Would you turn back to Numbers
chapter 14? We're going to begin in the middle
of the 13th chapter, and I've titled this message by a question. Why does God continue to forgive
sin? It's a good question, isn't it?
Why does God continue to forgive sin? The children of Israel were
guilty of the same old sin over and over again. Now, in the passage of scripture,
we're going to look at the children of Israel have finally reached
the promised land, the land that flowed with milk and honey. And this was just a couple of
months after that they had left Egypt. So they had all of this
fresh on their mind. They remembered the plagues.
They remembered seeing the Red Sea part, and they walked through
it as in dry land. Could you imagine how they must
have felt while they were walking, seeing the walls of water on
either side? They were fed daily with manna
from heaven. They had seen the rock smitten
and the water flow from it. And the scripture in the New
Testament tells us that that rock followed them. And that
rock was Christ. They received the law from Mount
Sinai and saw the lightning and the thunder. And they had experienced
an amazing example of God's grace when Moses
was gone receiving the law and they got together and made a
golden calf and fell down before it and worshipped it and God
forgave them. They learned something about
the free forgiveness of sins. So here they are getting ready
to enter the promised land, and God says, go and possess it.
But according to Moses in Deuteronomy chapter one, they said, we want
to send spies into the land. We're not ready to go in and
possess it. We want to see what's there. We want to see if it really
is a land flowing with milk and honey. We want to see how great
the walled cities are and what we can do to get in there. It
was carnal policy, wasn't it? It was fleshly wisdom. It was
unbelief, how quickly they forgot all that the Lord had done for
them. So let's pick up reading in verse
21 of Numbers chapter 13. This is when the spies went in. So they went up and searched
the land from the wilderness of Zion unto Rehob as men came
to Hamath. And they ascended by the south
and came unto Hebron, where Ahimon, Shishai, and Talmai, the children
of Anak, were there, which were the giants. Now Hebron was built
seven years before Zoan in Egypt. And they came unto the brook
of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of
grapes. And they bared between two upon a staff, and they brought
of the pomegranates and of the figs. The place was called the
brook of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children
of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching
of the land after forty days." They came with all these goods,
grapes and food from the land that flowed with milk and honey,
verse 26. And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron, after
this 40-day search, and to all the congregation of the children
of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought
back word unto them, and to all the congregation, and showed
them the fruit of the lamb. And they told him and said, We
came unto the lamb whither thou sentest, and surely it floweth
with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, the objection of
unbelief. The people be strong that dwell
in the land. And the cities are walled and
very great. And moreover, we saw the children
of Anak there. These were the giants. I don't
know how big they were. I don't know if this is what
Goliath was, but these were giants. I know Goliath was at least nine
feet, nine inches tall. And the Americites 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. They came up with all these objections
to them entering to the land, forgetting how that the Lord
was with them. Now Caleb, you remember Caleb, he's called the
faithful dog. As a matter of fact, as you go on reading, you
find out only Caleb and Joshua were allowed to enter the promised
land. Everybody else over 20 years old, because of these objections,
never entered in. But Caleb did. And look at Caleb's
word, 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. You see, if God be for us,
who can be against us? Caleb had no doubt about that. Verse 31, But the men that went
up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people,
for they are stronger than we. Well, so were the Egyptians. And they brought up an evil report
of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel,
saying, the land through which we have gone to search, it's
a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that
we saw were men of great stature, too big for us. And there we
saw the giants, the sons of the Nac, which come of the giants.
And we were in our own side as grasshoppers, and so were we
in their side. There's the evil report. Verse
chapter 14, And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried,
and the people wept that night. And it was the weeping of unbelief.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against
Aaron. And the whole congregation said
unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God we had died in the wilderness? Now this is something
they said so often. As soon as something would go
wrong, They would say, oh we wish we would have died in Egypt
rather than be brought out here. That was their immediate response.
Now they start complaining against the Lord. Verse 3. And wherefore
hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword,
that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not
better for us to return to Egypt? And they said one to another,
let us make a captain and let us return to Egypt. Then Moses
and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the
congregation and of the children of Israel. They were devastated
over this. And now Joshua speaks. And Joshua,
the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephthah, which were of
them that searched the land, they rent their clothes when
they heard these ten spies bring this report. And they spake unto
all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which
we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delighted us, if
he has favor toward us, if he has grace toward us, then he
will bring us into this land and give it to us. Isn't that the gospel? If he has favor, he'll bring
us into the land and he'll give it to us. not by our might, not
by our sword. He'll give it to us. A land which floweth with milk
and honey. Only rebel not ye against the
Lord. Neither fear ye the people of
the land, for they are bred for us. Their defense is departed
from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. But All the congregation, they'd
stone them with stones. Now here's where they were at.
