Rebellion and Its Results, Part 1

Today, in Numbers chapter 13, Israel is on the brink. Of real the promises of God. Today, this day in Numbers chapter 13, there in the wilderness of Per, at a place called Kad Barnea. They await the fulfillment of the promises of God. He brought us out in order to bring us into this land. The promise given to Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 12. Remember that? So God revealed his promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. He would reiterate that promise to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And then that promise would be reaffirmed by Joseph.

Because you know the story about how Joseph was sold in slavery. He went down to Egypt. There was a famine in the land. His brothers came down to Egypt and he did this whole disguise thing and helped them to understand who he was and brought them to a point of repentance. And then the whole family came down to Egypt. That's how they got down there. And when Joseph was down there, right before he died, in Genesis chapter 50, Joseph says these words. He said to his brothers, I am about to die, but listen, God will sure take care of you.

And bring you up from this land to the land which ye promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will sure take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here. Then Joseph died. Joseph made them swear, you take my bones, because my bones will be symbolic of how God will take care of you when he brings you back to the land that he revealed to our great father Abraham. And so Israel was in that land. And you come to Exodus chapter 1.

And they were there for many years. And they were enslaved in Egypt. And then you come to Exodus chapter 3 in verse number 8. And God reinforces that promise by saying to Moses these words. I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And Moses, you're the man that's going to lead them. So, you know the story? That plan was resisted by Pharaoh, wasn't it? He wasn't too excited about the plan until God.

Took his firstborn. Israel was led out of Egypt. And then we read in the book of Exodus. Chapter 13, these words, verse number 19. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God. will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you. Moses knew. Moses remembered. God is going to take care of us. Take the bones because Joseph didn't want to be buried in Egypt. He wanted to be buried in the land of promise. And instead of realizing the promise, they rejected.

The promise. They resisted the direction of God. And because of that, many of them would die in the wilderness. And that brings us to Numbers chapter 13. That's where they're at. What takes place? Let's look at the responsibility God gives to these spies to go into the land and look at it.

And then we're going to look at the report. All that is in Numbers chapter 13. And then next week and the week after, we'll move to Numbers chapter 14 because we people need to understand re and its results. We need to understand that at the root of rebellion is a spirit of unbelief, is a spirit of disbelief. Numbers chapter 13, verse number 1 read this way. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying Send out for yourselves men, so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel.

Stop right there. Before we understand the responsibility of the spies, you have to wonder why did God tell them to spy out the land? After all, God promised it was their land. God promised that they would occupy that land. So, why is it God would tell them in Numbers 13, verse number 1, you need to go spy out the land? Why would God do that? Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 1 for a second.

Deuteronomy chapter 1, and we will tell you why they spied out the land. Most people don't understand this. They just think that God gave an order and the people obeyed, and they went into the land and came back with a bad report. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 1, verse number 19, as Moses reiterates Israel's history after the Exodus.

Verse 19, then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Am, just as the Lord our God had commanded us, and we came to Kad Barnea That's where we are in Numbers 13, verse number 1. And I said to you, You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us. See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you. Go up. Take possession as the Lord the God of your fathers has spoken to you.

Do not fear or be dismayed. Get the scene. You got to understand the picture. They have waited over half a millennia for this opportunity. They are finally here.

God was right. You'll be in bondage for 400 and some years, and they were there for 430 years. And they were brought out just like he said. And Moses says, Here we are. This is the land that God has given you. And then he says, Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Be courageous. It's yours. That's where we are. And then verse number 22. Then all of you approached me and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us. And bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.

Now, stop right there for a moment. You would think that that would be wise, that that would be prudent. After all, this is Israel. So the advice they give to Moses, you'd think Is wise advice, but instead, it's disbelief. They are unwilling to obey what God has already said. Hasn't God already led them by a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night? Hasn't God always said, Look, I'm taking you out that I might bring you in? What's there to go spy out? Didn't God already say it's a wide and spacious land, Exodus 3, verse number 8?

It's a land flowing with milk and honey, which, by the way, is a phrase symbolic of fruitfulness. It's a fruitful land. God's already spied out the land because God already knows about the land. So why is he going to send some spies into the land? It's because Israel requested that this might happen. Now, I want you to know something. The worst thing God can ever do to you is allow you to have what you want. That's the worst thing that can ever happen to you. You need to have what you need, but you don't always need to have what you want.

And you'd think that they would have learned that lesson in Numbers chapter 11 when they wanted meat. God says, You want some meat?

