Introduction: Grace Is Not a Compliment

In these verses, Moses outlines yet another danger that they might face. We have already seen that fear can paralyze faith, and that success can make us spiritually lax. But there is another danger that comes after God gives victory. It is the danger of pride.

Fear says, “The enemies are too big; God cannot give us victory.”

Laxity says, "I'm too busy to go to the Lord right now."

Pride says, “The enemies fell; we must have deserved the victory.”

All three are forms of drifting from the first commandment - which is the subject matter of chapters 6-11. Fear underestimates God’s power. Laxity presumes upon God's power. Pride overestimates our righteousness and assumes that we are important because God has powerfully used us.

So in chapters 8 & 9, Moses has been preparing Israel for success. He is continuing to teach them how to interpret the incredible blessings and miraculous victories that He will shortly give to them. When God gives them the land, destroys nations greater and mightier than they are, and fulfills His promises, they must not draw the wrong conclusion and say, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.”

That is the burden of these first six verses. God’s grace is not a compliment or a pat on the back. God’s blessing is not proof that we were worthy of the blessing. The conquest will be real. But it will not be because Israel is righteous.

This is one of the hardest lessons for God's covenant people to learn. We know how to ask for grace when we are weak. But when God blesses us, prospers us, answers prayer, does miracles through us, gives victories, grows our families, strengthens our churches, and people start coming to us as if we are experts and as if we are the solution to their problems, we begin to quietly (and maybe even without realizing it) begin to turn grace into a reason to be very subtly proud of ourselves. We can become proud of our knowledge, financial achievements, or other successes that grace has produced.

So Moses says, “Do not do that. Do not misread grace.” God’s gracious victories must humble us, not flatter us.

Where is the focus when the enemy is greater than you (vv. 1-2)

OK, enough by way of introduction. Verses 1-2 say,

“Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’”

The opening word has a sense of urgency: “Hear, O Israel.” He’s about to tell them something that is very important, and he wants them to listen up.

And the first thing he is going to do is to encourage them to not minimize the obstacles. The nations are greater and mightier than Israel. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. The people really are great and tall - descendants of the Anakim giants. Their reputation has already spread: “Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?” And I will refer you to my sermon on Deuteronomy 2:8-18, where I prove that these descendants of Anak were not merely slightly taller people. You'll see liberal commentators who are really skeptical, and they say something along the lines of "A 6.6' person would have seemed like a giant to a 5'5" person." No. A 5'5" person would not see himself like a grasshopper in comparison to a 6'6" person. Sorry. Amos 2:9-10 describes this subgroup of the Amorites as being as tall as Cedars and as strong as Oaks, and I gave plenty of evidence in that sermon of incredible giantism among both animals and men. Even the fossil record shows unbelievable giantism, including a rat that was 7.5' long, scorpions 8 feet long, crocodiles 40 feet long, and many other forms of giantism. There is plenty of evidence that the ancient records of people over 20 feet tall is not an exaggeration at all. And I also gave solid reasons why these giants were 100% human - not half human and half demon. There were entire tribes of giants in those days. There were the Nephilim, the Emim, the Rephaim, the Zamzummim, the Avites, and the Anakim. Each of those tribes appear to have had a pervasive degree of giantism in their gene pool that was able to be passed on from one generation to another. I won't repeat what I said back then, but there really were giants who towered above the Israelites.

Moses does not say, “Israel, don’t worry; they are not that strong.” He says, “They are strong.” The challenge is real.

And that is an important point to make. Faith does not require us to pretend that our enemies are small. Faith sees the enemy accurately but sees God accurately as well.

And just by way of illustration, if a doctor were to say to his patient, “There is no cancer,” when there is cancer, he is not bringing comfort. Much as he might want to make the person feel better, he is not bringing true comfort. He is keeping the patient in the dark. True comfort says, “The disease is real, but there is a cure.” Moses says, “The enemy is real, but Yehowah goes before you.”

