Join me this morning, if you
would, for a reading in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 10,
and I intend to read verse 11, but we might back up just a little
bit. The sovereignty of God is so grand, so immense, so far-reaching,
that it is amazing to me as I read, and we're going to be studying
from the book of Numbers again today, whereas we go through
this book in chapters 13 and chapters 14. We're going to make
references to both of those chapters today. But when we look at those
chapters, we find that God in his eternal and everlasting purpose
had laid them out, had purposed these things out so that they
might be an example for us. Just think of all the things
that happened in chapter 13 and in chapter 14 were an example
for us as the apostle Paul is going to bring out here in this
reading in 1 Corinthians 10, that he is wise, all-knowing,
all-powerful, that what he purposed for them to happen there could
be of a benefit to us 2,000 or 3,000 years later. So read with
me here in the book of 1 Corinthians 10, please. 1 Corinthians 10. And we want to begin reading.
I'm going to begin reading with verse one because it covers some
of the book of numbers that we're going to be reading. First Corinthians
chapter 10 and verse one. Be ye followers of me. Excuse
me, I'm in chapter 11. I'll back up one chapter. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under
the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat of that
same spiritual meat, and did all drink of that same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to intent we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters
as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to
eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication,
as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer. Now verse 11, Now all these things
happened unto them, for ensamples, and they are written for our
admonition unto whom the ends of the world are come. All of
these things happened unto them for ensamples." So it takes an
ever-powerful, all-powerful, ever-eternal God that could take
that and make it for his glory and for his honor and his praise,
even for us today. This is not just things that
are happening. These are things that are purposed.
These are not just things that are by chance, but God is overriding
all of these things. Now there is a message that the
Lord shared with Nicodemus many years ago there in John chapter
3. And when Jesus was speaking to
him and he brought up the subject of being born, must I enter my
mother's womb the second time and be born? Jesus said, are
you a teacher? Art thou a master of Israel and
knowest not these things? Now what is he making reference
there to? You know, Nicodemus was a person that had read the
Old Testament, no doubt, many, many times. And he was a teacher
of the Old Testament. And Jesus Christ is sharing with
him, if you knew what the Old Testament was about, you'd understand
what I'm talking about. Now, we follow the Old Testament
through, and we find that God never gave glory to man, but
he always honored himself, and he demonstrated it in the very
beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. No one there to help. No one there to add. No one there
to comment on. And then, he created man after
his own image. There was nobody there to vote
on what he should look like. There was nobody there to tell
what should happen there. God created him out of the dust
of the earth. And God came upon that dust of
the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
And that man became a living soul. If we follow down through,
we find that it was God that instructed Noah how to build
an ark. It was God that led the children
of Israel. They crossed over the Red Sea.
It was God that gave them the victory at Jericho. And this
just goes from Genesis down to Malachi. And he said, Nicodemus,
if you really understood You would know that I have been in
charge of all things from the very beginning, and this is not
an impossibility with God. God can give the new birth, and
he leaves you out of the equation. Well, as we go back to the book
of Numbers, we find there that there's a subject that has been
brought up and continuously brought up, and that is the subject of
grace. Grace is a wonderful subject
and it is described and declared in the Bible. Now mankind has
come and muddled up the very definition of grace. We have
people teaching today that there are works of grace and that is
so contrary to the very definition of grace. Grace is a subject
that is brought up here in the book of Numbers chapter 13 and
chapter 14 where we find that the Lord God Almighty had shared
with the children of Israel, turn with me if you would, to
Numbers chapter 13 and then we'll look at a few in verse 14. As
we go through this gospel according to Numbers, in Numbers chapter
13, And there in verse one, we find that the Lord spake to Moses. Now he's going to share grace
right away. He's going to share with us what
grace is right away. And that is that God is going
to be about his business and he is going to be doing it for
people without their help. That's what grace is. He's going
to do things for people without their help or assistance. And
the moment that we get involved with helping God and trying to
get some points out of it, we've missed the point of grace. Here
in Numbers chapter 13 and verse 1, it says, the Lord's speaking
to Moses saying, now that's grace that God would condescend to
come down and speak to a man. But he does it constantly through
the Bible because he has a message to share. I am the God of all
grace. And that means I will show favor
upon those who do not deserve it and absolutely do not deserve
it. I'm in charge of this. Send thou men, verse two, that
they may search the land of Canaan. Now notice this next phrase,
which I gave unto the children of Israel. Now that's grace. You're going to inherit this
land, and I'm giving it to you. You're not going to be someone
that's going to have to work for it. There's not going to
be effort into it, and you're not going to be able to claim
the victory of it. Well, we follow what works. gets involved in it, and when
works gets involved in it that don't know grace, we're going
to come back with a report that these people came back with.
