This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we love helping you understand God's Word and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement. And if you'd like help to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resources designed to help you stay strong in your faith.
All delivered right to your inbox. Signing up is quick and easy, and you'll be glad you did. Go to connectwithskip.com and join the list today. That's connectwithskip.com. Before today's teaching, stay with us for a special invitation from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel? Leni and I want to invite you to join us for a life-changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of 2027. You can walk where Jesus walked. You can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're going to share communion at the empty tomb.
You'll also have the option to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg. Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack Graham, and more.
So join us April 5th through April 16th. You can learn more today at ConnectWithSkip dot com slash Israel.
Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Chapter 14. After the report comes back, it's time to make a decision.
So it goes out for a vote. Interestingly enough, all in favor of going into the Promised Land, two. All in favor of staying back here and just like hanging out in the dirt, ten. Verse one.
So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night and. The children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. Complained. There's that word again. And the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness." And if I were Moses, I would have said, "Amen." Wish that would have happened.
Be a whole lot easier. Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword? That our wives and our children should become victims. This is a person of faith now using your kids as a scapegoat for your lack of faith. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?
So they said to one another, "Let's select a leader and return to Egypt." Now they pretend to be thinking about the safety of their kids. Actually, their complaint is a reflection on God. What they're saying is God doesn't care about our kids. That's what the complaint really says. God won't take care of our children.
God won't take care of my. He didn't care about our kids.
Now they're blaming Moses for it.
So they complained because their children are vulnerable. Question: Because you know your Bible so well, who entered the land? Their kids, not them. They're all going to die in the wilderness. The kids that they're so worried about, because God didn't care.
They're the ones that are going to get the land. Old folks sat there, cried, and died.
So, what's the result of all this? The result is judgment. Verse twenty-seven. God said, "How long shall I bear?" With this evil congregation who complain against me, God takes it personally. I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me.
Say to them, Mo. He's talking to Moses here. 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 the wilderness. All of you who were numbered according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above, except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
If only we would have died in the desert, God said, I am writing that down. That's what's going to happen to you. You got your prayer answered. Put an amen onto that, and you'll die.
Now, we forget what we ought to remember, and we remember what we ought to forget. Have you found that to be true? We forget what we with the things that we should be recounting and recalling and believing. We forget them, but we remember the things we should be forgetting. Psalm one o three, the psalmist said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." He's talking to his soul. He's counseling himself.
Soul, down there, I don't want you ever to forget how good God is. I don't want you ever to let go of God's faithfulness in keeping His promises. Bless the Lord. Oh, but Skip, it's so much more fun to complain.
Now, the last part of the book, the final twenty-two chapters, shows them going around in circles for thirty-eight years. We're just going to look at a couple of things. Chapter 15, verse 1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Speak to the children of Israel. Say to them, When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, now just stop right there.
Notice what God said to this group of complainers that He is going to kill in the wilderness." He doesn't say if you enter the land. He still gives them the assurance that he'll keep his promise with their children, new generation. But he says, and it's wonderful—not if, but when you're going to make it. When you have come into the land you are to inhabit.
Now, from chapter 15 on, the next few chapters, laws are given. Many of the laws that were written in the other books that we have already covered. God is reinforcing those laws. He's giving them to a new generation. Chapter sixteen through nineteen speaks about the priesthood.
Four incidents that regard the priesthood, including one I want to just briefly touch on: a rebellion. Surprise you? More complaining, more rebellion. This time, a Levite named Korah. And two Reubenites by the name of Dathan and Abiram, and two hundred forty-eight of their buddies.
Chapter sixteen, verse two, they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them. You take too much upon yourselves. In other words, we think that you, as a single leader, have way too much authority. There's too much authority in one man.
You take too much upon yourself. For all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?
So. Moses hears it and says, "Okay, let's have a showdown at the OK Corral tomorrow morning." Verse thirty one tells us what happens. Let me give you a little bit of background. He says, "Tell you what, you don't think that I'm the leader. You think you ought to be the leader.
So let's do this. If you die a normal death," If you just keep going on living and you live and you live your life and you die like everybody else dies and you you die a normal death, then God did not speak through me. But if the Lord does a brand new thing and opens up the earth and swallows you alive, then God spoke through me. He might have even done that. God wasted no time at all.
The earth opened up and swallowed the dissenters and their. Friends, it says in verse 31, the ground split apart under them and swallowed them up. Korah was a complainer, but he was much more. He was a poser. He was a poser.
He wasn't called by God. He wanted the attention that leaders get. And because they tried to divide the children of Israel, God divided the earth and swallowed up those causing division. Galatians chapter six is the principle: Be not deceived. God is not mocked.
Whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap. Chapter twenty, we just got to just talk about it, move on, because I want to finish the book. Moses was told by God because the people needed water, and when they needed water and food, what did they do? They they complained. They complained.
And God says, "Go over to the rock. Don't hit it this time. Just talk to it. Just have a conversation with the rock." Well, that's kind of strange.
