For the last two months, I have
enjoyed preparing and bringing messages to us from the Gospel
of Mark as we have looked at the life of the blessed Lord
Jesus Christ. But today, I want us to turn
back into the Old Testament to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 14. I trust God willing to be back
in Mark next Sunday. But today, I want us to look
at this historical event in the life of the nation of Israel. In Numbers chapter 14, beginning
with verse 1, reading through verse 10. And all the congregation
lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.
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? And wherefore hath the Lord brought
us unto this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and
our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to
return unto Egypt? And they said one to another,
let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt. And Moses and Aaron fell on their
faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children
of Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, and
Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched
the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company
of the children of Israel, saying, the land which we pass through
to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight
in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us,
a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not you
against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for
they are bred for us. Their defense is departed from
them. And the Lord is with us, fear
them not. But all the congregation bade
stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared
in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. This morning as we look at this
passage of scripture, I would remind us of the Apostle Paul's
words in Romans chapter 15 and verse 4, where he wrote, for
whatsoever things were written aforetime, and this is part of
those things which were written aforetime, were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. This record was written for our
learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have hope. And we understand the word hope
here in the sense of expectation, that we might have a good expectation. In chapter 13, I want us to see
what brought us, or what brought them to this point, to remind
us of what brought them to this point. If you look back into
chapter 13, verses 1 and 2, and the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel, of every tribe of
their fathers shall you send a man, every one a ruler among
them." God told Moses, instructed Moses to send 12 men to search
the land of Canaan. Twelve men were chosen, one of
each tribe. Caleb, he was chosen from the
tribe of Judah, and Joshua, he was chosen from the tribe of
of Ephraim. We won't look at the other 10
which tribes they came from, but one man of every tribe. And
my message this day, I have four considerations for us. Four considerations. First, consider these five similarities
between the 12 men. That's the first thing I want
us to consider. Twelve men, one man from each
tribe of Israel. But I want us to consider the
similarities between each of these twelve men. I have six
or five similarities. Number one, each one of these
men, all twelve of them, had walked through the Red Sea on
dry ground. Every one of them. They had all
come to the Red Sea following Moses and God gave Moses the
command to stretch forth his staff and he opened the Red Sea
so that all the children of Israel marched through on dry ground. So every one of these 12 men
had seen that marvelous work and that's not counting the fact
that they had all seen the plagues, the miracles, which God wrought
in Egypt in delivering them from the house of bondage. Every one
of them had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. Number
two, all 12 of these men, they would have been sturdy, physically
strong men. I say that because their trip
or their mission was not only dangerous, They were being sent
into enemy territory to spy out the land. But it would take great
physical stamina to go and to stay in that land for 40 days
and sustain themselves off of the fruit of the land. And as
you read through this chapter, Moses tells them they are to
begin in the mountains. Have you ever walked in the mountains? Have you ever just, for the fun
of it, hiked in the mountains? That can be very tiring. But
they were not just to stay in the mountains. They were to go
from the mountains from one end of the land of Canaan all the
way through to the other end. It would take them 40 days. So all of them, I know, who were
chosen were men of great physical strength, a person who had not
been blessed with good physical strength would not have been
chosen for this work. And number three, all 12 of these
men were given the same instructions. Moses didn't tell two of them
this, and two of them this, and two of them this. All 12, they
are all given the same instructions. If you look here in chapter 13
to verses 18 through 20, The instructions are, well let's
begin in verse 17. And Moses sent them to spy out
the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way
southward, and go up into the mountain. That's where they are
to begin. And see the land, what it is,
and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong
or weak, few or many, 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. So they are all given the same
instructions, and these instructions were to see the land. That's why you're going, man. You're going to see the land. You're going to see the land
to see whether it be good or bad, whether it be fat or lean,
and to see if there's any woods, any forests left in this land. And you are to see the people.
They're all given the same instructions. See the land. and see the people,
whether they be many or just a few people living in this great
land, or is it crowded with people? And whether they be weak or whether
they be strong, you look and see. This is what you're to do.
