The Census of Israel

The Census of Israel

(No. 2198)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 5, 1891,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar, the priest,
who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan
near Jericho. But among these there was not a man ofthem whom Moses and
Aaron, the Priest, numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel
in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lordhadsaid of them, They
shallsurely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of
them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."
Numbers 16:66.

WE have come to another census, an important stopping place in the
march of a nation's history. This carries our thoughts back to the
ancient Bible story connected with the chosen people of God. A census
was taken of the tribes of Israel in the wilderness two years after
they had left Egypt. It only numbered males who were over twenty–the
men capable of active service in war. By thus taking a census of His
people, the Lord showed that He valued each one of them. They were
registered by their families and by their names, thus were they
personally enrolled in the family book of the living God and He thus,
in effect, said to each one of them, "I have called you by your name;
you are Mine." By the registration of each man by name, he felt that he
was not lost in the crowd, but was, by person and pedigree,
acknowledged as one of those to whom the Lord had promised the land
which flowed with milk and honey. There was good reason for taking the
number of the people just as the nation was forming, so that in the
wilderness they might be arranged, marshaled and disciplined for the
conflict which lay before them. When commanded of God, because He saw
that great ends would be served thereby–and when associated with
redemption–a census was by no means a wrong or a dangerous national
arrangement. David ordered the people to be numbered, but because his
motive and his method were wrong, it brought a pestilence on the land
but, in itself, the taking of a census was a wise and useful thing.

Thirty-eight years had passed away since the first numbering at Sinai
and the people had come to the borders of the Promised Land, for they
were in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. The time had come
for another census. The wisdom which commanded the counting of Israel
at the beginning of the wilderness journey also determined to count
them at the end of it. This would show that He did not value them less
than in former years. It would afford proof that His word of judgment
had been fulfilled to them and, moreover, it would marshal them for the
grand enterprise of conquering the land of Canaan! They were to go
forth in their armies to fight giant races and armies versed in war.
They were to dislodge nations from their ancient strongholds and, with
the sword, destroy guilty aboriginal races which God had condemned to
destruction. And for this, their military strength needed numbering and
ordering. Here was good reason for the census, which now, for the
second or third time, was carefully carried out.

Our text is from the Book of Numbers and the book well answers to its
title, for it continually deals with numbers and numberings. The
numbering on this occasion was not of the women and children or the
infirm, for the order ran thus, "Take you the sum of all the
congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and
upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war
in Israel." If the numbers of our Churches were taken in this fashion,
would they not sadly shrink? We have many sick among us that need to be
carried about, nursed and doctored. Half the strength of the Church
goes in ambulance service towards the weak and wounded. Another
diminution of power is occasioned by the vast numbers of undeveloped
Believers, to whom the Apostle would have said, "When for the time you
ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again what are
the first principles of the oracles of God: and are become such as have
need of milk, and not of strong meat." They should have become men, but
they remain babes in Grace! They are sadly slow in reaching the
fullness of the stature of men in Christ Jesus. How many are quite
unable to bear arms against the foe, for they need to be, themselves,
guarded from the enemy! To revise the Church rolls so as to

leave none but vigorous soldiers on the muster roll would make us break
our hearts over our statistics. May the Lord send us, for this evil,
health and cure!

When the second census was taken, it was found that the people were
nearly of the same number as at the first. Had it not been for the
punishment so justly inflicted upon them, they must have largely
increased. But now they had somewhat diminished. They were a rapidly
increasing people when they were in Egypt–the more they were
afflicted, the more they multiplied! The family of Jacob increased at a
marvelous rate from the time of the going down into Egypt to the time
of leaving that land. This was changed during the 40 years of the
wilderness, for the whole of the grown men who came out of bondage were
judged unfit to enter into the Promised Land because of unbelief. And
these, dying away rapidly, the people scarcely maintained their number.
It is of God to multiply a nation, or a Church. We may not expect any
advance in our numbers if we grieve the Spirit of God and if, by our
unbelief, we drive Him to declare that we shall not prosper. Israel's
growth ceased for 40 years–may it never be so with us as a Church! We
would say with Joab, "Now the Lord your God add unto the people, how
many soever they be, an hundredfold." May the righteous seed multiply
and replenish the earth, and subdue it, till their number shall be as
countless as the sands of the shore, or as the stars of the sky!

