Join me, if you would, this morning
as we think about this last chapter of the book of Numbers. I'd like
to read three verses of scripture in the book of Genesis chapter
four. Genesis chapter four. It has
so much to say about what we're going to find here in this last
chapter of the book of Numbers. And in fact, you know, I read
yesterday, I believe it was, someone said, you know, it's
unfair that I have Adam, or people say, I have Adam as my representative. I didn't vote for him. And you
know what? That doesn't matter. God did. God put that responsibility on
Adam, whether we like it or not. So He's the Master. He's the
one in charge of this. And you know the consequences
of this fell out in chapter 4, verses 3, 4, and 5. Now there's
a couple of thoughts in these three verses of Scripture that
I want to bring out before we go into the book of the final
chapter of the book of Numbers. And that is in Genesis chapter
4, verse 3. and in the process of time it
came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord." Now, it appears that there had been instructions
by someone to these two boys about the very need to offer
an offering unto the Lord. It appears that they were instructed.
Now, there's only two other people that could have done that, and
that's mom and dad. And there was some instruction.
Now, it tells us there in verse 3 that in the process of time
that Cain brought the fruit of the ground and offering unto
the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, and the
Lord had respect. Now this was an interesting phrase
that was brought to my attention. It says, the Lord had respect
unto Abel and to his offering. The Lord had respect unto Abel
and his offering. Now, we're gonna find out you
cannot separate who we trust as our deliverer from ourselves.
And if you're like Cain, you're gonna find out as we read in
the next verse, but unto Cain and to his offering, he had not
respect. So Cain didn't have God's respect,
nor did his offering have any respect from God. Abel offered
a more acceptable sacrifice. In fact, we find in the book
of Hebrews, by faith, Abel offered. God gave him the faith to offer
this great offering, and I appreciate what Brother David said in almost
every one of his messages this past weekend that represents
or shares with us the agony that our Savior went through. This
is what he is representing in that sacrifice. There must be
a consumption of a Substitute. All right. But if
you notice with me here in verse five, but unto Cain and to his
offering, he had not respect. Now the final words are so indicative
of what we find in this world today, even may have been what
we find about ourselves when we heard the gospel for the first
time. And Cain was very angry. It says, �Very wroth.� We know
what that means. He�s very upset. He�s very upset
that he and his offering were not accepted by the Lord. And
it says there, �And his countenance fell.� He�s angry with God because
God did not accept that. Now, he�s going to take it out
on his brother, but his anger is really towards God. Alright,
you may ask, why? How is that leading up to our
lesson today? Turn with me, if you would, to the last chapter
of the book of Numbers. The last chapter of the book
of Numbers. As we come to the conclusion of this Gospel according
to Numbers, I would like us to see again some of what the Holy
Spirit had written about the Messiah in this chapter and how
it affects people. Now, in the book of Numbers 14,
22, it tells us God speaking to Israel says, these ten times
have you not followed my instruction. This book is a book of open rebellion
against God. Time and time and time again,
there's an open rebellion against Almighty God. And it is given
towards generally Moses, but we're going to find out it's
also be going to be given against those two spies that came back
with a good report. They wanted to take them out
and stone them to death as well as Moses and Aaron. We find that
the rebellion is so innate, in natural man, that it absolutely
takes the grace of God for us to ever have a good thought about
God. We cannot have a spiritually
good thought. Now we may express that before
people with our mouth, but you know the Lord Jesus said, it's
not what we goes into the mouth that's the problem. It's what
comes out of the mouth, and he gives a list of things there,
and you know what? We don't want to be caught with
any of that stuff in our mouth, but we do have it in our heart. Well, here in this chapter, chapter
36 of the book of Numbers, we have an interesting incident
take place. We are brought up again about
five daughters of an Israelite that has already been spoken
about in one of the chapters here in the book of Numbers about
their inheritance. Their father passed away. Now,
we asked you to consider that we might have an inheritance.
And the word of the Lord came back and said, ìThey shall inherit.
