Would you join me this morning
in, once again, in the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers,
chapter 33. And if you notice, we're edging
closer and closer to the last chapter of this book. We've been
here, this is in our third year of going through the book of
Numbers. We're going to be reading verses 50 through 56 this morning. The verses prior to this, by
and large, are places that the children of Israel were led by
either the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire to spend some
time. And it really shares with us
God's exactness to where He wanted His people, that it was not left
up to them, that He had directed that pillar of fire or that pillar
of cloud exactly where He wanted them to settle. And as last week
we saw, whether it be for a day, a week, a month, or a year, They
were to be in that place. And so that's such a picture
of the church, how God leads his church and leads his people. And so often unbeknownst to us
how he leads us until we look back and say, oh my, I would
never be here if it wasn't for that leadership. So we're just
thankful how God moves in us both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. In the last few verses of this
33rd chapter of the book of Numbers, we have some instructions that
the Lord gave Moses to give to the children of Israel about
when they pass into the land, and particularly what they are
to do with the idols that they find there. And so let's just
read verses 50 through 56, and then we'll come back and we'll
make some comments on it. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in the plains of Moab by Jordan, notice this, near Jericho, saying,
they're this close. to entering into the promised
land, the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the land that God had promised to these children of Israel. And we find out 38 years prior
to this, they were led by some people that did not know God. And so they came back with an
evil report. And we'll look at that again in just a moment.
Saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,
when ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan. Now,
we're gonna spend some time on that verse, but it was very interesting
to notice in that verse of scripture that the Lord says, when you
pass over. He didn't say if you pass over,
but when you pass over. What a fulfillment of the promise
of God. His promises are, I will, and
our response is, we shall. I will, ye shall. All right.
Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from
before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their
molten images, and quit, quite pluck down all their high places. And ye shall dispose all the
inhabitants of the land, and shall dwell therein, for I have
given you the land to possess it. And ye shall divide the land
by lot from an inheritance among your families. And all of the
next chapter is dealing with verse 54. the dividing up of
the land. And that too is exact. God gives them the exact perimeters
to all of the land that they should inherit. And again, he's
speaking of the church, how exact he is to our perimeters. All
right. And to more you shall give the
more. It's going to be proportional.
Everybody's going to get their foot, their square foot. of land,
it's going to be proportional. If the tribe is big, they get
more. If the tribe is smaller, they get less. But it doesn't
mean that they get less and less. It means that they have equality
throughout that. And then it tells us here in
Numbers chapter 33 and verse 54, And more shall be given,
and more inheritance, and fewer shall give the less inheritance.
Every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot
falleth, according to the tribes of your fathers, and ye shall
inherit. But if ye will not drive out
the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come
to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be Stickers,
pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex
you in the land wherein you dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass
that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them. what passage
of scripture here that the Lord leaves us in the conclusion of
this chapter. We find as the Lord speaks here
in verse 51, let's go back to verse 51. When ye are passed
over Jordan into the land of Canaan, As I mentioned, it's
not an if there. It is when you do this. God had
promised this land to them and they were going to go over. The Lord knows all His works
from the very beginning. He's never caught off guard.
He's never surprised. He's never surprised by the actions
of men. He's never surprised by what
they do. He was not surprised by Adam
in the Garden of Eden, and He's not surprised at Katie Sparnia
when ten of them came back with an evil report and two came back
with a good report. But at this moment, in time,
He has determined that they shall enter the land. Turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 15, for a verse
of reading. Acts, chapter 15. We read in
Acts, chapter 15 about this God, that God has given us permission. if you will, to worship Him.
