We're going to go back over something
we've already looked at Wednesday night. But a half was not told. Something kept going back over
my mind and I wish I'd said some more about it. Every single word in that verse, I
think on these things, whatsoever things are true, Whatsoever things
are honest. Every single thing he mentions,
we could do a message on that one thing. Whatsoever things
are true, we could do a whole message on that. But this one thing, a good report. Whatsoever things are of a good
report. going back over in my mind and we're going to look
at it again. I thought about, you know, a
good teacher. We've got a couple of teachers
in here and you review, don't you? You go back over things
again and again because Your students don't get it the first
time, do they? Let me ask you, if I told you
to stand up and quote Philippians 4, 8, could you? What's wrong with you? Well,
I want to tell you again that I have to think about it. I have
to stop and think. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, here's a good way to remember it. Whatsoever
things are just pure lovely, These things are just pure lovely.
True, honest, just pure lovely. Good report, virtue, praise.
Think on these things. And the God of peace. Anybody
have any turmoil, any trouble this week? Have you been thinking
on these things? Have you been thinking about
the world? That's where our trouble comes from. He said, think on
these things, the God of peace will be with you. So is this
necessary? It's vital. And so if we didn't
get it the first time, may we get it now. Whatsoever things are of a good
report, a good report, so much here for our learning and for
our peace. I was surprised. to learn that
this phrase, this term, good report, is used 10 times in the
scripture. I knew of three. I missed seven. That means I had a 30% grade. My report card would be 30% failing. Now, Hebrews says we ought to
be teachers But we're dull of hearing. Well, I plead guilty
to that too. I plead guilty. Ten times it
speaks of a good report. What sort of things are of a
good report? Now, let me show you one in the
Old Testament. Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. Go back there. This is good.
Good, good, good. Better than good. It's great. Proverbs 15. Look at verse... Oh brethren, if you want somewhere
to read the scriptures, just start reading the Proverbs. Dwell,
meditate on every verse. Proverbs 15 verse 29 through
33. Verse 29. The Lord is far from
the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. The
light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart. What's the light of the
eyes? The entrance of thy word giveth light. Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, a light unto my path. The light of the eyes rejoiceth
the heart, and a good report maketh the bones fat. That means
the skeleton, the foundation is firm and strong. What's a
good report? Come on, somebody tell me what
you think a good report is. I'm going to preach it. The good
news is exactly what it says, a good report. I'm going to give
the good report. The gospel, the good news, it
makes the bones fat. It's the skeleton. It's the foundation. Church is a pillar and the ground
of the truth, the gospel. It makes the bones fat. Read
on. The ear that heareth the reproof of life, the gospel,
reproves, rebukes, instructs. He that heareth the reproof of
life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction
despiseth his own soul. But he that heareth reproof getteth
understanding. Where does it start? The fear
of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Before honor is humility. That's just a few verses in the
Proverbs. But it talks about a good report. Hebrews 11. Go
over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. A good report. A good report. Let's think on
it this morning. Hebrews 11. And this chapter
alone, it speaks of the good report twice. Hebrews 11, verse
1 and 2. Now faith is the substance of
things hopeful. Evidence of things not seen.
Faith is the ground, the confidant. Faith's not a thing. Faith's
not a doctrine. Faith is not a creed. Faith is
not... Faith's a person. It's who you believe, not what.
It's who you believe. And He is the ground, isn't it? He is their confidant. It's the
evidence of things not seen. If you believe, if you trust
Christ, That's evidence that God has saved you by His grace. By grace you say through faith.
It's not of your self. It's the gift of God. Now verse 2. By faith the elders
obtained a good report. A good report. By faith. Look
at verse 39. Verse 39. It begins this way
with a good report and ends this way. and he mentions quite a
few, they all having obtained a good report through faith. They obtained a good report. What does that mean? They believed
the gospel. They heard the good report. They
heard the good news and they believed. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
what? The good report. The gospel. The good news. The good news. And peace comes by belief. Our peace, and this is for God's
glory and Christ's honor. We need to believe the good report
and not dwell on the bad. We need to believe the good report.
