Reading:
• Hebrews chapter 11 verses 1-6.
• Numbers chapter 13 verses 1-33.
There are some things in life which are better caught than taught!
• Vision & faith.
• Quote: “Church has never had….television”.
• Both vision and faith are better caught than taught
• Ill: Meseals (infectious). Be around people who have them.
Ill:
• The bishop's car ran out of petrol,
• But much to his relief his wife remembered passing a garage half a mile back down the road.
• He searched the boot for a container,
• But he could only find his baby grandson's potty, so it had to do!
• He trudged to the petrol station,
• Then back with a full container.
• The leader of a new independent church, driving by,
• Recognised a fellow Christian in need 'and stopped his car to offer-help.
• As he approached he saw the bishop pour the contents of the potty into the tank.
• The man-gasped and said:
'If I'd known they had faith like that in the Church of England I'd never have left!'
Question: What is faith?
Answer: Faith is believing God!
• Faith is taking God at his word;
• And there is nothing new about it.
• Throughout all generations God has withheld the evidence of things visible;
• So that people would have to trust in his promise and believe him!
There are two sides to faith
• Saving faith.
• Experimental faith.
• Saving faith is primary and fits us for heaven.
• Experimental faith is secondary and fits us for earth.
• Saving faith is intangible (it cannot be measured).
• Experimental faith is tangible (it produces results that can be tested).
• But remember the order:
• Saving faith needs to come first.
• Saving faith is a heart persuasion;
• That Jesus has done all that was needed to secure our salvation
• Saving faith is passive;
• It requires nothing but belief and trust!
Experimental faith lies in the will:
• It is active;
• It too focuses on Jesus and is inspired into activity.
• Faith leads us outside ourselves;
• Because it perceives its object – God.
When a Christian exercises faith:
• They are living by the faithfulness of God, that he keeps his word;
• And they are convinced that his intervention is worth waiting for!
We will see tonight that both Joshua & Caleb had faith:
• While the rest of the nation, sadly did not!
• Only 2 men out of a population of about 2 million people!
Background:
There has been an Exodus (a mass departure):
• The Hebrews (Children of Israel) who were slaves in Egypt;
• Have been sprung free, allowed to leave the ghetto of Goshan.
• They are now through the boundaries of the Red Sea;
• And they are on the edge of the promised land.
This is a great moment in their history:
• They are on the edge of this new territory to claim;
• Knowing that God (the God who had delivered them from slavery) had told them in was theirs.
• God tells them (verse 1) to send out 12 spies. One from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
• In military terms they are going to do a recognisance.
• They are to check out the area, to see what is there,
• So that they might know how best to plan out the invasion as they claim their land.
Moses the leader needs to know certain information as he plans his next move:
• Verse 18-19: He wants to know what the land is like.
• Is the soil fertile or poor, are their trees in the land or not.
• He even requests that they bring some of the fruit back for him to taste and enjoy.
• He wants to know if the people who live there are many or few.
• Are they weak or strong?
• Do they dwell in tents or in fortified cities?
• Verses 21-23: Tells us where they went exploring:
• Verse 25 tells us that, their exploring lasted for forty days.
If you want to know who was selected for this mission;
• They are actually named in verses 4-16.
• Our two heroes Joshua & Caleb, get name checks in verse 6, 8 & 16
• For those left behind (The Children of Israel)
• It must have been anxious 40 days awaiting their report.
Note: The assignment (verse 1):
• Their assignment was to spy out the land.
• No-one ever asked for their opinion as to whether they could take the land!
• That would have been a very foolish thing to ask them;
• Because God had already told the nation that is was theirs!
• God had told them it was his land;
• And he was giving it to his people!
I want to look at this incident under 5 headings:
(1). Their Opportunity......Special.
ill:
In the days before modern harbours:
• A ship had to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port.
• The term for this situation in Latin was ‘ob portu:
• That is, a ship standing over off a port,
• Waiting for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide to harbour.
The English word ‘opportunity’ is derived from this original meaning.
• The captain and the crew were ready and waiting for that one moment;
• For they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.
