At Kadesh Barnea, Israel faced a critical juncture where failure to enter their God-given inheritance stemmed from a report of insurmountable obstacles rather than God's promises. The sermon contrasts the spies' fearful report, emphasizing giants and walled cities, with the faithful perspective of Caleb and Joshua, who saw God's provision and power. The core lesson highlights how unbelief exaggerates difficulties and minimizes resources, while faith looks at challenges through God. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that only those with faith, like Caleb and Joshua, will enter their inheritance, urging listeners to trust God's word and power in their own lives.
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A place called Kadesh Marnia. Now, something very interesting happened there, and something very important. This is one of the four crises in this journey. First of all, it was the Red Sea, and there Israel experienced freedom from their bondage. Do you remember that? Then Mount Sinai, and there there was the formation of the nation. As we studied, God put the nation of Israel in an orderly form at Mount Sinai, where they were named Rahir.
Now at Cades of Arnea, we're going to see in these chapters that there was failure to enter into their God-given inheritance. But God overruled and will continue the red line and enter into Canaan a little different direction from the east rather from the south and will come to Jordan and there will find the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel. But we're going to read now about failure to enter into the land. So we read in chapter 13. writing a few verses, because this story, this record of this historical event is filled with spiritual lessons for us.
Verse 1. 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 ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them, and Moses, By the command of the Lord, sent them from the wilderness of Peron, all those men were heads of the children of Israel. Now we'll not read their names, but we'll drop down to 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, and see the land, what it is.
And the people that dwelleth therein, whether be strong or weak, few or many. dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they'd be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in stronghold, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein or not, and be of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land, now the time was the time of the first ripe grape. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zinn unto Rehob as men come And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron, where Ashiman, Ahimun, Shishai, Talmai, the children of Amic were.
Now Hebron was built seven years before Zohan in Egypt. And they came unto the brook Eshcall, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bury it between two of one of Sam. And they brought to the pomegranate and of the figs. And the place was called the Brook Eshcol, because the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from then, and they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the widows of Aaron, to Cades, and brought back word unto them, unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him and said, We came unto the land. where thou sentest us, and surely it flows 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. And 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. the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once in Pazate, for we are well able to overcome it.
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, 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 the land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the son of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight. Now this is a tremendously full passage.
We'll just point out some of the outstanding lessons in it. As I've said, we have made our way from Hazaroth, where we were in our last study, the way to Kadesh Barnea. Now, it is not possible to definitely locate all of these places. If you look at maps in your Bible or in a Bible Atlas, you'll find them variously located. The ruins of some, or the supposed ruins of some, have been located, but not all of them. And so whether the spots indicated on our chart are exactly where they should be, I rather does.
But that is immaterial. One thing we do learn, from Numbers chapter 33, we learn all of the encampments that Israel stopped at on their way from Egypt to Canaan. They're all lists of Numbers 33. Now if you go over that list, beginning, I think it's about verse 18, down through verse 35 or 36, you'll find that from Hazaroth, where were their last studies, to Cadish Parnia, where we are here, and you know that the last verse of chapter 12 speaks about them leaving Hazaroth and coming into the wilderness of Peron and Cadish was in that wilderness.
Now it looks as though from this that they were in camp at Hazaroth, the next camp was in the as a parent at Kadesh, but that's not so. In Numbers chapter 33, you'll find they made 18 different stops on the way from Hazaroth to Kadesh Barnea. They made 18 different encampments on the way. They are not mentioned in the early part of the book of Numbers here, but they're all of my name in chapter 33.
Now, why are they not given here? Why does it look on the surface as though they went from Hazareth immediately to the wilderness of Cairn? Now, sometimes we talk like that today. Sometimes in the past, when I was doing more traveling, I used to say, well, now, I went to California. Well, that was my permanent. That was my nation. My purpose in taking a trip was to go to California, but I made several stops on the way. But because those stops were not important, nothing of great interest or importance happened there.
When I talked about my journey, I'd say now went from Greensboro to Los Angeles, California. That's what you'll have here. They went from Hazra to Hibish Barnea, but they made 18 stops on the way. And apparently nothing of particular interest or importance happened at any one of those places. So they're simply named. Now, you might say you might first of all think, well then that wasn't important. Nothing happened.
Well, It was important. Because, you know, that's very much like our life, isn't it? There are crises in our life. Just as I'm pointing out to you, there are four great crises in the life or in the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. Now, in your life and mine as a Christian, there are certain crises that we come to. We have to make a decision. And that decision affects maybe our life from man on. It may be the decision to get married. It may be some other decision. But those are real critical points in our life.
