Would you turn with me this morning,
once again, to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 11. I was almost ready to go on to
chapter 12, and in chapter 12, the bulk of that chapter deals
with Miriam and her comments, Marian and Aaron, and their comments
against Moses about marrying an Ethiopian woman. And, you
know, a lot of comments have been made to the Lord Jesus during
his ministry about publicans and sinners come to sit at his
feet. And people didn't like that.
Religious people didn't like that. Well, I don't know what
prompted Miriam or Aaron to say what they said, but it certainly
is an example of how the church will be treated in all ages. It will not be a popular place. Well, here in the latter part
of chapter 11, we're concluding a chapter that dealt with the
giving of manna. The Lord provided the children
of Israel with manna. And it was strange to them. It
was called manna because that means, what is it? And there's
a lot of pictures, types, and shadows in this manna with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that the manna was a
complete meal in itself. It was in order to appreciate
it, you had to pound it, you had to bake it and then made
it into a cake. And how that speaks of the very
work that the Lord would do. He would go to the cross and
then he would be served over the ages as the Holy Spirit brings
it. And then we find that there is
a problem in the camp. Manna was given to them over
rebellion, and once again we find the children of Israel in
a very sad state, and yet it's the normal state, the natural
state. They were not satisfied with
the manna. It didn't fulfill all their expectations. And so the Lord does something
for them. He provides them with quail.
Now, the last time that we were here, we examined a few times
that God used the wind in the Bible. And to me, the most glorious
or a most glorious event was found in John chapter three and
verse eight. So before we read anything here,
would you turn with me over to John chapter three and verse
eight? And I just want to read that
verse of scripture, how the wind is even used today. John chapter
3 and verse 8 the scriptures tell us with regard to the Holy
Spirit. Now someone wrote this and Arthur
Pink put it in one of his little articles. Never represent faith
as being an act so simple that the work of the Spirit is not
needed to produce it. Never say that faith is so simple
that it can be It is so simple that the work of the spirit is
not needed. And so often in religion, that
is it. It is the spirit is not needed
to produce work or faith because we create it on ourselves. And
all that does is add numbers. Well, here we find in the book
of John chapter three and verse eight, at this statement about
how God used the wind as a picture, he says, the wind bloweth where
it listed. John chapter 3 and verse 8, the wind bloweth where
it listeth. And that just tells us it's a sovereign wind. It's
sovereignly dispensed. It's sovereignly given. That
we have no control over it. We cannot control the wind. Let's
get that picture in our head and say, when it comes to spiritual
things, this is also the truth. It is sovereignty. And thou hearest
the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence it cometh or
whither it goeth. Now notice the last phrase of
that sentence. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Jesus Christ had just told Nicodemus,
you must be born again, except you be born again, and except
you be born again, this is a requirement, and God is the one that provides
that, and he's the one that provides the faith for us to trust the
Lord. Well, as we go back here to the
book of Numbers, let us look here again in this chapter of
Numbers, chapter 11, and in the last few verses of that, we're
gonna see what the Lord did for Israel, Numbers chapter 11, And
I want to begin reading with verse 31, Numbers 11, verse 31. And here we have that wind that
brought these quail. And there went forth a wind from
the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall upon
the camp. Now, if you want an interesting
read, just read some commentaries on this and you'll find out that
this is much plainer than all the commentaries put together.
