Deuteronomy 9:4-6 New American Standard Bible
"Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, '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 dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. "Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.
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God is good. He is leading his people into the Promised Land. The promised land was a good place. Proverbially a land flowing with milk and honey but also a land filled with big bad giants. Giants that had come to the end of their grace period. Giants who would soon be facing the wrath of God. Deuteronomy chapter nine says, "...it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them."
So it wasn't because God's people were more deserving. It wasn't because they were more liked by God or because they were on a better spiritual trajectory due to their deep and unwavering love of God their rescuer.
I've meet lots of nice Christians who would not like to bring up the past sins of another person. And to avoid the unpleasantness of past sin they spiritualize their reasons for politely refraining from looking back. "You know forgiveness remembers our sins no more. they are removed as far as the east is from the west." In the name of Christian love we treat people as if they are righteous, have been righteous, and will continue to be righteous. We all feel much better in this very righteous environment. I suppose many churches today would take issue with the Apostle Paul's, little list in first Corinthians and then the blunt and rather rude statement, "such were some of you."
For the most part God is not like that! God is plain talk'n! " God says here in Deuteronomy chapter nine, "Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people."
And it is not left just there. Then God rehearses for them the highpoints of their low points and his anger with their rebellious stubborn hearts.
It isn't just to rub their noses in their sin either that God says these things. It is God's good grace that warns them.
Nice Christians in nice churches might very generally acknowledge we were sinners in the past. But it is a major faux pas to use the past to predict the trajectory of the future. Isn't it judgemental to suggest that because you have a track record of stubbornness and rebelliousness that you might be stubborn or rebellious in the future. I mean let by gones be by gone , keep no record of wrongs and emphasis who we are as God's chosen people. We live in the greatest country in the world. God blesses us. We were chosen! We're special!
That's not the way God plays it with his people here in Deuteronomy nine, nor in most of the bible. God calls a spade a spade. God graciously warns his people that they are not getting into the promised land on merit!
They are not more righteous than the other nations. They do not have a good track record and they are most likely prone to pride and sin. There I've said it! I have suggested as God does that you are likely to sin! You are likely to think too highly of yourself. You are prone to thinking you've earn the grace of God! God's good grace gives and warns.
Don't go thinking you have been saved because you are clever, obedient, pretty good, not a murderer, or a child molester. There is every chance that God will save them.
As God give you a great gift he reminds you that it is just that a gift and he is not being mean spirited or hurtful as he warns you to not get the wrong idea and think you deserve it.
That is not what grace is about. Promised lands are about God's promises, not good behaviour.
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DEU 9:1-24 NASB
"Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. "Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, '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 dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. "Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord . Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, 'Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.' The Lord spoke further to me, saying, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people. Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.' "So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. I fell down before the Lord , as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain. "Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.
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