He has granted us eyes to see Him. He has granted us ears to
hear Him. He has granted us a heart to
love Him. We were not born in that condition,
but it is a grant, a gift that God has given to us. And it also,
that faith is a gift that God gives to us. We may have physical
faith about, I can go down and sit on that front pew, but that's
going to have little to do with my relationship with God Almighty
when He commands me to believe on Him, because I will not go
down and I will not sit. I must be convinced by the Lord
through the new birth that this is possible. And when He gives
me that, everything is possible. With God, nothing shall be impossible. Alright, here in the book of
Acts, chapter 15, verse 18, You know, when this was brought up
here in the book of Acts, there were some people that didn't
believe it, but there were some people that delighted in what
it says. You know, it is a comfort to
the church to know that God, all things known unto God are
all his work from the beginning of the world, that he was in
charge from the very beginning, that he had nobody obstructing
him. Nobody counseled him on how to
create the heavens and the earth. Nobody counseled him on what
a tree was to look like or grass was to look like or that what
the fruit was to look like. And nobody counseled him on what
man was to look like when he created him. And nobody was there
to counsel him on how he was going to raise him from this
earth child, earth baby that he was. He breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and that man became a living
soul. Well, turn back with me, if you would, again to the book
of Isaiah, chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46 and I would
just want to read reiterate one verse of scripture in that Chapter
46 that brother Lauren just read here in chapter 46 and verse
10 Read this with me as we find the Lord speaking and a comfort
to the children of Israel just like that light that led them,
and that pillar of fire that led Israel. To them, it was a
comfort to know that God was leading them to the next spot
they would go, and He would stop them when it was required. And
so it is with the church. God is in the business of comforting
His people, and that is the ministry of every minister. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. Tell the people that the warfare
is over that God has taken care of the bill the debt that was
old Fourfold hundredfold. All right, Isaiah chapter 46
and there in verse 10 declaring the end from the beginning and
And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. You know,
it's very difficult in a lost state that we're born in to come
to believe anything that God does is right. I had a young
man just recently tell me that that is so unjust of God to do
what you say He's doing. That's unjust. Well, you know,
all I have is the Bible. So I went over to Romans chapter
9, it says, Is there unrighteousness with God? No. Yes. In his heart, he believes there
is unrighteousness with God, but when the word is pointed
out, he can't say anything but a little light. There is no unrighteousness with
God. If there was justice, you know
the answer to that. All right, so as we find this,
God was not surprised when those 10 tribes came back with an evil
report. In fact, we will find out that
he had that in his everlasting, eternal purpose for Israel. that
there would be ten that would come back with a lying report
and there would be two that come back with a good report and he
compares them and says this is the reason that those two came
back with a good report. I gave them my spirit. They did not go into the land
trying to figure out, well, is this possible? Will it be possible
for us to take this land? As they observed all the great
grapes and the fruit of the land, and it flowed with milk and honey.
They were not saying, I wonder if God is able. No, they said,
I'm going to plan on living right over here. They had the idea
that this is our land, and God has given it to us, and we're
going to be here, and let's look around and see what we can find
that God has blessed us with. Well, the ten came back and said,
no, no, it does flow with milk and honey, but we'll never be
able to take it. The difference is the faith that God gives His
elect. the faith that God gives to His
people, to the church, that God would give them the faith to
believe God. That is a glorious thing. Turn back there in the book of
Numbers for just a moment. We just have to go back to that
verse of scripture or passage of scripture in Numbers chapter
13, when all of this started to begin with, when there was
a command for 12 to go into the land. God commanded it. Moses fulfilled it. In the book
of Numbers chapter 13, beginning with verse 25, we find there,
now, was God surprised? Absolutely not. He knows all
things from the beginning to the end. He has purposed, I will
do all my pleasure. And as much as we may say, I
wish they had done it, we find out that God was in it from the
very beginning. Now, if he'd wanted it different,
he would have planned it different. He would have purposed it different.
He would have counseled it different. If he'd have wanted it different,
he would have given his spirit to all 12 of those guys. No doubt
there was somebody in the other tribes that knew something about
God, that God had worked the work of grace in their hearts,
but he didn't have them chosen. He chose these 10. We turn over
to the Book of Romans, we find, and whom he will, he hardened
us. Now, that may be a hard saying, but that's what the Bible says,
and I'm not going to get in an arguing match with God. I used to. I used to argue with
God. Oh, that can't be right. Well,
it is right, and that's the way it is. All right, here in the
book of Numbers, chapter 13, verse 25, And they returned from
searching the land after forty days. Now, that's a pretty long
time. Well, that happens several times
in the Scriptures, doesn't it? Moses was on the Mount 40 days.
Jesus was fasted for 40 days. Twelve spies are sent out throughout
the land, and in 40 days they searched it out, and looked at
it, and came back with the product of it. You know, that's people
coming back, and on their arms, they are carrying, or on their
shoulders, they're carrying eternal security. We're carrying it back. That's the part we really like
about this place. We got eternal security. You
don't have to have anything else. But we have eternal security.
