21 "Moving Forward from Rebellion to Conquest" Numbers 21:1-35 | Thursday, February 19, 2026

Let's take our Bibles and go to Numbers

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21. Numbers 21.

I'm going start off by acknowledging

there is a lot here.

And I I wish that we could go and we

could have I guess divided it up more

and um

given more exhaustive attention to each

and every detail, but I feel like the

Lord would have us to to see the

transitional aspect to chapter 21.

Um, as we came to chapter 22, we saw

Moses and Aaron in their own form of

rebellion against the Lord, striking the

rock instead of speaking to it. And then

them being turned away from the promised

land as well. Aaron and Miriam both die

in chapter 20. They come to Eden, Edom,

and seek passageway through their

brothers, the descendants of Esau. And

they are turned away back toward the Red

Sea.

And up to this point through Exodus and

Leviticus and Numbers, we've seen the

previous generation

continuously complain and rebel and

their unbelief and being turned away

from the promised land when they were

right there.

And uh I mentioned last week that that

chapter 20 starts a transition where

it's going to tell us why the leadership

of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam are not

there as they are entering into the

land. And now chapter 21, there's a

drastic shift

from rebellion and defeat and unbelief

and all of those things to faith and

victory and life and satisfaction

and [snorts] conquest. Even by the end

of this chapter, Israel taking their

first possession. And I think that that

the Lord inspired this to all be

organized this way. Like I said, it

would been easy to deal with each and

every section, but I think there's a a

specific movement God wants us to see in

this text. And so, if you'll stand once

you found your place there, we'll read

Numbers 21 and we'll read the majority

of the chapter. We'll jump around a

little bit because there's a lot of

names that are really hard to pronounce

of cities and regions, and I'm sure

it'll just inspire you majorly to hear

those. So,

let's just begin in Numbers 21. I want

you to listen as we're as we're going

through this. I want you to listen and

pay attention to the differences

throughout this chapter than what we

have seen through the wilderness

journey. So, let's look at Numbers 21:1.

Numbers 21:1

And when the king Aar the Canaanite,

which dwelt in the south, heard tell

that Israel came by the way of the

spies, then he fought against Israel,

and took some of them prisoners. And

Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and

said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this

people into my hand, then I will utterly

destroy their cities. And the Lord

hearkened to the voice of Israel and

delivered up the Canaanites and they

utterly destroyed them in their cities.

And he called the name of the place

Horma.

I'll mention this a little bit later,

but Hora should stand out to you because

38 years ago when they when when they

were turned away from the land because

of their unbelief to go in, God said,

"Go back into the wilderness and they

said, "No, we will go up." And the

Amalachites and the Canaanites fought

against them and chased them to Horma.

So Horma is a place of defeat. And yet

now it turns to a place of victory. Look

at verse four.

Then this becomes a little more

familiar. And they journeyed from Mount

by the way of the Red Sea to

compass the land of Edom. And the soul

of the people was much discouraged

because of the way. And the people spake

against God and against Moses. Wherefore

have you brought us up out of Egypt to

die in the wilderness? For there is no

bread, neither is there any water. And

our soul loathe this light bread. And

the Lord sent fiery serpents among the

people, and they bit the people, and

much people of Israel died. Now notice

this. Therefore, the people came to

Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we

have spoken against the Lord and against

thee. pray unto the Lord that he take

away the serpents from us. And Moses

prayed for the people. And the Lord said

unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent,

and set it up upon a pole, and it shall

be, it shall come to pass that everyone

that is bitten when he lookth upon it

shall live. And Moses made a serpent of

brass, and put it upon a pole. And it

came to pass that if a serpent had

bitten any man, when he beheld the

serpent of brass, he lived. And now it

moves to their journey south to the Red

Sea. And then they'll go around Edom and

head north. And what I want to point out

uh to this to you from this is in verse

16.

It says, "And from thence they went to

beer, that is the well whereof the Lord

spake unto Moses, gather the people

together, and I will give them water."

