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So now we resume our studies of the book of Numbers with the help of God. And you may remember that two weeks ago, when we began the study, we suggested that the book of Numbers appeals to us because it is the record of a nation's epic journey across the desert to their promised inheritance. And we noticed that we, as believers, having been, uh, born again and redeemed by the blood of our Passover lamb, are on a journey likewise, on towards our inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us.
The analogy between the two, therefore, is very helpful, and the Old Testament story often helps us because it illustrates the corresponding element in our Christian salvation. But at the beginning of our study tonight, I would like to em- emphasize the importance of noticing the differences between Israel's experience and ours. Otherwise, we might fall into the mistake of thinking that our experience is exactly the same as theirs, and theirs exactly the same as ours.
So take the beginning of it all. Israel were redeemed from the, and delivered from the tyranny of Pharaoh and from the wrath of God by the blood of their Passover lamb. We too have been delivered from the wrath of God by the blood of our Passover lamb, namely Jesus Christ our Lord. But pray notice the very big difference between the wrath of God from which the Israelites were delivered and the wrath of God from which we are delivered. The wrath of God fell upon only the firstborn in the families of Egypt.
And had it fallen upon the Israelites, there again it would only have fallen on the firstborn in each family. And therefore, they're being delivered by the blood of the Passover lamb from the wrath of God meant deliverance of the firstborn from death at the hands of the angel of destruction. And the wrath of God was, as we would term it, a temporal judgment. It was not the eternal judgment. But when we Christians believe that we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, notice the future.
We shall be saved, says Romans chapter five, from the wrath of God through him. The wrath of God that we are talking about in that context is, of course, the eternal wrath of God, eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord and the might of his glory. So there are very big differences between Israel's experience and ours. It is so at the other end of the journey. Israel's inheritance to which they marched was, uh, so many acres of land in the Middle East. Do you see? Good land, yes, flowing with milk and honey, yes, but still a geographic ge- geographical land in the Middle East.
Our inheritance is different, isn't it? It is an inheritance incorruptible, untainted, and undefiled, reserved in heaven for us. If we then notice the difference, we can also see a similarity, and this will become important for us this evening. A similarity between what they had to do to get into their inheritance and what we have to do now that we are in ours. They had to fight to get in. If you read the book of Numbers, and of course you all read the book of Numbers, what a silly thing to say, if you read the book of Numbers, what a stupid thing.
Uh, when you read and read and read and read the book of Joshua, as you do, uh, do you see, you will find that the first half records all the battles that the Israelites had to fight under Joshua. And they had to fight them, uh, throughout half the book. They weren't allowed to settle down. They had no rest. They had to remain in the military camp as their base, and from there go forth to fight the battles of the Lord, and the battles fill half the book of Joshua. It's not till all the kings and authorities had been put down that J- the book of Joshua would say that the land had rest, and the people were free to then to enter their inheritance, do you see?
That is true of us too, isn't it? There's a sense in which we are already in our inheritance, because though here with two feet on earth, we are said, uh, in Ephesians to be risen with Christ and seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God help us to understand ever more what that means. But we are likewise told that for the present, in the heavenly places, we are engaged in warfare. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the world rulers of this darkness. In the heavenly places, and we have therefore to take the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil day.
While that is true of us now, of course, one day the Lord will put down all rule and authority, and we shall enter the eternal rest of God in him and enjoy our inheritance to the full. So with those preliminary thoughts, let's now come back to fulfill the promise that we made last time. I said, at least I shall try and fulfill it. I said that in the brief sessions that we have together, we will be concentrating on these rebellions in the second half of the book. On the first occasion, we made the point that before God allowed them to start traveling, do notice at what point they're traveling.
They had come out of Egypt, they had arrived at Sinai. At Sinai they had received the law, but at Sinai they came perilously near to apostatizing from God altogether and made themselves an old golden calf, uh, to follow instead of following the Lord. And the Lord came near to destroying a lot of them. Through Moses' intercession and the spectacular grace of God, God forgave them. Some of them were destroyed, but for God forgave the nation as a whole, and the nation as a whole was now allowed to carry on and journey towards its inheritance. But before they were allowed to journey, God laid down these preparations and provisions.
