“Who told you that?!” (Gen. 3:11)

Who told you ...that you would always be a flawed human being with a sinful nature for whatever remaining time you might have here on earth? Who told you...that you would always ‘sin’ on this side of heaven’? And while we’re at it....who told you that Christians are no longer ‘punished’ for those sins they will continue to commit because ‘Jesus took all our punishment on the cross for past, present, and future sins’?

Is it possible that just maybe many sincere ‘believers’ today might have ‘believed a lie’ that Paul warned would happen in 2 Thess. 2:9-12...and will end up ‘perishing’ because of it because they did not receive nor have a ‘love for the truth’? It certainly would not be the first time this has ever happened.

Let me assure you today that the last thing the ‘god of this age’ wants any professing believer to ‘see’ or ‘come to the knowledge of the truth’ on...is the fact that their freedom was purchased by the One who came to set all men free (Luke 4:18; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; John 8:34). And we know the wicked one who controls and influences the whole world (1 John 5:19)... was cast to earth many ages ago where we are told he ‘deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9). In fact, Satan can even ‘disguise himself as an angel of light’ as well as his servants (2 Cor. 11:14-15) which is why we are warned not to be carried away by ‘doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Cor. 11:3-4; Matt. 7:15-16; Heb. 13:9; Eph. 4:14). He (Satan) has been spinning them ever since back in the garden when he convinced Adam and Eve of that very first lie- the one where God told them if they ate off that one tree...they would surely die (Gen. 2:17). “No...you shall surely not die”...he convinced them (Gen. 3:4). The rest, they say...is history.

Welcome back to Part 5 where we left off in Numbers 13-14 yesterday...a familiar story many I hope...are familiar with. We’re on the ‘same song’ but the ‘n-teenth verse’ where the people of God are still ...believing a lie. God had told them they were going to enter the land of Canaan, take possession of the land and in the process... He was going to overthrow and drive out all the people on the land that needed to come off. It wasn’t even an option; God said it was going to happen but they would need to listen and obey (Ex. 23:20-33). Imagine that!

And as we read yesterday, the 12 men who went in to spy out the land came back to report their findings. Yes, the land was beautiful and fruitful as God had told them it was, but also confirming that there were indeed ‘giants on the land’, a people who in their eyes... they could never overthrow...despite what God had told them. There were two men however, Joshua and Caleb...who were quite confident and ready to go in and take possession given God made it clear that He would be with them and empower them to do what He told them to do. Would you please make note of the numbers here: only 2...of the 12 spies believed God. Two! That would be less than 20% for you math majors out there.

So as we read in Num. 14:1-4, it was the negative report of the majority that spread through the camp that influenced a generation of people leading to their weeping in fear and dismay all night long in their tents as they wrongly concluded that Moses had brought them out there to die; hence their efforts to find new leaders to take them back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron were beside themselves and fell upon their faces before the children of Israel (5).

And yet, with one more vain attempt, Joshua and Caleb stood before the congregation and tried to convince the people just the opposite of what they were all believing and sold on, reassuring them that God would not, nor could not ...lie, and would see to it that all He promised would come to pass (6-9). The people were not having it and demanded those two heretics be stoned (10)...sigh. Would you take a moment and go read Matt. 10:16-22.

Several years ago, as all that I continue to share with you here daily was becoming ‘revealed’ to me through my time spent in the word, and all these ‘missing pieces’ were coming together with such clarity and understanding... I remember visiting with a woman one day who had been raised in a ‘God fearing-Bible believing’ home. And all I was doing was sharing one verse after another with her that made it clear...those who abide in Christ no longer sin (1 John 2:6; 3:6,9; 5:18; 1 Pet. 4:1-2). I can still remember the incredulous look she gave me and said these words: “But nobody can live a life without sin...that’s impossible.” At that moment...I felt all the wind leave my sails of confidence in God’s word and while driving home so discouraged...I asked the Lord...”what am I dealing with here?”

For those of you who don’t believe God can speak to His people...I’m sorry (John 10:27), but I remember clearly hearing Him speak to my heart while driving home... informing me that what I was up against...was the same spirit that the Israelites succumbed to in Numbers 14, out there in the wilderness. This of course drove me back into the word which I am again sharing with you here today. That first generation of people who had been gloriously and miraculously delivered from bondage in Egypt...refused to believe they could go in and take possession of the land and be the overcomers that God told them they would be... provided they listened carefully to Him. Sadly...we continue to learn from history...that we don’t learn from history.

I hope you realize and see here...that this was the moment in which an entire generation of people determined their own destiny and would not be able to enter the land of peace and rest that God had made available to them. This is the very same generation and group of people that Paul pointed out to us in 1 Cor. 10:1-11 that God was ‘not pleased with’ and that we would do well to sit up and take notice of how God dealt with them and that we better not be like them. This was the same generation of people we read about in Hebrews 3:7–4:10; where we ‘believers’ today are warned that “we fear...lest we fall short entering His rest” (4:1) and that we are ‘diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience’ we are reading about today (Heb. 4:11; Luke 13:24). You might want to read Heb. 3:16-19 once more as well, before finishing up with Numbers 14:11-38. Then, meet me back here tomorrow....Lord willing.