Where Are We in Life’s Journey to the Promised Land?

I have used the preacher's outline and sermon Bible commentary in preparing the message today. Brethren, one of the most important events, if not the most important event in the Old Testament, from a historical as well as theological perspective, is Israel's exodus out of Egypt. More than a hundred times in the Old Testament, God is proclaimed as, quote, the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. It was truly a tremendous historical and theological event.

Israel remembered the exodus throughout the course of their history as one of God's most mighty redemptive acts, and she discussed it over and over again. Let's take a look at Psalm 81. This is very typical of the way Israel looked at the exodus, coming out of Egypt, coming out of sin. Exodus 81, Psalm 81, Psalm 81 and verse 10. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. God reminded His people of His special relationship with them. And certainly, brethren, you have a special relationship with the Almighty. We discussed that on Passover evening. But on Passover evening, we had a very special assembly where you were invited.

You couldn't have bought a ticket. You were invited by none other than God Himself. It was a very unique meeting. By and large, the people who come to the Passover meeting, all are God's children. All are God's children. We have a very special relationship. It was God who made a covenant with Israel. It was God who kept His covenant with Israel.

He alone saved them from Egypt. He loved them. He met their every need. But, of course, being human, being without God's Holy Spirit in general, they didn't respond as well as they could have responded. That's why we have the new covenant today. Let's turn over to Exodus chapter 1 for a moment. Exodus chapter 1. Let's take a look at where Israel was back prior to leaving Egypt. You want to get a little bit of basis here for building our message today.

Exodus chapter 1 and verse 14. Talking about the Egyptians. Exodus 1.14. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, and mortar, and brick, and in all manner of service in the field. And all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. We go to the next chapter, chapter 2 of Exodus. Exodus chapter 2 and verse 23. Now, what happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage.

And they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So here we see a group of people serving with tremendous rigor, tremendous bondage, crying out to God, asking for deliverance, and God delivers them. And, brethren, as we go through the message today, I want us to think about you and I in our lives.

How that you and I have been serving in this world with great rigor and great bondage. How that we were slaves to Satan, as it says there in Romans chapter 6. How that God called us, as we see in John chapter 6. And God liberated us from Satan and Satan's grip. Not that we are totally, fully liberated. We're still living in Satan's world. But you understand what I'm talking about. But I want you now to turn to Numbers chapter 13. Because sometimes our hearts, most of the time our hearts are very deceptive.

Israel thought it was within their heart to want to lead Egypt and to serve God. And they cried out that they could lead Egypt and serve God. But, brethren, we want to ask, where was their heart really? And, brethren, what we also want to ask is, where is our heart really? Have we really, and do we really, truly desire to lead Egypt? Numbers chapter 13 verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

From each tribe of their fathers you send a man, every one a leader among them. So you know the story. The spies were sent out, twelve of them, and they came back with a report. Let's drop down to verse 26. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregations of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and they said, We went into the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

Nevertheless, the people who dwell in land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the banks of the Jordan. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.

But the men who had gone up with them said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, Till after which we have gone as spies of the land that devours its inhabitants.

And all the people whom we saw that are men of great stature, then we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak there, from the giants. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

So here we've got a group of people who thought that their heart was right with the Lord, who thought that they were really wanting to leave Egypt. And yet, when trouble came on the horizon, their heart wasn't where they thought it was.

And again, brethren, I ask myself, and I ask you to examine yourself, where is our heart?

Where is our heart? I'd like to read you a discussion about this section of Scripture from the Expositor's Bible commentary. And I quote, The malicious report of the ten spies spread through the populace like a vicious virus on rampage. The words of Caleb and Joshua were not heard. Everywhere people heard of walled cities, strong men, giants in the fabled Nephilim. The giant clusters of grapes were a potent of doom. If clusters of grapes were as great as these, imagine what the people would be like.

No one talked about God's grace. None cited His miracles. Forgotten was the act of God where the most powerful nation of the world was stymied at the rushing of the waters back to their beds. The thunder of Sinai, the fire of God that He had spoken and delivered and graced His people beyond imagination.

