(Num 14:40) And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned!"

 

 

 

(Num 14:41) And Moses said, "Now why do you transgress the command of the LORD? For this will not succeed. {42} "Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.

(Num 14:43) "For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." {44} But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop; nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed from the camp.

 

 

(Num 14:45) Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.

 

(Deu 1:42-45)  "And the LORD said to me, 'Tell them, "Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies."' (Deu 1:43) "So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain. {44} "And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. {45} "Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

 

 

(Heb 3:7-12 NKJV)  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, {8} Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, {9} Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. {10} Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' {11} So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" {12} Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

 

 

(Num 15 NKJV)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {2} "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you, {3} 'and you make an offering by fire to the LORD,

 

 

(Num 15:22) 'If you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments which the LORD has spoken to Moses;

(Num 15:22 NCV)  "'Now what if you forget to obey any of these commands the LORD gave Moses?

(Num 15:24) 'then it will be, if it is unintentionally committed, without the knowledge of the congregation, that the whole congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma to the LORD, . . . {25} 'So the priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was unintentional; . . .” {27} 'And if a person sins unintentionally, . . . the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, . . . and it shall be forgiven him.

 

Are there other kinds of sins?

 

(Num 15:30) 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. {31} 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.'"

 

Presumptuous sins	Unintentional sins
Very different	consequences
completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.'	it shall be forgiven him.

 

 

(Deu 1:43) "So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.

We know the result

(Deu 1:44) "And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. {45} "Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

 

 

(Mat 12:24-32 NKJV)  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." . . .{31} "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. {32} "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

 

Jesus was casting out demons to demonstrate His power and authority.  The Pharisees rejected His authority and attributed His power to Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

 

 

(Num 14:11) Then the LORD said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?

 

My conclusion: 

When we steadfastly refuse to accept the word of God—the power of the Holy Spirit, we cross the line, and there is no more forgiveness.

 

(Heb 10:26-27 NKJV)  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, {27} but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

The Jews of the First Century apparently crossed the line.

 

(Mat 23:37-38)  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! {38} "See! Your house is left to you desolate;

 

Look at the statements:

“the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!”  These were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, and they killed them!

Jesus came to teach them “but [they] were not willing!

The Result:

"See! Your house is left to you desolate;”

40 years later, Jerusalem was utterly destroyed by the Roman army.  The Jewish system of worship was destroyed because they lost their temple.  Jesus tells what will happen to them:

(Luke 19:41-44 NKJV)  Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, {42} saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. {43} "For days will come upon you when your enemies [1] will build an embankment around you, [2] surround you and close you in on every side, {44} [3]"and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and [4] they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

 

A very similar story.

They had opportunity after opportunity to repent and make their lives right with God, and they refused.

 

But what about sins of ignorance?

(Luke 23:34 NKJV)  Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.

 

I always want to ask, “What do you mean?  They knew what they were doing!”

 But Jesus words make their sins forgivable.  They were sins of ignorance.

 

 

(Acts 3:14-17 NKJV)  "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, {15} "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. . . . {17} "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

 

(Heb 6:4-9 NKJV)  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, {5} and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, {6} if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. . . .

“It is impossible,” so is there any hope?

 

(Heb 6:9) But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

 

 

(1 Tim 4:1-2 NKJV)  Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, {2} speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

 

I think it is pretty clear that we are in a very dangerous position if we allow ourselves to become callous to the word of God and allow our conscience to be seared so as to be insensitive.

 

We need to be as little children with tender and sensitive hearts.

 

 

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