Following the blessing of God’s word to conquer (Numbers 21:21-35)

We will share the grace of God today with the Word in Numbers 21.  I have prepared a map for you guys today, I think you have to see the map to understand today’s passage.  I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see well, but I’ll give a basic, outlined explanation.  Egypt is to the west and this is the path they walked after the exodus from Egypt, and the point in the middle is Kadesh Barnea.  From there, there’s the grey, dotted line which is the 12 spies going in to survey the land, and because of the Israelites’ disbelief, they spent 38 years walking around this circle.  

Now, 38 years have passed, and if you look at the beginning of Numbers 21, it talks about this place, the Negev. They win in a battle here. This is the Jordan River, and they’re on the east side of the Jordan river, so they had to cross over the Jordan River to take over the land of Canaan to the west.  Down to the south is Edom and to the east is Moab.  Amon is north of Moab and Bashan is further north.  And you may not know the names very well but even if you don’t know, you should know this, because you must be aligned to God’s Word. If you’re not intelligent enough, may you pray to understand this.

The High Priest Aaron dies at Mount Hor and that’s what happened in chapter 20 and the beginning of Numbers 21 talks about fighting the battle at Mount Hor and winning.  When the Israelites try to go from that war through Edom to cross over to the West, the Edomites won’t let them through, they would rather prefer to cut through the land, but the Edomites would not allow this to happen.  So, the message we heard last week, they had to go all the way around Edom, and because of their disbelief many people died by being bit by venomous snakes.  

Does that mean God doesn’t have the ability to overcome Edom? The people of Edom are the descendants of Esau, who was the brother of Jacob, in other words, they are Isaac’s sons, they’re the same people, the difference is that one has the covenant, and the other does not.  All God needed to do was to have them fight Edom so that they could cut through but why didn’t God let them do that?

This is recorded in the Bible, in the Bible God gave land to Esau. He gave it as an inheritance. That’s why God prevented the Israelites from attacking the land of Edom. And because of that God is making the Israelites walk all the way around the people of Edom and imagine how frustrating that is for the Israelites. 

Why did God make us do this? Because God had to keep His promise with Esau and God had to instill faith in the Israelites.  The characteristic of the Israelites is that they lived in Egypt completely centered on themselves and material things, and they were able to experience the Exodus through the blood covenant.  Then, they were given a covenant as the people of God at Mount Sinai.  They entered into the covenant where they would become the people of God and God is the God of the Israelites.  

The fact that they now have this covenant means that their identity has been changed to people who follow God’s Word. Until this point, what was making the Israelites suffer?  They suffered because of their thoughts, stemming from the time they lived in Egypt.  That’s why they had no choice but to waste 38 years in the wilderness.  After 38 years, all the soldiers in the first generation died.  It was a time schedule where all the people in the first generation were going to heaven, and now, it’s a new time where all of the second generation that were born in the wilderness are rising up as soldiers to fight the war.  

Now, as they are moving up to conquer Canaan, they moved up on the East side, and there’s something going on between Moab and Ammon.  Moab and Ammon are the descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.  Ammon and the Moabites are the people that descendant Lot had by sleeping with his daughters, and God also commanded the Israelites to not fight against the Moabites and Ammonites, why? It’s because God left that land as an inheritance for Lot’s descendants.  You have to know this before you read the content of today’s message in order to understand it.

Now, the second generation of the Israelites were following Moses,  coming from the eastern side and they are crossing over the Jordan River at the point of Jericho to go west towards Canaan.  Why did God specify this land of Canaan?  It’s up to God, it’s his prerogative.  Why did God choose this land instead of some land in Africa? That’s God’s absolute sovereignty and his prerogative. The Israelite people had to conquer this land via war in order for this to be the land of Israel, and that’s a battle that God Himself personally fought. He fought that war through the Israelites.

Then, what did the Israelites had to have?  They had to have faith, they needed to be able to look at the present reality and have the faith that God will win; without that faith, they would avoid that reality. The children of God are the people of God.  It means we are not created to live however we want. The fact that we’re children of God means that we’re people who live according to God’s will, it means we are people who are living with the Words that come from God’s mouth in faith.

