I titled this message UNBELIEF,
OUR GREATEST SIN. It's our greatest sin. Later on in Hebrews, it's called
the besetting sin. Let us run the race set before
us. And it speaks of that besetting sin that hinders us. And that
besetting sin is UNBELIEF. UNBELIEF. If you were to ask
people on the street or even in religion, what is the greatest
sin? Would they count to be the greatest
sin? And I know you'd get many different
answers. I know you would. But the answer
to this question is found in the Word of God and is found
in this chapter, UNBELIEF. UNBELIEF. Adam rebelled against
God because he didn't believe God. That's why, he didn't believe
God. Every sin, EVERY SIN, whether
it be one that we don't count to be so bad or one of the worst,
it all starts with UNBELIEF. NOT BELIEVING GOD UNBELIEF. UNBELIEF IS REBELLION AGAINST
GOD and that's what sin is, it's rebellion, it's transgression
against God. This is the sin that keeps a
sinner from heaven and it's the sin that keeps a believer from
resting in Christ as they ought to rest You know, we are told
in Hebrews to labor to rest. That sounds like a paradox, doesn't
it? But we have to, believers now, true believers, we really
have to labor to rest because of so much sin and doubt that's
still in us. That's still in us. The Lord
said to His disciples, Why are you so fearful? The answer is
this, unbelief. That's why they were so fearful,
they didn't trust Him. And now the writer of Hebrews
here turns and he warns the Hebrews and in warning the Hebrews, he
warns us against an evil heart of unbelief and departing from
the Living God. That's sobering. We should always
apply the Word of God to ourselves first and when we read scriptures
like this we need to read them with a sober mind and we need
to read them applying them to ourselves first. First, because He's writing this
to every believer. This is written to believers,
not to unbelievers, it's written to believers and it's written
as a warning There's a warning of an evil heart and here's an
evil heart. He calls an evil heart of this
unbelief. That's an evil heart. They may
be the best person you know in the neighborhood, but if they
don't believe God, they got an evil heart. They literally have
an evil heart. That's so. This is what Paul
wrote to the Galatians about. He wrote to them about turning
back. He wrote to them about another gospel, which is not
another gospel. HE WARNED THEM ABOUT IT! And here He brings up the children
of Israel in the wilderness as an example. You know, when you read back
there in Exodus, and they came out, how many times do we read
they wanted to turn back to Egypt? WISH WE HAD DIED IN EGYPT, AT
LEAST BACK IN EGYPT WE HAD SOMETHING TO EAT OR WE HAVE WATER, AND
IT'S ALWAYS BACK IN EGYPT, BACK IN EGYPT, LOOKING BACK. WE ARE
TO FORGET THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, PAUL SAID, AND REACH
FORWARD TO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE US, WITH THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST BEING THE PRIZE OF THE MARK. HE'S THE PRIZE,
AS PAUL SPEAKS OF IN PHILIPPIANS. BUT THEY ALWAYS WANTED TO TURN
BACK TO EGYPT BECAUSE THE WAY IN THE WILDERNESS WAS TOO DIFFICULT.
AND WHAT THE HEBREWS WERE GOING THROUGH HERE, THE HEBREW BELIEVERS,
WHAT THEY WERE GOING THROUGH WAS VERY DIFFICULT. MORE DIFFICULT
THAN ANYTHING WE'VE GONE THROUGH. IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT FOR THEM
TO BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THEY WERE EXCOMMUNICATED.
YOU KNOW, AS WE GET OVER TO HEBREWS 11, THEY WERE IN DENS AND CAVES
AND I MEAN SAUL AND SONDER. was tough, tough to believe the
gospel in that day but the ones in the in the wilderness, the
children of Israel in the wilderness, they were tried, tried by God
and they failed, they failed. They proved they didn't believe
God, they proved it by their conduct. And no doubt some of
these Hebrew believers were tempted to go back because of trials
and false teachers, and they were tempted to go back under
that old covenant to Judaism, leave the gospel and go back
to Judaism. But He's saying here, Don't you turn back. You stay steadfast. No matter
how difficult it gets, no matter how hot the trial gets, you don't
turn back. you don't turn back if you're
the only one standing you keep standing and you stay steadfast
to the end that's what he's talking about here steadfastness this is not now I want you to
get this when we read scriptures like this it is not to get us
to doubt our salvation there's no virtue in doubting Christ
But we are told to make our calling and election sure, to always
give attention, to always give attention to our salvation in
Christ, always give attention to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ,
always give attention to growing in grace and in knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to just show up
here every week and not grow. I don't want you to show up here
every week and not grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ. This
is not a religious service, this is a worship service. That's
what this is, it's a worship service. And as we worship the
Lord, we grow. You cannot worship God truly.
