Would you join us this morning
in the book of Numbers? Book of Numbers, The Gospel According
to Numbers. In the passage we'd like to look
at today, it is found, I wanna read the last two verses of the
26th chapter, and then we're gonna go on to the 27th chapter. I wanna say this with regard
to the last two verses of the 26th chapter. These are the fulfillment
of God's word. These two verses are the fulfillment
of God's word. He has already proclaimed it.
This is the fulfillment of it. And this is why they've had the
second count or numbers in the book of Numbers. Verse 64 of
chapter 26, but among these, there was not a man. of them whom Moses and Aaron
the priests numbered when they numbered the children of Israel
in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said unto them,
underline that, The Lord had said unto them, we are depending
on the veracity of God's word, the dependability of God's word. And we're going to be dealing
with that in the first few verses of the 27th chapter. The Lord
said unto them, they shall surely die in the wilderness as good,
bad, or indifferent as it was. This is God's word. He had promised
this. He had shared this. He declared
this. He fulfilled this. And there
was not left a man of them save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,
and Joshua, the son of Nun. Out of all those folks that had
come out of Egypt in that age group, there was none left but
these two, Joshua and Caleb. Now, there is an exception to
this in the sense that Levi is a tribe dealt with all by itself,
and in the tribe of Levi, Eliezer, the priest is going to be found
in the book of Joshua. So those that were in the 12
tribes, this commandment went out because of disobedience to
God, because of unfaithfulness to God, because God told them
that they could go in and take that land, and they came back
with an evil report. 10 out of 12 came back with an
evil report. God said, you shall all die in
the wilderness. And the scriptures tell us they
all died in unbelief. They did not believe God. All
right, now that sets the tone for chapter 27. We are moving
along. Chapter 27 of the book of Numbers. And in this chapter, we have
three incidents, three things that take place. And the one
we'd like to spend a little time with this Sunday and probably
next Sunday, and that is the daughters of this man by the
name of Zelosephad. at five daughters, no sons, all
right? That's in verses one through
11. And then Moses is instructed of his pending death, and that's
in verses 12 through 14, and we'll spend some time on that
eventually. And then Joshua is selected to
be the replacement in verses 15 through 23. So we have three
divisions in this chapter, and we're gonna spend some time on
the first division today. This is five daughters, of a
man brings a petition to Moses and to Eliezer. And it tells
us here, verse one, then came the daughters of Zelosahed. Now I apologize if I butcher
those names. I even listened to them on the
internet, trying to get to how to say them, but I just sometimes
don't get my tooth around them. The son of Hefer, the son of
Gilead, the son of Makar, the son of Manasseh, of the families
of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and these are the names of his
daughters." And then he gives these names. Now, we find so
often in the scriptures that we have a line that steps back,
a genealogical line that steps back from this person, Zelosifad,
as an example, and takes him back to Joseph. Well, we can
go from Joseph back, and we can go from Joseph back, and we end
up at Adam. I believe the Lord so often wants
us to be assured of the very fact that in Adam, all died. We're all related to Adam. There
is a relationship there that caused a great problem among
the human race. And even Manasseh, even Jacob,
even these people down to this man and his five daughters are
an illustration of that point. We are in great need of deliverance
and that deliverance we cannot take care of on our own. We need
it, but we don't know how to get it. We're always circumventing
what God has to say. Now, God said to those people
there in the book of Numbers, as the 10 came back and they
brought an evil report, you're going to die. And guess what?
They died in the wilderness. Two came through, and that's
Joshua and Caleb out of the 12 tribes. All right, here are the
names of these daughters. Mela, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and
Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and
before Eliezer the priest and before the princes of all the
congregation by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
saying, our father died in the wilderness. And he was not in
the company of them that gathered themselves together against the
Lord in the company of Korah. It's wonderful that they brought
that to their attention. He was not of that group. Our
father didn't die as a result of being against the Lord in
the company of Korah, but he died. Fulfillment of God's word. And it says there in verse four,
Oh, but he died in his own sin and had no sons. Now this is
going to be a very interesting passage of scripture because
we find the Lord answering the question. You know, there's never
a time in scriptures, never a time, Old Testament or New Testament,
that there was not a divine appointment. This is a divine appointment.
that that man did not have a son was by divine appointment. And
these five ladies come together. And they are in unity on this
one thing that they bring before Moses and Eliezer. When we get
to the New Testament, there's not an incident in the life of
the Lord Jesus while he's upon this earth that did not happen
yet, but except for divine appointment. He met people by divine appointment. This is falling out by divine
appointment. And here these five ladies come
And they say, why should the name of our father be done away
from among his families because he had no son? Give us, therefore,
a possession among the brethren of our father. Now, if we understood
this correctly, we would find out they're not demanding anything.
