Without Faith We Cannot Enter the Promised Land

Well, as I mentioned earlier in our announcements, I think all of us are familiar with the frequent prayer requests that we send to our membership regarding many members who experience health issues. At least most of them are health-related issues. And I also would assume that we're not even aware of other member concerns that undoubtedly exist, and many times people need relief, whether it's a health issue or not. And I would say, just knowing the names of all of you, and of all the people in Kansas City and in many other places, actually, but in these two areas, knowing many of the concerns that we have, even locally, I'm really amazed at the level of trial and testing that many of us are currently enduring. And I'm sure that you would know, maybe many others. I don't really try to keep up with Facebook, it just, the book of faces confuses me. So that's what one of the news anchors calls Facebook. Facebook. The book of faces. Look it up in the book of faces. And yet, Dr. Ward is in a letter that he sent out as the chairman of the Council of Elders. He mentioned that we're entering a historic time, a historic period of trial and testing. Now, I want to read a little bit of that because I think it is important that we think about that. Because as we see, you know, many needs, you know, we might wonder, well, why? He wrote shortly after receiving the law, Israel entered into the terms of the Old Covenant, and God then told Moses to build a sanctuary patterned after the heavenly sanctuary, so he might dwell among them. And when the tabernacle was raised up, God's Spirit filled that tabernacle, and God's Spirit was with them. It was at the tabernacle, it was later at the temple, but it was not yet in them. That's a distinction that you see when we read about in John, I think it's 14, 15, 16, 14 or 16, that it talks about, I think John 16. It talks about how that the Spirit of God needs to be in us. It needs to be something we completely rely on.

But, goes on to say, as the nation, the nation of Israel, they rebelled against God. They quenched His Spirit numerous times, and by the time the ten spies were sent to survey the Promised Land, they had tempted God ten times.

So, as a result of their continued lack of faith, they were sentenced to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Now, again, I know we're familiar with that, and yet I want us to think a little more about it, because it is applicable to us today.

So, he went on to ask a little later in the letter, so what about our habitation? Will we be ready for the day of Pentecost? Oftentimes, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, things may seem to get worse, even though we've examined ourselves and repented of our sins and exercised faith in the sacrifice of Christ. He says you, meaning each of us, all of us, need to be aware of the fact that we're entering a historical period of trial and testing. Now, I think that could be applied many different times, but certainly from what we have been seeing, at least recently, we're in a time of trial at this time.

To think back to what the Israelites went through, they had just seen an incredible display of power and majesty of the great God who had drawn them through the Red Sea. Through the Red Sea on dry ground and then drowned the enemy in the sea.

And yet, what they did was complain and murmur against Moses and against Aaron, people that got it selected and appointed to be responsible for trying to lead this band of tribes, to try this huge family in many tribes, trying to lead them and to head toward the land that flows with milk and honey, the promised land that they were to be given. And yet they murmured against Moses and Aaron and God, because that's really where it was directed. We'll read a verse about that. Because of their lack of faith in God during those trying times. Now, what can we learn from those examples? The example of the Israelites. Do we, when we face trials and tests and when we are aware of others facing very difficult trials.

