Is Anything To Hard For God

I have a question. It is a very simple question. Is anything too hard for God? Now, does God ever ask that question? Whenever God asks that question, it's rhetorical. You know, rhetorical is when you ask something that automatically needs no answer. It has an answer. And rhetorical is just to remind of the answer. Not so much to give the answer, just to remind the answer because it's so obvious. And whenever God asks that question, it is rhetorical because God does know the answer. And He's not seeking the answer.

He's not looking for the answer for Himself because He knows that, no, nothing is too hard for Him. But for us, it's not automatically a rhetorical question. We might say it is. We might say, well, yeah, it's rhetorical for me if I were to ask you because I know nothing's too hard for God.

We say that, but our actions might say something different. We might say, well, nothing is too hard for God when in our hearts and our concerns is the question, well, what is too hard for God? Is there anything too hard for God? Maybe this is too hard for God. So what makes the difference?

What allows it to be a rhetorical question with us? Because I want it to be a rhetorical question with me. There's one basic issue. One basic issue that turns it into a rhetorical question only for you, and that is the issue of faith. That's the issue. And when I say the issue of faith, for the person, it has to be personal faith. It's an issue of trust, of belief, of conviction. And that brings it down. See, very close and personal, because it has to be personal.

It gets it into the nitty-gritty, and that is where it matters to God in our dealings. If God looks at me, your faith doesn't matter to Him regarding me. See, if He looks at me, what counts is, do I have the personal faith? Now, when He looks at you, and He's looking for that personal faith in you, it doesn't matter to Him at that point what my personal faith is.

He's not looking at me. He's looking at you. My point is, it gets down to the nitty-gritty of it being personal, and as God looks at each of us, that personal measure is what matters to God in our dealings and relationship with Him. So, is anything too hard for God? Right answer! Title it that way, is anything too hard for God? That's the title, and that's the subject. Is anything too hard for God? No! And He wants us to learn to live and walk in the sheer comfort and confidence of that.

See, in Hebrews 10.38, I want to turn there, in the Old Testament times, there were just people. People that were considered just or righteous, and they were expected to live a certain way. In New Testament times, which we're in, it hasn't changed. There are just. There are righteous people. There are people that God has called and given the opportunity to be just, to be righteous. And the requirement is the same as to how we live.

Hebrews 10.38, now the just shall live by faith. God, I want to be considered just. I want to be considered right. I want to be considered righteous. That is, I want to be that way with You in Christ and in Your ways, and He is saying, okay, live by faith. Live by faith. Live by trust in me. Live by faith in me.

Live by belief in me. Live by confidence in me. Again, we know rhetorically, I think, we can say the answer. Is anything too hard for God? No. No, there's nothing too hard for God. But what do we think is too hard for Him? A little bit of an oxymoronic statement there. On the one hand, we know nothing's too hard for God, but then again, what might we think is too hard for Him?

What did Sarah think was too hard for God? Go to Genesis 18. Genesis 18 verses 9 through 15. What did she... See, on the one hand, at one level, I don't necessarily think that Sarah thought this is too hard for God, but yet, at some level, in her thinking, it's like, this isn't going to... This... Huh? This is going to happen? Wait a minute. Really? Now, really? Is this going to happen?

What did she think was too hard for God? Genesis 18. Beginning in verse 9. In verse 9, when the angels appearing as men, along with the one that was Jesus Christ with them, when they appeared, Abraham... And in the course of that visit, verse 9, and they said to Him, Where is Sarah, your wife? And He said, Well, in the tent. Now, by the way, you ever notice that tent walls aren't very thick?

And women have better hearing than men, generally. So, it's not like it was soundproof. And He said, Well, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life. And, lo, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Sarah shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door. Now, knowing Sarah was a natural, normal female, she would have been inside the tent, sitting with her ear right up against the tent wall, with the enhanced being able to hear. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age. They were on up in age. And it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Sarah, after the manner of women, she was passed childbearing.