You know, I remember a preacher that we had in my hometown and
there was a blackboard. Now I appreciate this is just
a whiteboard. But he had a blackboard up there and he wrote the doctrines
of grace right there on the back. And then he said, this one's
not right. This one's not right. This one's not right. And this
one is not right. But this one is right. eternal security. Once saved, always saved. Everybody
wants that. That's my big grape that I'm
going to carry around. You don't get the big grape unless
you have the land. There is no eternal security
without God's salvation. It is a figment of imagination.
There is nothing to it. Now, when God saves us by His
salvation, we cannot be removed. I will not lose you. It's an
impossibility. But before then, we are just
on a teeter-totter. All right. They came back and
they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and all the congregation
of the children of Israel and to the wilderness of Peran, to
Kadesh and brought back word unto them and to all the congregation
and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and
said, We came into the land, whither thou sendest us, surely
it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it nevertheless. You know, when we went through
here, we brought out that nevertheless. There's a lot of negative neverthelesses
that are in our vocabulary. God said it nevertheless. I know
what it says, but nevertheless. And then we find out God has
some neverthelesses in the scripture. It looks like it's not going
to have any effect at all, nevertheless the Lord. And we find that so
plainly spoken of there when a king discovered they should
be taking care of the Passover, and they hadn't been, so he invited
all of Israel to come up to Jerusalem to the Passover, and everybody
laughed at the posts, the ministers. I'm not going up there. Nevertheless,
certain of some tribes said, we will go. That's the neverthelesses. That's God's elect out of every
tribe, people, tongue, and nation. So they come back with this report,
and they're in 30, verse 30, Caleb stilled a people before
Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we
are able to overcome it. But the men that went up with
him said, we are not able to overcome it. Was that a surprise
to God? Absolutely not. It was not a
surprise to God. It may have been a surprise to
Moses. It may have been a surprise to Aaron. And it may have been
a surprise to many of the people in Israel. But to God, it was
not a surprise. He doeth all things after the
counsel of His own will. And He is going to show that
He is completely and totally in charge. And for 38 more years,
these people are gonna wander in the wilderness and He is gonna
sift them out. All right? It tells us there
in the Psalms. Well, let me just, there is that
verse I wanna look at here, just a moment. Verse 32. It says they
came back with an evil report. Now, if you look that up in the
original language, and I apologize, I'm not a Greek scholar, but
I sure love strong. That man, where he stood with
God, it is a blessing that he at least went back to the Greek
language and put it into our vernacular so we can look it
up and say, oh, that's what that means. Well, that word means
slanderous report. They came back with a slanderous
report. They slandered God. They lied
about God. God had already told them, this
is the land I'm going to give you, and they came back and slandered
God. How often that happens today,
that people who say they know God will lie about God, will
slander against God. I know for a fact because I used
to practice it. I slandered God. God's word said
this, and I said no. Well, when God saves us, we do
the best we can never to lie on God. Sometimes we find out
by hearing a message or someone speak to us very carefully and
plainly that what we had to think about a passage of scripture
may be incorrect, and God corrects us on that, and we're thankful
for that. We're growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, how glorious that is. But these came
back with an evil report or a slanderous report, and they lied about God. They lied about the God that
said, this is the land I'm going to give you. They lied about
God that said, this is the land I have held for you in perpetuity. so forth well in the book of
the Psalms chapter 31 and verse 13 he says for I have heard the
slander of many that's the same word the slander of many now
turn with me to the Proverbs if you would Proverbs 10 In Proverbs
10, this word is used again, and we certainly see the kind
of people that will use this with regard to God, that they
will slander God, they will lie about God. Here in the book of
the Proverbs 10, verse 18, we have this verse of scripture
that uses exactly the same word, and it tells us here that the
people who do this are fools. It says, he that hideth hatred
with lying lips, and he that uttereth slander is a fool. You know, those guys that came
back, those 10 guys were absolutely fools. The fool has said in his
heart, there is no God, and that's exactly what they were saying.
The God that said that he would give us this land, we can't believe
it. We won't believe it. And you
know what? There were two that came back with a good report,
and the only reason that they could believe it was God gave
them another spirit. In other places, we call it the
new birth. In other places, we call it a begatting of His own
will, begat He us. So we find that God has a purpose
and He fulfilled it right there in those 10 and in those two. And for 38 years, they wandered
around. And yet, as we looked in earlier
in this chapter, that everywhere those people went, Dying off,
dying off, God put them in exactly the right place at the right
time and led them by a pillar of fire and a cloud every day. They didn't take one step out
of His purpose, and that's the way it is today. When you are
passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan, verse 52, if you'd
go back to the book of Numbers chapter 33 with me, The book
of Numbers chapter 33, there in verse 52, we find these words
that are commands in reality. We don't find suggestions in
the Bible. You know, you must believe on
the Lord Jesus is a command. And yet we find out after we're
saved, I couldn't get there. I know it's a command. I couldn't
get there. There's no way I could get there.