In the land of Canaan, there were seven nations and 13 kings awaiting them.  And before they go into the land of Cannan, as an introductory base, there are two kings they fought against, and that was the content we read today in Numbers 21.

Numbers 21:21 says the Israelites sent a messenger to Sihon, the king of Amorites. Why do you think the Israelites sent a message to Sihon, King of the Amorites? The Israelites are asking, “Let us pass through the country”  why do they have to pass through this country? Because their goal was to go into Canaan.  Our goal in this journey of life is the land of Canaan, and the land of Canaan is the land where Jesus Christ would come. This is the land of the covenant, and true rest is found only there. 

The Israelites said, “Allow us to pass through this country into the our toil land we will not harm anything along the way land we will only go through the king’s highway, none of the alleyways”  Numbers 21:23-24, Sihon would not let Israel pass through is territory, then what happens?  He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel, however, put Sihon to the sword, but they weren’t supposed to fight against the Amorites.

Numbers 21:25, so the Israelites captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, they conquered and ruled over all the land that God gave to them, but the standard of that is God’s Word.  If we live with our own thoughts, we will fail 100%.  However, no matter how vulnerable and weak we are, if we hold onto God’s word of the covenant, then we will conquer.  

The first thing you will capture is the thing within you, centered on “me,” Genesis 3, 6, and 11, and my disbelief.  You have to get rid of all your judgments when you look at a circumstance from your perspective or when you look at a particular environment.  When you face a problem and you think, “Do I solve this or not?” Quickly let go of that.  What does God’s Word say?  That’s the way to capture your problems, that’s the way for you to overcome your circumstances, and this is what this is saying.

The land God has given to you by His Word will absolutely be captured, but if you say, “Oh, from my perspective, I don’t think we can do this,” this unbelief will undoubtedly lead to destruction.  

They conquered the King of the Amorites because God won that battle. God made the heart of this King hardened. The Bible also says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart of Egypt, around the time of the Exodus, God hardened the pharaoh’s heart so that the Israelites won’t be able to leave, this is the work God did.  Because God had to destroy that hardened heart, He brought down 10 disasters.  All of that was within God’s hands.

All the people we read about today, the Amorites, the Moabites, and the Edomites were all within God’s hands, and God said to not fight against them.  The way God prevented the Israelites from fighting is that he would give the heart to the kings to not let the Israelites cross their nation.  Then the Israelites will only have victory only when they follow only God’s Word.  

You do not receive the Word of God according to your convenience. It is not a matter of whether this Word makes you feel good or bad, you are following the Word God has given to you with faith.  That’s the only way for the disbelief in my heart to be destroyed. Then, all the roots in the culture of the world that I’m not even aware of will be captured.  

What is the characteristic of someone who has a lot of scars? “Why did God allow these scars?” I’m sure the other person was at fault in part, but the problem is really yourself. What is the problem within yourself? “My greed and my motives are the problem. Because I didn’t satisfy my greed or motive, I say “I got a scar.” Before you discover that fact, Satan will control you, moving you through your scars.

Think about this very carefully. Other people are in the same circumstance but they’re not scarred. Why is it that this is only a scar for certain people?  It is because that person had greed or some ulterior motive, so they were caught by it.  Even now, how can you be healed? You have to quickly escape from the thing called “yourself.”  

You have to understand, “Yes, there may have been situations that upset you, but the fundamental thing was the state that left you bound to be scarred.”  That’s how your healing will begin.  But instead, if you keep putting the blame on someone else, you’ll never be healed until you die.  That’s the same as saying, “My life isn’t working out because of this problem.”

It’s the same principle as the Israelites saying their lives were destroyed because the Emanates and Amoiates were too strong. The real problem is that the correct Word of God isn’t placed within me, and because you don’t have the Word of God, you have your own standards .  You must quickly escape from that and restore it with the Word of God.  That’s how you will first and foremost capture the seven nations that are within your own heart, that’s how you will be able to capture the seven nations and the 13 kings ruling the world.