She was barren. As a young woman, she couldn't have kids. She was barren. And now, on top of that, she is passed childbearing opportunity and ability. Therefore, verse 12, Sarah laughed within herself. Now, I want you to think about that a moment. On one level, she knew nothing is too hard for God. But, on another natural human level, by her actions and her laughing, she's actually expressing, is this really going to happen?

God says it, but I can't receive it. I can't absorb it. Is it really going to happen? Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? Shall we actually have the pleasure of holding our own little flesh and blood, a child of both of us? Shall we actually have that pleasure of our own little child? And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh?

If she really believes me, if she really thinks that nothing is too hard for me, why did she laugh?

Why did she laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child? Which I am old, I am old.

And then God says, verse 14, The one that we know of is Jesus Christ, who was the Word, the spokesman, the Logos. He says, Is anything too hard for the Lord?

At the time appointed, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not. For she was afraid, and he said, No, I believe we got a case here of talking through the tent wall at this point.

No, but you did laugh.

And Isaac was named laughter, because that's what Isaac means, laughter.

See, it was a laugh that came out of unbelief of doubt. I mean, it was like, just couldn't quite accept that this was actually going to happen. See, it was in the face of the reality of her circumstances. Think about Sarah. It was said, in the reality, the face of the reality of her circumstances. She had been barren all through her youth. She couldn't get pregnant. She couldn't have a child. Now she was too old by just the natural age of women to be able to get pregnant and have a child. And now, in spite of all of this, she's going to have a child, and maybe on one level she could accept it, but she just couldn't quite grasp it. It was totally out of keeping. It was out of kilter with the way things physically work. Things physically don't work like this, and that was so ingrained. It wasn't that she wasn't happy about it. It wasn't that she didn't want to believe. I mean, this is wonderful. It was just simply out of the normal pattern of life of the way things work. But now let's leave the Old Testament time there, and let's step forward into New Testament times for a moment for an even clearer pattern or illustration of this with Peter. And you probably know the example I'm going to. It's in Matthew 14. Matthew 14, verses 22-31. It's that famous and classic example of Peter walking on water. So in Matthew 14, beginning in verse 22, it says, in a straight way, straight way, verse 22, straight way Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him to precede him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain, a park to pray. He needed some private time, some alone time. So he went up there to pray, and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And a pretty scary thing for people who know the treacherousness of the waves and the wind, who spend so much of their life and livelihood on the water. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them. You know, he needs to go to them. He's God. He's flesh and blood, but he knows that if the Father supports him on it, he can just simply walk across the water to the boat.

Pretty amazing, you think about it. Walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, obviously. There's no other example in the Gospels that I'm aware of, of Christ walking on the water to the boat they're in and at night time. And so by whatever starlight, moonlight, they can see this figure walking on water with wind and waves. And obviously, it was scary. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled. They said, it's a spirit. It's an apparition. And they cried out for fear. But straight away, Jesus spoke to them saying, Be of good cheer. It's me. It's I. Don't be afraid. And then the apostle to be the disciple Peter, the most, in one sense, self-asserting, but with the most initiative and all of that, he answered him and said, Lord, if it be you, bid me come to you on the water. He said, Come, okay, come on. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. He actually stepped out, stepped on the water, and he's walking on it. He doesn't say whether he took two steps, ten steps. He's walking on the water. But when he saw the wind, strong wind, boisterous wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, caught him, grabbed him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Think about something. When Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, he did it with a measure of faith. He had faith. He had a measure of faith. It was on a basis of faith. He literally started walking on the surface of the water. But what happened then?

The reality hit him. The reality that what he was doing... Just try to be Peter for a moment.

He's walking on water, and you can't stand on water. The wind is blowing strong. There's waves.

The reality that what he was doing went against all the physical laws and circumstances that he had been taught all of his life. He looked at the action of the waves. He felt the strong wind upon the water. That all of the fishermen that was part of their makeup, that all the fishermen were very aware of, and the fear that it generated kicked in. And he started sinking.