All these things were forgotten. Fear. Fear unchecked became its own fuel. A self-propelling force that expands as it expands. The words of a mid-twentieth-century American president, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, have their outworking in the self-consumptive absorption with terror that raged through the campus that night. So many times, brethren, you and I, when we read the Old Testament, we shake our heads. We say, what's wrong with those Israelites?

After all God did before them, what's wrong with them? And yet, brethren, I'm here to ask myself, I'm here to ask you, are we really that different? Are we really that different? I want to ask a question today and hopefully answer that question today. The question I want to ask, if you're taking notes, maybe you want to put this across the top of your paper, here's the question, where are we in life's journey to the Promised Land?

Where are we? Where do you stand? Where do I stand as you and I head to our Promised Land, which is the Kingdom of God? As I was thinking about this subject, I divided it really in two different portions. The first thing, another question I want to ask would be this, was Israel's heart fully in leaving Egypt?

And of course, brethren, I want to ask myself, I want you to ask yourself, is your heart fully into leaving Egypt? Now, we read about the report from the spies in Numbers chapter 13. Let's take a look now at Numbers chapter 14. Numbers chapter 14. Verse 1, So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night, and all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt, if only we had died in this wilderness, or if we had only died in this wilderness. Notice in verse 1 and 2, it says, all the congregation, it said, all, verse 2, all the children of Israel, and also in verse 2 it says, the whole congregation.

So what you're looking at, what I'm looking at, brethren, is, you know, other than, as far as we know, only four people, Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, other than four people, everyone else said, you know what? This is a really bad deal. And we would have been better served to have stayed back in Egypt. And again, over the years, brethren, you and I have seen too many of our number, when they face a trial, say, you know what? This way of life is just too, too exacting. God requires too much from us, and we can't handle it. And we're going to go back to another way of life. In verse 1, we see that, it says here, the people wept that night, all night long.

They raised their voices, they wept aloud, they were in a rage, some of them may have been in a panic. We see here a picture, perhaps, of screaming, perhaps of running their clothing, perhaps cursing. There was an intoxication of grief, if you will. So what do we see here? We see that Israel was allowing themselves to become a victim of emotionalism. A victim of emotionalism. Versus applying godly spirituality. And too many times, as I've seen people in God's Church, hurting and perhaps leaving the Church, they have been victims of emotionalism.

You know, it hurt me a great deal years ago when we had our giants put with our parent organization. And I remember going to various one's homes, about half the people I pastored stayed with the truth, about half didn't. The half that didn't, I remember going over to visit and talking with them. And in so many cases, the reason that so many of them left was because they felt that they just needed something more emotional.

And there's certainly nothing wrong with emotion. Nothing at all. But I felt they were basing, you know, what they were wanting in life more on the emotion than what the Scriptures really said. And we've got to be very careful about that. Very, very careful about that. Here in verse 2 and in verse 3, let's read these verses again. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt.

In other words, they wanted to go back. Or if they only died in this wilderness, any place but here, why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims?

Would it have not have been better to return to Egypt? So originally, they began to complain against Moses and Aaron. And then they really showed where their anger was.