You are capturing them with the words of God’s covenant and faith.  All other problems in your family are footstools for you to save the world.  If you don’t make that into a stepping stool, then all problems from your family will drag you around for the rest of your life.  

Why do you think God hardened Pharaoh’s heart?  Don’t you think some of the Israelites complained that our lives are ruined because of Pharaoh?  Pharaoh’s heart had to be hardened, that’s how we can escape with faith.  What happens if we don’t have faith?  You’re bound to constantly suffer under Pharaoh’s hardened heart.

“My father is the problem! My family is the problem!” God allowed that. The real problem is why did he allow that? It’s so that you quickly escape from the incorrect standards of yourself.  “Then why did God not give me the grace back then?”  The fact that the Israelites were liberated from Egypt after 430 years, that’s God’s time schedule.

God reveals His gospel according to His time schedule.  God has a perfect time schedule, you have to believe in that.  We cannot go faster; it must be according to the time schedule.  You have to escape from yourself with the gospel.  You have to make Christ into your Lord and Savior, you have to make the word of Jesus Christ into your life.  

Then, as you go through the wilderness, you have the nature of your past, and that’s how God trains you, through the Word and faith, in other words, God gives us faith and Word training to uproot the incorrect roots in our hearts.  That’s how you will change the culture of the world and do world evangelization.  

But if you don’t have the answer to the problem if your family first and for most, you’re going to go out into the world and be trampled. It would be fine if you  could come to church and receive the answer here but if you cannot receive the answer, you’re just going to get scarred. You’re going to say the same thing, “It’s because of that person,” but it’s because of the you inside of you, there’s a very strong “you.”  Your motives and greed are so strong inside of you, and that’s not being satisfied, so it becomes a scar.  You have to satisfy it with Christ, with the Word, then it is no longer a problem at all.

The problems in your family are a platform for blessings, and God allowed you to be born within that family with His absolute sovereignty.  “Nonbelievers are born, too!” God did not put you into a nonbeliever’s family without a plan to save you later. God has placed you into a nonbeliever family already having planned your salvation. He allowed you to experience the many problems in your family so that you can come to the answer.  

But if you don’t go in with the Word of God and faith, then you’re going to be trampled on by the scars in yourself, then when you go out into the world, instead of saving the world, you’ll be trampled by the world instead. You need to have rest inside of you with faith, but you can’t enjoy that rest.  The conquering of Canaan in the new testament is going into rest.  We only receive rest through faith.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.  Lay down all the burdens you bear and come to the Lord, go into the Word of Christ, and let go of everything of yourself, for My yoke is easy and my burden is light, why? Because the Lord is bearing my yoke with me and He takes me forward.  It’s not that I don’t have a yoke, it doesn’t mean that I just sit around doing nothing. I do take on that yoke, but the Lord is bearing it with me and guiding me forward.  There’s no rest like this beyond faith in His Word.  

Through today’s Word, may you quickly escape from your thoughts that say, “This is a problem,” or, “That ruined my life,” or the problems you see in your family. I’m sure it’s correct from your perspective, but God is not present that way.  “God made a plan to save me and He placed me in this family from long ages past, so that means God has a plan for that.”  

In His absolute sovereignty, underneath these parents, God allowed you to experience that, in other words he allowed you to experience the world.  Because He has called you to save the world, he is allowing you to experience the word through your family.  Only when you restore faith in the gospel will you be healed. Only when you follow God’s Word will you conquer.

That’s what today’s message means. The king of Amorite is strong, and he never allows you to just cross easily, and that means the incorrect things within you will not easily give you rest.  Without a doubt, these are the aspects you must conquer through faith in the Word. It doesn’t matter if you say, “I can do it!” or “I can’t do it,” quickly escape from yourself.

In Numbers 21:33, it talks about Og, the King of Bashan. Earlier we were talking about the King of the Amorites.  Right after they conquered the King of the Amorites, the next king that is waiting for them is the King of Bashan. And instead of letting the Israelites to pass through the nation, he brings his own armies, and attacks the Israelites again.  