Ill:
• William Shakespeare uses this exact meaning into one of his most famous passages.
• It’s from Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
• In other words: Life is like a ship standing over off a port,
• Waiting for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide to harbour.
The Hebrews (Children of Israel) would have a special opportunity presented to them:
• The question is ‘Will they take it’?
• Let’s look at the passage to find the answer.
• Verse 26: They spies bring back a report to Moses,
• And to the rest of the people:
• That the land was indeed fertile land.
• Verse 27: They describe it as flowing with milk and honey the way God had said it was.
• And as evidence (vs 23) they brought back a cluster of grapes, just 1 cluster on 1 branch;
• But the grapes were so large and heavy that they carried it between two of the men.
• Now you can imagine that if the grapes were this big;
• Just think about how big those pomegranates, and figs were.
The Hebrews (Children of Israel):
• Now have the opportunity that they had all waited for;
• A chance to occupy the land that had been promised to their forefathers.
• The opportunity that had been delayed because of their bondage in Egypt.
• But now this was it! This was their day! This was their time! It was theirs!
• God had promised it to them, all they had to do was enter the land, and occupy it;
• God had promised them victory!
• Surely nothing could possibly hinder them;
• From taking advantage of such a awesome opportunity?
(2). Their Outlook..............Small.
Verse 25: At the end of forty days;
• The spies return from their recognisance mission;
• And start to report what they saw on their recognisance mission.
Verse 26:
“They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.”
27Then they told the story of their trip:
"We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! 28THE ONLY THING IS….”
In verse 28 they start to go past their assignment:
• They were not asked to give any more than the report contained in verse 27,
• That is the state of the soil etc and the fact if flows with milk and honey!
• Verse 28 is a negative report;
• That is only going to affect the people in a very negative way.
ill:
About 350 years ago a shipload of travellers landed on the northeast coast of America.
• The first year they established a town site.
• The next year they elected a town government.
• The third year the town government;
• Planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.
• In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government;
• Because they thought it was a waste of public funds,
• To build a road five miles westward into a wilderness.
• Their argument was; ‘Who needed to go there anyway? ‘
Note:
• Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean;
• And overcome great hardships to get there.
• But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town.
• They had lost their pioneering vision.
Sadly the same would be true for the Hebrews (Children of Israel):
• All the years waiting in slavery for a deliverer to come;
• Then experiencing the exodus out of Egypt.
• The crossing of the Red Sea and seeing the destruction of Pharaoh’s army.
• Seeing the guidance of God as he lead them to the promised land.
• Yet sadly it would all be overshadowed;
• By the report given by the spies in verse 28:
“The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. 29Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites (THE TERMITES! OOOPS!) are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan."
Ill:
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over the deserts:
• All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for.
• They thrive on that diet.
• But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals.
• Instead, they look for the colourful blossoms of desert plants.
• The vultures live on what was. They live on the past.
• They fill themselves with what is dead and gone.
• But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life.
• They fill themselves with freshness and life.
• Each bird finds what it is looking for.
• We all do!
(3). Their Opposition......Strong
Verse 31-33:
31” But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
• When you have a small view of God;
• You are going to have a large view of your enemies!
Notice what they said: “The people who dwell there are strong”.........their giants in stature!
• Any attempt at doing the will of God..…….....of moving forward by faith;
• Is always going to be met by resistance or opposition of some kind.
• To anything great there is opposition.
• Any attempt at success is going to be met by giants.
Quote: Charles F. Kettering:
“When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here. If I didn’t do that, I’d find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do it.””
• Any attempt at doing the will of God..…….....or of moving forward by faith;
• Is always going to be met by opposition.
Just look at how quickly that lack of vision and faith spread among the Hebrew people:
• Check out the first three verses of the next chapter:
• Chapter 14 verses 1-3:
“After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night 2and complained to Moses and Aaron, " We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert! 3Is the LORD leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed and our women and children captured? We'd be better off in Egypt."”
Notice: Their exaggeration:
• Verse 3: “The LORD leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed”.