He said in our text, God, the God of peace is with you if you
believe the good report. The God of peace is with you
if not. Now the gospel is good news.
The gospel is a good report and it's all good. It's all good
for God's saints, for God's people. I have nothing good to say to
unbelievers except whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. But for those who
trust Christ, those who believe Christ, It's all good. I have
nothing really bad to say. Brother Scott used to say, I've
never heard any bad news since I heard the good news. But you've
not heard the good news until you've first heard the bad news.
Unless you think, woe is me, like Isaiah. Woe is me, woe is
me. The gospel is not good news.
The gospel's good news to the lost, so you first hear the bad
news. Woe is me, I'm undone. And then God sent an angel, which
is an example of a preacher of the gospel, with a live coal
from the altar, that's from the Spirit of God, by the power of
His Spirit, His Word, a live coal, and put it in his mouth,
and he said, your iniquity's purged. And then Isaiah cheered up. That's the gospel. Well, where am I? Good report. It's for God's saints, okay?
And everything, I've got good news from God's people. Everything
works together for our good. Everything. It's all on purpose.
It's all by the will of God. You're in His hand. He will not
let go of you. He will not leave you. forsake
you, He will not cast you out for any reason whatsoever. None of them that trust Jesus
Christ shall be desolate, shall be abandoned, shall be ashamed,
shall perish. Not one single person. And every
single thing in their lives is good. Smile! I say to every believer,
God loves you. Now, what have we got to worry
about? Who are you going to believe?
God or men? If you look around, we're going
to see a story in Numbers 13. If you look around, look at the
world, and listen to the word, and you're going to want to go
back. David in Psalm 73 was looking
all around. And he said, I've cleansed my
hands in vain, my religion's in vain, this and that and the
other. He said, look at the world, they're happy and all I got is
trouble. And David, he went in the sanctuary and he heard a
fella named Nathan get up and preach to him. What did he preach?
The good report. And David said, I was a beast. I was a fool. I was ignorant. How could I envy cows being fattened
for the slaughter? Oh, he said, it's all good, isn't
it? It laid the good report. Now
look at Hebrews 11 again. Look at that, Hebrews 11. Look
at verse 13. It says of these all, they all
died. They all died. And we are too. We're going to too. Every one
of us. Every one of us are going to die. This is the thing that
flesh fears. All our lifetime we're subject
to this bondage, this fear of death. Right? What does the scripture
say? in Hebrew, about Christ who came. What did He come for? To deliver
them, who all their lifetime were subject to this bondage,
the fear of death. To deliver them from it. This
fear of death. There is no death for believers.
It's not the end for believers. It's just the beginning. But
death, like Spurgeon said, the thing we dread the most is the
greatest thing that's going to happen to us. What's wrong with
us? We're forgetful hearers, aren't
we? We just don't believe the good reports. Did you hear so-and-so? Saint so-and-so is on their deathbed. Oh, no. No, yes, good. They're about to go home. Oh,
we're sorry for them. We're sorry for ourselves, but
we shouldn't be sorry for them. We should envy them. You see
there? It's a good report. These all
died in faith. David said, mark the perfect
man, that man who is in Christ, that man who is complete in Christ. Mark the perfect man, that one
who is accepted in the beloved, that one who is redeemed by his
precious blood, that one who believes in him by the grace
of God, by the power of God. You mark it down. The end of
that man is peace. Rest, he giveth his beloved sleep. I hope the Lord impresses on
us this good report this morning. Every one of us right now say,
I'm ready to depart. I have a desire to depart and
be with the Lord. Whereas as soon as this is over,
we're going to go back out into that cesspool, back out into
the, back to the dung heap, aren't we? This is a good report. Why do we come here? To hear
the good news. Like those people in Nehemiah,
where they said, don't weep. They were all weeping after they
heard the law preached. They were all weeping and said,
don't weep, it's good. Oh my, these all died in faith. Now do you remember, Paul is
the one who wrote this, didn't he? We believe he wrote Hebrew.
