Be Careful What You Ask For!

The Command — (Vs. 13:1-3)

The Chosen — (Vs. 13:4-16)

Moses changes the name of Oshea to Jehoshua or as we say in the English language…Joshua.

The name Oshea in and of itself meant “deliverer” or “salvation” while the name Jehoshua meant “Jehovah saves” or “Jehovah is salvation”.

Warren Wiersbe — Joshua was the kind of name that would encourage the faith of a soldier and remind him that the Lord was fighting for him.

I think it may have also had another purpose as well. If you will remember back, it was Joshua that led the Children of Israel in the defeat of the Amelekites when Aaron and Hur held of Moses hands.

I think the name change was for the people so that they wouldn’t look to Joshua as their deliverer but to God who worked through Joshua.

I also believe that it may have been for a reminder to young Oshea in order that he might never forget who it was that was fighting for him and giving him the strength to carry on and one day become one of the greatest conquerors in the Old Testament.

Basically, so that he wouldn’t get the big head. And the best part of Joshua’s story is he never did! He was faithful, obedient and stedfast for God and God in turn blessed him and gave him many victories because of it!

The Commission — (Vs. 13:17-20)

“And be ye of good courage”…why did Moses tell these 12 men to be of good courage?

Because the victory was already theirs! God had promised Abraham, Isaac & Jacob that he would bring their people unto a land flowing with milk and honey and now this promise was about to be realized!

Exodus 3:8 — And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Exodus 3:17 — And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

Exodus 6:4 — And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

Exodus 6:8 — And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.

Over and over and over God had promised his chosen people the land of Canaan and therefore, these 12 men should go forth with courage, knowing that while they may be sojourners at the moment, this land through which they would be traveling would soon be theirs for an inheritance!

Sadly, as we will see in a moment, it would only become an inheritance for two of the twelve because of their lack of faith!

So far, we’ve seen The Command, The Chosen and The Commission. Now, let’s look on down at The Commencement.

The Commencement — (Vs. 13:21-25)

One commentator said in 40 days these men traveled around 500 miles throughout the lands that God had promised to give them before returning home.

And the verse that stood out most to me in this section was Verse 23.

Can you imagine a cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it!

I mean, it’s just hard for me to fathom that large of a cluster of grapes but this just goes to prove what God had already told the people of the land!

That it was a good land, a large land, flowing with milk and honey!

So, they return home and this is where things begin to take a turn for the worse.

Look with me now at The Communication.

The Communication — (Vs. 13:26-33)

These 10 spies were walking by sight and not by faith while Caleb and Joshua were walking by faith and not by sight!

The question becomes which way are you walking today?

Do you see an obstacle or a problem and immediately begin to think the worst or do you see an opportunity on the other side of the obstacle?

So many times we allow obstacles in our lives to keep us from enjoying the opportunities that God has prepared for us!

Here was a land flowing with milk and honey, a good land, a large land plenty big enough for all the Children of Israel but all the people could see, were the obstacles that lie ahead instead of putting their faith in God and receiving unto themselves the opportunity that God had already promised!

What obstacles in your life today are keeping you from enjoying the opportunities that God has promised?

Put your trust in God, not in yourself, nor men around you and seize the joy and happiness that God wants you to have!

If you allow the obstacle to remain, the enemy has won!

Remember last week, The thief cometh not but for to kill, steal and destroy?

The devil doesn’t want you to be happy and therefore, he will place any and every obstacle he can in your way to keep you from the joys of the Lord!

Stop allowing him to steal your joy this morning, put your trust in God and seize the opportunity in front of you!

Now, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be troubles, or trials or even battles that you must face along the way but what it does mean is this, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, God is on your side and it is He that fights for you and the battle has already been won, Amen!

Reminds me of that song we sing....the battle’s over, and the victory is won…10,000 years and we’ve just begun!

Dear friend, the battle’s over and the victory is won! And therefore, you can be courageous as you journey through this land unknown!

Ok, now let’s jump on down into Chapter 14 real quick and look at The Murmuring of the People.

The Murmuring of the People — (Vs. 14:1-5)

Here they are and their crying and mourning over nothing!

It really is a sad state of affairs that the Children of Israel have fallen into!

Kind of reminds me of our country today. A small group of people in relation to the grand scheme of things, called the main stream news media, control the narrative that gets relayed to the vast majority of the world and in a split second can cause people to frolic into a frenzy!

They tell you what they want you to hear instead of what may be the entire story and people go insane!

Listen friend, we’d all do well to remember who is in charge and that is God above, Amen!