And that's when Christ grabbed him and said, Oh, you're a little faith. Why did you doubt?

He could have walked all the way to me. Then together we could have walked all the way back to the boat, me to it, you back to it. See, Peter had some faith. You think about it. That's what brought him out of the boat. That's what let him walk for a little ways. But he didn't have enough to sustain him upon the face of the waters. He didn't have enough to sustain him in the face of all the physical that he was so used to. See, Sarah and Peter shared a common problem. It's a problem that's common to human beings, a problem which becomes a challenge to face and deal with when called to walk by faith in God. It's the problem and challenges of not focusing on the physical circumstances and conditions around you in such a way. Because do you have physical circumstances around you? Yeah. Do you have physical conditions you're set within? Yeah.

But focusing on them in such a way that they affect your faith and your trust in God.

See, faith, trust in God, has to supersede what surrounds us in the physical world. It has to. Otherwise, you will sink. Your faith has to supersede the conditions and circumstances that surround you in the physical world. Otherwise, we sink. We will fall prey to the fears and anxieties that plague society. And a daily diet of doubt and fear will sink the spiritual. The spiritual does not survive in that climate. That climate does not generate or promote spiritual growth. And that's why we are called in Hebrews 10.38 to walk by faith. We have to. It's the only way we can keep walking and not sink. And that means that you and I don't have to fall prey to the fears and frustrations. We may do so, but it's not that we have to. It's not that it's ordered that we have to. This age is filled with stresses and anxieties. You don't have to think very far to think of the ones that you're aware of, whether in your personal life or the lives of your loved ones. This age is filled with stresses and anxieties of the age and times we live in.

And we can only rise above those through faith. You and I. Most of us are called without a lot of our family members called. Sometimes we're the only one that's called. Sometimes we have a family that's called. Sometimes we've got several family members that are called.

But is there any one of us where all of our family members, all of our loved ones, all of our friends are called? No. And therefore, have the opportunity to have the opportunity that we currently do to live in a very true, sure hope with God, both in terms of the future and His kingdom, knowing what we know at this point, but also to live with the bottom line of God for us, even in this age of trials and tests and troubles. No. They'll have the opportunity for salvation in due time, and that we're very thankful for. But even when we see and know of loved ones that don't have the same hope in the same way at this time, that's a stress upon you, isn't it? If you love somebody, you're connected to them, and they're having trouble. That's a stress on you. But again, again, it's learning to live by faith that makes the difference. One of the absolute most important scriptures in the entire Bible. It is superseded, if superseded, superseded by so few.

It's right at the top of the list. It's Hebrews 11.6. We've read it many a time.

But it's something that has to become part of our operational behavior on a daily basis.

Hebrews 11.6, "...but without faith it is impossible to please him." Without faith, you can't please God. He can love you. He can be pulling for you. But you can't please Him. I mean, what I'm saying is, He's not pleased where there's a lack of faith.

Think about with Sarah. He loved her. He felt for her. He knew where she was coming from.

Is anything too hard for God? I mean, think about this conversation going on kind of between, you know, through the tent wall.

But she didn't please Him with the lack of faith. But He still was going to give her the son.

You know, He's going to, as we say, make a believer out of her, so to speak.

But He loved her. But He wasn't pleased with her response. Can you imagine, Sarah? She has this baby. He's a toddler.

He's a toddler. Then He's a young teenager. And every time she calls Him by name, she says, Laughter, come here. That's what Isaac means. She was reminded all of her life of having laughed in the tent. Think about that. And she probably, it probably came, at first it might have been a little embarrassing to her. And then eventually she could realize, you know, God has a sense of humor, too. And she could probably chuckle about it in time. She had her son, and his name is Laughter.

Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He that comes to God.

We want to go to God. God's called us. We want to go to Him, to that calling, respond, and keep responding. And to do that, we must believe that He is. And that's the easy part, because there's no excuse for not proving that there is a God. He is so provable.

