33 "Battling Together By Faith" Numbers 32:1-42 | Thursday, June 18, 2026

You can take your Bibles and turn to

Numbers chapter 32.

Numbers 32 · chapter mention

Numbers chapter 32, just a few more

Numbers 32 · chapter mention

messages from Numbers. Next week we'll

cover 33 and 34, and then we just have

35 and 36, and we'll be moving into the

book of Hebrews after that. We'll be in

Numbers 32 tonight.

And once you found your place, you can

stand in honor of God's word. We'll read

at least the first part of the chapter

as we consider what God has for us

tonight. Numbers chapter 32,

Numbers 32 · chapter mention

beginning verse 1.

Now, the children of Reuben and the

children of Gad

had a very great multitude of cattle.

And when they saw the land of Jazer and

the land of Gilead, that behold, the

place was a place for cattle.

And the children of Gad and the children

of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and

to Eleazar the priest and unto the

princes of the congregation, saying,

"Ataroth and Dibon and Jazer and Nimrah

and Heshbon and Elealeh and Shebam and

Nebo and Beon, even the country which

the Lord smote before the congregation

of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy

servants have cattle.

Wherefore, said they, if we have found

grace in thy sight, let this land be

given unto thy servants for a

possession, and bring us not over

Jordan."

And Moses said unto the children of Gad

and to the children of Reuben,

"Shall your brethren go to war, and

shall ye sit here?

And wherefore discourage ye the heart of

the children of Israel from going over

into the land which the Lord hath given

them? Thus did your fathers, when I sent

them from Kadesh-barnea

to see the land. For when they went up

unto the valley of Eshcol and saw the

land they discouraged the heart of the

children of Israel that they should not

go into the land which the Lord had

given them. And the Lord's anger was

kindled at the same time and he swears

saying, "Surely none of the men that

came up out of Egypt from 20 years old

and upward

shall see the land which I swear to

Abraham and to Isaac and unto Jacob

because they have not wholly followed me

save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the

Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun for

they have wholly followed the Lord. And

the Lord's anger was kindled against

Israel and he made them wander in the

wilderness 40 years until all the

generation that had done evil in the

sight of the Lord was consumed. And

behold, ye are risen up in your father's

stead an increase of sinful men to

augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord

toward Israel. For if ye turn away from

after him, he will yet again leave them

in the wilderness and ye shall destroy

all this people."

And they came near unto him and said

"We will build sheepfolds here for our

cattle and cities for our little ones

but we ourselves will go ready armed

before the children of Israel until we

have brought them unto their place and

our little ones shall dwell in the

fenced cities because of the inhabitants

of the land. We will not return unto our

houses until the children of Israel have

inherited every man his inheritance for

we will not inherit with them on yonder

side Jordan or forward because our

inheritance is fallen to us on this side

Jordan eastward." And Moses said unto

them "If ye will do this thing if ye

will go armed before the Lord to war and

will go all of you armed over Jordan

before the Lord until he hath driven out

his enemies from before him, and the

land be subdued before the Lord, then

afterward ye shall return and be

guiltless before the Lord and before

Israel, and this land shall be your

possession before the Lord.

But if you will not do so,

behold, ye have sinned against the Lord

and be sure your sin will find you out.

Build you cities for your little ones

and folds for your sheep and do that

which hath proceeded out of your mouth.

And the children of Gad and the children

of Reuben spake unto Moses saying, "Thy

servants will do

as my Lord commandeth."

Now they're going to there's going to be

back and forth here, which essentially

tells us there's a covenant going on.

There are terms being made, terms being

agreed to. Moses is going to relay the

terms to Joshua and Eleazar because they

are the ones who will lead them in, and

the Reubenites agree to it before them.

Moses gives them the land on the east

side of Jordan, and they build their

cities and change the names to reflect

their God instead of the gods of the

Amorites.

The title of our message for this text

tonight is battling together

by faith. Battling together

by faith. May God bless his word. You

can be seated and we'll get into our

message.

