Holding onto the Covenant of God to Discard Our Unbelief in Faith (Numbers 5:1-10)
Reference verse: Leviticus 5:14-19; Leviticus 13,14, 15
Today we will receive grace from the Word of God from Numbers 5. The point of Numbers is that they’re counting the people of the Israelite tribes, so why is it that they have to count every member in the tribes of the Israelites, and why is it that the Levites were counted separately? There’s a reason why all of them must be used for God’s goal.
There’s a reason why we must conquer Canaan, that’s God’s will and plan to save all of mankind. That’s one of the reasons why they had the Exodus. It is a very important reason, and if anybody does not have the mission to go back to Canaan, they will always go back to the land of Egypt. Then, even after having received salvation, we have no choice but to live a life full of failure.
Conquering Canaan looks like something the Israelites were doing, but in reality, it was a war that God was fighting. Numbers and Deuteronomy tell of how the Israelites were training to move with the LORD in worship. Depending on how well they were trained to listen to and follow the Word of God it will determine whether they failed or succeeded in the war of conquering Canaan.
There are many things we do as we live in this world, but the important thing is how much is the Lord is with me in this? It looks like it’s something we’re doing, but that’s not true because it’s only possible to change this world into the Kingdom of God if the power of God comes upon us. If you do not have the certain covenant regarding this, you have no choice but to be enslaved by the world because of your lacking and weaknesses.
There isn’t a single exception to this, and that’s why people say life is hard, they’re going to be diseased by working so hard. It’s because everyone is a slave. They should be with God and experiencing the conquering that God gives them, but they lost hold of it. Therefore, there’s one of two options: Is the church going to conquer the world, or will the church be enslaved by the world?
If all the Israelites held onto the covenant surely and accurately, Canaan conquest would be easy. When they overcame the Jericho fortress, they did not win because they walked around the fortress seven times, but it was the work of God. They circled the fortress because God told them to. It seems like we can exist in the world based on our diligence, effort, and skill, but that’s not true, because the forces of curses, disasters, and darkness control the culture of the world, and you cannot overcome with your own strength in the world.
It is impossible unless God is with you, because only then will the forces of darkness would be broken down and the disasters and curses and disasters be ended in the field. They overcame the Jericho fortress and then won, but they failed as they faced the fortress of Ai, because they didn’t follow the word of God. They thought everything took place according to their skill, so they lost hold of the Word of God.
Why does our life keep failing in the field? It’s not because you’ve met the wrong people, and it’s not because you lack the ability. It’s because God is with you, but He’s not giving you the power. It’s because God did not give you the proper meetings with people, and because you’re living however you desire, this is the result of your life.
So, through Numbers and Deuteronomy, He is surely and specifically training them. To what extent is God with them? He makes them build a Tabernacle and says, “I will be with you,” centered on the Holy of Holies, and at the very center of the Israelite camp was the Holy of Holies. Even when they move, they have to move North, South, East, and West, centered on the Holy of Holies, meaning God is with you.
Because we are lacking we must always give sacrifices, in other words, we always need God’s grace and forgiveness, so that is why God is saying He will be with us, and for this reason, build a Tabernacle and this is why we give worship. For those who know this mystery, their spiritual eyes are opened so they have continuation, but people who don’t have spiritual eyes open think they can do it with their own strength. Even now, they live with their own strength, but you should be able to confirm in the Bible and through your own life whether things work out according to your strength or not.
“I’m so busy, why should I come to worship?” I’m saying, what are you living with your heart centered on? Knowing this means you know the state of the world and you know your purpose and mission, the goal of your life. Without this, you live however you want. “Oh, I’m a little older now and I can just relax and live a easy life,” you live however you desire. That’s actually the culture of unbelievers, they live however they want because they don’t know the Word of God.
