1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:04,520 Please now hear the reading of the word of God. 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:06,840 We're in the book of numbers now. 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:09,440 We've been in the book of Exodus for a while. 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,080 We're studying the life of, or some facets of the life of 5 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,840 Moses. And the story of Exodus took us 6 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:22,480 all the way from the land of Egypt to Mount Sinai. 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,560 And now the book of Numbers takes us further than that. 8 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,840 It's actually in the Hebrew called in the Wilderness. 9 00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:32,540 Which is the opening phrase of the book in the language instead 10 00:00:32,540 --> 00:00:34,140 of the book of numbers. Something about the book of 11 00:00:34,140 --> 00:00:38,100 Numbers makes you think it's an oldfashioned mobile telephone 12 00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:42,420 book or something, but but it's really in the wilderness and it 13 00:00:42,420 --> 00:00:44,580 tells the story of what all happened in the wilderness, 14 00:00:44,580 --> 00:00:46,540 including the episode we find today. 15 00:00:46,540 --> 00:00:50,500 So hear now the word of the Lord Numbers, Chapter 13. 16 00:00:51,180 --> 00:00:56,380 The Lord said to Moses send men to spy out the land of Canaan, 17 00:00:56,380 --> 00:01:00,350 which I am giving. To the people of Israel, from 18 00:01:00,350 --> 00:01:04,349 each tribe of their fathers you shall sin to man everyone, a 19 00:01:04,349 --> 00:01:11,590 chief among them. And so Moses sent them to spy 20 00:01:11,590 --> 00:01:16,630 out the land of Canaan. At the end of 40 years they 21 00:01:16,630 --> 00:01:20,590 returned from spying out the land, and they came to Moses and 22 00:01:20,590 --> 00:01:22,550 Erin, and to all the congregation of the people of 23 00:01:22,550 --> 00:01:24,830 Israel by the wilderness of Quran at Kadish. 24 00:01:25,650 --> 00:01:28,410 They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and 25 00:01:28,410 --> 00:01:29,850 showed them the fruit of the land. 26 00:01:29,850 --> 00:01:33,570 And they said to them, We came to the land to which you sent 27 00:01:33,570 --> 00:01:35,330 us. It flows with milk and honey, 28 00:01:35,330 --> 00:01:39,650 and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in 29 00:01:39,650 --> 00:01:42,850 the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very 30 00:01:42,850 --> 00:01:45,290 large. And besides we saw the 31 00:01:45,290 --> 00:01:49,250 descendants of Anak there in the Amylokites dwell in the Negevs, 32 00:01:49,970 --> 00:01:53,410 the Hittites, and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the 33 00:01:53,410 --> 00:01:56,240 Hill Country. And the Canaanites dwell by the 34 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,000 sea and along the Jordan. But Caleb quieted the people 35 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,160 before Moses, and said, let us go up at once and occupied, for 36 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,320 we are well able to overcome it. Then the men who had gone with 37 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,960 him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they 38 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,080 are stronger than we are. So they brought to the people of 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,120 Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out saying 40 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,460 the land. Through which we have gone to 41 00:02:23,460 --> 00:02:27,460 spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the 42 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:30,740 people that we saw in it are of great height. 43 00:02:31,420 --> 00:02:36,740 And there we saw the Nepheline, the son of Anak, who from the 44 00:02:36,740 --> 00:02:41,260 land of Nepheline, and we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers, 45 00:02:41,660 --> 00:02:46,780 and so we seem to them. Then all the congregation raised 46 00:02:46,780 --> 00:02:49,300 a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 47 00:02:49,990 --> 00:02:52,790 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and 48 00:02:52,790 --> 00:02:55,430 Aaron. The whole congregation said to 49 00:02:55,430 --> 00:02:59,470 them, Would that we have died in the land of Egypt, or would that 50 00:02:59,470 --> 00:03:03,430 we have died in the wilderness? Why is the Lord bringing into 51 00:03:03,430 --> 00:03:06,790 this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones 52 00:03:06,790 --> 00:03:10,190 will become prey. Would it not be better for us to 53 00:03:10,190 --> 00:03:13,430 go back to Egypt? And they said to one another, 54 00:03:13,430 --> 00:03:16,510 let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. 