>> [snorts]

>> In the late 1800s,

Italian economist

Vilfredo

Pareto conducted a study of income and

land distribution in Italy.

He observed and he wrote about the fact

that 80% of the land was owned by only

20%

of the population.

In the 1900s,

others applied his logic to other arenas

of life, whether it was business or

learning or management, and eventually

even ministry.

And the studies all yielded the same

results.

That 80% of revenue comes from 20% of

consumers. 80% of results come from 20%

of the tasks.

The fact that 80% of complaints only

come from 20% of the issues.

And so that you have this idea that of

this 80/20 principle that became known

in the business world as the Pareto

principle.

And what many pastors and churches have

come to find is that the Pareto

principle often applies to ministries as

well.

That 80% of the ministry is done by 20%

of the membership.

Whether we're talking about those who

help out, those who serve, those who are

involved in children's ministries, youth

ministries, music ministries, here's

what you often find in the church is

that

a small percentage of people are serving

in multiple areas.

And so that's that's how you get to that

number that 20% of the people are doing

80% of the ministry because instead of

everyone getting involved, you have

certain people getting involved in

multiple things. The same thing is often

true when it comes to giving.

That 80% of the offerings come from 20%

of the congregation.

Because this is so common,

it's almost become the expectation

in churches.

But while this is a common outcome in

economics and in business and in

production, I think we really need to

ask if that should be the expectation

within a church ministry

Is God's plan really that 80% of the

ministry should be done by 20% of the

people?

And should some stay at home while

others go to witness?

Should some bask in comfort while others

sacrifice greatly?

Or is God's plan something bigger?

Is it something better?

Well, I think what we see in Numbers 32

is that God wants 100%

participation

from his people.

That it's not right

that some should stay at home while

others go to the work.

While others go to the battle.

God is leading Israel to conquer Canaan

to fulfill the promise he'd made to

their fathers to give their descendants

this land of God's blessing.

And God already gave them victory over

the powerful Amorite kings of Og and

Sihon.

He's given them this particular land,

but it has yet to be resolved what will

happen with this land that's on the

eastern side of Jordan.

But it's at this point

that two out of 12 tribes, go figure,

that's close to 20%

that you got two out of the 12 tribes,

they find the land east of Jordan to be

perfectly suitable to meet their needs.

They ask Moses to give them this land

and not bring them over Jordan.

>> [snorts]

>> What you find when you

factor these numbers in

is it's the opposite of the Pareto

principle.

That 80% of the people will go and

conquer the rest of the land while only

20 stay at home, but even that

was not good enough

for Moses.

Even that was not big enough

for the people of God. And so Moses

offers a scathing rebuke to these two

tribes that starts with the words,

"Shall your brethren go to war and shall

ye sit here?"

>> [snorts]

>> Based on Moses' rebuke,

what then should be our expectation

in God's economy?

Well, I think we see that it's 100%

participation.

But don't take my word for it. Let's

look at God's word and see what it says.

As we study this text, we're first going

to see this aggressive rebuke by Moses.

But then we're going to see an agreeable

response by the tribes of Reuben and

Gad. Let's first consider the aggressive

rebuke here.

Reuben and Gad, we read in verse 1,

that they had a very great multitude of

cattle.

And what we have here is almost

reminiscent

of years prior, centuries prior,

when Abraham and Lot had too much.

Too much cattle,

too many servants, and there was a fight

between the servants and Abraham and Lot

came out and and Abraham gave Lot the

choice, "What land do you want?" And he

lifted up his eyes on the plains of

Jordan. You know what the plains of

Jordan are? The plains of Moab. Cuz you

know

who Moab is? The son of Lot.

He lifted his eyes towards Sodom

and pitched his tent. And that's almost

the picture that you get here. That they

are here in the plains of Moab. They've

not crossed over Jericho yet, and what

they see is the same thing that their

great great great great great Lot saw.

The plains of Jordan are beautiful and

it is grazing territory. It is a place

for cattle and we have a lot of cattle.

And so it makes logical sense that this

is where we should stay.

