I could stand up here for 15
minutes and just go on and on about this church, this group
of believers. You're very special to Teresa
and I, and we always feel like we're at home when we're here.
So I'm just going to leave it at this. I love you. Thank you. Our text this morning
will be found in the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapter 13,
if you would turn there with me. While you're turning, I wanted
to say that a couple months ago I corresponded with a pastor
friend of mine who is now 80 years old and has been in the
ministry for over 50 years, I know. And our conversation It kind
of started this way. He said, David, I've never seen
a time in my life or in the ministry when people were more afraid,
even professing believers. Now it's very important for us
to understand that in the Scriptures, fear is the opposite of faith. Faith and fear can never occupy
the same space. Where there's fear, there's no
faith. Where there's faith, there's no fear. Pretty simple concept. Until you try to live that way.
Paul told Timothy, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and a sound mind. The Holy Spirit
within us is powerful. giving us the ability to love
God and to trust God, which in turn gives us a sound mind that
enables us to rest in Him no matter the circumstances that
we find ourselves in. David said, the Lord is on my
side, I will not fear what man can do unto me. The Lord Jesus
said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we can
boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. Knowing that God is on our side,
we should never fear what anyone or anything can do to us. Why? Pretty simple answer. God is
out to do us good. Child of God, God is out to do
you good. In Romans chapter 8 verse 28,
a verse that I'm sure all of you could quote by heart, Paul
writes, and we know that all things work together for what? For good. That means what it
says. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Now listen, all things work together
for our good because it's our heavenly Father that is working
all things together. Why shouldn't the child of God fear anyone or anything? Because
God would have never sent His Son into the world had He intended
to do wrong by His people. Now isn't that right? That's what God the Holy Spirit
through the Apostle Paul tells us in the 8th chapter of Romans. For whom He, God, did foreknow,
He, God, also did predestinate. God also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of His Son. that He, Christ, God's
Son, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
God did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom God justified, them He also glorified. Now that sounds to me like salvations
of the Lord. And having said that, Paul goes
on to ask some questions there in Romans chapter 8 that confirm
exactly what I'm trying to say. Paul asks, what shall we say
then to these things? If God foreknew us, predestinated
us, called us and justified us and is going to glorify us, what
shall we say to those things? How about if God be for us? Who
can be against us? If God is for you, who can be
against you? What should we be afraid of if
God is for us? If God is for us, who can be
against us? Since everyone and everything
is answerable to Him. In verse 32 of Romans 8, Paul
adds to our confidence and our assurance by saying, He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, meaning all
God's elect, how shall He not with Him, with Christ, freely
give us all things? Again, God is out to do us good. Then Paul asks three more reassuring
questions. First, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Secondly,
who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, brethren,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Now you think about that
for a moment. Your Lord, your Savior, who died
for you, is sitting at the right hand of God, pleading your cause. Every minute of every day. He's
out to do you good, Kelly. Thirdly, who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, our sword and friends? That includes a pandemic. Who can charge us with being
guilty and deserving of any condemnation and wrath? It's God that justifies
us. Are we going to believe God?
Who can condemn us of anything? It's Christ that died for us.
Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ? The answer is nothing or no one. And with these things in mind,
what is the child of God to fear? Paul then says this, Nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. That's my confidence. That's
my assurance. It's through Him. Christ is my
conqueror. And I'm persuaded that neither
death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It's all in
Him. What shall we fear when none
of these things mentioned, which by the way includes everything, Who can separate us from this
love of God that's found in the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely
nothing should cause us to fear. Now, I know we do, but we shouldn't. Kind of like the fellow that
went to the doctor and said, it hurts when I do this. And
the doctor said, well, don't do that. Okay, Numbers chapter 13. I apologize
for the long introduction and I want to move along quickly
here. I want to show the same courtesy to John that he did
me yesterday. But let me give you a little
background here. God had powerfully delivered
Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. We've talked about
that some this weekend already. And now they're encamped at the
foot of Mount Sinai. And during that time, this is
when the Lord gave them His law, and He gave them the plans for
the tabernacle, and He told them what He wanted in the service
of the priest, and instructions concerning the sacrifices, and
all of that pictures Christ. Just amazing. God's Word is amazing,
isn't it? God led His people by the pillar
of cloud during the day. He led them by the pillar of
fire at night. And they were led by God to a
place called Kadesh Barnea. And it was there that they stopped.