You cannot worship the Lord Jesus Christ and not grow. I don't
think you can, not if it's true worship. Because the Lord will
bless that. He'll bless that. But He's not
writing this to get them and us to doubt our salvation, but
to give diligence. To give diligence to KNOWING
the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to just know some
things about Christ. I don't want to just know some
things about God. I want to know God. God is to
be known. The Lord Jesus said in John 17,
ETERNAL LIFE IS WHAT? TO KNOW GOD AND JESUS CHRIST
WHOM HE HAS SENT. THAT'S ETERNAL LIFE. THAT'S IT.
IT'S NOT A DECISION, IT'S PERSON. IT'S TO KNOW HIM. IT'S TO HAVE
FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. IT'S TO WALK WITH HIM. IT'S TO
TALK WITH HIM. IT'S TO CALL UPON HIM. IT'S TO
BELIEVE HIM. IT'S TO BELIEVE HIM WHETHER THE
SUN'S SHINING OR IF IT'S STORMING. IT'S TO BELIEVE HIM. and it's not to look back, it's
not to draw back. Paul said, We're not of them
who draw back, but we are them who believe to the saving of
the soul. I wrote down here in bold letters, REMEMBER LOT'S
WIFE. That's written for us. Remember
Lot's wife, she looked back. It's not that she looked back
just to see the smoke, her heart was back there. She looked back
with yearning to be back there. She looked back with a love for
that place. God turned her into a pillar
of salt. You know, from time to time, I sit down and I reminisce
about home. And I miss home. I've got two
homes, one here, and one back in Ashland but my real home is
in heaven that's my real home these are temporary homes that's
what they are temporary dwellings but every now and then I sit
down and we reminisce we reminisce about the days when we were at
13th Street and Henry's area then but then I get off of that
I get off from it because I know that that's you know looking
back we don't live on yesterday We don't live on yesterday's
grace. That's why they had to get manna every morning. We live
on Christ day to day. You know, if they took that manna
and they gathered one day, except for the Sabbath, but if they
gathered one day too much, you know what it did? It bred worms
and it stunk. It stunk. WE DON'T REACH BACK
TRYING TO LIVE ON YESTERDAY'S GRACE, WE LIVE ON GRACE TODAY. WE LIVE ON CHRIST TODAY. WE EAT
MANNA TODAY. IT'S TODAY! The last time I preached
from this I titled it TODAY, TODAY, TODAY! It's today. We don't live on yesterday, we
live on today. We'll get to that in a minute.
But we see here in verse 7 that the Word of God that He points
out here that the Word of God is inspired by God. He speaks of the Holy Spirit
and the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus Christ is God and the Father
is God. There are three distinct persons
in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all three
of them are involved in our salvation. When I baptize someone, I baptize
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. I had a man tell me one time
that the work of the Holy Spirit was not as important as the work
of Christ. You don't pit one against the
other. There are all three involved in our salvation. Take any one
of them out and you're WE BAPTIZE IN THE NAME OF THE
FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE FATHER CHOSE US,
THE SON REDEEMED US, THE HOLY SPIRIT REGENERATES US. AND IT'S
THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO TEACHES US. IT'S THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO TAKES
THE THINGS OF CHRIST AND SHOWS THEM TO US. IF YOU LEARN ANYTHING
TONIGHT, IF YOU GO HOME WITH ANYTHING TONIGHT, THE HOLY SPIRIT
GAVE IT TO YOU, HE INSTRUCTED YOU, HE REVEALED IT TO YOU. HE'S OUR TEACHER! THE COMFORTER
WILL COME AND HE'LL TAKE THE THINGS OF MINE AND SHOW THEM,
REVEAL THEM TO YOU. And so He says here, WHEREFORE
AS THE HOLY GHOST SAITH, LETTING US KNOW THAT THE AUTHOR OF THIS
SCRIPTURE AS WELL AS ALL SCRIPTURES IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD.
