Something separated them. The
promise of this promised land was made even before they ever
left Egypt. Let's turn back to Exodus chapter
3 and look at some of the history here of this. In verse 7, and the Lord said,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And here's the first mention
of it. And to bring them up out of that land into a good land
with large and honey flowing with milk and honey under the
place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and
the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Go over to
verse 17. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction
of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
until a land flowing with milk and honey. Now turn over to chapter
12. And verse 25, And it shall come
to pass that when you become to the land which the Lord will
give you according as he hath promised that you shall keep
this service." So he's speaking of the Passover. So all through
along here he is illustrating that there is this promised land. You will be delivered to it.
I'm going to give it to you and bring you to it. But yet we just
read he said you can't even enter at all. How could they not enter
the promised land? They'd been thrust out of Egypt.
It's not like they just walked out. They were pushed out. They
said, get out of here. But after all the plagues, they
had the Lord's hand in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire
by night. They saw the parting of the Red
Sea. They saw the destruction of Pharaoh
after he came after them in the Red Sea. They had the rock which
gave them water. They had manna every morning
from heaven come down to feed them. God gave them the law by
the hand of Moses. We can say at this point, God
was with them. So how then did they not enter?
Let's look at Exodus chapter 33. In verse 1, the Lord said unto
Moses, Depart, and go up hence. thou and the people, which thou
hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which
I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy
seed will I give it. And I will send an angel before
thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and
the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go
up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people,
lest I consume thee in the way. So what the Lord's saying here
is, it's time to go. We've gone all this way and now
it's time for you to go in and possess the land. And I'm going
to send an angel before you to drive out all the inhabitants
of the land. Walk on in. And so you consider up to this
point all those things that I mentioned about the Red Sea and being thrown
out of Egypt and all the wonders that they saw along the way.
Had there been one promise which God had decreed that he wasn't
able to deliver on, Had there been one thing up to this point,
even unclearly, say no. He performed things that were
not feasible for men to accomplish in the sight of everyone. These
things were not done in a corner. Yet, let's go back to our text
in Deuteronomy 1. Look at verse 21 now. Both the Lord set the land before
thee, go up, possess it. And the Lord thy Father said
unto thee, fear not, neither be discouraged. So there at the
foot of the hill, go in, possess it, fear not, neither be discouraged.
I'm sending the angel before you to clear out all the people.
Go in, keep on reading. And when you came near unto me,
every one of you and said, we will send men before us and they'll
search out the land and bring us word again by what way we
must go and in what cities we shall come. And the same pleased
me well. And I took 12 men, 12 men of
you, one of a tribe, and they turned and went up the mountain
and came into the valley of Eshkol and searched it out. And they
took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it
down unto us, and brought us word again, saying, It's a good
land which the Lord our God doth give us. So at this point, they've
sent in some kind of a search party, if you will, to figure
out, because you're talking about thousands and thousands of people
that are going to go in. They're going to say, how are
we going to go in? You can't just maybe walk in, maybe it
was mountains or something, but they wanted to figure out how
to get in and kind of survey what was before them, to see
the cities, to see really what this promised land was. And they
came back and said, this is a good land that we can go into. But
yet in verse 26, he says, notwithstanding, you would not go up, but rebelled
against the commandment of the Lord, your God. And you murmured
in your tents." Murmured means stubbornly disobedient. But you
murmured in your tents and said, "'Because the Lord hated us,
he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver
us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.'" What a view
of the Lord. He had brought them all this
way, brought them out of bondage, had heard their cry out of Egypt,
he said, brought them out of there, and then their view of
him is at this point, we're not going to go in, and the Lord
only did all this thing because he hated us, to kill us and destroy
us. So if you will turn over now
to verse 29, and this is Moses' reply to them. Then said I unto
you, dread not, neither be afraid of them, the Lord your God which
goeth before you, he shall fight for you according to all that
he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness,
where thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bare thee, as a
man doth bear his son, in all the way that you went, until
he came unto this place." So Moses is reminding him at this
point, look at all the Lord did for you up to this point, and
you're thinking that he's brought you all this way just to kill
you? Let's look a little bit closer. Deuteronomy 1 is kind
of a summary of everything that happened. It really doesn't give
us the real detail as to why they wouldn't go in. But that's
found back in Numbers 13. So let's look at Numbers 13,
look at the passage here as to why they wouldn't go in and why
they were disobedient. and we'll start in verse 26.
