spoken about often as a community of believers here. We have stressed the need for perseverance in the faith. After all, the very next verse goes on to say, “For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Heb. 3:14). We have stressed the need for the body of Christ, members of the local church, exhorting and encouraging one another every day. And we’ve said more. But one note in this passage from the book of Hebrews that I want to highlight this morning is that the enemy in those verses is “the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). What our hearts are at risk of being hardened by in this verse is not just sin but the deceitfulness of sin. That is to say, sin causes you to accept to be true or valid something that is untrue and invalid. That is the nature of sin. It’s deceptive.
Therefore, one way we help ourselves in the fight against sin is to take opportunities to unmask it. We actually take time to expose its lies and deceit. We get to the nature of it. After all, we don’t dive into sin because we think through the foolishness of it; we dive into sin, rather, because we are ignorant of the foolishness of it or talk ourselves into turning a blind eye to the foolishness of it.
Another weapon to use against sin is an understanding of the nature and character of God. The reason I say this is because when sin deceives us, it not only holds out untrue things about sin itself as if they are true, but it lies to us concerning God. Think, for example, of Adam and Eve in the garden. When the serpent comes to them, he not only tells them that eating of the fruit will bring them great wisdom (something untrue about sin) but he also tells them that God is holding out on them, withholding something from them (something untrue about God). So, the deceitfulness of sin is two-fold: it deceives us concerning the nature of sin and it deceives us concerning the nature of God.
Now, when Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 that these texts concerning Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness were written for our instruction so that we might not desire evil as they did, it seems that one way they help us is by uncovering the deceitfulness of sin that Israel was falling prey to in this text. Therefore, this morning, I want us to look at these chapters (Numbers 13:1-20:13) and consider what these texts show us about the nature of sin and the nature of God so that we might find ourselves equipped with weapons against the deceitfulness of sin.
But, as we’ve done the last couple of weeks, let’s begin with a brief summary of the text. In Numbers 13-14, Moses sends twelve spies into the land, and ten of them come back with the report that they shouldn’t try to go into the land. The people are convinced by this negative report and say they’d rather have died in Egypt or die in the wilderness (14:2). Therefore, the Lord grants them their desire and announces that the entire group over twenty years old will die in the wilderness and not enter the land. The exception will be Caleb and Joshua, the two spies who brought back a good report. Those twenty and under, however, will be brought into the land.
In chapter 15, then, we have a repetition of something like we saw in Numbers 1:1-10:10. The Lord goes right back to preparing the people to enter the land. Granted, it is instruction for the younger generation and it’ll be a number of years away, the Lord prepares them. The chapter provides instruction for sacrifices and offerings to the Lord when the people come into the land. This chapter also includes the carrying out of these commands, when someone breaks the Sabbath and is stoned to death for his violation.
In chapters 16-18, we deal with the position and role of Aaron and the Levites. In chapter 16, Aaron’s position is challenged by a group led by Korah, who think they should be able to do what Aaron does, that Aaron nor Moses is unique. So, the Lord judges them, causing the ground to open up beneath their fin and swallow them up while others were consumed. Then, in chapter 17, the Lord drives home the uniqueness of Aaron again by causing his staff to bud and be a symbol that none should challenge his authority again. So, we read in 17:10, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.’” Then, in chapter 18, the duties of Aaron and the Levites are details again, so that the people may have the Lord’s presence in their midst.
Chapter 19, then, reads much like chapter 15 in that the Lord provides them more laws, this time for how to purify themselves, while 20:1-13 records Miriam’s death, and Moses disobeying the Lord so that he is unable to enter the promised land.
So, in light of those events in these chapters, let’s see what these text teach us concerning the nature of sin and the nature of God so that we are not deceived into thinking things that are untrue or invalid this morning. First, we see that:
In Numbers 13-14, as the people of Israel go out to spy out the land, they are given specific things to report. Moses says in 13:17-20, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.”
And the people go, and gather information to report. We read the report in 13:27-28, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit [which was a grape cluster so large they carried it on a pole between two men]. However, the people in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.”
It’s kind of a mixed report – good and bad. But then we get a very positive note as Caleb says in 13:30, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” But that is quickly answered by ten of the spies who declare, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (13:31), so that we read in 13:32 that the people brought a bad report of the land they had spied out.
And the bad report wins the day. The Israelites are not won over by Caleb and Joshua but by the ten who bring a bad report. And this, as we know, leads to the Lord’s judgment so that the people will now wonder in the wilderness for years, until the whole generation of Israelites who’d been counted in the census in chapter 1 die.
