Acts chapter 16. Let's start looking in verse 9. And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia
and prayed to him saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored,
Paul and those with him, his entourage, to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach
the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosening from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samathracea, and the next
day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi. which is the chief
city of the part of Macedonia, a colony, and we were in that
city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath day, we went
out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made,
and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. They gathered there as well.
And a certain woman, named Lydia, a cellar of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul." So she worshipped God, but she wasn't worshipping Him
correctly. And that happens all the time.
There are people who come to church, come to church, come
to church, and they worship. As a matter of fact, in Mars
Hill, he says, you don't know what you worship. You're just
kind of coming. Your parents came, so you come. I'm glad people are here, but
I pray the Lord changed their heart like He did this woman.
This is salvation. This is how it happens with everybody. Everyone of the elect. The Lord opened her heart. That's what he does in every
single sinner saved by the grace of God. Now, he also uses the
preaching of the gospel, because Paul said we were to go there
evidently to preach the gospel. They were having worship, so-called
worship time, and Paul attended, he spoke the things which were
spoken of Paul. And what's the result? There's
got to be results after the Lord saves somebody. Love. Verse 15,
And when she was baptized, we highly recommend that, and her
household, she besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful
to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained
us. So faith without works is dead.
I know people get a little bit concerned about James and works,
but it's inspired by God. It's in the Scriptures. We do what those things which
the Lord has laid on our hearts. His love constrains us, not the
law. So anyway, I just wanted to look at this. And Psalms chapter
110 states, God makes us willing in the day of His power, which
none can resist. God makes us willing. I think
it's Psalm 110 verse 10. He makes us willing in the day
of His power. And I was speaking to Melinda
or Bruce or something, I can't remember, but I used to think
that was just salvation. That's everything. He makes us
willing to be here. He makes us willing to give the
support of missionaries and the support of the work here. He
makes us willing to call one another and encourage one another.
He has to make us willing in the day of His power. That does
not stop. And if it ever stops, then I
would question whether we, I, have heard the truth. If I can
stop being gracious, if I can stop coming to church where the
gospel is preached, Not Lydia. But the Lord uses false motives. He can change the motive. Just
like that. Our children probably don't want
to be here. But as they're under the household, they're going
to be here. And just perhaps, the Lord would open their hearts
like He did Lydia. So based upon this text and many
other texts, we know how, why, and when the Lord deals with
His chosen people. Now turn with me to Numbers 10. Numbers chapter 10. This is very
similar to what happened... It's a little different, but
it's very similar to what was going on in Acts and in other
places, which we'll see as we get into the message. Numbers
chapter 10, and we'll start in verse... one through six to kind
of bring us up to speed what's going on. The Lord spake unto
Moses, make two trumpets of silver of a whole piece, thou shalt
make them and thou shalt mayest use them for the calling of the
assembly and for the journey of the camps." So, he instructs
Moses to make these trumpets, so when they get, because there's
a lot of people, I don't know how many people, 100,000, 200,000,
300,000, there's a lot of people. So, they blow the trumpets, everybody
stops what they're doing, they get together, and they get destruction.
Well, what they're getting ready to do, is they're getting ready
to march in the wilderness from Mount Sinai, to Paran. They're getting ready to get
up and leave. They went out. The Egyptians got inundated with
the flood, you know, the Red Sea. So here they are. They've
been here for a while. Now, they're going to move. Verse
29. Verse 29, Moses said unto Hobab,
the son of Regil, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are
journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give
it you. Come thou with us, and we will
do thee good. For the Lord has spoken good
concerning Israel." Stop there. Stop there. We're going to go
a little ahead, but we'll stop there now. Let's look at one
called, this guy called Hobab. and see the free, amazing grace
laid upon a chosen vessel of God. They're beginning to move,
but before they move, this Hobab, he's a Midianite, and we're not
going to turn there, but if you would look at Exodus 18, you
would see the story of Jethro. They dwelt out in the wilderness. They were a tribal people. Hobab came with Jethro, and his
tribe to visit Moses in the wilderness. So that's what's going on. They're
already there. They weren't part of the children
of Israel. They were already out there. They weren't in Egypt.
