God's Abundant Provision (Numbers 31:19-54) [2025-8-10]

Don't read the text up front, but being that it's, it's a,

quite a long text, I'll read it as I go through it.

So we're going to open in a word of prayer and then we will jump

into the sermon this morning. So will you, will you pray with

me? Our heavenly Father, we, we pray

and we plead for your grace to be upon us now as we study your

word. Lord, would Your grace be upon

the preaching of it, that it would be proclaimed in humility,

and in power and truth, and in love?

And would Your grace be upon the receiving of it, Lord, that ears

would be open, hearts would receive it, and that the

implanted word would accomplish all that You intend for it to.

Lord Holy Spirit, please come now and awaken our souls to the

glory of Your Word and the truth in it.

I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. When Jesus turned water into

wine, he didn't turn a cup of water into a glass of wine, but

rather he transformed 6 stone water jars, each holding 20 or

30 gallons. When Jesus fed the 5000, He did

not feed them with one sardine and a small piece of bread, but

rather they ate until they were all so full that they had 12

baskets of leftovers. When Jesus told the disciples to

cast their Nets on the opposite side of their boat, they didn't

catch just a handful of fish, but it was so much that their

Nets were breaking. When God opened up the rock to

yield its water, it was not a trickle.

Person could get one sip, but it was a fountain that satisfied

their thirst, including all their livestock.

When the widow was gathering sticks to prepare her last meal

and then die, God did not give her a really good last meal, but

instead her jar of flour and her jug of oil did not run empty for

three years. And when the Israelites fought

the Midianites, God did not give them simply a few sheep and a

few cattle, but he gave them far more abundantly than they could

have ever imagined. That's what the sermon is about

this morning. God's abundant provision.

I want to give the context. We're jumping to the middle of a

story this morning. I'll give the context and then

I'll give our application, our exposition and application that

I'll be weaving together this morning.

Here's the context if you were not here last week.

The Moabites and the Midianites have hired, had hired A Pagan

diviner named Balaam to come and curse the people of Israel.

But God used it as an opportunity to bless His people.

After 4 failed attempts, it was time for Baylor to go home.

The only problem is, is that Balaam didn't go home.

Instead, he went and lived with the Midianites.

And he gives them counsel. He advises them to use their

women as a stumbling block to the people of Israel.

The Midianite women and the Moabite women led the Israelite

men into idolatry and immorality, and as a result, God

put 24,000 Israelites to death. But they weren't going to get

away with this. God told Moses to enact

vengeance on the Midianites, which is what we looked at last

week. The Israelites sent 12,000 men

into battle, 1000 from each tribe.

They killed every male. They initially let the women and

the children live, but then Moses commanded them to kill

every male child and every woman who had laid with the man.

All of the virgin women were allowed to be kept alive either

for slaves or for wives. And that's where we left off

last week. And now we're going to pick up

with the second part of our text this morning and we're going to

look at the rest of the chapter. So let's start by looking at

verses 19 and 20. I'll be weaving the exposition

and the application together this morning.

So let's look at verses 19 to 20.

God tells them and camp outside the camp seven days.

Whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched

any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day,

and on the 7th day you shall purify every garment, every

article of skin, all work of goats hair, and every article of

wood. So as the soldiers return from

battle, Moses has instructions for them.

He tells them to encamp outside the camp seven days.

Now why do they need to do this? Well, anybody who has killed any

person or even if you have touched a dead person, they must

be purified. They must be purified on the

third day and on the 7th day. This rule also applies to all

the captives, all of the virgin women that they brought back,

they also must be purified. The reason for this is that if

you remember back in numbers five that we looked at a long

time ago, God said that anyone who is leprous or has a

discharge or in contact with the dead, all of these people would

be considered unclean and nothing unclean enter God's

camp. It must be terrified.

So in addition to all of the soldiers and all of the women,

they need to purify also every garment, every article of of

skin, all the works of goat's hair, every article of wood,

everything, everything must be clean to enter God's camp.