But our life isn't all crises. We couldn't stand it. If every day of our life held a major crisis, well, we'd very soon crack up under it. So God has overruled that while there are crises in our life that have a great deal to do with our life and the outcome of it. Nevertheless, there are many days and periods of time when nothing important seems to be happening. Now, in one sense, we can thank God for that. Do you remember what happened at Hazlitt? There was a rebellion there.
Do Remember what happened at Kibros Hattavu? There was rebellion there, and there was a rejection of the manna and a complaining, and God had to judge them, and many of them died there. So that the fact that for 18 different encampments, there's nothing recorded except the name of those places, it proves at least that. did that God had to judge. You see, there wasn't anything wrong with our actions so that he had to come in and bring judgment on them as he did at some of these other places.
Then some of the other events that we have been studying were not just failure on the part of Israel, but there were manifestations of God providing for them the wonderful way, giving them manna. giving them water, although there was, in connection with each one, some failure on the part of Israel. Now, in your life and in mine as a Christian, not only are there times of crises, we have to make a decision. Shall I get married? Whom shall I marry? What church shall I attend? service of the Lord.
These are just some of the crises that come in our life. Some there are other times when we fail and God has to step in and we experience His disciplinary judgment on us. He punishes us as children. Some there are other times that we can look back to when God in a wonderful way provided for our needs and we experience His wonderful an unusual way. Now all of that, I believe, gets into practically every Christian life to a greater or lesser degree. But then, there are a lot of days aren't there.
When you get up in the morning, you go to work, you come home, you go to bed. Wasted? No, I wouldn't say that. But after all, when you analyze your life and mine, they're far more ordinary days and extraordinary aren't they and there again I would say I doubt if we could stand if every day was an extraordinary one I don't think we could take it but now what about these ordinary days here's Israel they march they encamp they prepare their meals then they move on and they march and they encamp They prepare their meals, and they move on.
Was that wasted time? Absolutely not. Why not? Because they were in the will of God. Now, if I'm in the will of God, it doesn't matter whether a day is ordinary and even a little boresome, or if it's an unusual day, that is what counts. am I in the will of God? They were in the way that God wanted them to be in. They were following the ark of God. They had their eye on the pillar cloud and they were moving according to the movement of that pillar cloud.
And every encampment they made encampment nearer tainer. Now let's remember that in these ordinary days. You get up in the morning and you have breakfast, and you go off to work, or you do your work around the home, and then you have lunch somewhere, and the afternoon hours pass, and you have your evening meals, and there's something in the evening, maybe not very outstanding, and then you retire. A wasted day? Not necessarily. Are you in the will of the Lord? Are you where God puts you? Are you following Christ?
Are you yielding to the leading of the Holy Spirit? Can you say at the end of each day, as the hymn writer said long ago, I nightly pitch my moving tent, a day's march nearer home? Friends, If you're sick, if you're born again, if you're on your way to glory, remember this, today we're nearer to heaven than we ever were before. So whatever comes in any day, if at the end of the day, you can look back on and say, I didn't take my own way, I followed the will of the Lord.
I sought to follow Christ today. spirit, and I'm a little nearer to my heavenly home than I ever was before, then my friend you can get down on your knees and thank God at the close of the day. But eventually they come to Katie Sparnia, and now you have to take the scripture. One of the basic fundamental principles of studying your Bible is given to us in the Paul the Corinthians, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And you have to compare what is recorded here in Numbers 13.
He goes on through Chapter 20. That gives us the record in Numbers of Catech Barnea. And then in Deuteronomy Chapter 1, you have Moses recapitulating the dealings of God with Him and with Israel. And you have to look at all these passages and you put them together and you get the complete picture. That's the tremendously challenging thing about studying your Bible. Now, according to Deuteronomy chapter 1, this idea of sending spies to search out the land of Canaan originated with a people.
We are told definitely there that they came to Moses and they said, Now let's send out men to spy out the land and see what it's like. It originated with the people. Now follow me closely. They come to Moses. And he tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 1 when they said that to me, good idea to me. That's just putting it in our vernacular. It seemed a good thing. I agreed with it. In Numbers chapter 13, you get the divine side of it. God knew what was going on.
God heard what the people said. God saw the reaction of Moses. And God said to Moses, Now you send man to spy out the land. You've got to put these three things together to get the complete picture. And I believe when you do, you get it in the proper perspective. The people said this, we'd like to see the land we're going into. Now some people have to be shown. And that's particularly true of the nation of Israel. Remember what we haven't printed? The Jews require a sign.