But they heard they were there. And in Exodus 18, it's beautiful
what Jethro, he's saying, oh, the Lord's done this and he's
so happy for Moses and the people. So they get together. So apparently
then at the end of Exodus, then Jethro leaves. But Hobab, He
stays around. He hangs around. And Moses, this
is what's going on, Moses says, come with us. We'll do you good. If you're with us, God will do
you good. Because this is His word of promise. This is what God told me. So
Moses in verse 29 talks to Hobeb, come with us. We here this morning
should at the very least implore our kin to come with us, to hear,
to believe, to trust Christ's Gospel, His Word of Truth, and
bow to His kingly prerogatives. That's the least we should do.
A lot of the Puritan writers said, you know, the Lord saves
you. One of the first things you should do is your household. Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20, We are ambassadors for Christ.
Everyone who knows Christ is His ambassador. We are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5.20 That's what
we are. What are we supposed to do? We're
supposed to tell people, pray, that they would be reconciled
to God. Turn with me to John chapter
1. John chapter 1. You'll know the
story instantly when I start reading it. John chapter 1 starting
in verse 35. He's talking about John the Baptist
and his disciples that were following him. Then he introduces them,
behold the Lamb of God. In John 1, he says, verse 35,
again the next day after John stood and the two disciples,
and looking upon Jesus, he walked and saith, behold the Lamb of
God. And the two disciples heard him
speak and they followed Jesus. That's what John was to do. He
was to prepare the way. And so he, you know, this is
what he was called to do. I don't know if I could do this.
You know, I would want more people here. But if somebody hears the
Gospel and then they move away, as long as they're going to another
place where the Gospel is, that's wonderful. That's glorious. And
so John, so they left John and they went to Jesus. And Jesus,
He said, Behold the Lamb of God, verse 38. Then Jesus turned and
saw them and said unto them, What seek ye? And they said,
Rabbi, which is interpreted Master, where dwellest thou? Christ asked,
What? And they said, Who? That's the
issue. John said, What did you come
out here to see? What did you see? Some weird guy in camel
skins eating locusts and honey? He turned. Christ turned to those
two disciples and said, what? Which seems a little odd. And
they said, who? We're seeking You. Read on. He said unto them, Come
and see. They came and saw where He dwelt
and abode with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
And one of the two which heard John speak and followed Him was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted to Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. The day following, Jesus
would go forth into Galilee, finds Philip. Philip said unto
him, Follow me. Philip was of Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and Peter. Philip finds Nathanael and says
unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael
said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip
said, Come and see. Come with us. Come with us. Time would not allow me to go
into Ruth and Naomi. She left her land. And then she
left full. All of her children, in-laws,
they died. The sons died. The husband died.
There she is with Oprah. And then Ruth. Oprah says, I'm
going to go. I'm going to go back to my people. I know them. I'm comfortable
around them. A job may be here. Who knows? I'm going to go there."
And Ruth said, I'm going to cleave to you. I'm going to go with
you. So we have example after example
of this. Come see. Come see. Moses is
saying, look at what he says again back into our text in Numbers. He says, we are journeying to the place
of which the Lord said, I will give it you. We're based on the
word of God, the promise of God. Come with us, and we will do
you good, for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel. What
he's saying is be numbered with us, be numbered with the Israel
of God. He mentions God's infallible
promise, His word of truth, And that's what we must speak. We
don't want to speak on, I think this is what we're supposed to
do. I think this is what the gospel is. No, we know what the
gospel is. We've heard the gospel. Like
Lydia, we were probably religious. I know I was. Most of us were
religious. And then we heard the gospel,
the word of truth. And that's what we speak according
to. Not according to what somebody's
written down. the book, the Word of God. It's
the power of God and the salvation. Romans 1.16 says it's the power,
and that word in the Greek is Dumas, which is where we get
our word dynamite. It's a force. Mighty is what that represents.
And all this is for good, as Romans 8.28 says. This is what
Moses is saying, and Romans wasn't even written yet. But the Scriptures
fit together like a glove. Sixty-six authors talk about
one person. One thing, one God, one faith,
one baptism. God said, God said, I'll give
it to you. Come with us, we'll do you good.