Well, let's just think about grace for a moment. Would you
turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 20 for just a moment. Acts chapter 20 verse 24. The
whole gospel is called the grace of God. In the book of Acts chapter
20, we find this summation given by the apostle Paul, Acts chapter
20 verse 24. As we think about grace and the
grace that God shared with the children of Israel that day when
he said, you send men over there to a land I've given you. All
I want you to come back with is to say, this land is wonderful. That's just like us saying, the
gospel is great. The gospel is wonderful. It's
so beneficial. It's so glorious. It's all of
God. I did nothing for it. He's given
me his salvation, and I did nothing for it. I didn't have to do any
work for it. Now, in my religious time, I
spent a lot of time working, but in this gospel that God has
for his children, for those he chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world, there's no work in it. In fact, rest. Sit down
and rest. Just like he said there in the
very beginning, when God finished his work, he rested. Now, it
wasn't because he was tired. He's given us an illustration
of what grace does for us. We get to rest. We're at peace. The work is finished. All right.
Notice here in the book of Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. But
none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. and
the ministry which he received, which I received of the Lord
Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now that's
what God revealed to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus
was the gospel of the grace of God. Now you wanna back up a
minute before God revealed that to him, you'll find that Saul
of Tarsus had a gospel of the works that he performed, and
he tells us about it when he shares, this is where God took
me from. I was a man that was born of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had medals
and plaques and all kinds of things on his wall of accomplishments
that he had performed, and he was able to say, by the grace
of God, that was done. It accomplished nothing. There
was no glory in it at all. I was the only one that was honoring
that kind of thing. God didn't have a thing about
that being glorious. So the whole gospel is called
the grace of God and the application of it in any individual instance
is saving power and is called the grace of God. God's unmerited
favor that he would accomplish everything that is absolutely
essential for the salvation of his people, and we would be the
recipients of it and not the participants of it. He would
find us dead in trespasses and sin. He would find us going after
our own way. He would find us in some religion
that we were bowing down before some false God. He would find
us in that condition, and as we read this morning in Ephesians
2, he would quicken us. He would make us alive and he's
the only one that can give life. He's the only one that can give
life in the beginning when he gave it to Adam or all the critters
and creatures or grass or alfalfa or trees or whatever it is. He
is the creator of life in everything, every establishment. And when
it comes to spiritual things, he is the creator of life. We are born again, we are given,
raises us from the spiritual dead. And grace, we found there
in Ephesians chapter 2, for by grace are you saved through faith
and that not of yourselves. So when we follow these spies
that are being assigned to go into the land that God had given
to them, and we have them going in there and spending 40 days,
we're going to have 10 of them come back and know not one thing
about grace. They didn't understand grace.
It wasn't in their vocabulary. They couldn't even think in that
direction because to be spiritually minded is a gift of God. It's
part of the grace of God given to us. And there were two that
came back and said what God said he can do what God promised he
will accomplish. Let's not be in a bitter mood
about this. Well in the book of Romans chapter
11 would you turn there with me. Book of Romans chapter 11.
The grace of God is free. Did you have any dew on your
windshield this morning. Well, if you're in a garage,
you didn't. I had dew on it. I've had, for the last few mornings,
had dew on it. How much did I have to do about
getting that? Not one bit. How much do I have
to do about getting light from the sun? Now, that's grace. That's an illustration of grace.