Now here's what's interesting to me about these instructions.

They were victorious in battle, They were obedient in going to

the battle, and yet they were still considered unclean.

Let this be a reminder to all of us that even in our victories,

even in our obedience, we must still be washed clean.

We never need the cleansing power of Jesus any more or any

less. On our most righteous days, on

our most obedient days, we need the cleansing power of Jesus

just as as on our most wicked days.

I think that often when we're not walking well with the Lord,

which is true for for all of us from time to time, maybe we've

been in sin, maybe we've just neglected God.

We feel our need to come to the cross.

We feel our need to come to the cross and be reminded as the

apostle Paul says, and such were some of you, but you were washed

on these particular days. We identify with Simon Peter

when he said, Lord, wash not only my head, but my, my feet,

but my head and my hands as well.

But it is not only our sinful days that we need to be washed

clean. We need the cleansing power of

his blood or most righteous days as well.

Apart from Jesus, the older brother was just as dirty as his

rebellious younger brother working the pen.

Brothers and sisters, there is no can wash count of obedience

or morality that can wash us clean.

There is only 1 fountain and it is filled with blood and we

needed as much today as we did on the day we were born again.

We never need me less. The verse 2124 Then Eliezer the

priest said to the man in the army who had gone to battle.

This is the statue of the law. The Lord had commanded Moses.

Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and

the lead, everything that can stand the fire.

You shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean.

Nevertheless it shall also be purified with water for

impurity. And whatever cannot stand the

fire, you shall pass through the water.

You must wash your clothes on the 7th day, and you shall be

clean. And afterward you may come into

the camp. So Eliezer, the current priest,

gives the people instructions. He says everything that you're

bringing back from the Midianites, everything that can

stand through the fire, you need to pass through the fire.

In other words, the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron,

the tin, the lead, all of this needs to be put through fire,

and the fire will clean it, but in addition, it also shall be

purified with the water for impurity.

Now we looked at that back in Numbers 19.

If you remember the ashes of the red heifer, they would take that

red heifer and they would kill it, slaughter, take its blood,

and they made this concoction. It was kind of like a instant

sin offering. All you have to do is add water

to the ashes and then you could use it as a sin offering.

That's the water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand fire

is only going to pass through the water.

So some things will go through fire and water, and some things

will only go through water. Interesting that when John spoke

of Jesus's baptism, remember what he said to the people.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but He will baptize

you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

You see, we all desire to be baptized with the Spirit part of

that equation. Everybody wants the Spirit.

But the fire portion is a bit more difficult, isn't it?

Nobody likes to be put through the fire.

So why does God do it? Why does God put us through the

fire? I'll give you 2 reasons #1

because God has given us the ability to take it.

God has given us the ability to take it.

Just as the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin

and the lead are put through the fire.

Why? Because they can take it, so we

too are put through the fire. Because we can take it.

When you put gold and fire, you may think that you have ruined

it. Here you had precious metal and

all of a sudden it's melted down and it's become this liquid.

You're like, Oh no, it's ruined. But in fact, it has not been

ruined at all. In fact, it has been purified.

In the same way God puts us through the fire.

And sometimes we feel wrecked by God.

We feel like he has ruined us. You ruined my life, God, you

ruined my dreams. But the refiner knows what he's

doing. He has not ruined us at all.

In fact, He is purifying us. He is burning off all the dross

that sits like sediment at the basement of our hearts.

Second reason? God puts us through the fire now

so that our work will not be burned up later.

God puts us through the fire now so that our work will not be

burned up later. Just as God would not allow

anything that was unpurified to enter His camp, likewise when we

stand at the gates of heaven, God will not allow anything that

is unpurified to enter His camp. The apostle Paul writes.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver,

precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will

become manifest for the day. We'll disclose it because it

will be revealed by what? By fire, and the fire will test

what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation

survives, he will receive a reward.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he

himself will be saved only as through.

What Paul is saying is that everybody's life, everybody's

fruit of their labor, gets put through the fire.