Then in Numbers 21:34, the LORD said to Moses, “ Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”  The people of God had received a rest that couldn’t be taken away because of the unshakable faith in His Word, and that’s why in Numbers 21:35, they struck him down and took possession of everything.

The King of Amorites and the King of Bashan are people who are opposing God’s God’s plan and will, and they fight against that with faith in the Word. Only then do we get rest, that’s what that means. Then does that mean that only I need to have rest?  You do this again, going into all nations.  You shouldn’t just remain in the land of Canaan.  Jesus Christ has come to this earth, so now we must go to all nations.  Go capture everything with the Word of God inside of His kingdom, and destroy the kingdom of Satan.

Capture your business with God’s Word; capture your studies with the Word so that God works, so that you can enjoy the blessing of saving souls.  There’s no other goal.  You are relaying the covenant of Christ so that others may experience true rest. 

Lately, transcendental meditation in the world promises to give rest and peace and healing to people.  What is the reason transcendental meditation is becoming so popular in America? It’s great that it’s increasing, but the problem is that the churches are also decreasing.  The people of the churches are going to transcendental meditation to get healing there, and that’s the beginning of an incredible problem.

It’s evidence that people go to church to become children of God, but they are unable to enjoy the true rest of God.  Then, why do they receive healing when they do transcendental meditation? What do they teach such that people are healed?  They say, “Your thoughts are your problem. That person is not the problem, but your thoughts are the problem. These thoughts are not really your thoughts, that’s not the true ‘you;’ there is another true ‘you.”  

Because, instead of casting your scars onto someone else to blame, then you say, “My problems are my thoughts,” then you are able to have healing in your relationships. They also say, “your incorrect thoughts are not ‘you,’ so they say to get rid of all of your thoughts in a quiet time, and to keep repeating thanksgiving.” then of course they can have healing, rest, that is not true rest, there is no rest that is given to them from heaven, it’s simply an organization of all the things that used to shake and tremble their hearts in the past.  

But the problem is the Christians, they don’t have faith, they don’t have quiet time, and they quickly point out people as the problem. But they still know incredible amounts of the Word, so they think they are a model because they’ve gone to church for so long that’s the problem. That person is not a model, they are an incorrect Christian, a religious Christian, so people come to the church and see a bunch of people like that who cannot enjoy true rest, so they leave. 

People with spiritual problems can see when they see you, just like how people who have money, they can identify other rich people.  Someone who’s very intelligent will be able to spot other educated people.  If the churches are not able to give true rest, people come to church and leave, and the only thing they learn when they come to church is how to give worship, how to give offering, and then they go into all the different programs set up by the church in the ways of the world. Then they just come one day a week and volunteer and give offering, but their insides are not changing, it’s always “me,” the scars they received from their family are never changed.  They are doing all these different activities in the church because they think, “If I do this in the church I’ll receive healing,” and even if they do receive a little bit of grace, the things are remaining the same. 

Then one day, if someone really touches their scar, they’ll stop going to church. What do you think that person’s thoughts are?  They say things like, “I’ve tried going to church, but why are people like that?”  It means they’ve gone to church but they’ve never once seen or experienced the true core of the Bible which is the peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, but they think, “This is the church and these are Christians.” 

They say, “I’ve tried going to church and it’s nothing great. If anything, when I go to this transcendental meditation center, they don’t ask me to donate money, if I’m going to stay for lunch, I can come and go as freely as I want. They don’t even ask me if I went to worship or not, and they don’t even pressure me to join the choir; it’s so much better here, and I like it so much better because they don’t ask me to pay for Temple Construction offering.  I like it better because they don’t have anyone collecting offering,” so they go whenever they want and leave whenever they want, and because of that, they think they’ve organized their life, and that’s why especially young people are going towards transcendental meditation.

Why am I telling you guys this?  Because if you see this taking place and you have the truth, it means you have something to compare why this is not true, but if you don’t know what’s going on at all, it means you don’t have the truth.  It’s evidence that you have Jesus but you don’t have true rest, so it’s impossible for you to compare what’s what.  You say, “Sure, I hear people are doing transcendental meditation, but I don’t know why people are so into it,” it means you can’t compare.  