And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You diligently seek Him, and you will be benefited, rewarded for seeking Him. I've spoken about how important it is to put God at the center of our life. And, of course, I'm not going to turn to Matthew 22, 37, but there in chapter 22 of Matthew, in verse 37, the Great Commandment, that has all to do with and is speaking to, putting God at the very center of our life. Because a close relationship with God, it gives us comfort, and confidence, and peace of mind. I mean, in the midst of some of the trials and tests, conditions, and circumstances we live in, how in the world can we have peace of mind or any comfort if we don't have God at the center of our life, if we don't have a close relationship with God?

Because, see, when we have that close relationship with God, it supersedes the conditions. It supersedes. It's not that the conditions aren't there. It's not that the circumstances aren't there, but it supersedes them. It kind of pulls you up high enough in that circle, you know, where you're being encircled by these conditions and circumstances, but it lifts you up above them, doesn't remove them, they're there, but it connects you with a higher power, and you have a certain peace of mind and a certain comfort, and you supersede what is around you, and you're actually able to, in one sense, walk on the water.

Is anything too hard for God? What is too hard for God? If you go to John 11, did Christ go about Galilee and Judea performing miracles? Yes, absolutely, didn't He? Did He do all kinds of miracles? Was the power of God on display at numerous times in various ways? Yes. But that was during His ministry. As He got down to where His ministry, it was time for it to be wrapping up, and to allow the persecution that would come that would result in Him being killed, where He would die as a sacrifice for us.

He did something in terms of power that was absolutely, totally undeniable. They couldn't write it off to... The critics could not write it off to, well, you know, some trick of hand or whatever. In John 11 with Lazarus, they sent Him word. Lord, the one You love, He's sick. He's sickened to death, and Christ purposely held off going until Lazarus died. So, verse 17, chapter 11, then when Jesus came, He found that He had lain in the grave. He'd been entombed four days already.

And if you follow the account, Martha says to Him, you know, in verse 21, that if He had been here, He had not died. But even now, you know, she shows in verse 22, she has spaciousness, but I know that even now whatsoever you will ask of God, God will give it to you. God will give to you what you ask. And, of course, in verse 32, when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.

And again, verse 39, Jesus said, take you away the stone. Now, you think about this. They knew quite a few folks. There were a lot of people there, and there were leaders who were there. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of Him that was dead, said to Him, Lord, but this time He stinks. He has been dead in italics. It's not in the original. He has been four days. Now, I'm not quite sure how long He had been dead, but He had been in the tomb four days.

And He wasn't embalmed. This was God setting up the timing, setting up the situation, setting up the timing to show and prove the power of God, that Christ is the life and the resurrection, and to do it undeniably so there could be no gain saying it. Is anything too hard from God? He brings back from the dead with healthy tissue and flesh and air in the lungs ready to be rejoined into the active relationships of friends and loved ones and family, all of that. Verse 43, And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth, and we know the account, an obvious, undeniable, already decomposing human being brought back to healthy life.

And, of course, that miracle of the power of God is what sealed His doom. If you read the whole thing and put it in the context of everything, that's what made the religious leaders realize we have to get rid of Him. In Mark 11, verses 20-23, Mark 11, In verse 20, And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, said to him, Master, behold the fig tree which you cursed, it's withered away. And Jesus answered, saying unto them, Have faith in God.

For truly I say to you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be you removed, and be you cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says. People focus on, well, if you have faith, you can move that mountain. Look out mountain, be cast into the Tennessee River there. I wouldn't pray that because I have no reason for the mountain to be cast into the Tennessee River. It messes up the interstate. But if you notice, this is one of those situations where he magnifies, like if your hand offends you, cut it off. He doesn't literally mean cut your hand off because the hand is not the problem. The problem is in the mind. Or if your eye offends you, you pluck it out. What we call exaggeration for effect. But if you notice, he says, and shall not doubt in your heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says. But again, faith. But let's just talk about moving something. You know, if there was a reason, a valid enough reason for a mountain to be moved, and you believed it could be moved, of course mountains will be moved in the future. You know, in the events that are coming, there's going to be some real shaking going on, and mountains will be moved. But instead of moving something, how about stopping something? How about stopping it? It's pretty amazing you think about it. You go back to Joshua 10, the book of Joshua, chapter 10, verses 12 through 14.

