In the Wilderness (Part 3)

Greeting:

Good morning everyone its good to see you.

Glad you all are with us worshipping this morning.

Make plans to come back tonight and Wednesday night Lord willing.

Lesson Text:

Numbers 12-14

Opening:

This morning we are going to continue on in our study of the book of Numbers.

This will be our third lesson of the series.

In the first two lessons we have covered the story of the poeple of Israel as they prepare and depart on their journey toward the promised land.

In our first lesson we looked at some lessons we can learn from Israel and their preperations to depart.

We mentioned how one of the main lessons we are keeping through this series is our focus being on God.

As we continue to study we will see Israel wander and continually lose sight of God, we would do well to remember the lesson God established with them early on...

Center our lives around God.

As we got into our second lesson we saw very quickly how Israel turned away from God.

They had no more begun their journey until they were complaining about their situaution and even wished they could go back to Egypt.

We should continue to be reminded we have nothing to complain about as a Christian, we have everything we need in God.

And no matter how hard our Chrisitan life gets, it will always be a better life than the life we lived before.

Those are just a couple of the big lessons we have seene arly on and they will continue to be of importance for the reaminder of Israel’s story and even us today...

This morning we are going to pick up there in chapter 12 where we left off last week...

Today our focus is primarily going to be on chapters 13 through 14 if you want to try and follow along or go back and read some of this in your own study time...

Lesson:

This morning as we go through this lesson I want to take a slightly different approach.

I want us to examine what the Bible says and I want all of us to really think about the lessons for us today.

Instead of us going through and spelling out all of them in great detail I want you to try to connect the dots to a lesson we can learn today.

If you have a note book or phone or something to jot down notes make a list as you go, write down lessons that stick out to you.

We will still touch on a few things as we go and then we will circle back at the end with a list of things I came up with as I studied through it.

So with that said...We can pick up there in Chapter 12 where we ended last week.

Chapter 12 is a shorter chapter thats devoted to really just Aaron and Miriam and their murmering to Moses.

So not only did the people complain but so did Aaron and Miriam.

They complain to Moses over the woman he had married simply because she was a Cushite or an Ethiopian.

God intervenses and punishes Aaron and Miriam, then again Moses interceeds on Aarons and Miriams behalf to heal Miriam.

The people then continue on and camp there in the Wilderness of Paran.

Then we get into chapter 13.

Chapters 13 through 19 are going to focus on the punishment for Israel’s disobedience and unfaithfulness.

This is where we get the main idea and lesson title for this series

Chapter 13 may begin with one of the more famous stories that we have been taught from Numbers.

In Chapter 13 is where we find the story of the spies that were sent into Canaan.

As we begin reading there in chapter 13 we can see the instructions God gave to Moses concerning the spies.

Numbers 13:1–3 ESV

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.

We can see God commands Moses to round up 12 spies, one from each tribe and send them to Canaan.

We can see them listed there in verses 4 through 16, for the sake of butchering the text with pronouncing their names we are gonna skip that part, but again you can read it sometime.

But we see the 12 spies named and are told specific instructions on what they are to look for as they go to spy on the land of Canaan.

Numbers 13:17–20 ESV

Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

The spies were to go and see what kind of land it was.

They were to see whether the poeple were strong or weak, how many of them they were, was the land good or bad?

They were to note of the cities and strongholds, was the land rich, did it have trees, all of these things the spies were supposed to go seek out.

They were also to be of good courage and bring back fruit, grapes would have been in season at this time of the year.

So the spies go and they were to keep watch for 40 days then report back bringing their fruit they got.

We can see their report in verses 26-29...

Numbers 13:26–29 ESV

And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

The spies come back talking about how good the land is.

It is everything God had promised, it truly is the land that flows with milk and honey...

Remember this will be an important point later in our lesson, but the poeple knew this was a land promised to them, hecne where it gets its name today.

God told them about this land and all the fruit it would bear multiple times in Exodus.

Exodus 3:8 ESV

and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

So they should know this is in fact the promised land flowing with milk and honey.

This land is amazing its full of food but they also have bad news too.

They report back that they have a big problem...

The cities are strong, large, they are fortified.

And the people there are strong.

They reference the people of Anak who wouldve been feared as mighty warriors in this time.

Again though, remember God has already told them all of this back in Exodus...

This isn't new news

So what does the spies say and do?

Do they have faith? Do they remember that God has prmised this land to them and they will be ok?

Or is their response something else?

Numbers 13:30–33 ESV

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Caleb has faith.

He quietens the crowd down and begins to speak..he says lets go we can take the land!