And we briefly noticed on the first occasion how these pre- provisions and preparations are related to the subsequent history. Tonight we're going to begin to look in earnest at this first rebellion here. We shall see that if only they had carefully followed this preparation, particularly that of the Passover, and the guidance by the cloud, and the guidance by the ark, they might never have involved themselves in this rebellion. But our purpose, our first, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, purpose is to ask ourselves, what exactly did that rebellion involve, do you see?
As distinct from these other rebellions. You know, there's a thing about sin, and in particular about rebellions, that they're not necessarily monotonously the same. Sin has a tremendous variety to it, and that's why it catches you all unaware sometimes, as rebellions do likewise, do you see? And it is our wisdom to distinguish the different, uh, points of the rebellions, that we might be knowledgeable about them and, uh, be wary of them. Did you hear the story about the ridiculous Englishman? What do you say? Which one of all the many? Uh, you see, well, there was a cliff on a, on a seaside, a seaside place, you see, and uh, it was a very dangerous cliff.
So the town council, uh, took advice and decided to set up a warning. Don't come too near the edge of the cliff, you see. And nobody fell over for years. So they said to themselves, well, what's the point of this warning then? And they took it down. And then, of course, somebody fell over. Stupid, wasn't it? They should have left the warning in place. Have you any notion why the Holy Spirit has put these rebellions here? To help us. Yes, you've got the idea, my boy. To help us not to fall into the same trap and, uh, to become rebels in the same way.
Which is why we must study it. And if we were any doubt as to why we must study it, we shall notice tonight that in Psalm ninety five, the Holy Spirit preaches a sermon, and he bases his sermon on the historic fact of this rebellion. And when the Holy Spirit comes to write the New Testament, he repeats the sermon. Why must we study this rebellion? Because it's in the New Testament. And it's not there for nothing. Uh, but that raises the point. Whereabouts in the New Testament is it? Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. La la la la la. Uh, somebody over there has an idea. Yes, there's a hand up. You find it in Corinthians, First Corinthians ten. Really? And there are a number of verses there. Then you go down to Hebrews, and then you go to 2nd Peter. Oh, I say. All right, that, that, the time you've done that, that'll be all the rebellion, sir. Yes. But very good. It is certainly mentioned, Hebrews chapters three and four, and nearly the entirety, not completely, but almost the entirety of those two chapters are taken up with a sermon given by the Holy Spirit based on this rebellion.
We have to take it seriously. So let us now ask what the nature of the rebellion was, and we shall read from the actual text of Numbers beginning in chapter fourteen. Numbers chapter fourteen, uh, verses, uh, one to ten. Now, somebody with a very loud stentorian voice, please get up and spare my voice and read it, would you? So that all can understand and hear it like they did Ezra when he got up and spoke the word distinctly. Steeply. Volunteers.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we have died in the land of Egypt, or would God we have died in this wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land? To the- to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jehu, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes, and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed through to search it is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us out into this land and give it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey. Only a rebel not ye against, only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us.
Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not, but all the congregation bade stone them with. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me, and how long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have showed unto them? Thank you so very, very much. And now let's look at Hebrews chapter three To pick up the first exhortation that the Holy Spirit directs towards us based on this incident in the Old Testament.
This is Hebrews chapter three, beginning in verse seven. Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, today if you shall hear his voice, and he says it in Psalm ninety five. We haven't the time at the moment to read it. Today, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, like as in the day of the temptation in the wilderness, wherewith your fathers tempted me by proving me and saw my works for forty years. As God's sentence on them for refusing to enter the land. Wherefore I, says God, was displeased with this generation and said, they do all way err in their heart, but they did not know my ways.
