Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20010919.htm

NUMBERS: ON SPIRITUAL CASUALTIES AND VICTORS
Part III - Triumph By Separating From Sinners, Sins And The Suspicion Of Sin
(Numbers 5:1-31)
  1. Introduction
    1. As Israel was traveling in the wilderness wanderings, it had to learn as we do today that God is a holy God, separate from sin, so He calls His own likewise to separate from sin for blessing, 1 Peter 1:15-16.
    2. Believers usually think this means simply to confess their sins, and that is certainly part of holiness. But being holy as GOD is holy goes beyond separating from personal sins to include separating from sinners and even from the suspicion of sin itself. Numbers 5:1-31 explains these extents of holiness as follows:
  2. Triumph By Separating From Sinners, Sins And The Suspicion Of Sin, Numbers 5:1-31.
    1. God's people were to separate from known, obvious, sinners to enjoy God's blessing, Numbers 5:1-4:
      1. God commanded Israel under Moses' leadership to expel from the camp every leper, every one who had an unhealthy physical issue of bodily fluids and all who had been ceremonially defiled by touching dead bodies, Numbers 5:1-2. There were to be no exceptions even with gender, Numbers 5:3a.
      2. God's reason was that He, the God of righteousness, dwelt in the camp, and since He was separate from these things that were the product of sinful failure in man, Israel was to be separate from them as well to fellowship with this righteous God, Numbers 5:3b:
        1. Under the Mosaic Law, illness or unhealthy states were divine discipline for sin, Dt. 28:15-68.
        2. Death is the final product of sin, being the ultimate discipline for it, cf. 1 Cor. 15:22; Gen. 3:17-19.
        3. Hence, since God is righteous, and dwelt in the camp of Israel, people with overt illnesses resulting from personal sins and dead bodies which are the final product of sin could not dwell in the camp.
      3. Israel thus learned to separate from sinners to fellowship in spiritual victory with God.
    2. God's people were to separate from personal sins to enjoy God's blessing, Numbers 5:5-10:
      1. God called Israel under Moses' leadership to confess their personal trespasses to the Lord, paying back to the wronged party 120% of what damage the sin in question had produced, Numbers 5:5-7.
      2. In cases where the victim died only to leave no relatives who could be reimbursed, the recompense settlement was to be paid unto God, Numbers 5:8. When such a recompense came to God in the form of offerings and collections, what Scripture regularly dictated of these offering(s) involved (as going to the priest as his income) likewise became the officiating priest's income in such cases, Num. 5:9-10.
      3. In this way, Israel learned to separate from personal sins to fellowship in spiritual victory with God.
    3. God's people were to separate from even the suspicion of sin to enjoy God's blessing, Numbers 5:11-31:
      1. In some cases, a spouse might suspect his marriage partner of adultery without being able to prove it himself, something that would create unbearable tension in the family. In such a case, God had a special program for discerning IF the partner was adulterous, and what to do about it, Num. 5:11-15a:
      2. In this case, the partner suspected of sin was made to drink a mixture of tabernacle floor dust and water so that God Himself could show IF the spouse was guilty or innocent by what physically happened after that to the suspected spouse, Numbers 5:15b-27, 28-31!
Lesson: To avoid being a spiritual casualty and qualify for enjoying God's blessing in living, as did Israel in the wilderness journeys of Numbers, we need to see God as SEPARATE from sin in EVERY way so that we, His people must not only separate from personal sins, but from contaminating, notorious SINNERS as well as even the ruinous SUSPICION of sin itself!

Application: To enjoy God's blessing today and escape becoming a spiritual casualty, like Israel in the wilderness journeys, (1) we are to EXPEL from the Church body those who are guilty of unconfessed notorious sins such as immorality, idolatry, extortion, slander, etc., 1 Cor. 5:11. In addition, we must pull back from abusive sinners who may not be guilty of expulsion, but who still godlessly afflict others, cf. 2 Tim. 3:1-5. (2) Of course, God wants us to confess personal acts of sin to fellowship with Him, 1 John 1:9. (3) In cases where the SUSPICION of sin exists, (a) though we should not go on a witch hunt, (b) God wants us to DISCERN the obvious truth for the sake of conscience. (c) We should be on our guard until GOD makes clear IF there is sin, and WITH WHOM the guilt lies, Numbers 5:15b-31!