“But they’re just little kids!” those are the words of unbelievers. God was with Joseph when he was a little boy, and that’s why Joseph could do things that other people couldn’t do. God was with David when he was in his youth, and that’s why David did things for his entire country, meaning he did things that humans couldn’t do. It means God did the work through David. So, the center of our heart is not according to people, but it is the fact that God is with us.
It doesn’t matter how old you are but until the day God calls you, you will live with him and his mission, that is the filling of the Holy Spirit. There are people like that here, “Oh, I’m so old now,” which means you should quickly go to heaven, then. “Pastor, it’s not that. I just mean I’ve lived as much as I should live,” then you should go. That’s how unbelievers think. The reason God allows you to continue to live is because He has a mission for you, and until the day my Father calls me, I will do the work of the Lord.
Until your thinking changes, the culture of the elderly will never change. You never have money, you never have strength, people look down on you, and that’s how you go, but you just need to switch that to the opposite. “How many people have experienced life like that, how many people have tasted the bitterness of life that I have the covenant that I have is the True covenant. The kids might just have a cursory covenant, but I need to go to the Father after relaying this covenant.” As evidence that God is with me, He will work upon me with the five powers.
It is through the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy that God is training us to have this kind of things in our thoughts and in our heart. Last week, we received the Word of God regarding when the entire community must move, what must each clan do? They are responsible for moving the various specific parts of the Tabernacle. If you touch the Holy of Holies, it means you will die. Why is it so severe? It means God is with us.It doesn’t matter whether you die or not when you touch the Holy things, but it means God is with you. They don’t stay in one place, but they are constantly moving and the covenant is constantly flowing. It doesn’t just stop with me, but it keeps flowing down, out to the field and the family. You need to be centered on the covenant there.
Today, we are preparing to go into the land of Canaan, and He is giving the Word of God regarding the happenings inside the community. We are preparing for an external war; however, you must prepare yourself internally, this way and that way. There were over 2 million people in the Israelite community that set up camp, according to their tribes and families then how are they going to make the bathrooms? The most serious thing they think about when going into the military or army is, how will people wash themselves and go to the restroom? They look at the environment and ask, “How are we going to set up camp?”
When you train, you have to move, and you have to sleep, so where are you going to sleep? Where will these hundreds of troops sleep? What are we going to do about food and water, and what about the bathrooms? These are very important things, and that’s how I see it, and I think people who have been in the army before will understand, or people who have been in camps will understand. In the desert, it’s so hot, and if a skin disease spreads, everyone will die. These are the things God is speaking about today.
God is also talking about the ways they can block people from fighting amongst each other from within the camp. God is giving us His Word so that even before we go to war with Canaan, we will not destroy ourselves internally. God is giving us His Word so that the family doesn’t collapse. He tells us these three things.
The first thing he says today is Numbers 5:1, “The LORD said to Moses.” This isn’t something you should just refer to. If the Israelites do not follow the Word of God, they will be harmed. When the Word of God comes upon you and you do not follow, you will be harmed. The Word of God is something we must follow and believe in, 100%.
If you’re trying to judge whether the Word of God is correct or not, based on the short experiences of your life, you’re trying to judge God. You cannot know yourself; only God Who created me knows me. If I don’t even know myself, how can I use the knowledge that I have to judge the Word of God? With the small knowledge I have from my small experiences, how can I judge if the word of God is true or not? That makes no sense, and that’s why you hold onto the covenant with faith and follow. God is His word
In Numbers 5:2, the LORD said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp that has leprosy or a discharge of any kind or a ceremony of unclean because of a dead body. Even now, they exile people with leprosy. If there’s a leper among the society, they will spread the disease, so send them outside the camp and have them isolated, on their own. For America, we used to send people to a very small island near Hawaii. In North Korea, they just kill people like that, if your body is a little strange, they’ll kill you off, so that they will say, “These people tarnish the gene pool, and statistically, we don’t have anyone with deformities.”