And so they bring their their statement

here before Moses and Eleazar and all

the princes and in verse number uh four

uh five they said, "If we have found

grace in thy sight, let this land be

given into thy servants for a possession

and bring us not over Jordan." I want to

point out to you

that their desire to have this land,

their desire to not be brought over

Jordan, their desire to settle and stay

here

was a decision made based not on what

benefits the nation as a whole, but what

on but on what benefits themselves.

What we find is that whether it was

their intention or not, there is some

selfishness

being pulled out of their response here.

The best part about this is they're

already there.

They don't have to cross over Jordan.

And so when they ask Moses about this,

they want to stay on this side of Jordan

and settle down and be at home while

their brothers continue to go into war.

Understand this that selfishness

will often lead you to sit at home while

your brothers and sisters in Christ go

to battle.

See, it's a a lust for land and houses

and material goods that can keep you

from giving to missions while others

personally sacrifice to do so.

It can be the comforts of your couch

with a remote in your hand that keeps

you home during a monthly all church

outreach while your brothers and sisters

bear bear the weight of witness in the

city.

Being consumed with your own problems

can keep you from battling on your knees

for others who are going through similar

storms in their lives.

See, when we get so focused on what

appeals to our eyes, on our comforts or

our needs, it can leave us sitting at

home while others go to battle.

And that's what Moses is dealing with

here.

He asks them in verse number six, "Shall

your brethren go to war and shall ye sit

here?"

But Moses wasn't just concerned about

their selfishness. Moses was concerned

because sitting at home would discourage

the hearts of the others. He says in

verse seven, "And wherefore discourage

ye the heart of the children of Israel

from going over into the land which the

Lord had given them. Thus did your

fathers when I sent them from

Kadesh-barnea to see the land." What

Moses is concerned about is a repeat of

past history.

Cuz remember, 40 years prior, they came

to Kadesh-barnea. He sent 12 spies in to

check out the land, and they went

through the valley of Eshcol, and they

brought back the cluster of grapes, and

they talked about how it's a land

flowing with milk and honey, and it's a

beautiful land, and a lush land, and a

fruitful land. But they said the giants

are too tall, and the walls are too big,

and the armies are too strong. We can't

go in, and they discouraged the hearts

of all the people, and everyone except

for Caleb and Joshua turned back from

going into the land.

Moses [snorts] sees that what's going on

here

is the potential

for another turning away from the land.

When they say these words, "Bring us not

over Jordan,"

he sees that this could spread like

wildfire throughout the rest of the

people and discourage them from from

going in

once again. See, sitting at home

can discourage others in the fight.

When you see the financial report in the

bulletin

and the majority of the amount given

last week was what you gave,

you can wonder,

is anybody else giving around here?

And you can just think that way. Or it

could be discouraging when you show up

to all church outreach and it's

typically your one day off and you you

missed some event or you're cleared off

your schedule or maybe you typically

work on Saturdays and you decided to

take that day off to be able to go to

outreach and then when you get here and

it's just you and the pastor's family,

you're wondering, "Where's everybody

else right now?"

It's discouraging when you're battling

on your knees for others, but you're not

sure if anybody's battling on their

knees for you and your situation.

If that's true for you, how might others

be discouraged should you choose to sit

at home while others go to battle?

Understand, we're not talking here about

being providentially hindered. We're not

talking about uh being physically

limited or financially limited. What

we're talking about is the Reubenites

and the Gadites were perfectly capable

of crossing over Jordan and battling it

out with the Canaanites, but they were

choosing to stay on this side of Jordan

while the rest of them go to battle.

That's what we're talking about.

How can your sitting at home

discourage others in the fight?

That's what Moses is dealing with here

as well.

And what we find is that because sitting

at home was selfish and because it was

discouraging, Moses rebukes it as

sinful. Look at verse 14.

And behold, ye are risen up in your

father's stead, an increase of sinful

men to augment yet the fierce anger of

the Lord toward Israel. For if you turn

away from after him, he will yet again

leave them in the wilderness, and you

shall destroy this people. He says, "You

have stood in your father's place as

sinful men."