Concerning the second census of Israel, I would speak with you, since
this is the morning of the day on which our British census is to be
taken. May we gather lessons of wisdom from the theme!

I. First, observe with interest and with a design to be profited–THE
NOTABLE CHANGE WORKED AMONG THE PEOPLE BY DEATH. "But among these there
was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron, the priest, numbered, when
they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai."

They answered to their names, 600,000 and more of them–and there they
stood in their ranks, full of vigorous life. About 40 years had passed
away and if these same names had been read out, not a man save Caleb
and Joshua could have answered to the roll call. The entire mass of the
nation had been changed! The old ones were all gone. All that stood in
their places by the Jordan were men who were under age at the first
census, or who were not even born at that time. "Not a man of them"
remained, says the text. And it repeats the statement–"There was not
left a man of them."

Such changes strike us as most memorable. They must not be passed over
without remark. In the course of 40 years, my Brothers and Sisters,
what changes take place in every community, in every Church, in every
family! A friend showed me, last Thursday, a photograph of myself in
the midst of my first deacons. It was taken scarcely 38 years ago and
yet, of the entire group, only I survive! Those associates of the
youthful preacher have all gone to their reward. We have likenesses of
other groups of Church officers of a later date, in which I am placed
in the center, and I am there still, but nearly all of those who once
surrounded me have gone Home. Those who were our leaders in our days of
struggle–and who saw the hand of God with us in those first years–are
growing few in number. We have not yet completed the 40 years, but when
we have done so, the words of our text will be almost literally
applicable to our case as a Church.

The going and the coming, the adding and the taking away have changed
the texture of this fabric and no thread will soon be left. Surely the
Lord would have us notice this, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom. A costly operation, involving so many sorrows, is not to be
passed over without thought. Beloved, we, too, are passing away! The
pastor and his present helpers must, themselves, be summoned Home in
due course. The march of the generations is not a procession passing
before our eyes, while we sit, like spectators, at the window, but we
are in the procession ourselves, and we, too, are passing down the
streets of time and shall disappear in our turn. We, too, shall sleep
with our fathers, unless the Lord shall come speedily. I hear a clarion
blast sounding out from the graves which lie behind us–"Be you also
ready!" From the last closed sepulcher there comes the prophetic
warning, "Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live."

This change was universal throughout the whole camp. There was a change
even in the enumerators. The Sinai census had been taken by Moses and
Aaron and now Moses remains just long enough to take his leading place,
but his brother, Aaron, is not there. The High Priest of God has gone
up to Mount Hor, has been stripped of his garments, has been buried and
mourned by all Israel–and now Eleazar, his son, stands before the Lord
in his father's place. It was so among the other priests and Levites
and elders of the people. There was change everywhere–among the
poorest dwellers in that canvas city and among the princes who dwelt
beneath the standards of the tribes, all had changed. "There was not
left a man of them."

Thus is it among ourselves–no offices can be permanently held by the
same men–"They are not suffered to continue by reason of death." No
position, however lofty or lowly, can retain its old possessor. It is
not only the cedars that

fall, but the fir trees feel the axe. "There is no discharge in that
war." That same scythe which cuts down the towering flower among the
grass also sweeps down whole regiments of green blades. See how they
lie together in long rows, to wither in a common decay! Throughout the
whole body, this change is gradually taking place. No man can climb the
rock of immortality and sit there, amid the seething sea, and say to
Death, "Your waves cannot reach me here!" Though vigorous in health,
though sound in constitution, though guarded by all the armor of the
science of health, you, too, must fall by the arrows of the insatiable
archer. "It is appointed unto men once to die."

The change is inevitable. Man that is born of woman must be of few
days. If it had not been for the great sin of Israel at Kadesh, many of
the people might have lived to the second census and beyond it. But
even then, if by reason of strength their lives had been lengthened,
yet would they soon have died out in the ordinary course of nature. If
40 years had not been appointed as the end of that generation, yet
without that appointment they would all have passed away in another 20
or 30 years. As Moses said in his wilderness Psalm, "The days of our
years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they
be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away."

We must soon quit our tents for the last battle. When the conscript
number shall be drawn, we may escape this year and next, but the lot
will fall upon us in due time. There is no leaping from the net of
mortality wherein, like a shoal of fish, we are all enclosed. Unless
our Lord shall soon appear, we shall each one find a grave, for, as the
wise man says, "All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." "We
must necessarily die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot
be gathered up again." Therefore we wisely bow before the stern decree
and yield ourselves to death.