It's by their God-breathed is what it is. You see that over
in 2 Peter 121 and 2 Timothy 316. GOD USED MEN TO WRITE THE SCRIPTURES,
BUT THEY ONLY WROTE AS GOD MOVED THEM TO WRITE. HE MOVED THEM
TO WRITE. GOD INSPIRED THEM TO WRITE THIS.
THE WORD OF GOD IS GOD BREATHED, AND THEY WROTE IT DOWN. Now why
is he pointing out that the Holy Spirit said this? Why is he making
this such a point? Well, for this reason is that
they would really give some thought and take heed to what is being
said. This is not his opinion, he's
not writing and saying, this is my opinion, you need to think
about this. No, he's saying the Holy Spirit
said this. Now you better pay attention,
God speaking. God is speaking, that's why He's saying it. That's
why He's talking about this matter of unbelief and turning back.
The Holy Spirit was there when they did it and He's telling
us about it. He's writing to us about it.
Today if you will HEAR HIS VOICE! Now you hear mine right now,
don't you? But salvation is you hearing His voice, not just mine. Hearing His voice. It's important. Now listen here. How important
is today? How important is today? It's all we have. You know we
never have tomorrow. If it comes, it'll be today. Our life is spent today. It's
today, that's why I said today, today, today. It's always today.
We are always in the present. Who said you're going to live
tomorrow? Who said I was going to wake up in the morning? That's presumption. It's presumption
for me to say, I'm going to do this or that tomorrow. James
said, don't you say that. James said, say this, if the
Lord will, we will go to a certain city and do this or do that. But we always live in the present. I hope I'm getting that across.
Our life is always present, it?s present. And that?s why He says
today, He?s going to make a real emphasis on TODAY if you will
hear His voice. You may not be around tomorrow
and God may not speak to you again, and me. Let?s never take hearing the
Gospel for granted. Let's not ever take hearing the
gospel for granted. It's a PRIVILEGE! This is a PRIVILEGE
that God's given to us. He's given us the gospel. He's
given it to us. And we are to hear His voice,
His voice, and we are to hear what He has to say. and here
it has to do with FAITH. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. KEEP ON BELIEVING! KEEP ON BELIEVING! And God wrote of Israel's rebellion
here in the wilderness for our admonition. That's why we have
this. That's why we have this. It's for our learning. You can
read that over in 1 Corinthians 10 but listen to Jude Verse 5,
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how
that the LORD, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
afterward destroyed them that believed not. Only those twenty years old and
younger went into the promised land, and only two of the original
group that came out of Egypt went into the promised land,
Joshua and Caleb. And the rest of them died in
the wilderness. He said they're carcasses as I'll read here in
a minute. They died in the wilderness. And we'll go back to verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith, not just the preacher, the Holy Spirit, today if you'll
hear His voice, harden not your hearts, which implies that we
can harden our hearts. There's a lot of ways we can
harden our hearts. One thing is NEGLECT. He said earlier, NEGLECT NOT
THE THINGS WHICH YOU HEARD. DON'T NEGLECT THESE THINGS. HARDEN
NOT YOUR HEARTS AS IN THE REBELLION IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE
WILDERNESS WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME, THAT IS, THEY TRIED
ME AND PROVED ME. AND GOD PROVED TO BE FAITHFUL.
HE PROVED TO BE FAITHFUL TO THAT REBELLIOUS BUNCH OF PEOPLE. HE
TOOK CARE OF THEM, HE FED THEM, GAVE THEM MANNA FROM HEAVEN,
AND THEY GOT SICK AND TIRED OF THAT GARLIC LIGHT BREAD. GOD FED THEM, AND THEIR SHOES
AND THEIR CLOTHES DIDN'T GROW OLD, AND THEY COMPLAINED, THEY
MURMURED ALL THE TIME. THAT IS A SURE SIGN OF A LOST
PERSON, CONSTANT MURMURING AND COMPLAINING. and when your fathers tempted
me proved me and saw my works for 40 years they are witnesses
my work they went across on dry ground with a wall of water on
both sides manna from heaven water out of
the rock shiny eye they saw all that Wherefore I was greed with that
generation and said they do always err in their heart they got a
heart problem see this is where the problem is it's in the heart
that's why Solomon said he said this Proverbs 4 23 keep thy heart
speaking to his son keep thy heart with all diligence for
out of it are the issues of life keep your heart keep your heart protected Guard
against it. He says here, so I swore in my,
I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. And when
God swears something, it's going to happen. It's going to, and
I can make an oath. I can swear all day long and
not make anything happen. But if God swears, you're not
going to enter my rest. I thought of this when I was
going over this, this is chilling to me. I thought how many times
a person hears the gospel. A person comes in, they sit and
they hear the gospel. They grow up under the gospel.
