At him. Would you turn to 1st
Corinthians Chapter 10? I've entitled this message murmuring. Murmuring. Verse 10. The 1st Corinthians
Chapter 10 neither murmur he. as some of them also murmured
and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now this is a reference to what
took place in Numbers chapter 13 and 14 when the children of
Israel sent spies into the promised land to see if indeed it was
what God said it would be, a land that flowed with milk and honey. They sent spies. Now, right off
the bat, something's wrong with that. God said, enter in, it
is a land that flows with milk and honey. Why did they have
to send spies? Couldn't they just take God at his word and
believe what God said? No, they sent spies to see if
what God said was true. And you'll remember the story.
They sent 12 spies into the land for 40 days. And they came back
with this report. It's indeed a land that flows
with milk and honey. Everything God said was true.
But. But. And he talks about those
big walled cities and the sons of Anak and the giants and so
on, and we're not able to take it. And the children of Israel
murmured against God, against Moses. And they wanted to stone
Joshua and Jacob. over what took place. They were
angry that Joshua and Jacob said, we can take this land. We're
well able to take it. They wouldn't have stolen for
it. And this was the murmuring that took place that caused them,
now you think about this, they were right at the edge of the
promised land, getting ready to go in. And because of this
murmuring, they had spent 40 years in the wilderness. 40 years
is a long time. And not one of those people that
murmured who were over 20 years of age were allowed to enter
in. Not one. As a matter of fact, the only
two adults that made it in were Joshua and Caleb. This is what
this is referring to when he talks about this murmuring. So
let's read the verse again. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, all these
things happened unto them for examples. And they are written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore, let him that thinketh he stand, take heed, lest he
fall." We believe in the absolute eternal
security of God's elect. Everybody that God elected, everybody
that Christ died for, everybody that God the Holy Spirit calls,
shall most assuredly be saved. That's true, isn't it? And we
also read these warnings, let him that thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall. Now the murmuring spoken of here
was the child of unbelief, the sin from which all other sins
are spawned. And as I've already said, because
of this murmuring, the children of Israel were not allowed to
enter into the promised land for forty years. Now, this event is called in
Psalm 95 and Hebrews chapter three, the day of provocation
when the children of Israel were said to provoke the Lord to this
extent. Now, turn back with me to Numbers
14. Here's what happened as a result of this murmuring. Verse 26. Numbers 14, verse 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation
which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of
the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto
them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in
mine ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in
this wilderness. And all that were numbered of
you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old
and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless you shall
not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell
therein, save Caleb the son of Jephthah, and Joshua the son
of Nun. But your little ones, which you
said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know
the land which you have despised, but as for you, Your carcasses,
they shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall wander
in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, and
do your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness, after the number
of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each
day for a year. So bear your iniquities even
forty years, and you shall know my breach of promise." For I,
the Lord, have said, I will surely do it until all this evil congregation
that are gathered together against me in this wilderness shall be
consumed, and they shall die. And the men which Moses sent
to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation
to murmur against him by bringing up a slander upon the land, even
those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died
by the plague before the Lord." Now the children of Israel in
this setting had not yet begun the 40-year period in the wilderness. So this happened very soon after
the Exodus. Very soon after the parting of
the Red Sea. This was all fresh on their mind.
They still had the manna coming down from heaven and feeding
them. They were still drinking of that water that came from
that smitten rock. And God had promised them The
land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. Turn back
to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. This is when
the Lord first appeared through Moses to the children of Israel.
He said in verse 16 of Exodus chapter 3, Go and gather the
elders of Israel together and say unto them, The Lord God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, appeared
unto me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which
is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring
you out of the affliction to Egypt, under the land of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, under a land flowing with milk
and honey. Now, God made this promise to
them. I'm going to bring you out of the land. And now, here
they are, right before the promised land, that God has promised a
land that flows with milk and honey, everything your heart
could desire. Now, after all they had seen
and after all they'd experienced, how the God had delivered them
and opened up the Red Sea and they marched through it. Did
they have any reason to doubt whether or not they could take
this land? Now, you think about what all the Lord did for them.