As I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brothers. So here we come to the application that the Holy Spirit makes, and you will notice how solemn it is. Take heed, brothers, lest by chance there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. Now that verse has been a great puzzle and often a great pain to many believers, particularly believers with a specially tender conscience.
And reading this exhortation of the Holy Spirit, be careful lest there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. They say to themselves, is that, oh, is that possible for a true believer to fall away from the living God and be lost? And of course, there are many believers, true believers, who actually hold it is possible for a true believer to fall away from the living God and be lost, do you see? In my youth, it used to be called the falling away doctrine. And this is but one of many warnings similarly solemn in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in my experience over many years, it is a p- these are passages that have troubled many dear believers who wonder if perhaps they have done a sin that has, uh, now been proved unpardonable.
They've fallen away and will eventually be lost. Now, if that should happen to any one of us, to begin to think like that, the last thing to do is to run away from what the scripture is saying. The only safe thing to do is to open the Bible and read it, but do please take notice of what the Holy Spirit actually says, instead of being happy to just paraphrase it loosely, as many people do. So now we're going to ask ourselves, first of all, about this rebellion, the actual historical rebellion. And when the people refused to enter the Promised Land, how did God assess it?
What was involved in what they did? Were they, so to speak, dear, happy believers who suddenly tripped over some bad temptation or other and got in despair, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, and uh, depression or something? They didn't trust the Lord. They didn't trust the Lord? No. Why can you say that, my boy? They did the Lord. They must have trusted the Lord to get out of Egypt and and get this far in the wilderness. Well, the passage said that they didn't trust the Lord. The passage says it. Yes. Oh. Oh, where is that? I think I just read it. You just read it?
Well, read it again in case somebody wasn't listening. And the Lord said unto Moses, how long will this people provoke me? How long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have shown unto them? Yes. Believe the Lord. Thank you, yes. Yes. And, uh, the verse, in fact, says, uh, two things, doesn't it? Uh, in my translation, verse eleven says, it's an important verse, this is God talking. The Lord said unto Moses, how long will this people despise me? Now ponder that a moment.
How long will this people despise me? How did God get that out of it? In what sense had they despised him? Well, it seems to me this, that God had provided them a land flowing with milk and honey. Beautiful land, as God thought, a delightful inheritance with all its wealth and riches. The people put their noses over the border, had a look at it, and said, oh no, if we'd have known it had been like this, we wouldn't have come. Oh, I see. So they despised what God had given them.
Well, that is to despise God too, isn't it? Of course, it wasn't the first time in this little bit of history that they had gone into that, do you see? The people murmured in the ears of the Lord, it says, and the Lord was angry. I could give you some advice. If you get invited one of these days along with a chum by some good Christian lady, you see, and you are sitting at lunch, and after the first course she goes out into the kitchen, like they do sometimes, and it's a bit of a long while, uh, preparing the second course, and your chum says to you, what did you think of that first dish? And you say, I think it was lousy. Well, okay, uh, do be honest, but make sure she can't hear.
Make sure she's far enough away in the kitchen before you say in her ear, this is lousy. Or she might come back with a frying pan and use it, you see, on your unthinking scalp. And the people said it in the ears of the Lord, and he heard. They said on another occasion, you see, the Lord, why can't he give us some flesh to eat? We do remember all the beautiful fish we had in Egypt. Wasn't that gorgeous?
And you know what? We got it free, no Tesco's there then. We got it free, they said. And the onions and everything else, we got it free. And all we have in this wilderness is old, this old manna stuff. Oh, I see. Came down from heaven nonetheless. Very, very interesting. Because in the book of Exodus, when they first got the manna, it is said that the manna tasted like wafers made with honey, but they were bought stiff with it. This light bread, which is very odd, because the land, the promised land that they were going to, was said to be flowing with milk and honey.
