Num 33:51-53, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. 
	This morning, we have the listing of the various places that the Lord led the Children of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness for those 40 years. The first generation needed to die off in order for the second generation to inherit that which their parents forsook. The other aspect of this 40 year sojourn was that the people became a marching, hardened, effective warrior nation that would strike fear into the people’s heart that they were to dispossess. 
Lest anyone get the idea that this wilderness surviving nation of Israel would be able to conquer on its own, remember that each time they went into battle without the complete and utter reliance on the Lord going before them, they were defeated and routed. It was always the Lord going before them into battle that caused their enemies to tremble and flee the battlefield. 
	The list of the 40 places of encampment reveals the awesome power of God to lead His people in full accordance with His plan. Each encampment was an expression of His further care and keeping as He was waiting for the first generation to die away in order to take the second and willing generation into the Promised Land. At the same time, we see the grace and the mercy and the provision of God manifested in the truth that He could simply have wiped out that first generation in an instant and then had the second generation inherit the land of His promise. 
But God did not choose to do so. Rather, He maintained the first generation while hardening that second generation for the battles of conquest. He never abandoned that first generation even as they had so often abandoned Him. He led them. He fed them. He protected them and He gave them those forty years to know His blessings upon them. They were freed from their slavery in Egypt and freed to enjoy their remaining time with their God and their families.
	When the end of that first generation was accomplished, and it was time for the new generation to inherit the Promised Land, the Lord gave very precise and specific instructions to them as we have recorded in this morning’s passage...'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
One of the very basic keys of the Sovereignty of God, that we may tend to forget, is that all the land, no matter where it is and who tries to lay claim to it, belongs to the Lord. The Psalmist makes this so very clear in Ps 24:1+2. 
Ps 24:1+2, The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the rivers. 
In line with this reality, the Promised Land was the Lord’s to give to whomever He so chose to inhabit it. The same is true of every place on this earth. It all belongs to the Lord and we are merely caretakers, fully responsible to Him for the manner in which we use His gift to us. 
Throughout the history of mankind, that has ever been the case. This was so forcefully expounded upon by Job, in Job 1:21. Job 1:21, And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 
We must ever keep that truth at the core of our understanding. All that we truly have is the life that God gives us. We can claim to earn this or that. We can try to label things and places as ours, but the fact is that we come into this world naked and we will leave this world naked. Accordingly, we are to live those lives that bless The Lord in the manner of our conduct and our stewardship of the gifts of His grace and His mercy and His provision.
That is what was told to the Children of Israel as they were about to enter into the Promised Land. They were to honor the Lord in the manner in which they conducted themselves as His people. The land was the Lord’s and He would distribute it according to His plan and His purpose. The people were to honor Him and to keep themselves free from all the entanglements and the philosophies and the gods of the nations that had so enraged the Lord that He was removing them forcibly from the lands as promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
This was again stressed to the nation in Deut 6:13-19, if you would please turn to it so we can read it together. Deut 6:13-19, You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth. "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. 
    	However, the nation of Israel, that second generation did not follow through with the complete destruction of those people and their false gods. They became enamored of the riches of those nations. They compromised with them and that would ultimately lead to their own dispossession from the land of Promise. The Lord clearly and precisely announced to them that they would lose the right to inhabit the land of His Promise if they refused to completely honor the word of the Lord to them.
	Please open to the Book of Judges, Chapter 2, verses 1-4 to read together this edict from the Lord. Judg 2:1-4, Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? "Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'" And it came about when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. 
	Now please turn to Jeremiah Chapter 27, verses 1-8 where the judgment of the Lord was brought upon the nation of Israel that remained. As they had dispossessed the inhabitants before them because of the vileness of the iniquity of the Canaanites, so was God declaring that He was bringing forth a nation that would take them out of the land because of the treachery of the Lord’s people against Him. Just as God had given the land for the proper use by His people for a time, so was He now giving it to another country as a means of dealing with the betrayal and the disloyalty of His Chosen nation. He was following through with the exact reality that He had put before them as they had entered the land to claim it in His name.
    	Jer 27:1-8, In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying — thus says the Lord to me — "Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. "And command them to go to their masters, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, "I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. "And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. "And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. "And it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence," declares the Lord, "until I have destroyed it by his hand. 
    	Once again, even this pagan ruler and his people were under the hand of the Lord in His Sovereignty. They might not have recognized Him as their God, but that matters not in the fullness of Who God is. He is the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. Mankind is His servant and is placed on earth to do His bidding. It is utterly immaterial how powerful and wealthy a person may be, we all are in service and under the mighty hand of God, Alone.
	This applied to arguably even the most powerful king of the earth of the ancient days, King Nebuchadnezzar. While he ruled vast territories, it was all only by the will of God. All that this human king had was because God allowed and even moved him to possess those areas until the point that God took it away as we can read in Dan 4:24-37. 
It was the prophet Daniel, one of the Children of Israel in the exile, who had to declare the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream at great personal risk to his own life. Daniel understood the manner of God’s will and way in action. This was with regard to the arrogance of humanity being such a cause of stumbling and cataclysmic in view of the Sovereignty and the Omnipotence of The Lord God, Jehovah. 
Dan 4:24-37, this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: that you be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes. 'And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules. 'Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.' "All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. "Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. "The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?' "While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.' "Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. "But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. "And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?' "At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride." 
	All the works of man amount to nothing in the vast plan of God’s eternity. Everything that humanity accomplishes crumbles under the weight of time and decay. Only that which God does will last forever and forever. 
    	As the Psalmist points out for all of us in Ps 115:15-18, our awareness of the transience of our lives on this earth and the vast superiority of the work of the Lord should cause each of us to bless His name and to honor Him Alone! That is the reason that we draw breath in this life. 
Ps 115:15-18, May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; But the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the Lord From this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! So be it!
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. Amen. 

					
This morning’s benediction is 2 Cor 4:15, For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.  Amen.