• Isn’t that the very opposite of what God had said.
• Verse 3: “Our wives and children will be taken as plunder”.
• They are really playing on peoples emotions now, our families are going to suffer!
• Verse 4: They are ready to choose another leader and head back to Egypt!
• They want to go back to the familiar, to play safe, to walk by sight!
Ill:
• The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet;
• And cover a distance of greater than 30 feet.
• Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall.
• The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall.
Note:
• These people compared the giants to themselves.....and were defeated;
• As we will see.
• The other group (Joshua & Caleb) compared the giants to their God;
• And they were victorious!
• Because when you have a big God;
• You only ever face small enemies!
(4). Their (Joshua & Caleb) Omnipotence.....Sovereign
Verse 30:
“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."”
There were two men out of 2 million who ‘marched to the beat of a different drum’:
• They were men of faith and vision!
• Their eyes were not fixed on the obstacles but on God!
Question: Did Joshua and Caleb see the same people the other spies saw?
Answer:
• Is yes.
• Joshua and Caleb were not giants. But they had a giant God!
• Look at Chapter 14 verse 6-8:
• It illustrates the vision and the faith of these men.
6”And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes,
7And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land.
8If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land AND GIVE IT TO US”.
The difference is clear:
• These men had faith and vision!
• Notice: “He will bring us” or “He will give us”.
• They are not self confident;
• But confident in God!
Quote:
“We must never leave God out of the equation.....if you feel like a grasshopper.....and your opposition looks like giants.....then your God is too small.
God is an all-powerful God....and if he leads us.....if he wills us to do something.....their is nothing that can hinder it from happening......if we are faithful to him!”
(5). Their (Hebrew people) Outcome..........Sad.
Out of two million people:
• Only two had the faith to believe.
• The rest doubted and failed miserably.
• As a result of their faithless outlook, God swore;
• That no-one from that generation would get into the promised land except Joshua & Caleb.
• The spies had been spying out the land for forty days;
• So God said in chapter 14:
• That for every day they had spied out the land and come to a wrong conclusion,
• They would spend one year in the wilderness. He made the punishment fit the crime.
There were two exceptions to that punishment - Joshua and Caleb:
• They were the only two spies to be positive;
• The only two who wanted to progress
• And the only two who believed and trusted in God.
• And as a result of their faith they experienced the promises of God.
Ill:
• The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren;
• Was supervising the construction of a magnificent cathedral in London.
• A journalist thought it would be interesting to interview some of the workers,
• So he chose three and asked them this question, “What are you doing?”
• He asked a stonemason; “What are you doing?”
• The stonemason replied, “I’m cutting stone for 10 shillings a day.”
• He asked a carpenter; “What are you doing?”
• The carpenter replied, “I’m carving wood for 10 shillings a day.”
• Next he saw a labourer mixing some cement and asked; “What are you doing?”
• The labourer replied, “Sir, I am building a Cathedral!”
Like that labourer, Joshua & Caleb saw the bigger picture:
• They saw a great God, believed his word;
• And as a result saw great things happen.
And finally…..We are back to were we started:
Question: What is faith?
Answer: Faith is believing God!
• Taking God at his word;
• And there is nothing new about it.
• Throughout all generations God has withheld the evidence of things visible;
• So that we would trust in his promise and believe him!
There are two sides to faith
• Saving faith.
• Experimental faith.
• Saving faith is primary and fits us for heaven.
• Experimental faith is secondary and fits us for earth.
• Saving faith is intangible (it cannot be measured).
• Experimental faith is tangible (it produces results that can be tested).
• But remember the order:
• Saving faith needs to come first.
• Saving faith is a heart persuasion;
• That Jesus has done all that was needed to secure our salvation
• Saving faith is passive;
• It requires nothing but belief and trust!
Experimental faith lies in the will:
• It is active;
• It too focus on Jesus and is inspired into activity.
• Faith leads us outside ourselves;
• Because it perceives its object – God.
When a Christian exercises faith:
• They are living by the faithfulness of God;
• Convinced that his intervention is worth waiting for!
