When shall I reach that happy
place? When shall I see my Father's
face? Well, Job said, in all the days
of my appointed time, I'll wait. I'll wait. Alright, go back to
Numbers 14 with me. I've started reading in the book
of Deuteronomy recently, which referred back to this story.
That's why we're dealing with it. Deuteronomy is rehearsing,
going back over Moses, rehearsing all that the Lord did for the
children of Israel from the time He brought them out of Egypt
to the Promised Land. in one chapter there in Deuteronomy,
he says, you need to remember all the way the Lord has led
you and fed you and protected you and done all these things.
But they forgot. And that's one reason the Lord
kept reminding them. All through the book of Exodus,
Numbers, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and then the
Psalms, the story of the children of Israel, I'll repeat it over
and over again. The book of Hebrews is a short
summary of that whole story. The story of God in His marvelous
grace and mercy of choosing a people, an unworthy people, no different
than the Egyptians, but nevertheless choosing them and revealing Himself
to them and revealing the Lamb to them and providing for them
and leading them and protecting them and feeding them and all
of these things, in spite of their great sins, all the sins,
all their unbelief, all their ingratitude, yet God in His great
love and His great mercy and His great, great, just kept in
His great longsuffering, just kept forgiving them and kept
providing and kept leading and just put up with them all of
the day. That's what it's all about. It
keeps telling us. And Paul wrote to the Romans,
he said, these things are written for our learning. Our learning. Because all of God's people are
called sons of Jacob. And happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. We're no different than the children
of Israel. When I read their story, I read my story. We're
no better than they. No better at all. We're just
like them in every way. So I'm glad God of Jacob is my
help. The children of Israel, this
story, God who promised from the beginning to Abraham, remember,
and his seed, that he was going to give them the land. Give it
to them. Not condition them, but give
it to them. Freely give it to them. And that
He was going to provide for them and lead them all the way. And
He did. He did exactly what He said He would do. A cloudy pillar
by day, a fiery pillar by night, the bread and the water and just
on and on it went. And He did exactly what He said
He would do. And they kept disbelieving Him. They just wouldn't trust
Him. They just wouldn't trust Him.
You know what the greatest sin of all is? Unbelief. He's calling God a
liar. Well, I'm not. Well, God told them, and He's
going to bring them in, and here they are. They're right at the
door. They're about to go in. And the people are the ones that
asked God, the people are the ones that asked Moses to send
some men in to check it out before they went in. The people were
the ones that did that. And God said, OK. Although He didn't,
He promised. They should have believed Him. But God had Moses send 12,000,000
in as witnesses. For 40 days, they went throughout
the land and spied it out. OK? Witnesses. For 40 days, they
looked at everything. And they came back and gave a
report. Ten of them gave an evil report. Ten of them caused the
people to fret and fear and worry. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb,
two faithful witnesses, told them a good report, that it's
just like God said. They didn't bring up anything
bad. But the other ten, it was a bad
report. And that's who the people listened
to. They didn't believe God. And they didn't believe the faithful
witnesses. But they believed these ten men. And in the end
of this story, God said, OK, for every day that they were
in there witnessing, you're going to roam in the wilderness again.
Forty years for every day. And those men that gave the report
down in verse Verse 32 says, those that brought up the evil
report, they perished. They perished. They perished. Well, not verse 32, but verse
37. The men that brought up the evil
report died by the plague. Alright, now this is where this
story begins, okay? They heard the evil report. That's
all they listened to. The evil report. They didn't
believe Caleb. all the congregation lifted up
their voice and cried, and the people wept that night, and the
children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and
the whole congregation, every single one of them, every single
one of them, said, Would God we had died in Egypt, or would
God we had died in the wilderness. That is, we wish we had died
in Egypt. You know, they got their wish. Be careful what you
wish for. They said, why has God brought
us into the land, questioning His providence? We're going to
fall by the sword. And they said, our wives and
our children are going to be a prey. No. As a matter of fact,
the children are the ones that went in. Right there is a good
picture. Except you receive the words
of little children. You're not entering the kingdom of heaven.
The children went in. They didn't. Well, they said,
let's go back to Egypt. Let's make us a captain. They
had a captain. Oh, my. The Lord. The angel went
forth. And the Lord told them, no one
shall be able to stand before My angel. You just follow Him.
Well, they didn't believe. They didn't believe. They kept
questioning the Lord's providence, questioning the Lord's Word,
disbelieving His Word, ready to go back to Egypt, ready to
halt. Why? They didn't believe God's Word.
