Numbers chapter 14. This was probably the most critical
time in the life of this generation. In the 13th chapter of Numbers,
they were at the border, just south of the border of the land
of Canaan. had sent out twelve spies to
spy out the land, one out of each tribe. They had went from
the north to the south and found all the fruits of the land. They
came back and reported in to Moses and all of the tribes of
Israel. And they reported that this land
was flowing with milk and honey. Two of the spies, Joshua and
Caleb, gave a good report. Look at that with me there in
the 13th chapter in verse 30. 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. He believed the promise of God
that the Lord had given them the land. But there were ten other spies
that brought up an evil report in verse 31. 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 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 out is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And
all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the
son of Enoch, which came of the giants. And we were in our own
sight as grasshoppers, so were they in their sight. And something strange happened. You can almost imagine yourself
there. These men The children of Israel, surely
not all of them, but the multitudes believed this evil report. They believed the record of man
over the promise of God. He already said, It's your land.
I've given it to you. And now these ten spies said,
We can't take it. We just can't take it. And then
the despair that came over this whole congregation was absolutely
amazing. It was like this dark cloud came
over them in chapter 14 in verse 1. All the congregation lifted
up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. Despair. A dark, dark despair. And there in verses 2 and verse
4, they begin to plot a path back to Egypt. And all the children
of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation
said unto them, Would to God we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God we had died in this wilderness? Wherefore hath the
Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, that our
wives and our children should be for our 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 unto Egypt. Can you
imagine the anxiety that overwhelmed Moses and Aaron when they heard
this plot? How could they stop it? They
were ready to head back to Egypt. That's the dilemma that they
found themselves in. Moses and Aaron were so overwhelmed
in verse 5, then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all
the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. All
they know to do. It's just lay there. It's just
lay there. And then beginning in verse 6
through verse 9, Joshua and Caleb attempt one more time to persuade
the people of God's faithfulness in giving them the land. And
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephthah, which were
of them that searched the land, tore their clothes, rent their
clothes, 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 delight in us, he
will bring us into this land. He will give it to us, a land
which flows 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 look what
they did in verse 10. All the congregation bedstoned
them with stones, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle
of the congregation before all the children of Israel. The Lord
had to intervene. His glory had to appear to stop
this stoning of these four men. In verse 11, boy, the Lord rebukes
them severely. for their unbelief, and he threatens
to disinherit them. Look in verse 11 and 12. The
Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me?
How long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs
which I have shown among them? I will smite them with the pestilence,
and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation
and mightier than they. And then beginning in verse 13
through verse 19, Moses begins to make intercessions to God
for this rebellious, hard-hearted, unbelieving people. And what Moses prays for is pardon. What he prays for is forgiveness
for their sins. Now, how would you have loved
to have a task like that? You know, sometimes I think the
sin of believers is worse than the sin of unbelievers sometimes. I doubt seriously if the children
of Egypt ever sinned so egregiously against God as the children of
Israel did. Look at the light they sinned
against. Look at the love they sinned against. Look at the promise.
Look at all the signs, the wonders and miracles God did for this
people. And look here how hard their hearts are, how disbelieving
they are. And yet Moses goes before the
Lord and this is what he pleads. Pardon this people. Would you
have loved to have that test? What would you have pleaded? But verse 20, look at this. And
the Lord said, He said to Moses, I have pardoned according to
thy word. What is God? continue to forgive
His people? Why did He continue to forgive
these people? Why does He continue to forgive
you and why does He continue to forgive me? I want to give
you five things quickly from this passage to show you why
the Lord still forgives the sins of His people. And the first
one is this. Israel had a mediator between
them and God. And this mediator secured for
them the forgiveness of all their sins. He said in verse 20, I
have pardoned according to your word. In other words, he tells
Moses, as you have pleaded for them, I have heard them and I
have pardoned according as you pleaded. They had a mediator
between them and God. I want you to put a marker right
there, and I want you to turn over to the book of Psalms 106. And look here how the book of
Psalms describes Moses pleading. You read the context of Psalms
chapter 106, and you'll see all the sins reiterated of the children
of Israel. Horrible, horrible sins. And
look what verse 23 says. Look here how valuable a mediator
is between man and God. Psalm 106 verse 23. Therefore He said that He would
destroy them. God said He would destroy them.
Had not Moses, His chosen, stood before Him in the breach to turn
away His wrath lest he should destroy them." Why didn't God
destroy them? Why did He in turn forgive them?
Because He says here, Moses, His chosen, stood before Him
in the breach. This breach. In Eastern countries,
they would plant vineyards or they'd have cattle out in the
pasture. They didn't have fences like we have. A lot of times
they would plant hedges around their vineyards in the pasture. It would keep out intruders.
It would keep out a lot of animals seeking to do damage to their
land or their cattle. Sometimes a breach would be made
in the hedges. Something would make a hole in
the hedges and then the intruders would come in through that breach.