Kadesh Barnea was on the edge of the desert, right on the border
of the land that God had promised Abraham hundreds of years before.
The same land that God had said flowed with milk and honey. The same land that God had given
them, promising them victory over all their enemies who possessed
the land. So we pick up the story here
in chapter 13, verse 1. It says, "...and the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Send thou men that they may search the
land of Canaan." Now notice this, God didn't let them forget. He
says, "...which I give unto the children of Israel." God had
already given them the land. They hadn't possessed it yet,
but it was as good as theirs because God had given it. The
land which I have given unto the children of Israel, of every
tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a ruler
among them." So Moses sends out 12 spies here, one from each
of the 12 tribes. And he sends them to spy out
the land. And they're named for us in verses
4 through 15, and I'm not even going to try to attempt to read
those names. But I do draw your attention
to verse 6. It says, of the tribe of Judah,
Caleb, the son of Jephunel. And then in verse 8, of the tribe
of Ephraim, Oshea, the son of Nun. In verse 16, we're told
that Moses called Oshea, the son of Nun, Jehoshua or Joshua. So two men in particular there,
Caleb and Joshua. Now these 12 spies were to stay
for 40 days and nights and according to verse 18, the purpose was
to see the land. what it is, and the people that
dwell therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many. Verse 19, and what the land is
that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities
they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and
what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there
be wood therein or not. Go check it out. And they were
told to be of good courage and to bring the fruit of the land,
for it was the time of the first grapes, first fruits. In verse
25 we see that they returned from searching the land after
40 days. And then they went and they came
to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of Israel
and the children of Israel and to all the congregation and showed
them the fruit of the land. They begin to report to Moses
in verse 27, and this is what they said, We came into the land
whither thou sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey.
And this is the fruit of it. Now try to imagine this. We're
told in verse 23 that the cluster of grapes that they cut were
so bountiful and so plentiful that they had to bear them between
two men with staffs. or what, they had to carry them
that way. And they also brought pomegranates
and figs. Oh, what a sight that must have
been. I'm talking about grapes probably the size of your fist,
that's how I see it. But then the report of the ten
spies kind of goes south, as we say. It takes an unbelieving
and fearful turn. And it does so by one word in
verse 28. They said, nevertheless. All
that land flows with milk and honey. But, but. We always get in trouble when
we, but, don't we? As you know that word nevertheless
means however or regardless and in spite of. May God enable us
to remember that His Word and His promises to us are nevertheless,
they're nevertheless, but always what He promises them to be.
And what they said was, regardless of the wonderful abundance of
the land, we also discovered the people are strong that dwell
in the land. The cities are walled and very
great. And there are giants in the land. We saw the children of Anik there. Now this would be a good time
to remind you this morning that there's a giant in our land.
You know it and so do I. Everywhere you look today, you
can visibly see the fear of this giant. And the fear exposes men and
women's unbelief. And we just have to call it what
it is. Remember, fear is the opposite
of faith. Fear is the opposite of trust.
And we see a very good picture here of ourselves in the ten
spies. In verse 29, we're given a better
understanding of whom and what the ten spies feared. And let
me quickly give them to you. I found this very interesting.
First were the Amalekites. If you remember, the Amalekites
were the descendants of Esau. They were the first nation and
people that came out against Israel after God delivered them
out of Egypt. As long, you remember, they were
in battle and as long as Moses' hands were lifted up, Israel
prevailed. But when his hands grew tired
and lowered, the Amalekites forbade him. That's a pretty good picture,
isn't it? That's a picture of our looking
to Christ high and lifted up. As long as we look to Him, the
Exalted One, we have the victory. Let's keep our eyes on Him. But
when we look within, look with fear at the obstacles and the
enemies that we have in this life, we begin to lose. No doubt
the Amalekites here picture the flesh. But if we keep our eyes
on Christ, trust in Him, we win. Every time. Every time. But when we look to our flesh,
we look to our ability, when we look to our frailty, our vulnerabilities,
We fail. It's just that simple. Secondly,
we have the Hittites. Now the word Hittite comes from
a Hebrew verb that actually means paralyzing fear and terror. The Lord has shown us something
here. It also means destruction and ruin. The fear of man, the
fear of the flesh, the fear of circumstances, the fear of fear. Men fear what they have no control
over. But what do we have control over? We don't have control over anything.