And if you can't stick honey, well, don't go then. You know, if you go to the Jewish synagogue here for Saturday morning, do you see? When the word of God is brought out on the scroll of the law of Moses, and it's carried round the synagogue, all the men will get their prayer shawls that they have on and touch the law and put it to their lips. Why? They are saying what the Psalm says, thy word to me is sweeter than honey. Do you find it so? Honestly?
Do you find God's word sweeter than honey? You say, well, not all those names in Chronicles, but some bits you find sweeter than honey, I'm glad of that, because actually the Bible is God's conversation with us, isn't it? Yes. And if you can't stick his conversation now, you'll be advised not to go to heaven, wouldn't you? Manage being in heaven for an old eternity with God speaking the kind of stuff he speaks in the Bible. How would you react to that? Well, hopefully we're changed, David. Oh, he's got a hope, you see. It's going to be changed, yes.
That's right, it's going to be changed. Good for him. Hope that the change is not too drastic. I can only speak for myself. But yeah, well, yes, I know, Josie. The people despised me, says God, for the provision that I had given them. And then they refused to believe me, do you see? And in chapter fourteen, verse nine, do you see, said the spies to the people, only rebel not against the Lord. So they were rebelling against the Lord.
They despised him, they refused to believe him, they were rebelling against him. What next? Uh-huh. They talked of stoning the two s- the two good spies that came back with the good report. The others came back and said, it's a terrible land. Do you know, we were there, and it's a land that eats up the inhabitants. You can't live there, it devours all the inhabitants. And with the next breath they said, we saw the inhabitants, and they were huge men. Well, how have they not been eaten up? Curious, isn't it? How illogical our criticisms of God can be sometimes.
And when Caleb and and Joshua said, but no, it's a delightful land, and the Lord will be with you and give them into your hand, there's nothing to fear. The result was they they talked of stoning them, rebelling against them and assassinating them. And then they talked of making themselves a captain. Would it not be better to make ourselves a captain and go back to Egypt? Rebellion? That is to deny the whole purpose of their redemption. Isn't it? Yes. But way down in Egypt, the whole point was not merely to deliver them from Pharaoh, but to take them to the great inheritance that God had sworn to their fathers to give them.
And if you arrived at the inheritance and said, no, thank you very much, well, you were denying the whole purpose of redemption. That's serious, isn't it? Yes, and then, of course, do not believe me. Look at what verse, uh, chapter fourteen and verse, uh, twenty two says. Because all those men which have seen my glory and my signs which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not obeyed my voice.
Would you call them believers? Now, this is a sheer rebellion of unbelief, isn't it? With- in spite of all the evidence, beginning in Egypt with the plagues, and his evidence of the miracles in the wilderness, they still have not believed him, and they have tempted him. That is, they have put a pistol to God's head and said, God, you'll have to do better than this, else we shall kick you out. Rebels then. You will see. Not hearken to my voice. And once more in fourteen twenty three, fourteen twenty three.
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it. They despise God. They weren't nice believers, who under trial had come into difficulty, and their faith had wobbled a bit, and they got downhearted and despaired, and they had been caught out in some sin or other, and were feeling now they couldn't be forgiven, and and it worried them stiff. It didn't worry them at all. They wanted to go back to Egypt. Why does the Holy Spirit then, in Hebrews chapter uh three cite this incident and uses it as a basis to warn the Hebrew believers?
Let's go back to Hebrews chapter three. m Hebrews three sixteen. You'll see the Holy Spirit is saying in three twelve, take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. But exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.
While it is said, today, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. For who, when they heard, did provoke? Nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. Now, because this is so solemn, we must spend some time unwrapping it and unpicking it and examining what the words mean, mustn't we?
They provoked God. And who were they that provoked God? Were they not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? Well, wait a minute. What does the ancient text tell us? That all the thousands of Israel, uh, all provoked God? To whom was it that he swore, they shall not enter my rest? To everyone in the company? How do you read it? Who was, pardon, hello? One over twenty years old. Yes, sir. It was not everybody.