55 00:03:17,630 --> 00:03:20,310 And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the 56 00:03:20,310 --> 00:03:22,950 assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 57 00:03:23,230 --> 00:03:27,910 And Joshua the son of none. And Caleb says, who were among 58 00:03:27,910 --> 00:03:31,430 those who have spied out the land, tore their clothes, and 59 00:03:31,430 --> 00:03:34,870 said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, the land 60 00:03:34,870 --> 00:03:38,590 which we passed through to spy out, is an exceedingly good 61 00:03:38,590 --> 00:03:41,070 land. If the Lord delights in us, He 62 00:03:41,070 --> 00:03:44,870 will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows 63 00:03:44,870 --> 00:03:48,390 with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the 64 00:03:48,390 --> 00:03:52,070 Lord, and do not fear the people in the land, For they are bred 65 00:03:52,070 --> 00:03:55,670 for us, their protection is removed from them, and the Lord 66 00:03:55,670 --> 00:03:57,550 is with us. Do not fear them. 67 00:03:58,030 --> 00:04:01,910 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. 68 00:04:02,230 --> 00:04:04,950 But the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting 69 00:04:05,230 --> 00:04:08,990 to haul the people of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, How 70 00:04:08,990 --> 00:04:13,630 long will this people despise me, and how long will they not 71 00:04:13,630 --> 00:04:17,010 believe in me? The word of the Lord. 72 00:04:18,890 --> 00:04:25,330 You may be seated. Well, did you find the drama in 73 00:04:25,330 --> 00:04:29,690 the passage? Here we have an amazing thing. 74 00:04:29,690 --> 00:04:33,530 This is the second great provocation. 75 00:04:33,690 --> 00:04:38,410 Israel provoked the Lord at the foot of Mount Sinai with the 76 00:04:38,410 --> 00:04:43,370 worship of the golden calf. That was a denial of who God is. 77 00:04:44,170 --> 00:04:49,340 They worship that. Pagan Bale idol instead of the 78 00:04:49,340 --> 00:04:52,220 true and living God that had just delivered them out of 79 00:04:52,220 --> 00:04:56,180 Egyptian bondage, this is the second provocation. 80 00:04:56,540 --> 00:05:01,500 They have moved from Sinai over to the very southern edge of the 81 00:05:01,500 --> 00:05:04,820 land of Canaan. They're in that S country. 82 00:05:05,140 --> 00:05:09,660 They're right there on the edge at this beautiful Oasis there in 83 00:05:09,660 --> 00:05:12,100 the desert by the name of Kadish. 84 00:05:12,820 --> 00:05:16,740 And from there the Lord tells Moses to send spies into the 85 00:05:16,740 --> 00:05:19,020 land. And I believe the reason the 86 00:05:19,020 --> 00:05:22,900 Lord told him to send spies into the land is he wanted them to 87 00:05:22,940 --> 00:05:26,260 just have a little bit of a preview of what it was worth. 88 00:05:26,260 --> 00:05:29,060 In fact, the spies went about 220 miles. 89 00:05:29,300 --> 00:05:32,220 They went all the way to the north, north of Damascus, the 90 00:05:32,220 --> 00:05:34,780 modern city of Damascus, since in. 91 00:05:35,810 --> 00:05:38,610 Syria, they went all the way north and then they came back 92 00:05:38,770 --> 00:05:41,290 and then they took side trips. And you noticed in the report 93 00:05:41,290 --> 00:05:44,930 they told about who was living, the nations that were living in 94 00:05:44,930 --> 00:05:47,370 the north, the nations that were living in the Hill Country. 95 00:05:47,370 --> 00:05:49,930 They're in the southern central part of the land. 96 00:05:49,930 --> 00:05:52,930 And then the nations that were living on the coastal plains of 97 00:05:52,930 --> 00:05:56,090 the Mediterranean and the nations that were living on the 98 00:05:56,090 --> 00:05:59,970 side of the Jordan in the Jordan River Valley, which are roughly 99 00:05:59,970 --> 00:06:03,330 the the borders of the great land of promise, the land that 100 00:06:03,330 --> 00:06:06,200 God said. It's full of milk and honey. 101 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,480 I promised it to Abraham. When Abraham was camped there at 102 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,000 Hebron, the Lord promised him the land. 103 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,440 And now, several 100 years later, generations later, they 104 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,400 are now going into the land to possess it as the Lord had 105 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,200 promised it to them. And really, I can see that the 106 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,200 Lord wanted them to just have a preview. 107 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,700 So they selected. Leaders from each tribe, each of 108 00:06:30,700 --> 00:06:35,260 the 12 tribes, a a a young man who was vigorous enough to be 109 00:06:35,260 --> 00:06:39,620 able to make that that long journey and they launched out 110 00:06:39,620 --> 00:06:42,780 into this investigation and it took him about 40 days. 111 00:06:43,140 --> 00:06:45,580 It's interesting the number of things that take 40 days in the 112 00:06:45,580 --> 00:06:48,180 Bible. Isn't it there 40 years or 40 113 00:06:48,180 --> 00:06:49,900 something. It's interesting when you come 114 00:06:49,900 --> 00:06:52,140 to the life of Christ. When he launched his ministry he 115 00:06:52,140 --> 00:06:57,340 was in the wilderness 40 days and he is assuming. 