Go ahead and turn with me to
Numbers chapter 14, if you would. Last study, we talked about Israel's
willful unbelief. All unbelief is willful. We saw
the last couple of studies, how the 12 spies returned and 10
of them gave an evil report. Only two men out of 12 believed
God. In fear, we find Israel now weeping
and crying bitterly in verse one. And then in verse two, we
discovered this, and all the children of Israel murmured against
Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said
unto them, would God, or we wish to God that we had died in the
land of Egypt, or we wish God we had died in this wilderness.
My, what a statement of unbelief. They continue by accusing God
of great atrocities. In verse three, they say that
God delivered them to die by the sword of their enemies. Boy,
you talking about charging God foolishly. They accuse God of
making their wives and their children pray to their enemies
as if God meant for them to be hunted down and killed. Unbelief
makes some horrible statements concerning God. God had done
nothing but good to them. Nothing but good. But they say
it would be better to be in bondage. It would be better to still be
slaves in Egypt. They said here, would it not
be better for them to return to Egypt? Isn't that what religion
is all about? What's best for the sinner? They
believed in their free will. Look at verse five. They said,
let us make a captive. They said, let us return to Egypt. It's all about what we do for
God, not about what God does for us. By the way, let me just
mention in passing, those that said that got their way. They didn't go back to Egypt,
but their carcasses fell in the wilderness, according to verses
29 and 32 and verse 33. Be careful what you wish for,
friends. God may just give it to you. Tonight I want us to
consider just for a few minutes why unbelief is so atrocious. That word means appalling, dreadful,
hostile, hellish, horrible, and the adjectives just go on and
on. Why is it so horrific to not believe God? What does God
think about man's willful unbelief? Israel's appalling unbelief is
found in all of us by nature, and what a sad thing that man
is the only creature that God made that doesn't believe God.
The lilies of the field trust Him to clothe them. The fowls
of the air trust God to feed them. The animal kingdom, why,
they don't worry about their next meal. They, in all practical
purposes, trust that their Creator will take care of them. We being
evil know how to give good gifts to our children. How much more
shall your heavenly father, our Lord said, give good things to
them that ask him? And if we're honest with ourselves
before God, we'll agree that salvation begins with us taking
sides with God against ourselves. We have the same atrocious, appalling,
hostile, and hellish unbelief in us. What makes this unbelief
so hideous and horrible? Well, first, because of who it's
against, because of who we do not believe. And sometimes God
has enough. He did in the days of Noah. God
said, the thoughts of man's heart are only evil continually. And he said, my spirit shall
not always strive with man. And he meant what he said. And
God destroyed all upon the earth with the exception of eight souls.
We also see here in Numbers chapter 14 that because of Israel's appalling
unbelief, God has had enough to mistrust God as a great evil. We have to call it what it is.
Yet unbelieving men and women continue to do so. And God declares
that all of their murmuring, all their complaining, all their
discouragement and their fear is but a worthless excuse. It don't hold water with God.
It's nothing less than unbelief. You can call it what you want
to, but it's unbelief. Did you notice that unbelief
here reveals itself in fear? The 10 spies in chapter 13 said,
we can't go up against the people in Canaan. God never asked them
to go up against them. They said there are giants. They
live in walled cities. They're too much for shepherds
like we are. Well, let me tell you, they're
not too much for the great shepherd. He said that he'd take care of
them. That's something you can believe.
In Exodus 23, verse 26, God said, I'll send my fear before you. And that's exactly what he did.
You remember what Rahab said? She said, our hearts didn't melt
when we heard what your God did to Pharaoh and Egypt and to those
two evil kings, Sihon and all. Our hearts didn't melt. No man
had any courage at all. God sent his fear before you. God said, I'll send my fear before
thee and I'll destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come
and I'll make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. That's
what God said. God says what he means and he
means what he says. In verse one here of Numbers
chapter 13, God said, send down men that they may search the
land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel.