Let's just trust the word. This is what happened. and brought
quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it
were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's
journey on the other side. Round about the camp, and it
were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. Now I cannot
explain it, but I'll tell you, my friend, I believe it. If the
Lord put it that way, that's just the way it was. Now, this
is a gargantuous bunch of quail. This is boxcars of quail. Now,
we want to notice here that the children of Israel, the very
next verse, the people stood up at all night, and all that
day, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails. He
that gathereth least gathered ten homers. Now, this is in gallons. Nobody knows exactly what a homer
is, but they estimate that there's six to ten gallons. Everybody. is gathering a gargantuous
amount of these quail. And then it says here, and they
spread them all around for themselves, around about the camp, and while
the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the
wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord
smote the people with very great plague. Now what we have here
is a statement about natural man's inclination towards spiritual
things. They are not worth anything. Spiritual things are of no value. Now the physical things here
that the Lord gave to them, we notice here that these people
gathered so much. How in the world? And this is
going to be on a daily basis. For the next 40 years, it's going
to be on a daily basis. How in the world? Why would they
gather so much? in one day that they could not
consume. There's no way in this world
that they could consume as much as they gathered, and what is
going to happen to it? Well, we find out several things
here, that the people had no faith in the Lord at all. They
had no faith. If we don't get it now, we'll
not get it. So they gathered so much, and what is going to
happen to most of it? Well, we find with regard to
the manna that Moses told the children of Israel, gather what
you need, don't gather any extra. And the scriptures tell us they
did not believe Moses. So they gathered some more. And
what happened to it? It got worms and it stunk. Now, I think the aroma was quite
a bit. It wasn't just a faint thing. It was a lot. So Moses is sharing
with them, gather what you need. No more, they don't believe Moses. Here we have these people eating
all of these quail, and we find out that they're making a statement
about their faith in God. They have none. This is a real
problem. We find that this statement here
about them, and it's almost as the children of Israel are waiting
for Moses to come down from the mount. Do you remember what happened
when Moses was up on the mount and he waited for 40 days to
come down? And the children of Israel said, well, he's gone.
Let's have a God before us. We notice here with regard to
Israel, national Israel, that the bulk of those people had
no true faith in God at all. They had no faith in him, that
Moses would come down even though he said he would, and they had
no faith that this God could lead them from point A to point
B, so we're gonna create another God. Now, one of the culprits
in the mess of that was Aaron. But did you hear read in that
passage of scripture from the Psalms this morning? Aaron, the
saint of the Lord. Now it just shares with us that
we're not immune to doing some really stupid things. And the
only difference is God's grace and God's mercy and God's election
before the foundation of the world. That's the only thing
that makes a difference between natural man and God's spiritual
creation. Here we find the trouble that
is issued here demonstrates. Now, what is the only true way
God declares that we have been born again? It is not a date. It's not an experience that we
have. What is the only true way that
we can discover about ourself that we have been born again?
We never go back to religion if it's born again. We never
go back to an experience if we've been born again. We never go
back to a person if we're born again. We never go back to a
time if we're born again. There is only one place that
we can go to. The scriptures teach us that
there is only one way that we can truly know that we have been
saved by the grace of God. It is nothing that natural man
can come up with. It is always something that God
alone gives. And this is a creation that God
gives us, and it is faith. Now, we're not saved by our faith. We're saved by the faith of God.
We're saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. We're saved by his faith
given to us. And that is the only mark that
we have that God has given us a new creation in Christ Jesus
that we've ever been born again. And that is, do we trust God? The children of Israel is an
experience for us to look at. Most of them demonstrate what
it is just to be born into this world in the flesh and having
even though God watched over them in such a complicated way. He covered everything that they
had need of and protected them from all their enemies everywhere
they went and yet when the rubber met the road they did not trust
God. They didn't trust him that the
manna would take care of them and they did not believe that
God would supply enough tomorrow to take care of tomorrow for
tomorrow. God-given faith is the only evidence
of salvation. What religion says is evidence
of salvation and then denies the truth. You know, I was taught
that I was saved by my faith, but I had no idea what the truth
was. That is one thing that God reveals
to everyone that he gives grace to. He reveals to them the truth
and the truth shall make us free. What do we find out by nature?