We had nothing to do with getting the light from the sun, and we
have nothing to do about getting dew on the blade of grass or
on our windshield. It's a gift. It's what God does. God is the giver of grace, and
those things are a minuscule description of what grace is.
It's all of God. I walked out, I see it, I appreciate
it, but I had nothing to do with it. Well, here in the book of
Ephesians, excuse me, book of Romans chapter 11, everything
by Christ is grace. And to think that any merit or
movement by the creature would alter, it would destroy the property
of grace. If we get our works involved,
it is absolutely destroying the very property of grace. Romans
chapter 11 and verse 6, let's read this together. Romans chapter
11 and there in verse 6, the scriptures share this. And if
by grace, then it is no more of works. Now that's going to
be a real interesting review of what took place when God sent
12 spies into the land. They all saw the same thing. They all witnessed the same thing.
And in fact, did you realize they're all of the same family?
We mentioned this last Sunday. Those 12 spies are probably cousins. They eat the same food. They
sleep in the same company with each other. They're a family
moving through the wilderness. They've been brought out of Egypt
together. They've seen all the miracles
of God together. They've heard God speak together.
They've seen the fire and the pillow of cloud together. They've
been around and saw everything the same. And yet we find that
two of them saw some spiritual benefit in this, and 10 of them
only realized the physical benefit of it. Here in the book of Romans
chapter 11, and if by grace, then it is no more of works. God said, I've given you the
land. Trust me. Believe it. And some did, but
most didn't. Now there's a verse of scripture
in the book of Deuteronomy, we'll read again, that shares with
us, God said, I did not give you a heart to believe. We'll
read that in a moment, but let's read the rest of this verse.
It says, otherwise grace is no more grace. If it has a particle
of works in it, it is not grace. If there is any works in it whatsoever
of any kind, it's not of grace. Grace precludes all works. Grace is God's gift. Grace is
from God. And he does not allow any of
the mixture. Now, I like blue cheese dressing. And the other day Nancy bought
some blue cheese dressing. Now, I have seen a lot of blue
cheese dressing, but this blue cheese dressing, all of the oil
in it has rose to the top. And I said, oh my word, that's
a lot of oil. You know, they spin it and homogenize
it and go through some process, and by and large, most of the
time, you cannot see that oil. But when this special jar came
up, you could see all the oil. Now, that's what people try to
do with grace and works. They try to homogenize it so
it looks good, but it's still full of works. Now, I've heard
people say they're mixing grace and works. You cannot do that.
There's no possibility of mixing it. God has no mixture for mixing
grace and works. It's an impossibility. We can't
do it. We have works or we have grace. And just as we read here, otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if B of works, then it is
no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more of
work. The Apostle Paul sharing with the saints at Rome is bringing
up this point that they had to deal with. And that is how much
works can be in grace and still be grace. And he says zero. Where did he get that message
from? God, the highest authority, has spoken on this subject. Not
some philosopher, not some theologian, but God Almighty has spoken on
this and said, this is works and this is grace, and you can't
mix the two. If by grace, then it's not of
works. The first time that this word is used in the Old Testament
is found in the book of Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8. Would
you turn there with me to the book of Genesis? Here's some
words about the flood. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8.