They didn't believe the good report. They believed the evil
report. And folks, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. all the congregation. Every sinner
in here is guilty of disbelieving our God, of unbelief. All 12
of those disciples were guilty, weren't they? All 12 of those
apostles were guilty. And our Lord kept saying, Oh,
you little thing, how long must I bear with you? Didn't He? For
three years, the Lord of glory was with them. They were beholding
His glory. Grace poured from His lip who
provided for them every day, day in and day out. that hour
after hour provided for them, protected him miraculously, and
they just wouldn't believe him, would they? My, my. The good report is the promises
of God, the Word of God, the Gospel, the Gospel's good news,
glad tidings, glad tidings of great joy. We're going to a promised
land. God said, who promised it? God
did, who cannot lie. And who's it for? How do you
get there? Well, we're going to answer that
in a minute. Okay? The God who promised. And how quickly we forget the
good promises of God. How quickly. Exceeding great
and precious promises from God who cannot lie. And we're all
guilty of it. Every one of us are guilty. And
this is why the Lord keeps reminding us, keeps reminding us. And for
me to say the same thing to you is not grieving. Because I need
to keep reminding myself what I remind you of. Every one of
God's people, no matter how great in faith they are, we are believing
and unbelieving, believing and unbelieving. Abraham one day
would go out against all the kings to rescue Lot. And the
next minute, he's afraid of one king, and he denies his wife.
Remember that? David goes out against the greatest
man on earth, Goliath, and the whole army of the Philistine.
Doesn't he? Is there not a cause? The next
minute, he's saying, I'm going to die by the hands of Saul.
Right? Lot? Oh, my. On and on it goes. On and on it goes. Lot, you know,
went out, fled, warned his family, and then he fled, and then the
Lord said, go to the mountains. He said, oh no, can't go up there.
A bear might eat me. We're no different. We're no
different. Well, look at verse 30 of chapter
13. Here Caleb, oh, faithful dog. I listened to a message by Brother
Mahan today on Caleb the faithful dog. Caleb says, Caleb stilled
the people. Be still, that's what he said. Be still and know that He is
God. Have you forgotten? The Lord is our rock. He's our
God. He reigns and rules over the
armies of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. He who promised
this said, let us go up at once and possess it. We're well able
to overcome it. How? God is with us. Let's go,
boys, men. Quit yourselves like men. Believe
the Lord. They didn't believe that. Look
at verse 6, And Joshua, son of Nun, he stood up, and Caleb,
son of Jephunneh, which robbed them that searched the land.
They rent their clothes, and they spake unto all the company
of children, saying, The land we've passed through, here's
a good report. The search is an exceeding good land. It's
a good land. It's all good. We've been through
some hard times, but it's all good. It's all going to end up
good because we're going to a good man. Huh? It's all going to end
up good. Mark the perfect man. The end
of that man is peace, rest, all good. Our Lord said so. It all works together for our
good. We go through some trials, go through this wilderness of
sin and tribulation, but our Lord said be of good cheer. It's
going to end good. It's going to end so good. Then
Caleb and Joshua, they spake unto all of them, and they said
in verse 8, look at this, if the Lord delight in us, he'll
bring us into this land. He'll bring us in. We're not
going to have to. You remember what the Lord told
Jehoshaphat and all of them? The battle's not yours. That's
what the prophet told Jehoshaphat. The battle's not yours, it's
the Lord's. You will not need to fight this
day. The battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. Believe and
you'll be established. He'll bring us into this land
if He delights in us, and He'll give it to us. He's not going
to have to fight for it. He's going to give it to us.
He's going to... You don't have to earn it. He's
going to give it to us. He promised it, and He will give
it. A land flowing with milk and honey. And you know, that's
typical. Milk and honey. Milk of His Word. Honey of His Word. A flowing
God's grace, God's mercy, God's love. God's goodness just flows
like a river, peace like a river flowing, land flowing. We're going in. Did God delight
in us? Did God delight in the children
of Israel? You say, well, sorry, Monk. I
know that. But what did He say? Did He delight
in them? I want you to turn with me to
Deuteronomy chapter 7. Maybe you've forgotten. Maybe
we've forgotten. And we feel worse than the children
of Israel. We have more like them. We have
more of His Word. We feel, if not just like them,
we feel worse. But look at this, Deuteronomy
7. And this is why I want to read this again. It reminds me
of what I am and what God is, who God is. Deuteronomy 7, verse
7, it says, verse 6, Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy
God. Holy? That means separate. That means
sanctified. That means set apart. How? Our
holiness? Oh, no. We don't make ourselves
holy. He's made unto us sanctification,
righteousness. He makes us. He sets us apart.