Their fatherís dead. They have this privilege given
to them by the grace of God to inherit in the land.î Well, we
are running into them one more time here in the chapter 36 of
the book of Numbers. And it says here that the chief
fathers of the families of the children of Israel, of Gilead,
the son of Menacher, the son of Manasseh, of the families
of the sons of Joseph, came near and spake before Moses and before
the princes and the chief fathers of the children of Israel. Now,
in this chapter, we have one of the wonderful principles of
the gospel brought out to us. We're going to find out that
there is much said in a general state about Israel, the messages
out to Israel. And then we're going to find
out that what really means something is when God applies this to individuals. that when God gives the good
news to an individual, now, the general call goes out. We're
gonna have this. This is a general statement to
Israel about inheritance in the land. And when we get down to
some people named by names, and you know what? It became significant
to them and to us to find out that God does the same thing
all the time with us. He makes a general statement
and always comes down with grace to individuals, and they are
named. We have the names of them. Alright,
in verse 2, And they said, The LORD commanded my LORD to give
the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel,
And remember, they're not even in the land yet, but by faith,
some people, these guys, are coming and saying, you know,
this is promised. We're going to claim it. This is a promise.
We're going to claim it. And the Lord and my Lord was commanded
by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zephelhad, our brother, unto
his daughters. And if they be married to any
of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then
shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers.
and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe, whereunto they
are received. So shall it be taken from the
lot of our inheritance. And when the jubilee of the children
of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto
the inheritance of the tribe, whereunto they are received.
So shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance
of the tribe of our fathers. And Moses commanded the children
of Israel, according to the word of the Lord, saying, The tribe
of the sons of Joseph hath said well. This is the thing which
the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad,
saying, Let them marry to whom they think best. only to the
family of the tribe of their father shall they marry. So shall
not the inheritance of the children of Israel removed from tribe
to tribe, for they, one of the children of Israel, shall keep
himself to be the inheritance of the tribe of the fathers.
And every daughter that possesses an inheritance in any tribe of
the children of Israel Shall be wife unto one of the family
of the tribe of her fathers that the children of Israel may enjoy
every man the inheritance of his fathers Neither shall the
inheritance removed from one tribe to another tribe But every
one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself
to his own inheritance Even as the Lord commanded Moses. So
did the daughters of Silophahad for Mala Terzah, and Hoglah,
and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zilphahad, were married unto
their father's brother's sons. And they were married in the
families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their
inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.
These are the commandments and judgments which the Lord commanded
by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains
of Moab, by the children of Jordan near Jericho. So here we have
that the Lord demonstrates that even in the little things, God
has a blessing for his people. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Isaiah chapter 59 for just a moment. The book of
Isaiah chapter 59, we have a blessed passage of scripture about the
Lord and about his ability to take care of the problems. It
is interesting that those people came to Moses and Moses had a
word from the Lord. We have no other reference point.
We have nowhere else to go to. When someone wants to talk about
our experience, that is going to be mishmash, but when we want
to talk about the Word of God, that's solid, that's firm, that
can be taken to the bank. Here in the book of Isaiah, chapter
59, verse 1, we read these words about the Lord and about the
significance of that little bitty incident that's brought at the
conclusion of the book of Numbers. How that God demonstrates, yes,
we have this, but it is going to be applied to individuals.
And here we have five of them. I don't mean much about numbers
in the Bible. I mean this book of numbers,
but you know, five is a number for grace found throughout the
scriptures. And we have the grace of God
demonstrated here only by the grace of God. All right. Isaiah
chapter 59, Isaiah 59 and verse one, it says, behold, the Lord's
hand is not shortened. that it cannot save, neither
his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you, that he will not hear. The Lord's hand is not
short, and his ears are not deaf. And when it comes to his grace,
he applies it where he intends it to take place. The people
of God are very dear to him, and he has a great care for them.
even in the smallest of issues. Now, this issue is brought up,
and it has to do with inheritance in the land, and the instruction
is given. And yet, the most important part of the whole thing is, these
instructions were given to all Israel, but we find that they
become most valuable when they're brought down to five daughters
of one man, and their names are given. And we find that this
is a principle found throughout the Scriptures about the Word
of God. that He has many general statements
to give, but the application, when it is by grace, comes down
to individuals. You know, it's an interesting
thing to read over there in the book of Numbers, as we did in
chapter 14, and find out when those ten or twelve spies came
back from the land, ten of them are not even named in that place.