But they didn't believe God. Fear reveals the unbelief in
men and women. What I'm about to say may seem
hard and dogmatic to some of you, but it's the truth. Nonetheless,
to fear anything, to fear anything in this life is to distrust the
God who's in control of everything. Have I arrived? Do I not fear
it? I don't know. I haven't arrived. Our sovereign
and omnipotent God rules everything. He sends everything. And he makes
everything to work together for his people's eternal good. Shame
on us for fearing anything. Caleb and Joshua, the only believers
among the spies said in verse seven, the land is exceeding
good. Then in verse eight, they said,
if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into the land
that flows with milk and honey. Beloved God delights in all who
are found in Christ. They went on to say, don't rebel
against the Lord. You see, that's what unbelief
is. It's to rebel against the Lord. For them to not take the
land was rebellion against the Lord who told them to take it.
They said, the Lord is with us. You better believe he is. He's
with his people. Can I give you an encouraging
word tonight? The Lord is with us. Our enemies
have no defense. God took their defense from them.
Fear them not, verse 9. That's a command from God. Fear
them not. In verse 10, we saw that if you
believe God, some people will want to kill you. The Lord said,
don't be surprised if they hated me, they'll hate you. They hated
our Lord and killed Him and they'll want to kill you if they can.
And again, verse 11, this is my first point is, it's here
that we see the sin of Israel defined. And the Lord said unto
Moses, how long will this people provoke me? How long will it
be air or before they believe me? For all the signs which I
have showed among them. No fear of giants would have
entered their minds if they believed God. Gigantic men are nothing
to a God whom this universe can't contain. Giants and walled cities
are no match for a God who spoke the word and divided the Red
Sea and slew the whole army of Pharaoh in one swift motion. When the omnipotent one is present,
all opponents vanish, all enemies are defeated. May God help us
to remember that the next time we face one of them. Israel might
well have replied, we fear because of our weakness. We're not men
of war like the armies of Egypt and we don't know how to fight
against chariots of iron and we're feeble men with all these
women and children. Well, we can't hope to drive
out the Amalekites and the Canaanites and all the other ites who are
men of war. Naturally speaking, that may
seem to be a statement of humility, but believe me when I tell you
God doesn't operate in the natural realm. The Lord deals in the
spiritual realm and he puts the matter of Israel's unbelief in
a total different perspective here. How could their weakness
alter and keep His power from giving them the land? There's
no enemy that can prosper against the hand of the Lord. God does
His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what
doest thou? Do you believe God? How could
their weaknesses alter and keep God's power from giving them
the land? There's no enemy that can prosper
against his hand. Men's trembling and fear's not
humility, it's nothing less than unbelief. We can try to mask
unbelief however we please, but God sees it as it is. Mistrust
toward God's not a mere weakness, it's wickedness, and it's wickedness
in its greatest form. Israel's weakness didn't hinder
their deliverance out of Egypt. Their inability as men of war
was not their doom at the Red Sea, was it? There they stood
with the Red Sea in front of them and the army of Pharaoh
behind them, and for all practical purposes, again, naturally speaking,
they were defenseless and doomed. You remember what Moses said?
Stand still, don't do nothing, and see the salvation of the
Lord. Their weaknesses and inability
to provide themselves with food and water didn't hinder God's
sovereign hand from providing them with both, did it? He gave
them bread from heaven and water which flowed freely from a rock
that followed them around. Every single thing had been provided
for them. Every single thing in the matter
of salvation, dear sinners, been provided for you, everything.
God says, how long will it be before they believe me? How could
they not believe me for all the signs that I've showed among
them?" Now, these weren't just things that they heard about,
like Rahab and all the enemies in Canaan. He did these works
among them. They saw them firsthand. They
saw the frogs and the lice and the bloody river. They saw it
all. They saw the hail and the lightning and the fire fall from
heaven. They saw the firstborn of Egypt
die that night that the Lord went through the land of Egypt
looking for the blood. They saw it all. They experienced
it all. And yet they don't believe. Actually,
the first question the Lord asked in verse 11 is, how long will
this people provoke me? That word provoke is a strong
word. It means to abhor, to hate. Unbelief will cause God to hate
one who does not believe. Now that's not a popular statement
among folks, because all my life I was told that God is love,
and He is. But nobody ever told me about
the holiness of God. Nobody ever told me about the
wrath of God, the anger of God. God's angry with the wicked every
day. God does not love those who do not love his son. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believes in him, loves him, believes him, trusts him,
shall have everlasting life. I pray not for the world, I pray
for them that thou hast given me, those who love you and trust
you." To provoke God is to annoy and anger Him, it's to irritate
and infuriate. God is provoked by man's unbelief
of Him, and it certainly should. God is worthy to be believed,
is He not? Are His promises like the words
of man? Men and women claim that if circumstances
were different, I've heard folks say this, if things just wasn't
so hopeless, so helpless, I believe I could believe God. No, you
wouldn't. That's a ridiculous statement.