The Lord put a difference between the Egypt. How did He put a difference? The blood of that Lamb. The blood
of the Lamb in His revealed will. You are a holy people unto the
Lord. The Lord has chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself. One place said, a peculiar people.
I don't know why He chose them. Special people, above all people
on the face of the earth. They are not better than, but
they are special to God. He has shown favor to them. The
Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you
are more in number than any people. You are fearless. But because
the Lord loved you, because the Lord loved you, because
He would keep the oath He sworn to your fathers, to Abraham,
verse 9, know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God,
the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love Him and keep His commandment to a thousand generations. Go
over to chapter 9. Chapter 9. Over and over again
He says this. Look at this. Verse 4, Deuteronomy
9, verse 4, Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord
thy God hath cast, that is, your enemies, out from before thee,
saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
possess this land, but for the wickedness of these nations the
Lord doth drive them out from before thee, not for thy righteousness,
or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess
their land. But for the wickedness of these
nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee,
and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Remember that. Remember that. He did it for his sake. He went
on to say, you're stiff-necked. Stiff-necked is not for your
righteousness sake. Quickly over to Isaiah 42. Just
real quickly. Isaiah 42. Does the Lord delight
in His people? Well, look at this. You know
that God's people are in Christ? They were in Christ before the
foundation of the world? That's right. All of His elects
were in Christ. Christ is the elect and all of
us are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Righteous
in Him. Well, look at what he says in
Isaiah 42, verse 1, Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth. Delighteth. He delights in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all those that are in Him, He
delights in them. Remember Proverbs 8? It says,
I was daily with Him. I was daily His delight. And
then Christ said in Proverbs 8, and my delights were with
the sons of men. And it pleased God, the scripture
says, to make you his people. Who? Sinners. Sons of Jacob. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. Jacob
have I loved. Yes, he loved him like he was
as he saw him in Christ. Oh my. If the Lord delight in
us, and he does, I've got to read this to you. I had so many
written down, but I've got to read this. This is just wonderful.
I think of Curtis Hooker when I read this.
Psalm 147. Like I think of Joe when I read
Isaiah 57. But listen to this. Psalm 147,
verse 10. He delighteth not in the strength
of the horse. He taketh no pleasure in the
legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him. In those that hope in His mercy,
He delights to show mercy. He delights in those that fear
Him and those that hope in His mercy. That's about all I can
say today, is hope in His mercy. If the Lord delights in us, He'll bring us in. He'll give
us a land. That's what it says. He will.
He'll do it if He delights in us. Oh, listen to this. One more. It gets better. It doesn't get
better, it's just as good. Then in Micah, it says, Who is
a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth
not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will
turn again. He will have compassion on us.
Remember David prayed, Turn us, O Lord. He said he will. He will
subdue our iniquity. He will cast all our sins in
the depth of the sea. He will perform the truth to
Jacob. He'll do what he said in the mercy to Abraham, which
he swore under our fathers from the days of old. He will do it
if he delights in it. If you trust Christ, he delights in you. If you love his son, he loves
you. I can answer like Simon Peter
with my head hung low, yes, but I can't answer When he asked,
Do you love me? I can tell you, Yea, Lord. Now
notice, I know I didn't act like it. I don't act like it. But
I do. Because you put it there. If
he delights in us. Go back to our text now. Luke
14. If the Lord delights in us. And
he said in verse 9, Don't rebel against the Lord. Don't rebel
against the Lord. Neither fear ye the people of
the land. Don't fear the people of the
land. They're bread for us. The false preachers, witnesses,
came and they started talking about how big the giants were.
Here's the report they brought back. These people are great.
These people are giants. We don't match for them. They're
all a bunch of giants. They're all great men. before the Lord. People aren't
going to defeat Him. God is. And then they said the
cities are walled. It's impossible to get in these
cities. They're walled, high walled.
We'll never get over those walls. Joshua. They're going to march
around with pictures in their hands. Can you imagine what the
people of Jericho were thinking? Blowing trumpets, carrying pictures. What in the world are they crazy?