“Any discharge of any kind,” so this includes people who are hemorrhaging or continuously bleeding. This is already explained in great detail in Leviticus 13-15. There are many diseases, but the reason God is talking about these diseases specifically as they move around the camp is because these diseases are transmissible.
He says, “Do not touch a dead body,” but how do you know whether a body is dead or not? If a body is dead, then there are many things on it, so don’t touch it, and if anyone touches a dead body, then it will spread outside of the camp. Priests are only allowed to touch their own families, and the High Priest is never allowed to touch anyone, and there are other diseases in addition to these three, but I think the reason why He is talking about these things is because there are things that can influence the entire community because they are contagious.
Spiritually speaking, within the church, you have to cut out all the transmissible diseases like ideology and unbelief. There was a woman who bled without stopping for years, but she was supposed to be sent out of the camp but she held onto the clothes of Jesus and was healed. Originally, she shouldn’t have been in the civilization she should have lived outside of the city of Israel, but once they are healed, they must go to the priest to confirm they are healed. It’s not that it’s enough that they are confirmed to be healed, but they must give the burnt offering and sacrifice as well. In Leviticus, God explains in great detail that this is what it means for a disease to be healed.
In Numbers 5:3, “Send away male and female alike, send them outside the camp so that they will not defile the camp where I dwell among them.” It actually contains a spiritual meaning. There are many people who are sinners, and that’s why we always give our atonement offerings and our burnt offerings. Honestly, because of Original Sin, all of humankind was diseased, that’s why we have these spiritual diseases that follow and turn into physical diseases. In Exodus 20, God says, “I will punish 3 to 4 generation of those who hate me,” and that punishment can be in the form of physical diseases.
There are also diseases that come from my sin, they can also come from my environment. They are traversing the wilderness and this is not a clean environment and we can have diseases based on the environment as well. When the LORD said, “I dwell with you, so cast out all these impure things,” there is a spiritual meaning, “Cast them out of the camp because they are contagious.”
Second, He is giving us the Word regarding the guilt offering. Simply put, this is how you should pay back something you stole from someone whether it’s the materials, their things, or their money. In Numbers 5:6-7, it says, “They must make full restitution for the wrong they done at 5th of the value and give it all to the person they have wronged,” for example let’s say you borrow money without paying it back, then what do you think that person will think? That becomes a channel through which Satan can attack the people inside. You have to prepare to fight a war with those outside, but what happens when there’s a war inside?
Anything that has to do with money, you must pay it back. It’s called sin if you don’t pay it back. “If I pay it back, then why is it a sin?” Not only do you have to pay it back, but you actually have to pay back 20% on top of what you took. It’s the same thing when I break someone’s materials or things, and it’s the same with the things that belong to the church. These people think the things of the church belong to them, so financially, they will always be at a loss. It’s not yours, the holy things belong to God and you shouldn’t use them personally however you want. If you do whatever you want with it, personally that doesn’t make sense.
Someone broke the clock outside and replaced the clock, and I think they should have replaced it with a bigger clock so that the elderly could see it. Some people break things that belong to the church, and they think, “We pay offering anyway,” and they do whatever they want, but that’s what we’re talking about today. They just do whatever they want and make a mess of the church. They’re not here of course, you don’t have to look at me.
When I was a pastor in Korea, there were many college kids who would make copies of their textbooks in the church because if they make copies from outside they need to par, I think it’s fine to do it at church, but you should give that money in offering. You shouldn’t do whatever you want with the things of the church just because you give offering. If you do it, you should give it back in offering. Don’t take the things from the church and use them as your own. I think all of you have something you’ve taken from the church; I hope you will give it back. It’s not yours, that’s what this is saying.
What happens if the person I need to repay has died? Then in Numbers 5:8, you should give it to their close relative. They should have a close relative, everyone should have family or a relative. If they don’t, then give it to the priest, why? That’s how you will not have a channel of Satan. If a person gets used to stealing things and it becomes your nature, then you are completely seized by Satan. Your things should not become my things, you shouldn’t think “our things and the things of God are my things,” isn’t that right?