They hear it time after time after time. And time after time
after time they turn their back and they walk out the door. And
I thought who knows but one time God will swear you're not going
to enter my rest. He's turned your back on me one
too many times. That's serious business now,
that's serious business. We should never presume that
God will speak to us all the time. Isn't this serious? We should
never presume that. Felix said to Paul, Paul, leave. And when I have a more convenient
time, see Paul preached to him of righteousness and judgment
and temperance, and Felix trembled. And he said, Paul, leave, and
when I have a more convenient season, I'll call for you. Do
we read of that convenient season? We don't read of it, do we? Boy, he heard the gospel, he
heard it in power, he trembled, he trembled. But I think what
he did, he looked at his life, he looked at his power, he looked
at all that he had, all the political power, he looked at the lifestyle
he had, and it meant more to him than Christ. And he said, now leave me now.
And Paul did. He did. Now it says that he called
for Paul several times hoping to get money from him. He's trying
to get a bribe out of Paul. Paul wouldn't bribe him. If Paul
could have bribed his way out of there and walked right out
of there, Paul wouldn't do it. But God never spoke to him again
that we read of. WE KNOW THAT SALVATION IS OF
THE LORD, WE KNOW THAT GOD HAS A CHOSEN PEOPLE, WE KNOW HE'S
GOING TO CALL THEM BY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, BUT WE ARE TOLD CONTINUALLY
TO GUARD OUR HEARTS FOR THEY ARE ALWAYS SUBJECT TO AN ATTACK
OF UNBELIEF. I wrote down here, we suffer
many spiritual heart attacks in this life. We do. We do. Our hearts are always
under attack either by Satan, by the world or by our old nature. It's always under attack. And we are always guarded. And we are never to presume upon
God's mercy and God's grace never presume upon grace. God is gracious, He's the God
of all grace and the God of all comfort, but let us never presume
upon that. And He gives a warning here,
HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, that is, AGAINST THE TRUTH. WE CAN HARDEN OUR HEARTS BY NEGLECT,
BY NOT LISTENING, BY NOT PAYING ATTENTION, BY GETTING CAUGHT
UP IN THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. WE CAN. WE CAN GET SO CAUGHT
UP IN THE THINGS OF THE WORLD THAT OUR HEARTS GROW COLD. HENRY
GAVE AN ILLUSTRATION ONE TIME. HE SAID YOU TAKE A PIECE OF COAL
OUT OF THE FIRE. YOU LAY IT OVER HERE BY ITSELF.
AND YOU WATCH IT GO OUT. AND YOU WATCH IT START TO SMOKE.
the smoke will come up, and then eventually the smoke's gone,
and there you have a cold piece of coal. This is why we are told
not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. We need one another. We'll see
this here in a second, but we need one another. We need one
another. This is important. this was Israel's sin in the
wilderness. They murmured, they refused to
enter the promised land, they refused to believe God, and God said, You're not going to
enter. You're not going to enter My rest. Look, listen, they saw
so many miracles And the eight men from heaven watered out of
the rock, and that rock followed a cloudy pillar by day, fire
by night, followed them all the way through, all the way through. And then they go over to the
promised land, Joshua, Caleb, and some others went over there,
and the others that came back, and they said, THEY'RE GIANTS
OVER THERE! THEY'RE WALLED CITIES OVER THERE! WE CAN'T DO THIS! And they wouldn't enter in. They
didn't want to go. They did not want to go. And
God said, you're not going to go. You're not going to go. You don't believe me. After all
that you've seen, you don't believe that I'm able to deliver. I delivered
you out of Egypt, the strongest nation on earth, the strongest
king, Pharaoh. I delivered you from Egypt. There
is no nation on earth as strong as that nation was. And I can't
deliver you from those giants? A man is a man. I don't care
if he's Five foot six or six foot six? He's still just a man.
He's nothing to God. He's nothing to God. You know,
the fear of man, the scripture said, bringeth a snare and it
sure did on them. It brought a snare on them. They
couldn't enter the promised land. They died in the wilderness.
