(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

You Numbers, chapter 13, the Bible reads, 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, every one a ruler among them. And Moses, by the commandment of the Lord, sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All those men were heads of the children of Israel. And these were their names, of the tribe of Rumen, Shamuel the son of Zacher, of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphath the son of Ahorai, of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jophani, of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, Moshreya the son of Nun, of the tribe of Benjamin, Paltai the son of Raphu, of the tribe of Zebulun, Gadiel the son of Zodi, of the tribe of Joseph, namely of the tribe of Manasseh, Gadai the son of Susai, of the tribe of Dan, Amael the son of Gamali, of the tribe of Asher, Sethar the son of Michael, of the tribe of Naphtali, Nabai the son of Vaphshai, of the tribe of Gad, Gahuel the son of Machai. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land and Moses called Oshia the son of Nun, Jehoshua. 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 that the people that dwell at therein whether they be strong or weak few or many and what the land is that they dwell in whether it be good or bad and what cities they be that they dwell in whether in tents or in strongholds 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 that the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rahab as men come to Hamath and they ascended by the south and came into Hebron where Ahima, Shishai, and Taumai the children of Anak were. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt and they came into the brook of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes and they bare it between two upon a staff and they brought of the pomegranates under the figs and the place was called the brook Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence and they returned from searching of the land after 40 days. They went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel to the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh brought back word and brought back word unto them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land and they told him and said we came unto the land whether thou sent us and surely it floweth 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 and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up with him said we'd be not able to go up against this people for they are stronger than we and they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched under the children of Israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature and there we saw the giants the sons of Anak which come of the giants we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight. Let's pray dear Lord God just thank you again for everything that you bless us with and just ask that you would be with our pastor now please just bless him with your Holy Spirit bless the preaching and give us yours to hear it and in Jesus name we pray amen. Amen okay we're in Numbers chapter 13 this morning and the title of my sermon today is are you a 10 or a 2? Are you a 10 or a 2? This is something that you hear pretty commonly right now amongst the young people they'll say she's a 10 or you know he's a 10 or you know god forbid you'd be a 2 or something like that and what they're referring to is the fact that you know they often place a numeric value on a person based upon let's just be honest how attractive they are or how not attractive they are and what we're going to see here in Numbers chapter 13 is that there is a numeric value for people but there's only two numbers that you can have it's either 10 or a 2 and unlike the world today it's actually bad to be a 10 and it's actually more favorable to be a 2 we're going to look at that in just a bit look at Numbers 13 verse 27 it says and they told them and said we came unto the land whether thou sent us and surely it floweth 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 now let me give a little bit of an introduction just to let us know where we're at here in the book of Numbers in the history of Israel what's being referred to here is what's commonly called the promised land this is Canaan land and Canaan land was essentially real estate that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and obviously God saved the children of Israel out of Egypt out from the bonds of Egypt and Pharaoh and he brought them through the red sea and he's basically promised fulfilling his promise to bring them into this land known as Canaan so this is God's will for the children of Israel okay this is what he wants for them this is what he's been promising them for generations and God's people know this so he's been talking about this for for years and years and years and finally they get to a point where they're on the brink of entering into the promised land now before they go they go into the promised land God actually commands them to spy out the land okay and we're going to look at why that is in just a bit but he commanded for basically one ruler from each of the tribes to join this operation of infiltrating Canaan land and kind of survey the land so to speak now why is that well look at Numbers 13 verse 1 it says the Lord speaking to Moses saying send down men that they may search the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man every one a ruler among them so he commands them to for Moses to essentially choose the leader the ruler the heads of the children of Israel to join this operation now the question is why you know if God is already giving the land to the children of Israel if it's already promised to them then what's the point of even sending spies into the land what is the what's what's the point of that why even try to survey the land if it's already theirs well I'm going to give you some practical reasons by way of introduction as to why and then I'm going to give you a spiritual reason secondly as to why as well first and foremost you know God's will what this shows us is that God's will still requires a plan and adequate preparation okay you know when God's will is presented to you and to me we don't just sit on our rear ends and wait for God to bless us you know if God says he's going to bless you he's going to provide for you he's going to protect you he's going to give you these long list of things we don't just sit on our rear ends and say okay go ahead Lord just do it right there's obviously conditions and stipulations that are added to that there's things that we have to do on our end in order to receive those blessings now thankfully when it comes to salvation nothing like that is required right the only condition that's attached to salvation that we need to do is we need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we can be saved right it's not by works it's not by our behavior or our good deeds it's simply by our faith in Christ but thereafter there are conditions there's things that we have to do in order to inherit the blessings of the Lord and so it requires for us to actually put a plan forth and make adequate preparation in order to inherit the will of God so to speak and so yeah Canaan land belongs to the children of Israel it's theirs God's already speaking of it as though it's already been handed to them but he still wants them to adequately prepare he wants them to plan he wants them to put in some effort in order to inherit it and here's the thing when it comes to God's will because people think to themselves well then if I put an effort then you know how do I know it's from God well here's how you know is that once you put in the effort to get the blessing of the Lord and once you receive the blessing of the Lord you see that your effort is not really that much compared to the difference that God made