Last week we looked at Deuteronomy
chapter 1. I want to go back to it for a
few minutes. I know most of you, hopefully
all of you have read it. But here in chapter 1 of Deuteronomy,
we could read some in this chapter. Let's just do that. Let's just
begin here and take just a minute and read some of this. This is where the children of
Israel had come to the borders, the very border of the land of
Canaan. They went back into the wilderness.
Let's begin to read in verse 21. Look at this. Deuteronomy
121. Behold, the Lord your God has
set the land before thee. Go up and possess it as the Lord
God of your fathers has said unto thee. Fear not, neither
be discouraged. And ye came near unto me and
every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, And
they shall search out the land, and bring us word again by what
way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the
saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe,
and they turned and went up into the mountain, and came into the
valley of Eschol, and searched it out. And they took the fruit
of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and
brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord
our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, you would not
go up, but rebelled against the commandments of the Lord your
God. And you murmured in your tents and said, Because the Lord
hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver
us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Whither shall
we go up? Our brethren have discouraged
our hearts, saying, The people is greater and taller than we.
The cities are great and walled up to heaven. And moreover, we
have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you,
Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which
goeth before you, he shall fight for you according to all that
he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness
where thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bare thee as a man
doeth bear his son, and all the way that you went until you came
into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not
believe the Lord your God. who went in the way before you
to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire
by night to show you but what way you should go up, and in
the cloud by day. And the Lord heard the voice
of your words, and was wrought, and he swore, saying, Surely
thou shalt not one of these men of this evil generation see that
good land which I swore to give unto their fathers, except Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, He shall see it, and to him shall I give
the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because
he hath wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord was angry with me
for your sake, saying, Thou shalt not go up thither. But Joshua
the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go up thither.
Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover,
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children,
which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil. They shall
go in thither, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess
it. But as for you, turn you and take your journey into the
wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. Then you answered and
said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go
up and fight according to all that the Lord our God commanded
us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapon of war,
ye were ready to go up into the hill. And the Lord said unto
me, saying to them, Go not up, neither fight, for I am not among
you, lest you be smitten before the Indians. So I spake unto
you, and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment
of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites,
which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased
you, as bees do, and destroyed you in seer, even unto Forma. And you returned, and wept before
the Lord. But the Lord would not hearken
unto your voice, nor give ear unto you. So we abode in Kadesh
many days, according to the days that ye abode there." Now let's
turn over to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. Let's read a little
bit here because this is an excellent commentary on this incident that
took place in the life of Israel, Deuteronomy 1. Let's begin reading
here in chapter 3. Let's begin around verse 7. Hebrews
3 verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith, Today, if ye will, hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and sold my works
forty years. Wherefore, I was grieved with
that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts,
They have not known my ways, so I swear in my wrath they shall
not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you not evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily
what is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. While it is said today, if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation
and the rebellion, for some, when they had heard, did provoke.
Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom
was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them who had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear lest the
promise being left us of entering unto his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter unto rest. Now this will keep
us busy for just a few minutes. But I think the account here
in Deuteronomy that I read to you is probably one of the saddest
incidences that ever happened in the history of the Jewish
nation. And I say that for several reasons.
One, because as I said in the beginning, they were right on
the border of the land of Canaan. They'd come out of Egypt, come
through the Red Sea, come through this wilderness, and they were
right there on the border, Kadish-Barnea. They could see the land. That's
how close they were to the land Canaan. And they said it's a
good land. My, it was a good land. We often
comment on that, and I bet you they talked about this from the
time they left Egypt. sitting in their tents of the
night, they talked about this land. And here now they are,
right on the border. And the encouragement they had gotten, I read that
to you there, Moses encouraging them to go over. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed. Don't dread
these giants. Don't worry about these walls.
The Lord is with you. He'll help you. All this encouragement
Moses gave them. And then we're told there in
chapter 1 in verse 26, notwithstanding, they would not go over, but rebelled
against the commandment of the Lord. Now that changed everything. I mean it changed everything.
This generation that was right there on the border, when they
rebelled at this point in time, the Lord said, I swear to you,
I swear to you, None of you men that has had this opportunity
to go into the land of Canaan, only two of you are going in.
That's Joshua and Cain. He swore to them. And when Moses
came back and said, Listen, you have provoked the Lord to anger. That's why they call it a provocation.