It means you’re going to church right now without realizing the reason why it must be only Jesus Christ, that’s why you’re not able to give the answer to the world.  You think all you have to do is to learn a lot of knowledge and practice speaking the right words, but that’s not it.  In today’s passage, it talks about conquering with the Word of God, and it’s finished.  Only that can give you true rest.

But instead of following God’s Word, your thoughts are stronger. You look at the message from the environment and it’s stronger, there’s not word of God there for you, so that’s why you can’t stand as a witness, 

Through today’s Word, I hope all of you will think of one thing. God has already captured the land of Canaan for the saved children of God and has already finished everything. If this isn’t your starting point, you’re living a religious life. God has already solved problems of our past, present, and future and saved us.  But why do we keep facing problems like the King of the Ammorites and Bashan?  So that you can conquer them with God’s Word and faith.  These are problems you cannot solve with your own strength, you have no choice but to fail again if you try.  

You capture them with the Word of God and faith, that’s why problems are not a problem to you. That’s why I have true rest, that’s how I can stand as a witness to others.  In order to do that, God is with us every single day.  As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, I hope you will go into God’s Word, why do we do that? Because otherwise, your inner nature, your thoughts and emotions will come out.  So you’re going to live your life today with the same things you’ve lived your entire lives.

Kids worry, “How do I have to study today? How do I work today?” It’s only “me,” so quickly change yourself.  As soon as you wake up in the morning, “Jesus is the Christ the son of the loving God, He is my Master, He is my Christ, and He is living right now.”  The Word He has given me this week is to go before God’s Throne of Grace.  This time can completely change your spiritual state.  

“May the work and studies I do today be an instrument to relay God’s Word in the covenant,” then when you come back home and you’re about to go to sleep, you organize everything that happened today through the Word of God and the covenant.  Everything that you study 30 minutes before you sleep, will still be working in your brain as you sleep.  

People who can’t wake up early in the morning or struggle to wake up, it means you’re doing things the night before that have nothing to do with God’s Word, that’s what you chose to do, you chose it because you value that.  Your values determine your spiritual state.  You made that decision by yourself, so instead, choose the Word, make your spiritual state into one that has no choice but to conquer.  

That’s how, during the day, instead of just having a theory, you’re able to realistically enjoy being with God.  If you set a time to enjoy the message you’ve been given, about enjoying the power of the Throne of Grace, you will have the results of the word of God answered in your life throughout the rest of the day.  

Tonight, before you go to sleep, that is the beginning of the spiritual battles.  If you leave yourself to do whatever you want, to do whatever is comfortable for you, then it will be the same tomorrow.  You have to fight the spiritual battle the night before when you go to sleep in order to win the next morning. 

No matter what you do, before you go to sleep at night, close your eyes and go to God’s Word in prayer, and you have to go to sleep in that state.  People who have insomnia are not able to keep praying, so keep the Word of God playing, that’s God’s will. He’s saying, “Don’t go to sleep,” the reason He gave you insomnia is so you don’t sleep, and yes it may seem like a disease, but from God’s perspective, He is saying, “Concentrate on God’s Word.”  Either way you’re going to be awake, so instead of staring blankly to the wall, listen to God’s Word and concentrate. You have this disease and you can’t sleep, and it’s suffering , so instead of saying you’re suffering for 24 hours, listen to God’s Word.

It’s suffering but it doesn’t just end with that. Through this suffering, Satan will work, and Satan will make it so that more than your physical suffering, your spiritual suffering is worse.  People don’t die from diseases, they die from the disbelief inside of them.  The disease is just a disease, there are people who live for decades with cancer, and you just have to live with that disease. The problem is that Satan will use that problem to step on people.  

So if you have a disease, stop worrying about solving that disease you can’t do anything about it, so why would you waste your time worrying about it?  Just resolve based on the Word of God.  Just make the resolution, “I’m just going to concentrate on God’s Word until I die,” only then you can destroy Satan and if you receive strength, then your soul and spirit, that spiritual strength will go into your physical body as well.  But if your physical body is hurting and your spiritual state collapse then you are dead on all fronts.