26 And they went in, these were the spies that sought out the
land, and came to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the congregation
of the children of Israel, and to the wilderness of Paran, and
to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them, unto all the congregation,
and showed them the fruit of the land. And they had told them
and said, We came unto the land whither thou sent us, and surely
it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land. Their
cities are walled and are very great. And moreover, we saw the
children of Anak there." That was the giants. And the Amalekites
dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jebusites
and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites
dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. 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. But the men went up with
him and said, We be not able to go up against the people,
for they are stronger than we. and they brought up an evil report
of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel,
saying, The land, though which we have gone to search it, is
the land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that
we saw in it were men of great stature. And we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come out of the giants, and we were
in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and
the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation
said to them, Would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would to God we have died in this wilderness? And wherefore
hath the Lord brought us into this land, to fall by the sword,
that our wives and our children should not be a prey? Were it
not better for us to return unto Egypt? And they said to one another,
Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.' And then
Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly
of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son
of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them
that searched out the land, rent their clothes. And they spake
unto the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass
through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight
in us, then he will bring us into this land, and will give
it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only rebel
not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land,
for they are bred for us, and their defense is departed from
them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. But all the congregation
bade stone them with stones, and the glory of the Lord appeared
in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel."
So what's interesting here is they all went in, all the spies,
all had the same experience, but yet Joshua and Caleb did
not give an evil report. What's interesting here is that
they saw the same things. They didn't deny. There were
strong people there. There were walled cities. Maybe
they did see these people that were giants in those days. They
didn't deny that. So that's not what the evil report
was, because their response was, if the Lord delight in us, he'll
bring us into the land. Rebel not, neither fear the people.
Why is that? Because the Lord said to fear
them not. This would be the children of Israel's condemnation. If
you will, turn back to our text in Deuteronomy 1. Their condemnation is in verse
32. Yet in this thing, in going in,
and the Lord to tell them to go in, you did not believe the
Lord your God. This was their condemnation. This is what separated those
who could enter versus those who could not enter. those who
believed versus those who did not believe. God's command was,
go in, possess the land. He said, but you would not believe.
And God was angry, and He sentences them for their sins, and we've
read that already. He said, surely these evil men
of this generation shall not see the good land that I swear
to give unto you. And the only people that were
going to go in were in verses 36, save Jacob, save Caleb, the
son of Jephthah, he shall see it, And to him will I give the
land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because
he hath followed the Lord holy. And in verse 38, Joshua the son
of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither,
and thou shalt encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to
inherit it. And there's another group mentioned.
Moreover, your little ones, which you said should be a prey, and
your children, in which that day had no knowledge between
good and evil, they shall go in, and unto them will I give
it, and they shall possess it." So at this point he's saying,
the only people that are going to go in are the ones that believe
me, Joshua and Caleb. and your children, those whom
you assumed who would be eaten up along the way because they're
weak. They have no ability to defend themselves. They had no
stake in the matter at all. He said, they don't know the
difference between good and evil. I'm not going to hold them accountable
for your sin. So, he's saying, they're going
to go in. But as for you, in verse 40,
turn you and take your journey into the wilderness by the way
of the Red Sea. Now, You can picture, if you're
one of the group who he said, you've walked for how many years
to get there, gone all this way, and you didn't do what the Lord
said, and now his words to you are, turn around, go back into
the desert. You're not going in. They knew
they were in trouble. And anybody in that group would
know they're in trouble. And what do we do when we're
in trouble? Then you can answer this in here. We try to fix it,
don't we? And so that's what they did.
So they tried to fix it. In verse 41, then you answered
and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go
up and fight according to all the Lord our God commanded us.