This is also a correction to triumphalism. Biblical confidence does not come from exaggerating our strength. Moses did not give a rah-rah speech to Israel to convince them, “You are up for this! You are strong! You are greater than the Anakim! You can do this!” Instead, he called them to remember that Yehowah was greater than the Anakim and He would go with them.

There is a pastoral lesson here that we need to learn to apply. Many Christians think faith means never admitting difficulty. They think they are being unspiritual if they admit to difficulties in their lives and things that stand in the way of God's goals for them. But that's not true. We can admit our difficulties and still live by faith. Moses honestly names the difficulty. Strong enemies. Fortified cities. Tall people. Fearsome reputations. The question is not whether the enemy is strong. The question is whether God is stronger. It's an issue of focus.

But he is also setting up the main lesson that these six verses will address. If the enemies are greater than Israel and yet Israel conquers them, then Israel must not later claim the victory as proof of its own greatness.

The greatness of the obstacle will become evidence of the greatness of grace.

The balance between God's sovereignty and our responsibility (v. 3)

Verse 3 goes on to say,

“Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.”

Now Moses gives Israel the reason for courage. Yehowah Himself will go before them.

Notice the balance in the way it is written: it says, “He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them.” God acts and Israel acts. Divine sovereignty does not cancel out human obedience. Depending on God to heal does not rule out our responsibility to care for our bodies. It establishes our responsibility. God will bring them down; therefore Israel must drive them out. If we are passive in the face of God's sovereignty, we have not understood God's sovereignty and how it works. The caricature of a passive Calvinist is a complete misrepresentation of Calvinism.

God's sovereignty enables covenantal obedience. Israel does not conquer apart from God, and God does not call Israel to sit back in passivity. Yehowah goes before them, and they follow in obedience.

And I love the way God is pictured here. Yehowah is a consuming fire. He is not a tribal mascot. He is not a mere encourager. He's not just a player on their team. He is a holy, dangerous, irresistible, and covenantally faithful God. The fortified cities may seem to reach to heaven, but they cannot withstand the fire of Yehowah.

Think of a child walking through deep snow behind his father. The father breaks the path. The child still walks, but he walks in the path his father has opened. Israel must fight, but Yehowah breaks the enemy.

Or think of a train going through a mountain tunnel. The passengers pass through the mountain, but only because the tunnel has already been cut. Israel passes through the impossible (and it was impossible in their own strength - but they pass through the impossible) because Yehowah makes the way. But they still had to pass through the impossible.

But this verse also guards against a false humility. Moses does not say, “You are not righteous, so expect failure.” No, God will give victory. Neither the doctrine of grace nor the doctrine of sin should weaken our confidence. Those doctrines redirect our confidence. Grace says, “Do not trust your righteousness; instead, trust Yehowah’s promise.”

Christians sometimes think humility means expecting defeat. That’s not humility; that’s lack of faith. Biblical humility expects God to keep His promises. The humble man does not say, “I am nothing, therefore nothing can be done.” He says, “I am nothing, but God has spoken; therefore I must obey, and I am going to trust Him to come through as I do my responsibility.”

This is crucial for Christian individuals, families, churches, and civilizations. We do not need self-righteous triumphalism. But neither do we need pious defeatism. Yehowah goes before His people. Christ has received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore we disciple the nations. But when He gives victories, we must move on to verse 4.

Do not misinterpret victory in your heart (v. 4)

Verse 4 says:

“Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you.”

This is the heart of the warning.

Moses knows the conversation that will happen in the heart before it happens. “Do not think in your heart…” Pride often begins as an inward interpretation before it becomes an outward boast. The lips may still say, “Praise the Lord,” while the heart says, “Because of my righteousness. Because God thinks I'm special. Because these people really need me. Because I'm indispensible.” Or something equivalent.

This is why success can be spiritually dangerous. Failure exposes our weakness, but success tempts us to reinterpret grace as merit.

