An evil heart of unbelief - Listen to that! Note that this is not speaking to the unsaved, but to the brethren - pay attention! be very watchful! That's what take heed really means.

Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.

It is our duty and obligation to pay attention and be watchful, not allowing ourselves to have an evil heart of unbelief.

Revelation 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving . . .
shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone:
which is the second death

Unbelievers are those who have never been saved - and also those who have departed from the Lord because of an evil heart of unbelief.

The twelve spies

In Numbers 13 we see a good illustration of this:

Moses had called out a man from each tribe to go up into Canaan to spy out the land. He wanted to know whether the people in Canaan were strong or weak, if they were few or many, if they dwelt in tents or in strongholds. Twelve spies went up to spy out the land for forty days and forty nights.

When they returned, ten gave an evil report of unbelief. They told of how difficult it would be to possess the land - and the people believed their evil report.

But Caleb and Joshua were men of faith. Caleb said, Let us go up at once! He wanted to get up there and go in to possess the land. He knew, with God, they could overcome any obstacles.

And isn't that the way it is! People are always quick to believe the evil report instead of believing the good report. The devil will come along with his evil reports, such as, God is not forgiving!

And many believe him! It happens over and over again. God says He has forgiven you. He says that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive.

But instead of believing God, many believe the devil's evil report. You're going to live with this sickness all of your life! You're going to end up in a wheelchair! You're going to die!

You know what that tactic is for? to bring fear into your life. And then you begin to dwell on it! you entertain it! and soon you actually believe it! He makes it so real; he convinces you it's true.

Giants are BIG!

When those ten returned with their evil report, the people believed them. They looked at the giants of the land, and in their own eyes they were as grasshoppers!

Giants are BIG! But always remember one thing: it doesn't matter how BIG the giant is. God is BIGGER and greater than any giant! God can overcome any giant in your life - like the giants of sickness and disease.

The purpose of getting your heart in the place where you don't believe God any more is to get you to depart from Him. This is why the Bible tells us to take heed: pay attention; watch; don't allow an evil heart of unbelief to take hold.

Rise up, and fight the good fight of faith. Rise up, and take hold of the promises of God. The promises of God are true - but the devil is a liar, and he is the father of all lies.

Numbers 14:1
All the congregation lifted up their voice,
and cried; and the people wept that night.

Have you ever wept after hearing an evil report from the devil?

That's the purpose of it - to get you discouraged. He wants to distract you from the very purpose God has for your life.

One day the devil sent an evil report my way. I was very sick, and he asked, What if you die? I merely replied, Well, I'll go home to be with the Lord, then. And at that he departed, and bothered me no more over that sickness.

And guess what? God healed my body!

What's wrong with dying? If you're right with God you have nothing to worry about. Jesus triumphed over death so we could have life eternal.

Yet the thought of dying bothers many. The thought of being crippled, of being in a wheelchair, of being blind: such thoughts put great fear in the hearts of many.

When you don't believe God, then you have an evil heart; that's what the Word calls it. Don't allow that evil heart of unbelief to get hold.

Now, the people cried and wept that night. How many times have you cried all night long over the condition you're in? How many times have you wept and cried because the bill collectors were after you?

Watch what you say

Numbers 14:2
And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron:
and the whole congregation said unto them,
Would God that we had died
in the land of Egypt!
or would God we had died in this wilderness!

They opened their mouths! Little did they know they would die out there in the wilderness - because of their evil heart of unbelief.

I shouldn't have trusted God. I should have gone to the arm of flesh.

Have you said that? Shame on you if you did!

The Bible tells us that cursed is the man who trusts in the arm of flesh. The arm of flesh will fail you, but God never fails.

When the children of Israel were in Egypt under bitter bondage they cried out, and God heard their prayers, and raised up Moses. Why, then, would they ever want to go back to that land of bondage?

Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes, and spoke to the people. They told them how good the land was, and how the Lord would bring them in - if He delighted in them.

Numbers 14:9
Only rebel not ye against the Lord,
neither fear ye the people of the land;
for they are bread for us:
their defence is departed from them,
and the Lord is with us: fear them not.

We ought to realize the Lord is with us even in the darkest of times; even though we don't always feel His presence. We don't walk by feelings, nor by sight; we walk by faith.

He said He would be with us. He said He would never forsake us - believe Him.