They're just asking for instruction about this manner. They're not
demanding of God. They're not demanding of Moses
and they're not demanding of Eleazar, but we're in this condition. And we would like to plead the
case of our father and his family because there was no sons in
his family and we're what's here. And it goes on and it says, and
Moses brought the cause before the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, now they did exactly what was right. It is brought
to the Lord. It is, well, it's not fair that
this happened. It's not fair that that happened.
We're bringing it before the Lord. Now, one of the most interesting
things to me that falls out from this passage of scripture is
that these five ladies had been given a great deal of faith. The faith of God's elect, the
faith of God. He's the author and finisher
of faith. Now, why do I say that? Because
they understood that the children of Israel were going to inherit
in Canaan, and they wanted to be part of it. They understood
that God had said there was going to be an inheritance given there
among Canaan land. And so we're going to deal with
these ladies and their faith and where it came from because
it's not natural. We find that most of the people
in Israel at that time did not have faith. Most of the people
in Israel, as we find there about those ten tribes, they had no
faith in God. His word was so explicit, His
word was so characterized, His word was so... it was so... it
was His word. And yet people walked away and
said, I don't believe it. I don't believe that he can do
that. I don't believe he's able. I don't believe. We find that
faith is not our faith, but it is a God who has promised and
he is a promise keeper. That's what our faith is dependent
upon. People come to me and say, my faith save me. I'm sorry. There's not one stitch of scripture
that will give any veracity to that statement. In fact, it's
just the opposite. Our faith got in our way. Our
faith was a foolishness when we find out what faith really
is. Our faith is blind faith. Our faith is desperate faith.
Our faith is hope and not faith. And we're going to look into
this today. This incident reveals about these daughters of Zelosifad
that God had given them faith and reverence of God. It is very evident that they
had faith in God by his word, because they're coming before
him and saying, we see that there's going to be an inheritance in
the land, and we want to be part of that. You know, God had promised. Turn with me back to the book
of Genesis, if you would. Very early on in the scriptures,
we find in God dealing with Abraham in chapter 17 of the book of
Genesis, and in verse 8, we have this reading that says, Genesis
chapter 17 and verse 8, very early on, long before there was
a lineage that we're going to call the children of Israel.
This is the progenitor. Guess what? He's Ur of the Chaldees. Guess what? He's a Gentile. God
made him a Jew, just like we find he has to do for all of
us. If we're going to be in his family, we must be made a spiritual
Jew, and he does all that work. All right. Verse 8, it says,
I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for everlasting
possession, and I'll be their God. Now, God promised them,
and you know what? These five ladies understood
that a promise of God is going to be kept. How did they know
that? Well, as we find out through
more of the scriptures, we find that God had promised that that
land would be the children of Israel's. that they would own
it, that it would belong to them. And as we find out here, for
an everlasting possession, yes, physically for a season, as long
as it was necessary, but we also find out it is speaking of a
spiritual land. You know, in the book of Hebrews
chapter 11, we read about the same man that says, Abraham looked
for a city whose builder and maker was God. That piece of
property wasn't that important. He was looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. He was looking for a spiritual
reality. He was looking for paradise. He was looking for the true paradise,
because God had given him faith to believe that. Exodus chapter
three, would you turn there with me? In the book of Exodus chapter
three, beginning with verse eight, Exodus chapter three. And there
in verse eight, we read these words. God is sharing with Moses. And you know, these things are
evident among the people. These are things that they kept.