or the difference that God made up you know with your effort and so you put in the effort of God you put in the effort to fulfill the will of God when you get the blessing you realize you know what he's blessed me beyond measure beyond my efforts beyond you know what I can do he's given me abundantly above all that I can ask or think okay and so planning and adequate preparation is an act of faith but let me give you some practical things here of what he told them look at verse 18 first and foremost the reason he's telling them to go in there and to spy out the land is because he wants them to survey the land and take a census of the enemy look at verse 18 and see the land what it is the people that dwell if they're in whether they be strong or weak fewer many so the first thing he tells them is like you know you need to go in there and see is this a land of valleys is it a land of mountains what is the landscape of this property you need to know what you're dealing with here and then also you know know your enemy right know if they're weak or they are they strong do they have armies or are they few in number you need to be able to take a census of what's taking place they're not just blindly going to the land look at verse 19 he also tells them to assess the quality of the real estate and to evaluate what type of strongholds are there look what it says in verse 19 and what the land is that they dwell in whether it be good or bad you know is the soil good is it good for a plantation is it good for vineyards it does it have water does it have rivers he says and what cities they be that dwell in that they dwell in whether in tents or in strongholds so he's basically saying hey are these nomads you're dealing with are these people who just travel from place to place to place or are they established you know do they have strongholds and walls these are things you need to take into account look at verse 20 we also see that he wants them to estimate whether there are trees or not because he says in verse 20 and what the land is whether it be fat or lean whether there be wood they're in or not you're like what's the point of that you know whether there's trees or not why does he want them to know if there's trees well if you think about it if you go into combat you participate in warfare trees can drastically change your strategy okay foliage and trees can drastically change it and here's proof you know later on in the future where when joab is going to war with um what's his name right now absolom he's going to war with absolom the bible actually says that the trees the wood devoured more men than the sword did meaning as they're going to battle in the foliage in the forest people more people died being impaled by trees or being hung by the branches or just running into trees more people died that way than those who died by the sword and in fact absolom himself you know he's riding on his donkey and his head gets caught up in a branch and it leaves him in a vulnerable condition where joab comes and he thrust them through with darts so you can see how this would play an important role in knowing hey are we fighting in an open field or is there a lot of foliage and trees you need to take advantage or take account of that look at verse 20 again he also wants them to bring back motivational evidence he says and what the land is whether it be fad or lean whether there be wood they're in 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 grapes so aside from all of the assessments that they have to make while they're there regarding the land serving the land of the people he's like bring back some of that fruit you know because that is motivational right it's an incentive when they bring back those clusters of grapes that says you know two men were carrying them with the pole doesn't mean like the grapes are like this big it means the clusters were very long large and heavy to the point where two men had to carry them on poles so if they bring that back the people are going to see it and be incentivized be motivated and say oh man yeah for sure we need to go in this place and and overtake them and conquer them because this is what awaits us so this is the reason why practically god wanted them to spy out the land but let me give you a spiritual reason why he wanted them to spy out the land and that is to put them to the test so what do you mean by that well this espionage took about 40 days okay and obviously you know when you look at biblical numerology not all the numbers in the bible have a symbolic meaning sometimes numbers are just numbers you know they're just that's all it is but there are instances when a number is presented consistently throughout the bible and it has some sort of connotation behind it like the number 40 which often signifies being put to the test okay and this is definitely the case with the spies going into the land for 40 days it's definitely god putting them to the test now you don't have to turn there well i'm going to skip this verse actually now we say why is he putting them to the test well think about it you know what better way to see if the children of israel are really serious about going into the promised land then choosing their leaders to go in and seeing what their response is to that lab that's why he chooses the rulers of the 12 tribes of israel because they are a reflection of that tribe okay so he chooses the 12 rulers the heads and he's choosing them because basically instead of going throughout you know the millions of people that exist in israel and saying hey are you forward or against that are you forward you know why don't you just choose the rulers and they will be a reflection of the heart of the people now unfortunately 10 of those spies of those rulers were bad you know they were a 10 for sure but the 10 was not good you know the only people who actually were legitimately bold and had faith in the lord and actually wanted to go in there's only two joshua and caleb and they're the ones who are behind the project they believe they could inherit the land and their minds they were fully persuaded with god and promise he's able also to perform but unfortunately 10 out of the two were completely against the operation and it cost them going into the promised land they had to go into the wilderness for what 40 years to be tested and in fact one of the reasons he had them go into the wilderness for 40 years is to kill off those rulers and the descendants of those rulers who were against the operation so basically like the wilderness wanderings was just like a huge funeral because afterwards you know god told them like you're not going to go into the promised land until all you guys die and then your kids the ones you didn't want to go into the promised land they are going to go into the promised land and you're not going to inherit it because you didn't believe on the lord now the actual uh 10 spies that had that evil report they died before that because god ended up plaguing them for their evil report and they ended up dying and you would think you would think to yourself well yeah if they died like that by a plague you would think that the people who are under them would change and just would want to you know well they didn't though i mean they wanted to go in thereafter but they still a were a wicked people and they were still against going in there and they fought against moses they fought against aaron and so taking them into the wilderness for 40 years was necessary in order to purge out those who are faithless and who did not want to go into the promised land that's the reason why he had them do that is to essentially test them okay now what's interesting about that this is a side note here is the fact that you have 10 who were unrighteous and then you have 10 who were just and this ends up being kind of like the theme in israel right because during the the season