But Paul definitely wrote Philippian. Who wrote it? God did. He said to the Thessalonians,
I thank God you received the word as it is in truth. Not as
the words of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And
Paul kept telling us, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. He said
in Hebrews, if you hold the beginning of your confidence and rejoice
in it. If the gospel ceases to be rejoicing. You haven't heard it. He said
rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in it. Where was he when
he wrote that? In prison. He had been beaten. Brother Wesley, his back was... He was torn open. His eyes were
black and blue. Lying in a dark dungeon with
chains on him. And he and Silas One time, Philippi,
this is how the Lord... Was it good? Was that good what
happened to them? Good! Read the rest of the story. They're lying there in darkness
in the dungeon and the sores and wounds and bruises and the
chains on them in the darkness. And Paul said, Brother Silas,
the Lord did this. We don't know why, but we're
going to find out. Let's just start singing. And
they did. You know what happened? The chains
fell off. And lo and behold, a fellow came
running in with a light. The light shone in darkness.
And the doors flew open. And Paul and Silas said, look
at that. Paul was in prison when he wrote
this. He said, rejoice. In the next verses, he said,
verse 12. Philippians 4. I know how to
be a base. I know how to abound. I fear
that most of us only know something about abounding. Because we live,
we're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
This is why I say maybe one of the best things that ever happened
to the church would be for God, for this economy to crash. Where
all we got is a place to hear the gospel. Food and arraignment,
and we'd come here hanging on every word, wouldn't we? Tell
us again, the good news. Because all around me, death
and darkness and anguish of spirit and dimness and vexation. Come
here, tell me the good news. What'd you tell me? Tell me about
that land that is fairer than day. Tell me where we're going.
Got nothing but trouble here. Paul said, rejoice, he said,
I know, he said, I've learned, verse 11, whatsoever state I
am, to be content. Have you learned
that? Anybody, has anybody in here
learned that? I haven't learned that. I haven't
learned that. I don't know, I confess that
I don't, I know that much about that. Because I find myself murmuring,
complaining, not believing the good report. Anybody? You know what God does to murmurers
and complainers? See, the children of Israel and
the whole Old Testament is concerning them. All the Psalms, so many
Psalms, brings them up. The whole book of Hebrews, all
the epistles, especially 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds the people about
the children of Israel. 1 Corinthians 10, he said, these
people were examples to us. Hebrews said, now don't let these
things slip like they did. Don't provoke God like they did.
He said, today if you will hear His voice. They didn't hear it.
And they all wanted to go back. And kept saying, today if you
will hear His voice. What is His voice? It's the good
news. He said, let Him come down. The
first thing they heard, Brother John, was God said, I have come
down to deliver them out, to bring them up, Now what could be bad after that?
And all that they went through was part of it, bringing them
out. If we dwell on the bad and the
evil, it not only brings reproach on
God, it is not only unbelief, it not only is finding fault
with God, not believing God, it will make us want to go back That's what the children of Israel did. To what? So many people listened.