Then Israel sang this song, "Spring up,

O well, sing ye unto it." The princes

digged the well, and the nobles of the

people digged it by the direction of the

lawgiver with their staffs. And from the

w wilderness they went to Mata. And so

then it's going to chronicle their

journey to the border between uh the

Moabites and the Amorites.

Now look at verse 21. And Israel sent

messengers unto Sihon, king of the

Amorites, saying, "Let me pass through

thy land. We will not turn into the

fields or into the vineyards. We will

not drink of the waters of the well, but

we will go along by the king's highway

until we be past thy borders." And Sihon

would not suffer Israel to pass through

his border. But Sihon gathered all his

people together, and went out against

Israel unto the wilderness. And he came

to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And

Israel smote him with the edge of the

sword, and possessed his land from Arnon

unto Jabbek, even unto the children of

Ammon. For the border of the children of

Ammon was strong. And Israel took all

these cities and dwelt in all the cities

of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all

the villages thereof. For Heshbon was

the city of Sihon, the king of the

Amorites, who had fought against the

former king of Moab, and taken all his

land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

And then it's going to give this

expression of Proverbs that declares the

triumphal conquering of Sihon over Moab.

And then it issues a warning in verse

29. Woe to thee, Moab, you people of

Kimosh. And the reason why is because

the ones who had conquered, the

Moabites, have now been conquered by

Israel. It's saying, there is a strong

army coming your way. Now look at verse

31.

Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the

Amorites, and Moses sent to spy out

Jazar, and they took the villages

thereof, and drove out the Amorites that

were there. And they turned and went up

by the way of Bashan. And Og, the king

of Bashan, went out against them, he and

all his people to the battle at Edrii.

And the Lord said un Moses, "Fear him

not, for I have delivered him into thy

hand, and all his people unto the his

land, and his land, and thou shalt do

unto him as thou didest unto Sihon, king

of the Amorites, which dwelleth

Heshbon." So they smoked him and his

sons and all his people until there was

none left him alive and they possessed

his land. And so what you see throughout

this chapter is victory,

rebellion remedied to life, water coming

from a well and rejoicing that follows,

and conquest and possession. A big

difference from the rest of what we have

seen. And so I want to speak to you

tonight on this subject. Moving forward

from rebellion to conquest. Moving

forward from rebellion to conquest. May

God bless his word. You can be seated.

[clears throat]

How do you move forward from failure?

Watched some of the Olympics this week

and there have been some crushing

defeats. watched a couple hockey games

yesterday that both went to overtime and

Canada came out victorious and the US

came out victorious and Sweden and uh

Czecha both came out on the losing end

and two teams were celebrating and two

teams were defeated staring in

disbelief. [snorts]

US figure skater and gold medal favorite

Amber Glenn was left in tears and

devastation after nailing a triple axle

followed by two other triples and then

when she was supposed to do one final

triple.

She lost focus, opened up her arms, and

only did a double and lost seven

potential points, which pushed her from

the gold medal running all the way down

to 13th place. And when she finished her

her performance, she was there on her

knees, and you could just see the tears

flowing from her eyes. There's a very

similar outcome for gold medal favorite

Ilia Malanin of the US as well. He's

been nicknamed the quad god for nailing

quadruple axles and being the first one

in history to do so in competition. And

he does multiples of them. He did six

quadruples in one competition at one

point. And so he came into this Olympics

as a 21-year-old and the favorite to win

the gold. And yet, as he finished his

short program, he knelt there at center

ice with his hands buried in his face

after multiple falls. He said

afterwards, "I just lost focus."

And afterwards, both of them expressed

the shock and disappointment as Ilia

said, "I blew it." In his own words and

Amber, you could hear her crying to her

coach right afterwards, saying, "I had

it." She was this close. She's the first

uh female US skater to land a triple

axle in the Olympics since uh 2018 I

believe and before that it had been

since the mid 2000s. And so there was

something special about these two

skaters that was going to bring the US

back to Olympic prominence in figure

skating. And yet both they both after

all the training, after all the hard

work, the years of competing and

perfecting uh their work, they come to

that moment and fall short. I can't

imagine how you move forward from a

failure and a disappointment like that.