They died in the wilderness lost. Christ said, your fathers ate
manna in the desert. You know what he said? And they're
dead. He didn't mean they just died.
They're dead. They're spiritually dead. Cause
he said, God, he said in another place, God is not the, he's not
the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. He's
talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they talk about
them being dead. He said, No, they're not dead. He's not the
God of the dead. He's the God of the living. But your fathers ain't
man in the wilderness, and they're dead, and they're dead because
they didn't believe Me. He didn't say because they sinned, but
He says they believed not. He didn't even mention the sin.
He just said you believe not. You believe not. We have a lot
of sins, don't we? CHRIST PUT AWAY OUR SINS, BUT
YOU KNOW THE WORST OF ALL OF THEM IS UNBELIEF. AND IT'S STILL TOO MUCH IN EVERY
ONE OF US. TOO MUCH IN EVERY ONE OF US. NOW TAKE HE, BRETHREN, HE SAYS
IN VERSE 12, TAKE HE, BRETHREN, UNLESS THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU
AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF AND DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD.
I'VE WATCHED THIS HAPPEN. I'VE WATCHED PEOPLE WHO SIT UNDER
THE GOSPEL, WHO CONFESS CHRIST, their latter years and leave
I've seen it happen I've seen it happen didn't I mean it's
like hard to believe but it happened take heed brethren as there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief departed from the living God this is serious
it's serious And as I said, He's writing to brethren because He
calls them brethren. He still calls them brethren.
And He KNOWS how subtle Satan is. He got Adam to fall when
Adam was innocent. I mean, Adam knew no sin and
Adam fell. And there's so much sin in me,
Satan, you know, I mean, he's just like pick a card. THERE
IS SO MUCH SIN IN ME, SATAN CAN JUST LAY HIS TEETH INTO ANYTHING.
YOU KNOW IT SAYS THE SON OF SATAN HAS COME AND HATH FOUND NOTHING
IN ME. THERE WAS NOTHING IN CHRIST FOR
SATAN TO SINK HIS TEETH INTO. THERE IS A WHOLE LOT IN ME FOR
HIM TO SINK HIS TEETH INTO. A WHOLE LOT. Peter said, I'LL
NEVER DENY YOU, I WON'T DO IT, THESE OTHERS MAY, BUT NOT ME.
And He denied him three times, right to his face. Three times. I'm sure Peter, he went out wet
bitterly and he probably said, I can't believe I did that. You know, he struggled with that
problem. I'm sure it bothered him the rest of his life. David
said, my sins ever before me. Here he had the opportunity three
times to stand up for Christ and he denied him all three times
but oh by the grace of God that sin is gone it's gone it's serious business one writer said this and this
is interesting this is what people get offended about this is what
offended Israel of old they saw God as one who existed to meet
their needs and their wants We don't see God that way, do we?
We see God as our God. God's our sovereign and our Savior. We see God as one to have fellowship
with, not just a just to heal me when
I'm sick, physically, when I'm physically sick, just to heal
me or to give me a good job or enable me to have a better life.
No, it's not. He said, I may have fellowship
with the Father and with the Son, not just now, but for eternity. He's just not one to grant my
wishes. He's one who saves me from my
sins and saves me from Himself. True he is. He didn't see him
as someone to be worshipped and trusted and submitted to. He's
one to be loved and followed, trusted. And how do we fight
such an evil heart of unbelief? And I'll try to wind this down.
Here's how we fight this evil heart of unbelief. Here's one
of the ways. Exhort one another daily. daily we need to have more contact
with one another than we do don't we he said exhort encourage one
another every day every day and it's not just for the preacher
it's for the people also it's for you too exhort one another
if you see one down put your arm around him and talk to him
about the scriptures and comfort him with the scriptures that's
what the word of god says and you can comfort a believer with
the scriptures You can't comfort anybody else with it, but you
can comfort a believer. It WILL comfort a believer. EXHORT ONE
ANOTHER DAILY WHILE IT IS CALLED TODAY, LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED
THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. You don't even know what's
happening. That's what's scary. You don't know this hardening
is taking effect. It may be, I don't know, I'll
be turning 70, I may have hardening of the arteries, I don't know.
I may have. But it's happened over years.
If I have it, it's happened over the years. Happened through a bad diet.