Watch. And when I blow the trumpet,
break those pictures, and say, Joshua's coming in. And the walls
fell flat. But these evil reports said the
walls are too big, we can't get in. It said that land's eating,
it'll eat you up. It's tough land. No. There was no mention of any of
those things by Joshua and Caleb. No mention of giants. No mention
of walls. No mention of plagues and all
of that. No mention of that, only good.
No one is milking honey. It's Irish. Let's go. What are
you worried about? Look at this, verse 9. It said,
Their defense is departed from thee. They have no defense. We
do. God is with us. The Lord is with
us. Fear them not. God, if God be for us, Who can
be against us? What do we fear? Everything. We're a sorry lot, aren't we?
I say we. My, my, my. Who hath believed
our report? Remember, that's what Isaiah
said. Who hath believed our report? Lord, don't let me listen to
what I'm hearing all around me. look with my eyes, but let me
look with the eye of faith. Don't let me listen to what people
are saying, what the false prophets are saying. You know what the
false prophets bring? Here's an evil report, too. False
prophets. And they all died. And notice
there were only two true ones. There were ten false ones. False prophets today say, well,
God says, this is what God says. God's Word is true. But don't they? They cast a doubt
on it, like Satan did in the beginning. And his ministers,
that's what they do. They cast a doubt on God's Word.
God promised, but now it's up to you. Isn't that what they
say? God wants to. God's willing. But He's not able. He can't unless
you let Him. Isn't that what they say? And
people by the millions believe them. Jesus died for you. He died for you. He shed His blood for your sin.
Put away your sins. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. But you've got to make that blood
pay. It's up to you. That's a false report. That's
a false report. That's an evil report. That's
a false gospel. There's no good news in that.
If there's anything left to me, if there's anything that's up
to me, I'm not going in. I'm not going to make it. Here's the good report. God said
it. That settles it. Whether you
believe it or not. God said it. He's true to His
Word. Yea and amen. All the promises of God are not
in you. They're in Jesus Christ. And they're yea and amen to the
glory of God by Him. By us. Yea and amen. You can make yourself miserable
not believing it. Or you can just believe it and rest. I like
what Matthew Henry said. Listen carefully. Listen carefully. A man of great wisdom. He could
say things in a few words. He said, the sin of unbelief
is its own punishment. But those that don't trust the
Lord vex themselves day in and day out when they don't need
to. full of doubts and fears and
worries and heartaches and sorrows and troubles and all of that,
just for not believing. Vex our sin. I know our sin,
Vex said. But look to Him. Keep looking
in and you'll be vexed, won't you? He said, look unto Me. God said so. God is willing and
God is able. God is able. God is not willing. The preacher would bring up 2
Peter 3, 9 all the time, trying to make people believe that God
is love and God is willing and God just doesn't want you to
be saved. But that really, it takes all the hope away from
me when they say, God is not willing and then He should perish.
Well, some do. Some do. It wasn't God's will. God didn't want them to, but
they did anyway. No, I have no hope. Because all my hope is
in the will of God. Purpose of God. Power of God.
Oh, my. Read on. Let's go on down here.
I've got to get to this. It said in verse 11, that all
the congregation, you know, begged stone then with stone. My, my.
Just for telling the truth. And in the meantime, the glory
of the Lord was in the tabernacle. The Shekinah glory. My, my. The Lord said unto Moses, verse
11, how long will this people provoke me? How long will it
be that they believe me? All the signs that I've showed
them among them, when are they going to believe me? That's a
good question, isn't it? How long? How long? When am I going to start believing?
Philip, have I been so long time with you? Have I done so much for you and
yet you don't believe me? You distrust me over the least
little time. What's wrong with you? I'm sorry. I'm a sorry sinner. Unbelief. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
Get rid of it. And the Lord said, I'm going
to smite them with a pistol. Now, God promised it. And God doesn't go back on His
word and on His promise. No one under God are all His
work for them again. He knew what he was going to
do. This is written for our learning. Had to be a mediator stand up.
Had to be a mediator stand up and plead for these sorry bunch
of unbelieving sinners. Moses did. And he did it time
and time again. Moses was constantly the mediator
between God and man. One man. Moses. And we have one
thing. No better than he. Christ Jesus. And verse 17, Moses said, the
Egyptians will hear it. If you kill them, kill them all,
the Egyptians will hear it. The world will hear it. The inhabitants
of this land will hear it. They've heard that the Lord was
with among this people, that they've seen Him face to face.