Their anger was misdirected toward Moses and Aaron. Their real anger was with God. And people really can get angry with God. That's why in a sermon recently, I made mention that Passover was a time when you and I can forgive God. Not that God has sinned. Not that God hasn't done anything that's not in our best interest, because everything He does is in our best interest. But sometimes we get angry with God. And that anger toward God hurts us. And when I say we need to forget, we need to get rid of that anger toward the great God. These people had misplaced anger. First it was against Moses and Aaron, but their real anger was against God, because God didn't do what they thought God should do. Brethren, when you and I as believers are doing God's will, we have to appreciate that God's will will never leave us where the grace of God won't provide for us. Please understand that point. The will of God will never leave us where the grace of God can't provide for us. We've got an interesting example over in Acts 16, where the Apostle Paul wanted to do the work of God. He wanted to go out and go to a certain area of the world and proclaim the truth. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But twice in the early part of Acts 16, it says that the Holy Spirit forbade Him to go there. And then Paul had a dream, had a vision, where God wanted him to go over to Greece. And so he went over to Greece. He's doing God's will. And when he did God's will, what happened to him? He was stoned. He was thrown in jail. And I'm sure he's probably thinking, hey, isn't it wonderful to do God's will? But you know, brethren, the upshot of that was he was doing God's will. There are times when you and I do God's will, and not everything's going to be sunshine and lollipops. But what happened in Acts 16? Remember, that was a chapter where there was a great earthquake. That was a chapter where the jailer became converted. That was a chapter where the church in Philippi began. And it began because Paul followed the will of God, even when it hurt. Even when it hurt. Remember, the will of God will never lead us where the grace of God can't provide for us. And God's grace very much provided for the apostle Paul. Numbers 14, verse 4. Numbers 14, verse 4. So he said to one another, let us select a leader and return to Egypt. Let us select a leader. Now, I'm not going to turn there for the sake of time, but in your notes, you might want to jot down Nehemiah 9, verse 17. Because in Nehemiah 9, verse 17, you see where they did. Select somebody else and take Moses' place. It got that far. It went that far. You know, basically, there was a riot taking place in the congregation of Israel. They didn't like what was happening. The people made their decision.

They wanted nothing else to do with Moses or this God of Moses. They were in total rebellion against God and his appointed leader. Again, I'd like to read to you from the expositive Bible commentary on this particular section of Scripture. And I quote, "...the more the people wailed, the more excessive their words, the more the people cried, the more they outreach one another in protest of rage. This is the crowd psychology that leads to riots, lynchings, stormings, rampages. Now they begin to aim their anger more directly at God himself. Moses and Aaron were the fall guys, but the Lord was the one who really was to blame. He had delivered them from Egypt. He had brought Pharaoh to his knees. He had cast horse and rider into the sea. Had led them through a barren land and provided bread from heaven and water from a gushing rock. He had spoken, revealed grace and wonder, power and gentleness, direction and the law.

But God was at fault, and they began to curse God to condemn his goodness, to reject his grace. For a giftful of God's power against Egypt, the people worked themselves into such a frenzy of fear, they wished that God had not brought them here at all. Why had he just left them alone? Slavery began to look good to them. The hubbles of Egypt became home again. The memory of a variety of food made the memory of oppression taskmasters less fearsome. So it was that the frightening words of the faithful spies led to the mourning of the entire community and to their great rebellion against the Lord. They forgot all the miracles the Lord had done for them. They condemned his mercy, spurned his might. In their ingratitude, they preferred death. And, unfortunately, brethren, it was death that they were going to get. Numbers 14, verse 5. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Moses and Aaron, you know, here's what, when they ungodly are doing their thing, here's what the godly do. The godly turn to God for help. They realized what was coming. When you've got this kind of rebellion against God by a whole nation, they realize this was not going to be anything that was going to be good for the people. And so they get down on their bellies, on their face, and pray to the great God. The other two fellows, you know, we'll see what they do. Verse 6. But Joshua, the son of men and Kayla, the son of Jafuna, were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. In the symbolic of mourning, they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. And so they're not being emotional here. They're being factual here. They're being spiritual here. And yet one doesn't have to outrule the other, but one can outrule the other. They spoke to all the congregation of children of Israel, saying, The land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. But if the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land. For they are our bread. Their protection is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. So basically, those two men were saying, we need to walk by faith. Let's not look at the obstacles. Let's look at the great God.

So here, God's anger at this point is stoking. God's anger is getting more and more furious. The people are about ready to stone the four men, Moses, Aaron, and the other two, Joshua and Caleb. Notice at this point, and again, God is a God who He knows how to teach. Our God knows how to make a great entrance. Notice chapter 14, verse 10. And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now notice, Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the meeting before all the children of Israel. It's as if the door of the tabernacle bursts open, and there's God standing there. Now, of course, God's everywhere. But you get the picture.