They wanted to kill Moses. They wanted to kill Aaron. They
wanted to kill Joshua, and they wanted to kill Caleb. The only
ones who believed God, they wanted to stone them with stones and
put them out of business. You know, I've been reading through
the Pentateuch, the last several weeks. And it's just been amazing
to me how evil the children of Israel were. And they typify
us so clearly. And the glory, verse 10, and
the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation
before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long will this people provoke me? How long am I going to put
up with this? How long am I going to listen
to this? It's continual, nonstop. How
long? And how long will it be ere they
believe me for all the signs which I've showed among them?
Here's what I'm going to do. I will smite them with the pestilence.
with a disease, and disinherit them, and I will make of thee
a greater nation and mightier than they." Now Moses prays for them. You remember when he prayed for
them after the golden calf incident? He said, Lord, pardon their iniquity,
and if not, If you're not going to pardon them, blot me out of
the book which you've written. That's the love he bore to these
people when he prayed for them. If you're not going to pardon
them, blot my name out of the book. And you know the Lord heard
his prayer, and here once again he is praying for the children
of Israel. Now let's read this prayer once
again, and then I want to give you seven reasons from this prayer
of intercession of Moses, why God continues to forgive. Now let's read this together.
And Moses said unto the Lord, if you do that, then the Egyptians
shall hear, for thou broughtest up this people in thy 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,
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 cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou should
kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard
the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was
not able. He wasn't able to finish the
job. His intention was to bring them
out of Egypt into the promised land, but this group was so evil
and so bad and so wicked, he couldn't do it. He didn't have
anything to work with with these people. That's how bad they were.
Here's what they'll say, 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. Now, Moses knows something about
God's concern for his own glory. And that's the argument he uses.
You're not going to have this. Verse 17, and now I beseech thee, let the power
of my Lord be great. I don't want them questioning
your ability. Let the power of my Lord be great, according as
thou hast spoken. Now he appeals to what he said
back in Exodus 34. Remember when God said, I beseech
you, show me your glory. And God said, I'll I'll show
you my glory. I'll show my goodness. I'll proclaim my name before
you. I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious." And when
he proclaimed his name, this is what he said in Exodus chapter
34. And Moses reminds him of this. 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 unto the third and fourth generation.
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto
the greatness of thy mercy. And as thou hast forgiven this
people from Egypt, even until now. And the Lord said, I have
pardoned according to thy word. He pardoned them again. He forgave
them again. Now why does God continue to
forgive sin? And I want you to think of this
in light of your sin. Your sin that you commit over
and over and over again. You ask for forgiveness, you
confess the sin by His grace, I will not commit that sin again,
and you commit it again to your shame, to your grief. Now, why
does God continue to forgive sin? Now, I want you to think
about this in human terms. If someone sins against us, well,
we're supposed to continually forgive them, but think of how
you would deal with it. This is why I know only the Lord,
only the Lord will forgive, truly forgive sin, because if it's
up to me or you, at some point, somebody crossed the line. It
might be a thousand years. It might be, I don't know how
long it would take, but at some point, somebody will cross the
line. I know that people argue against
God saying, well, how is it that he doesn't save everybody? And
as if they were God, they would save everybody. But the fact
of the matter is, if you were God, nobody would be saved. Do
you believe that? If you were God, nobody would
be saved. At some point, somebody would
cross you. You would say, I'm not going
to take this anymore. Why does God continue to forgive sin? Well, I'm glad he does, aren't
you? Now, here are seven reasons why God continues to forgive
sin. Now, the children of Israel paint
a very accurate picture of us. You believe that? They paint
a very accurate picture of us. I'm filled with sinful unbelief,
mistrust. I fear the giants and the walled
cities. I fall before the same sins over and over again. How
does God continue to forgive me? Moses answers this question
in this glorious prayer of intercession. Now the first argument Moses
uses when God says, I've had it with them. I'm going to smite
them with a disease. I'm going to kill them. I'm going
to get rid of them. I'm going to make of you a greater and
a mightier nation. And Moses prays for him. He doesn't
want that to happen. And Moses is a type of Christ
here in Christ's intercession. But his first argument with God
is his own glory. Moses doesn't say forgive them
because at least they have some commendable traits. He doesn't
say forgive them because at least they seem to have enough faith
to walk through the Red Sea. Not everybody would have had
that. He makes no reference to anything about them that rendered
them worthy of forgiveness. He didn't mention one single