And I think that I could almost say with accuracy that practically every sign in our Bible is given to the Jewish people. There are signs connected with the Lord's coming to the earth. And that has to do with his earthly people. There are no signs connected with the Lord's coming to the earth. Lord's coming to the air. That has to do with the heavenly people. And so you find God again and again giving Israel, his earthly people, something they could see. Now that has a measure of faith in it.
But it isn't strong faith. Do you remember what the Lord said to Thomas? He said, Thomas, because there was seen me, thou hast believed. Now he acknowledged that Thomas believed, but he believed on the ground of what he saw. There's faith. But it's not the best kind of faith. Then he goes on to say, blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Now I believe Moses had that kind of faith. I believe Caleb had that kind of faith. Israel said we'd like to go out and see it.
All right. Moses said, now that's a good idea. If you can't believe without seeing, you better go out and take a look at it because it's just the way God said it was. I'm convinced that that was Moses' attitude. If you go up and look at it, you'll find it exactly as God said it was. And Caleb was the same. Caleb was one of the two that brought back a good report, and if we're to turn, I think it's the seventh chapter of Joshua. Caleb is talking about this, and he says, now I brought the report back as it was in my heart, not the way I saw it, as it was in my heart.
I don't think Caleb spent very much time looking around up there in Canaan. Oh, he saw it, but he knew what he's going to see. He said, it was in my heart before I went up there. And that's the way I reported it back. And so Moses said, all right, if you go on up and take a look at it, you'll find it just exactly the way God has said it was. And God says, now send them up. Moses, pick up twelve good men, their tribe, send them up there, and let them search out the land. And they did. And when they get up there, you have the sending of the spies here.
They're sent up, they cross over the border, look into the land, they go up, we're told as far as Hamut. Now that's up in the northern part of the land. It's in what's called the Plain of Accra. And we're the seaport of Accra, and I was going to bring to you this morning, maybe we will next Sunday, next time I speak on this. We brought back from Accra a beautiful little tray handmade by the copper smith in Accra. There he was, sitting on the floor, tapping out with his little hammer, the two spies, with the great Savesh call between them.
You see that all over Israel now. It's one of the symbols that you see everywhere in Israel. And we brought back this lovely copper tray. I'll let you see it sometime. But that came from Accra. And that's the way up in the north. Almost not quite the way up in the northern part of the country. I was going to say almost the northern border, but not quite. No, they went up that far. And then they apparently worked their way back. And they saw what it was. Now, when they came back, they made the report, and we were reading their report in verse 27. And they say, it's a land flowing with milk and honey.
Now isn't that exactly what God said he wants? You go way back to Exodus chapter 3, and remember that was when God met Moses out there in the desert, in the burning bush. He called Moses and commissioned them to deliver its people out of Egypt. And he said, No, I've come down to deliver them and to bring them into a land that floweth with milk and honey. They found it exactly the way God said it was. And friends, that's what you always want. When you get saved, you find it's exactly the way God said it was going to be, and you can depend upon God's word.
Now, weak faith will want to see. Strong faith will say, I'll take God's word for it. Now, to show you how weak the faith of these ones was, they have to admit that it was just the way God said it was a good land. But look at verse 28, the first word, nevertheless. Isn't that what we often say? Isn't that what some of you have been saying? I'd like to be saved. I know I should be saved. But, but, and there you stop. And many of you as Christians have been saying, Yes, I should do this for the Lord, but.
fight. And then you bring in all the difficulties. And so they say, nevertheless, and they go on in their report to point out three things. We just summarized the report. These ones who had to see, they thought it was good, they couldn't deny that. But they said, we saw great walls. The cities are walled up to heaven. How they were. They may have had high walls, but they weren't walls up in heaven. You know, the devil will always exaggerate your difficulty. If you've got to go over a six-foot wall, you say, man, that wall is 50 foot high.
It isn't, it's 60 feet. And David said, by my God, have I leaped over a wall? Because I'm not over a six feet or 50 feet. If God wants you over it, you'll jump over it. They said, we saw great walls. And then they said, we saw great giants. They said, all the people of the land are giants, men of great stature. They weren't. There were some giants there. But they weren't all giants by any means. There again you have unbelievable always exaggerate your difficulty.
And then they said, Verse 33, we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. What a lovely comparison to make of a child of God. There's some people, they were grasshoppers. Now, even if they weren't very big, these ten, I know how big men they were, they certainly weren't as small as grasshoppers. But after they got here looking at these giants, they were still taken up with the giants and the great walls were looked down. themselves where we're just little grasshoppers. Well, so what? It's amazing where grasshoppers can go, you know. They just caught.
