You would take your Bible and
turn with me to the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy is the fifth book
of the Old Testament, chapter 32. I'll begin in verse 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat. and kicked. Thou art waxen fat. Thou art grown thick. Thou art
covered with fatness. When he forsook God, which made
him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Now Jeshurun
is a symbol or symbolic name for Israel. Old Testament Israel
was made up of those who trusted in God and those who didn't. There were some in Israel that
believed God, and there were some in Israel who didn't. Sadly,
the majority of Israel, those whom Moses brought out of Egypt,
were a stiff-necked, rebellious, unbelieving people. Matter of
fact, as you know, only two, Joshua and Caleb, out of the
original multitude that were brought out of Egypt by the mighty
hand of God, entered into the land of promise. Who was God
grieved for 40 years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? Was it not
to them that God swore would not enter into his rest? Was
it not to them that believed not? So we see that they could not
enter into rest because of unbelief, Hebrews 3, 17 through 19. Now Moses said that Israel, Jeshurun,
is waxed fat. They experienced great deliverance
out of Egypt. The Lord with a mighty hand sent
those plagues. Pharaoh's heart was hardened. God just brought more wrath down
upon him. They saw God's great salvation
at the Red Sea. The Lord went before them in
a pillar of a cloud and a fire. He fed them every day with bread
from heaven. He gave them drink from a smitten
rock. They waxed fat in the presence
of the Lord and all his provisions for them. They were well fed,
well taken care of, and yet they rebelled. It was the same with
Israel in the New Testament. They had the ministry of John
the Baptist. They had the ministry of Christ
himself, yet they kicked against God like oxen who kick against
the ox go. You remember when the Lord Jesus
appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He said,
Saul, why do you persecute me? Why do you kick against the pricks?
The ox gold, the prick there was a stick with a pointed piece
of metal on it, and it was used to prod and steer the animal
in the right direction. And when they would kick against
the prick, most of the time, it would just drive that piece
of metal deeper into their flesh. And like the fatted calf, Old
Testament Israel kicked, and the people spoke against God
and against Moses. And they said, wherefore have
you brought us out of Egypt to let us die in the wilderness?
For there's no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul
loatheth this light bread. God fed them fresh manna every
day from heaven, and yet they grumbled and they complained.
In the New Testament, Israel did the same. They kicked against
Christ and his redemption. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, Acts 4.26. Moses says they waxed fat and
kicked. They began to trust in their
own keeping of the law instead of Christ, the one who had fulfilled
and satisfied the justice of the law for them. They grew thick. They were hard to penetrate.
They were set in their ways, hardened. They were filled with
ungodliness, unholiness, irreverence, and unrighteousness. He said
that they forsook the God that made them. God's Word had no
effect on them. God's Savior was of no importance
to them. They lightly esteemed the rock,
that's Christ who is God's salvation. Look at verse 16, they provoked
God to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations provoked
they Him to anger. The very first commandment of
the ten that God gave was thou shalt have no other gods before
me. Verse 17, they sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods
whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your
fathers feared not. The second commandment of the
10 that God gave was thou shall not make any graven image or
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that's
in earth. beneath, or that's in the waters beneath the earth.
Thou shalt not bow thyself down unto them, nor serve them. For
I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. And that's exactly what
they did. Verse 18, of the rock that beget
thee, thou art mindful, and thou hast forgotten God that formed
thee. And look at verse 19, and when
the Lord saw it, he abhorred, he despised them. Oh, I thought
God loved everybody. He abhorred, he despised them
because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters, because
of their provoking of God's true chosen people. And verse 20,
and God said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what
their end shall be, for they are a very froward, froward,
that means contrary, difficult to deal with. There are froward
generation, children in whom is no faith. Now listen to me
carefully. I've never been more serious
about anything in my life. My responsibility before God
as your pastor and as a minister of the gospel is not to deliver
you little sermonettes that tickle your ears and make you feel good
about yourself. My responsibility before God
is to tell you the truth as God has revealed to me in the scriptures. And I must believe the same truth
that I tell you. The truth about God. The truth
about His Christ. The truth about yourself. That's
a hard one sometimes. The truth about salvation and
how it comes, how it's accomplished. I had an old friend, old acquaintance
call me the other day. He's a religious fella. And he
kept going on about how sinners need to accept God and sinners
need to make a decision to make Jesus Lord. And I heard about
as much of it as I could. And I told him, I said, he was
too late to make Jesus Lord. that God had already made Jesus
Lord. And friends, our redemption,
mine and yours, has nothing to do with our acceptance of God
or making Jesus the Lord of our lives. My redemption has everything
to do with God's acceptance of me. And I'm only accepted and
you are only accepted in Christ, God's beloved. Paul said to the
praise of the glory of his grace, where he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, that beloved is Christ and none other. Now
I'm telling you that there is a monster among us in the world
today, an enemy that devours and destroys the lives of many
that we know and we love. And that monster not only destroys
its victims mentally and emotionally, but most significantly, spiritually. This great adversary can be so
subtle, and it's a master at sneaking in and consuming the
mind, corrupting the heart, destroying the soul, and making men and
women servants to sin, self, and Satan. This great combatant
makes men ignorant of God and His righteousness, and it causes
men to go about to establish their own righteousness and then
trust in it. Like Goliath, this great opponent
mocks the people of God, challenging them and sending many of them
fleeing in fear. This giant that I refer to goes
by the name of unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief is the only
adversary that can send you to hell. Did you hear what I said? Unbelief is the only adversary
that can send you to hell. Unbelief is the only opponent
that in the end can defeat you. Can I prove that from scripture?