or the era of the monarchs where the son of solomon ended up splitting the kingdom there was 10 that went to the north and two that went to the south and essentially judah who was that southern kingdom was like that righteous kingdom it was the northern kingdom israel who was you know known for just being very wicked and bad not that the southern kingdom was completely innocent but in general that northern kingdom was just a really wicked kingdom and you had 10 to the north and two to the south now the only difference being of course the southern kingdom was judah and benjamin here we see that you know joshua and caleb you have caleb who i believe is of judah and then you have joshua of ephraim so that's the only difference there now that is the reason why he sent them out to spy out the land so they go in they look at the land they see that it's just a great land they come back and they present this evil report and it cost them 40 years in the wilderness so keep in mind right out of egypt they're supposed to go right into the promised land just a short distance into the promised land and inherit it didn't happen they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and it wasn't until 40 years later that they were able to inherit the land now here's what's funny about this whole thing because you know they're over here complaining and saying oh man the the land and eat at the inhabitants thereof and there's all types of big people there they're giants and they're really scared they're being a bunch of weenies right right but the thing is the people in canin land were extremely afraid of israel and the reason we know that is because 40 years later when they actually go into the promised land into jericho rehab is just like we heard about you guys since the day since the day you guys came out of egypt and our hearts melted now keep in mind this is 40 years later i mean that's a long time okay and yet 40 years later they're still afraid they're still scared how much more if they would have gone into the land 40 years prior you understand what i'm saying so they're you know i don't want to get ahead of myself but they're projecting what they actually feel you know at the end of the day the enemies of god were more afraid of them and you know joshua and caleb knew this they wholly followed the lord they had no issue with the operation with god's will but it's just funny to think that they thought that the inhabitants were just intimidating and that they're afraid of them but at the end of the day it was the inhabitants it was the other way around the inhabitants melted at the side of israel now let me give you some characteristics of the ten and you know i want you to evaluate yourself today hey are you a 10 or are you a two okay are you part of that evil conspiracy who gave that evil report and you have those characteristics and those attributes of that 10 or are you like joshua and caleb are you a 10 or are you a two now look at numbers 13 and verse 27 the first thing we're going to look at here is the fact that both groups the 10 and the two confirm that what god had promised was true so i want you to keep in mind that both of these groups saw exactly what god wanted them to see they didn't see anything different that whole group went in there and they saw everything exactly the same they saw the sons of anak they saw the walls they saw the grapes they saw that it was a good land they both saw the same exact thing yet they both came back with two different reports why because at the end of the day it's all about perspective you know it's interesting how christians could look at the same exact year the same exact day look at the same exact church and yet come up with two completely different opinions of what they're looking at why because it's all about perspective are you a spiritual christian who actually reads the bible and looks at everything through the lens of the word of god or are you constantly fearing you lack faith you just don't want to you know fulfill the will of god you're looking at the same blessings you're looking at the same bible we got the same god we got the same church but yet other people walk out of the church with a different perspective one person hears the preaching that changes their lives another person walks out the church and you know they just keep going about their same life why because it's all about perspective and some people whether you you can't you don't you can change the landscape if you want we can change the look of the building we can change anything but at the end of the day a person will still view that particular thing through the lens of their you know whatever it is fear anxiety whatever may be the important thing is for us as christians to view everything in light of the bible through the lens of scripture hey view our families through the lens of scripture hey view our kids through the lens of scripture you know a family will look at another family and think to themselves you know a family of five or six or seven or you know eight nine ten kids or something and be like those poor kids this poor that poor woman and that poor husband you know i mean i had someone literally told my wife that yesterday he was just like they looked at all my kids you guys you have five kids he's like yeah we got five kids and they're just like oh they're so expensive and my wife's like well you know i mean i make every meal for them and i homeschool them so we save a lot of money and i stay home with them he goes yeah but yeah just wait though you know like so my wife and that person we're looking at the same exact kids and you know my kids are not perfect but they're not unruly either though you know i would say they're well-behaved kids i'm not they're not perfect they get whoopings like any child should and you know they have their moments they're not perfect and i'm sure they'll have moments in the future but at the end of the day they are christian kids or growing up in a christian home you know both of these people are looking at the kids and they're looking at them through different perspectives one is looking at them as a burden the other one as a blessing and so at the end of the day you have to realize that you just have to have a christian perspective and a lot of times christians get derailed in life they get derailed with the news they get derailed by social media because they're not viewing things through the lens of the bible they compartmentalize god and not prove all things hold fast that which is good and prove things according to the word of god okay it says in verse 27 and numbers 13 and they told them and said we came into the land where the thou sentest us and surely it flows with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it so they both said that and it was true so the the bad guys the 10 admitted yeah this is a land that flows with milk and honey and yeah here is the fruit but obviously they didn't stop there right they had that nevertheless moment thereafter and so the the point that i'm making here is that you know as a pastor i'm constantly working at helping our people have a biblical perspective of things to view think view your marriage in light of the bible view the will of god in light of the bible view your job through the lens of scripture view your spouse through the lens of scripture view your children through the lens of scripture hey view your church through the lens of scripture don't just join a church because it makes you feel all fuzzy inside and because of the purple lights and smoke and the mirrors or whatever you should choose a church based upon how it reflects the word of god is it close to the bible or not right you know hey choose a bible based upon the bible not based upon you know does it use modern terms you know like the like the message bible or something like that oh it's just easier to understand well here's