You have provoked Him to anger. And now He's told me that you're
not going. You're not going. I swear, He
said, you're not going. And then they had this awakening
to realize the awful predicament that put herself in. And they
said, we'll go. They made this one-tenth, empty-hearted
confession, we have sinned. But they weren't. They weren't.
They weren't honest. They weren't sincere. If they'd
have been sincere, they'd have submitted. When the Lord said,
go back into the desert, That's what they would have done if
they did what He told them to do. They went up the hill. This was so sad. This is the
saddest thing. They girded on the sword and
Moses said, I'm telling you, the Lord's not with you. The Lord's
not with you. A bunch of them got together
and went up the hill and they destroyed them. Killed a bunch
of them. They come back down the hill carrying their dead,
carrying the wounded, and then we finished up the chapter. There
they are, sitting in their tents. sitting outside, some of them
laying on their bellies, weeping before the Lord. And the Lord
would not hear them. Back through the desert they
go for forty years. Now that's sad, isn't it? That
is so sad. And what makes it so sad is the
opportunity that they had. And all this encouragement to
trust the Lord and go over, and yet they wouldn't. Forty years
they wandered in that wilderness. That's so sad. That's a very
sad incident that took place in their lives. And we're told
here in the book of Hebrews why they could not go into the land.
Unbelievable. That's the only thing that kept
them out there, wasn't it? Unbelievable. Do you know their
tears wouldn't get them there? Their tears just wouldn't get
them there, would it? Their confession wouldn't get
them there. Their resolve wouldn't get them
there. We're going out. We're going to fight, buddy.
We've got this resolve in our heart. I won't get you there.
But one way they could have entered the land of Canaan, and that
was by faith. And they didn't have it in their
hearts. And therefore, they could not enter because of unbelief. The Hebrew writer tells us that
in verse 19. So we see that they could not
enter because of unbelief. And you know, they acknowledge
this. They said so themselves. And I love the way, I don't know
what this means or if the Holy Spirit even means anything by
it at all, but here in Hebrews 3.19, so we see they could not
enter in because of unbelief. That's the very same word in
Deuteronomy 1, verse 46, where he says, So they went not in,
so they remained at Kadesh Barnea for many days. When they went
not in, so the Holy Spirit says, they remained where they were.
So, so. And here he says, so we see that
they could not enter in because of unbelief. And in Deuteronomy
1, verse 28, I read that to you, they acknowledged why they couldn't
go in. They said, we cannot go up because
our brethren have discouraged our hearts. We cannot, they said. And they couldn't, could they?
You know the only way those walls could be scaled was by faith. The only way those giants could
be defeated was by faith. And they said, we don't have
it. We cannot go out because we don't have faith. The only
way the land of Canaan could have been taken was by a firm
reliance upon the Lord who had promised them the land. That's the only way they could
take it, Glenn. A firm, strong reliance upon the Lord. And they
didn't have it. And therefore, they could not
go in. And you know it's the same way
with salvation. It's the very same way with salvation. Who
then can be saved? That was a question the disciples
asked. Who then can be saved? And the Lord said, with man this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Salvation
is only possible from God. Therefore, the Scripture says,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. What is impossible with men is
possible with God. But it is only possible through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. The Scripture says,
By Him all that believe are justified from all things. by which you
cannot be justified by the law of Moses." Now, that's a high
wall, ain't it? Justified from all things? How in the world could we be
justified from all things? Every sin that we've ever committed
against God? Every fall and every shortcoming? The sins against God, the Son
of God, the Spirit of God, the law of God, one another, and
yet justified from all things? How are you going to scale a
wall like that? By faith in Christ. That's it,
ain't it? By Him, all that believe are
justified. And He said, with a heart, men
believe unto righteousness. How can you and I obtain a righteousness
that God will accept us in and clothe us with? Can we marry
it? Can we work it out? We can't,
can we? How then can we obtain this righteousness? Through faith in the Son of God.
That's how we obtain it. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. But it's only by faith. It's
only by faith. Tears won't save you. Crying won't save you. Confessing
that I've sinned won't save you. Resolving that I'm going to turn
over a new leaf. I'm going to be a different man.
