Sermon Tone Analysis
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The Call and the Challenge
I. Names to Remember
A. Let me give you some names of some people and tell me if you've ever heard of them?
1. Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, Geuel
2. Alright, let me give you the names of a couple of guys they hung out with for over a month.
3. Caleb, Joshua.
4. Why is it we know the names of Caleb and Joshua, but not the rest?
5. That's what we're going to talk about this morning.
6.
It is found in Numbers 13:26-33.
II.
This is a familiar story for most of us.
A. The Israelites were nearing the Promised Land.
1.
The Lord tells Moses to send some men into the Promised Land to check it out.
2. The ten I mentioned earlier, along with Caleb and Joshua, were selected as the explorers.
3. Moses gave them specific things to look for and report back.
4. So off these twelve men went.
5.
It took them forty days to see all they needed to see and report back to Moses and the Israelites.
B. So they gave their report.
1. "It flows with milk and honey" (v.27).
2. "This is its fruit" (v.27).
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
3. Verse 23 says "And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs."
4. That's one big bunch of grapes!
5.
So for, so good.
C. BUT...(v.28)
1.
Why has there always got to be a "but" with God's people?
2. BUT..."the people who dwell in the land are strong" (v.28).
3. BUT..."the cities are fortified and very large" (v.28).
4. BUT..."we saw the descendants of Anak there" (v.29).
5. BUT...there were all kinds of people there: The Amalekites, the Hittites, Jebusites.
6. BUT..."We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are" (v.31).
7. BUT..."The land...is a land that devours its inhabitants" (v.32).
8. BUT..."all the people that we saw in it are of great height" (v.32).
9. BUT..."we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers"(v.33).
D. Boy, that was great for the morale of the rest of the Israelites.
1. "So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report" (v.32).
2. "Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night" (14:1).
3. "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt" (14:2).
4. "Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword" (14:3).
5. "Our wives and our little ones will become a prey" (14:4).
6. "Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt" (14:4).
E. However, there was a voice with the minority opinion.
1. Caleb - "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it" (v.30).
2. Caleb and Joshua - "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the Lord.
And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us.
Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them" (14:7-9).
God doesn’t follow the majority opinion.
He always sets aside for Himself a remnant.
A chosen people.
Those who are willing to follow Him.
No matter what may come.
F. Why do we know Caleb and Joshua better than the other 10?
1.
Because of their faith in the Lord.
2. They believed God.
3.
They took Him at His Word.
G. Lets back up to 13:1 and 13:2.
1. Do you see it?
2. It's obvious, isn't it, what the Lord said in these verses?
3. "...which I am giving to the people of Israel" (v.2).
4. God had promised the Israelites, more than once, that He was giving them the Land.
5.
That land that they had explored and came back whining about was already promised to them.
III.
God had made a promise to the Israelites but there would be a challenge in receiving the promise.
A. God had called the Israelites to be His people.
1.
They would be the light of God to all nations.
2.
He had promised them the Promised Land as their home.
3.
They would have the land promised to them since God promised their ancestor, Abraham.
4. All they had to do was take it.
B. But there was to be a challenge to the Israelites.
1.
They would have to go into the Promised Land and take it.
2. If there were giants in that land, then the Promise of God included war.
3.
If they were bigger, then they would have to trust in the God who promised them the land.
4. If there were things that they couldn't overcome on their own, then it was God's problem.
5. "God would give them victory in the battle, but He would not fight their battle for them" (Erwin McManus, Chasing Daylight, p. 158).
They had to be obedient.
6.
They had a calling to go; would they trust God and go?
7.
They had a promise to receive if they would go; would they receive that promise?
C. We all know how it turned out.
1.
The entire Israelite nation had a choice to make: stay or go?
2. The Israelites rebelled, and all of them but two died in the desert, just like they asked in 14:2.
3. Forty years later, out of the twelve, only two, Caleb and Joshua, made it into the Promised Land.
IV.
What does any of this have to do with us today?
A. We have a similar call.
1.
We are to be the representatives, the ambassadors of Jesus Christ, in this world (see 2 Cor 5:20).
2. We are called to go into all the world, making disciples (see Matt. 28:19-20).
μαθητεύω (mathēteuō).
vb. to make a disciple.
Used to indicate the action of causing another to become a disciple; the passive forms indicate being or becoming a disciple.The active forms of this verb mean “to make a disciple.”
When Jesus gives his disciples the Great Commission (Matt 28:19), he commands them to make disciples (mathēteuō) of all nations.
Jesus clarifies this command by instructing them to baptize these converts in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as well as to teach them to do all that he commanded.
Again, the individual who becomes a disciple must alter his behavior as well as his mind.
3. We are called to be His witnesses at home and abroad (see Acts 1:8).
4. We are called to reflect the image of Jesus Christ in our lives and to the people we meet.
5. We are to take this world for Jesus Christ.
B. We have a similar promise.
1. "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt 28:20).
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
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