It says, You are commanded to love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy mind and with all thy soul and with
all thy all togetherness. You can't get there from here.
unless the Lord give us that. So he's the one that fulfills
the command on our behalf, but it is a command. Well, here we
have this command in verse 52, then you shall drive out all
the inhabitants of the land from before you. This is a command
and destroy all their pictures and destroy all their molten
images. Quite plucked down all their high places everything
that he mentions here has to do with the religion of the people
that are in the land that God has given them the land of They
are to dispossess to get rid of everybody in the land move
them out now in our vernacular in our day we're never commanded
to pick up a sword and go after the people next door because
they don't agree with us and It's not good. Keep your swords
in their sheaths. Keep your knives down. The only
sword that we have that is effective and effectual against our neighbor
or anyone else is the Word of God. Now, they probably will
not accept it, but you know what? Once it's given, it cannot be
removed from them. It will be a charge against them. Alright, as we follow this, we
find that they are to destroy, drive out, destroy, destroy,
and quite pluck down. Those words God gave to the children
of Israel Before they go into the land now it tells us there
that they are to destroy all their pictures or figures and
that word figuratively means Imaginations, you know all the
gods that were in there were people's imaginations there was
Tell me a place in the scripture that will give us a picture of
Christ. I mean a physical picture of Christ Did you know he never
set for a portrait? I? Nancy and I have been in some
outstanding places, places that we never thought in our youth
we would ever visit in our life. Museums in Europe. You know,
I saw a portrait of Napoleon that was taller than I am. Why
did he have that done? Pride. Why did the kings of England
have it done? Pride. Why the queens have it
done? Pride? They like it. They want
to show posterity. I want my people way down to
know what I look like. We will never ever find a physical
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God. And nobody
was there to make a portrait of Him on purpose. You know what
the Bible says? There was no form nor comeliness
about Him that we should desire Him. All of the pictures you
see, he, I mean, whoa, got the halo and everything. He said,
destroy all the imaginative pictures of gods. Because every one of
them is an imagination. It's somebody's thought about
some, every one of them is an imagination. Each and every idol is of man's
imagination. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. The ministers in the New Testament
deal with the same issues that Moses dealt with and that we
deal with. Almost everybody we visit with,
when we talk to them about the gospel, they have an imagination. about the God that they believe
in, and many of them say it comes from the Word of God. We have
an imagination. You know what? Nine times out
of ten, their imagination is that God loves everybody. That's an imagination. That's
not based on scripture. Now God loves, and God is love,
but His love is towards a specific people. And no more. And the God of the
imagination of natural man is so incorrect. You know, when
we... I heard some verses out of the
book of Revelation. I love the book of Revelation. It has some
of the clearest descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ and
all the Word. Why you read down through hair
like wool eyes Flame of fire and you go down through there
and you just look at that and if you drew that you'd have a
monstrosity But if you see that by faith
you see that is my Lord He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We, by the grace of God, can worship with every fiber of our
being an invisible God. And the world wants a visible
God. But the church has worshiped
an invisible God. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. You cannot
put Him into a picture. You cannot put Him into a box.
You cannot describe Him as most people want to describe God.
He doesn't have arms and legs like we do. You know the fallacy,
oh, the fallacy of religion. You, God's legs are your legs,
God's arms are your arms, God's eyes are your eyes. All that
nonsense that people come up with, what a thought of imagination. God is all powerful and he doesn't
need us one iota. He does not get glory from created
man. We give him glory because he
has created us. We praise him because he has
saved us. But he doesn't add to his glory.