And that's really the question that

we're left asking when we come to the

end of Numbers 20. Because Israel has

come so close to entering the promised

land, not once but twice, only to be

turned away because of rebellion and

unbelief. [snorts] 38 years later,

they're back at the same spot in Kadesh.

And because of their own rebellion, even

Moses and Aaron are turned away back

toward the Red Sea. And now Israel is

going in the opposite direction. And

we're left wondering how do they move

forward from yet another failure, a

great failure.

And we we ask will Israel ever respond

right? Will they ever get to the

promised land? Will they ever have

victory?

But as we come to chapter 21, we see the

tide turn immediately as Israel gains

victory over a Canaanite king in a place

where they were once defeated by

Canaanites.

>> [snorts]

>> Though Israel rebels again, they repent.

They acknowledge their sin and God

provides a remedy to give life to those

who had been sentenced to death. They

end up in the plains of Moab where they

drink from a well and rejoice in it.

Where they conquer two Amorite kings and

take their lands and their homes as

their possessions. Numbers 20 was

characterized by death, rebellion,

defeat, a and uh and and and uh thirst

and and all of those things. While

Numbers 21 is characterized by victory,

life, satisfaction, and conquest. It's a

contrast between two generations that

shows us how this next generation is

going to move forward from the time of

rebellion to a time of conquest. There's

a lot of land to be conquered by this

generation.

And here we begin to see how a

rebellious people is going to move

forward to conquer and lay hold of what

God promised to give them. And the way

that Israel moves forward is the same

way that you and I must move forward in

our lives. Because we're born rebels,

sinners against God, defeated by sin,

sentenced to death. We are spiritually

hungry and thirsty and dry. And when you

get saved, the tide begins to turn. But

you quickly find that living the

Christian life is not as easy as you

once thought. That old ways die hard.

>> [snorts]

>> You still have lapses of faith, moments

of sin, moments of rebellion, moments

when you are seeking satisfaction from

the empty wells of this world. There are

times when these moments can lead us to

failure and we wonder, how are we ever

going to get there?

You know, conquering sin

feels a long way off for some.

Being satisfied in life, in your

relationship with God seems like a long

ways away for you. Trusting him seems a

long ways away. And so we ask, how do we

move forward from our moments of

failure? How do we move forward from

rebellion to conquest?

And the answer for us is unfolded in our

text in these four different scenes.

They all draw the same conclusion.

In the first scene, the Lord gives

Israel victory in the place of defeat.

They're attacked. We read in chapter 21

verse 1, they're attacked by a Canaanite

king. And he takes some of the

Israelites captive. And now it's at this

point that we've come to expect Israel

to grumble and to complain and to say,

"Why have you let us out here to be

conquered by our enemies?" It's when you

see the strong army that just came and

attacked them and took prisoners away

and they were left defenseless. Or you

would say, "We can't do it. They're too

strong." And yet in this generation, we

see a completely different response.

Instead of speaking against the Lord,

Israel speaks to the Lord. Look at verse

two. And Israel vowed a vow unto the

Lord and said, "If thou wilt indeed

deliver this people into my hand, then I

will utterly destroy their cities." So

now they're speaking to the Lord. And

this sounds like a test. You know, we we

we try our best not to live this way and

to say, "Well, God, if you'll do this in

my life, then I'll do this uh for you."

You know, sometimes we look down on

that. But I want you to understand that

what's going on here is a vow of faith.

that what they are doing is they are

taking action

trusting God to do something for them.

And in response to what God does for

them, they want to do something for him.

God, if you will deliver this people

into our hands, then we will utterly

destroy their cities. And this this

phrase utterly destroy, we need to be

familiar with it throughout the con

conquest because of the fact that it

means to devote to destruction is what

it literally means. And what they are

doing is they are dedicating the spoil.

They are dedicating the land. They are

dedicating the properties. All of that

is being completely destroyed in

dedication to the Lord. That's the idea

of this phrase, utterly destroying them.

And so God, if you will deliver them

into our hands, everything belongs to

you. That's what they're saying. It's a

vow of faith. And notice what happens in

verse three. And the Lord hearkened to

the voice of Israel and delivered up the

Canaanites. And they utterly destroyed

them and their cities. And he called the

name of the place Horma, a word that

means devoted.