That won't save you. But one thing will save us. And
we can't be saved without it. Faith in the Son of God. Faith
in the Son of God. And without faith, it's impossible
to be saved. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Now somebody may say, I don't
believe in the Son of God. I don't believe in the eternal
Son of God. I don't believe there is such
a person that was occupied eternity and that there was a time when
he came to this world and was born of a virgin. I don't believe
that. I don't believe there was a man
that lived wholly and never sinned against God. I don't believe
that Jesus Christ bore somebody else's sin and paid his debt
to the uttermost. I don't believe he was in the
grave for three days. He would have decayed. I sure
don't believe he raised from the dead. I don't believe he's
in heaven. I just don't believe. Well, you know something? You'll
never be saved. Because if you believe not that
I am He, ye shall die in your sins. Ain't that what he said? Men can a bit more be saved apart
from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ than the children of Israel
could enter Canaan without it. And that's why they could not.
We see that they could not enter because of unbelief. No faith. No faith. And look
here in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2 at something else. Here's
something else that enlightens us on their situation and their
absence of faith. In chapter 4 and verse 2, look
at this. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith,
in them that heard it." The Word preached to them did not profit
them. It did them no good at all, and
the reason it didn't was because they had no faith in the Word
that was preached to them. We went down to the nursing home
the other night, and all that day I lived in hope that the
Lord would save somebody at the nursing home. While I was preaching
there, I thought, Lord, I hope that You'll save somebody. I
don't know if He did or if He will, but that was my hope. And
I went there in the confidence that He was able to save some
of those poor people that we preached to. As I preached to
them, I thought, Lord, please save. Please save somebody. And you know something? If those
people weren't helped, by what they heard last Monday night.
If they weren't saved by the gospel that we preach to them,
there's only one reason that they won't be. Unbelief. They did not believe the word
that they heard. What they heard was not mixed
with faith. They did not get a hold of it
in their hearts. I tell you, it's amazing how
Moses, and I read to you what he said. And it's just amazing
when you imagine Him standing there and they're starting to
murmur. And Moses begins to encourage
them and preach to them. He said, Brother, listen. Settle
your hearts and listen to this. Don't be fearful of those giants.
Don't dread those high walls. The Lord has brought you out
of the land of Egypt. He's brought you through this
desert. He's did great works for you and He's kept you. And
He's brought you here and He will give you the land. How He
encouraged those people. And He preached to them. But
you know something? It did no good. His words were like, we say,
water on a duck's back. They said, we're not going. And
the reason it did them no good was it wasn't mixed with faith
in them that heard it. Have you ever sat under a good
message and it didn't help you at all? And you knew why? I mean, the unbelief was so strong
and your heart was so full of unbelief, you couldn't get any
good out of it. Have you ever been that way? That's where these
people were. And all the encouragement, all
the preaching that Moses did to them did absolutely no good.
Absolutely no good. The Word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. I want
one thing when I sit under the Gospel. I want one thing when
I read His Word. I want grace to believe it. I want grace to believe it. It
may be the best preacher, He may be doing the best preaching
that anybody ever did, but if I can't lay hold of it in my
heart, by faith, it won't do me any good. It won't do me any
good. I want you to look at another
place. Look in Mark chapter 6. Look in Mark chapter 6. I want you to hold Hebrews there,
though, but look in Mark chapter 6. This is concerning faith and
unbelief. Look here at Mark chapter 6 and
let's begin reading here in verse 1. Mark 6 and verse 1. And he went out from thence,
and came unto his own country, and his disciples followed him.
And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the
synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From
whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph, and of Judah and
Simon? Are not his sisters here with
us? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them,
A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among
his own kin, and in his own house, and he could and he could there
do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few
sick folks and healed them, and he marveled because of their
unbelief." Now, ain't that amazing? He could not do many mighty works. Now, that's amazing, isn't it?
Because of their unbelief. You say, Bruce, you're surely
not telling us that the Lord ain't going to be able to save
His people. I'm not saying that at all. He's going to save His
people. The Lord's going to call His
people. He's going to keep His people. And when the end is here,
He's going to take them to heaven to be with Himself. We believe
that. We hold to that. But this is something we have
to consider, isn't it? When the Bible says he could
do no mighty works, and he attributes it in Matthew 9 to the unbelief,
the parallel passage. He did no mighty works because
of their unbelief. What does this tell us? The work
of our Lord, the ministry of our Lord, when He was here and
now, is so vitally connected to faith. Where men do not believe, where
unbelief is permitted and allowed to rule, there is very little
work that Christ does, especially in the way of salvation. Where
He is believed, where He is honored, there is where He does His mighty
works and manifests Himself. But here He says so plainly,
Why? He did no mighty works there,
and it was because of their unbelief. And he marveled. He marveled. You know, there's two times in
the Scriptures it was said that the Lord Jesus marveled. One
was because of the greatness of faith. Remember the centurion
that sent word to Him and said, Would you come and heal my servant?