Joshua 10, beginning in verse 12. Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said, in the sight of Israel, you know, here's Israel, here are the armies of Israel, and in their sight he says, Son, stand still upon Gibeon, and you moon in the valley of Agilon. And the sun stood still. Now this is all from the human eye, from the human perspective. And the sun stood still, and the mood stayed.

And to the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies, is not this written in the book of Jasher. So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. Imagine the Amorites, they're losing. Israel's whipping them. And like a soldier on the battlefield, who knows he and his are getting whipped, they keep looking at the sun. If night can just come on quickly, we can retreat in the darkness and get away. Because you're losing. You're not winning. You're losing. Joshua wanted it to be a complete success. And the enemy, they're losing. Can you imagine? As those enemy soldiers are fighting, they keep glancing at the sun, and it's in a certain position in the sky, and it hasn't moved. It hasn't moved. It hasn't moved. How long did it take? Because it was about a whole day's worth extra. Like a double day. A double day of daylight. At what point did they realize it's not moving? And that had to have put real fear in their hearts. And they look at the moon, and the moon is just sitting right where it was.

See, you and I know that from our human perspective, the sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. And the moon does truly move and circle the earth. But the sun doesn't move.

So what happened?

The earth quit spinning.

God stopped the earth from spinning.

At the equator, the earth spins at about 1,000 miles per hour.

We're moving right now roughly 1,000 miles per hour with the spin. We don't feel that. You know, gravity is everything. It takes care of everything.

But the earth stopped turning.

Think about, did Joshua have the power to stop the earth from spinning? No. Did he have the faith that God would back him and do it? Because there was a need.

And he said, with absolute confidence, commanded the sun to stand still.

Christ commanded Lazarus to come forth.

And Christ did not have innate within him the power to resurrect Lazarus. It was the Father who, through Christ, used the power. Because Christ was flesh and blood. He was God in the flesh.

But the power to resurrect Lazarus came from the Father through Christ and on Christ's behalf.

Joshua had no power as a human being to stop the earth from spinning.

But God did. And he stopped the earth from spinning.

For the amount of, at least, a double day of daylight.

And he also stopped the moon from orbiting the earth. The earth is standing still. It's not spinning. And the moon is stopped right where it is.

Is anything too hard for God?

Joshua didn't think so.

And because of his personal faith, that question was only rhetorical with him.

See, for Joshua, he simply had the deep conviction that the God that made those heavens, that made the earth, that made the sun and the moon, the God who powers those systems, could also alter or stop them.

Instead of just stopping something, how about reversing something? And Hezekiah's day, as assigned to him that he would be granted 15 more years of life, God reversed the earth by 10 degrees as registered on the sundial. You go to Isaiah 38 verse 8, Isaiah 38.

And verse 8, Behold, to Hezekiah, Hezekiah was 39 years old, the age of my son, Jonathan.

When God sent Isaiah to tell him, Put your house in order, you're going to die.

39 is young.

And he cried deeply and bitterly and prayed to God, and God, before Isaiah could be truly gone, sent him right back to say, Okay, I've heard your prayers, I will give you 15 more years, which took Hezekiah to the age of 54, which is still not real old, is it? But it's a whole lot better than 39.

Anyway, I'll give you a sign that this is going to happen.

Verse 8, Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down, and the sundial of A has 10 degrees backward. So the sun returned 10 degrees by which degrees it had gone down.

Think about that for a moment.

If the sun goes forward in its proper spin by 10 degrees, and it does it by God's power, it's no less God's power that's keeping it spinning than there's no less power involved than turning it backwards, reversing the earth and stopping the spin and turning it backwards 10 degrees. But we think of it as a greater, quote, intervention because we're used to the sun, the earth, spinning the way it spins.