Especially when it's God who ordained and predetermined and
predestined how things actually are. Whatever situation you're
in or I'm in, God sent it, God did it. He who is the first cause
and reason of all things certainly has the power to make those things
work together for our eternal good. That's what he promised. Do we believe God? If not, how
long? How long will it be before we
do? Now, listen to me on this. If you're going to doubt one
of God's promises, you might as well doubt all of them. They
are all from the same sovereign. He's either God or he's not. If he fails in one of his promises,
you'd have reason to doubt them all. But he cannot fail. That's
what makes him God. Again, our fear of things, providential,
is not humility. It's unbelief. And when all is
said and done, the truth of the matter is we don't believe God.
Mr. Spurgeon once said that our murmuring
and our complaining is nothing but practical atheism. I thought
about that when we murmur and complain about anything. It's
unbelief, since God is the first cause of all things, even if
it's the weather, even if it's the person that's driving in
front of us that don't know how to drive. That's easy to see
when you can see it, though, isn't it? It's not so easy when
you can't. Secondly, in these verses, God
describes our sin. How incredible is it not to believe
God, really? Just the fact that God would
condescend to make a promise to us is incredible in and of
itself. What is man that God would be
mindful of him? Well, that's a question we ought
to ask ourselves often. Who am I? Like Mephibosheth said,
who and what am I, a dead dog sinner that I am, that the king
would be mindful of me? How much more can we say that
of our God? What is man, what is woman that
God would be mindful of? Yet any who believe God's Word
know that He has spoken to us by the prophets. And Paul in
Hebrews 1 says, and in these last days, in, by, and through
His Son, God's spoken to us. Do we dare not believe He who
spoke the heavens and the earth into existence? And one who can
do that is worthy to be believed. Do we dare doubt the Lord whose
divine love, mercy, and grace stooped to even speak to worms
like us? Do we dare question the one who
cannot lie nor deceive? He's not a man that he should
lie. He's not a son of man that he should repent or change his
mind. Do we dare bring reproach upon
our creator, maker and benefactor? Are we so vile to insult one
who is infinitely holy, pure and unchanging? Well, that's
what we do when we don't believe. You know, religion has succeeded
in making unbelief simply just a matter of opinion. They've
done so by convincing men and women that unbelief is nothing
but just a particular philosophy of life. Religion has succeeded. They exalt the decision of man
as the final authority in all things and religion by making
the opinion of man equal or even greater than the word of God.
We've made it easy for men and women to read the word of God
and say without any reservation. Well, I just, I don't believe
that. Looking right into the scriptures, things that are just
so obvious, things that can't be argued. I know it's by divine
revelation. I know if God don't reveal it
to a man or a woman, they'll never see it. I know that. But
I also know when you read verses like where the Lord said, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. That's pretty plain. We love him because he first
loved us. What is there not for us to understand
about that? And yet men say, I don't believe
that. Men and women don't even try to dispute God's word anymore. Used to religious men would say,
well, I disagree with your interpretation of that. Isn't that what the
serpent in the garden did? Yea, hath God said? Question
mark. That's not what God said. Hath
God said you shall not eat? Is that really what he said?
Did God really mean that you would die? No, if you eat, you'll
know good and evil. If you eat, you shall be as gods.
You're interpreting that all wrong, Miss Adam. The serpent
made God out to be a liar is what he did. And that's what
men are doing today in religion and making God out to be a liar.