116 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:03,400 The identity and the life and the and the the the feelings and 117 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:08,120 the empathy of his people in his lifely experiences, our Lord 118 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:10,480 did. But back here in the story we 119 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,520 find that they've come to the land and the spies go in and the 120 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,320 spies look it over and the spies come back and the spies have a 121 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:22,200 report that they're going to give and they report honestly, 122 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,360 the majority report 10 spies said. 123 00:07:26,890 --> 00:07:30,530 Well, they all said it's a land of flowing with milk and honey. 124 00:07:30,970 --> 00:07:35,530 It's a wonderful land. The orders that Moses gave them, 125 00:07:35,530 --> 00:07:38,730 which we didn't read there in Chapter 13, was go into the land 126 00:07:38,730 --> 00:07:41,170 and find out if the people are strong or weak. 127 00:07:41,650 --> 00:07:44,450 Find out if there are many of them, or few of them, if they're 128 00:07:44,450 --> 00:07:47,570 rich or they're poor. Find out if the land is good 129 00:07:47,570 --> 00:07:50,850 land or bad land. And good land, by the way, is 130 00:07:50,850 --> 00:07:54,490 land that can that can accommodate just about any kind. 131 00:07:54,790 --> 00:07:57,870 Of agricultural enterprise. You've got to have fertile land 132 00:07:57,870 --> 00:08:00,830 for fields. You've got to have arid land for 133 00:08:00,830 --> 00:08:03,190 vineyards. You have to have beautiful 134 00:08:03,190 --> 00:08:06,830 pasture land for flocks. So a good land will have that 135 00:08:06,830 --> 00:08:13,070 whole array of variety of types of land and topography that will 136 00:08:13,070 --> 00:08:18,270 sustain A thriving, prosperous nation. the United States of 137 00:08:18,270 --> 00:08:22,110 America has that. God Bless America, Israel. 138 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:24,880 Found that when they got to Canaan, that's the way Canaan 139 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,520 was laid out. Canaan was a was a beautiful 140 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,760 land with a variety. Had rivers all flowing off of 141 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,640 large mountains all accumulating into the Jordan River Valley and 142 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:41,919 it bringing forth a good stream, free springs, cool springs at 143 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:46,200 various places all over the place, water table such that 144 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,840 when Jacob had dug wells, those wells were still in existence. 145 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,280 When God's people go back into the land or when they're going 146 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,680 back into the land, I mean, it's wonderful. 147 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,000 They've been out of Egypt now for maybe about two years, and 148 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,280 they've come through Sinai and they've done all of that. 149 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,520 They've organized and they've learned to fight. 150 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,040 Joshua, their generalist, taught him to fight. 151 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:08,920 He, he led him in the first battle they had when they got 152 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,080 out of Egypt. And so there's just a lot of 153 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,480 things that's already in prime to go. 154 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:18,560 I mean, God's will is ready to be done, but this is the second 155 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:21,820 provocation. And the second provocation is 156 00:09:21,820 --> 00:09:25,100 disobedience. The first one is when people 157 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:28,580 don't believe that God is who he is. 158 00:09:29,140 --> 00:09:34,300 And the second great provocation is when we don't obey the Lord's 159 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:37,540 will and do what he tells us to do. 160 00:09:38,500 --> 00:09:42,020 And Israel provoked God in both ways. 161 00:09:42,020 --> 00:09:44,900 This is the second provocation. This is a provocation of 162 00:09:44,900 --> 00:09:48,820 rebellion, A provocation of disobedience and. 163 00:09:49,310 --> 00:09:53,350 Caleb and Joshua gave a minority report, and the minority report 164 00:09:53,350 --> 00:09:57,270 was kind of interesting. They said in the report, God's 165 00:09:57,270 --> 00:09:59,550 promise, this land, he's already given it to us. 166 00:10:00,310 --> 00:10:02,430 It's not like the Lord saying go up and fight it. 167 00:10:02,430 --> 00:10:05,190 If you win, you get it. If you don't win, you lose it or 168 00:10:05,190 --> 00:10:08,670 you don't conquer it. That wasn't the proposition. 