But let us not forget that all this change was still under the Divine
control. Though the people must pass away, yet still, the Lord's hand
would be in each death and its surroundings. If not a sparrow falls to
the ground without our Father's knowledge, we may rest assured that no
man dies without the will of God–no man is carried to his long Home
unless the Lord has said, "Return, you children of men."–

"What can preserve my life, or what destroy? An angel's arm can't
snatch me from the grave– Legions of angels can't confine me there."
To create and to destroy are sole prerogatives of the King of Kings!
Till He speaks the word, we live not, or, living, we die not. Walking
in the midst of 10,000 stricken with the plague, we are safe till God
appoints our removal. Concerning those that are asleep, we know that
they have not died without the will of our Father. Concerning our time,
also, we know that we shall not be the toys of chance, or the victims
of fate. A wise and loving God fixes the date and place of our decease,
for, "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
Stern though the work may be, His great and tender heart rules the
ravages of death! Let us, therefore, be comforted concerning the great
changes which death is working. Here is no cause for tears, as though
we were left in a monster's power and bereft of a Father's care. The
Lord is still ruling and nothing happens save as He appoints.

Moreover, the change was beneficial. It was well that the first
generation should die in the wilderness. The people who had been
accustomed to servitude in Egypt had acquired the vices of slaves–and
when they came out of the house of bondage they were fearful,
fickle–the creatures of appetite and the victims of panic, selfishness
and discontent. They had all the vices of subject races and were,
alike, destitute of manliness and self-control. They were soon cowed by
fear and baffled by difficulty. They were easily persuaded and as
easily dissuaded. They were a people of whom nothing could be made.
Even the Divine tuition in which Moses and Aaron were engaged and in
which miracles, and types, and laws were employed, could not teach them
anything so that they really knew it. To make a nation which could
preserve the worship of the one God in the world, the generation which
came out of Egypt must die out. The taint of slavery and idolatry must
be lessened if it could not be quite removed.

It was desirable that there should be a people trained in a better
school, with a nobler spirit, fit to take possession of the promised
land. The change was working rightly–the Divine purpose was being
fulfilled. Maybe we do not think thus of the changes which are taking
place in the communities to which we belong. We scarcely think that
better men are coming on–we even fear that the coming race is weaker
than the present, but then, we are not fair judges, for we are
prejudiced in favor of our own generation! I do not doubt that God
means well to His own Church and that the accomplishment of His eternal
purposes requires that men should come and go and thus the face of
society should be changed. It

is well that the age of man is not so protracted as in the days of
Methuselah. A teacher influential for error dies and is forgotten. A
sinner pestilential for vice passes away and the air grows pure.
Imagine a gambler with 500 years of craft to guide him, or a libertine
reeking with 600 years of debauchery! Surely the present narrowed
limits of human life are all too wide for the depraved! We need not
wish for giants of iniquity such as centuries of life would produce.
The incoming of new blood into the social frame is good in a thousand
ways–it is well that we should make room for others who may better
serve our Master. God grant they may! Our prayer is, "Let Your work
appear unto Your servants and Your Glory unto their children." We are
content to take the work if our sons may behold the glory! We are glad
to move off that they may rise on stepping stones of our ended lives to
nobler things!

One other remark I cannot help making and that is that these changes
are most instructive. If we are now serving God, let us do so with
intense earnestness, since only for a little while shall we have the
opportunity to do so among men. "Whatever your hands find to do, do it
with all your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom in the grave where you go." Live while you live! At the same
time, lay plans for influencing the rising generation. Lay yourself out
to work while it is called today. If anything should be done, it were
well that it were done quickly. If we wish the Truth of God to conquer
and the Gospel to prevail, let us fight the Lord's battles now! And if
we would see Truth prevail after we are gone, let us seek out faithful
young men who will teach others that the testimony for the Lord God of
Israel dies not out of the land. We must soon quit the field. Let each
man set his house in order, for he must soon leave it to be gazed upon
by strangers' eyes. Let us see that our lifework is rounded off and
well-finished, so that in the survey of it by our successors they may
say of us, "He being dead yet speaks." As we must soon be gone from
among the living, let us bless them while we may. Arise, you saints,
and bestir yourselves, for the day is far spent and the shadows of
evening are falling! I pray that we may learn well this first lesson of
our text. O Spirit of Life, teach us life even by the doings of death!