He's dying. And the Lord said, I'll come and heal him. And the
centurion sent word and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you
should come under my roof. Ruth, just speak the Word. Just speak the Word. You have
so much authority. You don't have to be here. You
don't have to lay your hand. You're so mighty when you speak.
It will be done. And the Lord said, I have not
found so great a faith in Israel. And he marveled. I tell you, the Lord marvels
at faith. He marvels at things that's accomplished by faith.
He marvels at the prayer of faith. He marvels. The works of faith. He marvels. And here, He marveled
at unbelief. He did know many mighty works.
And He marveled because of their unbelief. Look here in another
place while we're here. Look in Mark chapter 2. Just
over to your left in Mark chapter 2. Here we see something about faith. What we see, they couldn't enter
in because of unbelief, but look here at faith. Look here at why
it's so important, why it's so essential, and why the Lord marvels
at it. In Mark chapter 2, look here
in verse 1. And again he entered into Capernaum
after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. And
straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there
was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the
door, and he preached the word unto them. And they came unto
him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four."
We know in the other gospel that they went and got him and he
was on the couch. He was laying on the couch and they were carrying
him, one on each corner. And when they could not come
nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the room where
he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the policy was."
Now, first thing you notice here about faith, look at the energy
that it produces. I mean, faith cannot be dead. It's alive. These fellas went
and got this man, put him on this couch. One on each corner
come burying him. I don't know how far. They got
up to the door trying to get in. Nobody would let them in.
There's no room in here, guys. You can't come in here. You've
got to stay out here. He'll be out here in a minute. Just be
still. You can't get in here. They went around to the windows.
Couldn't get in there. What did they do? They went up
on the roof. How in the world did they get
him up there? I don't know. They said, what are we going
to do now? We're going to tear up the shingles. They literally tore up the shingles
of that house, tugged it apart, and then they got them some rope
and they let this man down right at the feet of the Son of God.
Now that's energy, ain't it? That's energy. What caused that? Well, we'll see in just a minute.
They had something working in their hearts that the children
of Israel did not have. if the children of Israel would
have had what these men had that went into the land of Canaan.
And what was it? Well, look in verse 5. And when
Jesus saw their faith. You want to get in his attention?
Believe him. That gets his attention. Believe
him. He sees faith. He hears the prayer of faith. He hears the groans of faith
in the soul. He sees the works of faith. He
sees faith. He gives it. He produces it. He upholds it. And he looks at
it. And he sees it. And I'm telling you, where it's
alive and working in the heart, it produces so much energy. There's
energy to pray. There's energy to read. There's
energy to witness. There's energy to worship. And
if these men in Canaan had had this kind of faith, when Moses
said, Go up and possess the land, you know what they'd have done?
They'd have went up. They'd have went up. Because they'd have
been so full of energy, they'd have been ready to fight a giant.
They'd have been ready to scale those walls. That's what faith
does. It energizes you. Look how the
Lord honors faith. The Lord saw their faith and
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Ain't that amazing? I'm telling
you, you put your confidence. You believe the Lord. You believe
His Word. You believe His Gospel. You put
all your trust in Him and your confidence in Him. I'm telling
you, He'll honor that. He'll honor that. He saw their
faith and said, Son, your sins are forgiven. Faith honors Him
and He honors faith. And boy, look what a display
of His deity. We wouldn't have had, if these
men happened to believe the Lord as they did, we wouldn't have
had this display of the Lord's deity as we have. Look what they
went ahead to say in verse 6. But there were certain of the
scribes said in there, and reasoned in their hearts, Why does this
man thus speak blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Well, that's so, ain't it? They're
proud about that. And immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they had so reasoned within themselves, he
said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your heart? Which
is easier to say to the sick and the palsy? Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, take up your bed and walk. But that you may
know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins."