the thing you know it's probably easier to understand because it's just false because lies are easy to believe you know and anytime someone tells me like hey what's something that's easier than the king james you know i always tell them i think you should just stick with the king james and i i tell them this i said my seven-year-old because i often say like well that's just too hard to read and i'll say well my seven-year-old reads it i'm just saying you know i'm aside from all the adults in here that read it little kids read the king james you know my son has never come to me and just like this is way too hard can i get you know somewhere around like the the niv or something can i can you give me something little can i get pictures in here i'm sure he would appreciate that but you know what he just needs to read the bible and just read it and you know what it's going to increase his knowledge it's going to increase his learning view the bible through the perspective of the bible not through what's easy don't take the least path of resistance the path of least resistance excuse me when choosing a bible choosing a church whatever it may be we need to make sure that whatever god says this is going to be yours you view it through the lens of scripture and not try to make excuses as to why you don't want it look at verse 27 we see also when it comes to the 10 that they begin to stir up the people against the will of god now this here's where it gets really wicked because it's one thing for you not to want the will of god it's another thing when you try to discourage others from fulfilling the will of god that's wicked right when you try to stop others from serving god that's wicked he says in verse 27 let's read it again and they told him and said we came unto the land where the thou sentest us and surely it flowed with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it nevertheless the people be strong that dwell on the land and the cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of anak there the amalekites dwell on the land of the south and the hitsites and the jebesites and the amorites dwell on the mountains and the Canaanites go by the sea and by the coast of Jordan now here's two things that i want to say in that regard number one duh okay first of all the way this should have been worded is the people be strong that dwell they're in the cities are walled very great moreover we saw the children of anak there nevertheless it is a land the flow of milk and honey because whatever you conclude the sentence with is what you think about it it's like your legitimate opinion about that right so yeah they knew that it was a land full of milk and honey but what was really in their hearts they were afraid and so they're being these party poopers here they're showing themselves to be cowards and fearful because of that term nevertheless in other words yeah it's a land the flow of milk that flows with milk and honey but hold on a second let me just tell you what's there though now here's the second thing i want to say about this is that these guys are mentioning these guys are mentioning things that everyone already knew in exodus god had already told them what type of people were dwelling in the land he told them that there's Hittites and Jebusites and Parazites and greater and mightier than them he had already told them all these details prior to them going in so what new information are you giving us you know it's like people are just like you know when they criticize california's like yeah but you got news some oh really oh wow that's weird i didn't know that thank you for telling me that i i live here and i just didn't know that it's like they constantly want to highlight all the negatives but they're things that we already know hey don't be don't be an obvious person don't just point out the obvious now why are they pointing out the obvious because they're trying to instill fear in the nation to impede them from going into the land so they had this information already and they've already determined that they were going to go into the land but now that it's worded this way now it's making them second guess to become double-minded whether they should do it or not because it's not like god didn't tell them in the beginning hey these people are greater than you they're more in number than you but then he also said don't worry i'm going to drive them out from before you not in one year lest the beasts of the land overtake the land you know i'll drive them out from before you by little in little i mean he's constantly just telling them these things because he obviously knows the quality of people as far as you know the stature of the individuals in the land and he knows the nature of man that when they view this with their eyes they might become discouraged afraid so he has to constantly remind them of this and this is why it's important folks that when you look at the negative things around you or they're being emphasized to you always re-emphasize the promises of god you know anytime you become afraid oh man what's going to happen in 2024 who's going to be president well here's my answer who cares who cares how have you survived these last four years you know you think christians have not been placed in like worst positions than this yeah but if biden you know becomes president for the next four years then we got another four years of great memes just more content look on the bright side it's all about perspective at the end of the day though what we see here is what they're trying to do is is discourage the people from going into the land by pointing out the obvious it's like yeah but biden is president well thank you for telling me i didn't know that over the last four years you know commie-fornia well thank you i've never heard that one before it's just like this constant vitriol against just like living a normal life and you know what people let me say this about california okay because it seems as though like more people are worried about california who don't live in california yeah weird more people freak out about california who actually don't live in california and then when a californian who's actually in the belly of the beast actually tells them hey this isn't what's actually happening like i'm living on normal life they're like no you can't fool me cope harder you can't fool me i know what's going on okay you know but i live here though and i don't see any of those things it's just like yeah no no no alex jones or you know whatever you know my favorite conservative republican is saying this about commie-fornia you know yeah california is a great state it's just that you know it's just run by communists well you know that might be true but i'll just be honest with you i don't even feel affected by it yeah but what about the inflation well then aren't you glad you're a christian because inflation would actually affect you worse if you weren't and thank god that we're not dependent on the government to take care of us now are we people are like yeah but inflation oh so are you dependent on the government to take care of you is that what you're saying because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh or are you dependent upon the hand of god to see you through and protect you and provide for you and show himself strong on your behalf you know who is it you know in god we trust or is it the dollar that says in god we trust is that who you're placing your faith in okay and so it's important for us to not be like the 10 who's constantly discouraging yeah you guys got to move out of california why the weather's better here you know what i mean like this is winter for us but i think it was mori who posted like as soon as it gets 50 degrees you know all californians just snuggle up in their bed it's like 50 degrees 50 degrees is like summertime for other people we have the best of all the