Numbers 14:11 And the LORD said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me… I. THE SIN OF ISRAEL IS HERE DEFINED: "How long will it be ere they believe Me?" Observe that God's account of all the murmuring and fear which these people felt was simply that they did not believe Him. They doubtless' said that they were naturally afraid of their enemies: the Anakim, the sons of the giants, these would overcome them. "No," says God "that is an idle excuse. No fear of giants would enter their minds if they believed Me." If these sons of Anak had been ten times as high as they were, yet the almighty Lord could vanquish them, and if their cities had been literally as well as figuratively walled up to the skies, yet Jehovah could smite them out of heaven, and cast their ramparts into the dust. Gigantic men and battlemented cities are nothing to Him who divided the Red Sea. When the Omnipotent is present opposition vanishes. "Ah," but these people might have replied, "we fear because of our weakness. We are not a drilled host, like the armies of Egypt. We know not how to fight against chariots of iron: we are only feeble men, with all these women and children to encumber our march. We cannot hope to drive out the hordes of Amalekites and Canaanites. A sense of weakness is the cause of our terror and complaint." But the Lord puts the matter very differently. What had their weakness to do with His promise? How could their weakness affect His power to give them the land? He could conquer Amalek if they could not. Our trembling is not humility, but unbelief. We may mask it how we please, but that is the state of the case as God sees it, and He sees it in truth. Mistrust towards God is not a mere weakness, it is a wickedness of the gravest order. II. DESCRIBE this sin of not believing. 1. At the first blush it would seem incredible that there should be such a thing in the universe as unbelief of God. Jehovah's word is but Himself in action, His will making itself manifest; and is it to be supposed that this can be a lie under any conceivable circumstances whatsoever? Oh, the incredible infamy which lies even in the bare thought of calling in question the veracity of God. It is so vile, so unjust, so profane a thing that it ought to be regarded with horror, as a monstrous wrong. 2. Consider, next, that, though unbelief certainly exists, it is a most unreasonable thing. If God hath made a promise, on what grounds do we doubt its fulfilment? Which of all the attributes of God is that which comes under suspicion? Truth enters into the very conception of God: a false god is no God. Any other doubt in the world may plead some warrant, but a doubt of God's truthfulness is utterly unreasonable, and if sin had not filled man with madness, unbelief would never find harbour in a single bosom. 3. Again, because this sin is so unreasonable, it is also most inexcusable. As it is to the glory of every man to be upright, so it is to the honour of God to be faithful to His solemn declarations. Even on the lowest conceivable ground, the Lord's own interests are bound up with His truth. There is no supposable reason why the Lord should not be true: how dare we then, without the slightest cause, cast suspicion upon the truthfulness of the Most High? 4. I venture to say that unbelief of God's word ought, therefore, to be impossible. It ought to be impossible to every reverent-hearted man. Doth he know God and tremble in His presence, and shall he think of distrusting Him? No one that hath ever seen Him in contemplation, and bowed before Him in sincere adoration, but must be amazed at the impertinence that would dare to think that God can lie. III. THE SIN BITTERLY DEPLORED. We have all been guilty of it. But what I want to call to your remembrance is this, that in any one case of doubting the truthfulness of God there is the full venom of the entire sin of unbelief. That is to say, if you distrust the Lord in one, you doubt Him altogether. The Scripture calls Him, "God who cannot lie." Do you think He can lie once, then He can lie and the Scripture is broken? "Ah, but I mean He may not keep His promise to me; I am such an unworthy person." Yes, but when a man forfeits his word it is no defence for him to say, "I told an untruth, but it was only to an unworthy person." No, the truth must be spoken irrespective of persons. I have no right to deceive even a criminal. "Do you dare say that to one person the Lord can be untrue? If it can be so, He is not a true God any more. You may as well doubt Him about everything if you distrust Him upon any one matter. Do you reply that you doubted Him upon a very trivial matter, and it was only a little mistrust? Alas! there is a world of iniquity in the faintest discredit of the thrice-holy Lord. Reflect, then, with sorrow that we have been guilty of this sin, not once, but a great many times. Timorousness and suspicion spring up in some bosoms like weeds in the furrows. They sing the Lord's praises for a great deliverance just experienced, but the next cloud which darkens the sky fills them with fear, and they again mistrust Divine love. IV. Lastly, as we have now deplored this sin, we shall conclude by heartily DENOUNCING IT. 1. This sin of unbelief, if there were no other reason for denouncing it, let it be reprobated because it insults God. 2. This is sufficient reason for denouncing it, and yet since weaker reasons may perhaps help the stronger, let me mention that we are bound to hate unbelief because it is the ruin of the great mass of our race. Why are men lost? All their sins which they have done cannot destroy them if they believe in Jesus, but the damning point is that they will not believe in Him Thus saith the Scriptures, "He that believeth not is condemned already." Why? "Because he hath not believed on the Son of God." 3. We may hate it, again, because it brings so much misery and weakness upon the children of God. If we believed God's promises we should no longer be bowed down with sorrow, for our sorrow would be turned into joy. We should glory in our infirmities — sea, we should glory in tribulation also, seeing the good result which the Lord bringeth forth from them. The man who steadily believes his God is calm, quiet, and strong. 4. One very shocking point about this unbelief is that it has hampered the work of Christ in the world. The Christ that can save is a Christ believed in, but of a Christ who is not believed in it is written, "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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 shewed among them? |
    |