And even as we've mentioned here, the loss of a little child or the loss of a beloved pastor. Do we still rely on faith when we're faced with trials of that type? I think it's good for us to think about it. It's good for us at this particular time to consider that. Let's look back. Dr. Ward's kind of summarized what Israel went through, and yet I went back and could at least read some of them. I don't know if I found all of them. But I want us to look at what it was that happened. Israel had just been miraculously drawn out of Egypt. They had just seen the miracle at the Red Sea. And yet here in Exodus, even later, we went over Exodus 15 last time, where this song was taught to the Israelites about how marvelous God had been in delivering them in a supernatural way. And yet in verse 22, Moses ordered the Israelites to set out from the Red Sea. They went into the wilderness. They went three days in the wilderness and, of course, started to get thirsty. And when they came to Marah, they couldn't drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That's why they call it that. And the people in verse 24 complained. They murmured, is what your King James says. But complain really makes it seem a little more graphic to me. The people complained against Moses, saying, what are we going to drink? He cried out to the Lord. The Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the waters became sweet. See, now, that didn't take very long. Only a few days after they leave the Red Sea, and they're already starting to complain. They didn't have the patience that would have said, well, let's see, God just brought us out of this corrupt and false system in Egypt. He did that miraculously, and now we're out in the wilderness. We don't have any water. I wonder if He can provide water. That was what had to be going, surely doesn't appear to be going through many people's heads. Maybe Moses and Aaron were wondering, I wonder where we're going to get water as well. But, of course, God did sweeten the waters of Mara and cause them to have. Even down in verse 27, they move on to Elam, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. That's where they camped with the water. So they found a desert oasis. Amazing. They probably didn't have a cell phone to be able to figure out where that was. They were confused as they wandered the wilderness. Here in chapter 16, what do you find? Verse 1, the whole congregation set out. Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai. The 15th day of the second month after they departed Egypt, so one month away. One month out of only three weeks out of the Red Sea area. Verse 2, the whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. They said, if only we had died to the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and ate our fill of bread for you brought us into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly. You're going to starve us to death!

And of course, we see in verse 4, the Lord said to Moses, I'm going to rain bread from heaven for you. And each day the people are going to go out and gather enough for that day. So again, God set up a plan where they couldn't have things stored up for the next month or two, but they were going to have to rely each day on what God would provide.

He says, I want them to go out to gather enough for that day, and the way, or in that way, I am going to test them whether they will follow my instructions or not. And so again, this chapter 16 is one that we commonly read. It's identifying the Sabbath day. It's showing, you know, six days you can go out and you can pick up manna, and you can have something to eat for that day, but you're going to have to do it again tomorrow. And yet, on Friday, if you try to carry it over, it just goes kaput. It's like an avocado. I buy an avocado at the store. I look at it, and I feel it to see what it's like. And if you can pick one up that's brick hard, or you can pick one up that's black, or that's green, or that you think is a little bit ripe and it will be okay tomorrow. And I'm going to give up. I'm buying avocados. I think that's why glocomole is so popular, because you know, you buy an avocado at the store and it will be ready at 9 18 tomorrow morning. And if you can't eat it right then, you're out of luck. See, this is what Israelites are running into. Yeah, manna doesn't last overnight. I can't pick enough so that, ah, I'll sleep in tomorrow. I'll just have a snack later in the morning. No, that doesn't work. You've got to get out there and get it. Of course, God described it, and He told them, on the sixth day, verse 5, when you prepare what you bring in, it will be twice as much as you gather the other days. And so Moses and Aaron said to them in the evening, You shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we that you complain against us? See, Moses and Aaron were just the, you know, the figureheads. They were the physical leaders.

But it says you're really complaining against God. He goes ahead, and the latter part of verse 8, or verse 8, Moses says, When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and you're filled with bread in the morning, Because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against Him, What are we you're complaining is not against us, but against the Lord. So again, I think that verse in 7 and 8 there, it shows that if we get down into the feeling of being upset, Of complaining about how God happens to work things out in our lives, If we're murmuring and grumbling about that, and you might want to blame me, And most of the time I wouldn't even know anything about it, but that's immaterial. That's what God does here. He does know. He goes on to say, in verse, he talks about the quail in verse 13. They're going to be able to also have quail. And so God has shown them some water. He has shown them the manna in the morning, the quail in the evening. But, in verse 19, Moses says, let not one of you leave any of it over until the morning. And so he was explaining to them how you've got to do it each day, And only on Friday can you carry it over, and it'll be okay on the Sabbath. And so he was showing them principles regarding that. But in verse 20, they didn't listen to Moses. They didn't want to know, or they didn't pay attention, or they thought, well, that doesn't make sense. We're going to do it our way. And, of course, some left part of it until morning, And it bred worms and became foul. It stank. And so, you know, that didn't work. I'm not going to read all of this, because you can easily read all of this. It's pretty clear. But he describes how that he's showing them the Sabbath day. In verse 23, tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. It is a day that you are to respect. In verse 27, on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather. Obviously, they didn't listen, and then they didn't do what Moses told them, And they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, Well, you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions. See, that's exactly what God could see with the way that they were not looking to God to provide, Not looking to God to give the answers, whether it was water, whether it was bread, Whether it was quail, whether it was how they were to do it, Gathering on six days, and then gathering on the sixth day for more, That will be okay on the Sabbath. They simply didn't have any kind of faith or trust in God. Of course, chapter 17 is another example.