I'll give you some meat. More meat that you can handle. And while it's in your teeth, you'll die. You'd think they would have learned the lesson, but they didn't get the lesson. And now they say, you know what? Let us go spy out the land. Let's do this kind of ordeal. So God comm Moses to send in the spies to punish Israel. That's why. He gave them what they wanted so that he would confirm them in their unbelief. And that's what we're going to read about in Numbers chapter 13. Verse number four. Remember this story?

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel. At Ramah. And they said to him, Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations. We want a king. We want a king like everybody else has a king, Samuel. So you need to appoint one. But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. Samuel prayed to the Lord. Samuel did the same thing Moses did. He went to pray.

And the Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people. In regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. Listen, they have rejected me, the text says, from being king. Over them. They've rejected my kingship. So, verse 8: like all the deeds which they have done, listen.

Since the day that I brought them up from Egypt, even to this day, in that they have forsaken me in search of the gods, so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice. However, You shall solemnly warn them, and tell them of the procedure of the king, who will reign over them. They want to spy out the land? They'll sp out the land. They want meat? I 'll give them meat. What do you want? What do you want so bad that you are willing not to trust the Lord? You see, Numbers 13 is about what it means to walk by faith and not by sight.

Over the next couple of weeks, you need to realize that we as believers need to believe what God has said and not believe what we see. We need to believe what God has said, not what we see. That is the story of Numbers 13 and 14. God gave them what they wanted, and what God was going to do is confirm them in their unbelief. And that's the story of Numbers 13. Let's look at it together.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, Send out for yourselves men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel. You shall send a man from each of their fathers' tribes, every one a leader among them. Stop right there. Now, if I keep stopping, we're not going to get through the chapter, but I promise to get through chapter 13 this morning, okay? The reason God sent them is because that's what they requested. And notice they are a leader of the tribe.

Just because you are an appointed leader doesn't mean that you are an appropriate leader. Can you remember that, please? So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. These were their names from the tribe of Reuben, Shemua, the son of Z, from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori, from the tribe of Judah, Caleb. the son of Jeph from the tribe of Issach, Egau, the son of Joseph from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Nun from the tribe of Benjamin, Pal the son of Rap from the tribe of Zebulun, Gad, the son of Sod from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gad, the son of Sus From the tribe of Dan, Am, the son of Gem from the tribe of As, Sethur, the son of Mich from the tribe of Napht, Nabi, the son of V.

from the tribe of Gad, Guel, the son of Mach. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. But Moses called Hose, the son of Nun, Joshua. Now, everybody close their Bible. Now we 're going to give you a quiz on all the names. Of the men and the tribes they oversaw. Just kidding. A little humor there on Sunday morning. Why do we read all the names? Because none of us know the names of any of those men except for Joshua and Caleb. Now you need to get this only two men out of the 12 will come back with a good report Joshua and Caleb Moses changes the name of Hoshea, which is des for salvation, to Joshua.

Or Yeshua, which means Jehovah is salvation or Jehovah is deliverer, to need to understand that the other men who stood with them Whose name is Caleb, son of Jephun, is a man whose name simply means dog. Dog because dogs were marked by their commitment and by their loyalty. And the reason we read the names is because you need to understand. That loyalty will always lead to victory. And that's the story in num 13 and 14. That's the whole story behind the other 10 who weren't committed and the two who were committed.

The ten who weren't loyal and to the two who were loyal. Because they were the ones who received the victory and the other ten did not. And that is the identification of those responsible for spying out the land. Now they have their instructions. Listen to this. Verse 17: When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, Go up there into the Negev and go up into the hill country and see what the land is like. And whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, or whether they are few or many.

And how is the land in which they live? Is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live? Are they like open camps or with fortifications? And how is the land? Is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

So those sp received instructions. Why? So that they would be confirmed in their unbelief. That's why. I mean, did they really need to know what kind of people were in the land? Does it make a difference to God what kind of people were in the land? Especially because he promised them that land? No. Does it make a difference that when they go in, they see whether the land is fruitful or not? Does it make a difference? Because in Exodus 3, verse number 8, God said it was a land flowing with milk and honey.

It was a fat land, it was a good land. So, why send them in to spy it out? What difference does it make? Is God going to have a little bit more difficulty with those in fortified cities than those who live in tents? Why then give these instructions to these men? Because God, He was going to separate those who truly believed His word versus those who did not believe His word. And so they go in. And then that leads us to the investigating by the spies. It says in verse 21: So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rah at Lab Hamath.

When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron, where Ahim, Shesh, and Taum, the descendants of Anak, were. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zone in Egypt. Then they came to the valley of Eskol. And from there, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two men with some of the pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Esch because the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there. Now remember, God said in Nexus 3:8, it is a spacious land.