God is not just a vast God of the heavens and the earth and all that is therein. Truly, He is all these things. But He is also a personal God. Think about His being personal to you. What a great God you have who fights for you. Sometimes you may try to fight your own battles - but you only make matters worse.

Jesus said to cast all your care upon Him: because He cares for you - 1 Peter 5:7

If you were casting something away, you would toss it away from yourself. That's what this means, to toss your cares away from yourself and onto Jesus.

What do the fishermen do when they go fishing and cast their net? They throw the net out into the waters - hoping to bring it back filled with fish.

Too often, though, we are like that fisherman who throws his net into the water, and then gets impatient, pulling it right back into the boat.

Instead of being under pressure all the time, and allowing yourself to have an evil heart of unbelief, why not just cast it all on Jesus - and leave it there.

I learned a secret early in my Christian walk: we shouldn't take other people's problems within, shouldn't take our children's problems within. Keep them out there.

Pray, and put them in the hands of God.

When we take their problems within, our minds dwell on those cares; we have sleepless nights, lose our desire to eat; our bodies might even get sick over it.

Caleb and Joshua encourage the people

Caleb and Joshua had exhorted the people not to rebel, neither fear the people of the land: the Lord is with us; fear them not.

And, because of that, the entire congregation wanted to stone them with stones! Why did they want to do that? see Numbers 14:9, 10

If someone wants to help another spiritually, telling him the truth - helping him buckle down and get his life straightened out with God - that very person he was trying to help is the one who turns on him! He'll talk him down, criticize him, get upset and rebel against him:

Who does he think he is talking to me like that!

Which would be better? to feel sorry for someone, and keep quiet because you don't want to hurt his feelings? or, to warn him to get straightened out and ready to meet the Lord?

Look at what they did to Moses and Aaron! They wanted to stone them! Why? What did they do wrong?

The Lord asked Moses how long would this people provoke Him? how long before they believed Him, for all the signs He had shown them?

see Numbers 14:11-16
I will smite them with the pestilence,
and disinherit them,
and will make of thee a greater nation
and mightier than they.

God was going to smite them, and raise up a greater nation than they were!

But Moses reasoned that the Egyptians would hear that He wasn't able to bring them into the promised land.

God's presence led them through the wilderness day after day by that pillar of cloud, and night after night by that pillar of fire.

Moses went on to ask the Lord to pardon them, according to the greatness of His mercy. And the Lord pardoned according to Moses' word! verse 20

Why be concerned?

We pastors are held accountable - we have to give an account to God for what we do with the people He puts under our leadership. see Hebrews 13:15

Being the majority doesn't always make it right

Numbers 14:22-24
Because of all those men
which have seen My glory, and My miracles,
which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness,
and have tempted Me now these ten times,
and have not hearkened to My voice;
surely they shall not see the land
which I sware unto their fathers,
neither shall any of them that provoked Me
see it:

but My servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him,
and hath followed Me fully,
him will I bring into the land whereinto he went;
and his seed shall possess it.

Because the majority believe it, surely it's got to be true!

This is the way, many times, that God's people want to believe. They want to believe what the majority of the people believe. B

ut listen, don't believe what others believe just because so many believe it. Believe it when it's what the Bible says. Men often put their own ideas into what they believe. And if you're not careful, you could be following something that's not even Scriptural, because you didn't check it out with the Bible.

Be sure you put your faith in what God has said in His Word. It doesn't matter if all others are believing something different. It doesn't matter if you're the only one who believes the Word of God. It doesn't matter. If God's Word says it, then believe God's Word. Let the majority do whatever they want to, but you follow the Lord.

Today the church world has become so corrupted. They've brought the world into the church, letting down their guard and allowing everything to come in. And people like it that way - because then when they go to church, there is nothing there to convict them of sin. There's nothing there to deal with them!

The church world has let down the bars, and allowed sin in. They're not concerned about the soul, just about numbers. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, for fear that they might lose people. But it's time to be more concerned for souls than for hurt feelings.

There was a time when church was considered a sacred place where people would gather to worship God, a place set apart unto the Lord.

Don't be deceived. If you sin, you're going to have to be dealt with. If you want to have eternal life, there has to be some genuine repentance.

The Scriptures let us know that we can't enter into heaven with sin in our life - Galatians 5:19-21. All that do such things as listed in these verses shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God.

We need to preach it straight - because it is a straight and narrow way. Why be deceived, or why try to deceive anyone else?

You say, Oh, I wouldn't do that! Watch out, the thing you said you would never do is the very thing you may find yourself doing if you're not careful.