I remember discussing this in my religious days with somebody
and they were telling me what a wonderful person Noah must
have been for God to notice him. That's exactly The wrong conclusion. That's exactly the wrong view
of grace. To think that God got attracted
to us because we were good people. That's not what he's telling
us here in the book of Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8. This is
a statement that God makes about Noah. Now we're gonna back up
two verses here, I believe it is in just a moment. But in verse,
chapter six and verse eight, it says, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Now there was nothing good about
Noah that God got attracted to him. In fact, if we back up,
we find out there in verse five of the same chapter, here's where
Noah was. He was just like the rest of
the lot. And if we think for a moment that we're different
than the rest of the lot, we don't believe what we just heard
read in Ephesians chapter two, verses one through 10. We all
had our manner of life in sin. That's just what we are. And
if we don't believe that, we don't believe in grace. We just
cannot comprehend grace yet. Pray to God that he will show
us grace. But here it says in verse 5,
God saw, God saw that the wickedness of man was And I've had people
say, it really wasn't that bad. Well, when God said it, I'm going
to have to agree with him. On this side of salvation, I
have to agree with him. On the other side, I could find
problems. But on this side of salvation,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now, that's where Noah found
himself. He was in that lot. He was in that group. That's
where the Apostle Paul said, that's where I came from. I was
in that lot. I was in that group. He never
said, I was smarter than everybody else. In fact, he would say,
I'm the least of all. And then he concluded by saying,
O wretched man that I am. And that's after he'd been saved
for many years. So this is where Noah found himself
by nature. And verse 8 is where we find
him by the grace of God. God demonstrated his grace upon
him. Without Noah's work, without
Noah's faith, without Noah's belief, without anything from
Noah, God gave him grace. And you know what the fruit of
grace is? Belief, repentance, Faith, all the rich blessings
of Christ are the fruits of God's work in us. We do not procure
the fruits of God's blessings by our faith. He gives us faith
as a blessing of grace. Now, Noah would be able to say, and
I believe he would have said, he probably did say these words,
Jump way over to the New Testament again in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. As we think about Noah, first time we find grace in the scriptures.
He is one that is out of the whole lot of sinful man. He's
a descendant of Adam. He's a sinner by nature. He's
a sinner by practice. He's a sinner by choice. And
God comes to him and gives him the gift of grace, the gift of
salvation. Here in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, we find this message that no doubt Noah said, just
like others of the saints of the Old Testament said, and it's
recorded here as the Apostle Paul shares with us in 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 10. He said, but by the grace of
God, I am what I am. That's what Noah would say. By
the grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God, I'm here
worshiping the true and the living God. By the grace of God, I hear
him. By the grace of God, he has given
me a message. Build an ark to the saving of
my household. We find that Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. He had a right standing with
God to begin with. He had been saved by the grace
of God to begin with as he had that message, and now he's been
told to build an ark for the saving of his household. This
Noah is the Noah that demonstrates what grace is, God's unmerited
favor. You know, in the days of those
children of Israel that we've read about in the book of Numbers
chapter 13 and about to get into chapter 14, we have this word
about them. Back up one book there to the
book of Romans, if you would. Romans chapter 11. We're going
to find in and among those Israelites, those 12 that went in, even as
they were representatives of Israel, they were representatives
of the covenant that God had made with national Israel. There
were only two of them that understood what grace was. Only two that
believed that God was able to do what he said he would do.
Only two came back with a good report. Only two had been given
a heart to believe. Only two had represented God
when they came back and said, he is able to give us this land
just like he promised. Well, here in the book of Romans
chapter 11 and verse 5, even so then at this present time,
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. God
had chosen grace to be a representation of himself, unmerited favor. I am God. I do not have to save
a soul. But in a covenant of grace made
before the foundation of the world in eternity past, he had
determined to save some people by grace. By his only grace,
he would be the one that chose them. He would be the one that
would find them. He would be the one that brought
them the gospel. He would be the one that gave
them repentance and faith. He would be the one that gave
them the new birth. He would be the one that gave them every
spiritual gift and grace in Christ Jesus. And we find two of them
came back and said, he's more than able. Two of them came back. He says, he's my almighty God.
He's the sovereign king. What are you talking about? He's
not able. Even so then at this present
time. And you know Moses, even though
it broke his heart to see what was going on, I'm sure he was
able to rejoice in two that saw grace. Two. I don't have any idea the population
of the world. A lot of estimates have been
taken of the population of the world at the time of Noah. And
he was a preacher of righteousness for years and years and years
and years and years and years. And when it came time for the
flood to come, eight souls got on that boat. And everyone else
had no idea in this world what grace was. Now, if there were
other saved ones, they died before that happened. Methuselah, they
died before that happened. This word that is used to describe
the actions of God towards some of his creation has real importance
to our study and our place of our study. Turn with me, if you
would, again back to the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers
chapter 13. We must go there one more time.