There were many so-called disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I just
read a message by Ebenezer Erskine, a Scottish preacher on backsliders,
characterizing. And this was his text. And many
went back and walked no more with him. What did they go back
to? The pilgrimage was too hard. The things he was saying was
too hard. The truth was too glaring. It was too narrow. And they said, we're going back. Where'd they go? Back. To what? The slime pits. And Simon Peter, on behalf of
his fellow disciples, and on my behalf, said, Lord, To whom
shall we go? Where would we go? What would
we go back to? What's there to go back to? I
don't want to go back. Like the Hebrew people in Hebrews
11. He said if they'd been mindful. You know the Lord brought them
in Hebrews 11. All those people through this. There was stone,
there was saw and a sunderer. They were casting the lions in
like Daniel. They were putting a fiery furnace
like the three Hebrews. Why? The Lord brought them all
that. Because He's bringing them out, making them want out, making
them desire a better country. It's all good, you see. All the
bad, all the so-called evil was good for them. Why? It made them
want out. But no, the children of Israel
all murmured and complained. Go to Numbers chapter 13. Go
over there. This is a story I want you to see. Numbers chapter 13. If you've
never seen this, well, Numbers 13. This is an
old, old story that illustrates what I'm trying to say. Numbers
13. You see, our attitudes, our talk,
our conversation, things we think on, things we talk of, Paul said,
think on these things. But our attitude, our talk, our
conversation should be in heaven. heavenward, things above, set
your affection. Because if it's not, you're not
going to have any peace. And if it's never, then the person
doesn't know God. If you're of the world, that's
all you speak about. That's all you want to hear about,
think about. But God's people, no, no. They're
a conversation in heaven. And if our attitudes, our talk,
our conversation, what we think of and talk about either glorifies
God or it dishonors Him. It testifies of God, our talk,
our conversation either testifies of God or it dishonors Him before
the world. And these people and some of
these spies that came back And all that they said dishonored
God, disbelieved God. There were two, two men who believed
God and honored God and gave a good report. Everybody else
gave a bad report. Alright, look at Numbers 13 verse
1. The Lord spake to Moses saying,
Send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan which I give
unto the children of Israel of every tribe of their fathers
shall you send a man." A man, a man, a man, a man. God has
sent men, preachers. These represent preachers. Okay? Look, there's two names you need
to take note of. Verse 6, the tribe of Judah,
Caleb. Caleb, what's that mean? What's
Caleb mean? Faithful dog. Faithful dog. Our Lord said of
Caleb, he hath followed me fully, faithfully. Followed me like
a dog. You know, all dogs go to heaven.
There's a message you need to hear. My preacher preached the
message one time on all dogs go to heaven. And he used the
text of the Syrophoenician woman who came to him and he said,
the Lord said, it's not me to take the children's bread and
cast it to dogs. He said, that's true. I'm a dog. David said, what am I? A dead dog. Mephibosheth said
that. I'm just a dead dog. You know,
all dogs go to heaven. Caleb. It's a good name, the
name of the dog. Verse 8, of the tribe of Ephraim,
Oshiah, son of Nun. Verse 16. Names of men, Moses
sent to spy out the land. Moses called Oshiah the son of
Nun. Yahushua, God our Savior. Jesus, his name, Joshua. Two,
Judah, Joshua and Caleb, all right? All right, verse 17, chapter
13. Moses sent them to spy out the
land of Canaan. Go, get you up this way. Go up
into the mountain and see the land. Look out over it. People
that dwell therein, strong, weak, few, many, what the land is.
Verse 20, what the land is, whether fat or lean. Verse 20, be of
good courage, bring the fruits. Bring the fruit of that land.
So they did. 70, was it 70? I lost track. Anyway. No, it wasn't 70, it
was several. Anyway, he sent these men out
to spy out the land. Verse 23, they came back. I love
this. They came back from the land
the Lord had promised. The land the Lord said will be
flowing with milk and honey. They came to the brook of Eshkol
and they cut down one cluster of grapes. And two men, it took two men
to carry one cluster of grapes. Okay? That's pretty good evidence
of this great land, isn't it? They brought this one cluster
of grapes back. Two men bearing this great fruit
to all the people. Look! It's just like God said. That's what they should have
said. Two of them did. In spite of everything you see
and hear, they should have said. It's just like God said. You
know, we've had a couple of men, last May, we had two men stand
up here in priesthood. Do we have two or three? I forget. It doesn't matter. But there
were at least two. that at the mouth of two or three witnesses
a thing is established. We had two men sent by God stand
up here, a Joshua and a Caleb, and what did they do? They told
of the fruit of the Lamb. They told of Christ's great fruit,
glorious fruit, the fruit of Christ's hand, the fruit of His
work, the fruit of His doing, not ours, His. They told of it.