I certainly can. Unbelief is the opposite of faith. Unbelief is the opposite of believing,
and without faith it's impossible, impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, that he is what? That he's God, and that
he's a rewarder. of them that diligently seek
Him. And when He says rewarder there,
He's not talking about putting a crown on your head that you're
going to need a neck brace to hold up. He's talking about giving
you Christ and life eternal. He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. And while in unbelief, you cannot
believe God. And there's much talk today in
religious circles about faith. I'm afraid that what many call
and believe faith to be is actually just the opposite. It's nothing
more than unbelief in disguise. Wolves in sheep's clothing have
made faith all about themselves and not at all about Christ. I know that so, and so do you.
Men believe in themselves, but not God. Men believe that salvation
is a decision that they make. Men believe that salvation depends
upon their acceptance of God. And that kind of faith is unbelief.
That's all it is. Salvation is God's acceptance
of us, and it's only in Christ. There's no acceptance from God.
except through the Lord Jesus Christ, our one mediator between
God and man. Salvation is God's acceptance
of us in Christ. Men trust, men have faith in
their works, but not in God's. Men believe they trust in a God
of their imagination, but not the God of the Bible. Men have
a righteousness of self, self-righteousness, but not the righteousness of
God found only in Christ Jesus. For being ignorant of God's righteousness,
they go about to establish their own righteousness and have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, Romans
10, 23. Those who trust in Christ know
something of this monster. Those who have been given true
faith abhor and detest this unwelcome unbelief that often raises its
ugly head even in the believer's life. I'm convinced that it's
unbelief, that if unbelief is displayed and revealed itself
and it's true, hideousness. When and if it knocked at the
sinner's door, a heart's door, they'd slam it shut immediately.
But that's the real problem and the issue with this monster.
It slips in the back door. It takes great care to disguise
itself. It strives to portray itself
to be something other than what it is. And there are many professing
believers today that do not question the inspiration and the infallible
truth of the scripture. Yet many of them entertain in
their hearts an unbelief that eats as a canker and a cancer
within them. And let me endeavor for just
a few minutes to give you some ways in which this monster of
unbelief disguises itself. often disguises itself, number
one, in humility. Well, what do you mean by that?
Well, I've heard some say that they cannot believe that God
could or would save one like them. I can't believe that God
would save me, they say. That kind of talk may at first
seem to imitate the tone of humility, but if you listen close to the
accent and the enunciation, it's all wrong. All wrong. In saying that, first and foremost,
you deny the sovereign power and ability of God. You see,
God saves whom He wills. God has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy, and none whom God has mercy on can resist His will. God's choosing and calling of
a sinner cannot be resisted, for His calling is always effectual. And aren't you glad? Aren't you
glad? Oh my, God's choosing and calling
cannot be resisted. A very frequent disguise of unbelief
is that of humility. And I've heard folks say things
like, I feel myself such a great sinner, and I feel so much evil
in my heart that I dare not believe in Christ. And if we judge by
appearances, at first glance, this attitude may appear to be
modesty, But I can assure you that it's not. This deceptive
attitude dares to hint that the sinner's unworthiness is a reason
why Christ should not be trusted. What would cause any sinner to
think that his own wickedness would be a reason why he should
not believe that Christ could or would save them? Huh? Isn't that who Christ came to
save? It's a faithful saying and worthy of all exceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's
who he came to save. He came into the world to save
sinners. Wicked, wretched, good for nothing sinners. And that's
what Paul said. He said, of whom I am chief.