Numbers chapter 13. These are God's instructions
to Moses. This is grace in action. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan, which I gave
unto the children of Israel. Now, last week we read a number
of verses of scripture throughout the Old Testament about God's
gift of this land. to the children of Israel. I
gave it unto Abraham. I gave it unto Abraham and Isaac.
I gave it unto Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I've given it unto
you. I've given you this land. You're
going to have this land. It's going to be a gift to you.
And here we have them coming up to the very border of Kadesh
Barnea. And God says, send in spies to
spy out the land and see how good it is. Well, what would
happen if you were called on to go out and spy out the grace
of God? What report would you bring back?
The grace of God. He has promised to give this
great gift. He has promised to give his children
Christ. He has promised to give his children
the grace of God, the gospel. He has promised to give every
spiritual blessing to his children. He has promised to give them
heaven on earth in Christ Jesus and heaven above in eternity. What is he? Bring back a report. What do you have to say about
it? You know, if I ask that question among some people, they say,
you know, if I work hard enough, I'll make it. You know what happens
to the church? God's got to present me spotless
because I'll never do it on my own. God's got to do the work. I'll never get it done. You know,
we just can't move from day to day without the grace of God.
In fact, it is so serious that we can't even pray without the
grace of God. We can't live without the grace
of God. We need grace every day, every
second. We are simple people from the
morning of the day, the moment we wake up to the moment we go
to sleep, and then we dream the rottenness stuff. We need the
grace of God throughout every moment of our day. And that is,
I will do what I said I will do, and I will present you spotless
at that day. And the church says, hallelujah.
because it's impossible from this side. It's impossible from
this standpoint. We find out that not all, even
though they were natural descendants of Abraham, not all of them were
spiritual descendants of Abraham. From what we read here in verses
4 through 16, there's a name and a tribe, given, verses 4 through 16 of
chapter 13. There is a name given, a tribe
given. And in fact, it says they're
the son of. We got real lineage here. We
got real Jews here. We got real Israelites here.
And yet we find out that as it was in the New Testament recorded,
it was recorded throughout the Old Testament that not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Twelve of them are sent in. Ten
of them come back and they don't know the first thing about grace.
They do not understand the message that God gave to Moses and Moses
gave to them, that I have given you this land. Go in and find
out how good it is. That's all I'm asking you to
do. Go in and find out how good it is. And they came back and
said, you know, there's some blessings there, but we're just
not able to do it. And they stirred up the people so much that the
whole group of people demonstrated that they didn't know the first
thing about grace. The book of Hebrews says, they
all died in unbelief. What? They didn't know the first
thing about grace, that the work is God's. The moment that those
10 came back and stirred them up, they said, we should have
died in Egypt in slavery, eating poor food. We should be making
brick with straw. We should be working our fool
heads off. We should be back there." And you know, there were
two that ripped their clothes. Now, I'm not going to do that,
but it's a metaphor for how brokenhearted they were. about the situation,
how it was revealed to them that there's a whole bunch of us that
don't know the first thing about the grace of God. I thought they
knew. I thought they understood. I thought they had a handle on
this. They talked the talk. But when
it came time to demonstrate what the grace of God is, they walked
away. They said, not for me. We can't
do it. And two of them said, we can't
do it either. But our God can. Our God will. Our God has. He will continue doing what he
has been doing. Watching over his people from
the very beginning until this point that there will be a remnant
according to the election of grace. Right here, right now,
and it's being demonstrated. Jesus told a group of Pharisees,
he said, if you were the children of Abraham, you would do the
works of Abraham. What did Abraham do? When God
came to him with grace, he believed God, and God counted it unto
him for righteousness. He didn't believe and then God
gave him salvation. He believed because it was a
gift of salvation. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith are the children of Abraham? You know, if that's
true, we've got two of them back here in the book of Numbers. And if ye be Christ, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise. Not a Jew outwardly. Now these
ten represented the Jew outwardly. So did Joshua and Caleb. We have
the trace, the line. But these two came back, now
notice with me, let's look in Numbers chapter 13 and verse
30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses. Numbers chapter
13, verse 30. And Caleb stilled the people
before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it,
for we are well able to overcome it. How could he say that? I have
a great, almighty, all-powerful, all-sovereign God that has already
promised it. In Numbers chapter 14, read this
with me, Numbers chapter 14, as we go on with the continuation
of this whole account, in Numbers chapter 14 and verse 24, God says this, Numbers chapter
14 verse 24, but my servant Caleb, now to have God say that about
somebody is grace. My servant Caleb. Because by
nature we're enmity against God. By nature we are, we will not
have this man rule over us. We've got it figured out. Those
ten had it figured out. We can't do it. But my servant
Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed
me fully, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and
his seed shall possess it." I've given him grace. He's acknowledged
that by demonstrating faith, because faith comes from God.