Who can forgive sins? God. Well, who is the Son of
Man? He's God, isn't He? He's God. See what these fellows got to
display because they believed Him. Unbelief grieves the Lord's
heart. But I'll tell you something else
it does. And I don't mean this, and the Lord God knows, I don't
mean this in any disrespect to our blessed Savior, but He said
it Himself. Unbelief not only grieves Him,
but it hinders His work. Does it not? Does it not hinder
His work in you? Don't you get down and discourage
in things you would do for His glory you don't do? And what
does it? Unbelief. Now boy, will you believe
Him? I mean, He'll honor that. He'll
bless you and He'll show you things and display His glory
to you just like He did here with these fellows. He said to
the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up
your bed and go your way unto your house. And immediately he
arose and took up his bed and went forth before them all, insomuch
that they were amazed. And glorified God said, We never
saw it like this. We never saw anything like this.
We never saw it on this fashion. I've got to show you one more
passage. Look in Matthew chapter 9 and
look in verse 27. Matthew chapter 9 and look in
verse 27. This is one of the most amazing
verses, I think, sometime that I've ever read. Matthew chapter
9, and look in verse 27. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. And when He was coming to the
house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this? That's a good question. What if you were to ask that
to that whole generation in Deuteronomy chapter one? When Moses said,
Go up, go up, the Lord's give you the land. He's going to be
with you. You can take this. What would
have been their answer if they'd have been honest? I don't think
he's able. Wouldn't that have been their
answer? I don't think he's able. Do you believe that I'm able
to do this? And they said unto him, Yea,
Lord, yes I do. Then touched he their eyes and
said, According to your faith, be it unto you. And immediately their eyes were
opened. According to your faith. See why we ought to live by faith
upon Him? See why we ought to believe Him
with all our hearts and never doubt Him? Believe what He says
in His Word? Because He says this so often
to us, according to your faith. Boy, ain't that wonderful? What if you've got a dear loved
one that you've been praying for that's lost? What if you've
got some family member that's lost and you've been praying
for them, and He comes to you and He says to you, do you believe
that I'm able to do this? And then He says to you, according
to your faith, so be it. Believe Him. Believe Him. If these grieve the Lord's heart
by not believing Him, and lost the blessings by not believing
Him, then you'll rejoice His heart. by belief. Nothing rejoices
the heart of the Savior like faith. One more place. Let's look one more quickly in
Hebrews chapter 3. Let's look back over in Hebrews
chapter 3. Right quickly. Look in chapter 3 in verse 11
to verse 18. This is very curious how he refers
here to them entering the land of Canaan. He calls it rest. That's amazing, isn't it? Look
what he says here in Hebrews chapter 3 and look in verse 11.
So while swearing my wrath, they shall not enter unto my rest. And then again in verse 18, And
to whom swore he that they should not enter unto his rest, but
unto them that believed not. Now that is sort of odd, isn't
it? Because they went into the land of Canaan.
They fought like crazy. They fought to get the place
and they fought to keep the place. About the only time I know that
they didn't fight was when the walls of Jericho fell down. But
I'm telling you, they fought to get this land and they fought
to keep it. How then can it be called rest? Some of you have been in battle,
haven't you been in battle? There wasn't much rest in fighting,
was there? Actually, it's over, but they
were in the middle of the battle, but they called it rest. How can
it be said to be rest? I think it has to be this. I
think here is why it's called rest. Because they believed that
God had given them this land. And it was theirs. And though
they had to fight to take it, they had to fight to possess
it, nobody could ever take it from them. And that's rest. They didn't
fight with uncertainty. They didn't keep it with uncertainty.
They believed that God had given it to them, that it was theirs,
and they could keep it. And therefore, they rested. Even
while they were fighting, they rested. I just about see old
Jeremiah and his family going down through one of those Valleys
and he tops a hill. Goes up and tops a hill and there's
a huge bottom there. Maybe a thousand acres in the
middle of that. Such a big old ranch house. Some Canaanite idolater had built
it. Had a big house where he kept
his servants. And up on the hill were a thousand cows. And here
stood Jeremiah and his family and his servants. And he said,
boys, that's ours. Are you sure about that? God
said it was ours. God said it was ours. And I'm
not concerned about going and taking it. And man, He lifts
His sword up in the air and lets out a shout, Thy God reigneth! Those Canaanites fled and the
ones that stayed had to face the sword. And He moved into
that ranch house. And all those cattle were His.