And so that was the city that was given

to God. God upheld his end. And now

Israel upholds their end. They utterly

destroy and devote the city completely

to God. And I want to remind you again

that Hora is the place where they were

chased to after rebelling against the

Lord and going up against the

Amalachites and the Canaanites. And

there were many people who died as they

were chased to this place called Horma.

This place of defeat has now become a

place of victory after Israel looked to

the Lord. They look to the Lord. That's

what we see in this first scene.

[snorts] Now, in this second scene,

they revert to their old rebellious ways

and God brings judgment. But what we see

is that the Lord offers life from the

sentence of death. And so in verse

number four it says, "And they journeyed

from the mount from Mount which

was where Aaron died by the way of the

Red Sea to combass the land of Edom.

[snorts]

And the soul of the people was much

discouraged because of the way." This

word discouraged, it's the idea that

they were running short. They were

growing impatient.

You ever been tired of waiting on the

Lord? I just want my job now. I just

need some money now. I just want to get

married now. And so there can be all of

these ways that we're impatient and it

feels like God I mean think about this

for a second. They just defeated a

Canaanite army in the southern border of

the promised land. Everything is primed

for them to go in and take the land. God

has even shown that if they will trust

in him and go and and and and go after

the Canaanites that he's going to

deliver them into their hands. So

everything is primed for Israel to move

forward. And yet they end up going

backwards toward the Red Sea. And it's

the route of having to go around Edom by

way of the Red Sea and then all the way

back up north. That is what discourages

them. They have become impatient with

God's plan. And anytime you become

impatient with God's plan, if you're not

careful, it can begin to wallow up into

bitterness and it can lead you to say

stupid things and to do stupid things,

which is what Israel does in verse

number five. And the people spake

against God and against Moses. Wherefore

have you brought us up out of Egypt to

die in the wilderness? For there is no

bread, neither is there any water. And

our soul loatheth this light bread. That

literally means our soul is detested

by this worthless food.

See, they are treating the Lord and his

provision as worthless and contemptable.

God responds in verse 6. And the Lord

sent fiery serpents among the people and

they bit the people and much people

died.

This part looks like it looks so

familiar to the old generation and what

they experienced and how they responded.

But this time, Israel repents and the

Lord offers life to those bitten. It

says in verse number seven, "Therefore

the people came to Moses and said, we

have sinned, for we have spoken against

the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the

Lord and that he take away the serpents

from us." And Moses prayed for the

people. This word prayed, it means to

advocate, to mediate, to to go between

us and God. Moses, we need you to

intercede on our behalf that God would

take away the serpents. But notice, I

want you to notice what they are doing.

They are not coming against Moses as

they recently have and said, "You have

killed the people of the Lord." They're

not doing that. They are recognizing

their sin and they're acknowledging that

we need Moses to go to the Lord on our

behalf. We need to look to the Lord in

this time of suffering, this time of

consequence. And it says in verse number

eight, "And the Lord said unto Moses,

make thee a fiery serpent, and set it up

on a pole, and it shall come to pass

that everyone that is bitten when he

lookth upon it shall live." And Moses

made a serpent of brass and put it on a

pole. And it came to pass that if the

serpent had bitten any man when he

beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

This is a very unusual remedy. No

sacrifice is mentioned. No means of

atonement is mentioned. And because the

Lord, no incense is offered. remember

when the fire of the Lord came out.

Aaron went out into the middle of them

and he held up a censor with incense and

that made atonement for the people and

then the plague stopped. But we don't

see any of that. Why is that? I think

God is wanting to reveal and teach his

people something about himself.

I want you to think for a second this

pole with a brass serpent on it. He

tells him, "If you've been bitten by the

snake, look up at this snake and you

will live." Now, who sent the fiery

serpents?

The Lord did. When they are looking at

this serpent of brass,

it would remind them of the Lord's

judgment.

And I think what God is getting across

to Israel here is this. It's a great

paradoxical truth that the one who has

sentenced you to death is the same one

who can give you life.