They camped at Rephidim, in verse 2, The people contended with Moses. They quarreled with Moses. It sounds like Moses had a terrible job. All he could do was just try to figure out how he could help the people, And of course, listen to whatever it is God told him to do, And yet the people were set on complaining. They were set on contending with Moses, and they said, Give us water to drink. Moses said, Why do you contend with me?

Why do you test God? That's what he would tell them. But the people thirsted there for water, And people complained against Moses, And said, Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, And our children in livestock with thirst? First you're going to starve us to death, Now you're going to cause us to die, because there's no water. Now, the example goes on to show what God told Moses. In verse 4, What shall I do with the people? They're almost ready to stone me, It doesn't sound like they were just complaining.

They were trying to think of a way to get rid of Moses. And the Lord said to Moses, Go ahead of the people, Take some of the elders of Israel with you, Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, And go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock, Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, And so the people may drink.

And so Moses did so, And in the sight of the elders of Israel, And he called that place Masah and Marabakh, Because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, Saying, Is the Lord among us or not? See, they were observing what God had done In bringing them out of this captivity, But they were not going to trust him. They were not going to rely on him. They were not going to believe that he could either rescue them, Or he could supply whatever they needed To go through the trials that they were facing.

And it was clearly, you know, they didn't have the faith that would be needed. Now, if you read in chapter 19 and 20, you know, You see the giving of the law, And Moses having again to be up on the mountain, To be away for a while. And in chapter 32 of Exodus, you see the big fiasco of the golden calf.

Chapter 32, Moses has been up on the mountain, He's been receiving the Ten Commandments, The tablets written by the finger of God. He's ready to come down. Chapter 32, people saw Moses delayed to come down from the mountain. The people gathered around Aaron, said, Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us.

As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, We don't even know what's become of him. You know, they were easily distracted. And I'm pretty sure Moses didn't have any idea Maybe how long he might be there. Maybe he did, but he perhaps didn't know It was just going to be at God's direction whenever I'm to come back down. And of course, then Aaron fabricates a story about what happens, About how the golden calf appeared.

And of course, he shaped it and molded it and made it. You know, you read that. Verse 4, he took the gold from them, formed it into mold, cast an image. And then down in verse 24, when Moses comes down and sees the great sin, That they are sinning, Aaron's tune is a little different. I said to them, verse 24, whoever has gold, take it off. So they gave it to me, I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf.

It's a miracle! It's a miracle! Now, it's obvious that Aaron had some flaws. And Moses had some flaws, too. I mean, he was the meekest man on earth, according to numbers. But he ultimately had some of his own difficulties. Actually, the way that the people managed to complain and murmur And not have trust and faith in God was what eventually seemed to get to Moses.

Because we're going to read that in a little bit. Let's jump on over. Those are ones you can easily find in Exodus. In Numbers 11, verse 1, Now, when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortune, So that's a little more general, just complaining about, This is just terrible. Why are we out here? Why are we wandering around? Nobody seems to know where we're headed. Well, we're following a blazing fire at night, And we're following a somewhat noticeable cloud during the day.

But they complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortune, The Lord heard it and his anger was kindled. See, amazing that as they begin, it's just the beginning of this journey. If we jump over to chapter 12, here you have even the family getting upset with Moses. Verse 1, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses Because they didn't have to like the woman that he had married, The Cushite woman that he had married in Egypt. And so it says in verse 3, The man Moses was very meek, more than anyone else in the face of the earth.

He was meek, he was humble. And yet, I would not want to have been a part of this discussion, Because it says in verse 4, Suddenly the Lord says to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. And so, you know, they are all summoned to the tent of meeting, And so the three of them came out, and when the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, Stood at the entrance, he called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward.