But it's happening to me imperceptibly, then all of a sudden I find out
I have hardening of the arteries. And this hardening of the heart,
HAPPENS THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN, AND IT'S DECEITFUL. IT
CAN COME GRADUALLY, AND YOU DON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE IT. You miss here,
you miss there, you make an excuse here, you make an excuse there,
next thing you know, you don't even show up. Next thing you
know, you really have no real interest in Christ. And that's what He's warning
us of. Sin is deceitful. It's deceitful. And he says here, while it is
called today, while the gospel is still being preached here
at Bethel Baptist Church, believe today, believe all over,
believe all over again today. Believe once again today. Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief. I don't know about yesterday.
I don't know about 40 years ago. I have a good idea about some
things, but I really don't know about those things, but I do
know what's today. Lord, I believe today. I believe
you today. And by your grace, when I wake
up here in the morning, I'll believe you again by your grace. For we are made partakers of
Christ, in verse 14, we are beneficiaries of all that Christ has done,
all that he has, all that he is, if We hold that confidence. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end, if we don't just come up and
be like those stony ground hearers and you know, the sower, that
parable of the sower, we just, you know, the sun comes up, it
gets hot and trials come along, we're offended. We're offended
at God for letting this happen, for not bringing me out of it. THERE'S MORE TEARS AMONG THE
WHEAT THAN YOU REALIZE. LORD, DON'T LET ME BE A TEAR.
I PRAY THIS OFTEN. LORD, I PRAY THAT MY FAITH, MY
HOPE, AND MY REPENTANCE IS GENUINE. I PRAY THAT OFTEN. I BELIEVE
IT IS, BUT I DON'T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED. I DON'T TAKE IT FOR
GRANTED. WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST,
BENEFICIARIES OF CHRIST IF WE HOLD THE BEGINNING OF OUR CONFIDENCE
STEADFAST TO THE END. THE GOSPEL DOES NOT HOLD OUT
ANY HOPE FOR QUITTERS! That's what it says. And Paul
said, We are not of them who draw back. God's people are not
quitters. They are not quitters. You know why? God won't let them
quit. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. He keeps us believing by His
power. Oh, we'd quit if He let us, but
He won't let us. He won't let us. But let us not
think though that our perseverance qualifies us for heaven. It just
reveals we're born of God. While it is said today in verse
15, While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts, as in the rebellion, for some when they heard did
rebel, they said, we're not going into that land. That's what they
said. We're not going. HOW BE IT NOT ALL THAT CAME OUT
OF EGYPT BY MOSES, MOSES, YOU KNOW, JOSHUA AND CALEB DIDN'T.
THEY BELIEVED. THEY SAID WE CAN DO IT. LET'S
GO. THEY BELIEVED GOD. SOME HEARD BUT STILL PROVOKED
GOD BY THEIR UNBELIEF. LISTEN TO DEUTERONOMY 1A. BEHOLD,
I HAVE SET THE LAND BEFORE YOU. GOD SAID I'VE SET THE LAND BEFORE
YOU, MILK AND HONEY. GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND WHICH
THE LORD SWEARED UNTO YOUR FATHERS, IT'S YOURS, IT'S YOURS, GO IN,
TAKE IT, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB, TO GIVE UNTO THEM AND
TO THEIR SEED AFTER THEM. NOTWITHSTANDING YOU WOULD NOT
GO UP, BUT REBELLED AGAINST THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD YOUR
GOD. GOD SAID GO, AND YOU SAID NO. SO GOD SWEARED, YOU'RE NOT GOING.
You're not going to enter my rest. Now brethren, we've heard a greater
call. We've heard a greater call. We've heard the gospel call.
We have heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've heard
the call of the gospel, the call of grace. Now take heed to yourselves
that you don't turn away from it. Don't turn away from it. By God's grace, we won't. But
with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that BELIEVED NOT? He didn't say that to them that
sinned not, but to them that believed not. They believed not. So we see they could not enter
in because of One reason. There's one reason if you perish
or I perish or anybody perishes, there's one reason. We refuse
to believe God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. No, I'm not going to. Not tonight. Not today. Well, there will come a time
when there won't be a today no more. That's the honest truth. IF I'M GOING TO BE A FAITHFUL
WATCHMAN, I'VE GOT TO PREACH LIKE THIS ALSO. UNBELIEVE OUR GREATEST SIN.