II. Secondly, we have here before us THE PERPETUITY OF THE PEOPLE OF
GOD. There was a change in the

constituent elements of the Israelite nation, but the nation was still
there. Not one man was there who was counted 38 years before, save
Caleb and Joshua, and yet the nation was the same! Do you ask for
Israel? There it is. Balaam can see the people from the top of the hill
and they are the same people whom Pharaoh pursued to the Red Sea. The
nation is living, though a nation has died. It is the same chosen seed
of Abraham with whom Jehovah is in covenant. God has a Church in the
world and He will have a Church in the world till time shall be no
more! The gates of Hell and the jaws of death shall not prevail against
the Church, though each one of its members must depart out of this
world in his turn.

Mark well that "the Church in the wilderness" lives on. There are the
same 12 tribes, the same standards heading the tribes, the same
tabernacle in the midst of the host and the same priesthood celebrating
sacred service with solemn pomp. Everything has changed and yet nothing
has changed. God has built His holy habitation upon foundations which
can never be removed! Although the men who bear the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord wear other names, yet they fulfill the same office. The
music of the sanctuary rises and falls, but the strain goes on. The
hallelujah never ceases, nor is there a pause in the perpetual chorus,
"His mercy endures forever."

The gaps were filled up by appointed successors. As one warrior died,
another man stepped into his place, even as one wave dying on the shore
is pursued by another. The men were not all swept away at once, but by
perceptible degrees. Now and then there came an awful and sudden
destruction, as when Korah, Dathan and Abiram went down alive into the
pit, but, as a rule, the people dropped off gradually, as ripe fruit
falls from the trees–and they were succeeded by others as the fading
leaves of autumn have the buds of spring just beneath them. In the
Church of God one dies in the order of Nature, but another is born into
the Kingdom by the power of Divine Grace. We miss some useful Christian
woman and we lament her, but before many days another Sister is
prepared of the Lord to serve in her place. Baptism for the dead never
ceases among us. An honored Brother falls asleep and we carry him to
the grave and, possibly, we fear no other can do his work and fill the
vacancy he leaves. Perhaps no one can do the same work, but yet, in
some other way or form, the work is done! The vines are trimmed, the
sheep are fed and the lambs are cherished. Not one dead man lies in the
way to stop the march of the army, as did the corpse of Amasa, which
lay dead in the road in David's day. The chosen host still marches on!
Even as the stars in their courses, we still move on. God buries His
workmen, but His work lives.

In Israel's case the gap were filled by their own sons. As these men
passed away, their children took their places. I commend to you, my
Brothers and Sisters, this fact as your encouragement in prayer for
your children. Oh, that the Lord

would pour His Spirit upon our seed and His blessing upon our
offspring! Oh, that every saint here may be succeeded by his own
descendants! This is the Lord's frequent way of keeping alive the
gracious succession. Abraham is gone, but Isaac still kindles the altar
fire. In a blind old age Isaac is gathered to his fathers, but Jacob
worships "the Fear of his father Isaac." Jacob gathers up his feet in
bed, but Judah and Joseph, and the rest of them, continue as salt in
the earth. Oh, that it may be so in all our families! May we never lack
a man to stand before the Lord God of Israel to testify for Him! Among
all the honors that God can put upon our households I think this is the
greatest, that we should have in our families a succession of saints!
It is no small privilege to look back and to remember our ancestors who
feared the Lord–may we also look forward with hope that if this
dispensation lasts, there may still be some of our name, bearing our
blood in their veins, who shall be called by Sovereign Grace into the
service we have loved so well! Search beyond the congregation for new
converts, but do not forget to look within your own doors for the
largest accessions to the Church! Hope that your sons and daughters
after the flesh may be born into "the one family in Heaven and earth,"
which bears the name of Jesus! Pray that your children may be God's
children–and may your prayer come up with acceptance into the ears of
the Lord our God whose mercy is on children's children of them that
fear Him and keep His Covenant!