Absolutely nothing. So I have to ask, why do we fear
anything when God has control over everything? It's there that we find true
peace and rest. You know, when I was a young
boy, I never worried about anything. You know why? Because I trusted
my father for everything. My, he worked two jobs to see
that we had a roof over our head and clothes on our back and food
on our table. Well, I never once worried about
what I would eat. You never worried about that,
have you? I never worried about what I
would drink, what I'd wear, where I would sleep. Why? Because I trusted in my father
to provide everything that I needed. Hello? I took no thought for the things,
those things. I had no worries. In Matthew
chapter 25, the Lord Jesus said, Take no thought for your life,
what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your
body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat
and the body more than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit to his stature? If that was the case, I'd be
eight foot tall. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so
clothed the grass of the field, which is today and tomorrow is
cast into the oven, shall He not more clothe you, O ye of
little faith?" That's what the Lord Jesus said. And then thirdly,
we have the Jebusites. Now the word Jebusite means polluted. We pollute the Word of God by
our unbelief. Unbelief brings fear. Fear is
the pollution behind unbelief. To fear anything is not believing
in a sovereign God. We talk a lot about sovereignty.
God's sovereign and we're glad that He is. And then we dare
worry and fret. Is He not able to take care of
us? Fourthly, we have the Amorites.
The word Amorite means boasting. It means prominence. It means
publicity. It means being famous and important. What a picture that is of us
by nature. Men and women by nature think
more of themselves than they do of God. And it's the epitome
of unbelief and a great factor for fear. Looking to self never
provides faith, only fear. Then fifthly and lastly, we have
the Canaanites. And interesting enough, the word
Canaanite means peddler, picturing one who buys and sells, making
merchandise of men and women's souls. And that's a great picture
of salvation, well not a great picture that it's great, but
I mean it's a very accurate picture of salvation by works. God has
promised victory over all our enemies. All of them. Just as He did Israel over those
in Canaan. Look at verse 30. Now here we
see something of the man or woman who walks by faith and not by
sight. That's what the Scripture tells
us to do, Mike. Walk not by your sight. Walk by faith in God. Faith in
what Christ has done. Verse 30, And Caleb steal the
people before Moses, and he said, Let us go up at once. What are
we waiting on? Let's go up and possess the land.
We are well able to overcome it. Everybody else is saying, oh,
no, there are giants in the land. Caleb said, let's go. Let's go. There's much we can learn from
Caleb. His profession here is a good one. In spite of the others'
report, Caleb says, let's go at once. Why wait? Why tarry?
Let's go up and possess what God has already given us. We're
well able to overcome it. Not in and of ourselves. Was Caleb being presumptuous?
I mean, after all, the other ten spies had a bad report. A
whole lot like our news media today. I'll throw that in for
free. They say all things are bad.
You better stay at home. This giant we're facing is strong. Why, it's like a walled city
that can't be penetrated. We can't go up against it. God
knocked that wall down in Jericho, didn't He? They just walked around
and blew a trumpet and the wall fell down. Except for one little
part over here that Rahab lived on. It stood. Those around him said, we can't
go up against these giants. They're stronger than we are.
But Caleb said, they're not stronger than my God. Do you see what God calls the
profession of the ten spies here? In verse 32 Moses said, and they
brought an evil report of the land which they had searched.
Now listen to me on this. Any report that questions what
God says is an evil report. Evil report. God said in verse
2, send thou men that they may search the land which I give.