We ought to believe it, shouldn't we? Clear evidence. It's ours. Anybody believe, Christ
said, it's yours. Take it. All right, but the rest of them,
the rest of them, look at verse 26. They went and they came to
Moses and Aaron, brought back word to the congregation, showed
them the fruit, verse 27. They told him, we came to the
land, verse 27, you sent it, and surely it floweth with milk
and honey, and brethren, I could do a whole message on that. Is
it Isaiah 7? It talks about he shall milk
butter and honey. Desire the sincere milk of the
word, he shall go thereby. Butter is churned up milk. Honey,
that's the word of God. It is, it's full of milk and
honey. There's the fruit, here's the fruit. Nevertheless, there's nothing to trouble. Big
people. Giants. We can't go, we can't make it. The Malachites dwell there, the
Jebusites, the Hittites, the Amorites, Canaanites, Catholics,
the Methodists, the Arminians, the Hittites, the Hivites, they're
all there. Caleb, verse 30, stilled the people. How do you still
the people? Their strength is to sit still.
You come and you hear a man, how do I still you? How do I
still your soul? What is it that stills us? Sitting
beside the rivers of water and still? We say, be still and know
that He's God. That's how we still the people.
Every time you come, you're going to hear me say, be still, God
reigns. Don't listen to what's going
on. Don't look around. Don't turn your TV off. Open
up your Bible. It's good news. Hey, Caleb, let's go. Let's go.
Now. Ready? Oh no, look, look. No, look,
look. It's ours. Why? God said it. You know what unbelief says?
Unbelief looks around, looks at the world and this and that.
Unbelief says, man's true and God's a liar. Nothing to it,
look. Nothing but trouble. No, it's
exactly the way God said it. Read and you'll see everything's
exactly the way God said it. You look to the earth, what do
you see? Nothing but dimness and anguish and darkness and
vexation. Like God said. He said the Egyptians' house
were full of darkness. But in every house of the children
of Israel was what? What? Somebody say it. Light. We see. It's a good report. Caleb said,
brethren, it's good. Looks bad to me. Don't look there.
Look there. But listen. No, don't listen.
Listen! Look unto me, and me ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. I am God. I gave Egypt for your
ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Thou wast precious in my
sight. Go! Come! It's all good. Good report. I got nothing but
good things for those that believe Christ. It's a good report. Do you believe it? If you don't,
you won't be established. If you don't, you won't have
peace. If you murmur and you complain and you worry and you
fear and you don't trust God, that displeases God. And He'll
hide His face from you. God got angry with those men
that gave an evil report. Look at verse 32. These men brought
up an evil report of the land. You know what the Lord said?
And not going in. I'm not going to let them in my, they don't
believe me. And it brings reproach on God,
doesn't it? It really does. If we, just like
the rest of the world, say, oh my, aren't things bad? Oh, everything's
so bad, I can't, oh, it's too hot, oh, it's too wet. Oh, thank God for the sun. Thank
God for the rain. It's of the Lord's mercies we're
not concerned. It's of the Lord's mercies that
he doesn't take us away like a flood. Here's what Moses said, one of
the oldest psalms in the book. Moses said, make us glad according
to the days you've afflicted us. The years wherein we've seen
evil, make us glad. Make us see that what it is is
you're taking us out of this place. You're taking it out of
us. And you're taking us out of it.
And you're setting our eyes on things that are eternal. You're
setting our eyes on things that are real. That is Him. Setting
our mind, our affection, our heart where it ought to be. Not
on this place. Not on leeks and onions and garlic
and cucumbers and the cesspool. But setting them on things that
are lovely. Things that are true. Things that are honest. Things
that are just pure lovely. A good rapport. Virtue. Praise. Any praise? Anybody? It's a good
report. I bring you a good report. God said, let not your heart
be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go, if Christ has died for you, if God has justified you
by faith, and Christ has died for you, brethren, it's all over
with the shepherds. It's good. Believe on the Lord.