If you have that ideology, you will not be able to conquer Canaan, because when you go in, you will steal their things and take it as your own, and that’s the reason they failed at the fortress of Ai. It’s because, even though they won, they shouldn’t have brought anything from the fortress of Ai but they brought back the good things for themselves. When you say, “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine,” you will never be able to win in the world. From your personal perspective, it seems good to you but God is telling you not to do that, and not doing that is actually the way to win, so that is why God is giving us His Word today.
Otherwise, if you’re always taking things from people and not giving them back then that becomes the root of disbelief and even though you should be fighting a war outside, you’re dying because everything on the inside is crumbling. If they’re not there, you give it as offering to the church, and that’s how the channel of Satan will disappear from your own heart, and if you keep holding onto that and steal from people, you will never have financial blessings.
I borrowed it and the person passed away, so it’s fine, right? No, you have to return it to God. If you borrow something from an unbeliever and you don’t pay it back, you will never be able to succeed because God is the owner of finances, but if you think you’re the owner of finances, then you think, I can borrow it and not pay it back, of course you have to pay it back, because god has the power to do that but you’re not paying it back because of your unbelief, and that’s why your state and your finances remain at that level.
If you do not have God, you will remain at the level where you do unethical things with money. Or if you are the owner of a company, you will spend it however you want. There are actually a lot of company owners who become the owner, and they spend it however they want, and they go to jail for it. Even in the country it’s a bad thing even if you built your company, it’s not your company. You shouldn’t do whatever you want with your company because there are a lot of employees working for you and they also have their own families. The second thing God is telling us about today, then, is within the community of Israel, you must be very certain and clean about your money.
The third thing He tells us about is suspicion of infidelity among spouses. For example, it seems my wife is having very close relations with another man, and if that’s discovered in the community, they must be stoned immediately. But what if no one has witnessed everything, but the husband is jealous on his own? This community must go into war and conquer Canaan, but before they were able to win the war, their families are crumbling.
So in reality, this law wasn’t given to kill women, but it’s because with this unfair suspicion, there can be persecution and constant harassment in the home, so it’s actually given as a female right. Even today, female rights are at the rock bottom, especially if you go to countries in Africa or South Asia. So these people would be called before the priest. Even now, you’d have to go to the courts and swear to tell the truth, or else suffer the consequences.
It’s the same for the woman, “If you lie about this, you will be cursed, so make this oath.” So, they have a basin of water and put some soil in the water and the woman makes the oath, and if they lie, they are immediately cursed. Why are they cursed because they do this? God curses her because God tells her to do this. Then their stomachs start bloating and they die. That actually cuts off the lineage of their future generations. If, however, the suspicion of the man is lifted, then he must live with her forever. So, these are the things God commands the Israelite community to maintain the internal order of the community.
These are the things we must not do, personally, because we personally have to give our sacrifices, but these three things are things that affect other people in commonality. They are contagious. If there’s someone who has unbelief and they stand upright, the unbelief will spreads to everybody. If someone is very strong, God will even make them weak so they stand down, because people always want to reveal themselves with their strength.
But if this person doesn’t have faith, instead of revealing and spreading faith, he will spread disbelief so God will weaken him so he can’t even show his face. That’s how he will not be able to influence others with their unbelief. If someone is successful and continues to spew disbelief, that’s a headache. If they have money and economics but they are full of unbelief, that’s dangerous to the church, and if anything, it’s better for the unity of the church and for that person to just be broken down.
Therefore, if you’re not firm in the gospel, then no matter what you do, you will be suffering. If a particular ideology has been rooted in someone and moves them more then the gospel does, that’s what takes precedence. That’s the ideology you’ve lived with, and it’s been dragging you for your entire life. That ideology has to take second place to the gospel, but if it doesn’t, you’ll be dragged around by that ideology, and that’s going to spread its influence to the entire community.