Everybody goes through the fire, either in this life or the next.

If it this life, it will not be burned up, it will be purified,

and it will last into eternity. But if it is not in this life

and it is in the next life, it will be burned up.

We may have our salvation, but we will not have the fruit of

our labor. Brothers and sisters, it is far

better to be put through the fire now than to stand before

the wall. Now whatever could not stand the

fire must be washed with water. Their clothes had to even their

own clothes had to be washed with water on the 7th day, and

only after that would they be considered clean.

So think about this. When they came home from a

victorious battle, they're coming home, they're excited,

they're ready to rejoin their family and, and, and celebrate.

But they can't. Why?

Because they have to stay outside the camp for seven days.

And only after they purify everything themself, every

metal, every article of clothing, every done to every

little trinket that they had, it all had to be purified.

It all had to be put to the appropriate fire and water.

And only after that were they allowed to enter the camp.

Praise God that we don't wait anymore to enter the camp.

There is no purgatory after death.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

There will be no season of of burning off like I've got to

achieve my way through fire after death.

When you die, you enter the camp clean.

We enter the gates as clean sons and daughters.

Likewise we enter these doors as clean sons and daughters.

If you are in Christ, here's why this matters.

I sweat very easily whenever I work out.

I sweat when I play basketball. I will sweat off anywhere from 3

to 5 lbs. I weigh myself after and I I

love it. I love weighing myself after

playing because I weigh like 5 lbs less.

It's just water weight. That's how much I sweat.

Even if I'm vacuuming my house, I will sweat vacuuming my house.

I'm sweating right now. Because of this.

I feel the need to get a shower. Often before I go to meet up

with anybody. I feel the need to get a shower

before I go to bed every night. I need to get a shower.

I have to get a shower. Why?

Because I feel dirty. This mentality can all too

easily creep into the Christian's heart and mind, and

especially a lost person's heart and mind.

I have talked to many, many people through the years who

miss church. They miss church one week, they

miss it two weeks, they miss three weeks.

I reach out to them and often when I ask them what's going on,

they say something along the lines that they did something,

they said something, they engaged in something, or they're

just not doing well spiritually and as a result, they just stay

away from church. Why?

Because they feel unworthy. They feel unclean.

Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you are always clean.

Always. You may be dirty, but you are

never stained. Dirt washed away.

Stains are perfect cause the garment to be thrown away.

The cross removed all stains and it prevents any new ones from

forming as well. Don't stay outside the camp

because you feel dirty. I don't care what you did.

I have talked to people who have said if I they I've been asked

this question for if I wake up on Sunday morning and I look at

pornography, should I come to church?

Yes. And I have had people confess to

me that they've done that on Sunday morning.

You should still. Spirit remind you that you have

been made clean. We come here to be reminded that

we are clean. He's made us clean.

Look at verse 25 to 31. The Lord said to Moses, Take the

count of the plunder that was taken both of man and a beast.

You and Eliezer, the priests, and the heads of the Father's

houses, of the congregation, and divide the plunder into two

parts, between the warriors who went out to battle, and all the

congregation and levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of

war who went out to battle. One out of 500 of the people, of

the oxen, and of the donkeys and of the flocks, take it from

their half and give it to Eliezer the priest, as a

contribution to the Lord. And from the people of Israel's

half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the

people, of the oxens, of the donkeys, of the flocks, of all

the cattle, and give them to the Levites, who keep guard over the

Tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eliezer the priest

did as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, when the Israelites

defeated the Midianites in battle, God allowed them to

plunder their enemies. And so the Lord gave them

instructions. He says, when you're coming

back, I want you to take a count of all the plunder.

I want you to count how much it is.

So they do that. Moses and Eliezer and all the

heads of the Father's houses, they count all the plunder.

They're to count both man and beast.

They're going to divide this plunder into two parts.

All right, Part A, Part B, Part A is going to go to all the

warriors who went into battle. Remember it's 12,000 men, 1000

from each tribe. So half of the plunder is going

to go to the 12,000 men who fought in battle.