thing about them. Forgive them because they did
this or they did that or they'll do this. He says in verse 13,
and Moses said unto the Lord, then the Egyptians shall hear
it. For thou broughtest up this people,
and thy might from among them. They saw your power, and they'll
tell it to the inhabitants of this land, for they've heard
that thou, Lord, are among this people, 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 cloud,
and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou kill all this people
as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of
thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able. to bring
this people into the land, which he swore unto them. Therefore
hath he slain them in the wilderness." Now, these people were so sinful,
he just didn't have anything to work with. So he just went
ahead and killed them. And what that says is, if they
would have been a little better, if he would have had more to
work with, he could have done it. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is he able to save you? Is he able to save I don't mean to turn you into
a religionist. I mean to save you, to make you just like Christ,
to present you faultless before His presence with exceeding joy. Is He able to save you? Now, when I stand in glory, I
want you to listen to me carefully. I'm going to be as honest as
I know how to be right now. When I stand in glory, In my
own mind, I will be the biggest example of salvation by grace. I know you may feel the same
about yourself, but I feel this way about myself. You see, I
know me better than you know me. I will be a trophy of grace,
and in my salvation, I'm saved only by His ability. He gets all the glory. The hymn writer said, when I
stand before thy throne, dressed in beauty not my own, when I
see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know not till then how much I owe. It will not be
said, Todd was too sinful, too weak, God had to send him to
hell because there was nothing God could work with. No, I will
be a living example, how that salvation is 100% by grace. I'll be a living example that
salvation is utterly and entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ. for
the glory of God. And that's the first reason God
continues to forgive, because it's for his glory. How God is
glorified in taking somebody like me and making me just like
Christ. How he's glorified, how his grace,
how his mercy is magnified in continuing to forgive somebody
like me. Is it that way with you? Here's my second reason. The Lord continues to forgive
because that's who he is. Look once again in verse 17. And now I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken. They talked
about this, they say you're not able. Let everybody see your
ability, your power. Saying, the Lord is long-suffering
and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and
by no means clearing the guilty. Forgiveness is who the Lord is. He forgives. That's our God. You see, He is magnified in the
forgiveness of sin. Moses says we're depending upon
what you told us about yourself. Your power is magnified in the
forgiveness of sins. You know, the power of God is
more magnified in the forgiveness of sins than it is in creation.
You know, when he created the universe, he just spake it into
existence. There wasn't anything working
against him. But when he forgives sins, his justice demands the
punishment of sin. His power demands the punishment
of sin. And yet, he finds a way to put
away that sin. This is who he is. I've heard
preachers, I've even said, God must be just. He may be merciful,
but he must be just. No, God must be merciful. God
must forgive sin because that's who he is. When he identifies
himself, he says, I'm long suffered. Is God's long-suffering demonstrated
in you? He's long-suffering, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sins. Your power is magnified
in the forgiveness of sins. To think that He makes my sin
non-existent and then He forgives me. Here's the Third reason that
he continues to forgive sins. Look what he says in verse 18,
the Lord is long suffering of great mercy, forgiving inequity
and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. You know what that is? That's
justification. God forgives sins because he
makes everybody that Christ died for not guilty. That's why he continues to forgive
you of your sins. You are not guilty. There's nothing to be brought
to your charge. There's no accusation to be brought
against you. Because of what Christ did for
you, you are not guilty. It's easy for him to forgive
your sins because you're not guilty. being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, a sin-atoning victim, to wipe
away the sin through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness
God is righteous in forgiving you of your sins, that he might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now that is why God continues
to forgive sins because of justification. He's made every believer not
guilty You know, I hope I never preach a message the rest of
my life without some kind of reference to that. If I do, fire me. Here's the fourth reason the
Lord continues to forgive. Look in verse 19. Pardon, I beseech
thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness
of thy mercy. Now here's why God continues
to forgive sin, because of the greatness of his mercy. The psalmist said, thy mercy
endureth forever. You know what that means? If
he ever shows you mercy, He'll never stop. His mercy cannot
be exhausted. It never runs dry. Oh, it is
infinitely great. The psalmist said, for as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love for us, even when we were dead in sins, has
quickened us together with Christ. The reason He continues to forgive