And and and so when God brings his

judgment, his discipline, and his

chastisement into your life, the

tendency is to turn and run, to turn and

hide. But God is communicating to his

people that when you are under the

discipline because of your sin, that you

need not look away from the one

disciplining you, but you need to look

to the one who is disciplining you

because he is the one who can give you

life even when you are under the

sentence of death.

God is calling his people to look to him

to have life from death. [snorts] That's

the third scene.

Now it moves to a fourth scene. So the

Lord gave Israel victory when they look

to him. He now gives them life when they

look to him. And as we come to this

third scene, we find that Israel

rejoices when the Lord gives water to

them.

This is a very interesting scene. What

happens in is in verse 10, it begins to

tell you about their journey uh going to

north now. So they're they've been at

the Red Sea. Now they're heading back

north toward the promised land and they

come to the river Arnon which is serves

as a border between the Moabites and the

Ammonites or the Amorites. and they come

to this border and they're still in this

dry and and and barren desert. And they

come to a place in verse 16 that is

called beer. This word beer, it's not

like Budweiser. It's a Hebrew word that

means a well, a well of water. And so

why is it called the well? And it says

in verse 16, that is the well whereof

the Lord spake unto Moses, gather the

people together, and I will give them

water. Notice here that they need water.

But there's no rebellion.

There's no uprising.

There's no fear. There's no grumbling.

There's no complaining. The Lord simply

comes. And there's no rock, by the way.

There's there's no water in sight for

them at this point. And yet the Lord

says, "I will give them water." And

evidently God told them that he wanted

the princes to dig. Just I mean just

imagine it. This desert flat land

there's no water inside. You got all of

these people and the Lord says tell the

princes to start digging.

And so they do start digging with their

staffs. Now a staff is not a great

digging tool in a hard clay dry desert.

But they start digging. I imagine this

took a lot of work and I imagine that

there was a lot of man, I don't know

about this, but you got 12 princes and

they're all digging at this and Moses is

digging at this and and all of a sudden

as they as they hit something, water

starts to gush out and it springs forth

and it's in abundance enough to be able

to to water the entire uh nation of

Israel and all of their animals and all

of that. And look at what happens in

verse 17. Then Israel sang this song.

Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. The

princes digged the well. The nobles of

the people digged it by the direction of

the lawgiver with their staffs.

And so here's here's the point. I

believe the people are thirsty.

God provides water when they trust him

in a dry and desert place to just start

digging and they strike proverbial gold

and the water starts coming out and and

oh this is huge. For the first time

since they left Egypt to this day 40

years the people rejoice in the

provision of God. That was astounding to

me that going through this they've not

the water came out of the rock. You

don't see any rejoicing. The mana came

from heaven. You don't see any rejoicing

of praise to God. You don't see any

songs written there. That Miriam wrote a

song in the song of Moses after they

crossed the Red Sea. But when it comes

to the the daily provision of God, you

never see them rejoicing until this

moment. It signifies a great shift in

these people. [snorts] God says dig.

They start digging. They obey the Lord.

Water comes up. They rejoice in God's

provision. He satisfies their thirst.

And [snorts] so now you've seen that

Israel's eyes once again are on the

Lord. They continue to look to him for

victory, for life, and now for

sustenance. And then we come to this

fourth scene where the Lord gives Israel

victory in their first conquest.

It begins to track their journey further

to the north to where they come to the

the border of of Sihon, an Amorite king.

And and the Amorites here are

represented by two city kings. Sihon,

the king of Heshbon, and then Og, the

king of of Bashan. And I want to take

some time to place this in the overall

narrative. In Genesis 15, the Lord told

uh Abraham that his descendants would be

would live in another nation and serve

them and after 400 years he would bring

them out. God told Abraham about the

Egyptian bondage. He told them about

that and he he gave a reason in Genesis

15 and that was that the iniquity of the

Amorites was not yet full. that their

wickedness and their evil had not yet

reached a point where God's mercy could

not uh could not violate his justice and

therefore he must act. It's important

for us when it comes to this conquest to

keep in mind that the Canaanites and all

those other itites and the Amorites were

so wicked God was raising up Israel to

displace them and destroy them because

of their sin. Evidently, after 470

years, the Amorites have reached that

point and the Lord brings Israel to

their borders. And I want you to notice

the parallelism between Sihon and Edom.