Now they're named earlier because they represent tribes. They're
the captains of the tribes, the twelve tribes of Israel. They
have a prominent place, but you know what prominence in a place
means nothing with regard to grace. We have two men given
by name that came back with a good report, and that's all. God's
grace was so demonstrated that when it came back to the ten
coming back, he said, mishmash. I have two here that I have applied
grace to, and they understand what the whole thing is about. And their names are Joshua and
Caleb. Now, we brought out this recently
about this. They got to spend 38 more years
of wandering around, and I don't hear one complaint from them
about having to do that. But you can hear all kinds of
complaints from the general part of the public. My goodness there. We're going to go in anyway.
We don't want this We should go back to Egypt and on and on
it runs on and yet we find Those who the grace of God was given
to and even by name said God be praised in this How the very
incident reveals God and his salvation to his people We just
follow this throughout the scriptures, you know in the book of 2nd Chronicles
chapter 30 Would you turn there with me? 2 Chronicles 30, verse
10, 11, and 12. There is an incident here that
brings out God's great grace to individuals, just as we find
here in the book of Numbers 36. In the book of 2 Chronicles 30,
verse 10, 2 Chronicles 30, verse 10, the king of Israel found
out that they hadn't been doing things quite right. They had
skipped over some of the most important things from the Old
Testament instructions by God, and that was the Passover. And
they hadn't had the Passover for years. And finally, he said,
we must do this. You know what? Because he believed
in a substitute. And he is going to be like Abel,
who offered a more excellent sacrifice. And during this incident,
you know what? As king, he provided. the lambs
for the sacrifice. What a statement about God providing
the lamb for a sacrifice. Well, he has this urge. just as he gives to the church
to take the good news out to the world. That's our responsibility. We're commanded to do that. Take
the gospel out to the world. He has an urge to take the gospel,
this good news about the need for a sacrifice, out to all of
his people, and so he sends posts out. We get our word postman
from this. There used to be markers along
the road. That was the post, the milepost. Well, here he sends
these posts out throughout the place where he rules over. And
he is confident that people are going to pay attention to these
posts because they come from the king. You know what? Almost
everybody laughed the word to scorn. They laughed about it. What are you talking about? They
had no respect for the king, and they had no respect for the
need of a substitutionary sacrifice. So notice with me here in 2 Chronicles
30, verse 10. So the post passed from city
to city, through the country of Ephraim and Nassau, even unto
Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Has
things changed? This is to Israel. Have things
changed to date? Not in your life. Nevertheless,
I like that word because in here in the verse 11 says, Nevertheless,
diverse or some from Asher and Manasseh and Zebulon humbled
themselves and came to Jerusalem. We read this last weekend, and
it's such a beautiful passage of Scripture that every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess the Lord Jesus to the
glory of God the Father. Who humbled these people? Their
friend over here, their father and their mother, their brothers
and their sisters are laughing these posts to scorn, and yet,
nevertheless, there are few among them that see the desperateness
of the condition and situation, they came to Jerusalem. Also
in Judah, the hand of God was given to one heart to do the
commandment of the king and of the princesses by the word of
the Lord. How indicative this is. Nevertheless, there were some
that came. You know, as we read there in
the book of Numbers chapter 36, this is the general statement
about inheritance rights for women in the promised land. And
now we come down to a place where there are five individuals that
are named and placed here that this would apply to. Here we
have a whole host. No names are given, but some
came to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. And then we read in
the book of First Kings chapter 19 about a prophet that says,
I am the last one. I am the last one. There's just
there in First Kings chapter 19. First Kings chapter 19. We read these words about a prophet,
and a prophet is down in the mulligrubs. Not in the mulligrubs
of grace, but the mulligrubs that he thinks he's the last
one. You know, I'm thankful that God has never put this world
into that condition. It is, the gospel has never died
out. The gospel never had to be restarted. The gospel, It has always been. As Jesus said, upon this rock,
I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. It looks sad at times. We wonder,
as we read in the scriptures, the veracity of God's word when
he said, will I find faith when I return? But there will be those
he has appointed to be. Now, here in the book of First
Kings, chapter 19, verse 14, we read these words. And he said,
I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because
the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine
altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I,
only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Well, jump
down to verse 18. Yet, God said, I have left me,
7,000 in Israel, I have left me, I'm in charge of this. I'm
in charge of faithfulness. I'm in charge of those who know
the covenant. I'm in charge of those who understand
what it is to have a sacrifice. I am in charge of this. I have 7,000 in Israel, all the
knees, which have not bowed unto Baal. Guess who they bowed to? The Lord God of heaven is who
they bow to. This is the one that we want
to bow to. And every mouth which hath not
kissed him. So they're not following after
this idolatry of Baal. They're following after God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And we find that this is a principle
that we find throughout the scriptures. It continues on and on through
the scriptures. Now there is a passage in the
book of Matthew chapter 22. It is indicative here, it shares
with us about the word of a king. This is the word of a king. And you know what? This word
is commanded. Did you know what God's word
has to say about the command? God commandeth everywhere to
believe the gospel. God commands all to repent. God commands all to believe.