But what I want us to see here is the root of their disobedience. We see it in 14:11 as the Lord says to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them.” Do you see? Israel’s problem was unbelief. They didn’t believe that God could or would do what he said he would do. In spite of all the things that God had done and showed them, they didn’t believe. They didn’t trust the Lord.
Now, we also have this confirmed in the New Testament when the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter [the land] because of unbelief.” Sin is rooted in unbelief. What this means is that this morning, we could think of the last ten sins we’ve committed, and all of them are rooted in unbelief. If you lusted it’s because you believed that lust would provide you pleasure and did not believe that obedience can provide you more than that fleeting pleasure. If you were greedy or covetous, it’s because you didn’t believe that there was more to gain by being content and/or generous. If you gossiped, it’s because you did not believe that the Lord’s means of dealing with offense were best and thought you knew better how to handle it. And we could go on, but in every instance, our sin is rooted with not believing God. Every time we sin, we repeat the conversation between Eve and the serpent in the garden. We believe the lies and do not believe the Lord.
So, perhaps it’s most helpful for us just to list some of the deception in this thought, the lies they were believing:
I don’t think there’s much more to add here in terms of commentary except that this is obviously foolish thinking.
The people actually say this in 14:2. But they’re obviously lying because when the Lord tells them that they will die in the wilderness, they are so crushed by the news that a number of them in 14:39-45 decide they’ll go and fight now, even though they’re told not to, and they’re defeated.
Now, this one is not as clear, but it’s there. In 13:33, as they give the report, they say, “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
What should be our response to that? I think it should be, “Who cares? Who cares how you compare or what they think of you? God is the one who’s going to do this.” Yet, doesn’t this creep in to our thinking as well. Sometimes we don’t feel the atrocity of our unbelief because we mask it with our inability. It’s as if we say to the Lord, “It’s not you, it’s me.” But that’s never been a good response for disobeying the Lord throughout history.
Therefore, realize as you’re tempted that you’re tempted with unbelief in God and his promises and with belief in lies. This is the deceitfulness of sin. Actually take time to meditate on these realities as a weapon against sin.
Second, we see that:
Chapter 15 is an interesting chapter. In chapter 14, the Lord has just given devastating news. An entire generation of Israelites will die in the desert. Then a group was defeated by the Amalekites. Chapter 14 is a crushing chapter. It’s almost overwhelmingly painful. Then, listen to how chapter 15 begins:
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, and you offer to the LORD from the herd or from the flock a food offering or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the LORD . . .’” (15:1-3).
And it continues. We read in 15:18, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you.” And we find the same thing in the rest of chapter 15 and chapter 19. God gives them laws concerning holiness, cleanliness, how to deal with unintentional and intentional sins. It feels like a doctor walks into the room and says, “I’m sorry, ma’am, your husband is going to die, but you’ll be fine. So, what you’ll want to do is go buy a smaller bed on your way home. There’ll just be one of you now and all.” I mean, really?
How are we supposed to read this? Here’s how I think we’re supposed to read it: God is faithfully pursuing his promise. He’s showing his faithfulness. Israel has sinned, and they’re reaping the consequences, but God is going to bring Israelites into the land. And he’s getting them ready. And the reason he’s going to bring them into the land is because he said he would, and he’s faithful to his promise. In fact, in chapter 14, when Moses prays that God would pardon the people and not destroy them, he banks his prayer on the fact that God is always faithful to his character. He prays in 14:19, “Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
Moses knows God is faithful to his character, ways, and promises, and God proves it. Chapters 15 and 19, as monotonous as they may feel, are screaming to us, “God is faithful to his covenant promises.”
Israel cannot ultimately thwart God’s plans. And neither can we. We are not big enough to disrupt God’s plans of working all things together for our good. We are not big enough to make God unfaithful to his promise. So, as you’re tempted with sin, put these first two truths together. Recognize the lies and unbelief sin is tempting you to believe, and recognize that when you fight sin by hoping in the promises of God, you are trusting in a God who is always perfectly faithful.
Third, we see that:
In chapter 16, we read of an event known as Korah’s rebellion. We read in 16:1-3, “Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’”
Now, we’ve seen this before, and we know how it ends. Korah and his group are judged by the Lord. By wanting to step up and be Aaron, the Lord had to vindicate Aaron, and he did. In chapter 16, he destroys this rebellious group, and in chapter 17, he causes Aaron’s staff to bud in order to show that not just anyone could be the priest.