So they're saying, we're going to follow what the Lord's commanded
us now. We didn't before, but we're going to do it now. And
you had girded on every man his weapon of war, and were ready
to go up the hill. And the Lord said unto me, Say to them, Remember
here, they are going to follow the Lord's commandment. This
is the new commandment. Say unto them, Go not up, neither
fight, for I am not among you, lest you be smitten before your
enemies. But I spake unto you, and you would not hear, but rebelled
against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously
into the hill. They presumptuously believed
that they could please the Lord by doing what they already didn't
do. His commandment first was to go in. They didn't do that.
His next commandment was, don't go in. So what do they do? Well,
we're going to go back and try to fulfill the first commandment
that we couldn't fulfill before. So we're going to go in. Don't go up the hill. It's tied
on my message. We go anyways to try to regain
favor with God. I'm going to try to keep that
first one even though I couldn't the first time because I know
you're mad at me. But God destroyed them for this. All the Old Testament
is given as a picture to illustrate here the work of the Son. God
gave the law. Men couldn't keep the law. All
have fallen short. All are guilty before God. We
couldn't keep the law. The next commandment came. God
gave His Son. He kept the law to deliver His
people. And now in Romans 8, 2, it says,
you are free from the law. This is the new commandment.
You are not under the law anymore, but under grace. You are free
from the law. By the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in His sight. So going back and
trying to keep the first commandment, you're not going to be justified
in His sight. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. 1 Corinthians 15 says the strength
of sin is the law, the first commandment, what they kept trying
to go back and do. So why then do millions go about,
even today, trying to keep the first commandment? It's for the
same reason that these Israelites ran up this hill to fight, despite
being told not to and that God was not with them. They do not
believe. This is the reason that these
Israelites never entered the Promised Land, because they didn't
believe, and will be the reason. Anyone who attempts to keep the
Law in part or in whole will never be found in Jesus Christ.
This is the new commandment. You are free from the Law. It
doesn't matter what I think. What saith the Scripture? Free
from the Law. Turn over to Galatians 5. Verse 1, Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Circumcision, arguably, is probably
the easiest part of the law to keep. Although painful, easiest
part of the law to keep. You do it once, you're good forever. But yet, Paul says, if you do
this as a means to gain favor with God by saying, I'm keeping
the law, you're a debtor not only to keep that one law that
you've kept, but everything else. And so the law all kept, a little
or a lot, verse 4 says, Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you which are justified by the law. You are fallen from
grace. The law. So what is the law?
It's not just the Ten Commandments and the feasts and the sacrifices
and all these things. The law is used to picture anything
outside of Christ. Christ is the new commandment.
The law is the old commandment that's done away with. Anything
out of Christ to save you is the law. To save you because
you can't do anything. You're spiritually dead. You
can't decide to believe. You can't choose that which is
right because you're a sinner. You're born from a sinner and
your nature is a sinner. to save you because you won't
be saved without His intervention. You can't come in the presence
of God. There's nothing that I can do to stand before the
presence of God and have Him look at me and hear me at all
because I'm unclean and I'm filthy and He won't let me in His presence.
Looking to Christ to save you because you can't keep one commandment
one time. Anything that we felt that we've
ever kept is by our own standards, and it's not by God's. We're
not judged by our own standards, and compared to somebody else,
you might be better than them. But we're not compared to somebody
else, and judged by that, we're judged by God's standards. And
have Christ to save you, because by His death, His people are
made free. This is the only way that we
can be made free. You can keep the wall in whole.
You're a debtor to keep the whole wall. And if you do it perfectly,
you will be made free. But you already have you done
thus far. You've already sinned, so you can't go that route. The
only route that you have is to come by Christ alone. Because
he loved you and he gave himself for you. This is the work of
Christ for his people. If you truly love someone, you
seek to promote them. You seek for their glory to be
what you're seeking out, that you don't get anything from it,
that you're not seeking anything in return for you. You're seeking
to promote that person. If you truly love someone, you
seek to protect them. Yes, you might protect them physically,
but you also protect their character. And lastly, if you truly love
someone, you seek to serve them with an unfeigned emotion. When
you seek to serve someone with an unfeigned devotion, you do
it because it's the right thing to do. But you also do it because
you want to. Christ did this for His people.
This is the work of Christ for His people. He loved His people. He served His people. He came
and protected them. And He has exalted them by giving
them His righteousness. When we stand before God, those
who are found in Christ, we have nothing to be ashamed of. He's
given us everything that we need to protect us, to be in the Father's
love, and to have nothing that we can look upon to be defiled.