You have to cut them off from the camp. In the New Testament, it says, “Do not get along and be close with these people,” you should only be close to them if you have the power to change them; otherwise, don’t be close to them. You need to wait for them in prayer because one day, sooner or later, they will be restored. But if you don’t even have a lot of faith and you get close to the person and you become one with them. God doesn’t like that.
That’s what God says in the New Testament, it’s not if someone has a skin disease noe we are not going to kick them out of course, if someone has coronavirus, they shouldn’t come to church. Some diseases will still allow you to come to church, but others will not, but the meaning that God is trying to get across is that the community is so important and if something is contagious and can harm it, you have to cut them out. For example, if the pastor gives the message every week but he has a strongly rooted ideology, what will happen to the church? They do speak from the Word, but if they have some kind of strong ideology, “You have to have this, too,” then what is going to happen? It means they have forsaken God, and God will change that ideology. The way God takes care of that ideology will differ, depending on the person.
Don’t you think that’s true? It’s a blessing to be rid of that ideology, and it’s the same for you guys. This is why we wait until we receive grace.
What’s the goal? We must do world evangelization, because we must save the field. Without that, we wouldn’t have to do any of this; we can just split up, who cares what happens to the next generation? Then what will happen to the next generation? God gives you a family to save the next generation, but if you don’t have that, it’s easy to think the thoughts of an unbeliever.
If you’ve already been separated, there’s nothing you can do, it’s not something you can repair, but at least starting from now, you must begin properly to do world evangelization.
The core of today’s message is that you must get rid of the things that are internally damaging the community of Israel. The church is the body of Christ, that the Lord has given us. There’s going to be both people who are lacking and others have wrong ideologies from when they lived as an unbeliever, there’re many types of people and it’s great if we are the church with spiritual strength to give the correct influence. However, if a negative influence is being spread disguised as good and truth news, then that is a church that has no strength.
The 12 spies went in and 10 spies spoke very correct, factual words, and if everyone listens to them, honestly, the words of the 10 spies are right; however, they are wrong before God because God told them to conquer. From a human perspective, it is difficult. When everybody else listens, the words of the 10 spies are right, it’s correct, logical, and factual, and there’s evidence eif it and the words of disbelief is so bad they actually discourage every person in the Israelite community. Ultimately, the 2 other spies saw believed in the 10 spies, but they believed in God’s Word more, and it’s only because of these two people that they were able to go into the land of Canaan.
The 10 spies were not able to go because God, from the past, present, and future, will use the church and unity for world evangelization, but if someone says, “Is this going to take place or not?” They’re a headache and God will not let them enter. Look at the situation of David and Goliath was impossible for David, but God put that situation in that person. “How is it that an idol-worshipper is mocking the name of the LORD, that is not right. How can the people who do not have the covenant mock the LORD?”
Most people would listen to the words of Goliath and think they are correct, “Oh we don’t have strength so we need to get more strength” However, these people cannot be used back then nor today. So, even if there’s just one person in the church who has proper faith, they will not be deceived by the lies. I’m not saying “lie” because it’s not true; they use words that are correct, but they are in the opposite side of God’s promise, and that’s why it’s a lie.
“Temple construction is impossible, what does it have to do with me?” Such people will only receive answers to this level, and I believe they will be like this for the rest of their lives. “Wow, God has given the blessing to do world evangelization from generation to generation, in my age and time. God will do this,” so they go into and challenge towards the covenant with faith as a challenge. You need to spread out this proper faith.
Some people always say, “Our church is always so small,” even though there’s a lot of members in our church, but in your own brain, you’ve made us look so small in your own mind “Even though we are few,” what do you mean we are few? Even with me alone it’s enough. God conquered the world with 12 people, but you’ve just been so crippled by thoughts that things aren’t taking place. It is right with God if you think we will do world evangelization and we will have Temple Construction.