Those who looked at the sundials, and I assume being king, he had a sundial, and the shadow moved a certain way normally, and then he watched, the shadow stopped, and it moved back the other way. The earth was reversed in its spin by 10 degrees.

And it was God's way of saying and showing Hezekiah that if I can reverse the turning of the earth, I can certainly add 15 more years to your life because Hezekiah was a dead man. He was as good as dead, and God stepped in and superseded the conditions and circumstances. Is anything too hard for God? For Jeremiah, it had become a rhetorical question only, as it does for anyone who has developed a deep personal relationship and personal faith in God and His power, His love, His power, His love, and His concern for us. Notice Jeremiah 32 and verse 17.

Jeremiah says this, Jeremiah 32 verse 17, "'O Lord God, behold, you've made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out your arm. And there is nothing in the King James that says, there is nothing too hard for you." And then, as you proceed on, Jeremiah understood that, voiced that. It wasn't rhetorical with him, because he knew the answer. And then God asked the question in verse 27.

In verse 27, He says, Behold, that is, take a look. Look, I am the Lord. I'm the God of all flesh.

I'm the Creator. Is there anything too hard for me? And obviously, no, there isn't.

So, why then is there fear? And why is there failure? It's because the crux of the issue goes beyond the power of God. The crux of the problem, the question rests upon the human.

Not God and His power. The issue rests upon the person's personal faith and trust in God, their personal measure of it. What is the degree and measure of an individual's personal faith and trust in God? That's the individual key. You know, God says, Is there anything too hard for me? Mark 6 verses 1 through 6. What Christ did with Lazarus was not only a very, very public illustration with some high-powered people, obviously connected to some of those folks and maybe even present, and also was very, very timely to be known, to be seen, and to serve both as certain proofs and in so doing to precipitate certain events. But there were other times, obviously, where Christ's, or the power of God with Christ and through Christ, were manifested so strongly.

But let's look here in Mark 6 verses 1 through 6. And He went out from thence and came into His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying from whence or where has this man gotten these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands?

Is not this the carpenter? I mean, where did He get all this? Who does He think He is? Well, we've known Him all of His life. Isn't this the carpenter? The son of Mary? The brother of James? And Joseph? And of Judah? And Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? Notice, they were offended. They were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. Now, notice what it says in verse 5. And He could there do no mighty work. He was just as much Jesus Christ there as He was anywhere.

He was just as much Jesus Christ there as He was at the tomb of Lazarus. He was just as much God in the flesh. But it says He could there do no mighty work, except that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and He healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Their unbelief is what killed it, blocked it. And unbelief may come in more than one form or format and in varying degrees, but it's all an issue of faith.

And over and over and over again, whether we're talking about reading the Scriptures, we're talking about messages, sermonettes, splits, sermons, Bible studies, whatever. We come back to that issue, but it's got to go beyond just the messages. I mean, we've got to have those, and we've got to have the Scripture. But all of that is part of the design to help us individually come to the point where we realize so deeply how important faith is, our personal faith, to the point that, yes, we do believe there's nothing too hard for God.

He may not be on our timing. He may not be going to do it the way we want him to do it. He may not be going to set our course the way we'd like our course to be set, but nothing's too hard for him.

And no matter what and how and when he's with the Senate, and he wants that deep, abiding trust in him. See, unbelief, and this is a case showing it here in Mark 6, unbelief, lack of faith, blocks God. Think about it. There are times that God says, look, nothing's too hard for me, and I would like to do such and such, but I can't do it because your lack of faith is blocking me out. Now, sometimes he can say, nothing is too hard for me, and you have the faith, and I see that, but it's not time for you to have such and such.

It's not time for such and such to pass. It's not the right time yet, because there's something going on here that's good for your development. Unbelief, lack of faith can block God's blessings.