So, hey, rock, Mo here. Do me a favor. Would you just give these people water? That's weird.
So, what he does, he gets so angry that he beats the rock. He hits it. Must we smite this rock and bring water forth from you? Who's we? You're not doing anything.
God is is doing the miracle, but he takes it very personally. Misrepresents God because of that stunt. God says, "I'm going to take you to a mountain overlooking the Promised Land, but you're going to die outside of it. You're not going to go into it." That's chapter 20. Chapter 21 is also an incident I just have to bring up because it's mentioned in the New Testament.
In chapter 21, life gets rough, and so what do the people do? Complain. You should all know the answer to that by now. They do this frequently.
So what do they do? They complain. And so when they complain, this time God sends venomous snakes through the camp to bite them and kill them.
So that's not good because twenty four thousand die.
So Moses prays to God. God says, "You want to fix this? Get a pole and put a serpent on it—a brass serpent on that pole. Raise it up and tell people to look at it. And if they look at it, they'll live." Well, that doesn't make any medical sense, but it makes theological sense because it was a look of faith.
It seemed dumb to look at something like that and believe that that was going to heal you of poisonous venom that is circulating through your bloodstream, but it worked. It was a look of faith. It healed them. Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of Man will be lifted up." The same look of faith is the same look of faith. At this time, Christ on the cross that saves people.
It's not by our own works. It might not. People even ask, "How does that make sense?" Believing in a guy who died on a cross two thousand years ago will get you to heaven. I know it sounds weird, but it works. It works.
It saves people. God is chosen by the foolishness of the gospel preached, and it's the gospel of looking at the cross by faith. It saves. That's chapter twenty-one. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
The Bible is a big book—66 books filled with history, poetry, prophecy, letters, laws, and more. It's easy to lose sight of how it all fits together. That's why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote his new one-year devotional, Soaring Above It All. It gives you a panoramic view of Scripture, helping you understand the key people, events, and themes from Genesis to Revelation, while deepening your walk with God. Request soaring above it all as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help connect with Skip share clear verse by verse Bible teaching with people everywhere.
Give now at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight.
Now here's more from Pastor Skip. Chapter twenty two through twenty five is bizarre for a number of reasons. It's about a guy named Balaam, or Balam, but I'm going to say Balaam because that's what everybody says. Why is it weird? Balaam is weird.
Balaam is mentioned in the Bible 59 times. There are several chapters here. In fact, there is more set of Balaam in the Bible than Mary, the mother of Jesus, or any of the apostles of Christ. That's weird.
Who was he? He was a Mesopotamian Baru, B-A-R-U. If you're taking notes, a Mesopotamian Baru. Mesopotamia is the area he was from, like ancient Chaldea. A Baru is an Akkadian word that means a priest, an oracle-speaking priest, a diviner.
He read omens and declared. Truths based on omens that he read.
Well, there was a local king, bummed out that the children of Israel were so large and moving through the area.
So his name was Balak, and he called Balaam from Mesopotamia to come and do his magic and curse them.
So Balaam sets off on a donkey, apparently with the wrong motivation. The donkey sees an angel of the Lord in the path. Most of you know the story. Angel stands in the path. The donkey sees it.
Has enough sense to veer off the path. You don't mess with an angel with a sword. You just don't do that. Donkey knew that. Figured it out.
Stop. Balaam got mad. Beat the donkey. He did it again. Beat the donkey.
Did it again. Beat the donkey. This time, the donkey speaks to Balaam. Miraculously, God.
Now let me ask you a question. Any of you here? Remember the show on television? I'm giving away my age, but some of you remember the show, Mr. Ed.
How many? I want to see hands. God bless you all. Wouldn't that a great show?
So Mr. Ed was this talking horse, and his his owner was Wilbur, and he would come into the barn and Wilbur, right? Mr. Ed, but I love that.
So this is like the Old Testament, Mr. Ed. Except he's not talking to Wilbur.
So, verse chapter twenty-two, verse twenty-eight. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "This is a miracle, obviously." The donkey says, articulating in human language, "What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?" And Balaam said to the donkey. This is Wilbur talking to Ed. Because you have abused me, I wish there was a sword in my hand. For now, I would kill you.
And the donkey said to Balaam, "Have a conversation now. Am I not your donkey in which you have written ever since I became yours to this day? Was I ever disposed doing this to you?" And he said, "No." It's amazing that a donkey speaks. It's more amazing that the dude talks back to the donkey. You know, we'd be going.
Wait a minute, dockies can talk. You know what's even more amazing? We talk to our pets all the time. You can't really blame this guy. You do it, and you think they understand you.
Now, I just have to bring something up before we move on from Balaam. And the donkey. And I love this because, as one who is called to stand in a place of biblical authority and speak God's word, the Lord uses this story for my sake to remind me that those of us who speak for God should not get too puffed up. I speak for God, so so did a donkey. It's good for any preacher to read this story.
Chapter two, verse forty-one.
