Are we ready to get into the Word? If you have markers, put one in Deuteronomy 1 and in Hebrews 3. We’re going to open tonight in Numbers 13.
The greatest struggle for most Christians is their declarations. Tonight, we’re going to talk about “Declarations That Defeat Us.” We’re going to look at a record that’s very familiar to us. But in it are a lot of salient points that the Lord makes about how important it is to believe what we say and to believe the one we say that we have faith and confidence in.
Turn to Numbers 13 and we’re going to begin with verse 1.
(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
(2) 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 ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
(3) And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
We see here in the first three verses that the Lord is sending representatives of Israel into the land of Canaan, the land He promised to Abraham back in Genesis 15. Here in Numbers, the record gives the image of God saying I have given you this land and I want you to take a look at it before you go in to possess it.
Turn to Deuteronomy 1. This is the record of Moses recounting for the children of Israel what the people had gone through since leaving Egypt. This is 40 years later. Look at verse 19.
(19) And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
(20) And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us.
(21) Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
So we see that when they get to the mountain of Horeb, Moses tell the people this is the land the Lord has given to you. Now go up and possess it. Is that not what he said? Now look at verse 22.
(22) And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
Now, I ask you, what was God’s original intent when they got to Mount Horeb? Go in. Possess the land. But the children said, “Wait a minute God. We know you promised our father Abraham this land. We understand this. It’s clear as mud. It’s been passed down all of these years and we are here. But before we go over into the Promised Land, let’s send in spies to make sure it’s EVERYTHING GOD SAID IT WOULD BE.” Do you see this?
When Moses said “Go up and possess the land” they said “Hold up, wait a minute. We want to go look at it first.” Do you know what they’re saying ladies and gentlemen? “We don’t believe what God said. We want to see it for ourselves.”
When God makes a promise to you, you don’t have to worry about it. All you have to do is pick up your feet and go where God tells you to go. Listen to me: God had already spied out the land for them! They didn’t need to send spies to the land.
You have an inheritance that God has already given you. And the reason most Christians are not walking in it – they want to search it out to see if its really true. But God says take My Word for it! And that’s what He wanted from the children of Israel.
Faith says “I can’t see but God says it true. I’m going to follow through and believe what God has said.” Unbelief says “If I can’t see it with my eyes, then it cannot be true.”
God simply wants us to listen and obey His Word. It’s really that simple. But we’re going to see what happens when Israel doesn’t immediately go in and possess the land.
Now turn back to Numbers 13. Remember in verse 3 it says “And Moses by the commandment of the Lord…” The Lord gave Moses permission to send out spies even though He had already “spied out” the land for the people. God says it’s not what I want but if that what you have made up your mind to do – go ahead.
Folks, God gave us dominion here on earth. He gave it to us. So when you decide whether or not you’re going to do something and God disagrees, He’s not going to come up behind you and slap you in the head and say “That’s not what I told you to do.” He gave us dominion so we make choices every single time.
When the people presented their “proposal” to Moses, he went and talked it over with the Lord. So from verses 4 through 16 the spies, who are going over to the land, are identified.
Now notice what it says in the latter part of verse 2: “of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.” Now look at the latter part of verse 3: “all those men were heads of the children of Israel.” Keep this in mind.
Jump down to verse 17.
(17) And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan (that God had already spied out), and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain.
(18) And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
(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 strong holds;
(20) And what the land is whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. (Now look at the very next thing Moses said.) And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
Why did Moses tell them to “be of good courage”? The children of Israel had already decided they were not going to obey God. He wants them to know that, regardless of what they see in the land, the Lord has already given them the land.
Now jump down to verse 25.
(25) And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
(26) And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
(27) And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentient us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey: and this is the fruit of it.
Now, I want you to see the picture. Two men walk in with a huge cluster of grapes – one on each side. The grapes are so heavy that the poll is sagging. Now see the people. They can’t believe what they’re seeing. Never have they seen grapes so large and so juicy!
And the men say, “We spied out the land and it’s just as God said.” And you can hear the leaders saying “Yes! Yes! God came through! We knew the land was good!” They start singing “We’re going to go to the Promised Land! We’re going to go to the Promised Land!”
They got everyone excited. The people are ready to go over into the Promised Land. “Just give us the word Moses. We now know what God said is true. Just give us the word. Why wait?”
(28) Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and (if that’s not bad enough) moreover we saw the children of Anak (a race of giants) there.
The men began to exaggerate what they saw. Later on we’re going to see that the men described themselves as grasshoppers compared to the children of Anak.