Why then would someone seek to mar his glory, his crown, by
attempting to keep the law that has already been fulfilled? It's
only because there's no love for the Son. These Israelites
disobeyed. And then again, when God said,
don't go, those who went up the hill were rejected despite their
efforts. I am sure, certain, that they
were sincere in their motive. They meant it. They were sorry.
They wanted to fix it. They said, we're wrong. We shouldn't
have done this. Let's follow what the Lord told
us to do. But our motives do not matter if God is not with
us. If you do not believe, ask God
to make you believe. I don't want to be found as one
who didn't enter the promised land because I didn't believe.
The scripture says to ask and you shall receive. How do I know
that God will do that? I've asked before and didn't
get what I wanted. Well, if you'll turn back to Numbers chapter
14, I'll give you some authority on scripture, that God will do
what he says he'll do. I'm going to start reading in
verse 11. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people
provoke me? And this is when they had said
basically they were going to stone them and the Lord wouldn't
go in with them. How long will it be, e'er that
they believe me? For all the signs which I have
shown among them, I will smite them with pestilence, and disinherit
them, and will make thee a greater nation, and mightier than they.
I'm just gonna get rid of all of them. They didn't listen,
they're no good, we're just gonna wipe them all out. And then Moses
said unto the Lord, then the Egyptians shall hear
it, for thou broughtest up this people, and I might from among
them. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land,
for they have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people,
and that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and that thy cloud
standeth over them, and that thou goest before them by daytime
in a pillar of a cloud, and in nighttime by a pillar of fire.
Now, if thou shalt kill all this people off as one man, then the
nations which have heard of the fame of thee will speak, saying,
Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the
land which he sware unto them. Therefore he hath slain them
in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee. Let the power of my Lord be great
according as thou has spoken. He's speaking to the Lord right
now. I'm coming to you based on what you said you do according
as thou has spoken saying the Lord is long-suffering and of
great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression and by no means
clearing the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto
the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast forgiven this people
from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all of
the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. And so
what we find here is If you come to the Lord on the grounds of
his word, on one of his promises, just as was made to these children
of Israel, there's not one promise that he didn't deliver on. But
Moses appealed to the Lord on the grounds of his word. He says,
ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. If you come to the Lord on those
grounds, you will not be turned away. If you come on the grounds
that I need Christ, I need to see my need of Him, I need to
believe, I need to be saved because there's nothing I can do for
myself. If you come on the grounds of His Word, He will honor it.
He's shown that to us in His Word. Petition the Lord on His
Word and look for Him to give you what you don't have. You
don't have the strength, the fortitude, and the energy to
go up that hill, as these Israelites did. We don't have the ability
to stand before the law. We can't keep that commandment,
and we will be destroyed by it if we do. But we're to heed to
the Lord where he said to them, don't go up the hill. I'm not
with you. Don't go in. But I can do all things through
Christ, which strengthened me. I can come before God and His
law in Christ and stand blameless. I can stand perfect. I can stand
without having any spot or blemish in me because I'm standing in
His Son. His son can stand before the
law. I can't. His son can stand before the
Father and make his petitions heard. I can't. But if I'm in
Him, my petitions are heard. If I'm in Him, I can stand clean,
unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. And if God's with
me, I'll go, but not without Him. I don't want to go anywhere
if God's not with me. Now, kind of to wrap this up,
we saw during this whole process, Israel came through the desert,
and they had the cloud, which followed them by day, and the
pillar of fire they followed by night. When the cloud moved,
they moved. When the pillar of fire moved,
they moved. But when the cloud stopped, Israel
stopped. They didn't go when the Lord
was not with them. Don't move until the cloud moves.
Stay with the cloud. Wait upon the Lord. And I pray
that God will give us the ability to see with eyes of faith, believing
that he'll do what he says. You are called upon to petition
the Lord to save you. He said so, he will, in his word.
Petition the Lord to do just that, and I believe the Lord
will, based on what we've seen here at Moses, that he'll do
in his word. That's all I got today. Thank you, Andy.