Look at the land, look at the people, and then you are to see
how they dwell or where they dwell. Do they live in houses,
walled houses? Or do they live in tents like
a bunch of nomads or something like that? Search out the land. Go through it from the mountains
all the way to the other end. Look at the land. See if it'd
be good or bad. Look at the people. See if there'd
be many or if there'd be few. Look at their dwellings, whether
they dwell in in houses, substantial places, cities, or if they're
living in tents. And the second thing, not only
to see, but bring some fruit of the land. Bring us some fruit
of the land. So far, here are three similarities. All 12 of these men had walked
through the Red Sea on dry land. They saw the hand of God open
up the waters, two great sides that they walked through, waters
stored up, risen up by the power of God. They were all given healthy
bodies to sustain them, and they were all given the same instructions. And number four, they all received
the same encouragement. You notice that at the end of
verse 20, when they sent them away, be of good courage. I would
imagine that all of them heard words something like this, the
Lord be with you, the Lord be with you and give you good success. They may have even heard, may
the angels of God watch over you and protect you and keep
you. But they were all given the same
encouragement as they left on their journey. And number five,
all these 12 men, they all saw the same thing. Each and every
one of them. They all saw the same thing. They all saw that it was a land,
a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they all
saw, yes, there are cities in the land, and they're walled
up, as they say when they come back, walled up to heaven. Yes,
it's a good land. And yes, the cities are substantially
built The defense of the land of the people is great. And not only that, but there's
giants in the land. There's Anakins. There's family
of giants in the land. Not just ordinary people of stature,
but men of great size, of great height. They all saw the same
thing. Now Caleb and Joshua, They didn't
contradict. They didn't contradict these
sayings. They all agreed. They all gave
the same report. But this is where the similarities
end. We looked at five similarities
about all 12 of these men. But here is where the similarities
end. And that's the second thing I
want us to consider. I want us to consider the differences
about the perspectives between the 12 men. 10 men, if you notice in verse
32, chapter 13, 10 men brought up an evil report of the land. And they brought up an evil report
of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel.
Ten of them brought up an evil report, and this evil report
completely discouraged the whole nation, the whole congregation. They began to cry and to weep,
and it discouraged them so much that they began to murmur. They
began to complain and murmur against Moses and against Aaron,
not realizing, I assume, that when they murmured against Aaron,
when they murmured against Moses, they were murmuring against God. They were murmuring against the
Lord God of heaven. But I want you to see how the
ten men arrived at their perspective. If you notice, in verse 28 of
chapter 13, the word nevertheless. Oh, it's a beautiful land. It really is. It's a land flowing
with milk and honey. You remember they took a cluster
of grapes and brought back with them and they carried it between
two men. They put that cluster of grapes
somehow on a on a pole, I assume, and two men carried it back.
It was that large. It was that great a place, a
land that flowed with milk and honey. But notice how these ten men
arrive at their perspective. It's a good land. No question
about it. No doubt about it. It really
is. Nevertheless, and here's the point. The people be strong. Notice that in verse 31. But the man that went up with
him said, we be not able to go up against the people, for they
are stronger than we. Verse 28, they said, nevertheless,
the people be strong that dwell in the land. Now, get this, there's
10 men and they come to their perspective of the difficulty,
the impossibility actually, just let us die. Why didn't we die
in Egypt? Why in the world did you bring
us out here into this wilderness to die? Our children, our wives
and children will be the prey of these people in the land.
Why in the world did you do this, Moses? God, why did you do this? They came to their perspective
by looking at the people in the land and looking at themselves. You see that? Verse 28, Nevertheless
the people be strong that dwell in the land, And then verse 31,
but the man that went up with him said, we, the people, we. Does that resonate? Do you see what I'm getting at
here? They looked at the people. They are a strong people. And in consideration between
them and us, we. We're not able to do this. It's
an impossibility. Why in the world did we ever
come out here in the first place? But now I want you to look at
how the two men, Caleb and Joshua, how they arrive at their perspective
in chapter 14 and verse 8. Now they didn't contradict anything
those men said. People are strong. Cities are
fortified. It's a good land. But notice
in verse 8 of chapter 14. If the Lord delight in us, then
He will bring us into the land. It don't say anything about the
people. the men, those ten, they arrived at their perspective
by looking at the people and looking at themselves. They do
not bring God into the equation at all. It's simply them and
us. And them, they are much stronger
than we see ourselves to be. Caleb and Joshua, they come to
their perspective by simply saying, if the Lord delight in us, He's
able. He's able, not us. We're not
able. They didn't deny that. They had
no inability, but they recognize that they're God. If He delight
in us, He is able to bring us into the land. He will bring
us into the land and give it us. Now, these two men based
their perspective not on their strength, but rather upon the
Lord. Upon the Lord. And I thought
about what they may have considered. First of all, our God has promised
us that land. He promised us that land. We're
not just on a whim deciding on our own that we're going to go
into that land. No, no, no, no. Our God promised
to our father Abraham that land over 400 years ago. He promised us that he would
give us that land. We're not considering our strength