worlds this is the best part of the country let's just be honest okay yeah but you guys don't got barbecue though we have everything here's the thing you know some some states let me just go off on this some states i you know they identify based upon that one food that they have but here's the thing with california we have everything yeah but what's better i mean how's the barbecue there okay let me just be honest better than texas you can go to south central you can go to watts you can go to content and you'll find a dude barbecuing out of a barrel and it tastes just as good but you know we also have mediterranean food we got fake chinese food we get the real chinese food we got thai food we got our medium food i mean we got we do it all the best here anyways but these 10 are trying to stir up people against the will of god you know we need to be like caleb listen to this caleb stilled the people against the will of god you see the tenser of the people against as in they were in opposition to the will of god but caleb is stilling the people against the other definition of against which is toward the will of god because it says in verse 30 and caleb stilled the people before moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it what does it mean to still them it's just like calm down you know just relax calm down let us go up at once let's not wait till tomorrow let's do it right away let's possess it because we can do it so this guy has a lot of faith he's a man who's wholly following the lord you know he's got some oomph about himself but unfortunately he's only a part of two and this is often how it is in the christian life there's often the minority or the people who want to serve god the people who have faith in the lord are often the minority and it's often the majority who behave like the ten okay and so let me just say this practically speaking hey never discourage someone from going all in and serving god okay never discourage someone from leading their families for the lord hey wives don't discourage your husbands if they want to go all in for god if they want to serve god and soul win and preach you know the gospel and be involved in their church you know don't slow them down and try to impede them and say hey well you know you're getting a little radical there oh god forbid that your husband should radically love you because that's what the bible commands to love your wives as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that's like zeal that's like zealous love right there right you know oh god forbid if your husband would want to be a spiritual leader in the household and lead the children and you in spiritual matters to bring you to church on sunday and now go out and drink and smoke and run with them that do god forbid you know don't be the ten in your household that is holding back the person who is spiritual who does want to go forward from doing so you know hey but on the same take husbands you better not be the one who's holding your wife back from wanting to be spiritual you know if your wife wants to be under your authority she wants to submit to your authority she wants to leave the house so she wants to stay home and guide the house don't stop her from doing that do a backflip if you can you know what i mean like i'm just saying you know that's a great thing you should be rejoice over that and not be the 10 that's bringing up this evil report about all the opposition that's going to happen if you do that yeah but how are we going to pay for all our toys if we both don't work or whatever it may be you know what why don't you have faith in god and just do things god's way and serve the lord and you know what if one spouse is on board you should get on board especially if you're the man right and so don't discourage people you know if someone wants to do more soul winning if they want to live a godly life don't be this fire extinguisher to douse their flame when they actually want to serve god hey parents if your kids are on fire for god fan that flame if they want to be you know if you like to be a sunday morning glory only but your kids want to come to church sunday night you better bring them if your kids want to start coming on thursday nights you know with all that traffic you better bring them you know why because there's going to come a day when that season is over and you're going to miss out on your opportunity you're going to wish that your kids would have a desire to serve god and to be in church and you're going to want to encourage them to do so but you know what that season is gone the season is gone so it's better to do it now you know get your butt out of bed and bring your kids to church if they want to come to church you know and if your parents if your kids tell you let's go soul winning go soul winning with them take advantage of that season and do it don't be like the 10 where you're just bringing up this evil report about serving god in your family and in your church be like caleb and joshua who says let us wholly follow the lord look at verse 31 so we see that the 10 also spake evil of the will of god it says in verse 31 but the men that went up with him said we'd be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we so caleb is like hey we can do it and then the men the 10 say no we can't they're stronger than us verse 32 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 a land that eateth up the inhabitants are of what does that mean and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature now keep in mind that it says the bible's telling us that these 10 brought up an evil report and what this means is that they're faithless because god equates faithlessness with evil and in fact in hebrew chapter 11 it says now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen listen to this for by it the elders obtain a good report before who before god and so you know as christians one of the greatest spiritual muscles that you can exercise is faith you know don't run away from complicated and difficult situations in your life don't run away from conflict in your life don't run away from leanness in your life because it's a time when you can increase your faith you know what's more valuable than a raise faith you know more what's more valuable than having money in the bank faith you know it's more valuable than a new job faith that's more valuable because we need faith because at the end of the day that's all we really have money you know they got they got wings just go away it just goes away like that but you know what the the person with an inexhaustible resources of money is god and so if we just trust in the lord know that he can provide for us we pray unto him we ask him to provide yet even give us the things that we want and he provides for them you know that increases our faith and it causes us to be more confident when doing the will of god because a lot of times people are just looking for security but they're looking for security in all the wrong places whereas the security that we need to strengthen ourselves in is in god in his word okay not have this evil report of the will of god and think to ourselves yeah that's what the bible said but you know the horses are prepared against the day of battle though yeah but can you finish the verse you know does it just stop there or what version is that where it just stops right there i was his safety is of the lord and no horses are prepared against the day of battle is not god telling you prepare your horses he's just saying that people depend on horses for safety but at the end of the day safety is of the lord because it doesn't matter how many horses you have in your stable god can strike them all dead with the plague and now what the bible says you don't have to turn to joshua 15 24 15 says if it seemed evil unto you to serve the lord choose you this day whom you will serve never bring up