Why did they think they needed to send spies? Didn't God say,
I'm going to give you this land, the land flowing with milk and
honey? Why did they have to send spies? You know, it kind of reminds
me of Samuel, where the children of Israel asked for a king. And
Samuel said, OK, you can have a king. And God said, it's not
you they're rejecting, Samuel, it's me they're rejecting as
being their king. So God said, OK, you can have
it. And that's what I think of these spies. God says, OK, you
want to send spies? Send them, if that's what you
want to do. But it was wrong. There's no way that this was
right. Look at verse 17 of Numbers chapter
13. Let's read some scripture so
we'll understand what was going on. And Moses sent them to spy out
the land of Canaan. and said unto them, Go ye up
this way southward, and go up into the mountain, and see the
land, what it is, and the people that dwell up there, wherein
they be strong, or weak, few, or many, and what the land is
that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities
they be that dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds,
and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether they
be wood therein or not. And be ye of good courage, and
bring ye the fruit of the land." the time of the first ripe grapes.
So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness
of Zin unto Rehob as men came to Hamath. And they ascended
by the south and came unto Hebron and Ahaim, Sheshai and however you pronounce
these, Talmai, the children of Anak were there. Now Hebron was
built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. And they came unto
the brook of Eschaw and cut down from them a branch with one cluster
of grapes. And they bared between two men
upon a staff, and they brought the pomegranates and of the figs.
The place was called the Brook of Ascol, because of the cluster
of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
And they returned from searching the land after forty days, and
they went and came to Moses and Aaron, to all the congregation
of the children of Israel, and to the wilderness of Paran, to
Kadesh, and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation,
and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and
said, We came unto the land where thou sinnest, and surely it floweth
with milk and honey. And this is the fruit of it.
And they showed him that gigantic cluster of grapes. Everything
God said is true. This is a land that flows with
milk and honey. Nevertheless, verse 28. Nevertheless. Now, this is after, this is our
comment on it. Nevertheless. The people be strong
that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great. Moreover, we saw the children
of Anak there, and the Amalekites dwell in the land of the south,
and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites. Well, God told
them they'd be dwelling there. They dwell in the mountains,
and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. You know something that I don't
read when I read this report? You know somebody who's not mentioned? God. They talk about giants. They talk about walled cities.
But someone they do not mention is the Lord God Himself who has
brought them so far. What happened to Him? They seem
to forget. 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? Are these giants any problem?
Are walled cities any problem? If God is bringing us in, we'd
be well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with
him said, we'd be not able to go up against the people, for
they're stronger than we were. So were the Egyptians. But that
wasn't a problem, was it? 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, it's
a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that
we saw in it were men of great stature. They're a lot bigger
than us. And there we saw the giants, the son of Anak. Who
are those giants? I don't have any idea, but they
were giants. I don't know how big they were, but they were
big. They were bigger than the children of Israel, physically.
And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were
we in their sight. And all, chapter 14, verse 1,
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
unto them, Would God that we died in the land of Egypt, or
would God that we died in the wilderness? And wherefore hath
the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, and
that our wives and our children should be afraid? 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 unto Egypt. There isn't anything more wicked
in all the Word of God than this, what they're doing. We want to
go back to Egypt. After all they had seen and all
they had experienced, did they have any reason to express this? Had the Lord given them any reason
to show such mistrust? That's the only way you can summarize
this is mistrust. They did not trust him who brought
them to this place. You know, unbelief is incredible.
It's unreasonable and it's inexcusable. It's an insult to God. It's the
ruin of men. And it's the weakening and debilitating
of God's children. You think how unbelief paralyzes
you right now when God doesn't give you grace to simply rest?
You think how paralyzing unbelief is to you even now? Now, verse
5, Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the
assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Can
you imagine how devastated they were because of this? Now, here
we have the testimony of Joshua and Caleb, verse 6. And Joshua,
the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were
them that searched the land, they rent their clothes. They
were so upset over the report of the ten spies. And they spake
unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which
we pass through the search, it's an exceeding good land, if the
Lord delight in us. You know what that is? It's grace.
If the Lord delight in us. If the Lord show us favor. And
that's what grace is. God's favor to me. I don't deserve it. I realize
that. I can't earn it. There's nothing
I can do to merit. But God is a gracious God. He
delights in showing mercy. If the Lord favor us, if the
Lord delight in us, if the Lord give us grace, we got no problems. If the Lord, verse 8, delight
in us, then He will bring us into this land and 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. If God be for us. Oh, what a wonderful scripture.