Imagine a poor man adopted into a wealthy family. He is brought into the estate, clothed, fed, loved, and given an inheritance. But after some years, he begins walking around the estate saying, “Clearly I was adopted and brought here because I was superior to all the other orphans.” That is grotesque ingratitude. The inheritance was real, but it was not earned. Israel is about to receive an inheritance, but they must not turn adoption into arrogance.

Moses gives the correct interpretation: the nations are being judged because of their wickedness. And God is using Israel as His tool. That's it. Israel’s conquest is not ethnic superiority. It is not moral superiority. It is not national merit. It is divine judgment on wicked nations and divine faithfulness to covenant promises. That realization keeps our hearts where they need to be.

And you might not think you are prone to this temptation, but any of us can be. God’s judgment on the Canaanites was just. But Israel must not infer that being the instrument of judgment makes them somehow inherently righteous. A hammer used to break a rotten beam does not get to boast that it is morally superior to the beam. It is simply the instrument in the builder’s hand.

This principle applies broadly. When God blesses us, we must ask, “What is the right interpretation of this blessing?” Not every success is divine approval of everything else that we are doing. No. The blessings we receive may be because of His promises, because of His mercy, because He is judging evil, because He is preserving His church, because He is answering the prayers of other people on our behalf, or because He is advancing purposes far bigger than us. Too many Christians who are richly blessed by God with wisdom can eventually act proudly like Solomon. The same is true of Christians whose businesses are blessed by God, or who have good looks, or who are richly blessed in other ways. So this passage is not just a caution for Israel; it is a caution for all of us.

A church may grow and still need repentance. A family may prosper and still need humility. A nation may win a war and still be guilty of its own sins. A man may succeed in business and still be covetous. A ministry may be fruitful and still be dependent on mercy.

So Moses says, “Do not think in your heart, ‘Because of my righteousness.’”

The heart is a master editor. It really is. It takes the raw footage of grace and edits it into a documentary about our greatness. Moses is saying, “Do not let your heart produce that film.”

Both judgment and promise come in the appointed time (v. 5)

Verse 5 says:

“It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Moses now gives two true reasons for the conquest. First, God is judging the wickedness of the nations. Second, God is fulfilling the word He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And that reinforces what I just said. But it also brings up another lesson - that judgment and promise meet together in the conquest.

This protects us from two opposite errors. Some people want promise without judgment. They want a sentimental God who gives inheritance but never deals with wickedness. Others want judgment without grace. They want to imagine that God judges others because we are inherently superior. Moses rejects both errors. The nations are wicked, yet Israel itself is not sin-free. The land comes by judgment and promise, not by Israel’s merit.

This also means the conquest is not arbitrary. God had promised the land generations earlier. He had also told Abraham that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete. So the conquest comes when God’s promise and God’s patience reach their appointed moment. God is not impulsive. He is covenantally faithful and judicially righteous.

Think of it this way. A judge may delay sentencing because the legal process is not yet complete. Delay does not mean indifference. Just because America still prospers despite its rebellion does not mean God is indifferent. When judgment finally came to Canaan, it was not sudden in the sense of being unjust; it was the long-appointed day arriving. Canaan’s judgment had been long delayed. Israel’s inheritance had been long promised. Now both arrive together. But they both arrived in God's perfect timing.

And for believers, this is a deep comfort. Your salvation rests not on the uprightness of your heart, but on the promise of God fulfilled in Christ that we receive by faith. God does not bring you into your inheritance because He discovered enough righteousness in you. He brings you in because He swore covenant mercy, and Christ secured it for you.

And that means that the promise to Abraham now comes to its fullest expression in Christ, the Seed of Abraham. We receive the inheritance not because of our righteousness or the uprightness of our heart, but because God fulfills His promise in Christ. He never breaks His oath to Christ. The land promise was a type and stage to the much larger kingdom inheritance of the New Covenant. And every stage teaches the same lesson: inheritance comes by grace, not merit. These are such simple lessons, but my counseling ministry reveals that these simple lessons are so frequently ignored.