an evil report about the will of god and let me say this parents don't bring up an evil report towards you know your your your uh in-laws uh when they want to have a lot of kids or something it's just like oh i can't believe you're having so many kids how are you know you should be thankful that your kids are having kids amen because you know there's an attitude today that says like oh man having so many kids is so bad and how are you going to pay for them all and how are you going to provide for them well i mean god and there's something else called a tax return you want to get practical about it and look the more kids you have the more that tax return okay and but even aside from that god's given us enough guidelines and principles of the bible we can learn frugality and and you know and by the way you know just not going out and partying and drinking and smoking doing all that stuff you save a lot of money you know you save a lot of hospital bills and so that's how you do it you know if your kids want to have a bunch of kids let them and let me say this once they reach a certain you know number of kids you'll be thankful that they have those kids because children are a blessing not just to the parents but even to the grandparents as well okay don't bring up an evil report about you know how bad it is to have a lot of kids we need to have more kids you know our job is just just mankind in general not even from a christian perspective just like from a human race perspective we just need to have more kids you know the muslims are doing it unfortunately i mean it's good that they're having kids but it's bad that they're having more kids than christians you know why christians aren't having kids is because they're starting to teach birth control and make permission for that nonsense the bible doesn't teach birth control my friends the only birth control that exists is whether god opens your womb or not and if you don't have kids then i guess god's controlling the birth but you know what if he opens the womb allows you to have children then praise god for that and so don't bring up an evil report about that don't bring up an evil report about coming to church don't bring up an evil report about you know the standards that christians have you know be a person who has faith who is positive not just realistic but positive about the will of god the bible tells us in first john 5 2 by this we know that we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous god's commandments should not be grievous unto us we should rejoice in the laws of the lord and if you find yourself kind of like having a knee-jerk reaction to some commandment of the lord then you just need to subject yourself to that law until you like it right you know read that law read the word of god until your heart can assimilate and unite to fear his name and enjoy the word of god because at the end of the day god is right okay look at verse 32 we also see that the 10 greatly exaggerate they embellish a lot verse 32 says and they brought up an evil report of the lamb which they had searched into the children of israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is the land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof okay so why don't you go take it then if it ate them up all right and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature and there we saw the giants the sons of anak which come of the giants and we listen to this this is the kicker right here and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers but listen to this and so we were in their sight now let me explain two things about this verse okay because they're saying you know these these people are so big that we're like grasshoppers even in their sight well first of all wasn't this an espionage no one saw you what are you talking about did you mess up the operation and allow someone to see you because according to this it's a spy operation so how do you know that you are in their site as grasshoppers this is called projecting where they're just like we are in our own site as grasshoppers and it's almost as if he found out what he said he's like oh and also in their site too you know because at the end of the day this is how they view themselves now let me make another point regarding perspective in this in this case because as i was studying this last night i was thinking to myself it's funny that they say we are in our own site as grasshoppers and what they're implying is that we're just tiny they can crush us but if i was like caleb or joshua i would think to myself well that means that we can like destroy them then because god always uses grasshoppers and locusts to overtake nations right so i would have told that guy hey that's a good analogy because we are like grasshoppers because we could just eat everything up in their land they don't i mean remember egypt egypt wasn't one of the 10 plagues locusts that he sent upon the people he just destroyed the superpower of that day known as egypt so great analogy there ten yeah we are like grasshoppers in their site and that's why they're so scared because we're just going to eat them all up but what they're implying is that well we're just so tiny now let me make a third statement about this that has nothing to do with the sermon and that is when the bible talks about giants we're not talking about gulliver's travel you know um what is that cartoon called again no no no you know that anime cartoon attack on titans we're not talking about attack on titans type stature of nephalem okay this is not referring to what the book of enoch portrays giants to be and what's funny is that you know these advocates of the book of enoch they'll often point to this passage to you know validate how tall these giants were were supposedly because of the comparison that's being made here as far as grasshoppers are concerned so like yeah they're like grasshoppers that's why they're so big but look who's making the statement though he's not a credible source and obviously he's exaggerating because he doesn't want to go into the land folks those type of giants did not exist at all in history yeah but i saw a picture i can photoshop for you something like that too photoshop can do wonders but these people want to they just love this concept of giants where you know these these uh cyclops giants these gulliver's travel type giants and they they know that people esteem the word of god far more than the book of enoch and so what they'll try to do is use the proof in the in the bible to try to substantiate the claims of the giants in the book of enoch but here's the problem in the book of enoch god flooded the earth to kill off the giants that was like the purpose of the flood according to the book of enoch now we know in the bible the purpose of the flow is just to kill off everybody okay and of course they believe that these giants are like basically offspring of angels you know fornicating with women okay this is greek mythology type stuff but in the book of enoch it's just like oh you know god flooded the earth to destroy all these giants and he's like well show me proof of giants in the bible and they point to all the proof that they have is after the flood how does that work so you say you have all this evidence of giants in the bible but the only evidence you can provide are giants after the flood when the flood supposedly killed them all so it sounds like a major contradiction okay you say why do they teach that about giants because they're weird because they they like sci-fi and fantasy and you know that's what that's the bait that they try to use to try to reel people into the book of enoch is giants like oh wow you know these these um hercules type you know half deity half celestial half human it didn't exist angels cannot procreate then neither marry nor given in marriage those are the words from jesus christ and so i i