is because of the infinite greatness of His mercy. Now here's the
fifth reason why he continues to forgive. Why does the Lord
continue to forgive? Because the ground or basis of
forgiveness is always the same. Notice how Moses says, Pardon
I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according unto the
greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people. from Egypt, even until now. Now, why did he forgive the people
in Egypt? What was his reason? Well, he
gave this reason. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That's always been the ground
of forgiveness. And it never changes. The reason
He continues to forgive is because the ground is always the same. When I see the blood, that's
all He's got to see. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. God always forgives for Christ's
sake. Ephesians 4.32, Be ye kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. I don't care if you're committed
to sin 10 trillion times. For Christ's sake, he can forgive
you. Psalm 25.11, The psalmist said,
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it's
great. The only way my iniquity can
be pardoned is for your namesake. There can't be any reason in
me. The psalmist said in Psalm 79, 9, help us, O God of our
salvation, for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and perjure
all our sins for thy namesake. Now, the first time I ever sinned
and the last time I'll sin when I close my eyes, my sins are
all forgiven for the same reason, for Christ's sake. Six, and I love this reason. The reason he continues to forgive
is he has already forgiven. Look what he said in verse 20. And the Lord said, I have pardoned. You remember when David said,
I've sinned. And Nathan said, the Lord hath
put away your sin. You see, when you're forgiven,
you find out you've been forgiven. That's how it works. You find
out you've been forgiven. Christ is called the Lamb slain.
from the foundation of the world. Now, why was he slain from the
foundation of the world? One reason, sin. When Christ
said, it is finished, all my sins, including the ones of tomorrow
and however long I live that I will commit, were all forgiven. All my sins have already been
forgiven. Therefore, he will forgive because
they have already been forgiven. And here is the last reason he
continues to forgive sin. He continues to forgive sin because
of our intercessor. And notice verse 20 once again.
And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word. You see, Moses typifies the Lord
Jesus Christ at this time. And I think of Moses, you know,
I'd like to have Moses praying for me, wouldn't you? Because
when Moses prayed for somebody, the Lord answered his prayer.
When he asked for him to be forgiven, the Lord forgave him. And you
think of the way Moses prayed in his great intercessory prayer.
in Exodus chapter 32, he says, pardon the iniquity of this people's
great, pardon it for thy great mercy's sake. But if not, and
you know that line, kind of like a moment of silence in Exodus
32, if not, blot me out of thy book which thou hast written.
I think of Paul saying, I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart for God, for I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. But notice he said, I could wish
myself accursed from Christ. He's saying, and I don't understand
this, I don't know if I know anything about it, but he's saying,
I would be willing to be damned if they would be saved. But you
know what? Even when he said that, he knew
it couldn't happen. But there is one who was damned
that we might be saved. There is one who was accursed
that we might live. And because he prays for me,
Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. I am continually forgiven because I continually have a
great high priest seated at the right hand of the Father as my
intercessor representing me. And when the Lord represents
me, I love thinking about this. He doesn't say, oh, forgive him
again. He did it again, but forgive him again. No, no, that's not
the way the Lord intercedes. The Lord simply sits there with
the scars in his hands and his feet as a declaration that all
of his sins have been put away. That's what my intercessor does.
Therefore, my sins, he continues to forgive my sins. Now, if somebody would think,
well, you know, I think that that seems almost
encouraging people to sin if their sins are all going to be
forgiven. Now if you think something like
that, I feel sorry for you because you don't know the Lord. You've
never seen who He is. You've never seen your own sinfulness.
You've never seen the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's your response,
You're just blind, blind to who you are, blind to what you are. But if you see yourself in the
light of the children of Israel, aren't you thankful for the continual
forgiveness of sins? In conclusion, why does he continue
to forgive sins? For his glory. because of his character, because
of justification, because of the greatness of his mercy, because
the basis of forgiveness never changes, because he's already
forgiven, and because of our great intercessor. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you have streams of mercy
never ceasing. And Lord, truly those call for
songs of loudest praise. How we thank you that you have
forgiven. How we thank you that you continue
to forgive. And how we thank you that you
will forgive. And Lord, how we thank you that
your glory, the very glory of your character, is tied up in
the forgiveness of sins. Lord, you're such a glorious
God. And Lord, we confess our sins. And Lord, we ask for grace to
not sin. and how we thank you for our
great high priest seated at thy right hand, making us acceptable
in thy sight. Bless your word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.