And the well was His. And the orchard was His. And
you know what he did? He told some of his servants,
you fellas set a watch, I'm going to bed. I'm going to rest. I'm not going to be presumptuous.
I'm not going to be careless. I'm not going to be unwatchful.
But I tell you this much, I know this is mine. God has given it
to me. I have possessed it and I'll
never lose it. Do you feel that way about your
salvation? Do you really feel that way about your salvation?
Do you believe the Lord has actually given you His life? That it's
His salvation and He's given it to you? Salvation is of the
Lord and you'll never lose it? And though you're watchful and
you're careful, yet you know in your heart of hearts, no,
He's mine. Salvation is mine. Life is mine. And what do you do? You rest. They which have believed do enter
unto rest. Yeah, you're watchful. Yeah,
you pray. Yes, you're born through trial.
But you're resting, aren't you? You're resting. The Lord made
this wonderful statement there in Matthew 8. We often quote
it. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden." And what did He say? I'll give you rest. Rest is a
gift, isn't it? I'll give you rest for your conscience.
There's a rest that is completed. It's His rest. He accomplished
it upon the cross. That's where He atoned for sin.
That's where He paid the price that we owed that we couldn't
pay. And when we come to Him burdened in our conscience, He
gives us rest. It's a completed rest. Come unto
Me and I'll give you My rest. And that's a rest in the finished
work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. But then He went on to
say this, Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, and you shall
find rest for yourself. There's that rest that's accomplished
And now there's that rest that we find. But what's that about? Taking his yoke. Take my yoke. What is his yoke? That's his doing the will of
God. That's his submitting himself to God's will. He got under the
yoke of his Father's will. I came to do the will of Him
that sent me. This is my meat. to do the will
of Him that sent me, and to finish His work. Father, not my will,
but Your will be done. That was His yoke, and He took
it, and He submitted to it, and He had rest about it all. He
wasn't undecided, passive, about doing the will of God, was He?
That's the yoke. And brothers and sisters, when
we take that yoke, when we're submissive to God's will, When
we can say with our Master, Father, not my will but Yours be done,
wherever You want me to go, whatever You want me to do, whatever You
want me to be, I surrender to You. There's rest. There's rest. There's rest. We have this rest in our conscience
in the finished work of Christ. But how do we live our lives
when we face these struggles and face the warfare? How do
we live our lives then? If we are submissive as Christ
was, if we take His yoke, we rest. Even while we labor, even
while we fight, we rest. Caleb. He came up to Joshua. They had been in the land of
Cana for around five years. They had been fighting and taking
their lands. He came up to Joshua. He said,
Do you remember when we were back there at Kadesh-Birneyi
and the Lord told Moses and He told me that I'm going to give
Caleb this big mountain and this land and these springs? He said,
I was 40 years old when the Lord told me that. And that's been
45 years ago. He said, I'm 85 years old now.
I'm just as strong now. as I was when I was born. And
he said, You give me this mountain, and if the Lord will be with
me, I'm taking that mountain. And you know who was in that
mountain? Giants. Giants. But you know something? He took that, and he had no doubt
about it. He was restful about it. He wasn't
worried about it. He wasn't anxious. He prepared. He prepared his servants. He
prepared his house. He sharpened his sword. He put
new arrows in his sling and he was ready to fight. But you know
something? He was at rest about it. He was
at rest. This was a land of rest because
they knew that even though they were going to have to battle
to take it and keep it, they knew God had gave it to them.
It was certain. And the victory was theirs. This
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Victory over the flesh and its
weakness and its lust and its vileness. Victory over the world
and all of its temptation and its cares. Victory over the devil
and his fallen angels. This is our victory. Even our
faith. And brothers and sisters, there's
only one way to be a Christian. And there's only one way to live
the Christian life. That's by faith. And if you don't
live it like that, you can't live it. You can't be a Christian
and you can't live the Christian life except you live it by faith. And that's what this lesson is
about. They could not enter because
of unbelief. But bless God, we have. But we've entered, and
we've found rest for our souls, and we're still learning of Him. And the more we learn of Him,
the more rest we find for our souls. May God help us and strengthen
us as we labor, as we fight, as we take more possession of
what He's given to us, to do it with the confidence that He's
given, and we'll never lose it. May the Lord bless His Word.