In chapter 20, Moses seeks passageway

through Edom and they refused them and

God told them not to meddle with the

and because they are their

brothers and so he sent them back by the

way of the Red Sea. But what we notice

here in verse 21, it says, "And Israel

sent messengers into Sihon, king of the

Amorites, saying, Let me pass through

thy land. We will not turn into the

fields or into the vineyards. We will

not drink of the waters of the well, but

we will go along by the king's highway

until we be past thy borders." And Sihon

would not suffer Israel to pass through

his border. But Sihon gathered all his

people together and went out against

Israel into the wilderness. And he came

to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And

Israel smote him with the edge of the

sword and possessed his land from Arnon

unto Jabbok, even unto the children of

Ammon. For the border of the children of

Ammon was strong. It says in verse 25,

"And Israel took all these cities, and

Israel dwelt in the all the cities of

the Amorites in Heshbon and in the

villages thereof." Let me draw your

attention to what this is. communicating

God gives Israel a significant victory

over a powerful king and for the first

time they are inhabiting fields that

they had not sown, cities they had not

built and are dwelling in houses they

had not built. That was the promise of

God that he was going to bring them into

a land and give them fields they had not

plowed nor swn and he was going to give

them cities and homes they had not

built. God is fulfilling his promise to

this generation. And this victory over

Sihon is significant for the rest of

Israel's conquest.

I mentioned if you look at verse 26 it

says for Heshbon was the city of Sihon

the king of the Amorites who had fought

against the former king of Moab and had

taken all his land out of his hand even

unto Aron. So Sihon proved to be more

powerful than the king of Moab. And he

says in verse 27 wherefore they that

speak in proverbs say come into Heshbon

let the city of Sihon be built and

prepared. But there's a fire gone out of

Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon.

It hath consumed R of Moab, and the

lords of the high places of Arnan. And

so it it's this is a proverb that

communicated the triumphant victory of

Sihon over R, the king of Moab. But now

it says in verse 29, woe unto thee,

Moab, thou art undone, oh people of

Kimosh. Kimosh was the god of Moab that

they offered child sacrifices to. Very

lewd wickedness there. But it says, "He

hath given his sons that escaped and his

daughters into captivity into the hand

of Sihon, king of the Amorites." So Sion

has taken capture the children of Moab.

But now verse 30 says, "We have shot at

them. Heshbon has perished even into

Dibbon. He have laid them waste even

unto Nafa now which reacheth unto

Mediva. This all sounds really weird. It

sounds strange. It sounds complicated to

us. But basically this is a song that

Israel took from the people of Sihon and

employed for themselves to say, "Watch

out Moab. Sihon conquered you and we

conquered them." It's instilled them

with faith. And and you know what

happens in chapter 22? Bailo, the king

of Moab, is terrified of Israel and he

hires Balam to curse Israel. But God

won't let him because God is on their

side. That's what all this is building

toward. And then you go on to verse 31

and it says, "Thus Israel dwelt in the

land of the Amorites and Moses sent out

uh sent to spy out Jeser and they took

the villages thereof and drove out the

Amorites that were there. And so there's

a complete conquering of the Amorites

going on here. And it says in verse 33,

"And they turned and went up by the way

of Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan,

went out against them, and he and all

his people to battle at Edrad." So now

another war has come. And you almost get

the sense that Israel is wondering,

"How long is this going to last?"

Because in verse 34 it says, "And the

Lord said unto Moses,"Fear him not, for

I have delivered him into thy hand and

all his people and his land, and thou

shalt do unto him as thou didst unto

Sihon, king of the Amorites, which dwelt

at Heshbon." So they smote him and his

sons and all his people until there was

none left him alive. And they possessed

his land. Notice that they [snorts]

possessed his land.

This land

of Sihon and of Og and of the Amorites

will become the first tribal allotment

to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half

the tribe of Manasseh.