Grace humbles believers who realize that they still have a stiff-necked nature (v. 6)

Verse 6 goes on to say,

“Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

This is the third time Moses says it. Verse 4: not because of your righteousness. Verse 5: not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart. Verse 6: not because of your righteousness.

That repetition is not needless; it is pastoral. Some truths must be hammered into us because pride keeps growing back.

Moses adds the final diagnosis: “You are a stiff-necked people.” Now, that may seem like a strange thing to say to this generation that is characterized by faith. Isn't that needlessly insulting? But let me explain the significance of his statement.

First of all, the image that stands behind these words. The image is of an animal that resists the yoke, that will not turn, that stiffens its neck against direction. It doesn't easily go the direction that the master wants the animal to go. That's the image.

Israel’s problem is not merely that they have occasionally stumbled. As a nation they have tended to resist the rule of God, and that resistance came from their heart. Yes, this generation had learned to walk by faith and had put off the unbelief of the previous generation. But their human sin-nature was not completely eradicated, and it still had a disposition to being stiff necked. So long as they kept that in mind, they were on the right path.

And here's the point: we all have a stiff-necked sin-nature that we need to fight against. And you might remostrate - "No. I trust in God." Well, this was the most believing generation that took the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, and yet Moses says by inspiriation, "you are a stiff-necked people." So let me repeat my observation - we all have a stiff-necked human nature that we need to fight against and train. Sometimes it stays hidden awhile because of the depth of our sanctification, but it doesn't take a lot of neglect before it comes out of hiding like it did in David when he began relaxing as a king and in Solomon in later years.

And to me, that makes the grace of the passage even more amazing. God gives the good land to a saved people who still had a stiff-necked nature within them.

That does not make their stiff-neckedness acceptable. It makes grace astonishing. The purpose of this observation is not to make Israel comfortable in their sin. The purpose is to humble them into a realization that throughout their life, they still have an enemy within that needs to be subdued if they are to successfully subdue their outward obstacles. And that will lead them to dependence on God's grace and continued obedience.

A stubborn horse that fights the reins is not being praised for its rebellion when the owner keeps feeding it. The feeding is mercy; the stubbornness still needs breaking. Grace does not celebrate stiff-neckedness. Grace humbles and trains stiff-necked people. I have been a Christian for most of my life, yet I am still experiencing the need for God's grace on a daily basis. Without daily grace, stiff-neckedness could once again easily emerge from hiding. You never lose your sin nature; you simply subdue it, train it, and by God's grace you keep it from exhibiting itself.

This is the paradox of covenant grace: God gives inheritance to the undeserving in order to make them grateful, humble, obedient, dependent, and loving. Grace is not opposed to obedience. Grace is opposed to boasting.

There are two wrong ways to hear this sermon.

One person might wrongly say, “I am not righteous, so obedience does not matter. I give up.” That is the antinomian presumption. No. God expects obedience, and He never excuses disobedience. So that's one wrong way to hear this sermon.

Another person may wrongly say, “Obedience matters, so (because I have obeyed) I must be righteous enough to earn the blessing.” That is the prideful and legalistic presumption.

Moses rejects both. Israel must obey, fight, destroy idols, and love Yehowah. But Israel must never say, “Because of my righteousness.”

The gospel says the same thing. We are saved apart from our righteousness, but we are saved unto obedience. Christ is our righteousness, and therefore we must not boast. Christ gives the Spirit, who daily helps us to not be stiff-necked.

Conclusion: How to receive blessing without becoming proud

In conclusion, let me say that grace is not a compliment. Grace is a gift. And the only fitting response of the daily grace we need is grateful, humble, and obedient love; and a recognition that without Christ, we can do nothing. May we take these words to heart.

Amen.