It's a command, it's not a suggestion. Now people use that term about
the Ten Commandments. My friend, the command of God
with regard to salvation by grace alone is far more valuable to
us than any command that God ever gave to Israel about keeping
the Ten Commandments. God knew they couldn't. God knew
they wouldn't. God knew they were unable to.
He brings that out in the book of Romans. We cannot. And you
know what? When it comes to the command
to believe the gospel, when it comes to command to believe Christ,
when it comes to the command to repent, when it comes to the
command to believe, we still are caught in a trap because
we cannot, without God making special rules, if you please,
My sin will be placed on a substitute. And when that takes place, we
have good news. Jesus Christ is righteous. All
right, here in the book of Matthew, there is a king. And the king
here is going to call for a wedding meal. Oh my goodness, can you
imagine living in a kingdom where the king says, come on, we're
gonna have, my son's getting married. And I want to show him
and his bride off. Come and have a meal with us."
And you know, the response of so many as are brought out here
are just like what we read with regard to Israel in the Old Testament,
particularly there in the book of Numbers when God said, these
10 times have you rebelled against me. 10 times. Now, sometimes
I wonder in reading the book of Numbers, Exodus and Deuteronomy,
I don't know if the half has been said. Man, they were rebellious
every day. And in the big things, they rebelled
against God and said, you know, it would be better if we'd not
left Egypt. You know, when someone tells
me my old religion was just as good as this religion, that's
true because Christianity is not a religion. We've traded
Christianity for a religion, but it's not a religion. It is
a relationship. It is a inspired relationship
from Almighty God. All right, let's notice here
in the book of Matthew, chapter 22, there's a king. There's a
king, just like God is king. And in Matthew, chapter 22, we
read this about this wedding feast. Chapter 22, verse 11. When the king, oh, I'm too far. Verse one, Jesus answered and
spake unto them again by parables and said, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son and
sent forth his servants to call them that are bidden to the wedding
and they would not come. The king requests your presence
at a wedding, and they would not come. It's a command to come,
and they would not come. And we go down through here,
and we find out several things. You know, the servants are gospel
ministers, people who understand the gospel. That's who these
servants are. We find that this parable is mentioned in another
place, and there is just one servant. And you know what? That
servant is very successful because he pictures the Holy Spirit.
We go out, and we do what we do. You go out, and you do what
you do in sharing people with the gospel. We have no ability
of changing anybody's heart, and they will not come. But that
servant, when he works, they will come. All right, and we
drop down through here. Many are bidden, refused. I've got the sacrifice already
taking place. The food is already prepared.
I've sent out my servants to come and bring them in, and they
won't come. And they begin to make an excuse. Some have oxen they haven't tried. Some have property they haven't
looked at. Some say, my wife won't let me go. I've got to,
anyway. They will not come. They will
not come. And, we get down here, verse
9, Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find
bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all as many as they found both
bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. Now
notice verse 11. When the king came in to see
the guests, When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had
not a wedding garment, and said unto him, Friend, how camest
thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
You know, this call that went out to bring people in is such
a general call. It is so We don't know the names,
we don't know the people, we don't know the individuals that
it's meant for, but it goes out, the gospel goes out. The word
went out through the book of Numbers and 10 times the report
came back, they rebelled against you. And then in the very last
chapter, we find five young ladies, five women representing here
that says, we will do what was said. What was said? Don't marry
out of your tribe. Okay, we'll do that. Why did
they do that? Because God led them in that
great decision not to marry out of their tribe. It was God's
word to them, and they obeyed it. To most people, oh, that's
irrelevant. His word is outdated and outmoded.
