Sermon - #40
Title: “God says go, you say no”
Scripture – Numbers 14:1-4
Key Terms:
Go – To be in motion, moving forward or ahead
No – Refusal, denial or negation
Background – In life today, many people appear to be standing in the same place. They are not progressing, they are not moving forward or achieving. Well, they are not moving for reasons such as not wanting to change, not willing to put forth any effort, not willing to face opposition, no aspirations, dreams or visions. As a result, they are wandering in a wilderness of failure and ultimately spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically and eventually they die. Why? They are not willing to be obedient to God’s will and his way or bluntly they want trust God.
In Numbers 13:26-31 the children of Israel had just received the report from the twelve sent out by Moses to spy out the Promised Land. Note that the report was mixed. The report was as follows: “And they told him, and said; we came unto the land wither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 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. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are able to overcome it. But the men (the ten) that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” In other words, Moses (Pastor’s Name) had been given the orders from God to deliver the children of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land. God never said to them maybe, might, it’s a possibility, it could happen, it should happen or no it want happen. In fact he made them a promise that they would have a land flowing with milk and honey, if God said it that should have settled it. Let me put this in 2006 language, God says give your life to me and I will give you eternal life, God says you can have the king or queen you desire, just pray to me, God says you can have your life back from drugs, alcohol just surrender, you can have Queen’s Harbor, Epping Forest, Spring lake, you can have the job, the financial breakthrough just give me the tithe, you can even have peace, just surrender to me and guess what we say, NO!!! Let’s look at the determinants to why the children of Israel were saying no, when God was saying go
Reason #1 – Look at the despair (v.1), despair means to lose hope. The text says that the entire community (church) wept aloud, they despaired because of the report of the ten men who said we can’t do it, and they will take us out!!! The despair was the ten felt that the Canaanites were too strong to defeat, well who were the Canaanites (drugs, alcohol, banks, mortgage companies, welfare) Joshua and Caleb disagreed, urging the people to claim the land at once. However, the children of Israel sided with the ten; God had said it’s yours and if God said it that should have settled it, the children of Israel got caught up in the emotions and lost their perspective of God’s character. What if they had spent that energy they put forth going backward in going forward, in other words there are better ways to use energy than complaining against God. Have you ever watched some people you encourage to get an education, learn a trade, earn a degree or get a job, get off drugs, stop drinking, and they say to you its too hard, I can’t do it, they don’t have the money or time or better yet the white man want let me. They can advance on their job if they become proficient on the computer or if they take some additional classes and they have no hope or confidence. They are in despair without hope when God says ask and it shall be given, knock and the door will be opened and seek and ye shall find and he tells us to go and we say no!!!
Reason #2 – Look at the division (v.2), division means lack of harmony or disagreement. The grumbling unbelief of the people is emphasized: “all the people,” “all the Israelites, the whole assembly” every adult was grumbling in unbelief. Not a single person was trusting God, they didn’t believe God could lead them into the Promised Land. They were raising their voices, weeping, wailing, screaming, rending, throwing and cursing against Moses and Aaron (Rev. Brown, Rev. Jones). The people felt that death in Egypt or the desert would be better than attempting to enter the Promised Land. The children of Israel accused the Lord of bringing them up to a land to have them destroyed or enslaved by the enemies. The children of Israel even questioned if it were not better to return to Egypt, they even made a choice to choose a new leader. Let me give you that in 2006, the pastor not on the same page as the deacons causes division, the deacons asked to see about their members and they don’t causes a division, the pastor receives a vision to build some commit and some don’t causes a division, not following policies and procedures causes a division, not trusting God causes us to divide or separate from the will and the way of God. The husband wants this and the wife wants something else causes a division and before you know it divorce is eminent. We all know a house divided will soon fall. The children of Israel were saying we want to sell dinners we don’t want to tithe, we don’t want single’s ministry and couple’s ministry we want to do it the way we were doing it in Egypt. They would rather stay in Egypt and be oppressed than to trust God and move into the Promised Land. They were saying no, when God was saying go!
Reason #3 – Look at the doubters (v.3), doubt means to disbelieve or to distrust. The negative, the exaggerated and the distorted report of the ten caused doubt in the church and it spelled the doom of the spies and the children of Israel. Imagine how the heart of God was cut as he witnessed the unbelief, how Moses and Aaron felt listening to the negativity and unbelief spread in the report of the ten. The ten spies were declaring that God could not fulfill his promise to give them the Promised Land, that the power of God was not great enough to conquer the enemies of the Promised Land. Three things stand out in this verse: 1) the spies spread an evil report among the people; they exaggerated and distorted the truth. They became stumbling blocks to the children of Israel. Scripture is clear: we are not to be stumbling blocks, not to cause people to stumble and fall. I Corinthians 8:9 says “but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.” Let me give some 2006 stumbling blocks which cause doubt or people to disbelieve, all they do is argue fuss and fight at Gt. Mt. Pleasant, if there was a perfect church they wouldn’t need you, they want you to pay your tithe and sometimes they ask for a sacrificial offering, I’m sorry the word says to tithe, they say let’s not go to church let’s go to the club, get some hennessy, get some weed, get some powder, get some women or get some men, they say I pray and nothing happens so why go to church, they don’t tell you they don’t even have a relationship with God, they say the people in the church are doing more than us out in the world, or they say we can’t do it. In other words, they are saying no when God says go. The people that are stumbling blocks say what they say because of fear, Proverbs 29:25 says “the fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” We believers are not to fear or have doubt. The testimony of Joshua and Caleb (Minister Blue and Minister Jones) was that of strength and courage and we as believers are to be of good courage. Have you ever heard Psalm 27; 1-3 it says “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp me, my heart shall not fear: thou war rise against me, in this will I be confident.” When you are strong and courageous there will be no doubt, God will say go and you want say no.
Reason #4 – Look at the decision (v.4), decision means to makeup one’s mind or show resolution. The decision of the Israelites was to have nothing else to do with Moses Aaron or God. They were in total rebellion against God and his appointed leader. They were on a rampage, storming about and making preparation to return back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron were deemed the fall guys, they then began aiming there anger directly at Yahweh himself. They made a decision, say no to God when God had delivered them out of Egypt, when God had brought Pharaoh to his knees; he had taken them through the Red Sea, he sent bread and quail from heaven and water from the gushing rock. Most of all God had given them grace and mercy and the only thing they could see was Egypt. I’m sorry, I only see Canaan Land, they said let us return to Egypt, in 2006 talk they said I don’t want the best that God has for me because he can’t do it anyway, they said I can’t have the Queen or king I deserve because God can’t do it anyway, I can’t have my financial breakthrough because God can’t do it anyway, I can’t be healed because God can’t do it anyway, I can’t be blessed by the best cause God can’t do it anyway, I can’t have a new job, a new home, a new church a new attitude, a new way of thinking cause God can’t do it anyway. They were saying I don’t want central heat/air, I want kerosene, I don’t want a Benz I want a T-Model. In other words, God was saying you can have it all, go and they were saying no!!!
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