The other half of the plunder is going to go to the rest of the

congregation. Half goes to the soldiers, half

goes to the rest of the congregation.

For the half that was given to the warriors, the soldiers who

went to battle there to take up a levy or a tax, and this is to

be given to God. This amount was to be one out of

every 500 or .2%. So whatever their half was, .2%

of that was to be given to the Lord as a contribution.

So 2%, a .2% of the warrior's people, their oxen, their

donkeys, their flocks, was given to Eliezer the high priest.

Now Eliezer there is being used as an autonomy.

Like this is not just Eliezer, it's the priesthood.

Everybody all right? It served as a contribution to

the Lord. That's part A from the half that

went to the people. So all the congregation from

that half, one out of every 50 or 2% was to be given to the

Levites. So their half .2% goes to the

priesthood. From their half 2% goes to the

Levites. If you remember why you say why

they why did the Levites get it? If you remember the Levites are

a tribe of Israel, but they don't fight in war.

God's instructions were you don't have any land and you

don't fight in war. But God made a way that they too

could receive the blessing of the Lord.

So this 2% was to be given to the Levites and Moses and

Eliezer did as they were instructed.

They, they told the people, you give .2% soldiers .2% of

everything you have. You people give 2% of

everything. You have Priest Levites.

Now, what we learned from this text, this giving here is that

in the Old Testament, tithes were a minimum, not a maximum.

Tithes were a minimum, not a maximum.

One of the questions that every pastor gets asked every year, or

I've never met a pastor who was not asked this question, is

this. Do we have to tithe?

And if so, how much, right? How much should I give?

How much do I have to give? Now of course that is a fair

question, but it is the wrong question.

Implied in the question is another question.

What's the minimum I can give and still be obedient?

That's really what the question is asking.

What's the minimum I can give and still be considered obedient

in God's eyes? Often what is taught is 10% you

say? Why 10%?

Because tide literally means 10th.

That's what tithe means. It means 10th.

If you read the Old Testament though, you learn that actually

the Israelites actually gave not just one tie.

They gave some 12 to 14 different ties over A7 year

period. They had 12 to 14 different ties

over A7 year period. If you do the math on that,

depending on how you do the math, the amount that the

Israelites were actually required to give was actually

somewhere between 20 and 30%. That's how much they were

required to give an audience. I'm routine 20 and 30%.

Now, I want to be clear on this. I am not sharing any of this to

get you or anyone to try to bump up their giving to 20 and 30%.

That is not the point of this. I'm sharing this to help us put

into perspective what God required of His people in the

Old Testament and what God may be calling us to do in the New

Testament. We see right here in this text

that God had blessed them with abundant plunder, but it wasn't

theirs to keep. It wasn't all theirs to keep.

God required them to give 2.2% back to Him.

That 2.2% is in addition to their ties.

Now I want you to imagine. Imagine if a soldier came back

home and upon hearing the news that you need to give .2% of

what you got back to the Lord. Imagine he said, I already give

my ties and offerings. You want more.

I shouldn't have to give more. Besides, we're the ones who went

and fought the battle. We're the ones who fought this

war and got this. Imagine if that was That would

be shocking, wouldn't it? And Christians and churches all

across America think I worked for this.

I went to school for four, 6-8 years for this.

I worked 40506070 hours a week for this.

You want me to give up 10%? You know how expensive gases?

You know how expensive milk is? Not to mention bubble tea.

When you read the book of Numbers, you realize God gave

the Israelites this victory. He gave them the victory.

Therefore all the plunder belonged to God.

All of it. God could have said, Devote all

of it to me. We must never lose sight that

God has given us the education we have.

God has given us the jobs that we have.

God has given us the assets that we have.

We did not earn it and it was given to us.

Therefore, it all belongs to God, all of it.

Look at verse 32 to 35. Now the plunder remaining of the

spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle,

61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 persons in all.