Romans 8, 31. If God be for us, who can be against us? Can I answer that? If God be
for me, who can be against me? Their defense is gone from them. They're bred for us. Joshua said
we can take it easy. But look at Israel's response,
verse 10, that all the congregation, they'd stone them with stones,
kill them, kill them. 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? Remember, it's called the day
of provocation. And how long will it be ere they believe me? There's the problem. They didn't
believe God. How long ere they believe me
for all the signs which I've showed among men? This provocation was a failure
to believe God. Now, whatever these giants were
that they were speaking of, and I don't know. I don't know if
they were nine feet tall or six foot six or thirteen. Who knows? I don't. But whatever these giants
were, God's a whole lot bigger than these giants. And whatever these walled cities
were that seemed so impenetrable, no problem to God. Whatever their
weakness was, even if they were nothing but grasshoppers in their
own sight, and that's their testimony. We were nothing more than grasshoppers
in our own sight and grasshoppers to them. What does that have to do with
anything? Is your weakness a problem with
God? Is it? Now you think about how weak
you are. Is your weakness a problem with
God? Is it something he's not able to overcome? Look back at
the evil report back in chapter. 13 verse 31 again, but the men
that went up with him said, we'd be not able to go up against
the people for they're stronger than we. And they brought up
an evil report of the land, which they've searched under the children
of Israel, saying the land through which we have gone to search
it. It's a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof. And
all the people we saw are men of great stature. And there we
saw the giants, the son of Attic, which come of the giants. And
we were on our own side as grasshoppers. And we were in their sight too. Now, what is absent in this evil
report? God. He's completely absent. They don't as much as mention
his name. Now, remember, with God, nothing
should be impossible. You see, the walls of God's justice
that keep us out have been dealt with. We've been justified. The giants of our sins have been
dealt with. They've been removed. Separated
as far from us as the East is from the West. They're gone.
Our weakness is no hindrance, he said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. It's a benefit to be weak. Weak
in yourself makes you strong in him. And look what the Lord
says to Moses in verse 12 of Numbers 14. He says, I will smite them with
the pestilence, the whole congregation, and disinherit them, and will
make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. Now,
I try to put myself in Moses' place. I might have said, well,
OK, let's just go that direction. I mean, he put up with so much
with these people. I can see where he would say,
let's go that way. Good thing I'm not Moses, isn't
it? Moses loved these people. He loved these people. And he loved the glory of God.
Now, look at his response to what our Lord says. And Moses,
verse 13, said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear
it. For thou broughtest this people in thy might from among
them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of the land,
For they have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people,
that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and that the 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 shalt
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. They were too
wicked. They were too unbelieving. They were just beyond hope. because
he was not able to bring them into the land which he swore
unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
Now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according
as thou spokest, saying, The Lord is longsuffering and of
great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, by no means
clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquities of the fathers
upon the children, and the under 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. I love Moses there. And the Lord did, in fact, pardon
this people. But look what he said. Beginning
in verse 20, I have pardoned according to thy word, but as
true as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory
of the Lord, because all those men which have seen my glory
and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness,
have tempted me now these ten times and have not hearkened
to my voice. Surely they shall not see the land which I swear
unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoke me see
it, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him. and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess
it." Now, we've already read the rest of the story, what happened.
Now those who were twenty years of age and older were not allowed
to enter into the promised land. Now here we have, looking at
Joshua and Caleb and everybody else, we have unbelief and faith
placed side by side for us to see. Look in Numbers, chapter
13, verse 31. Here is unbelief. But the men
that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against
this people, for they are stronger than we. And here is faith, 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. Now, there's unbelief. We're
not able. You know, one of the things that's
interesting about unbelief, there's a lot of truth in unbelief, isn't
there? We're not able. We're not able. That's true.
It's not the truth, though. If you say we're not able, That's
a totally accurate statement. But it is against faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We be not able to overcome. And then we have faith we're
well able. Now, because of unbelief, they
never entered into the promised land. I read that passage of
scripture at the opening of this service. They could not enter
in because of unbelief. That's what keeps a man from
entering into the promised land, not trusting Jesus Christ. Not really believing. Not really
believing that He is all in salvation. They entered in. They entered
on Him because of unbelief. And then the inspired writer
goes on to say, Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left
thus of entering into His rest any of you should seem to come
short of it. You know, that scares the...
I fear it. I don't want that to happen to
me. I want to be somebody who truly believes. Let him that standeth take heed,
lest he fall. And if we fall, this is where
we'll fall. Unbelief. Now, one of the things that occurred
to me in this passage of Scripture is unbelief is so stupid. I mean, it is stupid. As Caleb said, we be well able. This is not presumption. This
is faith. What Caleb says in Numbers 1330
is faith in its purest form, we be well able to take the land. I know there are giants there.