They have the cloudy pillar and the pillar of fire. Verse 15,
they've heard the fame of you. God is sovereign. And they'll
say, because verse 16, God was not able, He slain them. They'll
hear about this. Your glory is at stake. Your
word is at stake. Your promise is at stake. Your
covenant is at stake. If you kill these people, they're
going to hear it and they're going to say, God couldn't bring
them. He wasn't able to do it. And Moses, this mediator, pleaded on their behalf to the
Lord. And he said, look at this. Now I beseech thee, let the power
of my Lord be great according to your word. Show your great
power. When you think of the great power
of God, what do you think? You think of His creative power?
Oh, the heavens do declare His glory. The firmament shows this
handiwork. His great power is known. The
wrath of God is revealed from heaven. The thunder and the lightning
and the raging sea earthquakes and all of these things, the
plagues that God sends, and all of His power is known like that.
When He divided the Red Sea, when He sent manna from heaven,
when He smoked the rock, when He killed all the enemies, that's
His power, isn't it? That is His power, but that's
not His greatest power. Moses said, show your great power.
Remember this? Moses brings it back up. Moses
said over in Exodus 33, Lord, show us your glory, your great
power, the greatest display of your person, the greatest power
that is God's and God's alone, that we don't have. Show us this
great power. Here it is. Look at verse 18.
The great power of the Lord is this, the Lord is long-suffering. Long-suffering. That's His great power. Long-suffering. I listened to a message by a
brother on this, and he said the first power that our Lord
displayed was power over Himself. God is a consuming fire. God
is just. God who is angry with the wicked.
That great self-control, he put it. Look, I want you to look
at this. Go over with me to Proverbs 16. I do want you to see this. Proverbs
16. God's greatest display of His
power is His long-suffering and His mercy. Proverbs 16. Look at what this says here.
I love this. Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, 32. He that is slow
to anger is better than the mighty. He that ruleth his own spirit,
that is, in control of himself, is better and stronger than he
that taketh the city. There is another one that says
in chapter 19, verse 11, the discretion of a man deferreth
his anger. It is his glory to pass over
a transgression. The great glory of a man to forgive
a guilty person. What does the Scripture say?
The Lord is slow to anger, slow to wrath, of great mercy. His great power is long-suffering. Peter said this, the Lord is
long-suffering to us. His people, not willing that
any should perish, no matter how weak, no matter how sinful.
He's not willing. If He's not willing, it ain't
going to happen, because He worketh all things after His will. And
Peter went on to say, you need to take into account, you need
to remember, the longsuffering of the Lord is our salvation.
The Lord said to His disciples, how long must I suffer with you? To rebuke them, to make them
ashamed of their unbelief, to make them ashamed of their sin,
to make them ashamed of sinning against Him, rebelling against
Him, for not believing and not trusting Him. He did that. He
rebuked them, yes. But He said, how long must I
bear with you, suffer with you? How long did He? He says, having
loved His own, He loved them to the end. Hanging on that cross after they
all left Him, He said, Forget them. They don't know what they're
doing. What great power! Huh? What great power. Lonesome. That's our salvation. And of
great mercy. Oh, my. God's greatest power
is His mercy. There in our text, Moses said,
the Lord is of great mercy. Verse 19, he says, according
to the greatness of that mercy, great mercy. I used to read Isaiah
55. It says the Lord's ways are not
our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts as the heavens
are higher than the earth. I used to think, yes, God is
so much greater than us in wisdom and knowledge and understanding
and absolute power and all that. You know what he's talking about?
Mercy. Right before that, right before
he said that as higher as the heavens are than the earth are
my ways, he said, let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous
man his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord, he will have mercy
upon him. To our God he will abundantly
pardon. Abundantly. Like the prodigal,
and our Lord gave the illustration of the prodigal son. What a worthless
son. But he's a son. And it doesn't
matter what he did. He came back. He came to himself. Why did he
come to himself? God brought him to himself. And
he came back with his tail tucked between his legs. And before
he could get his confession out, God said, bring the best robe. Kill the fatted calf. Put a ring
on his finger. Bring him in. My son was dead.
He's alive again. What a great Father. What a merciful
Father. Yes, He is, isn't He? Listen
to Psalm 103. Oh, my. Psalm 103. This might
be my favorite psalm. The Lord will not always chide.
I need Him to chide with me, don't you? But He won't always
chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt
with us after our sins. He dealt with Christ after our
sins. He hath not rewarded us according to our iniquity. He
put them on Christ, laid on Him the iniquity of us all. As the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward
them that what? Turn over a new leaf? Do better?
