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Skip Heitzig: 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.

Skip Heitzig: Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel? Lenny 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 Greg Laurie, Jack Graham, and more. So join us April 5th through April 16th.

You can learn more today at connectwithskip.com/israel.

Skip Heitzig: 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, 10. Verse 1, 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 complain because their children are vulnerable. Question, cuz 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 cuz 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 27. 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 are numbered according to your your entire number from 20 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'm 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. Do you find 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 103, the psalmist said, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, oh 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 faithful ness 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 22 chapters, shows them going around in circles for 38 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 16 through 19 speaks about the priesthood, four incidents uh 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 248 of their buddies. Chapter 16 verse 2, they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, 250 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 31 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 6 is the principle. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap. Chapter 20, we just got to just talk about it, move on cuz 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. Uh do me a favor, would you just give these people water? That 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 he's 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?

Guest (Male): Complain.

Skip Heitzig: Complain. You should all know the answer to that by now. They do this frequently. So what do they do? They

Guest (Male): Complain.

Skip Heitzig: complain. And so when they complain, this time God sends venomous snakes through the camp to bite them and kill them. So uh that's not good cuz 24,000 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 2,000 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 that saves.

That's chapter 21. 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 $50 or more today to help connect with Skip share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere.

Give now at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. Now here's more from Pastor Skip. Chapter 22 through 25 is bizarre for a number of reasons. It's about a guy named Balaam or Balaam. But I'm going to say Balaam cuz that that's what everybody says. Uh 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 Baruch, b a r u if you're taking notes, a Mesopotamian Baruch.

Mesopotamia is the area he was from, like ancient Chaldea. A Baruch 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, uh apparently with the wrong motivation. The donkey sees an angel of the Lord in the path.

Most of you know the story. Angel uh stands in the path. The donkey sees it, has enough sense to veer off the path. You don't you don't mess with an angel with a sword. You just don't do that. The donkey knew that, figured it out, stopped. 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 it some of you remember the show Mr.

Ed. How many of you I want to see hands. God bless you all. Wasn't that a great show? So Mr. Ed was this talking horse and his his uh owner was Wilbur. And he would come into the barn and Wilbur, right? Mr. Ed would I love that. So this is like the Old Testament Mr. Ed. Except he's not talking to Wilbur. So verse chapter 22 verse 28, 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?

Did 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, having 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. It's you know, we been going, wait a minute.

Donkeys can't 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 and I love this because as one who is called to stand in a place of biblical authority and speak God's word, I 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 2 verse 41. 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 a cross. He would see the covenant people of God and the tabernacle with the Shekhinah, the cloud and the fire. They're under God's covenant. Chapter 23 verse 8. By the way, three he gives several oracles, three main ones.

Several of them though. Verse 8 of chapter 23, 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 24 verse 5, he says, how lovely are your tents, oh Jacob, your dwellings, oh Israel, like the valleys that stretch out, like gardens at by the riverside, like aloe 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 cuz 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 26 verse 1, we come to the final phase of it. 26 through 36 is reorganization. It's a brand new generation. Chapter 26 verse 1, it came to pass after the plague. The last chapter, plague killed 24,000 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, 20 years old and above, by their fathers' houses who are able to go to war in Israel. So this is the second census. Everyone 19 years old and below is included in this census because everyone 20 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 603,550. Of that group, only two are left, Joshua and Caleb. The new census chapter 26 verse 51 is 601,730. A loss, a net loss, a generational loss of 1,820 people. Um statisticians would call this zero population growth. That's what all that murmuring and complaining and wandering has brought. Chapter 31 through 36 uh 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 33. If you just look at it, you 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 34 are the boundaries given to the land. Four boundaries, north, south, east, and west. Chapter 34 verse 13, 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 tribe.

So there were 12 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 36 verse 13 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, 38 years 10 months, total of 40 years wandering in the wilderness. They turned an an 11 day dream into a 40 year nightmare. Walking is better than wandering. It's always better to walk by faith than to wander by fear. If you're facing something tonight, this week, that this month, it seems so big. The diagnosis seems bleak. Um 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 $50 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.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Guest (Male): Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection. A connection.

Skip Heitzig: Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.