His glory was in eternity past for however long, you can't put
a measure on it, but he was in his glory through the entire,
I hate to even use the word time. But natural man has this idea
that they can describe him and make him palatable and bring
him down to their level. Well, here in the book of 2 Corinthians
10, and there in verse 5, it says, Chapter 10, I've got chapter
1 here. Let me get over to chapter 10,
verse 5. Casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. Isn't that just about what the
Lord commanded the children of Israel to do when they went into
the land? Get rid of your imaginations about God and believe God. Get
rid of your thoughts about how God saves people and believe
God. Don't use your imagination about God. To who will you liken
me? To who will you put and describe
me? You know, the Bible says there
is no way to describe God. That's why he simply says in
Genesis chapter one and verse one, in the beginning, God, that's
it. And God's people say, that's
enough. I don't need a picture. You know,
they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and many times it's worth
more than a thousand words in our physical experience. But
a picture with regard to Christ is absolutely worthless. It is worthless. We have the
scriptural description of Him. To whom will you liken me and
make me equal and compare me that we may be alike? Who will
you compare me with? Isaiah 46 and verse 5 what do
we do when we have an image a picture or an idol? We try to describe
our God Turn with me if you would to the Psalms Psalm 106 Psalm
106 as we find the description here again that God gives us
through his psalmist about what was taking place here in Numbers
chapter 33, Psalm 106 verse 34. Psalm 106 verse 34. Now, we're
going to find out as they went in to the promised land, and
God had promised them that they would have it, that they did
not destroy the nations. Now, ask yourself, why would
they not do what God commanded them to do? Why would they not
tear down all the pictures? Why would they not tear down
all the idols? And why would they not remove
all the groves? Why would they not do that at
God's command? Because they liked them. They liked them. How many times
have you been told by a parent, a friend, put that stuff away,
get rid of that stuff. You know, I can think of all
kinds of things. My parents says, get rid of that stuff. You know
why I kept it? Because I liked it. It didn't
matter who said it. I liked it. Now, if they found
it and threw it away, oh my goodness, I liked it. And that's why we
find the children of Israel, by and large, when they went
in, they were no better than all of those hundreds of thousands
of people that died during that 38 years. They were no better
than the 10 spies that came back with a slanderous report when
God commanded them to go in and destroy all the idols. to destroy all the pictures,
to destroy all the idols, to destroy the groves, to destroy
everything and displace everybody there, and they didn't. Oh, I
think that lady will make a wonderful wife. Oh, I think that guy will
make me a wonderful husband. You know what? And I kind of
like the gold that's over the top of that idol that they have.
And that high place up there, You know, it's so refreshing
to go up there. It's away from everybody and
I can sit down and be comfortable. And I can just imagine what they
went through because, you know, left to ourselves, it's exactly
what we do. I will keep what I want. And God said, get rid
of it. Now, that's the wonderful thing
that God does for everyone that he is going to save. He will
destroy our idols. We will never have any more confidence
in our idols. They will not be part of us anymore. He is going to remove them. They
did not destroy, verse 35 of Psalm 106, it says, but were
mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they
served their idols, which they were a snare unto them. Yea,
they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and
shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their
daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and
the land was polluted with blood. Why did they do that? Because
they liked it. They fell in love with these
people, and they fell in love with their religion, and they
fell in love with their idols, and they fell in love, and it
truly shares what is in their heart. They have no love for
God whatsoever. They are demonstrating that they
have no interest in the gospel. They are demonstrating that God
has never done a work for them. Now we're thankful that in time,
no doubt some of those, God say by his grace, the apostle Paul,
Saul of Tarsus was sold out to the God of the Jews. You know, a God that was all
law, legalism, and if I take care of it by having a sacrifice,
I'm okay. If I pay enough, I'll be okay
before God. And that has perforated religion
down to this day. If I pay enough, I'll be okay. You know what happened? Saul
of Tarsus was saved and found out someone else had paid the
debt already. And the rest of that stuff was what? It was worthless. Why did he
worship that God? Because he loved it. Why did
he worship the true and the living God after that time on the road
to Damascus? Because God said, I will be his
God and he shall be my people and I will love him and he shall
love me. We love him because he first
loved us. Oh, the idolatry that we go through,
and it's not some idol somewhere, it's the imagination of our mind
about what the Bible has to say about salvation, and what the
Bible has to say about God, and what the Bible has to say about
all things. We will fight tooth and toenail over creation and
then give in and say, well, salvation's up to us. You know what that
is? Fighting tooth and toenail over creation and then believe
in evolution about salvation. And that's exactly what we find
with the children of Israel when they went into that land. Amos
said, how can two walk together except they be agreed? How can
that happen? And we find the Apostle Paul,
led by the Holy Spirit, wrote in 2 Corinthians 6, that the
travesty had been unequally yoked together. You know, Nancy thought I was
saved when we got married. But in reality, we were unequally
yoked together. I believe something she didn't.