It's not applicable anymore, and yet it is absolutely life
or death. So here's a man come in here.
He has so much disrespect for the king that he attempted to
come in in his own robe of righteousness. how pictorial that is. Many didn't
even come in. Those who came in, this guy got
in there and he disrespected the king so much by the robe
that he came in that this king spotted it right away. Did you
notice that nobody else in that room caught it? Nobody else saw
it. Nobody else knows, but God Almighty
and He knows instantly that this person came in here with his
own robe and didn't take my robe. This robe that God has provided
is the robe of righteousness in Christ Jesus, and this man
came in in the same robe that Adam and Eve attempted to paint
the picture of their righteousness, and that was like having fig
leaves on. And Jesus shares with us in this parable that that
king identified it immediately and said, tie this guy up and
throw him out into outer darkness. dispatch him. You know why? Because he didn't hear anything. He couldn't. The outward call
differs widely from the inward work done by the Holy Spirit
in the hearts of the redeemed, which comes not in word only,
but in power. You know, that's one thing about
the call of God. It is a powerful call. It is a sentinel call that
comes from God Almighty, and it strikes the heart. It comes
to us. It is a quickening voice. It
is something that raises us from the spiritual dead. It brings
us out of darkness into His marvelous light. And we're able to cry
out, as Saul of Tarsus did, the first words out of his mouth,
Well, that's what we find out this call does. It is a call
that is so pointed. It is far beyond the call that
the preacher makes, or you may make as a teacher, or anything
else. It's a call that goes right to the heart. Turn with me, if
you would, to the book of 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, we read
these words, about this great work of grace
that God performs as He did with those five. Their names are given
to us. The rest, you have rebelled against
me ten times. And to these five, they went
in, they married in their tribe, and they inherited in their tribe.
What a blessing! But here we give it in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What a call God gives out that makes it applicable, that makes
it ours, that we realize that this is not of man but of God.
We realize that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was truly beneficial,
that we did not have to apply any part of our works to it because
it was not only beneficial but effectual. This great work of
grace is effectual to the heart. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. This just continues
throughout the scripture. The result goes to show that
one way and another, the mass missed the wedding feast. the
Mass. The wedding feast is called for.
You know what God says for us to do? Trust Christ and don't
move a muscle. What does the Gospel declare
for us to do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't go anywhere else. And you
know what makes that effectual? It's not us, it's Him. We just
can't get there from our point of view. God has put us in that
position that No, the Bible tells us most many openly refuse, and by their refusal are sharing
with us that even Israelites were not chosen. They were chosen
to the position of national Israel, but they were not chosen as a
result of that to spiritual blessings. We find the Lord Jesus sharing
with the Pharisees when they said open mouth and conclude
the statement there in the book of John, we be of our father
Abraham. And you know what they go on
to say about the Lord Jesus Christ? We be not born of fornication. We have legitimate birth, and
we have a legitimate line, and the person we're speaking to
is questionable. Speaking about the king. You
know why? Because they didn't know any
different. They could not see him for who
he was. This statement we find, from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. We like the bread. We liked the conversation until
you got to preaching to us. We liked all about you until
you started preaching to us that no man can come to the Father
but by me. And that goes crossways with
what I believe, and you know what? And what I believe is far
more valuable than what the Bible has to say. Well, we find out
in Regeneration what we had to say was nonsense. What God has to say takes high
precedent over it all. This is the word the Lord declared
to all Israel. Nevertheless, as we found out
over there in verse 11, there were five ladies that understood
what he was talking about. This applies to us. This has
been brought up for us. This message is with regard to
us. So if you will turn with me to
the book of Ephesians, chapter three. Ephesians chapter 3. You know, the failure of the outward call
to bring people to Christ is very clearly not due to any deficiency
of the gospel. There's no deficiency in the
gospel. The results of the outward call is not because there's a
deficiency of the gospel, there's a deficiency in us. The deficiency
belongs to us. We fell in Adam. We may not have
liked being represented by Adam, but God did. So he's the one
that we must deal with. And we find out that the failure
is due to the natural state of mankind, our sinful nature. It's no wonder God shared with
Israel these 10 times, have you rebelled against me? You know,
as we read that, it's amazing on the long-suffering of God. Long-suffering to usward. Not willing that any should perish,
but all should come to repentance. And that's written to the church,
and that's written to the usward. Alright, Ephesians chapter 3.