God said this was a land that flowed with milk and honey. God
doesn't lie. If God promised they'd take the
land, then they would take the land. Beloved, are we going to
believe God? Are we going to walk by what
we see? Are we going to walk by what
we're told? Again, verse 32, the ten spies
said, the land through which we have gone to search it is
a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And they said, and all
the people that we saw in this land are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in
our own sight. Now look at this, we were in
our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight. I've read that so many times
and then I've actually read it and thought about it. Did you
pay close attention to what they said there? They said we were
in our own sight as grasshoppers. That's how they saw themselves.
As unable. They didn't see themselves as
they really were. They didn't see themselves as
God had made them. More than conquerors. They saw
themselves as defeated. They had forgotten what God had
promised them. Why do we do that? But stop it. They saw themselves
this way and then they deducted in their own minds that their
enemies saw them that way too. That's what they said. But they
didn't. Do you remember what Rahab said
when the two spies came to her abiding, speaking on behalf of
all those in Jericho? She said, we know that the Lord
has given you this land. Rahab knew it. She said, your
terror has fallen upon us. We faint because of you. For
we've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea.
when you came out of Egypt. We've heard what you did to those
two kings of the Amorites, old Sion and Og, whom you utterly
destroyed. Who destroyed them? Israel did,
but it was because of the Lord. The Lord destroyed them. The
same one that had promised to give them this land. And Rahab
said, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts didn't melt. Neither did there remain any
more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
He is God of heaven above and in earth beneath." Well, Rahab
knew some things, didn't she? Friends, but with whom was God
grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them
that believed not? Now that's what will keep you
out. Unbelief. So we see that they could not
enter into this rest because of unbelief. Cause of unbelief. Everything
that they had seen, they didn't believe. They did
not enter into God's rest. And it was because of unbelief. God caused the people of Israel
to wander another 40 years. A year for every day that the
spies were in Canaan. They had seen the ten plagues.
Not a fly, not a frog, Not a death in Goshen where God's people
dwelt. They'd seen the death of the
firstborn of Egypt, but not one single death occurred where Israel
dwelt. Why? They were covered by the
blood. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. God says the same thing today. If you're in Christ, If you belong
to Him, if He shed His blood for you, not a frog, not a fly,
not a death. Everything's going to be alright.
Everything! They'd crossed the sea on dry
ground and Pharaoh and his army were drowned. They'd eaten manna
that fell from heaven. They'd drank from a rock that
followed them around. They were still being led by
the pillar of a cloud and by the pillar of fire. And now they're
ready to enter into the land of promise. And only 2 out of
12 spies believed God. I'm not good at math. I've told
you that before. But I did figure it out. I got
a calculator. That's 16.67%. That's not a very
high percentage, is it? 2 out of 12. And wherever you have unbelief,
you've got fear. They feared what man could do
to them. They feared what things could do to them. Wherever there's
a high view of man, I can assure you there's a low view of God. God said, fear not. Are we going
to believe Him? Are we going to do what He says?
You know, anything that we fear becomes in our minds and hearts
bigger than God. Did you see? But God is bigger than anything,
everything and everyone. There are giants in the land,
but there are no giants to God. Who entered into the land of
promise? Only two. who were over the age of 20.
Out of the almost 2 million people that left Egypt, 2 men over the
age of 20 entered into the land of promise. You know who they
were? Caleb and Joshua. Those that believed God. Joshua means Savior. Joshua means
my help is in Jehovah. Caleb means dog. Some say faithful
dog. I don't have any problem with
that. I know I'm a dog. I want to be a faithful one.
Who's going to enter into the land of promise? Who's going
to enter into heaven's glory? Those whose help is in Jehovah. And those who are faithful dogs.
Are you a faithful dog? It was Mephibosheth, the self-confessed
dog that ate at the king's table continually. It was the Canaanite
woman who agreed with the Lord Jesus that she was a dog that
ate the crumbs from the master's table. Teresa and I had a little dog.
We loved that little dog. But I'm going to tell you something. It was good to be our dog. That dog ate better than we did.