obviously you know sided with jesus on that so the giants that he's referring to how tall are they then well like nine foot ten foot tall i mean the giants you look in the bible the descriptions of the length that the bible gives are approximately nine ten eleven you have aug the king of beishan whose bed was about 13 feet and it doesn't mean that he was 13 feet because that'd be weird to lay in a bed that's exactly your size right it's just like you know if he's a king and then by the way it doesn't necessarily say that he was a giant per se like massive you know it just means that you know he probably was really long and anybody who gets a bed would like to kind of move around in their bed a little bit you understand you have you know uh goliath and then of course you have these examples here but none of them none of them portray the size that the book of enoch claims these are giants from our perspective you know especially like from my perspective i'm five eight five nine if i'm standing next to a person who's like you know nine foot ten foot tall i mean that's massive and so it's nonsense okay the giants are just regular just really tall people and we have some giants in our church you know jesus he's a giant to me you know hey kareem is a it's probably the biggest giant that we have in our how tall is that guy no wait no it's like seven is it seven six six five no he's taller than that you're like the 10 no i'm just kidding you're acting like the 10 you're bringing up an evil report about kareem no i'm just kidding he might be 16 i don't know anyways so what we have here is the fact that the 10 are are greatly exaggerating what's going on here and what's taking place is they they're causing discouragement to be in the hearts of the people let me read you from deuteronomy 1 verse 28 it says in verse 27 it says and he murmured in your tens and said because the lord hated us he has brought us forth out of the land of egypt to deliver us into the hand of the amorites to destroy us whether shall we go up our brethren have discouraged our heart saying the people is greater and taller than we the cities are great and walled up to heaven moreover we have seen the sons of the anakims there then i said unto you dread not neither be afraid of them and so you know it's important that we don't become like the 10 or like for example you know elijah when elijah was going through a tough time what did he do exaggerated you know what do you say he's like i'm very jealous for the lord's sake i only i am left alone and no one's here with me and all you know everyone's forsaken the lord it's like all right calm down there's seven thousand prophets who have not bowed underneath the bell you're not the only one don't exaggerate and embellish the numbers here okay but this is how people can get when they don't view things through a biblical perspective they have a tendency to exaggerate just a little bit especially if they don't want to fulfill the will of god yeah but what if i go to that church if we go to that church what if we get bombed and if we get bombed again what's going to happen what if they light my car on fire but you know you start going down this dark deep hole of things that will probably never happen and you know my my father-in-law used to say people god's people are like literal sheep because if you ever make one sheep afraid it'll scare the entire flock and that's how it is you know and this is one thing as a pastor that i have to keep working on is making sure fear-mongering is not taking place in our church especially this year i have to make sure twice as hard to make sure fear-mongering is not going on in this place because of the fact that fear is the opposite of faith and if you're being a fearful person then you're not being a spirit-filled person and it's going to be to your detriment but i agree with them you know grasshoppers yeah we should have just and take them over just like grasshoppers look at numbers chapter 14 go to the next chapter we also see that the 10 became fatalistic so along with this exaggeration they became fatalistic in their attitude look at verse 1 and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night and all the children of israel murmured against moses and against aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would god that we had died in the land of egypt or would god we had died in this wilderness man you need to chill out relax it's like they're saying it would have been better for us to die in egypt hold on a second i thought you guys were complaining about egypt weren't you the same ones that were crying out to the lord to save you from egypt and all of a sudden you're you're posed with this little challenge and now it's just like we should have just died it's this fatalistic attitude it's weak faith and all the children of israel murmured against moses and against aaron and the whole congregation said unto them what to god that we had died in the land of egypt or we would have died in this wilderness and wherefore had the lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should we pray were it not better for us to return to egypt good night they're like oh so this is why god brought us here he's gonna kill us is that what he wants to do he just wants us to die by the sword no but you know what this is the kind of attitude christians can get too where things aren't going their way maybe they're going through a tough time and just like oh this is why i'm serving god this is what i'm gonna get you know low pay or you know i'm going through all these trials and you know it would have been better if i just stayed in the world no it's just life you know christians need to realize that life happens to both saved and unsaved people sicknesses happen to saved and unsaved people trials happen to saved and unsaved people leanness happens to saved and unsaved people however when it happens to save people we're better off because why all things work together for good we have so many promises to depend on to get us through we don't need some podcast telling us you know find the god in you you know or you know you just these these motivational type podcasts they try to you know help you to like get your chi or something like that you know you need to channel your chi and your chakra or whatever is that how you even say chakra chakra whatever you know look the only thing i want in me is food when i'm going through a hard time okay if chakra is another word for like some tacos and you're right i do need that and so if you can five six of them i'm good to go but you know what we don't need that as saved people you know what we need is to realize greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world god can provide for me and you know what a trial does not equate quitting a trial means okay you know it's time for some testing it's time for some leanness it's time for me to read the bible a little more pray a little more be in church because i don't want my faith to wane during this time i want to keep serving god and i'm going through a difficult time but you know what if you stay faithful during that difficult time you just come out a stronger christian at the very end and you know what you know why we have so many weak christians today is because when hard times come weak christians quit they throw in the towel they take a break for a season and then you know thankfully they get back on track but they come back weaker than what they left and then they have to go through that same trial again to rebuild that spiritual muscle but it takes longer so you know what it's better to just go through a trial with tears in your eyes with you know you know you can murmur a little bit if you have to but as long as you're you're doing what you're supposed to do and not discouraging others from fulfilling the will of god you're going to make it through this is life don't