“Why are bad things happening to me?” God just wants you to concentrate, otherwise, what are you going to do? You don’t have anything else you could do; you’re just always suffering and complaining.  The reason God gave you this predicament is because he knows you wouldn’t concentrate without it, so focus.  It’s the same with depression, why did God allow me to have depression? So you concentrate, you have to resolve.  

“Am I getting better or not?” You don’t have the ability to make yourself better, why? Why God? You have to concentrate on the One Who gives you the Word, and you just have to say, “I’ll die doing this,” this is how you defeat the forces of the devil.  If your spirit is strengthened, then your mind and heart are strengthened along with everything else.

“Capture Canaan” means to capture the disbelief in my own heart first. How? With faith in God’s Word, so go before the Throne of Grace every day. Yes, the Throne is in heaven, but the spirit of God is inside of you, 24 hours communication.  With that strength, you will conquer. You study with this strength and work with this strength, that’s how you stand as a witness. 

That’s why “only the Holy Spirit” has no choice but to work upon you.  Not a single one of your prayers disappears. On the floor below me in my apartment, there’s a woman who is about 50 years old, and her older sister is unmarried as well.  The 50-year old lady’s sister below me, her sister, comes to visit her everyday, my wife was going through the 10 gospel letters with her.  Because they received God’s Word from the 10 gospel letters, this person became okay.  My daughter hears what the two of them talk about.  So, she went downstairs and invited them to come to church.

Satan worked upon this neighbor, and the lady lost it.  This lady lost her mind, “What do you mean go to church?” We never mentioned that to her but my daughter mentioned it as an evangelist, and the mother of these siblings who were meeting with my wife saw that her daughters were getting better. They were Catholic so they took down the Catholic images around her house.

But I look around her house, and I still see the shrine of Mary. It’s probably expensive so she doesn’t want to throw it away and there’s a little courtyard on the second floor, and I circle it 10,000 times while praying. They saw me and they came out and walked too, they were playing music, and it was gospel hymns, and my wife said, “Those are gospel hymns , I wonder if they’re going to church.”

What am I saying? Not a single prayer or a proclaimed Word of God will fall to the ground.  I used to go exercise in the park, but now I just grab my slippers and walk around the courtyard, and one circle around is 70 steps.  I do deep breathing and pray for the filling of the holy spirit.  Then, based on what I see, I pray for the working of the holy spirit, but these things are invisible, so people don’t do that because they don’t believe it.  That’s what I’m telling you.

God told you to do it and He said without a doubt I will work with my spirit. What happens when the Holy Spirit works?  The darkness is broken, the Word goes in, and it’s not hard.  But why don’t we do it? It’s because we don’t believe it.  What do we believe instead? We believe in the physical things, we live with our Egyptian nature, but instead, conquer that with the Word of God in faith, conquer it with prayer, “I will give you whatever land you step on,” so conquer everything through prayer and then God Who transcends time and space will work. All that happens after you is just a result of that.

Prayer

So may you enjoy this blessing. Let us pray together holding onto the Word God has given us today.

Our second prayer topic, let us pray for our missions fields.  Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South America, and inside the Karen people, there is one young adult we’re trying to bring to LA.  There are 30,000 Mongolians living in LA, and there are two Mongolian churches, so let us pray for Mongolian evangelization so that Mongolian churches can continue to arise, and that they may save the 237 nations, so that the two Mongolian churches may be able to rise up with strength so we can do the evangelization of the 30,000 Mongolians in LA.

So not this coming week but the week after that, from Monday-Friday 1pm-5pm, RU classes are beginning, so please pray for that so a lot of multiethnic and figure generation people will receive training through RU. It will be held in this building, in this church.  All of God’s covenantal prayers are answered without a doubt, not a prayer that flounders about blindly, but a prayer that’s covenantal and based on God’s Word, God will answer.  

Benediction 

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God, the multiethnic people, and the remnants who desire to conquer all the land with the Word and the covenant of the gospel, be with us now until forevermore always, amen.