 Amen. Well, welcome everybody. I'm Mark Preshear, one of the pastors here. We're glad that you're here to worship with us. We worship the living God, amen. Amen. It's a joy to be with you to worship the Lord. And this morning, as we prepare for worship, please turn with me your Bibles to Numbers chapter 14. Numbers chapter 14, our text this morning, verses one through nine. Please keep our brother Jerome in prayer. I'm standing in here in his stead while he's out of town. I look forward to him being back. I love to hear that brother lead us in worship. But in the meantime, you're stuck with me. Numbers chapter 14, verses one through nine. This is our call to worship this morning. And this is just a time in our order of service where we orient our hearts and minds toward the worship of God. God has given instruction in his word for how he is to be worshiped. And it's important that we worship him as he is prescribed. So we take a lesson then from Numbers chapter 14, beginning in verse one. So then, all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt, can you imagine? Or if only we had died in this wilderness, why has the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? And so they said to one another, let us select a leader and return to Egypt. Well, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jefuna, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel saying, the land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. It's an amazing text of Scripture to see the unbelief of God's covenant people and the wilderness, isn't it? Joshua and Caleb here are calling for faith in the Lord to enter the land, and the congregation of Israel responds in verse 10 by calling for their death. They're prepared to stone them to death with stones. Now think about it with me. Think about the context. God has delivered Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. He sends great and terrible plagues upon the Egyptians by the hand of Moses. He brings them out of Egypt with great possessions, with great wealth. He parts the Red Sea. They walk through on dry land. He destroys Pharaoh's armies, drowning them in the Red Sea. He provided for them bread from heaven. He provided them water out of the rock. He met with them at Sinai. They heard his audible voice. He led them by a pillar of smoke during the day, a pillar of fire by night. He gave them his law. He entered into covenant with them. They will ask in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 7 what great nation is there on this earth? That God, that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us and for whatever reason that we may call upon him. And yet for all that, when the children of Israel come to Cadesh Barnea in the wilderness of Peran to the southern border of the promised land of Canaan, the land that God had promised to give their fathers, they refuse to trust the Lord. For all that God had done for them, they refused to trust the Lord. They send out spies into the land, one from each tribe. And those spies come back with word that the land is exactly as God had said that it would be. It is truly a good land. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. There are clusters of grapes there so large it takes two men to carry them. However, of those spies ten of them returned faithless. The men who lived there they said are like giants. We are like grasshoppers in their sight. The cities are fortified, the walls are high. If we go into that land, we are going to die. That was their thought. And what do the people do? They respond with faithlessness themselves. It's interesting isn't it that often faithlessness is contagious. If you are faithless you can spread that cowardly wicked faithlessness to other people. Here their faithlessness the faithlessness of the ten is contagious. Verse 1 the people wept all night. Verse 2 the people complained all day. Verse 4 let's go back to Egypt. Faithless. The Lord describes them in the book of Hebrews as unbelieving. Disobedient and unbelieving. All of course except for Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jefunah. Verse 7 the land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land they would say. If the Lord delights in us then he will bring us into this land and give it to us. A land which flows with milk and honey. And of course the Lord delighted in them. They were His covenant people. Of course the Lord delighted in them. Well Moses once in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 34 the Lord heard the sound of your words Moses says to the children of Israel and he was angry and the Lord took an oath saying surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers. It's a terrifying judgment isn't it? Not one. We know that to be true. Every one of that first generation the emancipation generation every one of them died in the wilderness except for Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jefunah the children of those lived and entered into the land. But the Lord says Caleb he shall see it to him and his children I'm giving this land on which he walked because the Holy followed the Lord and 38 Joshua the son of Nun who stands before you he shall go in there encourage him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Caleb and Joshua simply believed God and they trusted him for his promises. Listen you and I are here because of God's promises aren't we? We're here for those things we're here because God has promised in his son our Lord Jesus Christ through faith in him forgive us of all our sin to give us an inheritance with him in heaven. We've been delivered out of bondage we've been delivered out of bondage to our sin we've been given the bread of life the Lord Jesus Christ we've been nourished with life giving water a fountain of life though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might become rich and the Lord has carried us through this wilderness as he says in Deuteronomy 1 as a man carries his own son and will then you and I presume to be faithless or unbelieving in our worship would we presume to be faithless with our decisions faithless in our employment faithless as we provide for our families faithless as we serve our spouse faithless as we raise our kids faithless as we walk through the tracks of this world we're eating on our inheritance will we be faithless? No not like those Israelites we have their example as one we're not to follow so let's worship the Lord now in faith let's worship, let's sing to the Lord with hearts full of gratitude for all that God has done for us in Christ and let's sing as those people who believe God for his promises pray with me Lord we believe you we take you at your word because you are faithful steadfast immovable we trust you Lord we trust in you God our Father we trust in you God the Son, we trust in you God the Holy Spirit we thank you Lord for the blessed privilege of your gracious promises to us in Christ having turned us from our sin having turned us to the Savior and having given us an inheritance with him we now with grateful hearts sing praises to you we long to hear your word preached and to see wondrous things from your law help us now Lord in spirit and in truth with heart soul mind and strength to worship you in spirit and faith that we would do help us Lord now in this we pray in Jesus name amen