And how greatly unbelief dishonors God. What shame it cast upon
the splendor and the magnificence of his name. But anymore, men
won't even argue. They just simply say stupid things
like, my Bible doesn't read that way. What version of the Bible
you got? My denomination doesn't believe
that way. Your denomination's wrong. My
pastor don't preach it that way. I'm not a bit surprised. But
what does God say? Paul said, I believe God that
it shall be even as it was told me. How men and women can look
square in the face of divine revelation without batting an
eye and say, I don't believe that. I told you last time about
the fellow that told me, well, you believe your way and I'll
believe my way. Only one big problem with that.
One of us is wrong. I'm trusting my soul on the fact
that I'm not the wrong one. And I guess he is his too. One
belief is just not your way of looking at something. It's a
capital crime and it's worthy of eternal death because of what
it says about God and how it declares Him to be. Let God be
true and every man a liar. God cannot lie. God does not
repent. God does not change His mind. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass. I've purposed it, I'll also do
it. Do you believe what God says?
If you don't, how long will it be before you believe God? When
all hope is in Christ alone, you'll have all the hope that's
worth having. Do you hear me? When all your
hope is in Christ, when you look to Him and Him alone for the
perfect righteousness that God requires in order to save your
soul, you'll have the only hope worth having. Christ in you is
the hope of glory. It's the hope of salvation. How
can men and women have such confidence in the arm of the flesh and have
no confidence or conviction in God, who powerfully works all
things after the counsel of His own will? How long before you
believe? We as professing believers journey
along in this life, in this wilderness of a world in which we live.
And God promises us that if we trust in Him, if we trust in
His Son, He'll bring us to the land of promise that flows with
milk and honey. And what do we do? We grumble,
we murmur, we complain all along the way. It's unbelief, it's
what it is. Christ is our place of rest.
I say it often, heaven is heaven because Christ is gonna be there.
It's not the mansions, it's not the streets of gold, it's not
the pearly gates, it's Christ is what makes heaven heaven and
what makes heaven glorious. We've got to believe what God
says. God says you and I must be perfect to be accepted. Do
you believe that? That's a pretty high standard,
perfect. We have to be perfectly righteous
to be accepted, but God also says that there's none righteous,
no, not one. So how are we gonna be made perfectly
righteous? In and of ourselves, we're not.
It's something that God must do for us. Christ was made to
be sin for us. for His people who made Christ
to be sin. God did, for He, God, hath made
Him Christ to be sin. And my only hope, I'm telling
you now, my only hope is that He took my sin and that He put
it away. And my only hope is that Christ
was made to be sin for me and gave me his perfect righteousness.
And that's our double portion that Isaiah talks about. That's
how we receive the Lord's and double for all our sins. Christ
put our sin away and then he gives us his perfect righteousness.
Double blessing, double blessing. God is holy, we're unholy. God
is just, we're unjust. Christ is perfectly righteous.
We are desperately unrighteous. There's only one way we can be
reconciled to God. And the Lord Jesus said plainly,
I am the way. No man comes to the father, but
by me. Do you believe what the Lord
said? If not, how long before you do? Christ said, I am the
way, the narrow way. He said, I'm the truth, the only
truth. And I am the life. There is no other way to life,
none. No man comes to the Father, but
in, by, and through Him. And the third thing, may God
be pleased to enable us to denounce our unbelief. Now I know that
it continues to raise its ugly head, but I so want to believe
God. Lord, help thou my unbelief.
Oh, I mean that. Unbelief is a charge against
God. It's to charge God with not being
God. It's an insult to God. You know,
my earthly father was, as far as men go, I have to clarify
that, but he was an honest man. His word to others meant something
to him. I heard him say a lot of times, you know, well, I told
so-and-so I'd do that. I gave him my word. If your word
ain't worth nothing, you're not worth nothing. That was his way
of thinking. I loved that about him. I never
knew him to break his word to anyone. Over the years, I had
many men, especially after he was gone, to tell me that he
was a trustworthy friend, a man who did what he promised you
he'd do. And while he was living, if anyone
would have said to me, you know, your father breaks his word.