So, let’s ask the question, “Why would they do this?” Well, they tell us, don’t they? They want to be prominent. They want to know the Lord’s presence as Aaron and Moses did. But the reality is that Aaron and Moses were the only reason they had the Lord’s presence in their midst at all. Moses continually intercedes for the people, and Aaron’s priesthood is a gift that lets the people live while God’s presence is among them. In fact, when the Lord gives the duties of the priesthood in chapter 18, he says in 18:7 to Aaron, “I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider comes near shall be put to death.”
The fact that the Lord had set apart Moses and Aaron was a gift to the people. It was the Lord’s way of saying, “You need an intercessor. You need a representative. You need one who can make an offering on your behalf.” Ironically, the people desperately wanted to be in the Lord’s presence, and they were fighting against the very thing that made God’s presence in their midst possible.
This is again the deceptive nature of sin. It holds out the promise of what you really want and cost you that very thing. How many people have chased after a spouse because they want to be loved and have security, only to find themselves with someone who does not love the Lord, does not love them, and will not breed security? And we could go on, but we know it’s true. The person who pursues homosexuality because they finally want to stop living a lie, they say, lives the rest of their lives hating who they are and desperately wanting to change. Sin is like feeding food to a starving person that only makes him hungrier. It puts us in a position where we actually are fighting against the things we desperately want and need. This is another deception of sin and something we need to recognize in the midst of temptation.
Finally, we see that:
One of the most amazing things in this text is the Lord’s call for the people to remember. We see it three different times. First, we see it in 15:37-41. There, we read, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.’” God gives them tassels so that they might remember his commandments and not sin when tempted.
Again, we see it in 16:37-40. This is after Korah’s followers in the rebellion were destroyed with fire as they were offering incense in their censers. There, we read, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.’ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the LORD said to him through Moses.”
Why did God set up this reminder? It was so that no one might end up like Korah and his company.
And again. We read in 17:10-11, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.’ Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.”
Why did the Lord have them save Aaron’s staff that budded? Again, we see it in the text. It’s so that people wouldn’t have to die.
You see, the Lord is not out to get us. It’s not as if he’s made a number of laws and commands just so that we might fail, and he can pounce on us. He wants us to live. He does not delight in the death of the wicked but pleads with us to choose life, to choose obedience. So, recognize that one reason the Lord even has us this morning considering Israel’s lot in the wilderness, the nature of sin, and the faithfulness of God is because the Lord is on our side. He wants to pull us away from the sin we’ve entangled ourselves in. He wants us to know forgiveness and the grace to obey.
In fact, he wants us to remember something as well, and he’s given us something to remind us. In Numbers 20:1-13, Moses himself rebels against God. The people were asking for water, God told Moses to speak to the rock, and instead Moses hits the rock. It’s a note of frustration. Perhaps Moses is even frustrated that God isn’t judging the people, and he feels he’s got to let the people know how frustrating they are. I don’t know.
But Moses fails. He rebels. He sins. And the Lord tells him that he won’t enter the promised land. That’s how our section ends this morning. The last verse of our text is: “These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy” (20:13). It’s a sad note. Even Moses has failed.
But let’s ask a question. If Israel’s failures were written down to keep us from desiring evil as they did, then why was Moses’ failure recorded? I mean, he fell this one time in the book of Numbers. Other than this, he looks great. He’s a model of obedience. He’s the great savior of his people. Well, I think the reason this event is recorded is to remind us that Moses is not the savior of his people. Numbers 20:1-13 is written to tell us as we’re reading our Bibles, “Keep reading.” We must look for another if we are to know salvation. Moses isn’t the answer.
And as we keep reading there is ultimately only one who comes and obeys perfectly as our prophet, priest, and king. It is the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth. He is not only a good model; he is perfect. He perfectly obeys for those of us who believe or will believe. He dies for us, to pay for our rebellion. He is raised so that we might have life. And he commanded us to eat a meal together often. But why? So that we might remember what he’s done for us. So that we might remember that he is for us. So that we might remember that he’s with us and fights for us. So that we might remember that he’s our intercessor and high priest. So that we might remember that we’re forgiven. So that we might remember that our fight against sin isn’t hopeless.
So, this morning, as we come to the table, let us pray for strength to unmask the deceitfulness of sin, and let us remember our faithful and good God, who has proven his steadfast love and faithfulness to us in sending his Son. Let us remember these things now as we come. Amen.