God says, I am not going to let this happen to the men who have been faithful to me. So in the midst of the people's rage, it was building into a storm. The great God, in an awesome display of power, burst into the midst of this situation and put a stop to the whole situation. Brethren, let's pause here for a moment. There are some tremendous lessons for us to learn. When we think about the Israelites and where their heart was, their heart was still back in Egypt. Their heart was still back in the things they could see. Their heart wasn't in it to be with God no matter through thick and thin. They were fair-weather Christians. We don't want to be that way. They weren't even Christians. They weren't even really believers. Let's take a look. Let's go back one chapter to chapter 13 again. Numbers 13. Let's take a look at this from our perspective, the way we might be looking at life as life is happening to us. Numbers 13, verse 28, says, They are a part of your life. There's no getting around the fact they are a part of your life. It's well entrenched. Some of these people have treated you a certain way, not a good way. It's been that way. It will always seem to be that way. It's well entrenched. That's kind of what they were viewing here. Verse 29. The Amalekites dwell on land to the south, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, and so forth. What you see here, from our perspective, you see a lot of people being mentioned there in verse 29. But from our perspective, we see numerous reasons as we go through life. What are real reasons why we might be fearful of something or stepping out in faith with regard to something? We've got these well entrenched enemies. There's a whole parcel of them.

Verse 31. But the men who had gone up with them said, We are not able to go against these people, for they are stronger than we. So well entrenched issues, numerous issues, strong personalities. Verse 32. Verse 33. We saw the Giants, the descendants of Anak there, from among the Giants. We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so were we in their sight. And so people of power, people of influence.

The ten spies told of major obstacles to moving forward. Satan will whisper in your ear, he wants us to have a spiritual heart attack, if you will. Satan wants us to say, you know, there are just too many things. If I go this way, there are just too many issues. There are well entrenched issues, numerous, strong, influential, can't handle it. Can't handle it. Now today, the Israelites then were fearful of Giants.

Do you and I have Giants today? What are the Giants in our life? As I was pondering this, I was thinking what a Giant would stand for in our life today. I came up with three things. I'm sure there are more.

But a Giant is anything that stands between you and God's plan for you. Is there something in your life right now that you can identify, or in my life, that really... You know, Paul talked about how he wanted to go to the church in Thessalonica time and again, but Satan hindered him. We see the story of Job. He also allowed Satan to go and touch Job in many different kinds of ways. There are Giants out there that would stand between you and I and God's plan for you and I.

You need to identify those Giants. A Giant is anything that seems bigger than you and your desire to serve God. What seems to be bigger for you? The ability to earn a living, the ability to pay your bills, the ability to be stronger than the peers around you. A Giant is also anything that is stronger than we are, and we feel we just simply can't face it. We just feel we're too puny. Well, brethren, in most cases we maybe are too puny. But we don't go through life alone.

We go through life realizing it says in 1 Peter 5.7, one of my favorite quotes from the Phillips translation, where Peter says in that translation, We are Christ's personal concern. I didn't use some of these scriptures, but as that's going through and preparing the message here today, there's a number of places in the Bible that talks about Satan was standing next to Son, man, or woman of God. That man or woman of God wants to do the right thing, but Satan's standing right there. And you can appreciate that. You know that's happened in your life.

You know that you've had the Giants in your life, but you also know that God is more powerful than Satan. Different types of Giants that I was thinking about as we were, again, putting my thoughts together for the message here today. The giant of adversity, the giant of doubt, the giant of division, or the giant of delay, or the giant of delusion. So the bottom line here, brethren, as we conclude this first particular point of the two, where is our heart?

Do we have an unleavened heart before God? Let's take a look at a few scriptures along these lines to see where our heart should be. Matthew 22, verse 37. Matthew 22, verse 37. Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. So we are to love...

That's where our heart... where we get all the leavening out. Our unleavened heart should love the Lord with all of our heart. 1 Peter 1, 22. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and sincerity and love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. So we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, and to love our fellow man fervently with a pure heart. Romans 6, verse 17. We'll just have this one and one more before we move on to the next point.

Romans 6, verse 17. Romans 6, verse 17. To God we thank that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You obeyed from the heart. You loved God fervently. You loved man fervently with a pure heart.