And he says, I'm going to take him in. as one of my children,
and so shall his seed possess it." Caleb speaks again in the book
of Joshua. Would you turn there with me
in the book of Joshua? Joshua chapter 14 and verse 6. Joshua chapter 14
and verse 6. This is after they've possessed
the land. You know, I just love what God
had to say about all the good things He gave them, He gave
them completely. And Joshua's gonna confess that.
Every good thing. You know, the church today said,
every good thing He promised, I have. I may not comprehend
it all, I may not understand it all, but I have it all. And
by the grace of God, I'm learning more about it every day. We grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. I learn more of what I have.
He doesn't give me more. It's all there. I learn more. Well, here in the book of Joshua
chapter 14, and there in verse 6, it says, ''Then the children
of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, the Kinzite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing
that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me
and thee in Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses
the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to a spy
out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. This man had been given a new
heart. As we read about in Ezekiel,
as I saw it in my heart. Wow, what a land and it's all
ours and God's given it to us. All we have to do is cross the
Jordan River and we're here. Nevertheless, verse eight, my
brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people
melt But I wholly followed the Lord my God. And then Moses swore
to him what he was going to get as a result of it. Boy, this
in heaven too? God's grace was for Joshua and
Caleb, the fruit of grace. Grace is all of God. Going back to the book of Numbers,
if you join me there in chapter 14 again, Chapter 14, verse 26. Chapter 14, verse 26. And the
Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear
with this evil congregation? God never uses those terms with
the church. How long will I bear with this
evil congregation? which murmur against me. I've
heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur
against me." That's quite a sentence, three times there. He's murmured,
murmuring, and murmured. Saying to them, as truly as I
live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I
do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in
the wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according
to your whole number, from 20 years old and upward, which have
murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land
concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein, save Caleb
the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little
ones, which ye said should be prey, them will I bring in, and
they shall know the land which ye have despised. Them will I
bring in. That's grace. God doing it. All the number of the days, verse
34, which he searched the land, even 40 days each day for a year,
shall ye bear your iniquities even 40 years, and ye shall know
my breach of promise. And I, the Lord, have said, I
will surely do it unto all the evil congregation that are gathered
together against me in this wilderness. They shall be consumed, and there
they shall die. And the men of which Moses sent
to search the land, which returned and made all congregation to
murmur against me by bringing up a slander upon the land, even
those men that did bring up the evil report unto the land died
by the plague before the Lord." Instantly, in front of everybody. You know, throughout the Bible
we have these words recorded, the battle is the Lord's. For
the battle is not yours, but the Lord's. Not by might, not
by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord. There is no wisdom,
nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. That's recorded
in the book of Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 30. You know, we
heard read this morning in Luke chapter 19 and verse 27, But
those mine enemies, which will not that I should reign over
them, bring hither, and slay them before me. These demonstrated we will not
have him rule over us. And in that day, God consumed
them before the host of people, and promised that the rest of
them that would not believe did not believe, and in fact could
not believe, would die in the land over the next 38 years. And those that entered into the
land would be a new generation. Joshua and Caleb went into the
land. Why? Because they had a different
spirit. They had a different heart. They
were given grace by Almighty God. Grace, grace. How precious is grace? God's
work. God's purpose. God doing his
work without our assistance. I can't help but think what Brother
Scott Richardson said, God saved me against my will with my full
consent. Brother Mike, would you come
and close please?