Would you turn there with me? Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
7. We read here in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 7 these words.
Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the
grace of God given unto me, now notice the last line, by the
effectual working of his power. The effectual working of his
power. This word that is here is the
word we get energy from. And the power to be fulfilled
is given of God, and another definition is used only as superhuman
power. It is superhuman that this is
happening. It's not in our realm. It's superhuman.
It's out of our realm. Effectual working of His power. And you know what? The effectual
working of God's power has never failed. It has always had His
intended results. In the book of Ephesians 1, verse
19. Turn there with me, if you would.
Ephesians 1, verse 19. As we've gone through the book
of Numbers, how many times have we noticed that the children
of Israel were in a state of rebellion, in a state of wanting
to kill Moses, in a state of wanting to kill Joshua and Caleb,
in a state of wanting to kill somebody, or in a state of wanting
to return to Egypt. They just did not have a heart
to believe. And Deuteronomy tells us God
did not give them that heart to believe. But those he gave
a heart to believe, Those are the ones that the message of
free grace in Christ Jesus will be a thrill to their soul. It
will lift them out of the miry clay. It will pick them up. It
will set them aright. It will give them a new mind
in Christ Jesus. Here it tells us in Ephesians
1, verse 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty
power. This exceeding greatness of his
power is again that uniqueness that God has when it comes to
power. the uniqueness of His power.
It's a holy power, God's power, and it's far above our power.
In Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 12, we read
these words that share with us God's mighty working. Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 12, the scriptures share this. It says, Brother
Mike read this this morning, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God." What a statement, the operation of God. It is not us, it is Him. It is He that has raised us from
the spiritual dead. It is He that got involved with
us. It's He that's arrested us. It's
He that stopped us. It's He that has brought the
Word of God to us. It is He that supplied faith.
It is He that supplied repentance. It is He that has given hope.
It is Him and Him alone that can do this great work. In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And we heard right
over there in the book of Hebrews, whether it be physical or spiritual,
whether it be visible or invisible. He still has to do the creating.
Here in Colossians chapter 2, buried with him in baptism, where
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. Well, that's a double
statement, isn't it? Not only did he raise Christ
from the dead, but he must raise us from the dead. We're dead
in trespasses and sin. A book so full of rebellion closes
with such a declaration of grace. Phil to the brim. Oh, we're thirsty. We're hungry. He supplied bread,
manna. He supplied quail, he supplied
water, he supplied clothes that didn't wear out, he supplied
a light to lead him by the daytime and a light to lead him by the
nighttime, he supplied them a leader that had compassion for them,
that was with them and led them for those 40 years and yet time
and time again they raised up their hand against him and said,
we'll not have you rule over us. And then we read in the book
of Hebrews in retrospect These all died in unbelief. The word was not effectual to
them. And yet we read of a few, Joshua
and Caleb had been given another spirit. These five, yes, Lord,
whatever you wish, whatever your purpose, that's what we'll do.
What a statement. Through faith of the operation
of God, capable of a successful or successful in producing an
intended result. You know, before the foundation
of the world, God intended to have a good result. And that's what the word effectual
means. And so as Cain and Abel represent,
I've had people tell me that represents the two religions
of the world. You know, Christianity, true faith in Christ is not a
religion. It's a being raised from the
dead. There is only one religion, and that's the religion of works.
That is it. Anybody that is ever brought
from that religion is a representative of grace, God's grace alone. Well, as we close this book,
for the time being at least, may we remember even in all that
rebellion, There were a few that heard the grace of God and God
gave them response. They responded to it. Why? Because of a spirit that brought
them out of the dead. Their relatives, brothers and
sisters, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, laughed them to
ridicule. And then they walked away and
says, I love God and I will serve Him. Brother Mike.