Why?

Because God has a great inheritance to

give his people. He has a promise to

fulfill, and there is danger of

repeating history and causing the people

to turn away from the Lord, and then and

then to be abandoned in the wilderness

and left to die yet once again, and they

would be guilty of destroying his

people. He says, "What you are doing,

your selfish decision, will discourage

others, and because of that, it is sin."

This is an aggressive

rebuke from Moses.

And what it tells us is this.

I think very plainly, I'm on good ground

to say that it is wrong

for some people to sit at home

while others go to battle.

That when you have the choice to be

there at church, when you have the

choice to be there at outreach, when you

have the choice to give to missionaries,

to give to support the work, when you

have the choice to serve in ministry,

and you're content to stay at home or

sit on the sidelines or stay in the pews

while the rest of the people are doing

the work of the Lord, it is wrong for us

as God's people

to sit home while others battle.

God doesn't leave us guessing about it.

He makes it clear that sideline

Christianity is selfish, and it's

discouraging, and in this text, it's

called sinful.

Sinful.

But thankfully,

this is not the end of the story.

Because [snorts] following Moses'

aggressive rebuke, Reuben and Gad have a

rather agreeable response.

They They They agree here

to go to battle together with Israel

until everyone receives their promised

inheritance.

These These tribes are proving that they

are not like their father's generation.

Because it says in verse 16, "And they

came near unto him and said, 'We will

build our sheepfolds here for our cattle

and cities for our little ones, but we

ourselves will go ready armed before the

children of Israel.'" Do you catch the

language here? The word "before the

children of Israel" means in the face of

or in the front of.

What they are saying is we're not just

going to go to battle with you. We will

lead the charge. We will go out in front

of everybody else. We will be on the

front lines of battle. And look at this.

It says, "Until we have brought them

unto their place, and our little ones

shall dwell in the fenced cities because

of the inhabitants of the land. We will

not return unto our houses until the

children of Israel have inherited every

man his inheritance. For we will not

inherit with them on yonder side Jordan

or forward, because our inheritance has

fallen to us on this side Jordan

eastward." I want you to notice the

stark contrast between these two tribes

and their father's generation.

First of all, instead of persisting in

unbelief, when Moses confronts them,

they not only promise to go to battle,

but to lead the way in battle.

But then we notice also that while their

fathers said their little ones would be

a prey for the inhabitants of the land,

these tribes are willing to build

fortified cities and leave their

children there while all of them go off

to battle. Why would they do that?

They're trusting the Lord to protect

their kids.

It's different this time.

But then also we notice number three

that they are fully convinced that their

inheritance has fallen to them and they

promised not to return to it until all

of their brothers have received their

inheritance. You know what that is? For

them to take this step of faith. They

are trusting God is going to win the

battles, God is going to give us the

land, and God is going to return us back

to our inheritance.

This is a response

of great faith from these two tribes.

That when they were confronted, much

like their fathers were, instead of

persisting in unbelief, they respond now

in faith and Moses responds agreeably to

their return to their terms. He affirms

in verse 20,

And Moses said unto them, "If you will

do this thing, if you will go armed

before the Lord to war, and will go all

of your armed over

all of you armed over Jordan before the

Lord, until he has driven out his

enemies from before him, and the land be

subdued before the Lord, then afterward

you shall return and be guiltless before

the Lord and before Israel, and this

land shall be your possession before the

Lord." But notice in verse 22, "But if

you will not do so, behold, you have

sinned against the Lord and be sure your

sin will find you out."

If you abandon us in the process and you

decide to go back in unbelief like your

fathers did, you may try to escape the

danger of the battle, but you'll not

escape the ramifications of your sin.

Your sin will find you out. See, it's

interesting in Hebrews chapter 4, you

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

find that it talks about that previous

generation and how they they did not get

to enter the rest of God in the land of

Canaan because when they heard the

promise, it was not mixed with faith.

They did not believe.