All the offices of "the Church in the wilderness" were filled with
fitting men. Behold Aaron, in his robes of glory and beauty! What a man
is he to be the High Priest! With what grace and dignity he presides!
He dies–will not the priesthood fail? No, my Brothers and Sisters,
yonder is Eleazar, who occupies his father's place most worthily! Moses
also passes away. There is none like Moses. He is King in Jeshurun,
without peer or rival! The Jews have a tradition that when he was
called to go up to the top of Nebo to die, the people followed him up
the hill, the women beating on their breasts and bitterly wailing,
while the strong men bowed themselves with grief and cried, "The father
of the nation is to be taken away! Alas, what shall we do?" He was bid
to leave the people on the mountain side and he went up, alone, to the
place where Jehovah kissed away his soul–and so he passed into his
rest. Truly it was a great loss, but the Lord found a man to follow
Moses. Joshua was not equal to Moses in many things and yet, for the
work he had to do, he was a much more fit man than Moses. The times
were red with war and Joshua was more able than Moses to fight the
Canaanites and conquer the land. Joshua was the man for the sword, as
Moses had been the man of the Book. And God will fill every office in
His Church, not as you and I might wish, but as His infinite wisdom
determines. Therefore let us be of good courage and fear no lack.

At this second numbering, the people stood ready for greater work than
they had ever done before. The first numbering found them fit for the
wilderness–the second numbering found them ready for the capture of
the goodly land and Lebanon. God had been preparing them, by 40 years
of marching, for their new enterprise and for development into a
nation. May it please the Lord to make His Church ready for the coming
of her Lord and for the salvation of nations! If brighter days are
dawning, the Church will be prepared as a bride for her husband–and if
tribulation is to come to try all the earth, she shall be strengthened
as a martyr for the burning! The Lord keeps her lest any hurt her–He
will keep her night and day.

It was Israel's joy that God's love was not withdrawn from the nation.
The Lord still acknowledged the tribes as His people. His Glory was
still above the Mercy Seat and His fiery, cloudy pillar still guided
their marching or fixed their stopping. Still the manna dropped from
Heaven and still they drank of the water from the smitten Rock. Thus
the Lord still has a Church and it is always the same Church, loved of
her lord, indwelt by His Spirit and dedicated to His praise. Let us
take courage–the Church is not destroyed! Many changes take place and
many sorrows are involved therein, but the Church of God is as always
as alive as her Immortal Head, who has declared, "Because I live, you
shall live also." Her stars are still the hope of the world's night and
her angels are the heralds of the eternal morning! She follows the
bleeding Lamb who is the Doctrine of her teaching, the Model of her
acting, the Glory of her hope!

III. Thirdly, let me bring before your minds THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF
THE WORD OF GOD. This we

perceive in the last verse. "For the Lord had said of them, They shall
surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them,
save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."

Note how unchangeable are the threats of the Lord. "Among these there
was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron, the Priest, numbered. For
the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness."
Take note of this, you that think God's Word can fail–you know not
what you dream! His Words of righteous wrath are not lost–they

kill as with a two-edged sword. The verse says, "There was not left a
man of them." Whom the Lord had condemned to die, nothing could keep
alive. Therefore, do not imagine, O you that obey not the Lord, that
you shall go unpunished!

The unbelievers were many, yet not one escaped. "Though hand join in
hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished." The rebels were a terribly
large majority, but the crowds in the broad way make it none the safer.
God has no respect for multitudes–"The wicked shall be turned into
Hell, and all the nations that forget God." Here they outnumbered the
faithful more than 10,000 times and yet the justice of God did not
spare one of them! "There was not left a man of them." How can any of
you hope to escape? "Your hands shall find out all your enemies." The
proudest sinner shall be laid low–the thunders of Jehovah shall smite
down each individual transgressor–and no one shall go away free in the
day of God's wrath!