Women who had not known man by lying with him.

If you remember from numbers 28 and 29 that we looked at a few

weeks ago, we looked at all the sacrifices that God required

them to make. They had to make sacrifices

every day, every week, every month, and every year.

And when I went through that, those two chapters, I counted it

all up and in total they were to sacrifice every year 1051 lambs,

male lambs, 101 bulls, 31 Rams, and 24 goats.

And that was that. That was nowhere near as much as

they were required to sacrifice. That was just one portion that

was recounted there. Here are these Israelites.

They are wandering in the desert.

They don't have a lot. They haven't been like building

up their portfolio in the desert.

They are nomads in the desert wandering for 40 years.

And God says to them, hey, you're going to need to offer

all of this every year, 1051 male lambs, 101 bulls, 31 Rams,

24 goats, and that's not even close to all that you're going

to be required to give. Imagine if they thought, where

are we going to get all that? Where are we going to get all

these animals, not to mention God?

We still need to feed our families.

Have you seen how much meat these four boys eat?

We still need animals to work our farmland.

Who's going to plow our ground? Where are we going to get all

that? And God says, guys, I'm not

going to give you 1051 male lambs, I'm not going to give you

101 bulls. I'm not going to give you the 31

Rams. I'm not going to give you the 24

goats. I'm going to give you 675,000

sheep and 72,000 cattle and 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 virgin

women. And that's just the beginning.

That is just one battle. They haven't even started

conquesting the promised land. This is not the conquest of the

promised land. This is just against Midian, as

the Apostle Paul writes now to him, who is able to do far more

abundantly than all we can ask or even think.

I know that many of you are in a season where you feel hopeless.

It's one of the reasons that our retreat thing this year is

abounding in hope. Perhaps you feel hopeless that

you will ever find a spouse, or that you will get a job, or be

able to change jobs, or get a promotion, or that you will

finish school, or that you will be able to get pregnant or get

pregnant again. Or that you will be able to

reconcile with someone, or that your children will turn out all

right, or that someone you love will be saved.

Brothers and sisters, let me remind all of us, God didn't

give them 1000 lambs. He gave them 675,000 lambs.

Don't lose hope, church family. God will give you what you need

when you need it. And if He doesn't give it to

you, you didn't need it. You didn't need it.

Look at verse 36 to 47, and the half the portion of those who

have gone out in the army #337,500 sheep.

And the Lord's tribute of the sheep was 675.

The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72.

The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61.

The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32

persons. And Moses gave the tribute which

was the contribution for the Lord to Eliezer the priest, as

the Lord commanded Moses from the people of the of Israel's

half, which Moses separated from that of the man who had served

in the army. Now the congregation's half was

337,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000

persons from the people of Israel's half.

Moses took one of every 50 both of the persons and of the beast

gave them to the Levites, who kept guard over the Tabernacle

of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

So again, as I mentioned earlier, this is just recounting

numbers. Half of the plunder went to the

warriors who went into battle. 300,000 sheep, 36,000 cattle,

30,500 donkeys, 16,000 virgin women.

Of that amount, .2% went to the priesthood as a contribution to

the Lord. 675 sheep, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys, 32 virgin women.

Now if you're wondering why does the priesthood need these virgin

women? These women would have either

become wives of the priest or possibly were employed in the

sanctuary. Now the congregation's half was

exactly the same. It was exactly half.

They got 50% as well. 330 thirty 7000 cattle, 30,000 donkeys,

16,000 virgin women. From this half, Moses took 2%

and told them to give it to the Levites.

The text doesn't specify the amounts on that, but if you do

the math, it's 6750 sheep, 720 cattle, 610 donkeys, 320 women.

Now if you're 1, because I had this question initially, if

you're wondering, wait a minute, why do the soldiers get half

even though they're only 12,000, right?

There's 12,000 soldiers. There's like 600,000 Israelites.

So 12,000 get half and 600,000 get half.

Why is that? I believe it's because of the

risk associated with going to war.