And therefore, the word promised was of

no profit to them. But we find that this

generation, when they heard the word, it

was mixed with faith. They weren't

perfect. They were still selfish. They

still made a decision based off what

best benefited them. They still weren't

thinking about the nation. And yet, in

spite of that, their their their faith

in the promise was mixed with faith in

what God could do.

And they were rewarded for it.

Because they're going to go on to fight

with Israel, and they are going to win

the battle, and everybody's going to be

given their inheritance, and they're

going to return home safely. Why? They

trusted God by faith in this moment.

So, Moses agrees

to their terms. He relays it to Joshua

and Eleazar, and they agree to it before

them once again.

Then Moses gives them the land. They go

on

to build their cities and rename them.

The question that we need to ask

is what role

does a text like this serve to its

original readers?

The children of Israel,

as they are hearing from Moses for the

last time,

and they're about to enter in the

conquest with Joshua and Eleazar before

them,

with Moses behind them.

What role does this text serve

that generation?

What we find at this final section of

Numbers

is [snorts] that Moses is preparing them

under God's direction to enter and

inherit the land.

And what this text is designed to show

is how they will conquer the promised

land, and how they will inherit the

land. And the answer is this.

It will not be that they all go as a

nation, and when this tribe gets their

inheritance, they stay home while the

rest go on to fight. And then when this

tribe gets their inheritance, they stay

home while the rest go on to fight. No,

God is showing right here it's not going

to work that way.

All of my people must continue to battle

together by faith until all of my people

have received their promised

inheritance.

God's plan

was not for some to sit home

while the rest go to battle.

His plan was 100%

participation.

And what was true of God's people then

is still true of God's people today. As

Christians, all of us must battle

together by faith until all of us

receive our eternal inheritance.

When does that happen?

When Christ returns.

So, we have an an inheritance awaiting

us in heaven because Jesus, our Passover

lamb, paid the penalty of death for our

sin. And his blood was applied to us by

faith, and our sin was covered, and we

were spared from the judgment of God.

And he is leading us through wilderness

testings, and he is leading us into a

conflict with evil, and he's going to

triumph gloriously over it all, and he's

going to bring us to an eternal land in

an eternal kingdom where God eternally

dwells with us. And that land is better

than we can imagine. It It is more

beautiful than we can imagine. There is

no sin, no suffering, no death. There

It's reminiscent of the Garden of Eden

with a abundant water supply and a

plethora of gold and the tree of life,

which is for the healing of the nations.

That is the land that awaits us. It is a

place of joy, a place of peace, and a

place of righteousness that this world

has never known before. It is a land of

eternal bliss and eternal rest, and that

land has been purchased and promised and

guaranteed by the blood of our savior,

Jesus Christ.

But until we reach that land,

there are battles that we're going to

face.

And God's plan is not for some of us to

stay at home while the rest of us go to

battle.

There are souls to be saved. There are

nations to be evangelized. There are

preachers to be trained and missionaries

to be sent. We are storming a kingdom of

darkness with the promise that the gates

of hell will not prevail against us, but

we have an enemy who resists us and

fights against us with his flaming

arrows of temptation. We battle against

a sin-cursed world with all of its

religious and economic and political

upheaval, and what that means is all of

us are going to go through battles. And

when we are engaged in these battles, it

is wrong for some to stay comfortably at

home while others are going to battle in

war.

It's wrong that some would give while

others do not. It's wrong that some

support missionaries while others

refrain. It's wrong that some go to all

church outreach while others sit at

home. It's wrong that only some come to

midweek prayer and and bring our church

up before the Lord only for others to

not come and participate in the same

thing.

It's I ask us all as Moses asked them,

"Shall our brothers go to war while we

sit here?"

It's wrong.

God's word calls us

to be 100% participation

in his work,

in his ministry, and in his mission.

God's plan is for all his people to

battle together by faith.

For how long?

When do I

get to finally sit at rest?

I understand we we need days off, we

need replenishment, we need uh

to take care of our physical bodies that

God has given us. There are financial

needs that we need to take care of in

our lives, but once again, I'm talking

about this the willful choice to stay at

home, so to speak, while our brothers

and sisters in Christ go to battle. When

we could help, when we could step in,

when we could give more, when we could

be present, when we could witness more,

for us to stay at home, that is when

it's wrong.