169 00:10:08,670 --> 00:10:10,590 God had already given them the land. 170 00:10:10,870 --> 00:10:14,270 This is what God's grace is. It goes beforehand and provides 171 00:10:14,270 --> 00:10:17,750 everything we need for salvation and everything else. 172 00:10:18,230 --> 00:10:20,430 The good grace of God had already given him the land. 173 00:10:21,190 --> 00:10:25,470 All they had to do was to believe it and seize it and obey 174 00:10:25,470 --> 00:10:28,270 the Lord and watch the Lord just hand it over to him. 175 00:10:28,470 --> 00:10:32,110 Lot by lot, allotment by allotment, territory by 176 00:10:32,110 --> 00:10:39,070 territory, province by province. But they said it's a good land, 177 00:10:39,590 --> 00:10:45,110 but it's just too well fortified. 178 00:10:45,110 --> 00:10:51,160 The cities are fortified. The cities are strong. 179 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,240 The people are big. They're tough. 180 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,000 In fact, it's interesting how they exaggerated a little bit. 181 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,480 They said this land devours itself. 182 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,400 No, it didn't. That land was a very prosperous 183 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,840 land. That land was on the the road of 184 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,480 the Great Fertile Crescent that led from Mesopotamia to Egypt. 185 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,880 It was a prosperous land. It already had a highway on the 186 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,240 West Coast. That was an incredible 187 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,200 thoroughfare. These people were in a position 188 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,920 to be middle men. This was a land that was 189 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,560 wealthy, and I did have some pretty savages, savage tribes 190 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:27,520 there. But then again, all the ancient 191 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,560 tribes were savage and the Lord had promised it to them. 192 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:38,720 But the thing that Caleb said is do not rebel against the Lord. 193 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,400 Don't say we can't go. Don't say we want go. 194 00:11:42,790 --> 00:11:44,310 In fact, the people, it was worse than that. 195 00:11:44,310 --> 00:11:47,510 They said we wish we'd have never even come this far. 196 00:11:47,910 --> 00:11:50,710 We wish we'd have stayed in the land of of of Egypt. 197 00:11:50,710 --> 00:11:52,830 That's what they said last time they provoked God. 198 00:11:53,310 --> 00:11:58,230 There's something about going back to the pleasures of sin for 199 00:11:58,230 --> 00:12:00,830 a season. That's what the book of Hebrew 200 00:12:00,830 --> 00:12:03,950 says Egypt was. It was the day where Moses 201 00:12:04,350 --> 00:12:07,830 rejected the pleasures of sin for a season. 202 00:12:07,950 --> 00:12:14,360 Sin is pleasurable for a season. And when that season up, it is 203 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:19,200 bitter and we face the judgment of God for our sins. 204 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,080 And the people had forgotten the whole delivery. 205 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,200 Notice the complex that's that's involved here. 206 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,200 The people listen to the reports. 207 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:33,720 They can believe either report they want and they believed the 208 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,280 bad report. They believed the report from 209 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:42,310 the majority. They did not believe the 210 00:12:42,310 --> 00:12:46,670 dissenting report, the minority report, which was the one that 211 00:12:46,670 --> 00:12:49,030 was in line with the purposes of God. 212 00:12:51,630 --> 00:12:55,750 God has a purpose and a plan, and when you're in line with 213 00:12:55,750 --> 00:12:58,750 that, through a yielded heart and obedience, that God's ready 214 00:12:58,750 --> 00:13:03,470 to give you the land, to give you that which He has set out 215 00:13:03,470 --> 00:13:06,470 for you, and to fulfill all of His promises. 216 00:13:08,970 --> 00:13:16,570 That the people were spiritually so downgraded that they didn't 217 00:13:16,570 --> 00:13:18,730 recognize any of this. There's an interesting thing in 218 00:13:18,730 --> 00:13:19,970 here. It said that when Joshua and 219 00:13:19,970 --> 00:13:22,570 Caleb were pleading with them over here in the latter part of 220 00:13:22,570 --> 00:13:27,570 our text in chapter 14, he says do not rebel against the Lord. 221 00:13:27,970 --> 00:13:31,410 The Lord will give it to us. In other words, it wasn't. 222 00:13:31,410 --> 00:13:34,650 He was calling for obedience. He was crying out against 223 00:13:34,650 --> 00:13:37,780 disobedience. And this was an emotional time. 224 00:13:37,780 --> 00:13:40,540 You noticed how the people grieved and they wept, and Moses 225 00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:42,620 and and Aaron rent their clothes. 