We're actually in prison. we're actually a slave, we're
actually caught up, we're catched up in the fall. If we don't have
God given faith to us in the new birth, we'll go through this
life saying, I don't think God can take care of me tomorrow
and it's very likely he can't take care of me today unless
I do something. So they went out and gathered a profuse amount
of quail and most of that no doubt rotted. Paul speaks to
us warning and exhorting us to examine ourselves. Turn with
me if you would to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians
chapter 13. There are so many places in the
scripture that are heart checks for us. Are we more interested
in the quail? Are we more interested in having
enough for today and it's not sure about tomorrow? Here in
the book of Second Corinthians chapter 13, we find these words
given to us by the Holy Spirit to the Apostle Paul. What? not what we are and not what
we are doing not what we have done he says examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith don't look back on yesterday examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith here in the book of
second corinthians chapter 13 And verse 5, it says, examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates. Now,
if Jesus Christ be in us, what is he going to do with the truth
to us? He's gonna reveal the truth. the truth of the gospel,
the truth of grace, the truth that he is the only savior. We will depend upon him for everything. We have Moses, we have Aaron,
we have Caleb, and we have Joshua, and they came back, with the report that God is able. I don't believe that Aaron even
building a golden calf would not have said God is not able.
He was provoked by a whole bunch of people. You know, that's the
last time he did that. He was a saint of the Lord. Now here, examine yourselves,
whether you be in the faith, Now in 2 Thessalonians, just
a little bit further in the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and verse 13. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13. Are we satisfied with manna and
we're going to take enough for today and that's it? Or are we going to take some
because we don't believe that God is able to give us any more
tomorrow? Or are we going to take a bunch of quail and as
it says, I can just see in my mind, this is not a good site.
This is a zombie site. Everybody in camp, but half a
dozen of them, are just going at this quail as animals. they have no respect for anybody
else and no respect for God and here in this passage of scripture
in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13 but we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the
Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now, faith is always going to
lead everybody to the same truth. There are not multiple truths.
Now, there's multiple things to know the truth about, but
there are not multiple truths. that group, this group, whatever
group, it doesn't matter what group it is, unless we have the
truth, we have not faith, and we have not the faith that God
has given to us. We're going to have a few looking
at this mess going on over here and say, there is something wrong
here. It is not a clear sound. They're
not demonstrating what real faith is all about. They're demonstrating
that they're only dependent upon their own activities. As we heard
this morning in the Bible class, what must I do? What must I do? And we find out by the grace
of God all has been done and he supplies the faith for us
to trust that all has been done and we There may be thoughts
in our head, but God will never give up on his sheep. They will always be given the
faith. They will always be given the
truth. They will always be given what
God has provided for every generation of all of his people, and it
will come down to this, the truth shall make you free. And to be
free is to be free indeed, not entangled in the law and not
entangled in superstitions, but to be having faith in the Lord. I'll never forget that preacher
that we had out here at our camp one time when he talked about
his son wanting to give his mother a gift for Christmas and explained
how delightful it would be if he could give this. And it was
an expensive gift. And the dad said, that would
be great, son. Why don't you do it? And you
know what the son said? Can I have the money? Now, that's
the only way we're going to honor God. Is Him giving us Himself. His faith. His word. His trust. What was going on
in the verses there in the book of Numbers? Not the same thing
that transpired when Moses went up on the mount. There are people
there that did not know God. You know, an interesting verse
of scripture is found in the book of Deuteronomy. I think
I wrote it down here. That just sums up Deuteronomy.