And he said, I want you to hear this, When there are prophets among you, I the Lord will make myself known to them in visions, And I will speak to them in dreams. But not so with my servant Moses, He is entrusted with all of my house, And with him I speak face to face. Clearly not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord.

Why, in verse 8, then, were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? To hear, he not only has the people complaining, More quarreling, contending with him, But here he has his own kind of trusted helper, Aaron, and his sister Miriam, Who are taking way too much on their selves. And, of course, in this case, I think God was able to solve that, As he did cause Miriam to have leprosy. And he later solved that.

But again, I'm just trying to hit the highlights here Of what it was that Moses was dealing with. In chapter 13, you see the spies being sent out of the Promised Land, And after selecting whoever is to go in, they're able to do that. In verse 21 it says, They went up and spied out the land from the wilderness.

And in verse 25, at the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out the land, So they made a good search. They went up, they saw what the area was like. They were wondering just how much of a difficulty it's going to be.

Then in verse 27, you see what is later called an unfavorable report. We came to the land where you sent us. It flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit, so they brought back some tremendous fruit. Yet the people who live in it are strong. The towns are fortified. They're very large. Besides, we saw the giants. We saw the descendants of Anak there. And the Amalekites live in the land of the Nagab, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Ammonites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan. They gave what would later be called an unfavorable report in verse 32. Verse 30, Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let's go get it! I mean, you described it, but let's go get it. Let's go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it. The men who had gone up with him said, We're not able to go up against these people. They're stronger than we are. Now, this is impossible. There's no way to achieve what... I mean, you've told us a lot of crazy things up to this point, but this is just insane. This is suicide. All of us go in, and we're just going to get slaughtered by these well-established, you know, stronger than us, people of Canaan. So, verse 32, they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, The land that we've gone through is spies and land that... It's the land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw were of great size. And so, you know, they complained about that. They complained about everything, the food, the water, you know, the lack of any kind of help, any kind of assistance, any kind of support from God. Again, in chapter 14 here, verse 1, All the congregation raised a loud cry. The people wept that night. All the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. The congregation said, you know, they should have left us in Egypt. Or, that we have died in the wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? All of our wives and children are going to be slaughtered. They're going to be...it would have been better in Egypt. See, they kept harking back to how much better off they were before God entered into their life and began to show them what He was going to offer, what He promised that He would give to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He was going to give to the descendants, the children of Jacob. Again, you know, after that discussion, and I won't read through all of it, but in verse 11, the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? How long will they refuse to believe in me? How long will they refuse, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I'm going to strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them. I'm going to make of you, Moses, a nation greater and mightier than they. You know, God was watching this. And see, He respects people who believe. He respects people who have faith. These are things that we can do today and that we should be doing. But here in chapter 14, you know, you see this continually repeated. Verse 26, Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I've heard the complaints of Israelites, which they complain against me.

See, God is leading up to just telling, even though Moses has now pled for their lives, Don't destroy them, don't make a nation out of me. God listened to what Moses had to say, but He did have this to say in verse 28.

Until the last of the dead bodies lies in the wilderness. Now, this is where they were essentially sentenced to wandering around for 40 years. And I don't know that we have any real idea about where all the wandering was. I'm not familiar with the pattern that it looks to me like sometimes they were going in circles. And sometimes, you know, they didn't seem to know where they were.

I mean, God could be leading them wherever, because He says that He did lead them. Of course, in chapter 18, you've got the revolt or the rebellion of Korah and Dathan and Abiram. Again, verse 1, Korah and Dathan and Abiram took 250 Israelite men and chose from the assembly, well-known men they confronted Moses. So here they're going to bring this up to Him again. You're doing a terrible job. You know, we refuse to follow. And of course, if you read through this whole account, you'll find out that they're swallowed up by the earth.

What is it? In verse 32, as soon as He finished speaking, the ground under them split apart, the earth opens its mouth and swallowed them up along with their household and everyone who belonged to Korah and all their gods.