Come with us now, do not delay, and enjoy God's covenant blessings
to all his reclaimed, redeemed sinners. That's what we want
for our children, that's what we want for our grandchildren,
that's what we want for our friends, our neighbors, And yes, even
our enemies. Pray for them too. Because we
know God's word cannot fail. The promise is true and sure
to all the sea. Verse 30, what's Hobab's answer? Boy, have we not heard this before?
Even amongst ourselves. Here's his answer, and this is
you and I in the flesh, and this is all unbelievers. He said to
Moses, I'm not gonna go. I will not depart I'm gonna go
to depart from my own land and my own kindred." Have we not heard this so many
times before, either in us, when we know we should obey and we
make excuses? And unbelievers? It's easy to
retreat back home with friends and family. It's safe. But if
they're going Well, we talked about Pilgrim's Progress. One
of the first things the Lord starts to deal with Christians
is when he's in his house, the city of destruction, his home
and his family, he puts his hands over his ears and runs out. Oh,
that seems awful harsh. That seems awful mean. Tell them
to come with us. But you can't force anybody.
Only the Spirit of grace and supplication will make them willing.
But make them willing in the day of His power. Tell them. Be kind to them. But don't partake
of their, I'm going back. It's easy. We're dwelling in
the wilderness, but where you're going, we've never been before. It's new. New creatures. It's new. I haven't experienced
that. It's frightening. Faith. It's a fight of faith.
It's a struggle. And we know in the New Testament,
one says, I've got to bury my kin. I've got to go to a wedding.
I've got to attend and I've got to view the land I purchased.
Oh, the vile tugging of this vain world and all its glitter
and gold. Turn with me to Luke chapter
9. You know, the parable of the
sower. They came up and they were all
excited. What choked them out? The cares of the world. If we
could see the world for what it truly is, it's anti-Christ. We've got to be in the world.
I'm not saying quit your job and become monks. I'm saying
be aware of it. Luke 9. Luke 9, verses 57. And it came to pass that as they
went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow
thee whither you goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes
have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere
to lay his head. Come with us. But it's not going to be easy.
And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer
me first to go bury my father. That's legitimate. To us, to the flesh, it's legitimate. I'm going to bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury the dead. Can you imagine
somebody saying that at a funeral? Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
That's what we're to do. And another said, Lord, I'll
follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell at home
in my house. I've got company. Can't come. The Lord may be using that to
keep you from hearing the Gospel. May we be like Joshua, as for
me and my house. This is where we are going to
be. This is who we want to be with. This is what we want to
hear. The Gospel of the Living God. Jesus said unto him, No man having
put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom
of God. Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14, verse 16 through
21. And He said unto them, A certain
man made a great supper, and bid many and sent servants at
the supper time, saying to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready. And they with one consent began
to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground, I've got a look at it, Maybe he'd
be excused. Another said, I bought five yoke
of oxen and I gotta go prove them. He didn't prove them before
he bought them. That shows a little bit of wisdom there. I pray,
let me be excused. Another said, I have married
a wife. Sounds like Adam. I've married a wife. Let me be
excused. Another said, I have married
a wife and therefore I cannot come. And so the servant came and showed
his Lord these things. The master said of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly in the streets
and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and
the maimed, the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done and thou hast commanded and yet there is room. Come with
us. Come with us. And I know, I know, I know, I
know, I know we want the best for our kids. We want the best
that anything can get, but I tell you what, if the best means pulling
them away from the Gospel, I'd say chuck it. I'd say chuck it. But look at Moses, verse 31 and
32, he just keeps on. Back to our text, Numbers. He says, verse 30, I'm not going
to come, I'm going to depart my own land into my kindred.
Moses said, Leave us not, I pray thee, for as much as thou knowest
how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead
of eyes. And it shall be, if you go with
us, yea, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto
us, the same we will do unto thee. Now some people say, and
I can see this, that Moses is resorting to the flesh. He's
saying, well, you know, I don't know. I think this may be human
responsibility and God's sovereignty. That's kind of how I see it.