And there were some of them that said, I know in whom I have believed. And some of them said, you know,
I don't think he can do it. I just don't believe it. I just
don't believe it. And guess what? They all died in unbelief. Here,
an eye and come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them out of that land into a good land and a large,
into a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of
the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites
and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me, and I have also
seen the oppression wherein the Egyptians oppressed them. Come
now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt. And where is he going to take
them? To the land that he has just described, a land that floweth
with milk and honey. God had been promising this and
promising this and promising this, and we find a few along
the way that said, I believe that. I know it doesn't make
any sense, but I believe that. I haven't seen the land. I haven't
heard. I haven't been there. I haven't
viewed it. But I know that it's true. Why? Because God said it's true. It's in his word. He has placed
it in His Word, and God reveals to those that He reveals His
truth to that it's true. This is what it is. Whatever
God said, He's going to carry out. He will fulfill. It's no
wonder that God's church, God's people believe in eternal salvation. God said it, and we have people
on every side. Well, it depends on how well
you do in this life. It depends on whether you're
obedient in this life. It depends on whether you follow
His Word in this life. It just depends on all of you
and all of you And the church says, it depends all on God,
because I know what I would do with it. I wouldn't be able to
keep it, but I'm thankful for a God that does keep it. Well,
as we travel through the scriptures, we find time and time again that
this passage, this thought about the people going into the land
for an inheritance is made so plain. And these five ladies
come up. and say, my father, our father,
died in the wilderness and he didn't have a son. And we're
just wondering, can he continue his name through us? Can he continue
his name through us? Can we inherit in the land? Because
we know there will be an inheritance. We know that that's the truth.
These five sisters knew the word of God, and by God's grace, they
believed God's word. And all this is not by natural
interest or understanding. You know, the natural thing is
for a people not to believe God. That's the natural thing. When
people say, I don't believe that, I can understand that. You know,
I used to argue with it. But anymore, I can understand
that. I understand when people say, I don't believe it. Here's
the word of God. I don't believe it. I understand
that. Because the natural man receiveth
not the things of God. That's just true and plain. That's
his word. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned, and it
takes the Holy Spirit to reveal them to us. When we deal with
somebody and they're always bringing up the physical things about
God's Word, we understand. Cause that's where we come from.
We want to deal with the physical things about God's word. Oh,
look at that Israel. I want them to inherit that land.
No, no, no. God said it's a picture. It's
a type and a shadow of eternity. It's a picture of what God does
for us spiritually. In the book of Matthew, we just
heard read, there in Matthew chapter 16, that the Lord Jesus
Christ made a comment to the Apostle Peter when the Apostle
Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You
know, Jesus didn't have to say a word, but he did for our benefit.
He'd already revealed that to Peter. But for our benefit, we
find out that Jesus told Peter, flesh and blood, mankind did
not cause you to understand this. It wasn't a man that explained
it. It wasn't a man that gave the
proper definitions of the words. It wasn't a man, a teacher, a
doctor of the law that explained this to you so you could understand
it. Flesh and blood did not explain this unto you, but my father,
which is in heaven, he revealed it unto you. And that's what
he does for all of his people. He reveals things. He reveals
Christ into them. He reveals that the word of God
is the truth. It is God's word from beginning to end. There's
no exceptions about it. Some people have read recently
and hear people talk about the attitude that the apostle Paul
had towards women. Oh my goodness, he's a male chauvinist. If you have that feeling about
it, you better argue with God about it. Because he gave Paul
the privilege of writing his word. It's not that. My goodness, as we find out concerning
these five ladies, they are not an exception. They are the rule. Everybody that God ever saves
are in equality before God like we never had in this world. We're
equal before Him. is flat at the cross and is flat
before the throne of grace. We come before him pouring out
our blessed thoughts about him because he's given us the privilege
to do so. It is his word, it is his word,
it is his word and we must go to it. Those five ladies came
up there with that attitude and they do remind me of Job. Right in the middle of that big
problem that Job was having, you know what he had to say about
this? I know my redeemer liveth. How could he know that? How could
he? He didn't get that out of the
trouble he was going through. We are not brought to grace because
we're going through trouble. We're brought to grace by God.
We're brought to faith by God. And so Job has gone through all
this trouble. And in the middle of it, he brings
out this gospel message. I know my redeemer liveth. and on the earth again shall
stand. And though the skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." And his friends over
there said, what is he talking about? And we, this many miles
and many millenniums away say, I know what he's talking about. I know, same revelation God gave
to Job, he gives to every one of his children. I know my Redeemer
liveth. Now my brother doesn't believe
that, and my sister doesn't believe that, and my mother and father
didn't believe that, but God has given me that to believe. My Redeemer liveth, and he's
coming again, and when he comes again, he will separate the sheep
from the goats as a shepherd does that very thing. And on
that right-hand side, he is going to assemble all those he laid
down his life for. And on the left-hand side, he's
going to assemble all those he did not. And he's going to say
to those, as we heard this morning in the Bible class, welcome to
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Left hand side, I know I can hear all of your nonsense. You
sound just like the Jews in the Old Testament. You sound just
like the religious people through all ages. I've done, I've done,
I've done, I've exercised my faith. He says, depart from me
ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. That's God saying that. And here, Romans chapter 8 and
verse 7, we heard that read this morning. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. Nobody in their natural state
is at friendship with God. Oh, I just love Jesus, a different
Jesus. I just love God, a different
God. If you love God and you love
Jesus, you'll love his word about God and about Jesus. And you
will agree when he says, all that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. And he that cometh unto me, I
will in no wise cast out. You will agree with God when
he says, I have chosen you from the foundation of the world.