No, that's not it. It tells us in the book of Deuteronomy,
I think it's chapter 22. Let me look here. The Lord told all of Israel. Deuteronomy 29 verse 4. Would
you turn there with me? Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse
4. This is the reason. that we have
all of the confusion among Israel, the nation of Israel, all of
those years for 40 years. This is the reason that they
only could handle the quail. They could only handle complaining. They could only handle not having
any faith. In Deuteronomy chapter 29 and
verse 4, The Lord confesses this and he's confessing it to the
church. This is why this group of people did not have faith. They were not born again. This is the difference and only
God can make it. Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse
four, yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and
eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day for all of those
years even up to the coming up to the promised land that he
had promised Abraham that his descendants would go in and have
a physical kingdom in the only physical kingdom that is ever
going to be it's a spiritual kingdom that's of importance
It's the spiritual kingdom, it's the church. And why is that so
important? Because God has given everyone
that he's ever placed in the church faith to believe the truth
and only the truth. Here he said, I didn't give you
a heart to perceive. What does that mean? I never
gave you the new birth. And as a result of that, you
never had eyes to see. And as a result of that, you
never had ears to hear. You never were given that. How
important it is. And it's not a bragging part
on our part. It is a thanksgiving from God
Almighty that he has done that to his people. I never did this for you. What
do we find continuously through the scriptures? Turn with me
back here from our head to the book of Matthew, if you would,
to chapter 13. We've heard this taught on recently
from the book of Luke, but I want to go to the Matthew's part,
Matthew chapter 13, verse 18. And in this passage of scripture,
we have the parable of the sower. Now, the interesting part here
is that the seed is always the same. God never changes the seed. He never asked anybody to change
the message. He always implies to his preachers
that they must preach the gospel, that God alone is the Savior
and He intends to save us from our sins. A gospel that only
made us savable is not good news. A gospel that shares that he
saves his people from their sins is good news. That he is a savior
that actually saves his people is really good news to the people
he saves because we then know that we could have never got
out of the mess we're in alone. Here in the parable of the sower,
the seed is always the same. Now the ground is different.
The circumstances may be different, but the people that are spoken
about are never different. They may live in different places,
they may have different customs, they may have adopted different
gods, but they are never going to be treated with the gospel
any different. It's going to be the gospel of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now in this it says, when anyone
hearth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then
cometh the wicked one. Now so many people blame that
onto the devil. You know the wicked one is the
guy in the pulpit or the guy working with kids or the guy
working here and there saying, it's up to you. This message
of God saving his people from their sins is not a true, and
he says, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one
and catcheth away that which is his son in the heart. You
know, when I made a profession of faith and people start mentioned,
just mentioned the five points, I had a man in the pulpit write
the five points down on a blackboard and go through and say, this
one's wrong, this one's wrong, this one's wrong, this one's
wrong, and out of all five, the bottom one is the only one that's
right. Now he was a denier of the faith. Now, it's not the
doctrines of grace that saves us, but I'll tell you, my friends,
that when God reveals the truth unto us, we'll not argue with
total depravity. We'll not argue with the election.
We'll not argue with what God has to do to save us from our
sins. We will say, thank you, thank you, and thank you. And
as a result of it, you've given me eternal life. The wicked one. Catcheth away
that which was sown in the heart. This is he that receiveth the
seed by the wayside. Now the ground is not right. It's by the wayside. The seed
never changes. And the experience the person
may go through may change from here to here, but the message
is always the same. Christ is not enough. Manna is
not sufficient. The next, but he that receiveth
seed in stony places, again, the ground is the problem. It's
not the seed that's the problem, it's the ground that is the problem.
The same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it, yet hath he not root in himself. And no truer statement could
be said. Where is our roots? Where do they need to be? They
need to be in Christ, not in ourselves. Because if they're
in ourselves, when this happens, he says here, for when tribulation
or persecution or old age, because of the word by and by
he is offended, He also that receiveth seed among the thorns
is he that heareth the word and the cares of this world. What
did we hear this morning? Rich young ruler, what must I
do? What can I do? And when the Lord
spoke to him, he says, I can't do that because I am very rich
and I can't give it away. That's not what the Lord even
meant. Unless you have a heart given to you by the Lord, you'll
never come. The deceitfulness of riches choked
the word and becometh unfruitful. Now the same seed. There was a few. There was a
few. Moses, excuse me, Isaiah shared
in the book of Isaiah. Except there is a remnant. That's a wonderful except. Except there was a remnant. We
should all be. We should be. If God had not
got involved, we should be as Sodom and Gomorrah. Judge. Now, God's going to go through
this mess here with all of these quails here. He's going to go
through this mess and he is going to prune He's going to come through
and judge. He's going to come through and
slay. He's going to dispense with.