It's the only thing that limits God. Now, don't you think about that? You know, lack of faith is really the God who can stop the earth from spinning, who can even turn it and make it spin in the other direction for 10 degrees, or could reverse everything if he wanted to in that way, you know, as far as the planet. The only thing that keeps him from exercising it as far as our actions or thoughts or realizations is a lack of faith. You know, Hebrews 3.19, Hebrews 3. Israel, in the wilderness.

He talks about that older generation that died off over those 40 years in the wilderness, that they did not enter the promised land. They came up to it, they murmured, they said, we're not able to go up against all these people. They're stronger than we are. God has brought us here just to get us killed. He's really down a number on us. He's let us down.

He's not faithful. Basically, that's what they were saying.

And, of course, here in Hebrews, it says, verse 19, chapter 3, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. It wasn't because God couldn't deliver. Unbelief kept them out of the promised land, that older generation, and it sealed their fate in a 40-year wilderness trek.

You know, you think about it, and again, that example is used so strongly here in Hebrews because it's classic. It's clinical, it's classic. What an example of unbelief the children of the Exodus set time and time again, in spite of all of God's interventions. I mean, you and I say, oh, if we came up to the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army is behind us, and they've got us trapped between them and the Red Sea, and we're all going to be in this major bloodbath, and we're on the receiving end of it, and then darkness appears between them and you, and the water in front of you, you're looking across miles of water, and all of a sudden, you know, the wind comes up, and God's hand begins to be revealed, and the format of the water begins to separate, and a path down into the sea, and a wind that dries the footing.

We think, if I walked between towering walls of water that were way up there above me, and just rolling back in on itself, and not crashing down, defying all the laws of gravity and everything, I would always believe. I would always believe. But they had one thing after another, and they'd never, ever, that older generation just did not come to the time where, in spite of all the proofs they had, they never became a people of faith, ever.

Faith never took hold in the 20 and above. It was only going to take hold in their young ones.

And see, their basic issue was a lack of faith and trust in God. Now, let's probe that a little bit.

It was a lack of faith and trust in His power, but there's something else that's just as important as His power.

It was a lack of faith in His love for them, and His concern for them. Oh, He's got the power!

But is He going to use His power to help us? Does He care? Does He love us? Is He concerned? See, it was a lack of faith. They had a lack of faith in God's willingness to truly help them, to intervene and provide for them. And they were saying, will He take care of us?

Will He take care of our necessities? Will He feed us? Will He clothe us? You have to go back and put yourself in their position. You don't have to copy their human display of human nature of doubt and all of that. But their concerns were, they were carnal concerns, they were not concerns of faith, but their concerns were, will He take care of our necessities? Will He feed us? Will He clothe us? Is He able to? Does He even want to?

See, their doubting of God wasn't just the denial of His power, it was the denial of actually His love and concern for them. It was like slapping God in the face. And all you got to do is read the account to see that. At the end of 40 years in the wilderness, there's an interesting notation of Moses in Deuteronomy 29 verse 5. Now, keep in mind, when we read Deuteronomy 29 and verse 5, we are reading, as it says, the end of those 40 years in the wilderness, the end of the 40.

And all of the older generation, 20 and above, are now dead. And they're getting ready to go into the promised land. The 19 and younger's add 40 to 19, you got 59. The oldest ones of them are 59 years old and then ages on down, with the only two exceptions of Joshua and Caleb. And Joshua is 85 at this point, and Caleb is 80, and they're the only two above the 59. For the Senate of the 40 years. Interesting notation. Moses says to them here in chapter 29 verse 5, And I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes are not waxen old upon you.

And that's not because their clothing was polyester. You know, it's 40-year clothing.

But your clothes, look, you're wearing, you've got the same clothes. I guess women didn't get a new dress, but whatever. You know, 40 years, their clothing showed no wear and tear.

And your shoe is not waxed old upon your foot. Can you imagine having a pair of shoes in a gritty, sandy area for 40 years and then not wearing out? Now, the older generation looked at the physical logistics.