It was the ones over twenty years old in the company that were now, uh, grown up to responsible manhood and were the leaders of their families. It was they who provoked the Lord. And among that group, only Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report. It was those over twenty that God said, okay, well, you'll not enter my rest then. You'll die in the wilderness. And they did die in the wilderness, as the book of Numbers will record. That left those that were over under twenty when they came out to marry eventually and have families.
By the time the nation went in, the people that were nineteen when they came out were, of course, fifty nine. before they got in. And the wilderness for them was a time of discipline and trial and education of God, fitting them to enter in. It was that first generation that came out. They were an evil generation. But let us notice verse, um, uh, verse thirteen, and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient. Let's pause over that. Because, uh, if you're anything like me, you will say, but there have times when I've been disobedient too.
Anybody here who is a Christian has never been disobedient? Anybody? Hand up. Go on, you don't say it, do you? That you have never been disobedient. Of course you, you don't. Yes, we've all been disobedient from time to time. In many things, says James the Apostle, we all of us offend God's principles. Then does that mean we can't enter in? Well, now I've got to w- make the old gray matter work. Apologies in advance. There are two different words in the Greek of the New Testament for disobedient.
Herduse for disobedience. The one that use is used here, they were disobedient and they couldn't enter in because of unbelief and so forth, is a special word that is in the whole of the New Testament never used of a true believer. So let me cite you one or two passages where it is used. This is Acts chapter thirteen. Acts chapter thirteen. Oh, sorry, Acts chapter fourteen.
And this follows Paul's preaching for two Sabbath days in the synagogue at, uh, uh, Antioch in Pisidia. And he preached the gospel, of course. And chapter fourteen verse one says, and it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude both of Gees, Jews and Greeks believed. That was the one group then. They believed. But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected against the brethren, you see.
Well, now these Jews that were disobedient, what would you say of them? They were nice believers, and they didn't happen to like the preacher. The good old author says disbelieving. The disbelieving, jolly good stuff, you see. Yeah? It means that, uh, it means a failure to obey, actually, a failure to bow to God's word, to reject his word, to disbelieve it, and in that sense to disobey it. They weren't converted, were they? These Jews. They were disobedient. To what were they disobedient? Yes, the message of God, that is the gospel that Paul preached.
They were very religious, but they wouldn't have it. Now let's look at another place where the word is used. This is the epistle of Paul to Titus. Mm-hmm. Chapter one, epistle of Paul to Titus. Verse fifteen. To the pure, all things are pure, but to them that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
And what would you say these people are? Nice believers having a bad Thursday or something? No, they're not. No, they're not, are they? Not even close. They are downright unbelievers. Yes. And when the Holy Spirit says to these folks that profess to be Christians, to whom the letter to the Hebrews is written, now be careful, my brothers, lest there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. He cites the Old Testament incident of the people who refused to go into the land.
That's what it means to disobey. To reject the very salvation and the inheritance and the promised land that God offers. To despise God. To turn back from the living God. That is what he's talking about. Do you see? But let's, let's refine it again. What exactly is it that these people didn't believe? The people in, uh, the, uh, story in Numbers, and the danger to the people to whom the letter is of Hebrews is written. Let's read in chapter four of Hebrews.
Let us fear therefore, lest happily a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached to us. Is anybody here got a different reading, a different translation there? Good news. You is good news. We've had good news. As Jackie over there. Gospel. You, you have a gospel. Good for you. Anybody else got a re- a different variant translation? Yes. Well, anyway, it is the ordinary word for gospel in the New Testament. We have been evangelized. We have had the gospel preached to us in our day, says the writer, even as they had the gospel preached to them.
Yes. What gospel was preached to them? I know what you'll say if I ask you what gospel has been preached to us. You'll, you'll, you'll tell me about the, uh, we were under the wrath of God, and the blessed Lord was our Passover lamb, and through his blood we are covered and we're delivered from the wrath of God. That is the gospel, uh, do you see? Um, yes. What, what, what was the gospel preached to them? They needed deliverance from the wrath of God. Yes, that's right. They needed to be taken out of Egypt for, for freedom. They need to be taken out of Egypt. Yes, that's right.