God is moving his people forward from

rebellion

toward

conquest. They're not there yet. They'll

not be perfect from this moment on.

We're going to see that. But God is

moving this nation forward. And he is

working along the way to deliver their

enemies into their hands, to bring them

to repentance, to restore them to life,

to provide them water and sustenance,

and to give them land. That is what God

is doing here in Numbers chapter 21. And

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

what it communicates to us is this

simple truth that Israel is going to

move forward from rebellion toward

conquest by looking in faith to the Lord

their God.

The way forward from rebellion to

conquest is to live by faith.

They have looked to the Lord for victory

over the Canaanites.

They had to look to the Lord to receive

life from the sentence of death. They

had to rejoice and look to the Lord for

water from this well. And they had to

look to the Lord to find land and

possession over the Amorites.

They're looking to the Lord. And the

road that Israel travels is one that all

believers must travel if we are to move

from rebellion toward conquest.

Because there is one to whom we must

look if we are to move forward. There is

one who can bring us from defeat to

victory. There is one who can bring us

from death to life. There is one who can

bring us from thirst to satisfaction.

There is one who can bring us from

rebellion to conquest and that is the

Lord Jesus Christ. See [snorts] Jesus is

the one who brings us first from death

to victory. Because just as Israel was

defeated at Horma because of rebellion,

our rebellion and sin against God leaves

us defeated. It leaves us retreating

with our tails tucked between our legs

and it's like sin dominates and rules

over our lives. But listen, when Jesus

died on the cross for your sin and you

trusted in him, he rendered sin a

powerless entity in your life to where

it should not have dominion over you.

That is why Paul said in Romans chapter

6:12, "Let not therefore sin reign in

your mortal body that you should obey it

in the lusts thereof." He goes on to say

that sin shall not have dominion over

you. And so if you are ever defeated by

sin, it's only because you have allowed

yourself to be. He tells believers in

Romans 6, don't let sin reign. You know

what that means? Sin only has power to

reign if you give it power to reign.

Why? Because Jesus conquered it. Jesus

brings us from defeat to victory. But

then Jesus also brings us from death

into unto life. [snorts]

Because when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in

John chapter 3, he said these words unto

John 3 · chapter mention

him. And as Moses lifted up the serpent

in the wilderness, even so must the son

of man be lifted up that whosoever

believeth on him should not perish but

have eternal life. Jesus says, "Hey,

this is the exact picture of my

crucifixion."

The the the Lord God issued a sentence

of death upon all humanity because of

their sin. And yet the same Lord God

sent his son to be lifted up on a cross

to pay the penalty for sin so that all

who would look to him in faith would be

forgiven of their sin and would not

perish but would have everlasting life.

Jesus brings us from death to life

through his own death on the cross for

us. Just as those who were snake bitten

carried a death sentence, you and I who

were snake bitten by sin carry a death

sentence as well. But the God who

sentenced us to death has provided a

means of life if we would but look to

him is Jesus.

[snorts]

So Jesus brings you from defeat to death

and he brings you or from defeat to

victory and he brings you from death to

life. But Jesus also brings you from

thirst to satisfaction.

Because in John chapter 4, he met a

John 4 · chapter mention

woman at a well of water. And he said to

her, "Whosoever drinkketh of this water

shall thirst again. But whosoever

drinkketh of the water that I shall give

him shall never thirst, but the water

that I shall give him shall be in him a

well of water, springing up into

everlasting

life. Spring ye up, oh well. Sing unto

it. The Lord quenches our thirst.

Listen, friends, this world will always

leave you unsatisfied

and longing for more. Porn will always

leave you longing for more. An affair

will always leave you longing for more.

Alcohol will always leave you longing

for more. Drugs will always leave you

longing for more. Do I need to go on?

Every single vice that this world has to

throw at you that says this will quench,

this will satisfy, it never can, but

there is one who can. And when you drink

of his water, it springs up into you as

a well unto everlasting life. You never

thirst again. When you are looking to

Christ in faith, he provides defeat from

victory. He brings life from death. He

brings satisfaction from thirst. But

finally, Jesus is the one who brings us

from rebellion to conquest. It's Christ.