I was, I showed a good, what is that, something good in the flesh.
Those people that went into that land, they said, we have Abraham
as our father. and went in and did exactly what
they wanted to do and worshiped all those idols, and they left
them, they left them, and they left them because they loved
them, and yet there was a people that was there with them says,
oh no, we'll do our best to get rid of all this stuff. It tells
us there, going back to the book of Numbers, chapter 33, Numbers
chapter 33, verse fifty three it says and
you shall dispose dispossess the inhabitants you shall dispossess
the inhabitants of the land and well therein for i've given you
the land to possess it and you shall divide the land verse fifty
four and we'll deal with that more on uh... next sunday lord
willing and if you will not verse fifty five if you will not drive
out the inhabitants of the land from before you then it shall
come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be
Thistles thorns pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides
and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell Well, and then
in verse 56 he had to say this Moreover it shall come to pass
That I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them Well Turn with me if you went
to the book of Romans, chapter nine. He's identifying the fact that
there are many that carry, well, what is it, the third or fourth
or fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah said, in that day,
seven women shall be after one man. And I had people say, oh,
that's in the millennium. No, no, no. That's happening
right now. Right now, we have people I don't want your clothing and
I don't want your bread, but I want your name. I want your
name. I don't want your righteousness
and I don't want that Bible. but I want respectability. I want your name. Well, that's
what the Lord is gonna share with us here in Romans chapter
nine. Those folks that went into the land and they did not have
a heart to love God, it tells us here in verse 18. Now the
whole chapter is just so full of God's rich blessings to his
people and what he had to say about those who are not his people.
He said here, therefore hath he mercy on whom he'll have mercy.
What a promise that God would even have mercy, any mercy towards
anybody. But he has mercy towards those
that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world,
whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life down unidentifiable,
unidentifiable. I was told the other day, if
I believe what you believe, I would just go try to find those. I
says, good luck. They're unidentifiable. From
all outward appearances, they, in fact, the Lord said, out of
the same lump. They have their inheritance in
Adam. They are dead in trespasses and
sin because of the fall. They were just like everybody
else, except in God's book, they're his children. They're his children. Now there are those who are servants,
but they, these are his children. He says, therefore he will have
mercy on his children and of whom he will, he hardness. And they'll go into the land
and they'll incorporate themselves with everything that is there
because they love it. They just love it. They love
the pictures. They love the description. They
love the people. They love their gospel. They
love everything about them. So that's where they went. Matthew
25 tells us about those that will be gathered on the right-hand
side and those on the left-hand side. And he tells those on the
right-hand side, welcome to the kingdom or inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. What was this land
to the children of Israel that went into it? An inheritance. And to those on the right-hand
side, their inheritance is the kingdom of God prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. And those on the left-hand side,
he hardened. He hardened. They were in love
with their religion. They were in love with their
idolatry. They worshiped their works. When
did we not do those things? When did we not give a drink
of water? When did we not visit? When did
we not, when did we not, when did we not? Their worship was
idolatrous, and those on the right-hand side said, when did
we do that? It's all of grace. We cannot
imagine ourselves doing that. There's no timesheets kept, no
books kept, no writing it down saying, oh, today I helped my
neighbor. It is all of grace, all of grace. So inherit the
kingdom prepared. Now, in the next chapter, we
find out that God describes the boundaries to that, and they're
going to go in and inherit. And you know what's going to
happen. Judges just lets us know what
happened. The multitude of people that
went in adopted everything that they were told not to adopt,
but without a changed heart and without a love for God, they
just went along. Why? Because they loved it. It was now their God. A God of the imagination, a figment
of the imagination. But those that went in there
with love for God, God had given them that love and they were
the chosen of Israel. They were the sheep of his pasture.
They were as Caleb and Joshua, those who had a new heart, God
had given it to them. So we look forward to the time
when we can go into the next chapter and we have wonderful
perimeters around the church. But they're exact. The other
day, I was out with my metal detector, and a friend of mine
caught me. I was on one side of the street,
and he caught me. And he says, Norm, you having fun with that? Yes,
I am. He said, would you do me a favor? And I says, well, I'll
try. And he says, could you come over and find the corner of my
property? I know there's a piece of metal
driven down there, but I can't find it. Well, in about five
minutes, bzzz. We dug it up. There it was. He
said, thank you. You know, we have property corners
all issued to us by an almighty God. All right, Brother Mike,
if you'll come.