Clearly, they were not looking to God in faith for His deliverance. And yet, what do you read in verse 41? You know, this was kind of somewhat familiar about going through the Red Sea and having God bless us with water and with food and with meat. And now they continue to contend with God. And then they have the ground. And, you know, an earthquake happened, or whatever it was, it just opens up, swallows off. The ones who were one to oppose the designated leader from God of the Israelites. And soon as they see that, on the very next day, verse 41, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebels against Moses and against Aaron.

They say, you killed the people of the Lord! You know, that is just crazy. As far as the things that they would do, not look to God, not look to Him for help. Let's jump on over to chapter 20. Numbers chapter 20 is another account of the waters of Maribah, or at, it appears to be, a similar location. Or at least it's called similar.

And here in verse 2, there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and against Aaron. People quarrel. They contended with Moses and said, would that we have died with our kindred before the Lord? See, this is, you know, starting to go a little further on. And yet, in this case, Moses is going to be told something a little different. Verse 7, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, take the staff. And so this was a part of what he had been told to take before. Assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, command the rock before their eyes to yield its water.

And thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them. Thus you shall provide drink for the congregation. See, now this is a little different situation. The instructions were a little different than the earlier time, you know, when God had to intervene and provide water out of the rock. And in this case, Moses was told what to do. But it would seem that Moses, even though he was meek and humble, and he was beginning to be a little irritated with the faithlessness of these people that he's trying to lead.

So Moses took the staff from before the Lord as he commanded him, gathered the assembly together. Verse 10, before the rock, he said to them, Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? You know, that was later being mentioned to me, not the right words, not the right representation that God wanted from his faithful servant and leader.

And so then Moses lifts up his hand and strikes the rock twice with his staff. That wasn't a part of the instructions. It wasn't a part of the instructions to yell at them and to tell them how rebellious they are. It wasn't, you know, there were several flaws here. But God answered that anyway. God brought water abundantly and the congregation and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not trust in me, and show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not be bringing this assembly into the land that I'm giving you. You're not going to be going into the Promised Land. See, it wasn't that there was a certain code or rule or law for the people and there's a different code for Moses.

He was under the same code, respect God, honor God, and you know, you see many times where he's falling on his face before God, or he's approaching the tent of meeting, and he is incredibly respectful of God. In this particular case, you know, that wasn't the case. I think you find in Psalm 106 that this was a rash talk. This was things he shouldn't have said and certainly things he shouldn't have done, but God brought the water anyway. God was taking care of the people. So, those are a number of the cases where the Israelites didn't have faith in God. But I want us to jump over to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Because this, in a sense, is being written by Moses as they've gone through a lot of the wandering around and they're waiting, just going into the land. Joshua, of course, is going to be leading them into the land. Moses realizes he and Aaron, actually I think in that same chapter where Miriam died, Aaron would later die. So, Aaron wasn't around when we get to where they are here in Deuteronomy chapter 8. But what you find, Moses reiterated to them that God had a purpose in their wandering in the wilderness. He had seen their lack of faith. He had seen their, in a sense, confusion at not being able to trust God. And yet now, they had wandered throughout the wilderness and they were on the verge of going into the land. And yet, Moses tells them what God was actually doing here in Deuteronomy 8. Verse 1, this entire commandment that I command you today, you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase and go in and occupy the land. Remember in verse 2, the long way that the Lord your God led you. See, this was a matter of, he was leading them. Even though Moses ended up having a noticeable flaw, and even though Aaron didn't always do the right thing, and Miriam certainly didn't, God was still leading them. He was still guiding and directing them. The physical people that we look to and that we respect are not perfect. None of them are. And yet, that doesn't change the fact that God is. He's the one that we can always believe in and trust. But he says, remember the long way the Lord your God led you these 40 years in the wilderness?

He did that in order to humble you. He did that to test you to know what was in your heart, and to learn whether or not you would keep his commandments. These are three things mentioned here. Humble you, test you. He even explains. Verse 3, He humbled you by letting you hunger, and then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Said your clothes didn't wear out, your shoes, or I guess your feet didn't swell. It wasn't the shoes swelling, but the feet didn't swell.