When a farmer or a vineyard dresser found a breach had been made
in his hedges, he would either go himself or send someone else
out to stand in that hedge, to stand in the breach. And that
stopped the intruder from coming in. That's what the Lord said
Moses did here. Sin had made a breach. It had
opened up the hedge. for God in His judgment to come
upon the children of Israel. The wrath of God, He says here,
to destroy them. Isn't that amazing? But Moses
stood in the breach and he kept the judgment of God from coming
upon the children of Israel. Now what happens to a people
that don't have a mediator? To stand in the gap and make
up this edge. To turn the intruder. Well, let
me show you that. Look over in Ezekiel chapter
22. That was a time in Israel's history.
Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse 29. They didn't have anyone. And
look what happened to them. You read all the sins of the
children of Israel. You start back in verse 26 of
chapter 22 of Ezekiel. The priests have violated my
law. Verse 27, the princess in the
midst of her lack wolves, raving the prey, destroying the prey.
Her prophets have dabbed them with untempered mortar, seeing
vanity and divination, divining lies. And the people of the land,
in verse 29, use oppression and exercise robbery, and have vexed
the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. Now look at this. And I sought
for a man among them that would have made up the hedge, and stand
in the gap before me, for the land that I should not destroy
it, but I found none. When there was nobody there to
plead with God on the behalf of the people, nobody to stand
in the gap, the intruder comes in. And what was he in verse
31? Therefore have I poured out my
indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the
fire of my wrath. Now Moses is a most beautiful
type, a picture, a shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ, isn't
he? And when God's people have sinned,
they've sinned against God, they've sinned against light, they've
sinned against law, they've omitted what God said to do, they did
what God said to omit, they have sinned. Who is it that is in
God's presence to bring them off, to secure them forgiveness
and to keep the judgment of God from coming against them and
to condemn them? Look in 1 John 2. I don't want
to just quote this to you. I want to read it because it
means so much. 1 John 2. The book of Hebrews tells us that because
Jesus Christ continues forever, He has an unchangeable priesthood. He is there in God's presence
in heaven. and he is able to save them to
the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives
to make intercession for them. What does he plead with God to
secure forgiveness for his sinning children? Look what he says in
1 John 2. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. That's the first command, isn't
it? Some people say, you guys speak too flippant about sin.
We don't speak flippant about sin. We quote this commandment,
sin not. Think of the consequences. Think
of what we might lose by sinning. Look what the children of Israel
lost by sinning against God. We may have forgiveness secured
for us and yet suffer greatly, suffer the loss of so many blessings
like they did. Sin not. You've not yet resisted
unto blood striving against sin. Sin not. But who is among us
who hasn't sinned? Let's be honest about it, brothers
and sisters. You and I are convinced of it every day, are we not?
Sometimes more than others. And to keep us from despairing,
he says in the latter part of verse 2, and if any man sin,
we have an advocate, that's a lawyer, that empowers somebody between
us and God. Who is it? Jesus Christ the righteous. The righteous. He worked His
way into God's presence, did He not? He did something you
and I could not do. He's the righteous One. He did
always those things that pleased His Father. He fulfilled every
jot and tittle of His law. He is the righteous One. Nobody
else could go in God's presence to plead with God if He weren't
righteous. What does He plead? He tells
us in verse 2. He is the perpetuation. He is
the atoning victim for our sins. What does He plead? He pleads
Himself, doesn't He? This is how He can bring us off
from condemnation. This is how He can say, Father,
forgive them and secure that forgiveness because He pleads
His own obedience. He pleads His own blood. He pleads
the preciousness of what He has done on behalf of poor sinners. And when the Father hears Him,
what does He do? He forgives those He pleads for. And you know something? I don't
know of a single case where the Lord Jesus has ever went to the
Father to plead the cause of one of His sinning children and
had the Father to say no. The Father gives to him the desires
of his heart. Why does God continue to forgive
His children? Because they have an advocate. That's it, isn't it? That's it. You've sinned. Oh,
you've grossly sinned. But here's the greater Moses.
And he's there in God's presence. And he secures the part. Back in our text, look at this
in Luke chapter 14. Here's another reason, secondly. They had a mediator, one that
knew how to bring them off from the condemnation. He knew how
to plead with the Father. And here in verses 12 through
verse 16, here's the reason that is given for the Lord God pardoning
His sinning children. when he told them in verse 12
that he was going to smite them and disinherit them and make
of him a greater nation. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Then the Egyptians shall hear it. For thou broughtest up this
people in thy might from among them, and they shall 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 you go before them by daytime in a pillar of cloud,
and in a pillar of fire by night." Now, if thou shalt kill all these
people as one man, and he could, could he not? Could they complain
if he had? Do they deserve any better? But he said, if you do it, 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 He has slain
them in the wilderness." Now what do we have here? We have
God forgiving the sins of His sinning children. Why? Because
His glory is involved in it. His glory is involved in it. It seemed like the Lord had two
options. He could destroy them and be done with them, or He could forgive them. If
He destroyed them, it would diminish His glory among the nations. Because they had determined that
this was the great God who had delivered the children of Israel
out of the land of bondage. And now, if God destroyed them,
they would have said, well, He's not as great as we thought He
was. It's easy to destroy somebody,
but to forgive them, and forgive them, and forgive them, takes
more power. Takes more grace. So what did
He do? For His own glory. For His own
glory. He said, I have pardoned according
to your word. I don't know what all God will
do, brothers and sisters, for His glory, for the glory of His
dear Son, but I'm for pleading. Somebody said there's something
more important than my salvation, and that's His glory, His redeeming
glory. And if we go pleading when we've
sinned ourselves, Then let this be our plea for your sake, for
your glory. What's it going to do, Lord,
if you don't forgive? How's it going to affect your
glory in the eyes of the world? Ephesians 1 verse 5 says He's
predestinated us into the adoption of children. according to the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace." God is out to get Himself
a great name. And the way he's going to get
himself a great name is by forgiving his people. Not just once or
twice, but always. Always. And if he don't forgive
them, he's going to destroy them. Thirdly, think of this. Why does
God continue to forgive his sinning people? We have the third thing
here in verse 17. Moses flees this. And thou, I
beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as
thou hast spoken, saying, The power! Why does God forgive His
people? Power. Power. Because He's powerful to do it.