So, I asked the Lord “Why would they do this? Why would they exaggerate so?” Now listen to what the Lord told me.
“Satan did not want the children of Israel taking possession of his strong hold. And he did not want them to enjoy what the land had to offer. Once the children of Israel possessed the land, Satan no longer possessed it. Now think about what this means to you today. As long as you refuse to take possession of the land – your inheritance, the promises in My Word – you will not enjoy the fruits of ‘your land.’ You are allowing someone else – Satan – to enjoy and use what is rightfully yours.”
The spies said “moreover we saw the children of Anak there – the giants.” Notice the words “we saw.” Any time what we see conflicts with what God says, follow God’s Word. Don’t follow what you see. Satan will always get you focused on what you can see.
Example: Gas prices $3.00 a gallon. My gosh, how am I going to have enough money to fill up my car and go to work? How? “For my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Too many of us are drawing on the wrong bank account. You have a job that pays you “x” amount of dollars and you believe that’s the only money that God has to work with because that’s all you earn. That’s a lie straight from the pit of hell.
Why are you limiting God by saying I earn this amount of money therefore “God, that’s all you have to work with?” But God is telling us that to focus on His bank account. You know the one that has a cattle on a thousand hills. That bank account!
(29) The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
(30) And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
What is the basis of Caleb’s statement? He believed what God had said about the Promised Land. Caleb took God at His Word! The words “well able” and “overcome” are the same word in the Hebrew. Ladies and gentlemen, these two words are the conclusions that Caleb came to because God had spoken.
(31) But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Caleb said God said we are able to do it. That is what faith says. Faith says we are able to do everything God says we can do.
Unbelief says no we can’t.
The conclusion of unbelief is “I will believe it when I see it.”
If we wait until we see evidence of God moving in our lives, it’s going to be a long wait. Why? Because moves and responds to faith. Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to our fully inheriting the land, it’s not about WHAT we bring to the table, but WHO we bring to the table!
(32) And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
Ladies and gentlemen, what was the evil report? Did the 10 spies say that the Promised Land wasn’t everything God said it would be? No. The evil report was taking everything they had seen and twisting it and ultimately calling God a liar. The evil report was the 10 telling the people that they could not trust God to keep His word to them if they go into the Promised Land.
(33) And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Let’s continue with chapter 14 beginning with verse 1.
(1) And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried, and the people wept that night.
Because of the report of the 10 spies, the people have gone from excitement about the Promised Land to despair.
(2) 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!
(3) 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 into Egypt?
(4) And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.
If you go back to Deuteronomy 1, you will read where Moses recounts this incident in verses 25 through 32. He said that instead of obeying the Lord, you refused to go up into the Promised Land “but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God.” They also murmured against the Lord while in their tents.
He tells the people dread not, neither be afraid of the giants. Why? Because God had given them the land! And Moses also said God will fight for you.
And verse 33 of Deuteronomy 1 is one of the most heart wrenching verses in all of scripture. “Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God.”
Ladies and gentlemen, what are the giants in your Promised Land? What is keeping you from believing the Lord your God? Whatever is keeping you from receiving the promises – it means you are believing them more than you believe what God has said.
(5) Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
In verses 6, 7 and 8 Joshua and Caleb do everything they possibly can to persuade the people to believe what God had said. Now look at what they said to the people in verse 9.
(9) Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Let me ask you something. “They are bread for us.” It’s a wonderful image. All of the years they were in the wilderness, what was the Israelite’s bread. It was the manna. When you read Exodus 16:14-21, you see that they had to get up in the morning and gather the manna during the cool part of the day. Once the sun came out and the shade was gone, the manna melted away.
The word “defense” in the Hebrew means “shadow” – protection. Now get this. Joshua and Caleb are saying that the shadow of the people of the Promised Land – their protection – is departed from them. For the people of the Promised Land, the sun is blaring down on them! They now have no defense!
Let me read this in a way that takes all of this into consideration.
“Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they [are like] our bread; their shadow hath turned aside from off of them, and the Lord is with us; fear them not because, just as when the shadows turns aside from off our bread, the heat of the sun melts it and it disappears – so these enemies, hard and strong as they might be, will surely melt away before the Lord our God, the Sun and the Shield of His people.”
Ladies and gentlemen, when you believe what God says in His Word, then everything Satan throws at you can be bread that melts in the heat of the day. A physical illness becomes bread that melts in the heat of the day. Financial circumstances become bread that melts in the heat of the day.
All we have to do is confess what the Bible says – to confess the declarations that give us victory, that give us access to our Promised Land.
Amen! Please stand.