He is going to kill a bunch of the people that are there that
have no faith. And that's exactly what's going
to happen on that Day of Judgment when those without God-given
faith and didn't know the truth stand on the left-hand side and
hear His words. Now those on the right hand side,
a few, a remnant according to the election of grace, are going
to hear his welcome and wonder, how in the world did we ever
get here? And we all must confess, by grace and by grace alone have
we got here. Verse 23, but he that receiveth
the seed in the good ground. God had care about that ground.
God removed every obstacle in that ground. God removed the
thorns in that ground. God removed the rocks in that
ground. I remember spending hours walking
beside a wagon. Dad was the only one that drove
the tractor. His two sons walked on one side
of the wagon and one on the other side of the wagon and picked
up rocks. Well, thank God Almighty, he goes through and he gathers
all the stones that would hinder. He pulls out all the thistles
that would hinder. He puts it into good ground. He cultivates it. He brings it
to the point where when the seed falls, it will fall on good ground. What's that mean? Prepared ground.
God sends his word that's going to be effectual to people that
have been prepared. And how have they been prepared?
God sent them the gospel. He doesn't send them works. He
sends them the gospel. He doesn't send them duties.
He sends the gospel. It's not works of righteousness,
which we have done, but he sends the gospel. And you know what? When God sends the gospel on
prepared soil, effectual working will take place. The birds can't
get it. The drought can't get it. It's
going to stay put and God's going to bring forth fruit. out of
his people. And what does he give them? When
he brings them out of the pit, he gives them faith. the faith
to believe the truth, the truth about God, the truth about sin,
the truth about eternity, the truth about the word, the truth.
And it's not going to vary from generation to generation. The
same truth that he revealed unto Abel is the truth that he's going
to reveal to the last sheep that's ever going to be saved. It will
not vary over time. When people try to vary it and
make it more palatable, it's not the truth any longer. These three, the three were the natural. The
one ground is prepared of God. The natural ground will never
receive the things of the Lord. They are spiritually discerned.
It's only the prepared that will ever do that. Turn with me, if
you would, to the book of Romans, chapter 2. Romans, chapter 2. And verse 28. Now, every one of those people
that are eating all those quail fall under this heading, Jew. Every one. They're all descendants
of Abraham. Every one. They all have that
lineage. Everyone. Do you remember hearing
the Lord speaking to people that had that lineage? We be of our
father Abraham. These guys were a lot closer
to Abraham in lineage. They were just a few generations
away. And yet the Lord shares with them as well as with us
today through the writings of the Apostle Paul by the Holy
Spirit, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly." Now here we
see the experience of outward Jews. They have no faith. They can't believe God for one
minute, not alone, until the next day. We have no faith. We're going to have to go over
here and create a religion so that we can be told what to do.
Well, here he says he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither
is he is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But
he is a Jew. Now, I want to know this. I want
to know what the Bible has to say. I want to know what God
has to say about what a real Jew is, because all Israel shall
be saved. Now there's going to be a whole
host of them over there and eating quail that are not going to be
saved. And they're Jews. All right, let's read this. But
he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision that is of the
heart. Can you do that on your own? Can't work on that part. Circumcision is that of the heart,
in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. That's where this is. A Jew is one that God has worked
on in the heart. I will give you a new heart. to love me and what do we do? We love him and we have faith
in him, faith that was given unto us. In that same book of
Romans chapter nine, would you turn there with me? Romans chapter
nine and verse six. Romans chapter nine and verse
six. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect for
they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Now, everyone
that looked around and saw all that going on, People acting
like animals, eating those quail, gathering buckets full. What
are you going to do with all of that? How are you going to
preserve that? In a day or day and a half, they
had a mess on their hands. It was terrible. You've demonstrated something.
You have no face in Almighty God. Here in Romans chapter 9
verse 6, Not as though the word of God had taken effect, for
they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in
Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are of the
children of the flesh. These are not the children of
God. But the children of promise are counted for the seed. These,
the flesh, what did it say? They had the flesh in their teeth.