versus the strength of the people in the land? No. We're considering
the fact that our God promised us that land. Is He a faithful
God? Is He? Is He a faithful God? If God tells you something, can
you count on it? God told Abraham, to your Posterity,
I'm going to give the land of Canaan. They're going to be servants
first in a land for over 400 years. And they were. They had been in Egypt for over
400 years, but now God has brought them out. And do you know why
God said that he would not give the land of Canaan to Abraham
and his posterity at that time when he promised it to him? Do
you know why? God said, because the iniquity
of the Amorites is not quite full. Those nations, six nations
in the land of Canaan, they were wicked, but their wickedness
was not quite full. But now the time had come God
would execute judgment upon the wickedness of those nations. No, our God is faithful. Our
God has promised us this land. Has he said, this is what the
Lord said later, have not I purposed and shall I not do it? Let me
ask you something. The God that you worship, the
God that you trust, the God that you love, the God that you believe
in, is He a God of purpose? Is He? Has He purposed everything
that shall come to pass in this world? As we live in this world
day by day, do we serve a God, love a God who knows the end
from the beginning? Are we trusting in a God who
is learning as things come along, like we do? Is He? Or is He a God? When He purposes
something, it's going to come to pass. Why? Because He's God, that's why.
Who's going to stay His hand? You think puny man? You think
puny man is going to raise his fist in the face of God Almighty
and say, no, no, you're not going to do this. He might raise his
fist, but I guarantee you God's going to do what he has purpose
to do. No, they reasoned if God delight
in us, he's able to bring us into this land. If He delight
in us, He's able to, yes, yes, their cities are walled up to
heaven. Yes, there are giants in the land, but if our God delight
in us, He's able, He's able. And maybe they reasoned also,
has He not demonstrated His power? to us? Has He not demonstrated
His power in bringing us out of Egypt, bringing us through
the Red Sea, slaying all the firstborn in the land where the
blood was not applied of the Paschal Lamb? Has God Almighty
not demonstrated to us His power? Is there anything too hard for
our God? Does the Lord save by many or
by few? We know in the history of the
nation of Israel, after they got into the land, because of
their idolatry, God sold them into the hands of the Midianites.
And then he raised up a deliverer by the name of Gideon. Gideon
raised an army, big army, 32,000 men were going to Fight the Midianites. God said,
you got too many. You got too many. Whittle it
down. Whittle it down to 300. Because if I give you deliverance
with 32,000, you'll brag about what you've done. And I'm going
to deliver you with 300 men and pitchers and lights in those
pictures, and men just crying, the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon. And those Midianites were so
confused, they began to destroy one another. Who got the praise
for the battle? God did. God will not share his
glory with another. That's one of the reasons that
Those of us who've been taught the gospel of the grace of God
insist in our preaching that salvation is the work of the
Lord. If we were like most men who
call themselves preachers today and think of salvation as some
kind of a joint venture between God and man, and God cannot save
anyone unless man contributes his might. We might be better
accepted in this world, but I'm telling you, God will not share
his glory with another. Salvation is of the Lord, not
mostly, completely, completely. All right, here's the third thing
to consider. I want you to see that God gave these murmurs what
they asked for. Look here in chapter 14 again,
verse 2. And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation
said unto them, here it is, here's our prayer. Will God hear us? Really? Would God? We had died in this
land. Okay. you're going to get what
you ask for. Every one of these adults, 20
years and above, now they said our children will be prey. No,
no, no, God said. Your children are going to go
into the land. Your children are going to inherit
the land. Your children, which you say
will be prey, they're going to possess the land. But every adult,
20 years and older, You're going to die in this wilderness. You're
going to get what you want. Would God we had died in this
land. Okay. That's what you're going
to get. Just what you wanted. Have you ever considered the
fact that sometimes We should be thankful God doesn't
give us what we ask for. How many times have we asked
God to do something for us? As we look back now, and that's
one advantage of old age, you can look back and see God's providence
in God's hand and worship and praise the Lord that he didn't
give you everything that you thought you just had to have,
that you wanted. He's kept His hand, His good
providence, guiding you through life. All the way, the Savior
leads us. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His loving kindness,
who through life has been my guide? Yeah, they asked to die
in the wilderness, and that's exactly what they received. All right, I want us to consider
one more thing. Consider the honor of Caleb and
Joshua. Their reward from the people
of Israel, if you see in verse 10, they tried to encourage the
people. What was their reward? What was their reward for bringing
up a good report and trying to encourage the people? What was
their reward? All the congregation bade stone
them with stones. That's what they received. But
now, I want you to turn with me, if you will, to the book
of Joshua. Just go over a few pages. Joshua
chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14. And verse six, now they're in
the land. They're in the land now. All that generation had
died, except two men, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua is the commander. God raised him up to take the
place of Moses. And now in the land, Caleb comes
to Joshua. Here in chapter 14 of Joshua
and verse number six. Then the children of Judah came
unto Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenanite,
said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto
Moses, the man of God, concerning me, and thee, and Kadesh Barnea.
Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent
me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him
word again, as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren
that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but
I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swear on that
day, saying, surely the land whereon thy feet hath trodden
shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because
thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God. And now, Behold,
the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five
years. He's eighty-five years old now. Forty years old. When he said,
if the Lord delight in us, he can bring us into the land. Now,
45 years later, 85 years of age, he hasn't changed. That's the
point I want to make. He hasn't changed. His perspective
is still the same. Here's this mountain. Give it
to me. And if the Lord delight in me,
I'll take it. He still feels the same. And
now, verse 10, now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, and
as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake
this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in
the wilderness, and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and 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 it is my strength
now, for war, both to go up and to come in. Now therefore, give
me this mountain wherein the Lord spake in that day. For thou
heardest in that day how the Anakins were there, those giants
were there, and that the cities were great and fenced. Now notice,
if so be the Lord will be with me. He hasn't changed at all,
has he? Do you know what the word His
name means Caleb. What Caleb means? It means a
faithful dog. Have you ever had a faithful
dog? I mean a dog that follows you
everywhere you go. If you go over here, he's right
behind, he's at your heels. You go over here, he's right
at your heels. Caleb, as a follower, as a believer in the Lord God
Almighty, was faithful. He followed the Lord wholly. And his perspective hasn't changed
in 45 years. If the Lord will, I'll take this
mountain. It'll be mine. It all depends
upon the Lord's will. If we look at ourselves, I don't
care what it is, We look at ourselves, if it's in this matter of salvation,
of knowing God, all we see is weakness, all we see is inability. But thank God we don't look at
ourselves. We look at Him who is mighty
to save. What are some lessons for us,
and I'll be through. Here are three lessons. Number
one, God is faithful to his covenant promises, but we must walk by
faith and not by sight. Number two, you and I, we always
have a good report to give. We do, always. Sanctify the Lord
God in thy heart. So that when men ask you, what's
the hope? What hope do you have? I'll tell
you what hope I have. God sent his only begotten son
into this world to save sinners. And he has done everything necessary
to save my soul. He's my hope. We always have
a good report. And number three, we should always
be very weary, leery, very leery, wary
of discouraging others in the things of God. We have a responsibility. Cain
asked, am I my brother's keeper? In a sense, we are. We are our
brother's keepers. We have to be very careful, or
at least we should be very careful, that we do not discourage God's
children by our words, by our actions, by our unbelief. Believe God. I want to close
with a quote I read a few weeks ago I thought was so good. And
I quote. Man is so needy and God has so
much to give. The needs of man could hardly
be overstated. The resources of God could only
be understated. Words like emptiness and deficiency
describe humanity. Words like fullness and abundance
describe God. I thought that was so, so good. The needs of man could hardly
be overstated. The resources of God could only
be understated. I pray the Lord would bless this
word to all of us. I tell you, I prepared this message,
thought about this message, thinking about us trying to relocate
our church. The impossibility, and yet with God all things are
possible. We haven't walked through a Red
Sea on dry ground like these Israelites, that's true. But
the fact that we are here today, from 42, 43 years ago, starting
out with zero, God has abundantly worked miracles. He really has. And if he'd delight
in us, we're going to make the move.
by God's grace and for God's glory. And that's the only way
it's going to happen. I know that, you know that. But
let us take courage. If the Lord delight in us, if
it be His will, it's going to happen. Amen? Amen. Let's sing this hymn, Guide Me,
O Thou Great Jehovah. Number 291. 291. Now let's stand as we sing.