It was a long time before all the sinners died, but the long-suffering
of God had its limit and, in the end, every rebel died in the
wilderness. They lived on, some of them, for all the 40 years, but they
could not pass the boundary. Perhaps they said, "Ah, this ban from God
will never take effect on us." Yet, before the years were up, the
survivors of the doomed race had to share the common fate. Not a man of
those whom Moses and Aaron numbered at Sinai could pass the line of
fire which closed in the 40 years. God waits, waits in infinite mercy,
but the punishment of the wicked is none the less sure. "Their foot
shall slide in due time." The Lord has bent His bow and made it ready,
and when their hour is come, they shall find that He is not slack
concerning His Word. Do not, I pray you, doubt the terrible certainty
of Divine threats because they are long in taking effect. Say not,
"Where is the promise of His coming?" He will come–and when He comes
it shall be "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Some of the unbelieving generation were, no doubt, full of vigor, and
they said, "We are as strong as old Caleb and quite as likely as he to
cross the Jordan. Our eyes are as clear as those of Moses and we shall
outlive the 40 years appointed us." But death chilled the coals of
juniper and quenched their vehement flame. The stalwart man of war laid
down his weapons, vanquished by the unconquerable foe of men. "There
was not left a man of them." How like a knell those words sound in my
ears! The mighty in the day of battle were no longer mighty when their
hour had come! "They could not enter in because of unbelief." "Their
carcasses fell in the wilderness." All their days were passed away in
the wrath of God. Beware, you that forget God, lest He tear you in
pieces and there be none to deliver. It is vain for you to indulge a
hope, "larger" or smaller, if you die in your sin! The Justice of the
Most High is not to be escaped! In that Last Great Day, when the Throne
shall be set, and every man shall give an account for the things done
in his body, whether they are good or whether they are evil, the strict
Judge will, by no means, clear the guilty, but they shall be driven
away in His wrath to the place where their worm dies not and their fire
is not quenched!

Oh that you would flee to Christ for refuge! Look to His Cross, I pray
you, that you may be saved! As the Lord fulfilled His threats, so did
He cause His promises to come to pass. Caleb lived on and so did
Joshua. They were often in danger. Did not the rebels take up stones to
stone them? They were often near to death–Joshua was
commander-in-chief of the army and Caleb was a man of war from his
youth up. They endured the common risks of soldiers, but nothing could
kill them, for God had promised that they should enter the land! They
believed God and honored Him by their conduct and, therefore, He kept
them until the hour came to go in unto the land to possess it. There
were only two of them, but God did not, therefore, overlook them. He
keeps covenant with individuals as well as with nations! They were not
men who kept themselves out of harm's way, neither were they timorous
and, therefore, afraid to advance their opinions. No doubt they came in
for a special share of envy and malice, but their reward with God was
sure. If you believe in Jesus, though you should be the only one of
your family, yet you shall be saved! Though you know none of your kin
fear the Lord, yet the God of Israel will not forget the lone one who
is separated from his brethren. Though the faithful should become so
few that all the saints together should only make a handful, yet it is
written, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the Kingdom."

God's Word stands! "The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls
away: but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word by
which the Gospel is preached unto you." Jehovah's threats and promises
are of equal force. "Has He said, and shall He not do it?" There shall
be no change, even, to a jot or tittle in this wondrous Book! God
forbid that we should begin to doubt it, for if we once begin, where
shall we end? With this striking confirmation before us, we be-

lieve that the Word of the Lord must stand. Let us be as the man whom
the Lord blesses, because, says He, "he trembles

at My Word."

IV. Our last point is this–learn from my text THE ABIDING NECESSITY OF
FAITH. Those people came out of

Egypt with Moses and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea when they came forth into the wilderness. One would have hoped
that they all would march to Canaan, but it was not so. The first
census is taken. Their names are on the roll. But, sad to say, at the
next numbering all those names have vanished! What a difference between
the church roll at Sinai and the Book of Life by Jordan!

If you profess to be the people of God, we count you among His
children–you are written among the living in Zion. But what an awful
thing it would be if your name should not be written in the Lamb's Book
of Life at the last! What if you should lie on the threshing floor in
the great heap before the winnowing, but should be gone with the chaff
as soon as the Lord has come, "whose fan is in His hand"? Oh, that none
of us may provoke the Lord to swear in His wrath that we shall not
enter into His rest!

Learn, first, that no man is, was, or ever shall be saved without
faith. "He that believes not shall be damned" is our Lord's solemn
declaration. It is written, "He that believes not is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God." This is as true today as when it was first spoken.

Learn, next, that no privilege can supply the lack of faith. We read
that they heard, as you do. But some, "when they had heard, did
provoke." Their provocation lay mainly in their unbelief. No hearing,
no, not hearing the Apostles, themselves, could save you without faith!
"The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it." Hearing may minister to condemnation if the Truth
of God is not believed!