But the people are crying and mourning and then they make the mistake of murmuring which is where the title of our message comes from today!

Look with me at Verse 2.

The Bible says the people began to murmur against Moses and Aaron.

This word murmur in the Hebrew means to grumble or growl as in a pack of dogs growling which I found fitting considering the circumstances we are about to see happen.

They say, “We’d of been better off dying in Egypt or here in this wilderness!”

Can I just stop right here for a second and say…God’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

God is always listening and we’d do well to be careful what we ask for!

As we are about to see, God is going to give the people exactly what they want!

Look at how their mindset has been warped because of their lack of faith and obedience and backslidden ways!

They have completely forgotten who it was that brought them out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand might I add!

And they begin to plot against God’s man Moses and say amongst themselves, “let’s choose us out another leader and return unto Egypt!”

Now, think through this with me for a second here…they left Egypt with a high hand and took the majority of jewels, gold and silver and precious stones when God brought them out, right?

They left Egypt bankrupt, disarrayed and disorderly! The thought of the Egyptians losing their firstborn is surely still hot on their minds and if that weren't enough, they left them defenseless and leaderless for Pharoah and all of his army was killed in the Red Sea!

Do they really think the Egyptians are just going to allow them to return like nothing ever happened?

The Children of Israel were in such a state of denial that they weren’t thinking rationally or logically!

Dr. Rod Mattoon — For the past thirty years I have noticed a trend among backslidden, carnal Christians that are on the run from God.

Their logic is illogical.

Their thinking reveals lack of thought.

Their reasons are unreasonable.

Their excuses demonstrate empty-headedness.

Their stubbornness manifests itself in stupidity, sensuality, vanity, frivolity, insanity, and calamity.

And this is exactly what was happening right here!

Let’s look on down real quick at The Motivating of the People in Verses 6-9.

The Motivating of the People — (Vs. 14:6-9)

Joshua and Caleb do everything they an to motivate the people to trust in the very God, Jehovah, who brought them out of Egypt and to go up and take the land!

I love how the other 10 spies referred to the land as a land that “eateth up the inhabitants thereof” but Caleb and Joshua say, “do not fear the people of the land for they are bread for us!”

What lies before us is all about perspective and that perspective is swayed one way or the other by who our faith is in!

The people’s faith was in themselves but Joshua and Caleb’s faith was in God!

The people’s fate seen only doom and gloom while Joshua and Caleb’s fate seen deliverance and destiny!

And the question I pose to you is this...Who is your faith in this morning?

Is your faith in this world and it’s inhabitants thereof or is it in the one who created this world and it’s inhabitants thereof?

Which set of lenses are you looking through?

Spiritual lenses make those giants seem as grasshoppers in sight of an almighty God while worldly lenses make you look like a grasshopper in sight of the giants!

It’s all about perspective!

And the choice is yours as to which lenses you choose to look out of!

We’ve seen the Murmuring of the People and the Motivating of the People, now, let’s move on to The Mistake of the People.

The Mistake of the People — (Vs. 14:10-12)

It appears that Joshua and Caleb’s motivational speech only fueled the fire of the people for they began to grab stones and intended on stoning Joshua and Caleb and Moses and Aaron and then....God steps in!

Oh man…this is like when you were a kid and you and your sibling was fighting and all of a sudden you were about to give them a good whacking over the head with something and Dad came walking in…you remember that feeling? Like…uh oh…I’ve done it now!

Yeah that’s exactly what’s happening here!

The Children of Israel have provoked God and he’s had enough!

He says, “how long will they provoke me and not believe me! I have given them sign after sign after sign and they still don’t believe me! What’s it going to take! I’m done with them! They thought things were bad before, just wait until I’m done with them now!”

“I will smite them with pestilence and disinherit them and make of you four men a greater and mightier nation than they!”

I love this…here are a couple million people and God says He will take 4 men and make a mightier and greater nation than they!

Isn’t that just a testament to the God we serve this morning!

He can take very little and make very much out of it!

Praise be to God!

To me this is a type or shadow of the 5 loaves and two fishes and the feeding of the 5,000 by Jesus! He took very little and did very much with it!

And on top of that, this thought came to mind, He took 12 men and turned the world upside down!

We serve a mighty God this morning Church and may we never - forget it!

Look on down with me next at The Mediating for the People.

The Mediating for the People — (Vs. 14:13-19)

The Message for the People — (Vs. 14:20-35)

The Consequences of Murmuring — (Vs. 14:36-45)

Ephesians 4:30 — And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

2 Chronicles 7:14 — If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.