Listen for a moment. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 verse14

Paul says now thanks be to God which

always caus us to triumph in Christ.

Romans 8:37 tells us that Christ enabled

Romans 8:37

us to conquer suffering and persecution

and hardship that we are more than

conquerors through him who loved us. 1

1 John 5:4

John 5:4 and 5 tells us that Christ

enabled us to overcome this world's

system and all of its pressures that was

through Christ. He says, "Faith is the

victory that overcomes the world." 1

1 Corinthians 15:57

Corinthians 15:57 uh tells us that

Christ enables us and gives us victory

over death, hell, and the grave. He

says, "Thanks be to God which giveth us

the victory through our Lord Jesus

Christ." Colossians 2:es 13 and 14 tells

us that in Christ we conquer sin and its

consequences and its condemnation as

well as Satan and his demons because

Christ has triumphed over them through

the cross. Revelation is a book devoted

to showing how believers and churches

overcome in Christ. Revelation [snorts]

12, believers overcame the great red

dragon by the blood of the lamb. In

Revelation 17, the lamb overcomes kings

and those who are with him are called

and chosen and faithful, full of faith.

That if your faith is in Jesus Christ,

there is no king like Sihon. There's no

king like Og who can stand against you.

In Revelation 21:7, it says that he that

Revelation 21:7

overcomemeth shall inherit all things in

his kingdom. The way we overcome

rebellion, the way that we overcome sin,

the way that we overcome death, the way

that we overcome hell, the way that we

overcome this evil world's system is

always through the conquering lamb and

king Jesus Christ.

While your life without Christ was

characterized by rebellion, defeat,

thirst, and death, when you are with

Christ, it is characterized by victory,

satisfaction, life, and conquest. And

it's not because of you, but because the

one that you look to. Believers move

forward from rebellion to conquest by

looking in faith to Christ. So, what

that means for you is that you ought to

look to him when you're facing battles

with sin.

When when the devil is fighting you and

tempting you, the way you battle is not

in the strength of your own flesh. It is

by getting on your knees and looking to

the cross and looking to the Christ who

hung upon it for the strength and the

faith and the courage to defeat sin. You

must look to him. Look to him when you

need forgiveness. when you've already

failed to come like Israel says, "I have

sinned. I've sinned, Lord Jesus. Pray to

the Lord for me. Intercede for me.

Mediate for me. Advocate for me as the

greater Moses that I may be forgiven."

When you need revival, renewal, and

refreshment. When you're hungry,

thirsty, and dry spiritually, look to

him. The well of life is there on your

knees when you pour out your soul into

Jesus.

Acknowledge before him, Lord, it's been

a long time since my heart and my soul

has been moved by your grace. This

world, I'm like a I'm like a sponge. I I

come to church and and you fill me up.

And I go out into this world and it

squeezes you out of me. I'm thirsty.

I need you to fill me. You look to him.

You look to him. When this world's

system is bearing down on you and Satan

is fighting you hard and kings and

governments and pandemics and death and

disease and everything that's

representative of the sincursed world

when it is waging war against your soul.

You just need to turn to your conquering

king because there's no battle he can't

win. There's no king he can't conquer.

look to him because Christ brings us

from rebellion to conquest. We must look

to him in faith.

[snorts] I don't know how Olympians move

forward from a devastating failure.

But I know how we do and that is on our

knees

gazing upon the one who was lifted up

for our salvation.

trusting in him.

The one who gave his life on the cross

to free you from sin to quench your

thirst, to give you life and to give you

victory. That is the one that we look

to. And so to move forward from

rebellion all the way to conquest, we

too must live by faith. Must live by

faith. Father, we come to you tonight

recognizing you are a trustworthy

God.

Even when we sin and we're under your

discipline,

you call us to look to you.

You are the source of life,

the source of victory, the source of

satisfaction,

the source of our [music] conquest.

I pray that you would help us to take

your word

to bring it home to our lives

to lift up our eyes [music]

and look to our savior in Jesus name.

Amen.