Isn't it amazing that power has got something to do with the
Lord forgiving sins? The power of God is revealed
towards sinners in two ways, in their disruption and in their
pardon. The Lord Jesus said, Don't fear
them which kill the body and have no more that they can do,
but fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into
hell. That takes power to cast a man
into hell. But I tell you something that
takes more power, and that is to forgive a man. God destroying a man is this
strange work our old Puritan forefathers used to say. Him
forgiving a man shows forth his real power. The Lord Jesus was
looking at that old cripple. Remember the cripple they let
down in front of him that couldn't walk? And the Lord looked at
him and said, Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they said, Well, only God
can forgive sins. And he said that you may know
the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sin. I don't
know what all it has to do with power, but it takes the power
of God in Christ to forgive sin. And Moses pleaded it. It takes power to be long-suffering,
don't it? It takes grace to be long-suffering. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the Lamb. It takes power to forgive sins.
The power of grace, the power of mercy, the power of God's
love in Christ to forgive sins. Power. Fourthly, he continues to forgive
his people for this reason, and we find it here in verse 17 and
verse 18. I beseech thee, let the power
of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
The Lord is long-suffering. This is what he is. He is of
great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, by no means
clearing the guilty. Why does the Lord forgive the
sins of His people? That's just the way He is. That's
just the way He is. Moses pleaded that. The Lord is long-suffering. The Lord is merciful. The Lord
is gracious. God is love. That's just who
He is. As amazing as it is to us. Hold
that and turn over to the book of Micah. Here's a verse that
tells us this very plainly. Book of Micah. It's page 1009
in the Pew Bible. Book of Micah, chapter
7. You've turned to the book of
Nahum. You've gone too far. Turn to the book of Jonah. Keep
on to your right. You have to go to your concordance.
index to find it and do that. Luther, Martin Luther, had such
a conception of God that tormented him to death. And he was often making the statement,
often made this statement, I hate God. I hate God. And when he was questioned as
to why he hated God, he said this. He always explained it
like this. He said, God has given us all
of these commandments. And he watches over us, waiting
for us to err, waiting for us to fail, that when we do, he
can accuse us and condemn us and judge us. He mocks us. God mocks us. That was his conception
of God. And he acknowledged that he had
no concept of the love of God and the mercy of God, impassioned
by transgressions. If you read any of his works,
one thing you'll notice about the works of Martin Luther, here's
what he emphasized. God is love. And the reason he did that, he
said, because I labored for years under this torment that God was
ready to grab me and destroy me. I had no concept of who He
was. And when he saw the beautiful
side of God, he saw the smiling face of God. Oh, it changed his
whole opinion, his whole concept. What's God like? Why does He
continue to forgive His people? Look in verse 18 of Micah, chapter
7. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his urgeage? He retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities.
Now we'll cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Look how he describes himself.
A God who pardons. A God who delights in mercy.
A God who is always turning again and having compassion. I love
that concept of God, don't you? And the older I get in this way,
the more I see, oh, I need such a God. I need such a God. Because my sins are great. Try as I may, I'm not quit sinning. Have you? I'm not quit sinning. And if God ever holds it against
me, I'm a goner. Fifthly, look back in our text
again, and we'll close on this one. Numbers chapter 14 and verse
19. Here's how Moses said it. Numbers
chapter 14 and verse 19. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity
of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy. And
as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." He
pleads past pardon as a cause for present pardon. He said when
they were down in Egypt, you were forgiving them there. When
they were at the Red Sea and refused to go forward, you forgave
them there. When they were at the waters
of strife, you forgave them. You've forgiven them daily. You've
been forgiving them. And just as you've been forgiving
them, forgive them again. Don't it encourage you, brothers
and sisters, to know that the Lord has forgiven you in the
past? And if He's done it in the past, we have reason to believe
that He'll do it in the future. He'll forgive. God will forgive. If He holds it against us, we're
goners. But our hope is for Christ's
sake. For His glory. And because of what He's done
for us in the past, He'll continue to do the same. If we confess
our sins, He still is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. How many? I don't know. I don't know. He just says if
we confess, He will forgive us. And verse 20 said, The Lord said,
I have pardoned according to thy word. Lord bless His Word.