They're demonstrating I'm in the flesh yet. I'm in the flesh
yet. Well, if it hadn't been for the
Lord, we'd all be a Sodom and Gomorrah. Turn with me to the book of John
chapter 8, verse 37, if you would. John chapter 8, the Lord deals
with this issue in John chapter 8 and verse 37. John chapter
8 and verse 37, it says, I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because
my word hath no place in you. That's a sad state of affairs.
Oh, to have a little word in us. I speak that which I have
seen with my father, and you do that which you have seen of
your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our
father. Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children,
ye would do the works of Abraham. What did Abraham do? believe
God and was counted unto him for righteousness. And who gave
him the believe God? God gave him the believe God.
But ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth,
which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. ye do the
deeds of your father did you notice that in verse 40 a man
that hath told you the truth and you're ready to kill him
if you were abraham seed you would not be doing this if you
were spiritual abraham ye do the deeds of your father verse
41 then said they unto him we be not born of fornication we
have one father even god What a statement they are making about
the Lord Jesus Christ in that very word. And then he says,
Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, ye would love
me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word Heard it here And unless the Lord give us hearing
what did he tell all of Israel and Deuteronomy chapter 29 I
Never gave it to you. I never gave it to you and you'll
never have it without it you know the scriptures tell us this
in the book of Matthew chapter 6 the Lord is speaking in the
Sermon on the Mount and And he's dealing with the same thing that
we find over there in the book of Numbers, Matthew chapter 6
and verse 19. He says, lay not up for yourselves
treasure upon earth. What were they doing? Without
refrigeration. Now, that's a miracle we get
to enjoy, isn't it? We can freeze those quail, we
can refrigerate those quail, but those guys couldn't do a
thing with it but let it rot. Eat until their bellies were
so full and then let the rest rot because I have no faith in
God. I don't think he can bring this
many tomorrow. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also." Where's the treasure of the church? Abraham said, God told Abraham,
I am your exceeding great reward. I'm it. I'm your treasure. Where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And then
finally, if you'll turn with me to the book of 1 Peter, chapter
1. 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 1. How many of the books of the
New Testament open by being written to the elect? The Bible was written to the
church. The Bible was written for the church. The Bible was
written about the church. Don't get boastful. This is where
you came from. This is the pit I took you out
of. This is the faith I gave you. This is the belief I gave
you. This is the hope I gave you.
I gave it all to you. Don't get the feeling too proud
of yourselves that no man should boast in his presence. It's what
we read over in the book of First Corinthians chapter one. Well,
here in First Peter chapter one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered abroad, scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Now, if you get a map,
you'll find that most of that falls in what we know as Turkey
today. Elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Did anyone read
that article this morning about imputed righteousness by Bill
Parker? It's in your bulletin. We have
one of the great examples of it. He brings up something that
our president did. He's going to forgive all student
loans. Now, I don't care how you feel about that, but Bill
brings up that those loans are not free. Someone is going to
pay him. May forgive yours, but someone
else is going to pay him. Now, that's just how God does
his business. If our sins are removed from
us as far as the East is from the West, someone is going to
pay for them. and they're imputed to Jesus.
That's what Bill brings out. They're imputed to him. Now,
Jesus Christ was glad to have them imputed to him. Now, most
taxpayers are not going to be that pleased that we have to
pay that extra taxes, but he wanted to bring out the point
that Jesus Christ did not get forced into paying for our sin. He gladly, in the covenant of
grace, willingly went to the cross on the behalf of his people.
Here we find elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of blood to Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace
be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now notice verse four. This is
what he has. It's not quail in the teeth.
It is inheritance incorruptible. To an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you. Now, what is that? Our glorious,
blessed Savior, Jesus Christ. He will The only true sign we
have, the only true knowledge we have of being born again is
faith given to us by God to believe God. To never be able to say,
as those folks there in the book of Numbers, it's more important
that I have these quail in my teeth than to trust God for tomorrow. We know what happened to them.
God's blessing be upon his church alone as he supplies faith to
every believer and every believer every day to believe him have
faith in him to trust him and it fadeth not away. And then
it says who are kept by the power of God through faith and the
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And the church
says Hallelujah. All right, Brother Mark, if you'll
come.