These people went a certain way with Moses towards the Lord's promised
rest. They did come out of Egypt. They were numbered with Jehovah's
people in the numbering at Sinai. They were separated from all the
world in the quietude of the wilderness. But we read there was in them
"an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." In heart
they went back to Egypt! It is not enough to begin well–"he that
endures to the end shall be saved"–and no other! They had ceremonies
in abundance, but they were not saved by them. They had the morning and
the evening lambs. They were circumcised. They ate the Passover. They
kept the Day of Atonement. But all these things together did not save
them from dying in the desert, shut out of Canaan by unbelief. "They
could not enter in because of unbelief." Nothing can make up for the
absence of faith. They had nothing to do all the day long in the
wilderness but to learn the lessons of God. They had time for thought
and they had the best of teachers to instruct them–and the best of
textbooks in the ceremonial Law–and yet their knowledge did not
preserve them from leaving their carcasses in the desert! They had
plenty of time for meditation and contemplation. They had no care about
temporals, for their bread was given them and their waters were sure.
And yet, because of absence offaith, they did not learn that elementary
Truth of God which would have ministered to them an entrance into rest.

But none perished who had faith–no, not one! All those who believed
God and held fast to Him, were made inheritors of the land. Caleb and
Joshua–these two saw the land and took their places in it. If you
believe, whatever your name may be, you shall be saved, for, "he that
believes and is baptized shall be saved." It is written, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Caleb and Joshua, by
faith, entered into the land promised to the fathers and you, my
Hearer, can only enter in by faith! Have faith in God and you have all
things! But without faith it is impossible to please God.

Mark this–while it was faith alone which saved them, faith gave these
men notable characters. We read of, "My servant, Caleb." He that
believes God becomes a servant of God and counts it all joy to obey his
Lord! Faith is the mother of obedience. The Lord said that Caleb "had
another spirit with him"–faith puts quite another spirit into a
man–it is not a murmuring or a mutinous spirit. It is not an
ungrateful or distrustful spirit. Neither is it a haughty, willful,
rebellious spirit. But it is a spirit of love, of hope, of confidence
in God. The faithful man is of another spirit from that of the world,
for the Holy Spirit abides in him! Such a man chooses the way of God,
so that the Lord says, "He has followed Me fully." This was well–it is
wise not to run before God, nor to run away from God, but to follow Him
step by step. It is wise not to follow man, but to wholly follow the
Lord! It is commendable to follow Him fully with undivided, unwavering,
unquestioning, untiring steps! The Lord will see that His servant,
Caleb, enters into His rest–there is rest for good servants. As Caleb
followed the Lord fully, it was meet that he should enter in where his
Lord abides. Men of faith are

not idle men, but servants–they are not wicked men, but they follow
the Lord. They are not half-hearted men–they follow Him fully. It is
not their holiness that saves them, but their faith–nevertheless,
where there is no holiness, there is no fruit of faith and no evidence
of salvation.

As for Joshua, he was like Caleb. He was a brave and truthful man, a
true servant of God. And though we have his life given somewhat at
length, yet we discover no flaw in his character. It is almost a rare
thing in the Word of God to find a life written at any length without a
record of infirmity and sin, for the biographies of Scripture are
truthful and they mention men's faults as well as their virtues. As
there is no recorded fault in Joshua's career, we gather that he was of
a noble character. "The Lord said unto Moses, Take you Joshua the son
of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him." So
that the faith which took these two men into Canaan was in them the
creator of a noble character.

Now, what do you say, Beloved Friends? Do you believe God? Do you
believe His Word? Or are you of a captious and dubious spirit? Do you
believe like children? Is God your Father and, therefore, is His Word
your Father's Word which you cannot think of questioning? Will you
follow the Lamb wherever He goes, against giants or Canaanites? Will
you believe God, whatever may give Him the lie? If so, you shall dwell
in the land that flows with milk and honey–and you shall have your
portion when the Lord appears! But if you do not truly believe,
whatever profession you may make, your carcasses must fall in the
wilderness! Woe is me that I have to deliver such a prophecy! Greater
woe to you if it should be fulfilled in you! Believe the Lord and you
shall prosper.

This day, as you are preparing for the census of the nation, think of
the time when God shall make up His last account of natives in His holy
city. Will you be numbered with His people, or will your names be left
out at the reading of the muster roll? God give us a place among His
redeemed–and to His name shall be Glory forever and ever! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–

Numbers1:1-5:44-46; 14:1-10,20-35; 26:1-4; 6-65.