Verse 5, Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child, so the Lord your God disciplines you. So he was really giving them instruction. Actually, these were a much younger group, somewhat also affected by the attitudes of their parents, because they knew that we have been brought out of Egypt. They even mentioned this. And yet, therefore, he says, as you realize what God is doing, verse 6, Keep the commandments of the Lord by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. See, the Lord wanted to give them this promised land. He wanted to give them the answer, the blessing of being able to live in that land. And of course, he goes ahead and gives more instructions here about how they were to do this. Verse 10, You shall eat your fill. You shall bless the Lord your God for the good land that He has given you. In verse 11, though, I want you to take care. Take care that you don't forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, His statutes, which I'm commanding you today. When you've eaten your fill, you have built fine houses, and you live in them. When your herds and flocks are multiplied, your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself. See, this is something that the people who are blessed beyond measure here in the United States, we have, you know, the incredible blessing of God.

We have, you know, places to live that, compared to many around the world, are incredibly good or nice or fine. But He says, whenever you go into this Promised Land, don't exalt yourself for getting the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness. He says in verse 16, He fed you with manna, in order to humble you and to test you, and in the end, to do you good. See, He was discipling them out of love, out of a concern for them and for their well-being. Now, as you know, you know, they would later go into the land. They would partially do what God tells them, and then they would have a rocky road up and down, up and down, never really fully compliant. Now, we want to jump over to Hebrews chapter 3, because this begins to talk to us. As members of the Church of God today, we're told, and Paul was writing, or the writer of Hebrews, was writing this book, and writing it to people who knew what happened to the people of Israel, who were familiar with the Old Testament, who were quite even enamored with their understanding of what we would see as the Old Testament. And yet, here in Hebrews chapter 3, he was writing to Christians, people who had accepted Jesus Christ but had a Jewish background, and so they were still aware of and relying on and trusting in, they were relying on Moses in many ways more than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so in verse 7, he makes a contrast here. Moses did a good job as a servant of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he's the one that you, as a member of the Church of God today, you have to look to. And he says in verse 7, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, and he's quoting here from Psalm 95, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the wilderness. And he was referring back, don't do like your ancestors did. You know that story. You know how that they were disobedient, how they were rebellious, how they were complainers. You know how that turned out. When your ancestors in verse 9 put me to the test, though, they had seen my works for 40 years, therefore I was angry with that generation. I said, they always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. And in my anger, I said, you are not going to enter my rest. You're not going to enter the Promised Land. Verse 12, take care, brothers and sisters. Brethren, take care that none of you have an evil, unbelieving heart, an evil heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. Brethren, this is applicable to us today as we endure difficult, troubling situations. We are being tested. We are being tried. And yet it tells us clearly what we are to do. He says, take care that none of you have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from God, but exhort one another every day. As long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ if only we hold our first confidence to the end. God has brought us to a relationship with Jesus Christ and with His Father, our Father, the Eternal Living God.

As it is said in verse 15, today if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart, as in the rebellion. He goes ahead to describe in verse 16, now who were they who heard and yet who were rebellious? He wants to make a point here. Who was it that knew what God was doing, or at least they saw His signs and miracles, and yet still rebelled? Was it not those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? Verse 17, but with whom was He angry for forty years?

Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, and to whom did He swear that they wouldn't enter His rest? If not to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Because they didn't keep their eyes on the great God who is their leader, and they didn't have faith in God. And see, brethren, that's what God expects all of us to continue, to just have faith in God, to know that, well, we want things to turn out well for us, but that doesn't always occur.

Sometimes we are allowed to suffer and struggle, and even Jesus suffered, and it says He learned obedience through that suffering. And so, if God allows us to suffer, then what can we learn from it? What should we learn from it? Are we still subject to the will of God? Yes. Should we revert back to the complaining and murmuring, and contending that Moses' experience from the people?