Your father, he can't be trusted. Their accusation would not go
unanswered by me. I can assure you of that. Because
I knew my dad. I knew how he was. How much more
so is it with God, dear friend? I'd take issue with any false
allegation against my dad. Why? Because my father's honor
was at stake. How much more so when our heavenly
father is accused of such? And that's why men and women
are lost. It's because of unbelief, because of not believing God.
Israel entered not into His rest because of unbelief. You know,
I'm so thankful it's not because of any genius on my part, but
I'm so thankful that we're studying the books of Numbers and Hebrews.
Boy, they go together like a hand in glove. Not believing what
God declares concerning His Son will keep you from entering into
the rest of God, and Christ is that rest, and God Himself hung
on a tree. sinless in the form of a man. God himself bleeds to death,
bearing the sin of those that he gave to Christ before the
world ever was. Yet men and women turn their
backs on this infinite display of love, mercy, and grace, and
refuse to believe it. How can it be? If you could look
into the depths of hell, you might ask, who slew all these
folks? Why are so many here? And the
answer would be the murderous monster of unbelief. It's this
deadly culprit that's claimed the eternal souls of many that
you and I love. Unbelief. I hate it in me, and
I hate it in you. I love you and I hope you love
me, but I hate unbelief. Just as we should glory in our
infirmities, we should also glory in our trouble and tribulations
in this life. If we believe God, we'll come
through them seeing the eternal good results that the Lord brings
us because of them. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, David said. Well, why David? He said, if
I learn of God's statutes, God's appointments, it's good for me.
The man and the woman who trust and believes their God in times
of trouble learns to be calm and they learn to be quiet and
they learn to be strong. I'm learning. Hadn't arrived,
but I'm learning. Man may be sick and wracked with
pain, but he's resigned to his father's chastening. And in his
grief and in his sorrow, patience is given, strength is given. I learned to trust God. He's never failed me yet. When
death approaches, a believing sinner knows that to die is gained
and to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.
And yet men just tremble at the thought of death. If you're a
believer, to die is gain. Caleb and Joshua were such men. They believed God and no doubt
strength was given to them. As you know, in the book of Joshua,
Caleb winds up at the age of, I think, what, 85? I forget now,
but he went and whooped those giants. They believed God and
strength was given to them. And it's the same with you, child
of God. We can do all things through Christ which strengthened
us. Do you believe that? If not,
how long before you believe? We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. We can do all things through
Christ. We're more than conquerors through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we get our strength,
in Him. Trust in Him, believe in Him.
I believe God. I believe God. The child of God
is one who believes. He believes God and is given
strength. His heart is fixed and he does
not fear what man can do to him. He fears no one but God and that's
in a reverential way of trust and respect. You know, I was
thinking about old Samson. I guess as a young boy, it's
one of my favorite Bible stories because I wanted to be strong
like Samson. Man, he was a hero, wasn't he?
No doubt that Samson was naturally and physically strong, but I'm
telling you, it was when he believed in God that real strength came
upon him. When the gates of Gaza shut him
in, he rose up from his sleeping, believing God, and just with
a mighty tug, he uplifted those bars in the post and carried
them all the way up to the top of the hill. It wasn't a feat
of physical strength, it was an act of faith in his almighty
God. Another time when the Philistines
were up on him, he's up on a rock and he can't escape. And that,
by the way, that rock on which he stood was Christ. There's
no doubt about that. And thousands of his enemies
came against him. And Samson is but one man. He
looks for a weapon. He doesn't have any. So he grabs
the dried bone of the ass's jaw. You see, it's not the weapon
that matters. No, sir. It's not his man-made
weapon that delivers him. You hear me? Your man-made weapons
won't deliver you either. It's a man's trust and faith
in believing his God. A strong man, Samson staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Faith in God, faith in Christ
has subdued kingdoms. It's wrought righteousness. It
stopped the mouth of lions. Ask Daniel. It's quenched the
vows of fire. Ask the three Hebrew men. And
it says this, and it's obtained promises. Obtained promises. Did you hear that? Faith in God
and His Son has obtained promises. Do you believe God? To the lost,
I ask the question, how long will it be ere you believe Him? Before you believe Him. God,
help thou our unbelief.