226 00:13:42,620 --> 00:13:45,420 This is grief. This is this was a horrible low 227 00:13:45,420 --> 00:13:49,100 point in the moral and spiritual life of Israel. 228 00:13:49,420 --> 00:13:52,180 In fact, this was when Israel had walked away from God. 229 00:13:52,180 --> 00:13:54,860 It was back on the edge of the pits of hell. 230 00:13:55,780 --> 00:13:58,100 They had moved away from their God. 231 00:13:58,100 --> 00:14:03,340 They had lost their faith. They were absolutely about. 232 00:14:04,070 --> 00:14:06,550 To just completely lose everything and but for the grace 233 00:14:06,550 --> 00:14:09,750 of God they would have. But you know, our God is a 234 00:14:09,750 --> 00:14:13,430 gracious God and he we don't have it in this text today. 235 00:14:13,430 --> 00:14:17,550 But he did the same thing he did back in the golden calf. 236 00:14:18,230 --> 00:14:25,230 He restored, He forgave. He tempered his punishment and 237 00:14:25,230 --> 00:14:28,670 he said I'm still going to accomplish my purpose. 238 00:14:28,910 --> 00:14:31,270 Which by the way, you know the whole story of the Old Testament 239 00:14:31,270 --> 00:14:33,400 he did. He brought them into the land. 240 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:34,960 He established the great Kingdom. 241 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,400 He did all those things. He brought the Messiah, their 242 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:44,320 king, out of that great land. That is the determination of the 243 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,160 purpose of God. Our problems are not with God. 244 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,920 Our problems are with ourselves, isn't it? 245 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,040 Here's our whole problem. We see ourselves the way these 246 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,520 poor Israelites did, and I'll give it to you kind of vividly. 247 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,680 We seem to ourselves like grasshoppers. 248 00:15:02,350 --> 00:15:07,950 We seem puny and pathetic. And how big is a grasshopper's 249 00:15:07,950 --> 00:15:10,990 brain? You know we seem like 250 00:15:10,990 --> 00:15:14,790 grasshoppers and that happens to us when we lose sight of our 251 00:15:14,790 --> 00:15:16,670 great God and his great provision. 252 00:15:17,230 --> 00:15:22,550 We get a low self esteem. At least we get down to where we 253 00:15:22,550 --> 00:15:25,150 can't even see the mercies of God. 254 00:15:25,310 --> 00:15:27,350 And here's the mercies of God in this passage. 255 00:15:27,510 --> 00:15:29,510 It's found here in what Caitlin was said. 256 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,080 Caleb when he and and Joshua when they were talking to the 257 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,400 people they said do not rebel against the Lord said do not 258 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:42,760 fear for their protection is down, their protection is taken 259 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,200 away. Well if I was a preacher I'd 260 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:52,880 stop right here and preach. This is exactly this is exactly 261 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,920 the key they were looking at this whole situation. 262 00:15:58,460 --> 00:16:03,180 Through the eyes of the flesh they were walking by sight and 263 00:16:03,180 --> 00:16:09,060 not by faith. Caleb and Joshua could see not 264 00:16:09,060 --> 00:16:10,820 just what they could see with their eyes. 265 00:16:10,820 --> 00:16:13,580 They could see the big old tall Anac giants. 266 00:16:14,020 --> 00:16:15,740 They could see the fortified cities. 267 00:16:15,740 --> 00:16:17,940 They could see the same thing that the other men could see, 268 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:20,460 but they could see something better, something different, 269 00:16:20,460 --> 00:16:22,980 something more. They could see the spiritual 270 00:16:22,980 --> 00:16:26,780 condition and they could see where God was in this program. 271 00:16:27,110 --> 00:16:30,070 And they knew that there was no hedge of protection. 272 00:16:30,550 --> 00:16:33,830 These men were godly warriors. They were spiritual warriors. 273 00:16:34,030 --> 00:16:36,990 They could see beyond the natural and that which is seen, 274 00:16:36,990 --> 00:16:39,230 and they could see to that which was unseen. 275 00:16:39,310 --> 00:16:42,070 And they could see that this people was weak as they could 276 00:16:42,070 --> 00:16:46,350 possibly be, because God was not going to protect them, and they 277 00:16:46,350 --> 00:16:48,830 were vulnerable. In fact, it looked like an easy 278 00:16:48,830 --> 00:16:51,990 take to them. And these strong warriors, 279 00:16:51,990 --> 00:16:53,750 Joshua and Caleb, knew they had them. 280 00:16:54,230 --> 00:16:58,330 They could see it. But the others couldn't see it. 281 00:16:59,410 --> 00:17:01,570 And So what they did was they provoked the Lord. 282 00:17:01,970 --> 00:17:04,770 They refused to go in. They rose up against Moses and 283 00:17:04,770 --> 00:17:09,369 Aaron, and they rebelled. You know, the Bible references 284 00:17:09,369 --> 00:17:11,650 back. We saw one reference to it in 285 00:17:11,650 --> 00:17:15,210 the 95th Psalm that we all recited as the call to worship 286 00:17:15,210 --> 00:17:17,130 this morning. But then there's another 287 00:17:17,130 --> 00:17:19,810 reference to it in the New Testament, and let me read it 288 00:17:19,810 --> 00:17:22,010 and make the application there, and then I'm done. 289 00:17:22,250 --> 00:17:24,770 It's comes from the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. 