Be Sure, Be Very Very Sure

Carter Conlon — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 01:00:00 -0400

Introduction: A Nation on the Edge of the Promised Land

The Lord is now leading us into a specific place. That's what this message is all about. It has an unusual title: "Be Sure. Be Very, Very Sure." I believe that God is doing the same thing now that He was doing at the time when the nation of Israel first went into the promised land. Keep in mind, when they went into the promised land, it was after 40 years in the wilderness — 400 years of captivity followed by 40 years in the wilderness because of an evil report brought to them by 10 spies sent in by Moses, who said, "No, we can't do it. There are giants there. There are walled cities. We don't have the weaponry. We just can't do it." Because of that report, an entire generation — literally, except for the children — died in the wilderness. The part of the story I'm going to start in today is at the end of that 40-year period, where they are about to go into the promised land. We are about three to four months from Moses' death and Joshua taking the people of Israel into the promised land. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you're going to give me the ability to convey the thought you put in my heart. We are indeed living in the last days. I ask you, God, that as the last-days church, we would truly bring honor and glory to your name by simply obeying you and doing what you've asked us to do — by being the people you've called us to be. Deliver us, Lord, from self-will. Deliver us, God, from trying to do things our own way. Deliver us, God, from marginalizing our callings, from minimizing your word. Give us an obedient heart, Lord, each one of us today. Give us an obedient heart, for it's in your heart to bless us as your people. It's in your heart to lead us into places where your name is brought to glory because of what you do through our lives. And it's always involving human need. Always, always, always, without fail, it involves your people reaching out to somebody else who has no helper if we don't go. So give us the grace not to succumb to just the desire for comfort. Give us the grace, my God. Give me the ability to speak this. Lord, I'm asking again that you would stretch out your hand in this sanctuary and through the internet and do miracles. Let absolute, undebatable miracles happen — prison doors opening, blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing. God Almighty, the prisoners being set free. Lord, the poor having the treasure of heaven open to them. Everything you said you came to do, we simply ask you to do that. We don't have to beg you to do what you came to do. We agree with you. We ask for the glory of your name that you would do something so far beyond us that all we can do is stand back and lift our hands and say, "God, only you could have done this." And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

Two Tribes and the Temptation of Comfort

Be sure. Be very, very sure. Numbers 32, beginning at verse 20. Then Moses said to them — now, this is two tribes we're talking about. Two tribes that basically said, "We've been 40 years in the wilderness, Moses." They're in a desert the whole time. And they finally conquered what I call the east side of the Jordan. They're not over the Jordan yet into what was designated to be the promised land. But two of the tribes finally landed in a place where there was grass. Can you imagine? It's like living in New York and finally going to Pennsylvania one day — and there's just suddenly grass. They've got cattle, they want to plant things, grow things, raise their families. It's been 40 years in the desert, 40 years of attending funerals literally every day until a whole generation had died off. And suddenly they just don't want to fight anymore. I get it. You get it. We all understand that. Some of you have come to Christ and you say, "God, I know you have a call on my life — can we just put that on hold for a little while? I just want to enjoy life. I want to build something here. I want to smell the flowers." I get that. God gets that. But God is speaking to these people and saying, "No, there's more for you than this. I have a journey for you, and the journey I have for you involves other people. I came and I died for all of humanity, for whosoever will." The scripture says in Romans, they can't hear without a preacher. And there will be no preacher that goes to them unless they are sent. The Holy Spirit is moving on us as His church in this last hour to go into places we've not gone before and to embrace a calling that we may not have fully embraced. Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, and all your armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel. And this land shall be your possession before the Lord." In other words: okay, you've asked for permission to stay on this side of the Jordan — the east side. The west side is supposed to be where the promised land is, but you've found what you want. But if you will go over and fight with your brothers and sisters until they have obtained their inheritance — if you will live beyond just living for yourself — if you will give yourself for them so that they can conquer what needs to be conquered and have their inheritance, then you can come back and enjoy this place. "But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out."

What It Really Means: "Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out"

Be sure. Now, when we talk about that verse — "be sure your sin will find you out" — we generally have a connotation that somebody has a hidden sin. Whether you've stolen something from the workplace, you've been in an illicit relationship you shouldn't be in — and when that verse is quoted, we somehow think it means there's going to be an exposure one day. That very well might be the case for some, but that's not the context of this passage. This sin wasn't hidden. If the people didn't go with their brothers and sisters across into the promised land to conquer the giants and the armies occupying it, it would be a known thing — not a hidden thing. So being a known thing, what does it mean that your sin will find you out? Here's the way I see it. This kind of sin — the sin of selfishness, self-focus, the sin of knowing what to do and not doing it — it can be hidden by activity. It can be hidden by even coming to church on a regular basis. It can be hidden by a lot of things. But ultimately, it will find its way out in your character. As a man thinks in his heart, the scripture says, that's what he is. You can hide it for years, but eventually it's going to come out. Galatians 6:7 says, don't be deceived — whatever a man sows, that's what he's going to reap. Whatever seed you put in the ground, if you plant corn, you're not going to grow watermelons. Whatever you sow, you're going to reap. Matthew 7:2 — Jesus said, whatever measure you use, it will be measured back to you. In the measure you give out to others now, in the measure you are yielded for the sake of others, there's a day coming where you're going to need somebody to come to you. And trust me, it's going to happen. You're going to be — as the saying goes down in the South — lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut. You're going to be as low as you can go, and you can say, "God, send somebody to me." But the question is: where were you when somebody was calling that out? When somebody in New York City was saying, "God, send somebody to help me," and you didn't go. You stayed on the east side of Jordan and said, "I'm not interested in going over there. I've lived in a dry place, and I just want to enjoy life." Now, God doesn't resent that. Don't misunderstand. The point is that the calling is farther th...

Carter Conlon | A Call to the Nation

Be Sure, Be Very Very Sure