I think that the amounts are given to be commensurate with

the risk taken. So the soldiers went to war,

they get half, and those who went home, they get half.

And I think that's why it's half and half.

Look at versus 48 to 49. Then the officers who were over

the thousands of the army, the commanders of the thousands and

the commanders of the hundreds came near to Moses and said to

Moses, your servants have counted the men of war who are

under our command, and there is not a man missing from us.

So after they get back home, the commanders, they go through the

army and they begin to count how many returning soldiers that we

have. We started with 12,000, let's

see how many we have so we know how many died in battle and it's

our county. 1-2 Three 9732 Eleven thousand 911,999 12,000

Did we count right? The commander say there is not a

man missing from us, meaning no Israelites died in battle.

Now how are we to take this statement?

Is this meant to be literal? Are we to believe that Israel

actually went into a battle with 12,000 soldiers and not a single

one of them died? I see no reason not to take this

statement at face value. If it is true, it would clearly

be a miracle. You don't ever go into battle

and you don't lose a single soldier.

If this is true, this would clearly be a miracle.

But I see no problem with that. We we serve a God who works

miracles. If you can raise the dead and

walk on water and turn water into wine and feed a widow for

three years without you can, you can save these 12,000 men.

Brothers and sisters. There are no missing persons in

heaven and there are no bald people in heaven.

What are you talking about? This life is a war.

We go to battle every single day.

We fight the world, we fight the enemy, the devil, we fight our

flesh, we fight our sin, temptation.

Every day we are at war. And on the day of judgement,

every single person who is in Christ will be there with every

hair of there Jesus says of those whom you gave me, I 1 John

18-9 And Jesus says not a head for called life.

And the king takes roll call. Everyone will be there with

every hair of their head. Look at verse 50 to 54.

And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found,

articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings,

earrings and beads to make atonement for ourselves before

the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest

received from them the gold all crafted articles, and all the

gold of the contributions that they presented to the Lord from

the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the

hundreds was 16,750 shekels. The men in the army had to each

take and plunder for himself. And Moses and Eleazar the priest

received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of

hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial

for the people of Israel before the Lord.

So the people bring the Lord additional offering.

Now this doesn't appear to be required.

Maybe it is, but it doesn't appear that way.

It's an offering they had when they collected the pleasure from

the Midianites. They collected articles of gold

armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and beads.

The purpose of this offering, according to them, was to make

atonement for them before the Lord.

Make atonement for what it could be.

This is 1 theory that when they counted the people that was

considered a census and anytime you took a census you had to

make a payment for atonement. Maybe it was authorized, maybe

it wasn't. That's all speculation.

That's possibly what this is for.

It may have served another purpose, we don't know.

But Moses and Elias, they receive all the gold.

Now how much is this 16,750 shekels?

If you do the math on that, that's about 420 lbs of gold,

420 lbs of gold in today's money.

If you do the calculation, that's about $20 million worth

of gold, $20 million. That's a lot of gold.

Moses and Eliezer bring the goal to the tent of meeting.

Imagine like go into a church and be like, I got a gift, $20

million for you guys. Moses and Eliezer bring the gold

to the tent of meeting to serve as a memorial for the people

before the Lord. What does that mean as a

memorial? It was to serve to remind the

Lord to remember Israel, that when he saw this memorial, God

would remember his people. And it was to remind the

Israelites of the victory that God had given them.

Now what is our memorial? We too have a memorial.

But God no longer looks at gold to remember his people.

He instead looks at blood. This gift of gold may have been

worth $20 million, but does not compare with the gift of His

Son's precious blood. Before God ever looks at us,

before God ever remembers us, before a thought about us ever

enters the mind of God, God sees the blood of His Son and it

perfectly colors His perception of us.

This memorial is forever planted in the mind of God.

It will never be torn down. 10,000 years from now the cross

will still be standing and still stained Crimson red.

Praise God for His abundant provision through the cross of

His Son Jesus Christ. Let's pray.