You will agree with God when it says that there is not one
whit of good in you, that you're desperately wicked from the top
of your head to the bottom of your feet. You only wickedness
before me. You're a stench before me. And
then to have God give this group of people To Jesus Christ, all
that the Father giveth me, he went to the cross and died for,
and paid all their sin debt. It's because the carnal mind
is enmity against God. These five that came and said,
we'd like to inherit with the rest. God had given them the
heart to believe God's word. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14,
but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Boy, all I have to do is visit with my brothers and
sisters and find out that. Doesn't take long to figure that
out. They receiveth not the things, but I thought. You know, Naaman
illustrates this before we were saved, doesn't he? I thought. That man didn't even come out
and talk to me. Can you imagine a preacher being
accused of not coming out and talk to somebody? That preacher
didn't come out. He sent his servant. What does
God do? He sends his servant. He sends
the preacher. He sends the missionary. He sends
somebody who knows something out, and they bring his word. Now, if that's one of God's people,
they'll hear it. If it's not, I'm so angry with God, he didn't
come out and visit with me. In Ephesians chapter 2, well,
before we get there, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
1 Corinthians chapter 15, we have a verse of scripture that
shares with us a great deal about the problem. Now, when these
ladies came out, these five ladies in unison, Noah's a very special
family. I have to tell this on my own
children. You know, it used to make me
really upset that there was defugalties among them. Against each other. Boy, I wish
they could just get along. And then, you know what? It struck
me. I've got people in my brothers
and sisters in my own family that won't talk to me. We don't
get along. So, just turn it over to the
Lord and let Him figure it out for her. Well, these five ladies
come on, guess what? Why? Because God has dealt faith
to all five of them. They're all five interested in
what God has to say. They're all five interested about
an inheritance. They're all five have been revealed
the grace of God. What a blessing that is, that
all five. What a blessing it is for a group
of people to come together around the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and agree and say yes and amen. I love to hear the
old, old story. It doesn't wear out. It doesn't
wear thin. It doesn't get old. It's always
good. I always go home feeling better
than when I came. What a blessing it is. to have
two or three gathered together in his name, and they walk away
in agreement. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? All right, here in the book of
1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we find a problem. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse
22, this is it. The apostle Paul was led by the
Holy Spirit to pick up the problem. For as in Adam, all die. You know, most of the world didn't
believe that. These ladies did though. They
agreed on this. They agreed. Now they may never
use the term, and we not either. The old fathers just used the
term of total inadequacy or total depravity. That's just a way
of saying what is summed up in this. But here we have it, as
in Adam all die. You know, I was laying in bed
last night and that verse came to me and I said, you know, there's
another meaning to that verse of scripture too. In Adam, all
part of us die. There's nothing excepted from
the death that we got from Adam. Our mind, our soul, our flesh,
every part of us fell in that transaction that Adam performed
on our behalf. He spoke for us. He was the administrator
on our behalf. He is the one at the head of
the whole family. And when he died, all of him
died, and all of us died, and all of us died in him, every
bit of us. In Adam all die, even so Christ
shall all be made alive. Those he represents shall be
made alive. You know what? That's what these
five ladies came and agreed on. They agreed that we all died
in Adam and they agreed that we all are made alive in Christ.