I don't know. But a lot of people say, and I can see how they get
this, Moses had the cloudy pillar,
and he had the fire, and he had the ark. So what did he need
this guy's eyes for? I can see how that could be possible,
but on the other hand, I don't see it quite like that. I see
it more as, if you go with this, it shall be. He didn't say it
might be. It shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto
us, the same will. These are words of belief. And that's what faith does. And
we're not telling our children, we're not telling our friends
and our neighbors and even ourselves that this walk of faith is easy.
If you think so, you're reading a different Bible than I am.
Every sinner, every saved sinner has struggled greatly. But I'll tell you what, at the
end of the day, go home, lay down, and sleep. Because whatever
comes your way is coming by the hand of God through Christ. And
if you're in Christ, That's what matters. That's really the only
thing that matters. That's why Paul could say time
and time again, I'm determined not to know anything among you
except Christ and Him crucified. So Moses constrains him to go
with them again in Israel. Leave us not. If God be for us
and you, none can be against you. Really, that's what Romans,
don't let this world and its citizens or Satan or the flesh
keep you from coming to Christ. Let's partake of His means. Let's
saturate ourselves with His Word and with His people. Basically,
He's saying, you know, what we say, take sides against yourself
and this world, be it lands or kindred or whatever. Jethro's
gone. He's saying, I'm going back.
Oprah, she said, I'm going back with the story with Ruth and
Naomi. I'm going back. And that's the last we hear of
her. And many people, they die as they've lived. That's the
last you hear of them. But not Ruth. What happened to Ruth?
You ever look at the genealogy in Matthew? May our great God cause us to
turn, change, Our heart, mind, and soul, and
that's really what repentance is. Repentance is eternal change
of mind. And who can do that? God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And agree with God,
agree with this book, and agree with His people that we are only
sinners in need of salvation. Sinners saved by grace. We say
what Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord. Don't talk to me
about free will. Don't talk to me about decisions.
Don't talk to me about walking an aisle. You walk an aisle and
then you go back and you're in the same seat and you wake up
in the morning with the same issues, the same problems, don't know
how to deal with them. Christ is everything. He is our all
and in all to the believer. Trust, believe, adore the glorious
Redeemer. The last thing, he convinced
Hobab, but let's look at Hobab's reward and our reward. And it shall be, if you go with
this, yea, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto
us, verse 32, the same will we do unto thee, verse 33, and they
departed. Now there's a lot of commentators,
they've said that they don't know, we don't know if Hobab
went. But to me, the very direct context is two men talking, and
it says they departed from the mount, The Lord three days, and
the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the
three days journey to search out the resting place for them.
And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day. They went out
of the camp, and it came to pass that the ark set forward, that
Moses said, rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered,
and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested,
he said, return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.
So verse 33, they departed. Though Moses nor Hobab would
ever set foot in the promised land. Now we know that because
Joshua and Caleb and the children. So we know that. But we know
Moses never set foot in the promised land. But they, Hobab and Moses,
like Abraham, were fully persuaded of it. Romans chapter 4. I probably ought to show you
the text that showed that Hobab went, but we're going to look
at these first. Romans chapter 4 verse 17, I think that's a
25, 17, as it is written, Romans 4, verse 17, as it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations, speaking of
Abraham, before whom he believed, even God quickeneth the dead
and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who,
Abraham, against hope, believed in hope. that he might become
the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so
shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God." That's Moses and that's
Hobab now. Not weak in faith. And being
fully persuaded That's faith, fully persuaded.
That what God had promised, he was able to perform. And therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. That's what faith does. True
faith embraces the promise because God cannot lie. He won't lie. He doesn't lie to his people
because it's all tied in with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
It's all tied up before the foundation of the world and the covenant
of grace. So, he hadn't seen them. Hobed was
persuaded, not having seen with his eyes the promised land, yet
acted as though God could not lie and sought a better country,
a heavenly one. Romans chapter 10 or Isaiah 28
says, He that believeth shall not be confounded. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not be confounded. Now the
world may confound you. Satan may confound you. You may
not know the Jewish jobs. You may not know all that, but
in Christ, the things that really matter, salvation, Justification. Sanctification. Glory. These
things will not be confounded. Now, how do I know that Hobab
went? Judges chapter 1. Now this is
after Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges. This is after the conversation. Judges chapter 1. And verse 16, oh boy, I'm in Joshua. That will help. Judges is after Joshua, so we're
further on down, right? We understand what's going on.