All of God's people

need to battle

until all of us reach our eternal

inheritance.

Till Christ returns.

Battle on,

but battle together.

We cannot battle separately

and divided.

I'm thankful that we don't have to

battle alone because our savior, Jesus

Christ, not only battles with us, but he

goes ahead of us, and he's already

conquered the enemy of death. He's

conquered the enemy of sin. He's

conquered our flesh, and he's going to

conquer our enemy in Satan. Christ is

leading us into battle, and so we battle

together not with the weapons of our

warfare, but as Paul said, with the

whole armor of God. We battle with the

helmet of salvation and the breastplate

of righteousness and the belt of truth

and the sword of the spirit. We battle

with our feet shod with the preparation

of the gospel of peace, and we battle

with the shield of faith.

Those are the weapons of our warfare.

God equips us with his word, by his

spirit, through faith in his son, who is

leading us into battle. The day will

come when all of Christ's enemies will

be subdued under his feet, and he will

usher in his kingdom, and we will

receive our inheritance at last.

But until that day comes, we must

continue to battle together under

Christ.

So, can I ask you,

are you going to battle,

or are you sitting at home?

I realize we're with our Thursday night

crowd.

It's the times you wish messages like

this were in a Sunday morning crowd.

But the fact that God providentially has

us here at this time tells me that

probably all of us could use this

reminder, and all of us could use this

encouragement to remember that we don't

sit at home

while others labor.

We labor together.

Can I ask you, do you give to send

missionaries to reach the nations,

or are you content to let others do the

heavy lifting while you enjoy a little

more comfort,

a little more luxury?

Are [snorts] you in the field of

evangelism,

or on the sideline observing?

Are you battling on your knees in

prayers for others,

or are you so consumed with your own

needs and your own desires?

Rather than sitting at home in

selfishness

and discouraging others, we all need to

battle together by faith in Jesus

Christ.

Let me just say that there's nothing you

can do

about what you've already done.

But you can repent.

You can seek forgiveness for your

sideline Christianity,

and then re-engage in the battle, and

continue to battle together going

forward till Christ returns. God's plan

is not 2080,

nor is it 8020.

It's 100% involvement.

We all have different gifts.

We all have different callings. We all

have different capacities of what the

measure of the gift of Christ that has

been given to us, but nevertheless, God

wants all of us engaged in some way

until Christ returns and we all receive

our inheritance.

If that inheritance is coming to you,

continue to battle

till everyone else gets it, too.

Can I just ask you, is that eternal

inheritance awaiting you?

If so, it's only by faith in Jesus

Christ.

He is the one who paid redemption's

price.

He's the one who suffered in your place

on the cross. He's the one who rose

again, defeated death, hell, and the

grave, and he's the one who will come

back to give us an inheritance, but it

will only be if you have trusted in him.

So, if you have not, I encourage you to

do so tonight. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the

truth of your word and the reminder that

we need that God you have called us

to labor

as one new man under Christ.

Doesn't matter what language we speak,

what culture we come from, how we work,

[music] the type of occupation we have,

the amount of money that we might have.

It's

>> [music]

>> It's not about any of those things. You

have simply called us to be involved as

you have gifted and equipped us.

And my heart's prayer [music] for this

church

is that we would not be common.

That we would not follow

the 8020 rule.

But that we would have 100%

participation.

That when we do [music] our faith

promise commitment,

we don't set some financial goal that

[music] we must hit.

Some people give much, some people give

little, but my prayer is that all of us

would do something [music]

together for Christ. My prayer is that

all of us would be involved in some way

in the ministry of your church. My

prayer is that all of us would battle

together for one another in [music]

prayer.

That God, we might all be participants

in the great work that you are doing.

[music] And I pray that your spirit

would sustain us

and empower us to do just that

until the day [music]

that our savior comes in the clouds.

May we be faithful by your grace in

Jesus' [music] name.

Amen.