Christ came to save the worst of the worst. And you might say,
well, I'm worse than Paul was. Really? Have you murdered those
who trusted in Christ? Paul did, and in his own eyes,
he was the chief of sinners. Do we dare claim that God Almighty
cannot save us when He assuredly promises to save us if we trust
Him? No matter how great a sinner
you are, there's forgiveness with God that he may be feared. For our Lord Jesus said himself,
all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto
men. There's only one sin that cannot
be pardoned and forgiven, and it's called the blasphemy of
the Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you, I'm no Bible
scholar, but I'm not a novice either, and I believe that that
blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is nothing more than not believing
that the Spirit of God comes and teaches us the things of
Christ and His gospel of salvation. I'm telling you, this blasphemy
cannot be, to me, any more than just plain unbelief. Plain unbelief. If there's one unpardonable sin,
it has to be unbelief. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3, 17. Listen carefully
to 1 John 5, 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath to witness in himself that he that believeth not God
hath made him God a liar. because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. He that believeth on the Son
of God has this witness within himself. But he that doesn't
believe God has made God a liar because he doesn't believe the
Gospel that God has given. God is the God of truth. God
cannot lie. It's impossible for God to lie. There's nothing that can be more
reproachful than to the being and the nature of God. Nothing
can more fully expose unbelief than not to trust in Jesus Christ
as the only substitute and sacrifice for sin. Then the beloved John
said this, and this is the record. that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. God says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And the unbeliever replies,
well I cannot believe that Jesus would save me. That's the same
as saying that you don't think that God speaks the truth and
you don't believe that God is able to make his promise good
to you. Now you can call it what you
want to, but it's unbelief and it'll send you to hell. If you
believe such a thing, you're wrong. You're wrong. Secondly,
unbelief is froward. It's a contrary, difficult thing
because it refuses God's way of salvation. No man or woman
can truthfully read the scripture and not see God's way of salvation. Now I'm telling you, that's so.
I know that God has to reveal these things to you. But folks
will read things in the Scripture that are just like what we read.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
hath not life. Is there anything too hard to
understand about that? But men and women shake their
heads and they go, I don't believe that. That's not how my Bible
reads. You cannot read this book and
not see that God's way of salvation is not by works, nor by feelings,
but by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. There's
one mediator, we just said that, between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. How many mediators? One. Just one. I was never good in
math, but I understand one. Only one man could provide full
atonement for sin. Is there anything you don't understand
about that? Sinners ask, what must I do to
be saved? God's answer is, trust in my
Son. It's that simple. Trust in my
Son. This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom God has sent. And unbelief whispers,
Surely you must feel something. Surely you must have some kind
of experience. Faith stops all these vain imaginations. Faith says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Period. Period. But don't I have to do something?
Don't I have to feel something? Don't I have to experience something?
Better be careful. Better be careful. Thirdly, unbelief
is a froward. It's a contrary, difficult thing
because it very often makes unreasonable demands on God. When Thomas said,
except I put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust
my hand into the side, I will not believe. He was speaking
forwardly. He was speaking contrary to God. You see, faith believes God without
God having to provide proof. Let me say that again. Faith
believes God without God having to provide proof. That's what
faith is. It's believing God. Do we dare
look the eternal God in the face and say, I will not believe you
unless you do this and that and give me tangible, touchable proof? Is that what we're going to say?
Shame on unbelief. Shame on it that it should be
so insulting to the faithful God of heaven and earth. Fourthly,
unbelief is froward. It's contrary, it's difficult
to deal with because it discredits the Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelief
causes men and women to doubt that the shedding of Christ's
blood is sufficient for the remission of sins. Surely you have to add
something to that. Surely I've got to do something
in order to make my salvation effectual. Do those who are in
unbelief really dare to discredit the effectiveness of Christ's
sacrifice, His sacrificial blood? Do they really dare to question
the power of Christ's intercession for us as the Risen Lord? dare
to limit the Holy One of Israel, who is able to save to the uttermost
that come to God by Him? Do they really dare to disbelieve
the kind and divine providence of God to His elect, seeing that
Christ ever liveth to make intercession for them? Fifthly, unbelief has in it a
tendency to destroy the gospel. If it could be proved that one
sinner could be lost who believed and trusted in Christ, then I'm
telling you, dear friends, the whole gospel of Christ can be
disproved. If there are any in hell, for
whom Christ died, then Jesus Christ is a failure, God is a
liar, the gospel is not true, and every professing believer
is lost and bound to the same destination, hell itself. I must ask those of you who are
still in your unbelief, do you doubt salvation by God's grace
and mercy and Christ alone? If the Lord Jesus is not worthy
to be trusted, and you seem to say so by your refusal of Him,
then aren't you saying that all who are trusting in Christ are
delusional? Are without hope? If Christ cannot
be fully and completely trusted, can any who trust in Christ have
any real hope? Can any who trust in Christ find
any real peace and rest? If I can trust in Christ and
still be lost, is there any comfort there? Your unbelief either makes you
or God a liar, one of the two. I'll trust the Word of God. It
says, for what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief
make the faith of God without effect? Paul said, God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every
man a liar. It is written that thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art
judged. In the end, there'll be saved
folks and there'll be lost folks. There'll be believing and unbelieving. There'll be the saved sinners
and the lost sinners. There'll be sheep and there'll
be goats. We'll all see that this is true.