You obeyed from your heart. And lastly, Ephesians 6, verse 6. Not with eye service as men pleases, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. So again, brethren, was Israel's heart fully in leaving Egypt? No, it wasn't. But is our heart fully in leaving spiritual Egypt? Only you and I can answer that on an individual basis. The second and last question I want to ask for the balance of the sermon today was, Israel's heart fully into the journey to the Promised Land?

Not just where their heart was, but their actions. Was Israel's heart fully into the journey to the Promised Land? And is our heart fully into the journey? Exodus 14. I think we've read the first number of verses here. I think we've read the whole thing. You know, all these verses here in Exodus 14, when God's people saw the world's most powerful army marching and coming over the horizon toward them, they realized they were basically an unarmed people.

They were stricken with fear. They felt hopeless. They felt helpless. They felt defenseless. They thought their families were about ready to be slaughtered. But that teaches us a lesson as we go, you and I, go through the journey. Believers, as you and I seek to leave spiritual Egypt, are pursued by old enemies. Old enemies. Satan is the father of all leaven. Now, he's the father of all lies. He's the father of murder.

But he's the father of all sin. He originated it. He invented it. He's powerful. He's got great resources. And, you know, when you come, when you start coming to church, when you are baptized, as you live this way of life in Satan's world, he is not going to leave you alone. He doesn't leave the world alone. Why should he leave God's children alone?

Luke, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22. Please turn there with me. Luke, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.

That he may sift you as wheat. So Satan is the father of all leaven.

We're going to go, as you and I plot our way to the Promised Land, to the Kingdom of God, we're going to have a lot of opposition from him.

Not only do we have opposition from Satan, we have opposition from our leavened habits. Our leavened habits.

Romans, chapter 6. How are we, you and I, all of us, how are we at crucifying all those things that we thought we left, we want to leave, but do we find that they sometimes just don't leave, or they want to keep on coming back?

You know, we want to bury the hatchet, but somebody unburries the hatchet. Romans, chapter 6, verse 17.

But God, we thank that though you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Yeah, those are our goals, but sometimes it's hard to attain that in some areas of our lives.

There's a story here that I'd like to relate to you. It's supposed to be a true story.

When the Bastille prison in France was about to be destroyed, one of the prisoners was brought in, with long been chained in one of its dark cells for decades.

But instead of rejoicing at his liberty, he begged them to take him back to the dungeon.

You see, it had been so long since he had seen the light that his eyes could not stand the glare of the sun.

Besides, he said his friends were all dead. He had no home. His legs refused to move. His main desire now is to go back and to die in a dark prison where he had been held captive for so many years.

It illustrates the power of habit.

The poor man in the French Bastille had lived so long in the darkness that the habit of living chained in darkness prevented him from having a normal life out in the sunshine when he finally had the opportunity to be free. He was forced by habit to go back to his chains in the darkness.

An old Spanish proverb says, habits begin like threads of a spider's web, but end like the chains of a prison.

Habits begin like threads on a spider's web, but end like the chains in a prison.

Of course, another thing we've got to watch out for in our journey to the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God, is leavened companions.

Leavened companions. People who enter our life and they do things that get us off track. They may be nice folks, but they tend to get us off track.

I'd like to read you one verse and three different translations. 1 Corinthians 15.33.

If you'd like, you can turn there with me. I'll read that in the New King James and then two other translations. 1 Corinthians 15.33. Where it says, do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits.

Evil company corrupts good habits.

Now, let me read the last portion of that in the God's Word translation.

Where it says, associating with bad people will ruin decent people.

Or in the Bible and basic English, evil company does damage to good behavior.

Evil company does damage to good behavior.

Especially to any and all of our young people here. We need to be very careful about the companions we choose.

Who we choose to be with in school, who we choose to associate with after school.

Because, as the Scriptures say, evil company corrupts good habits, does damage to good behavior.

We don't want that happening to us. Exodus 16.

We know this is the section of Scripture where the children of Israel cry out for food, and God provides them with the manna and the quail.

But it shows something about Israel's heart, as we're talking about the heart today. Exodus 16.

And they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai.

On the 15th day of the second month, after they departed from the land of Egypt.

So they're on the road here for only about a month.

