DO WE BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS?
MATTHEW 7:21
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,’will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Some how we seem not to believe the Word of God. We look at this verse and know Jesus said it, but we do not believe He means it. We think we can twist the word around to suit out own purpose and still make it into heaven. But, can we? Today we will look at one of the hardest working men in the Bible, one picked by God, one who worked until he was 120 years old for God and yet did not make the promise land. Moses is said to be a type of savior like unto Jesus, and the promise land is a type of heaven. Moses came as a savior to rescue the children of Israel from slavery, just as Jesus came to rescue us from a world of slavery to sin. Moses came to lead the children of Israel to the Promise Land, just as Jesus came to lead us to the Promise Land, heaven. From Exodus 2 thru DEUTERONOMY 34 we have the story of Moses from his birth to his death. In between we read about his youth in the house of Pharaoh raised as a ruler of Egypt. To the time he learned about who he really was and killed an Egyptian then fled to a far away land married and then in Exodus 3&4 God picked him to save His people. All of the many things Moses did in Egypt, the miracles God worked through him. Then to the leading of the people out of Egypt, what kind of undertaking was it?
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them?
They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day. Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would be required! Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit. And Oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 1,000,000 gallons each day and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water! And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
But then, there is another problem each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long think of it! This much space for camping.
Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not!
You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him.
God gave Moses many instructions while in the wilderness, the Ten Commandments, the many Laws about what to eat, what to wear, how to
build the Tabernacle to how to worship, ect. God feed them and gave them all they needed to survive in that wilderness. Yet they would not believe God when He told them to go into the land and take possession of it, and because of their unbelief they were denied entrance. In NUMBERS 13 14 we find the people going into the land to see what was there. One from each of the twelve tribes, when they returned they reported what they had seen. Ten reported that the land was full of beautiful land with many fruits, but giants lived there and there was no way they cold ever take the land. But, two said yes the land was full of giants but with the help of God they could take it. So all the people had a meeting and decided not to try and take the land because they were afraid they would be killed. They rebelled against God and God was going to destroy them and make a nation out of Moses. But Moses pleaded with God and changed God’s mind then God sent this judgment against them.
NUMBERS 14:20 32
20 So the LORD said, "I have pardoned them according to your word;
21 but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22 "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,
23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. 24 "But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.
25 "Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea."
26 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
27 "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me.
28 "Say to them, "As I live,’says the LORD, "just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;
29 your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.
30 "Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 "Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.
32 "But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.
Now they wondered the wilderness for forty years until all those that had rebelled against God were dead. Now the time comes for them to go into the Promised Land, but one of their number can not go.
DEUTERONOMY 34:1 7
1 Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,
2 and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea,
3 and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
4 Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
6 And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.
7 Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.
Why had the man who had lead them through so much, who had been the voice and hand of God, been denied the Promise Land?
NUMBERS 20:6 12
6 Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them;
7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
8 "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink."
9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him;
10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
One small disobedience, one small mistake, one small not following the word of God and Moses was denied the Promise Land. So how can we today say that we do not have to follow the word of God? How can we delude ourselves into believe that the God that denied Moses the Promise Land we let us into heaven when we have not followed His words today? Some say that the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New, but is that right?
HEBREWS 13:7 9
7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
PLAN OF SALVATION
ROMANS 10: 17
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
HEBREWS 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
ACTS 2:38
38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ROMANS 10:9 10
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
MARK 16:16
16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
MATTHEW 7:21
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter
