Deuteronomy chapter 1 and the book of Deuteronomy is the last of the five books of the Law of Moses. In fact, the word Deuteronomy, the book title, means second law. It's as though Moses is writing and he's reviewing all that he's told them before, where they've been, and he reviews some of the laws that he's given to them in greater detail in the book of Deuteronomy. But in chapter number 1, he is near the end of his life and so he's looking back and he's discussing, he's teaching, he's speaking to the nation of Israel and reminding them of where they've been. In verse number 41, he's speaking of the time in which they resisted going into the promised land. They resisted God's will for their lives. They rejected what God had for them. They rebelled against what God had for them. And that's why we're in a study called the wilderness wonderings. Because for the next 40 years after they rebelled, they wandered in the wilderness not accomplishing what God had for them to accomplish. The context of this particular passage is in relationship to an event that took place right after they rebelled and said, we're not going in. Turn over in your Bibles to Numbers, if you will, Numbers chapter number 14. Numbers 14 reveals that event in their lives, and I want to share it with you this morning. It's when God took the 10 spies and He killed them with a plague. See, resistance and rebellion and rejection of God's path for us doesn't seem so bad until God pours out judgment for our rebellion. That's what we find taking place in Numbers chapter 14. Begin reading with me in verse number 36. The Bible says, "...and the men which Moses sent to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the Lord." But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning and got them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and we'll go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised, for we have sinned." On the surface, it seems as though Israel has repented. They watched the ten spies die before them. They heard from Moses the plague that had struck these ten spies. They come to the conclusion, we better get up to the mountain. We better do what God wants us to do. We have sinned against God. And on the surface, it looks as though the nation of Israel was repentant. Two weeks ago, we learned why the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness. It was not God's plan. God wanted them to go from Egypt to the Promised Land, but due to fear and unbelief and listening to the majority of men that could only see the obstacles and not the omnipotence of God, they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. I believe that many a believer has this personal wilderness wandering. place where decision leaves a mark in his life for the rest of his life. These events would be remembered by this generation for the next 40 years and the generation to follow them. We learned about how they live a defeated life. I believe that these people were God's chosen people. It wasn't that they lost their salvation because they didn't go into Canaan. That's not what we're dealing with here. We're dealing with believers that were on the brink of Canaan but turned back from Canaan, resisted going in, and as a result lived in defeat. Now ten of them are dead. Ten of the spies are dead. They sorrow. The Bible says they mourned greatly in verse number 39. I want you to see this morning the sorrow of judgment. It's too bad that we don't sorrow over sin before judgment. But many times it takes judgment to come upon our sin for us to break down and say, oh boy, this is really bad. They sorrowed because of the judgment in verse 39. They mourned greatly in Numbers chapter 14. In Deuteronomy chapter number 1, as you read that passage of scripture, the Bible talks about them going up into the hill and saying that they had sinned against the Lord. They came to a realization, uh-oh, God's serious about what He says. If you're living in sin this morning, I want to remind you that God's serious about what He says. And when God says, you sin against Me and I'm going to chasten you, God means what He says. And He chastened the nation of Israel. But sorrow because of judgment doesn't mean repentance. Maybe when God announced His judgment, they didn't believe it until they saw the ten spies killed in a plague. Often we don't believe God's judgment until we have to see it in our own lives. And when God brings it into our lives, when God brings it into our family, there's great sorrow over judgment that God brings into people's lives. We better do what God wants us to do before He destroys more of us. If He can take out 10 spies with a plague, He could take out more of us. Just as much as they made their first decision out of fear, their second decision to fight was out of fear. Not the right reason. Not the right reason. Sorrow over judgment. They probably thought if we don't fight, We're going to die in the wilderness. God's not going to just leave the judgment at the ten spies. Maybe He's going to deal with all of us. Decisions made out of fear, hear me this morning, doesn't mean that we're repentant. God doesn't jump on our bandwagon because we had a quick change of mind or fear of further judgment. They said the right words, but hear me, they did not have the right heart. We'll do it, God. We've sinned. Lord, we'll go up into the mountain. We'll now fight those battles that You wanted us to fight. We'll claim the territory." But God didn't jump on the bandwagon. Henry said this, "'Thus, when the door is shut and the day of grace is over, there will be found those that stand without and knock.'" I'm speaking to lost people by way of application this morning. There's a judgment coming. And you can laugh at it. and you can ignore it. and you can say it doesn't apply to me but truth of the matter is God says what he means and he means what he says and that judgment is coming and the day of grace for you is right now the day of time for you to respond to the Lord and what Jesus did for you on the cross is today the time for you to realize hey I'm a sinner I'm lost I've separated myself from God hey I'm hopeless without Jesus Christ I stand as an enemy before God You better come to that realization today because judgment's coming. It would have been a lot better for them to realize they had sinned before ten spies were knocked out, taken out of the way. It would have been a lot better for them to come to that conclusion at that point where they sinned immediately before God and said, God, I've offended you. God, we have insulted you. God, we haven't gone your way. God, we have rebelled against you. Oh, God, please forgive us. No, they didn't do it at the time at which they sinned. They did it at the time at which they were judged. We must be the same way. We often are the same way. We wait until the judgment of God comes, and then we say, oh, I need to get this right with God. It would be much wiser for us to do it at the moment at which we have sinned. Are you listening to me this morning? Maybe somebody's been involved in sin this week, and you have been rationalizing in your mind that God's not going to do anything about it, that you can get away with it, that it can go longer without God doing anything. And I'm reminding you this morning that judgment comes with sin. They were judged. They were sorrowful over the judgment. On the surface, it looks as though they're repentant, but I'm going to show you that they were not. May I make an application this morning to parents? Be careful of rewarding empty words with mercy. God didn't reward them with mercy here. They were not repentant. The Bible says, "...whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have," what? Mercy. The person that confesses and they forsake it, the Bible says God does give mercy to that individual, but there wasn't a forsaking of sin here. There was an acknowledgment of sin, but there was not a forsaking of sin. There's a difference. There's a difference. The fruits of the children of Israel brought forth were not meat for repentance. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 8. Sorrowful but not repentant. This was at the beginning of their journeys. It was right after the 10 spies had brought back their report and everybody had voted and said we believe the 10 spies report, we shouldn't go in. Verse number 8. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceived that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Interesting that worldly sorrow is only for a season. Judgment. Remember 9-1-1 back in September 11, 2001, when we were hit? What did America do for a few weeks? Gather for prayer, talk about needing God. Was it repentance? No. It was but for a season. As soon as we got over the emotional part of it, as soon as we got over the initial shock of it, America went back to all their ways and left God out. Read verse 9, Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Why does it work death, my friend? I'll tell you why it works death. Because it's just sorrow over judgment. And when the judgment is passed, you go back to living your old ways, you go back to your old way of living, your habits, your sin, and it worketh death because it's sin leading to death. That's what worldly sorrow does. It leads to death. The Bible says, for behold, in verse number 11, this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. What does sorrow that leads to repentance after a godly sort produce? It produces a carefulness, number one. First, it produces somebody that's very careful about their walk. Listen, if you've been involved in something in the past and you're truly repentant about You do your best to stay the world away from it. There's a carefulness in your life. You begin to walk circumspectly. You begin to say, I don't want to get close to ever getting back involved in what I was involved in before. There's a carefulness that takes place. There's a clearing of yourselves. There's a making sure you're right before the Lord. There's an indignation. There's an anger that you were where you were. There's a hatred for that sin. There's a wanting to never go back to it. There's a fear about it. There's a zeal. There's a revenge. I'm going to give myself back to God and I'm going to fight the battle against the devil. I'm madder than a hornet at the devil for where he led me and what lies I bought into and where I went because of it. I don't want to go there anymore. That's a repentant person. Read on, wherefore verse 12, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. Listen, when a preacher preaches a strong message like I'm preaching this morning on repentance, it's not to hurt an individual. Paul didn't write this to hurt somebody. Paul said, I wrote this because of my care for you. I wrote this because I want the best for you in your life. I wrote this because I want you to understand that you can live the victorious Christian life. You don't have to live in defeat. But they were sorrowing over judgment. Secondly, I want you to see the sin of presumption. The sin of presumption. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 1, look at verse number 42 with me. Not only did they show that they were sorrowful but not repentant because of their sorrow over judgment, but they committed a sin of presumption. Now they're ready to go up in verse 41. Now all of a sudden, life has changed. Their mind has changed about it. We're ready. We're going to go. We've sinned. But look at verse number 42, And the Lord said unto me, saying to them, Moses is speaking, Go not up, neither fight, for I am not among you, lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So I spake unto you, and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. They presumed upon God that God would just switch on the dime. And God didn't switch on the dime. And this proves out that their heart still wasn't right. You say, preacher, they admitted they sinned. They must have had to change their heart. No, they didn't. Because when God's second command says, Go not up, what did they do? They went up against Him. They completely ignored another commandment of God and said, well, we've admitted that we sinned. We don't want the judgment that the ten spies have. Can't we just go up and do, God, what you told us to do? And God said, don't do it. I'm not with you anymore. The fickleness of the people is again revealed. We flip-flop. We sin and we sin and we enjoy the path of forwardness, and then it looks like God might bring judgment on us. or one of our children, or it looks like there's a possibility all of a sudden of a loss of a job, or it looks like we might face financial tragedy, or maybe physical suffering. And so, like Israel, we many times say, okay, God, I will. Okay, God, you got me. Only when the next command comes along, we still don't do it right. We still don't follow what God said to follow. Okay, God, you're serious. I'll become serious about it. Now they rebel in arrogance. Now they think they can do it on their own. Now they think they can fight the battle. These were the same Amorites. These were the same people that just a couple of days ago they were saying, these people are giants. We can't conquer this. Now we can conquer it and we can conquer it without God. That's the people that we're speaking about. Hear me this morning. It's dangerous to get bold about a direction in which you have no leadership from the Lord. You better be careful about being bold in that kind of a direction. You better be careful about setting your face as a flint in a direction where there's no leadership from God. You don't have a verse from the Bible to stand on. You don't have a Bible principle to stand on. You can't find a Bible example to stand on. But in your heart, you're going to do it. Be careful. Don't commit the sin of presumption. God says, I'm not with you. Don't go. Don't fight that battle, He said. I see this with young people. I'm going to do this and this and this. Are your parents with you on this? And usually when I get that question, the head drops and they hum-haw around because deep down in their hearts, they know that their parents aren't behind it. And they're going to violate a biblical principle of honoring their parents at the expense of doing something that's in their heart to do. And they're going to commit a sin of presumption and make it worse on their lives. Young people, listen to me. Don't go in directions where you don't have clear leading from God. where the Word of God has not been spoken, where you've not taken time to pray, where you've not taken time maybe to fast about something. Be careful about those directions in life. Make sure that you're in contact with God. I urge the men here this morning to be men who are Word-driven men. Get your instruction, get your direction, get your counsel from the Scriptures. Take time on decisions and wait until God leads you through His Word and through prayer. It's interesting that not only did they have a quick change of mind, but it was determined. They weren't going into Canaan, but now they're going into Canaan and no one can stop them, not even the leadership. Interesting how quickly we change. The Lord showed His displeasure by not helping them. by not sympathizing with their defeat. For that generation there was no escape from death in the desert during the next 38 years of their lives. Listen to me, you better not go into something without God behind it. You better know 100% God's in something before you start making a move in a direction. Life could have been an adventure for them during these years. They could have walked into Canaan and watched God move all kinds of things out. Watch God give great victory. Instead, it was an endless detour for 40 years in their lives. Sorrowful, but not repentant. Lastly, I want you to look at the Sorrow of Defeat, verses 44 and 45. The Bible says, And the Amorites which dwelt in that mountain came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in seer, even unto Hormah. And ye returned, and did what? Wept before the Lord." Say, preacher, in my life, what does an unrepentant person look like? Here's what it looks like. Sorrow after sorrow, after sorrow. That's what we find in the nation of Israel. They sorrowed when the two spies came back and said, we can do it. They sorrowed. They cried. They sorrowed when the ten spies were killed. They sorrowed. They sorrowed when the Amorites defeated them in the hill, which is a battle they never should have fought. They sorrowed. They sorrowed in the wilderness when they ate manna and couldn't have all the blessings that they deserved or thought they deserved. They sorrowed. Their lives were filled with sorrow. A person that lives with an unrepentant heart is a person, mark it down, that's going to have a life full of sorrow. The sorrow of defeat. Their first tears were not tears of repentance. Just because someone cries tears doesn't mean that there's repentance. The sorrow of the world worketh death. Worldly sorrow only creates more sorrow. I'm sorry what I was caught will only lead to greater sorrow. I'm sorrowful over God's judgment, but not over my sin that offended God." That wasn't the reason they were sorrowing. They were sorrowing over all the wrong things in their lives. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 12. I'll give you an example as we close the message. We find in Hebrews chapter 12 a man by the name of Esau. Esau was a worldly man. He was a carnal man. He was an earthly man. Didn't have much spiritually going for him. Verse number 14 of Hebrews chapter 12, the Bible says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Bitterness was a wrong choice. lest there be any fornicator, another wrong choice, or profane person, another wrong choice, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, another wrong choice. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Perhaps the saddest and most godless person in Scripture, outside of Judas, is a man by the name of Esau. On the surface, his acts against God maybe don't seem so brutal as heartless pagans, but the Bible strongly condemns them in Hebrews chapter 12. Esau had great light. Are you listening to me? He grew up in a patriarch's home, a man by the name of Jacob. Esau would have known what was right. Esau would have been trained in the right things. Family problems, yes, but he would have known what was right. He had every possible opportunity, as many under the sound of my voice do, of knowing and following God. He knew His Word. He'd heard His promises. Yet, with determined willingness, Esau made wrong choices and rebelled against God. Sad to say in churches across our country today, we have a lot of young people that have the same privileges, that have heard it all, that have been in an environment that's fruitful. Listen to me, young people, for spiritual growth. You've heard the promises of God. You've seen the miracles of God. You've enjoyed the fellowship of believers. But sad to say, it seems as though the Esau's are increasing. as though people that seek after repentance, but they can't find it. They're tearful over their sin, but for all the wrong reasons, not because it's sin against God. And Esau sought repentance carefully, but he could not find it. He failed to act on God's grace. He was a profane person, a person who lived for the world, who lived for self, for his flesh and not for God. He despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob. And he missed the blessing because it was given to Jacob. When he came to his father, watch this, and earnestly besought his father, O Jacob, don't you have a blessing for me? Is what Esau said. He came in tears. But you know what? His father couldn't change his mind. He couldn't repent and change his mind about the blessing. The blessing was given away. My friend, listen to me this morning. If all we do is get sorrowful over judgment and over defeat in our lives and we commit the sin of presumption in our lives, we too will find ourselves at the same place of Esau. We'll want God's blessing. We'll beg for God's blessing like Esau begged his father for his blessing, but God couldn't give it to him through Jacob. Turn over to Genesis 27. Esau wanted the blessing, but he didn't want God. He woke up to some extent and realized what he had forsaken, made an attempt to retrieve it, but it was too late. He was forever outside of God's grace. Esau was a man who failed to take his relationship with God seriously. He was a spiritually casual man. Are you listening to me? There are spiritually casual believers today. Hear me and hear me well. It's not going to get you anywhere. You're going to lose out on God's blessings. You live that way. You think you can ignore God's commands? You think you can ignore God's principles? You think you're the exception to the rule? You think you can sow wild oats? You hear me and hear me well. God's going to go, shh, blessings gone. I'm going to put them somewhere else. Look at verse 45, Genesis 27. Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him, then I will fetch thee from thence. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth, those being women that Esau had committed fornication with. immorality. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are the daughters of the Lamb, what good shall my life do me? Esau's life affected others, made his mother weary of life." Young person, hear me. You don't live life right, you live a backslidden life, you're going to weary your parents. Rebecca, the Bible says, was weary of life. I don't even want life anymore. Young person, if for nothing else, if you're running away from God, you're walking away from God, there ought to be something that motivates you, that even the love of your own parents ought to motivate you to turn back to God. Esau had blessings and privileges, but they went bad. Chapter 27, verse 32, And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and bought it me? I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him. Yea, and he shall be blessed. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, my father. Lord bless me. Jacob, please bless me. But it's too late. Verse 38, Esau said to his father, Hast thou but one blessing? My father, bless me, even me also. O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept, sorrowful, but not repentant. We must never minimize our sinful decisions with God, nor assume, are you listening, that we can turn right when we want to. We buy a lie that says this, I'm in sin, and somewhere along the line I'll be able to turn. Wrong thinking, sir. Ma'am, wrong thinking. You don't turn right at your own will. Esau could never turn. Repentance is a change of mind about my sin. That's what it is. It's not simple sorrow. Esau is a tragic example of one who does a willful sin which allows no second chance. Did they weep because they disobeyed God, the nation of Israel? No. They wept because the Amorites chased them and destroyed them. Their defeat was the reason for their weeping. You know of incidents when a thief is caught and he begins to shed tears and repent. But wait a minute, what kind of tears are they? Are they tears because he's been caught? Or tears because he offended God? I ask some questions as we close this morning. First of all, are you seeing God's judgment and looking for a quick fix? Because I want to tell you this morning, God doesn't do quick fixes. God's looking for a repentant heart. Have you used your lips lightly before the Lord, but your heart has not changed? That's what they did. They said, we've sinned. But it wasn't a change of heart. That was proven out in the next commandment that was given. Be careful of using your lips lightly with the Lord. Have you had sorrow over God's judgment, a worldly sorrow, but not truly repented? Remember, sorrow leads to sorrow. If that's all the further you get spiritually, that's going to lead to a lot of sorrow in your Have you cried to the Lord for a blessing when you know you're not in a position for a blessing? You're not right with the Lord. Have you cried to the Lord because of defeat, but not about how your life has brought a reproach to his name, not cried about your sin that put him on the cross, not had a change of mind where you hate where you've been? God doesn't respond to shallow words. Are you like Esau living a casual spiritual life? And all of a sudden, you're starting to see, uh-oh, the blessings aren't there. Uh-oh, the burdens are piling up. Uh-oh, the judgment of God's coming upon me. Are you involved in a sin that's causing you to fail of the grace of God? Are you one that's had every opportunity of spiritual advantage and privilege and blessing to live for God, but instead you're living for the world. You're a profane person in the eyes of God. Genuine repentance is something that develops deep down in the soul about your sin, about your lifestyle, about where you're going with God, about the laws that you've broken before God, to where you're broken before a holy God. That's what God's looking for, where there's repentance, my friend. there's mercy, where there's repentance, there's forgiveness, there's cleansing. Only God can see a heart. You have your heart set in a direction but no leadership from God, no leadership from His Word. If somebody came to you about that decision and said, what'd you get from God about it? What'd you find from the Word of God? What'd you hear about from God in prayer? You couldn't say anything because you haven't been with God. Be careful about the sin of presumption in your life.