She went to the barbershop a whole lot more than I did. We loved our dog. It was good
to be our dog. Let me tell you something, it's
good to be God's dog. Aren't you glad you're God's
dog? Well, there's much more we can see in Numbers chapter
14, but let me move along here. Look down at verse 23 of chapter
14. I want you to see this. These
are the words of our Lord. Verse 23, Numbers 14 says, Surely
they, speaking of those who feared and believed not, God says, they
shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither
shall any of them that provoke Me see it. Now look at this,
verse 24, But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit
within him. If you're God's dog, it's because
God has put another spirit within you. Not anything you did. It says, And he hath followed
me fully. Him will I bring into the land
wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it. Caleb had another
spirit with him. It was the spirit of God. The
spirit of God that God put in him. And Caleb the dog followed
Christ fully. Our Lord Jesus said, my sheep
follow me. Now when they run ahead, they
get in trouble. But when they follow him, everything's
going to be alright. Those who went before the pillar
of the cloud often find themselves in a cloud and cannot see. And
those who go before the pillar of fire often find themselves
in the fire and perish. But those who follow, everything's
going to be all right. We better make sure who we're
following. Better make sure who we're following. A dog follows
its master. The dog follows his master. The Lord said of Caleb the dog,
he followed me and he followed me fully. What is it to follow
the Lord fully? Well, let me show you. Turn with
me to Joshua now. Joshua 14 verse 6. I want you to see these verses. Joshua 14 verse 6. Someone asked me one time, how
do you know when everybody's got to the passages? I'm like,
I quit hearing the pages turn. Verse 6, Joshua 14, Then the
children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, And Caleb, the son
of Jephenel, the Kenizzite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing
that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me
and thee in Kardesh Barnea." Caleb comes now to Joshua, the
two men with the good report. And he says, 40 years old was
I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kardash-Barnea
to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in mine
heart. That's where faith is, isn't
it? It's in the heart. And said, nevertheless, my brethren
that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but
I wholly follow the Lord my God. Verse 9, And Moses swore on that
day, saying, Surely the land wherein thy feet have trodden
shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because
thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold,
the Lord hath kept me alive." And he said, these forty and
five years, ever since the Lord spake His Word unto Moses, while
the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, lo,
I am this day, four score and five years old, eighty-five years
old, as yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that
Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even
so is my strength now. for war both to go out and to
come in. Now watch this, verse 12. Now
therefore, give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that
day, for thou heardest in that day how the Anacoms were there,
and that the cities were great and fenced. If so be the Lord
will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as
the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and gave
unto Caleb the son of Jephiel Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron
therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephnel,
the Kenizzite unto this day, because that he had wholly followed
the Lord God of Israel." You know, I think about Lot's wife.
Lot's wife left Sodom, but she looked back. She left Sodom,
but her heart didn't. The foolish Galatians were soon
removed from him that called them into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel. But now Caleb, 85 years old,
he followed the Lord fully, he followed the Lord wholly until
the end. That's what a faithful dog does. He follows his master until the
end. Those that endure to the end shall be saved. Now turn
over a page to Joshua chapter 15 and look at verse 13. You're
going to like this. Verse 13, chapter 15, And unto
Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he gave a part among the children
of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the
city of Arba, the father of Anak, whose city is Hebron, and Caleb
drove hence the three sons of Anak. Do you know who these three
sons of Anak were? They were the giants that the
ten spies feared. There are giants in the land.
Caleb, 85 years old, God's faithful dog, drives them out. Friends, there's always going
to be giants in the land. There just are. There's always
been giants in the land. But by the grace and mercy of
God, we will always, always, always be victorious if we follow
the Lord. I like being God's dog. I like being God's dog. And I am by His grace going to
follow Him, trust Him, He's out to do us good. And because of
that, I just refuse to live in fear and unbelief. Now I know
I'm going to fail and I know that I'm going to fall. But I
also know that I'm kept by the power of God. Oh God, He's faithful
that promised He's going to keep me. No matter what may befall me,
no matter what may come my way, even death, there's nothing to
fear in death. To be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord, isn't that right? To live is
Christ and to die is gain. Well, I might die. Well, to me,
that's a promotion. Nay, in all these things. In
all these things we are more than conquerors. The dogs that
we are. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Not my faithfulness. His. Oh, may God enable us to always
remember That it's the faith of Christ that saves us. Amen? Thank you, brother.