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And we're seeing a theme here, a thread, the whole congregation again.

And the children of Israel said to them, oh, that we have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt.

Again, they keep on going back to this because their heart was really still there.

Although we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for we had brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Now, once again, these people are being overcome by emotionalism, as opposed to Godly spirituality.

This murmuring shows a distrust of God, a faithlessness toward God.

It shows they don't want to submit to God.

It shows they were forgetful of what God had done for them and ungrateful of what God had done for them.

And it shows as well, brethren, when we begin to allow human nature and the words of Satan, the temptings from Satan to enter our minds, enter our hearts, we tended to get prone to exaggeration.

Did they really have that much food in Egypt? Were things really that good in Egypt as they were there in their hovels?

It seems to me they were crying out. They were really wanting to be free.

And yet, as they allowed themselves to be gripped by a wrong heart, they misunderstood where they really were at.

So, once again, brethren, some lessons to be learned as you and I go through on our journey to the Kingdom of God.

God is going to test our faith. He's going to test our faith. Tested faith is strong faith.

All of us in this room say we want a strong faith.

Well, if we want a strong faith, then we have to allow God to test that faith.

Let's look at Romans 5.

Romans 5, starting here in verse 1. Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we are justified. Our past sins have been forgiven by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We know our sins have been forgiven. Because our sins have been forgiven, we have peace. Verse 2. Through whom, through Christ, we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

It is through the blessings of the sacrifice of Christ that we have grace.

And it is through God's grace that we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation and a tested faith.

But we glory in tribulation knowing that the tribulation produces perseverance and character and character hope.

So we see here, brethren, very easily that a tested faith brings about a depth of character.

So as you and I are traveling to our Promised Land, the Kingdom of God, we will have trials. We will have tribulations. And that's the way it should be.

Verse 5. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So let's appreciate, as James would say later on, the trials and the sufferings that we go through.

Because it strengthens the depth of character that we have. And that's why God put us on this planet, to become like Him.

2 Corinthians 1.

2 Corinthians 1. Again, we're looking at tested faith being strong faith.

Tested faith being strong faith. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3.

Let's be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in all of our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

So yes, we're going to go through and have trial and tribulation. Our faith is going to be tested.

We will become the people who can empathize with others. We can sympathize with others. We can walk in their shoes because we too have been tested.

And we can serve them as brothers and sisters in the faith.

Verse 5.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. I talked about James. Let's turn to James 1 for a moment.

James 1.

James 1, verse 5. Talking about how a tested faith is a strong faith, we're going to look at how a tested faith increases our dependence upon God for godly wisdom.

James 1, verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without a reproach, and it will be given to him.

One of the things that we incur as we go through life's trials, as we're on our journey to the Promised Land, is as the trials are taking place, we've got decisions to be made.

How are we going to make those decisions? What decisions are we going to make? We need godly wisdom to make the proper decisions.

Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I do the other thing?

Some decisions are much more fruitful and positive than other decisions. And so we go to God and we say, Father, I need your wisdom. My wisdom simply is not good enough.

Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews chapter 5.

Starting here in verse 7.

As you and I are having our faith tested as it's being strengthened on our journey, you and I relate more and more with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, our Savior.

Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7.

Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death and was heard because of His godly fear.

Notice Jesus Christ cried out. There were tears there.

Just as there have been tears in your life as you have gone before the great God with the trials and the tests and the difficulties and the struggles that you've had to go through on your journey to the Kingdom of God.

Verse 8.

And you know, brethren, if Christ suffered, who are we not to suffer?

Who are we not to suffer if He was one who suffered?

And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

So there's a tremendous value to going through and being tested.

Verse 10.

So, brethren, here we are today, the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Taking a look at history, the journey of the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt, as they began their journey toward the Promised Land, we see that their hearts really were not in leaving like they thought it was.

Their heart wasn't really in the journey like they thought it was.

And so I simply today ask myself and I ask you to look deeply within yourself, you know, where is our heart? Is our heart really where it should be? Where are we in life's journey to the Promised Land?

Are we really doing what we need to be doing, or do we shy away from what needs to be done?

Those are questions each must ask themselves.