They believed in the Messiah. We say Christ, they said Messiah. You know the woman at the well
said, I know when Messiah has come. And then she understood
who the Messiah was. right in front of her. So many
say they believe God's word, but we find out we didn't. I've
had people, let me get my illustrator. I believe this from cover to
cover. And you open it up to a passage of scripture and say,
what about this? Well, I don't believe that. Well, the cover
got short. God doesn't. When He reveals
the Word to us, we say, I believe it. Now, I may not understand
very much of it, but I believe that it's the Word of God, and
God is fulfilling it as we go along. What is faith? Everybody has an idea what it
is, and everybody has an idea what salvation is. But God has
the word on that subject. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. The basis
of God-given faith is God. The basis of God-given faith
is God. It's not us. It's not our participation
with God. It is God. He is the one who
gives us faith. And He is the absolute God. And He is the almighty promiser. And He can never over-promise
Himself. Have you ever over-promised yourself? We all have in some way or another,
we've over-promised ourself. Didn't get it done. That's one
thing about the God of heaven. He never over-promises himself. He is almighty. He has all power
and his word is true. And so when he says his word,
gives his word, it is true and he will carry it out to the very
end. He has never over-promised himself
and he reveals himself as faith. Now this faith that those five
ladies had, that they understood they were going to, they wanted
to be inheritors. God came along as Moses approached
him, God said, they shall. And the whole end of that section
of scripture says, well, if this family doesn't have any, and
if they don't have any brethren, and if they don't have this,
and they don't have that, he went to the extreme, we might
say, about how far this is going to go, not just to the five daughters,
but to families. If there's no inheritor, this
is going to be taken care of. God will take care of it. Well,
here in the book of Hebrews, we find so much about what faith
is. Before you go to chapter 11,
would you jump over to chapter 12? Just jump over to chapter
12 for a moment. Verse one. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witness. Now what
is that? Chapter 11. Great cloud of witness. By faith,
great cloud of witness. Every believer that's passed
on, what a great cloud of witness. Believers today, what a great
cloud of witness. What's your hope? Jesus Christ,
His blood and righteousness. Great cloud of witness. Who do
you believe? God and his word, great cloud
of witness. Well, surely you have others.
No, no, I'm going to nail it to the cross. I'm going to nail
it to his word. I believe in God. I have faith
in God. God has given me this faith to
believe him. There's a great cloud of witness.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us. What is the sin that does so
easily beset us? What was the problem that we
find with Peter when he denied the Lord? Oh, for a moment we
see him in himself. What is our problem? What's our
great cloud? What's our, what's so sin that so easily besets
us? I don't have faith. Then we find out it's not my
faith. My faith is wretched. My faith is blind. My faith is
bad. My faith accomplishes nothing.
And God brings us to the point, it's not your faith, it's my
faith. And here he goes on to say here,
so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus, what? The author and finisher
of our faith. The sin that does so easily beset
us, oh boy, step across it. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. Who did these five ladies
look to? They looked to the Messiah, who
was the author and the finisher of their faith. He gave them
the faith to believe. He gave them the faith to trust.
He gave them the faith to come to Moses and to Eliezer and say,
We petition you. What do we do when we come to
the Lord in prayer? We lay our petitions before him.
How does he answer our prayer? I think I've shared this with
you before, but I was in a church over on the coast one time, and
the preacher, the audacity of this preacher to do this, he
said, this is how God answers prayer. And he pulled a quarter
out of his pocket, flipped it up in the air, and went like
that. I said, I'll never come here again. If a preacher has
that attitude about how God answers his prayer, how he answers our
prayers, he didn't know the first thing about God. He is a wreck. And besides that, he's wretched.
How does God answer prayer? According to His will. His everlasting, eternal will. And that's what God said about
when we pray and we know not how to pray as we ought, the
Holy Spirit answers our prayer according to His will. You know, it takes grace to believe
that. But the church believes that, that God has a will, and
it's an everlasting will, and he'll carry it out to the end.
All right, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. All right, if you'll go back with me to chapter 11 then.
Hebrews chapter 11, verse one. Now faith. The substance is the
substance. That word means firm foundation,
the confidence, a satisfactory quality of a thing. The substance,
faith is the substance. It is the foundation of things
hoped for and evidence of things not seen. What did we just read over there
in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2? He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. Now that's what gives us substance.
That's what gives us reliance. He gives us this faith. It's
not ours. Our faith is so faulty. Our faith
fails. But His faith is always the same,
always enduring, always moving on according to His will. Now,
by it, the elders obtained a good report. You know, there were
two elders that came back. Guess what? Joshua and Caleb,
you're going into the land. Why? Because I have given you
faith to come back with a good report. I have given you faith
to come back and say God is able to do exceedingly, greatly above
all that you ask or think. And 10 of them came back and
says, you know, it is a wonderful land and we've seen it, but we
can't do it. Through faith, verse three, we
understand that the world were framed by the word of God. How
many people go down to the gorge and see all that basalt and say,
you know, this all happened by chance. This is just, we can't
understand it. You know, I don't understand
how God made the heavens and the earth, but the Bible tells
me God made the heavens and the earth. There's no question in
my mind. Don't ask me to explain how he
did it. I can't explain God, but he has
the power to do such a thing. And by faith, we understand that
the world's were framed by the word of God so that the things
which are seen are not made of things which do appear. How did
God save a soul? Well, through faith, we understand
that he did it from beginning to end. By faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness. Can you imagine as these five
ladies were together at home and they were going over the
things that are written in the scriptures, how God had revealed
it? You know what? Abel. Abel realized
he was a sinner before God. He needed a substitute. God revealed
that unto him. And he made a sacrifice, a pictorial
sacrifice of a lamb. And every time they saw that
happen, they said, this is a type and a shadow and a picture of
the one who has redeemed us from our sin. Enoch, now notice verse
six here. Notice verse six. But without
faith, it is impossible. Did you see that word impossible?
Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. You mean all this
stuff I'm doing doesn't please Him? No, it doesn't. Not one
way of it. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. There's not one good thing. I don't know how many times I've
taken people over to Psalm 14, and there God gives the commentary
on looking down from heaven to see if there were any that did
good or any that followed God. And his commentary on it, not
one. And people say, well, I'm the exception. I do good. I help my neighbor. That's not
what he's talking about. We love good neighbors and our
neighbors love good neighbors, but that doesn't have any peace
of action with Almighty God. He pays no attention to that
when it comes to the redemption of our soul. There is nothing
that we do that God pays any attention to. I will supply the
faith for lost hell-bound sinners and they will love me. I will
give them a new heart and they will love me." We find out that's
the only way we can approach God and say, I have a petition,
Lord. Five sisters illustrate that
point. Over here in Numbers chapter
27, I have a petition. They brought it to the Lord and
the Lord, His will was declared and they inherited just like
anybody else that God had given faith to. Without faith, it is
impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. Now when we get over to Romans
chapter 10, we find there that there's a much being said about
this when Paul is writing Romans chapter 10. He said, believe
in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. How did you
know that? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Not some man's theology, but
the word of God. Faith cometh by the word of God.
That word, that truth of the word must be preached in some
fashion, and then God uses that to grant to us, bless us with
his faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
And then it goes on, by faith, Noah, being warned of God of
things not seen as yet. You know, we had a wonderful
illustration of paradise today, but have you seen it? Physically speaking, Moses from
This side of Jordan looked into the promised land, but God did
not take him in there. Now, some people say, well, wasn't
he a saved man? Yes, he was. He believed God, but God has
given us an illustration about Moses. The law cannot take us
in to the land. We're not saved by law. We're
not saved by the keeping of the law. We're saved by someone like
Joshua, whose name means savior. And we get to the New Testament
and his name is Jesus for he shall save his people from their
sins. So we want Joshua. We want Joshua. The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by the Messiah, by Jesus Christ. It is given,
Philippians, turn over there to the book of Philippians if
you would, chapter one, Philippians chapter one, there in verse 29,
Philippians chapter one, verse 29, the scriptures share this.
For unto you it is given. I love the gifts of God, don't
you? Faith, love, joy, faith, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, that's called the fruit of the
spirit. Here in the book of Philippians
chapter one, verse 29, it says, for unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ. Wednesday night, we use the term
for Christ's sake, behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
him. It's a gift given unto you on
the behalf, for Jesus' sake. has given his faith and also
to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw
in me and now here to be in me." Well, we talked to somebody who
says, don't talk to me about that. Talk to somebody, I don't
want to hear that. Well, I have an idea about that.
You know, I've been in Bible studies where they say, well,
we're going to read a verse of scripture. Now we're going to
go around the room and we're going to ask what people think
about that. Oh my goodness. You get to hear a lot of trash.
That is garbage. I want somebody to speak up and
say, this is what God's word says. I want God's word. Not somebody's
thoughts on it. I can read enough trash on my
own. But God said, he gives his people
faith. And five women, five sisters,
come before Moses and Eliezer and plead their case. They bring
their petition before them. And we're going to find out that
God answered them so clearly. You are mine. This is what I
have for you. Welcome to the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. I've taken care of
all the access. I've taken care of the tickets.
I've taken care of the price. I've taken care of the cost.
I've taken care of the travel. I've taken care of everything.
Everything that you had is opposed to God, and everything I have
is agreement to God, and I give it to you. And the church says,
Amen. For left to myself, I would be
in total darkness. I would be like those that were
out in the wilderness and died in unbelief. But you have given
me faith to trust you, and now I come and petition you I come
and petition you for the inheritance, and God is gracious to give each
one of his children his inheritance.