I Corinthians 10:12
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.

Don't have a haughty attitude that it could never happen to you - it can happen to you. It can happen to me. It can happen to any of us if we're not watchful.

In this account of the children of Israel, we see that they were turned back from going into the promised land because of their evil heart of unbelief. They would wander in the wilderness for forty years - a year for each day the spies were spying out the land.

Now, when they heard this, they thought they could just go back and do things the right way by going up into the promised land anyhow - see Numbers 14:40-45.

Moses warned them not to transgress the commandment of the Lord by going up. The Lord wasn't among them because they had turned away from Him. If they presumed to go up, they would be smitten by the sword.

They thought, after God had pronounced the judgment on them, that they could just go up on their own and then do things right.

They went ahead presumptuously, and were smitten just as God said they would be. God doesn't play games with us. We like to think God will play games with us, but He doesn't.

Hebrews 3:12
Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.

We've got to pay attention. We've got to be watchful, not allowing an evil heart of unbelief to get in, causing us to depart from the living God.

Hebrews 3:14
For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.

Notice it says IF we hold the beginning of our confidence.

We've got to hold our confidence stedfast if we want to be a partaker of Christ.

I'm not making this up. I'm sure I'm reading it right. Check in your Bible, and see what it says. Does it say IF? It does, doesn't it.

So, it's up to us to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast - to the end. Is that true?

see Hebrews 3:15-19
While it is said, To day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

We see that they could not enter in because of their unbelief.

When you have an experience with the Lord, and you have the written Word - your heart should have no unbelief in it.

Hebrews 4:1, 2
Let us therefore fear,
lest, a promise being left us
of entering into His rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the Gospel preached,
as well as unto them:
but the Word preached did not profit them
not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

This isn't speaking to the sinner out there who has never received Christ. It is speaking to US - those who have had an experience with the Lord!

It's pretty plain: unless we mix our faith with the Word of God, it will not profit us.

Those who have a hard heart have the attitude, You're not telling me how to live!

Well, I'm telling you how God tells you to live.

We have to be very careful that we don't allow ourselves to have an evil heart of unbelief. We saw in Proverbs 4:23 that we are to keep our heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The heart is the source of all our life. We can look in the Word and find out what the heart is really like.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked:
who can know it?

Evil thoughts come from the heart

The devil injects thoughts into your mind to make you doubt God and to cause you not to believe His promises.

Such thoughts are evil thoughts. Any thought that the devil passes through your mind is evil. It can't be anything else, because he's evil.

We shouldn't entertain those evil thoughts, or they'll become part of us. The devil will convince us that those lies are true - if we're foolish enough to consider them.

When the devil tried this on Jesus, taking Him up on the pinnacle of the temple, and telling Him to cast Himself down, Jesus spoke right up, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Yes, Jesus stood on the Scriptures.

And that's what we need to do. We need to stand on God's Word. We need to quote what God has said, and believe what He has said.

Don't allow those thoughts to remain in your mind. If you do, you'll just mull it over and over until fear takes you. That's the purpose of those evil thoughts of unbelief - to cause you to fear and tremble.

II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind.

Fear has torment, and that's just what the devil wants for you. He wants to torment your mind and make you miserable.

The devil gets some into such a state that they can't eat, they can't sleep, and they can't pray. It's hard to pray when you're in that condition. Why? Because you're believing the evil thoughts the devil has injected into your mind.

And Mark 7 tells us that these evil thoughts come forth from the heart. They start with the devil injecting them into your mind, but when you allow those thoughts to remain, and you dwell on them, they enter your heart.

Mark 7:21-23
For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts . . .
All these evil things come from within,
and defile the man.

Evil thoughts cover more than lustful thoughts. We have already seen that the Lord deals with those who depart from Him having an evil heart of unbelief. Thoughts of unbelief are evil thoughts.

Realize that it's very important not to allow an evil heart of unbelief to take hold. You should take heed, just as He said in Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:12, 13
Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily,
while it is called To day;
lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.

Yes, take heed! Be watchful! Guard yourself!

Be very diligent in keeping your heart. Be very diligent that you don't allow anything to enter your heart that will bring you down spiritually, and cause you to depart from God and lose out.

Thank God there is a way back - if you acknowledge your sin, and repent.

Yes! After reading this message, if you see that you have an evil heart of unbelief, you can repent, asking God to forgive you. He will forgive and cleanse.