I know there are walled cities. I know they're a lot stronger than us
and I know we're weak. I believe all that. But we be well able
to take this. Now, think with me. If God chose
me for the promised land, Is there any way His will can
be thwarted? If He selected me for eternal
glory, if He elected me before time began to be saved, is there
any way I cannot be saved? We be well able because the will
of God is behind us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If union with Christ is real,
and that's oh, what a wonderful truth. It is real. As He is,
so are we in this world. I'm one with the Lord Jesus Christ. United. United to Him. You can't tell the difference
between me and Him. That's almost scary saying that,
but it's true. That's how real union with Christ is. Can't tell
the difference between me and Him. Now, the union with Christ
is real. We're well able to enter into the promised land. If salvation
comes to me because Christ's righteousness, His perfect obedience,
is literally mine, imputed to me, charged to my account, and
it really is mine, It really is. This is not make-believe.
This is not power of the sky. This is real. If Christ's righteousness,
if His perfect obedience is mine, I'm well able to enter the promised
land. If the blood of Christ really
is sufficient to wash away my sins, if He really, by His one offering,
put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself. And he put it away.
That means it's gone. If the blood of Christ really
washes away sin, I'm well able to enter the promised land. If salvation really is my grace,
that means it doesn't have anything to do with my works. My good
works can't help me. My bad works can't hinder me.
You really believe that? Salvation is by grace? Well,
it's what the Bible teaches. If salvation really is by grace
and not by works, I am well able to enter the promised land. If a believer is actually born
of God and given a new nature, partakers, the Scripture says,
of the divine nature, Christ in me, the hope of glory. If
God the Holy Spirit dwells in me and if I've been given a new
nature that actually comes from God, I'm well able to enter into
the promised land. If we really are preserved by
grace, preserved, we'd be well able, if He is able,
Now that's the issue. If he is able, I'm well able. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter 4. It's said of Abraham, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded. that what God had
promised, He was able also to perform. Now, I want to ask you
a very simple question. Do you believe that He is able
to bring you in? Beloved, that's what faith is.
That seems too simple. Well, let's just do it then.
He is able. Paul said, I know whom I believe,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. Look back at verse 24 in Numbers
chapter 14. Here is who we should aspire
to be. Verse 24, but my servant Caleb. Anybody know what Caleb means?
I bet a lot of you do. His name means faithful dog. Faithful. Dog. I love that story, Charles Pennington
tells he was out hunting. And he found a dog. Caught in
a trap, one of those things that on his leg. And he was in pain
and he was caught in a trap. And he said, I tried to let it
loose, and it tried to bite me. It was scared. It was frightened.
It wouldn't let me let it loose. So Charles said, I took a stick
with a fork on it, and I pressed the dog's neck down so it couldn't
bite me. And I opened up that trap, and
it escaped. It got away and just kind of
sauntered off. He said it would look back at him, and it just
sauntered off. There it went. And he said, so
I continued hunting. And he said, I noticed something
behind me. He said, it was that dog that I set free. He said,
you know what? That dog followed me to the day
it died. A faithful dog. That's something to aspire to,
isn't it? A faithful dog. Now look what it says about Caleb.
This is so encouraging to me. Verse 24, But my servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess
it. Now, do we say that Caleb was
morally superior to the other spies? Well, he was. He was. But there's a reason.
He had another spirit. What we're talking about this
morning, the Holy Spirit. A new nature. He had another
spirit that those other fellows didn't have. And that is why
he was a faithful dog. He was born of the Spirit, the
author of true faith, only the Holy Spirit can enable one to
believe, if left to ourselves, we will be no different than
these murmuring children of Israel. Don't you know that's true regarding
you? If God removes His hand from you and I, we will be just
like them. What did Caleb do because he
had this other spirit, the Holy Spirit? Scripture says, Our Lord
said regarding him, he followed me fully. Now that's what I want more than
anything else. I want to follow the Lord fully. He held nothing back. He really
believed that through the ability of the Lord, he was able to enter
into the promised land. He believed that. And he followed
the Lord fully. And he did enter the promised
land. Oh, to be a faithful dog. And it is completely unreasonable
to be anything less than that. May God give us grace to follow
the Lord fully. To trust Him completely. To burn our bridges. No lukewarmness. No holding back. Follow the Lord fully. How blessed are they who do. And one thing that you will not
be doing when you follow the Lord fully, you won't be murmuring,
will you? You won't be murmuring. Not if
you follow the Lord fully. May God make everybody in this
room a faithful dog. That's the highest commendation
we could have, isn't it? To be a faithful. Let's pray together.