It is a large land. So they went in to see how large really is. And that's what those two men represent: as they would carry back the cluster of grapes. Because you see, God said it was a land flowing with milk and honey. It was a fruitful land. So he sends them in to investigate. And that's exactly what they did. The Bible says in Numbers 13, verse number 25, they were gone for 40 days.

Significant. Why? 40 days is the number of testing in the Bible. Moses was on top of Sinai for 40 days. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. These spies were gone for 40 days. Because God was going to give them ample time to understand what was there, to see whether or not they would fail or pass the test. Ten would fail, two would pass. God never brings judgment without man having ample time to either pass or fail the test. But to help you understand the deep rootedness of unbelief, you need to understand that no matter how clear the evidence you see, If your heart is not right, you still will never believe.

And these men came back with all the evidence, and they came back to report. And there was a majority report, and there was a minority report. The ten gave a bad report. The two gave a good report. Let's look at it together.

Verse number 25. When they returned from sp out the land at the end of the forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation, and the sons of Israel, in the wilderness of Per, at Kad. And they brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Verse 27, thus they told him and said, We went into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey. Just like God said, And this is its fruit, never. But but verse 28 the people that live in the land are strong in the cities Are fortified and very large.

And moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there, Amalek, is living in the land of the Negev, and the Hitt and the Jebus and the Am are living in the hill country. And the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of Jericho. I'm sorry, by the side of the Jordan. So you can imagine that the people are all excited, and then all of a sudden their hopes are dashed. Oh my. There's giants in the land. The cities are fortified. We can't win. If we go in, we'll die. And one man rises to the scene.

One man whose name means dog. Hushes the crowd. The text says in verse number 30: Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, We should be all by all means go up and take possession of it. For we shall surely overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people. His voice was soon drowned. By the other ten. The voice of unbelief always says, We are not able, but the voice of belief says our God is able. Caleb knew what God had said. And then it says, verse 32: So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report.

Maybe your text says an evil report. Why is it bad? Why is it evil? Because it was dishonest. It was exaggerated. It says, They gave a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone in spying it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. How did they know that? They didn't know that. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. You mean to tell me that every person they saw was of great size? Every single one of them? All the men we saw.

You ever heard people talk to people like that? That's what I said. Listen to this. There also we saw the Nephilim. The sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim. And we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. You mean to tell me that they were so big, 50, 60 feet tall, that you look like a grasshopper in their sight? They came back with a bad report because it wasn't truthful. They had to sway the people into thinking that going in is too dangerous. That the God who brought them out of Egypt, and the God who part the Red Sea, and the God who turned bitter water into sweet water, and the God who gave them food every single day without fail, was unable to take them into the land.

That is the mind of unbelief because they felt that what they saw was more important than what God said. How about you? What do you see today? That seems to overwhelm you. That seems to be so big that it cannot be accomplished. And you say, We are not able to handle this. But what about your God? Is he not able to handle it? And that's what happened to these people. And they give a bad report that was evil, that was dishonest. Listen to this: Psalm 106. They did not belie in his word. They despised, listen, the pleasant land.

The writer of Psalm 106 would reiterate the journeys of Israel out of Egypt. And they despised the pleasant land. Why? Because dis of God's word caused you to despise God's word. And when you despise God's word, you will disobey God's word. And when you disobey God's word, you will die according to God's word. And that's exactly what took place. Caleb, the loyal man, stands up and says what? We can possess it. We can overcome. You see, Caleb saw himself as an overcomer. He saw himself as a victorious warrior.

Why? Because he was sided with the great God Jehovah. And he believed what God said. And that would cause him to be str through his life. I find it interesting that it's Caleb who speaks and not Joshua. And Joshua will be the leader. But it's Caleb who speaks up, signifying the strength of a man, signifying the courage of a man, signifying the loyalty of a man. And that's why he was an overcomer. That's why he was a victorious warrior because he believed in what God said, no matter what anybody else said.

The people believed the report of the ten. That's why it says in chapter 14. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices. and cried, and the people wept that night, and all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses. and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the wilderness Can you believe that? After all God has already done in their lives the past two years. And before that, by all those ten plagues in Egypt, after all they had seen, all they had witnessed, they still didn't believe.

What about you? Do you believe in what God has said about eternal salvation? Do you believe in what God has said about Himself? Do you believe in what God has said concerning your eternal destiny Do you know for certain? That if you die tonight, you spend eternity with Jesus Christ, our Lord. Do you know, based on what God has said, what do you know? You can only know for certain what God has said in the scriptures. And my prayer for you and for me is that we would not be like the majority. We'd be like the minority, like Joshua and Caleb, the one whose name means loyalty.

To help lead us to the one whose name means victory. Let's pray.