290 00:17:25,210 --> 00:17:27,400 And this is. A quotation. 291 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:31,120 The writer of Hebrews says the Holy Spirit says he didn't say. 292 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:34,000 David says he didn't say. Moses said he didn't say. 293 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,000 Isaiah said or Jeremiah said it. It is a it comes out of David 294 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,920 and he comes out of Moses. But it's the Holy Spirit 295 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,960 speaking. That's just a little side note 296 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,560 there that all scriptures given by inspiration of God and that 297 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,760 men wrote as they were born along by the Spirit. 298 00:17:50,310 --> 00:17:54,270 The Spirit of God blew upon their sails and moved the vessel 299 00:17:54,270 --> 00:17:58,230 where it needed to be so that what got written was what God 300 00:17:58,230 --> 00:18:01,430 wanted said. That's how God's inspiration 301 00:18:01,430 --> 00:18:06,150 works upon the human authorship. That's that's free this, this is 302 00:18:06,150 --> 00:18:09,150 the text. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit 303 00:18:09,150 --> 00:18:14,550 says today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts 304 00:18:14,870 --> 00:18:17,790 as in the rebellion. And it's referring to this 305 00:18:17,790 --> 00:18:21,360 rebellion we just had. As our story this morning on the 306 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:24,960 day of testing in the wilderness, when your father's 307 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:30,440 put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years, therefore I 308 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,240 provoked with that generate. I was provoked with that 309 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:38,080 generation and said they shall the always go astray in their 310 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,920 heart. They have not known my ways and 311 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,040 so I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest. 312 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,220 And then? The writer makes the application 313 00:18:49,740 --> 00:18:54,620 take care of brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, 314 00:18:54,980 --> 00:18:58,860 unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living 315 00:18:58,860 --> 00:19:04,620 God, But exhort one another every day, as long as it is 316 00:19:04,620 --> 00:19:09,020 called today, that none of you may be hardened by the 317 00:19:09,020 --> 00:19:13,700 deceitfulness of sin. The word to us in the Christian 318 00:19:13,700 --> 00:19:17,440 community continues. For we share in Christ, if 319 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,800 indeed we hold to our original confidence, firm to the end as 320 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,640 it is written today. If you hear His voice, do not 321 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:31,360 harden your hearts as in the rebellion, and listen to these 322 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,480 questions. For who were those who heard and 323 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,440 yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left 324 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,580 Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked 325 00:19:42,580 --> 00:19:45,380 for 40 years? Was it not with those who 326 00:19:45,380 --> 00:19:48,220 sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 327 00:19:48,340 --> 00:19:52,660 And to whom did He swear that he would not enter his rest, but to 328 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:57,340 those who were disobedient? So we see that they are unable 329 00:19:57,580 --> 00:20:03,260 to enter in because of unbelief, If you don't enter into the 330 00:20:03,260 --> 00:20:06,700 Kingdom of God, if you don't enter into salvation. 331 00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:10,300 If you don't enter into Christ, if you don't enter into heaven 332 00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:13,940 one day and enjoy the bless of an eternal state with him, if 333 00:20:13,940 --> 00:20:17,380 you don't enter into it, it's because of unbelief. 334 00:20:18,180 --> 00:20:25,460 It's because of unbelief. Dear folks here and obey. 335 00:20:26,860 --> 00:20:32,620 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.