That the Lord himself would take Pardon? That the Lord himself would take him into the land. Ah. Yeah. You are of the mind that there were two bits to the gospel? Mm-hmm. You better say that again, in case we've misunderstood you, sir. There are two bits to the gospel of the Israelite. What two bits? Being brought out, meaning taken in. Being brought out of Egypt, taken in in the sense of being taken into Promised Land. Yes, but surely the second bit was optional. I mean, haven't I read somewhere that Moses came to the, uh, Israelites and said, you are, you are having a hard time down here, aren't you? And all these cruel, unsociable working hours, and doubtless you are feeling in the blues, and I know God would like to do something to you, for God is kind, and he proposes to come and, if you'll have it, he'll, uh, deliver you from tyranny to Pharaoh, you see, and set you free outside the boundaries of Egypt, where you can then please yourself what you do.
Mm-hmm. And of course, I, I, I, I could tell you, says Moses, um, there is a second part to the course, like there are to some university courses, but that's optional. The second part is that if you're really keen, you could go on and, and uh, foot slog your way across the desert and then enter the inheritance beyond. Uh, but of course, that's for those that are very keen, but you don't have to take that bit. The main thing is to get out of Egypt. And so long as you're out of Egypt, you're free from the wrath of God, and uh, that will do. Yes? No. No? No. No. You're preaching heresy, Tim. Pardon?
Surely the whole thing Yes. The whole thing is a package deal. Did you hear that? The whole thing goes together. You can't take the first bit without the second bit. You can't claim that you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, if you are not prepared to push on the road towards the inheritance. That's not optional. To s- say that I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and by the power of God, but I'm not too keen on following God and moving on, like you say, and, uh, going in for the inheritance.
Well, the keen ones in the church do that, but I'm not interested in that. I'm content to know I have been redeemed. And you're not going to follow on with the Lord? The Holy Spirit calls that falling away from the living God. The second bit is not optional. It's a two-part thing. You take the lot, or you don't have anything. And that is the seriousness of it. They had the gospel, we've had the gospel preached to us. They had the gospel preached to them, but what happened when they heard the gospel, according to Hebrews?
What does it say? I mean, there in chapter four, Verse two, the end of verse two. your translations will be different, so let's hear them. It didn't profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith in the end of earth. There's no faith. They didn't believe the gospel. Didn't believe it. No. Anybody else got a different translation? Not united by faith. Not united by faith, yes, with? In those who heard. With those who heard, yes. That's another possible way of translating it. That is, they were not, they had the gospel preached to them in those terms, deliverance from Pharaoh, maintenance through the desert, entry into the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, one package deal.
That was good news and gospel. But the word preached didn't profit them. They didn't believe. They were not believers. And they despised God. And they despised the inheritance when they saw it. And said it was better in Egypt. And proposed to make a leader and go back to Egypt. They were not believers. Or translate the other way, if you want to, they were not united by faith with them that did hear and obey. Who were they? Well, people like Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua, and Caleb.
They not only heard the gospel of that day, but believed it. And old Caleb of eighty and a half, still going strong, do you see? Yeah. Yes. So this is a question, basic question of those of us who profess to be Christians. Are we giving the evidence in our lives that our faith is genuine? A believer, a true believer, will not be lost, because a true believer has an intercessor, our blessed Lord Jesus, who intercedes for him and her, that his faith should not fail.
And if it temporarily fails, like it did with Peter, our blessed Lord will intercede for that person, and their faith will be restored. A believer will not perish. The question that confronts me tonight is, am I giving the evidence in my life that my profession of faith is genuine? That's a very different question, isn't it? I've used the analogy before, I'll use it again, and the sheer repetition of it, uh, will bore you, but it will get into the head like a boring chisel gets in to the wood.