While they looked at the numbers and the conditions, they looked at all the physical, and they troubled and they doubted. When they went into the wilderness, there were 600,000 men, 20 and above. 600,000. 0.6 of a million. 600,000 men, 20 and above.

You've got to say there were at least 600,000 women, 20 and above. So you're looking at 1.2 million people not counting the children. So I think you could at least double that to 2.4 million. You had somewhere from 2 to 3, possibly up to as much as 4 million people.

Atlanta's bigger than that number, metropolitan Atlanta.

But did we realize what a mega-sized group that was?

And it didn't stop there. They have their herds. They have their flocks, their livestock, and they're being led into a wilderness.

How is God going to do this? Can He do it? I mean, it's not just a matter of manna and human food. You've got to have forage for all the livestock. You've got to have wood for fires. Can He do it? See, we think, okay, when we think about God's power, can He do it? Is something too hard for Him? How's He going to do it? But then you've got the question of, will He do it? That goes to His heart. Will He do it? Does He really want to?

It's like you believe you've been called to trek towards the Kingdom of God. Do you really believe you have? Or do you think God's just playing a game with you, wanting some entertainment?

And if you have been called to trek towards the Kingdom of God, do you think it's too hard for God to get you there if you really trust in Him and carry a relationship with Him? Because the road between the time you're called and standing in the Kingdom through resurrection is a hard, rocky wilderness road. Can He get you there? Yes, He can.

But you've got to respond, and you've got to continue to respond. Does He want you there? Yes, it's a good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. You know, all these accounts that I have related, they're history, aren't they? The only one that is still around from all of those accounts is God.

He's still alive. He's still God. He's lost no power. He's lost no love and concern for His people.

He's lost no love and concern. That question is anything too hard for God?

It doesn't apply to Sarah at this point. It applied. She's dead. She's waiting the resurrection. It doesn't apply to Jeremiah.

He's dead. He came to just be a rhetorical question to Him like it is with God.

They're waiting the resurrection. You and I are alive, and that question has to become rhetorical to us. If we say, is anything too hard for God? We just mean it rhetorically because we absolutely know the answer. And I'm talking about knowing the answer personally, that we feel it personally.

That's extremely crucial that each of us grow in the measure of faith that makes it rhetorical. Brethren, we don't have to have anybody tell us we live in difficult times.

In the previous administration, we were rapidly, rapidly crashing downhill. And I mean faster than I think even many of God's people realized.

And the breaks have been put on for a little while. But those breaks are going to be released again in due time. And it's going to be a faster crashing before. Again, let's take and live each day the way that God wants us to. And let's build on each day a personal, deep relationship in faith and God. Faith secures us. That is what is going to anchor us. It diminishes and cancels fear.

And fear is not fun. Faith sustains us. And it feeds us hope.

Faith knows that as we go along in whatever circumstances, whatever conditions we have to deal with, that God is there in the midst with us. Here's something you never know. You do not know. We do not know how much God may allow us to have to deal with.

You cannot tell me. I cannot tell you how much God may allow us to have to deal with.

But what I can tell you, what you can tell me, what we can tell ourselves, no matter what God chooses to allow us to deal with, He is always with us in it.

And we pull Him into the midst deeply into our being when we really believe in Him, have faith in Him, not just His power, but His actual love and concern for us.

When God's people live in frightening times and unsettling times, they don't have to live with the anxieties and the fears that are coming to such times.

I want to turn back and close in Psalm 37, verse 25. When we put and keep God at the center of our life, when we keep the kingdom of God and His righteousness as our number one priority, as we're told to do in Matthew 6, 33.

And that's how we really set our lives to be lived. When we do that, we truly can rest in God. Psalm 37, in David's words here, verse 25, no matter what comes. David wrote this, he said, I have been young and now I'm old. He had been young, now he was old. And as he scanned back over his life, he said, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken. God does not forsake the righteous, He does not forsake His people, nor His seed, begging bread. He provides, He protects, He preserves.