And it's amazing where we can get to if we just caught, too. But they weren't. But notice what's that? We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight. Like that some of these giants said, what are you doing down there, little grasshoppers? they believed it. They took it after all, yeah, I'm just a little grasshopper. Unbelieve will always minimize your resources as a Christian and exaggerate your difficulties. But there were two others, Caleb and Joshua.
And I don't know. I have nothing to prove it, nothing to base it on whatsoever, but I like to think these were the two that brought back the grace of Eshcroft. I don't know. As I said, the Bible is absolutely silent, so I guess I should be too. But I like to think that these two men were the ones that came back with this great bunch of grace. Now, I've seen some lovely grace. I was re-adjusted a little ways from the Niagara Peninsula in Canada, and there we have some of the very finest grace. grapes in the world. And you come across the, at Niagara Falls, and come on down the American side and all down there to the northern part of New York and Ohio, there are great vineyards.
I've seen wonderful grapes. I've seen grapes out in California. But I've never seen any grapes like this. Imagine one bunch. Now, when you go into a supermarket today and buy a bunch of grapes, why, you almost drop when you find the price. But if it had to been this size, you wouldn't mind paying it, would you? One man couldn't even carry it. Well, they cut it down, put a staff through it, and I like to think maybe Joshua or Caleb got the front, and come on, Joshua, get hold of the other end, and the two of them come back there with a big bunch of grapes. Do you believe that? Certainly, I believe it. You ever see it?
No, I never saw it. Never even saw icefall. So how could I see the grace of Eshba? But I believe God has a real spiritual lesson here. There are many. One man by himself couldn't carry this bunch of grace. And that was just the little proof of the riches that there were in Canaan waiting for him. Now the lesson God has for me is this. No one man, including myself, can possibly take in what God has for us in our inheritance.
If I had time, we could talk about the peace that pass of understanding. You can't understand the peace of God. The love of God, the pass of knowledge. You can't know all the love of God. Joy unspeakable and full of love. glory. You can't express the joy of the Lord. There's no one man can take in all that God has for, his peace. So they bring it back. And Caleb says, now look. Yes, great wall. I'll admit it. Faith doesn't close with eyes and difficulties.
It looks at them. When it looks at them, as I'll show you in a different way than unbelief them. They looked at the great walls and the giants in comparison with themselves. And they said, we can't possibly take that land. The other two, they saw the great wall, they saw the giants, but they saw something else they saw God. And they looked at the difficulties through God. And if you go down the verse 8 of the next chapter, you'll hear Joshua and Caleb saying, if the Lord delight in us, then he'll bring us into this land and give it up.
But in our chapter, in verse 31, unbelief says, we be not able to go up. In verse 30, faith says, we are well able to overcome. How do we look at our difficulties? Do we look at them through ourselves and decide, well, we're such little grasshoppers with no use of us attending? Or do we look at our difficulties through God? Yes, great walls, great giants, wonderful thing about having joy and my friends I close with it not one of these unbelievers entered into that land again they died that day as we have seen chapter 14 and none of that generation entered into that land we'll see that in our next study of Caleb and Joshua 40 years old was Caleb when he went out as a spy.
40 years later he goes in. An old man of 80. But he goes in and he enjoys his inheritance. And it's lovely to follow Caleb. you know, is old 80. Dear me, if I got spared the 80, I wouldn't want to be going into a new land by any means. I'd like to close my day with 25, Paul, watch land daily, or those. Next time I move, I hope it's straight up. Leave the furniture and everything behind. Help yourself. But 80 years old, Caleb gets into Canaan because he's a man of faith.
And he comes to Joshua. By that time, he remembers the successor to Moses. says, you know, Joshua, I'm an old man. I'm 80. And my best days are behind me. I think you ought to give me a nice little quiet spot over here, but let me settle down over here, Caleb and Joshua and spend the rest of my days, sir. He didn't say anything of the time. Caleb said, see that, not that? Give me that. Did you? Well, wait a minute now, Caleb, a lot giants up there. I know. I've seen them before. And I'm going up and take them.
Isn't that the spirit we need? Not giving up. No matter how small we may be in every way ourselves. Grandin' sisters, we've got a great God. And if we just trust our God and go forward, we'll win victories for him. Now we pray. Father, bless my precious word. Impressive on our I know it's just what is needed by each one present, and we pray that we may carry home that there should be a real blessing to us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I've kept you a little over time, so we'll just be dismissed right now.