The difference between a condition for having eternal life and the evidence that we have eternal life. When a little baby is born, it, uh, cries, and everybody is delighted. Perhaps the last time they'll be delighted, but, uh, uh, everybody's delighted. Why is that? Because when the baby cries, it's evident that it is alive. It's not stillborn. The crying is an evidence that it is alive. But the baby didn't get life by crying, did he? And if the baby is stillborn, it's no good saying, well, cry, baby, cry.
It's no good. They don't get life, the baby doesn't get life by crying. The life is given it as a gift through a parent. But the baby is then expected, as it grows, to give more and more and more evidence that it's got life. We get eternal life as an absolute free gift. But having got it, sooner or later we shall be asked to supply the evidence that our faith is genuine and that we have eternal life. For as the verse puts it in chapter three, we have become partakers of Christ.
What is the evidence? If we hold fast the confidence of our faith, firm to the end. Said our Lord, if you continue in my word, then you shall be my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And to sketch in the history of these people to whom the letter to the Hebrews is written, to just sketch that in briefly, it was this: they were, after all, Hebrews. By the miracles on the day of Pentecost and subsequently, they were convinced, so they said, that Jesus was the Messiah, and they thought that was wonderful. And some of them had suffered at the in the beginning, you'll see, but now they were not attending the Christian assembly.
Some of you are forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, raised in the mind of the writer. Well, what were they doing then, and where were they going? And why weren't they coming? And when the writer wanted to talk to them about our Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest, you know what, they weren't, they weren't very interested to hear it. They'd become slow of hearing. And what time they ought to have been teachers, they were still babies, spiritually. Why weren't they glad to hear that Jesus is the high priest? Well, ladies and gentlemen, if Jesus was the high priest, exit Aaron and the line of Aaron as high priest.
If Christ's sacrifice is the only one needed, that's an end of all the other sacrifices in the temple. Yes. If Christ has entered into heaven, you don't need the temple in on earth. And now when these people began to face it, but oh, what would their people say? And what would the rabbi say? Ah. And that was the danger, wasn't it? That when they came to see all the inheritance that there is in Christ, his once and for all sacrifice, his heavenly priesthood, and all the rest of it.
Some of them now didn't seem to want to go on to that. No. They were going back. What would that mean if they went back. They didn't believe in the first. They didn't believe in the first place, did they? And so the New Testament, the New Testament here, the Holy Spirit preaches us this very practical lesson, not to undermine our confidence in God, not to give us the thought that a true believer can perish. True believers will never perish. But it does ask us to look to the evidence of our lives.
What evidence does my life give that I am genuinely going on with God, step by step, and moving on towards the great inheritance? What evidence that I have genuinely believed the gospel. So this is a very solemn thing, but in the end, of course, it is encouraging, because those verses do not mean, those verses in Hebrews do not mean that a believer can fall away and be lost, but they do exhort us to show that if we are genuine believers, then we must show the evidence.
For said our Lord to those that believed on him, if you continue in my word, then you shall really be my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. David, is that the odd slip, the the fear that you're saved or lost, you're not sure? That's not what we're thinking about at all. We're not thinking about that at all, no. No, we're not thinking about that at all. Many folks. Walking away from the Savior completely. That's right. That's right. That's right. In many things, we all come short. And Paul himself says, I, I follow after, but I, I tell you, I have not yet attained.
We all come short. But the true believer, by God's grace, wants to push on and go on with God. That's a true believer. In spite of all the trials and difficulties and pains and sorrows of the way, you'll see. The point is, well, these folks, did they ever truly believe? No, didn't, did they? Didn't believe in spite of all the evidence, in spite of all their professions of faith. In fact, they despised God and rejected him and refused the gospel. Righto, uh, let's uh pause now and take our eats and drinks, and uh, uh, those of you who would like to give me before ten o'clock, uh, fifteen more minutes, we'll see whether you survive the eats and the drinks, and if you do, I shall call you back at about, uh, twenty to ten.
just for ten more minutes that I can, uh, explain certain other things.