Promise to do better? Don't ever do it again? That's
tearing. And as far as the east is from
the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them What? Fear Him. He knows our frame. He remembers where dust. Great mercy. You a great sinner? David said that. He said, pardon
my iniquity, O Lord, for it is great. Well, he came to the right
person, didn't he? Great mercy. Oh, great power. When we think of the power of
our Lord, This is His great power. Look at this in our text, verse
18, forgiving iniquity and transgression. The two things are different,
really. We're full of iniquity by nature. Iniquity, unequal. God is holy. We're not. God is merciful. We're
not. God is love. We're hate. God
is this. We're not. We're the opposite
of what God is by nature. Our nature, iniquity is all that's
wrong with us. Well, name something that's right
with us. Nothing. Nothing. Well, it says here,
He forgives iniquity. He knows our praying. He knows.
How does He know? He Himself. He took upon Himself
the likeness of sinful flesh and was tempted in all points
like as we are. He knows. He was able to resist
temptation. He met it head on in His weakest
point. We can't. He knows that. He knows that, Kelly. He knows
that. And we fall, and we mourn, and
we come back to Him. What does He do? Whip us? No. Chase us? Yes. But deceive us? Yes. He knows. He's of great mercy. He's not
like us. His mercy endures forever. Boy, I need this. He forgives
iniquity. And forgive means forget. He
said there are sins and iniquity I remember no more. And transgression. You know, transgression means
an active disobedience. Transgression. Every sin is a
transgression of the law. That you know to do it, not to
do it, do it anyway. Anybody? He forgives it. He does. He forgives transgression. He forgives it. Because Christ
was numbered with the transgression. This book is called Numbers.
I want to do a message on that. You can't believe how many times
it's called numbered. They numbered the people, numbered
the people. That's another message. It says he'll by no means clear
the guilty. He's holy, he's just. Wait a
minute, I'm confused. No, you're not. Oh, you're not.
You know these things. You know how God can be just
and justify. You know how God can't clear
the guilty, yet clears the guilty. Huh? How? Somebody give me one
word. How? Christ, the substitute. Right. Satisfaction. Substitution. The gospel. Christ. That's how. We've got a great hope. Hope
in His mercy. He won't clear the guilty. And
we're guilty. But no, Christ, God laid on Him
the guilt of us all, the iniquity of us all. And so he says in
verse 19, Oh Lord, pardon my beseech the iniquity of this
people according to the greatness of thy mercy, thy power. As you've
forgiven this people, how forgiving is the Lord that he forgave that
sorry bunch of Israelites from Egypt all for 40 years. And the reason they didn't go
in and Moses didn't go in is, you know, we've already looked
into that. apostasy. They were a picture
of apostasy. And children go in, except you
become a little child believing, like Caleb, a faithful dog. That's who goes in. But the Lord
pardoned them from Egypt all the way to the Jordans. And the Lord said, here's what
the Lord said. I have. I have, pardon me. I already have. He said, God
rest his pardon, according to your word. And isn't this a wonderful
picture of our Lord Jesus Christ? Father, forgive them. I have,
according to your word. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me, that they may behold my glory. I will. I will. And then he said in verse 21,
as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory
of the Lord. Oh, I'm so glad because that means us. It doesn't
just mean that little part over there in the Middle East, you
know, that little, oh no, this gospel, the glory of the Lord,
His great power is shown of people out of every tribe, kindred,
nation and time. Sinners all. Heathen all. Be it Jew or Gentile. God's glory,
this great power of the Lord has been shown through all the
world. Oh, His mercy is long-suffering,
His pardon. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, O Lord, we thank You
for Your sure mercies of David, the son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ, all the promises of God in him. We keep repeating that. Because that's our hope. That's
our salvation. What you promised David, who
knew he was a sinner, whose sin was ever before him, his hope
was that the blood was before him. His hope was in the Lord's
mercy. His hope was in the Word of the
Lord. So, Lord, remember the Word. Unto all your servants
upon which thou hast caused us to hope, the sheer mercies of
David, covenant mercies that you made with Christ our Lord
for these Mephibosheth. and all whom you've put in Christ,
given to Christ, will be saved. And you'll bring into that promised
land. Christ Himself said, you believe
in God, believe also in Me. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And where I am, you may be with Me where I am. We
believe, Lord. Help our unbelief. And subdue
our iniquities, Lord. Subdue our sins, our unbelief
especially. It's in Christ's name we met
here tonight, and for His glory and honor we ask these things. Amen.