So, it was the next day that Balak took Balaam, brought him to the high places of Baal, Baal worship, Old Testament false god, from the heights, that from there he might observe, look down on, see the extent of the people.
So, Balaam looking down would see across. He would see the covenant people of God in the tabernacle with the Shekinah, the cloud, and the fire. They're under God's covenant. Chapter twenty-three, verse eight. By the way, three.
He gives several oracles, three main ones, several of them though. Verse eight of chapter twenty-three. He says to Balak, "How can I curse whom God has not cursed, and how shall I denounce?" Whom the Lord has not denounced, and then chapter twenty-four, verse five, he says, "How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel, like the valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like alo plants by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters." He is unable to curse the children of Israel; he can only speak blessing. By the time we get to the next chapter, Balaam. Has said this to Balak.
Look, can't curse these people because God has blessed them. You heard me. God restrained me from cursing them, but you could do something where I don't have to curse them. God will curse them. Send your women into the camp to seduce them.
These young, pretty priestesses. To bring idols with them for worship, to lay down with them and have sexual relations—you just entice these young men with your women, and during that act, you bring out that worship, and you make sure that those men bow down and pray to that idol.
So he caused a stumbling block. The Bible later on says, for the children of Israel, by this kind of counsel. Chapter twenty-six, verse one. We come to the final phase of it. Twenty-six through thirty-six is reorganization.
It's a brand new generation. Chapter twenty-six, verse one. It came to pass after the plague. The last chapter, plague killed twenty-four thousand people. That the Lord spoke to Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, twenty years old and above, by their father's houses, who are able to go to war in Israel." So this is the second census.
Every one nineteen years old and below is included in this census because every one twenty years old and above has died in the wilderness. It's time for a new generation to be numbered. The original number of the census was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. Of that group, only two are left: Joshua and Caleb. The new census, chapter twenty-six, verse fifty-one, is six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty—a loss, a net loss, a generational loss, of one thousand eight hundred and twenty people.
Statisticians would call this zero population growth. That's what all that murmuring and complaining and wandering has brought. Chapter thirty-one through thirty-six. The land is apportioned to the children of Israel. Two and a half tribes want to stay on the east.
Moses says, "You can, as long as you go over to the other side, help the rest of the tribes settle their land, and then come back to your land." Chapter thirty-three. If you just look at it, you notice a whole bunch of names of places. It's a journey log of all the places they went and camped. And so that's where the cloud stopped, and the pillar stopped, and then moved on and stopped and stopped during, during those wanderings where they camped. Chapter thirty four, are the boundaries given to the land?
Four boundaries: north, south, east, and west. Chapter thirty four, verse thirteen: Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, "This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes." And to the half tribes, so there were twelve tribes, but some settled east and the rest settled west. The book ends with that new generation at the brink of the Jordan River on the plains of Moab, overlooking Jericho. Look at chapter thirty-six, verse thirteen, and we will close with this verse. These are the commandments and the judgments.
Which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses, in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. This is where their pilgrimage ended. Them. Let me close with this thought: Every Christian is on a journey, a pilgrimage. Right?
We we make our journey through life. We are on a journey toward maturity. Toward sanctification, toward service in the Lord. For some of us, it's been a pleasurable journey, but not for most of us. I think that for most of us, we would say the journey has been marked by pain, suffering, discouragement, disillusionment, struggle.
Right? Sometimes we feel like we're wandering. We read a book about a group of people who knew better but didn't live better.
So, as we make our journey through this life toward maturity and service and sanctification, what should we learn? Let me give you three quick takeaways, really quick. Number one, complaining is contagious. We already discussed that. Complaining is contagious.
You will ruin the whole scene if you come in and start complaining. It's contagious. It'll spread. Number two, doubting is disastrous. It was for them.
Their corpses. It says in this book shall fall in the wilderness. Can I just say, if you are bent on doing your own thing and going your own way and not letting God in, it's going to hurt a lot more than any trouble on a journey toward heaven. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, "He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Doubting is disastrous. Here's the final point: wandering, or excuse me, walking, is better than wandering.
An 11 days walk would be a whole lot better than 38 months. Thirty-eight years, ten months, total of forty years, wandering in the wilderness. They turned an an eleven-day dream into a forty-year nightmare. Walking is better than wandering. It's always better to walk by faith than to wander by fear.
You're facing something tonight, this week, this month. It seems so big. The diagnosis seems bleak. The decision you heard from a spouse seems horrible. Don't go back.
Go forward. Walk forward. Walk by faith. Walk. Keep walking.
Keep believing. Keep trusting. And watch what God is going to do. He's going to do something. Story isn't over yet, but don't wallow in the wilderness and wander for months and years.
Keep walking. God has good things for you. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere, helping them know God more deeply and live out His truth. And this month, when you give fifty dollars or more, we'll send you Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All, as our thanks.
This one-year journey through the Bible will help you see how Scripture fits together, understand its key people, events, and themes, and grow deeper in God's Word each day. Give today at ConnectWithSkip dot com slash offer, or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