God is just and God is right when he declares something. God
is clear and God is innocent when he judges unbelief. Lost sinner, if you don't believe,
Now listen to me. If you don't believe, it changes
nothing for those who believe. It doesn't change anything for
me. Your unbelief will never make
the faith of God without effect. That's what Paul said there in
Romans chapter 3. But I tell you what your unbelief
will do. In the day of judgment, it will
make God's judgment against you just, true, and right. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Oh my, this is serious business. This is life and death. We're
not just playing church here. This is not a social club where
we come together and sing and exchange business contacts. It's
a matter of life and death. Let me quickly finish with a
word to you who believe and trust and find all your hope of salvation
in Christ. God says, blessed is the man
that maketh the Lord his trust. Blessed. You're blessed if you
make the Lord your trust. To believe in God is to be blessed
by God. But preacher, I know men and
women who have faith in Christ that are experiencing great trouble.
So do I. Sometimes it's me. Sometimes
it's you. But have you heard them in the
time of trouble? Have you heard what comes forth
from their mouth? They say things like, it's good
for me that I've been afflicted. that I may learn God's divine
appointments. While in their trial they say,
while all things work together for the good of them that love
the Lord are they called according to his purpose. God must be going
to bless me in this trouble. That's the language of God's
people. All things, all things. The man that makes the Lord his
trust is blessed because his faith creates in him a great
hope of redemption and a deep peace within. Now listen, if
my salvation depended on me, I wouldn't have any peace or
comfort ever. Ever. Why? Because I know myself. I know what I'm capable of. I
constantly be looking within and doubting everything because
of what I am and who I am. But when I'm saved by the mercy
and grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, that One who lived
perfectly before God, kept God's law perfectly in my place, satisfied
God's divine justice that was against me, and said, on the
cross it's finished, God is satisfied, oh, I can just rest right there.
Can't you? Absolutely. Absolutely. If I was laboring to reach heaven
on my own merits, then I'd just say goodbye to peace and rest. There's no rest upon that bed.
It's shorter than a man can stretch himself out on. And the covering
is just too narrow for him to wrap himself up in. I'll never
forget that message Brother Montgomery preached not long after he, may
have been before, I don't know, before or after he had that brain
surgery that time. But he said, Christ, oh, that's
a bed I can stretch out on. Don't you like a bed you can
stretch out on? He said, there's a covering of righteousness there
that I can wrap myself up in. Don't you like to just get wrapped
up in a blanket at night? You ain't worried about it coming
off your feet and your feet hanging out and all cold and everything.
You're all wrapped up like a mummy. That's the way God's righteousness
is. Oh, the gospel bed and covers
are not too short. We who believe do enter into
rest. Christ is our rest and in Him
we have peace with God. Not peace as the world gives,
but peace that passes all understanding. I don't understand this peace.
I really don't. But I'm sure glad I have it.
I don't have it all the time, but that's my fault. Because
I begin to look within and not to Christ. So to those of you
who trust in Christ, is there not a wonderful calm in your
heart when God enables you to really believe? Oh, we look at
the world around us. We see those who are without
Christ. Oh, they're tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Tossed to and fro in the storms
of this life. And the believer's just sitting
there resting, trusting Christ. saying everything's going to
be alright. My God is on the throne. My Savior's ruling and
reigning, and He's causing all things to work together for my
good. Oh, if Jesus Christ is my Lord,
and if I can yet be lost, I'm telling you, I'd be a great loser
because I would lose my salvation, but I wouldn't lose as much as
God would. I'd lose my redemption, but God
would lose His glory, His truthfulness, His goodness, His gospel would
be dishonored, His son would be robbed of his reward. But
that cannot be. God has never failed. To Israel
of old He came to pass, to spiritual Israel it remains certain. The New King James Version says
it this way. I didn't even write the verse
down. It was in Joshua. It says, There failed not any
of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of
Israel all came to pass. To those of you who believe and
have faith in Christ, let me say the same to you. There will
fail not any of any good thing. Isn't that, I love that. There
will not fail any of any good thing that the Lord has spoken,
that the Lord has promised unto you. All will come to pass. And it doesn't have anything
to do with you. God, I see to it in spite of you. That's the
glorious thing. He'll bless you regardless. Why?
Because it's in His Son. It's through His marriage, His
righteousness. It's for His glory. He's the
Lord that changes not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. God can't change. Believers never
perish. Can you believe that? Can you
believe that? Only if God enables you may He
be pleased to do so today. Amen.