But the rest of them start in with their excuses and fears.

Immidately again forgetting God’s promise.

“We cant go up agaisnt them! Theres no way we can take them, they are way stronger then us...”

The spies then come up with a plan...

They tell a bad report, or a lie.

We would never do that today?

Make up a story to get us out of doing something?

If we tell all the people a bad report of the land and how scary the poeple there are and how the land devours all of those who inhabit it, then we wont have to go.

They even say they saw the poeple of Nephilim there too.

These were a people who were told to be of great size, giants almost and great strength.

Surely this will scare everyone..

And it does...

We can go on over into chapter 14 to see the response of the poeple.

Numbers 14:1–4 ESV

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

The people begin to complain and question God again.

They again result back to wishing they could just go back to Egypt...

Keep in mind this is after they already complained, saw people burned from above, questioned God, but then was blessed by God with quail and food.

Clearly they havent learned their lesson.

Are we ever that way?

We can continue on in Chapter 14 to find matters only get worse for the people of Israel.

Numbers 14:6–10 ESV

And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “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.” Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

Joshua and Caleb, the only two spies who were faithul, tried to tell the people they will be fine.

They tell the people God has promised this land to us, God delights in us, and he will give us this land if we dont rebel against the Lord...

Dont let this shock you, but the people didnt listen.

Verse 10 told us that the congregation not only didn’t listen or trust what Caleb and Joshua said, but they wanted to stone them!

The people of Israel wanted to stone their faithful leaders...

God’s glory now appears in the tabarnacle and Moses has to go again before God to try to intercede for them.

Moses goes to God acknowledging how good and merciful and forgiving he is hoping that God would forgive these people..

But verse 23 tells us Gods response...

None of those who rejected God will ever see the promised land.

Sound familair for us today?

God tells Moses according to his word he has pardoned them, he will spare them, but they will never inherit the land promised to them.

You can continue to read on to see that none of that generation (anyone 20 years and older) would never step foot in the prmmised land except for Caleb and Joshua.

They would wonder in the wilderness for 40 years until every single person that doubted God of that generation passed away in the wilderness.

Verse 37 tells us that those spies who brought back the bad report all died from the plague of the Lord and only Caleb and Joshua (the faithful) remained.

What happens anytime man is caught in sin?

Whats the first thing we do when we get called out for our wrong doing?

We are sorry.

Its like the old saying “Are you truly sorry, or are you sorry that you got caught”?

We can see that unfold with the people of Israel in verse 39 through the end of the chapter.

Now after they have realized they are in trouble and being punished, now they're sorry.

Now they want to go and take the proimised land, now it doesnt seem to bad, now they want to obey.

The thing is, and a lesson for us today, it’s too late.

Moses tells them not to go up, it will dso no good. He tells them their enemies are there, they will defeat them, dont go try it now that you are sorry.

Again, they dont listen, they attempt to go to up on the mountaintop and are driven away and defeated by their enemies...

Do we see any themes throughout this story?

Do we see any lessons for us today?

I think there are so many lessons to be learned we could study this for weeks.

We could learn to never steer our focus away from Christ and place it upon ourself.

We could learn the lesson of having faith and courage like Caleb and Joshua.

We could learn not to be afraid and trust in God’s promises.

We could learn not to tell lies.

We could learn the importance of repenting of our sins before its too late.

We could learn that sin has conequences that can last forever.

Closing:

This morning as we bring this lesson to a cose I hope we all walk away witha better appreciation for Gods word.

It never ceases to amaze me how I can read the Bible and walk away feeling like i learned something all over again for the first time.

As we mentioned last week, God has spoken… WIll we listen?

Will we take the words adn lessons that are found in this book and write them on our heart?

Will we take them and apply them to our lives and live a Christian life?

What will we do with the gospel messgae today?

Scripture tells us the gospel message is folly or worthless to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved its the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Lets not waste one of the greatest blessings we have been given.

THis morning if you arent a Christian become one.

IF you have read and studied and listened to Gods word and the gospel message and you know youre a sinner that needs free from sin make that decision today.

GOds word tells us to hear believe repent confess and be baptized for the remission of sins.

Become a christian today.

For those of us who are a christian already have we strayed away?

Are we like Israel and do we conintually turn our back on God.

Do we make God just shake his head over and over at us with the decisions we make?

Have we taken our focus away from our first love?

If so then lets make our life right.

Lets confess and repent and go to God in prayer asking him to forgive us so that we can make sure we are right in th sight of God.

If you have any need at all please join us this monring as we stand and sing.