They're already in. Judges chapter 1 verse 16, and
the children of the Kenites, Moses' father-in-law, went up
out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into
the wilderness of Judah, which lies south of Arad, and they
went and dwelt among the people. So that's who we're talking about,
his descendants. Judges chapter 4 and verse 11. This is another descendant of
Hobab. Judges chapter 4 verse 11. Now
Heber, the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the
father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and
pitched his tent in the plain by Kedesh. So they're with him.
They went with him. So his descendants are with him.
So he must have went with him. First Samuel. Chapter 15. And this is about it. There's
not a whole lot about this whole battle. It came into our narrative
to glorify God in the salvation of Him and His household, and
then disappears again. 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse
16. Samuel 15, I'll get there, verse
16. Then Samuel said unto Saul, I'm
in the wrong place again, verse 6, okay. And Saul said unto the
Kenites, that's who, Hobab, that's the tribe, go depart ye down
from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them. For
ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they
came up out of Egypt, so the Kenai's departed among the Amalekites."
So they were with him. So he went. He went. So this is Hodab's descendants
were most assuredly went with Moses. So this is what we have
in Hobab. We've got three things, three
to summarize. First, we see in Hobab the venture
of faith. He forsook all to follow Christ. The second thing we see in Hobab
is the life of faith. Hobab saw and experienced all
the good from the Lord Jehovah on his behalf. He's like Enoch.
All it says about him is he walked with God. What we know is a walk
of faith. So we see the venture of faith,
the life of faith, and then thirdly, the reward of faith. Hobab was built upon the rock.
He was fully convinced that God said in his word and most assuredly
would come to pass. He didn't get to see the promised
land, but that's nothing compared to Beulah's land. That's nothing compared to heaven
itself. He's resting in the arms of his Savior because he believed
what somebody said. Isn't that what Philip and Nathanael,
they believed somebody? Isn't that what Enoch, or the
Ethiopian Enoch, how can I understand unless somebody tells me? Moses
was God's mouthpiece to talk to Hobab. And Hobab believed
what Moses said. But more importantly, he believed
what God said. Now this goes back to what Scott Richardson said about argumentation
and convincing people of who God is and what He's done. If
you and I are the only means by which we convince them, somebody
smarter will come along and convince them out of it. But if the Holy
Spirit convinces through this word that Jesus is the Christ. What think ye of Christ? You'll
be convinced and you'll come with us. You'll come with us. One last thought, which is probably
maybe the most important thing, not particular for this message,
but it's the most important thing in life and life after. Verse
33, and they departed from the mount of the Lord three days'
journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them
in the three days. Now who's the ark of the covenant?
Who's that picture? That picture is the Lord Jesus
Christ. One last thought. If Christ doesn't
go with us, we don't want to go. We don't need to go. But
let us never forget the ark is with the people. The Ark is a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to partake in the
Lord's Supper. Every time we gather together here, I'm so
thankful that we don't talk about, I mean, we need to live and we
move and have our being, but it's all in God. It's all in
Christ. But I'm so thankful that, you know, politics and this and
that and all this stuff that's going on in this country specifically,
you know, I'm not saying we can't talk about, but I'm saying we
don't. We talk about Christ. And you
know, the kids are doing things in the school. I'm guilty. I
show them pictures of the grandkids. So we do stuff. We don't need
to be so religious and stoic. No, He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. We ought to be touched with one
another's infirmities. Find out what's going on. How
you doing? I'm not saying that. But I'm saying, know this, the
ark of the covenant of the Lord, is going before us. It's going
before us. He is ever with us, defending,
protecting, nourishing, sustaining His workmanship. And for that,
we are glad and most thankful. Bruce, would you close us please?