“Oh, but is this possible with my present circumstances?” Then you’re just gonna look like that. Because that is the covenant that is in your own thoughts
I got a Kakao message from Kenya early this morning, and I think they’re having some kind of school to teach children and they also teach the gospel. So, they had this afterschool facility, but as they built the road, the facility was lost. They were in the middle of praying for a new facility, and our church gave about 500 dollars and they gave me a text in the middle of the night that they were so thankful to God.
There’s no way we could’ve known they need $500, but if you’re always in unbelief, that would never have been connected. If someone says , “How are you going to eat and survive on $500?” That would have never connected. God has prepared a person over there and God has prepared the finances over here to give to that person, but if you’re always wondering how you’re going to eat and survive? you’ll never be able to experience this, but God is doing these works through our church.
It’s the same with evangelism, God has prepared those who will receive the gospel but to whom will God attach these people? God will attach these people who wants to evangelize. If someone just wants to eat and survive, how is God going to attach someone to them even if God does attach this person, you’ll only think about “How am I going to make money off of them?” However, there are some people who only have their jobs only to spread the gospel and the covenant. To those who are waiting in prayer, God aligns the time schedule to attach someone to them. That’s the work that God does.
It’s the same thing. If we’re praying for the 237 nations of the world, God will align incidents and time schedule to fulfill His will. May you and I be the ones who experience the covenant being fulfilled in this way.
Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received. “God, allow me to give the influence of faith, holding onto only the covenant. May we discard all unbelief. God, please cut out all the unbelief regarding finances between people. If there’s something I can’t pay back, please give me the ability to pay back, please give us the ability to pay it back. If there’s any suspicion between spouses, let us quickly discard the suspicion. If there’s any suspicion among the church members, let us quickly discard the suspicion so God can move us forward. Let us pray together.
Let us pray for the region. On Monday, there was a conference for the Latin American missionaries, and we gave three lectures, and I think this was a work that pleased God. I felt personally because I could feel how the message was being organized as I was relaying it, and I was also able to understand what kind of time schedule we’re in. Even if there was one person who was able to carry out the gospel movement and evangelism movement, then the prayers that we have are bound to be answered and please God. We do not give our diligence into prayer, but we pray in the name of Jesus Christ and so we have authority because we are praying in the name of the One Who has all power and authority in heaven and on earth, so we have to pray for the region now. The reason why we have to pray is because we don’t pray. We pray for ourselves but we don’t pray for the region. We pray for our families but we don’t pray for regional evangelization, so I’m sure you each individually do it but the church itself does not, so let us pray for Temple Construction and regional evangelization.
Let us pray for our missions fields. We are able to do missions with our prayers, and also with our offering, and we can personally go as well. But the easiest way to participate in missions is through our prayer. I hope you will believe that when you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, God sends His angels into the field to work immediately. Let us pray especially for Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Latin America, along with Mongolia, Karen, and the Navajo Nation and the 5,000 unreached people groups, that is, the 5,000 people groups that haven’t heard the gospel yet. Let us pray together.
God, we thank You. We thank You for giving us the Gospel and the covenant of world evangelism we thank you for allowing us to worship You every day. We have received the Word of God to clean our internal affairs for the sake of saving the 237 nations. If there is anything within us that is not the covenant give us the grace to change it into the covenant. If we have any financial affairs that are not in the covenant, I pray that You will change our finances so that they may be pleasing to the Lord. If there is any suspicion within our family, I pray that you will discard all the suspicions so that we may be a family, centered on the covenant, pleasing to the Lord. We pray that every single member of the church and the families will be used for world evangelization to save the 237 nations.
Now may the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God who desire to be united with the faith, word, and the covenant for the Kingdom of God, upon all the remnants and the multiethnic people, upon all their businesses and academics, upon the individuals and the families of those who are from those who are suffering from many different diseases, be with us now and forevermore, always, amen.