Clearly not. But He does tell us here in verse 4 what to do, or chapter 4. Therefore, in verse 4, while the promise of entering His rest is still open, let us take care. Take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it, for indeed, the good news came to us just as it has to them. But the message they heard didn't benefit them, talking about in the past. They were given a message, they were told they were being delivered, they were shown they could be delivered, they were shown they could be provided for. But it says it didn't benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

See, what was missing? Well, it was a lack of faith, a lack of trust, a lack of dependence. They could complain about everything, but it was not something that always turned out like they wanted. I imagine there was a good percentage of people who didn't like the taste of manna after a while. Probably after a short while, because that doesn't taste like the onions and the leeks and the cucumbers and the gourds and whatever. They might have had back in Egypt. And maybe the water wasn't quite as good, so they had reason to complain.

And yet they didn't want to look to God in faith, and that's what we're told to do. For we, verse 3, who have believed, enter that rest, just as God has said, as in my anger I swore they shall not enter my rest, through his works, or though his works were finished at the foundation of the world.

For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows. God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again, in this place it says, they shall not enter my rest, since therefore it remains open for some to enter it. Those who formerly receive a good news fail to enter because of disobedience. So not only faith in God, but God's expecting obedience.

And that's why he's mentioning the Sabbath and talking about how in many ways that is a test command, or it certainly is a signifying command of one of the things that the people of God are going to be doing. In verse 7 again he sets a certain day, today, saying through David, much later in the words already quoted, again Psalm 95, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. You want to have a softened heart. You want to have a sensitive heart to God, to trust God.

For in verse 8, if Joshua had given them rest, then God would not speak of another day. See, that wasn't the final fulfillment. Once they actually did go into the Promised Land, and those who were left, they still struggled. They had even a good amount of help with the fall of Jericho and all the other ... See, God said, I'd drive everybody out. They didn't believe that either. They had to fight them. They had to get engaged. And sometimes that worked.

Sometimes it didn't. But if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak of another day. So then the Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. Not only a keeping of the Sabbath as we do in obedience today, but the rest that is coming in the kingdom of God. The peace that is coming whenever God will give us full deliverance from this physical body.

Verse 10, For those who enter God's rest cease from their labors, as God did from His. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs. There, He talks about several things, but one of them is clearly having and keeping faith in God, regardless of what we face. Obeying God, as we see He expects us to do, because if we don't, then how do we expect God to relate to us? And how can we have a close communion with the Father if we don't obey Him?

He talks about unbelief. He talks about disobedience. He talks about not having faith in God. That's what He says the Israelites failed in. And so, brethren, we don't want to fail in approaching the Promised Land, in approaching the Millennial Rule of Christ, the time when the kingdom of God will come, a time when a real rest not only be given to the people of God, but really to the whole earth. The whole earth is going to be refreshed and restored, and there's going to be an incredible blessing poured out from God. People are going to, those who live into that, are still going to have to learn, still going to have to be taught.

But at that point, if we keep faith in God, if we continue to put God first in our life, if we continue to realize, you know, I want to pray for the will of God to be done. I want to come to know what that is, because I don't always know. I want to come to know when I want to do that will. And, of course, we're subject to the will of God. So I think the examples that we see of the Israelites, those examples are incredibly important. Again, we're familiar with almost all of them I've read, I'm sure. And yet, just to see how that they continue to resist and refuse and then deny that God was able to help them.

We don't want to fall into that category. We want to live by faith. Dr. Ward mentioned that as well. You know, faith is not just something we have at a given time when we have a problem. It's got to just be the way we are. We have faith in God all the time. Faith in His way. And, of course, He will provide for us. So faith through trials, not apart from trials, but faith through those trials, is the design that God has created for the people of God.

And whenever we think about it, we know what other verses tell us, that we need to endure unto the end, and that we need to remain watchful, and we need to be responsive to many other instructions that were given in the New Testament. And yet, when can we say that we have endured unto the end?

When can we say that we have done that? We know that that's what we're supposed to do, and it's clear from what Jesus said, that those who endure unto the end are the ones who will receive salvation. So when can we say that we've endured unto the end? Well, it's only when we have endured all the trials of this life in faith unto the end. That's when we can say, I've endured unto the end.

And so, don't lose heart. God knows what He's doing. He is leading through the power of His Spirit and through the head of the church. He is with us. And so we never wanted to take our eyes off of that.