become this fatalistic christian especially in 2024 oh man but what if they lie about the you know the balance again they probably will yeah what's going to happen the next four years i don't know i have no idea i just know our church is going to keep winning souls to christ we're going to continue to thrive i think what you need to do is get yourself out of that arena where that's all they do is talk about that and get yourself into the christian arena and start mining spiritual things and not become this individual that just conjures up the worst possible case scenario that will never happen to you because we're you know christians are really good at imagining the worst but they're never good at imagining the best because god gave us an imagination but he gave us an imagination so we can think upon what god can do but often christians will kind of twist that and start imagining what's the worst thing that can happen to them you know it's like david remember when david was running from saul and then saul told him like hey i'm not going to pursue you anymore i'm done and then they parted ways and david's like i shall one day fall by the hand of saul and then what did he do he went into the land of the philistines for like a year it's like never happened how did david die he died the way anybody would want to die in a good old age surrounded by all his family he didn't fall by the sword he didn't die by a disease he just died old surrounded by his family it was like a great way to go home but yet in his earlier years he was so afraid of saw and imagine in his heart the worst case scenario it literally changed his direction where he ended up going into the land of the enemy he ended up going moving to enemy territory and abiding there for over a year hey never make a decision based upon what you think might happen you know here's a good philosophy to live by sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and don't make any hasty decisions you know man if biden stays i'm moving out of california he's the president of the whole country though what do you mean he owns the whole country yeah but we might we'll just go to texas we'll just go to some red state red blue state they're all they're all under the same satanic entity my friend now if you want to fool yourself into thinking that that's like the answer then have that to be my guess but let's just be real honest here you know the elephant and the donkey are part of the same devil he runs both it's just it's just a it's just a huge show that he puts on for people to choose sides and to be divisive and to distract christians from the true battle okay don't become fatalistic don't be like these people oh man god he's just doing this to me now we're gonna die here and we're gonna starve this is don't be like the way people were in 2020 yeah during covid just stocking up on toilet paper and water just like what's gonna happen and yet here we are still fat i don't think anybody went without during that time here people are you know just still got toilet paper you might even have a bidet but it was in your imagination look at verse four of chapter 14 it says and they said one to another let us make a captain let us return to egypt oh man so now they're rejecting the spiritual leadership they're rejecting moses and they're like let's just ordain a captain and we'll go back to egypt and moses and aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of israel and joshua the son of nun and caleb the son of jeffuna which were of them that searched the land rent their clothes and they spake into all the company of the children of israel saying the land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land so what's going on here they're becoming hasty in their decision they're going through this emotional state they're panicking and they're just like let's just ordain a captain to take us back to egypt and caleb and joshua are just like whoa whoa whoa this is a good land why not take it they're being reasonable right caleb and joshua are not saying anything crazy they're just trying to encourage the brothers and say hey keep serving god you're on the right path just keep doing what you're doing let's just do it look at verse uh seven or verse eight if the lord did lie to us he will bring us into this land and give it to us a land which flowed with milk and honey he's like all we have to do is make sure that god delights in us and the way he delights in us is we keep his commandments we serve him we keep him as our god they're being reasonable verse 9 only rebel not ye against the lord neither fear you the people of the land for they are bred for us their defense is departed from them and the lord is with us fear them not but all the congregation bade stone them with stones whoa it's just like what did they say that was wrong these guys were so offended at the message that was trying to encourage them to serve god they're like let's just kill joshua and caleb right now have i become your enemy because i tell you the truth right but you know christians can get like that where a spiritual truth hits them right where it hurts and they know it's true and they're just like oh you know stone them what's them you won't stone me literally but you might want to stone me spiritually and the glory of the lord appeared in the tabernacle with the congregation before all the children of israel now when the glory of god appears you always want it to be like for a good reason you understand what i'm saying it's like glory of god appears so he can like guide you and it becomes our glory and it's great but there's other times in the bible where the glory of god appears and it's because he's about to kill a bunch of people this is one of them because he ends up telling them okay you're going to wander in the wilderness and then you know i'm sure like once he was done telling them that they were going to die in the wilderness you know the the 10 who had the evil report they're probably just walking away to their tents and he's just like you 10 are going to die right now though and he plagued them so they died by a plague of the lord because they discouraged the heart of their brethren from inheriting the land now look at chapter 14 verse 39 here's the last issue with these 10 is that they're presumptuous and here's what we can learn from this particular passage let me say this sometimes it's actually too late for you to start serving god sometimes it's too late because you know they hear about all this and they're like oh never mind we'll go and take the land and god says you can try but i'm not with you you've already made your decision and if you decide to go in the land you're gonna die because i'm not among you look at verse 39 moses told these things until all the children of israel and the people mourned greatly so moses is just like hey uh so you know we're gonna take a when we get sidetracked here we're actually gonna go in the wilderness for 40 years thanks a lot 10 and uh most of you are gonna die in the wilderness but hey good news is your kids are gonna inherit the land so that that's good right you know and he's like giving them this news and then what do the people do they're just like oh no that's worse that's worse verse 40 and they rose up early in the morning and got them up into the top of the mountains and say lo we be here we will go up into the place which the lord has promised for we have sinned they're like hey we're here let's go get this land let's go conquer let's go fight and moses said wherefore now do you transgress the commandment of the lord but it shall not prosper go not up for the lord is not among you that you be not smitten before your enemies for the amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you and ye shall fall by the sword because you are turned away from the lord therefore the lord will not be with you but they presumed to go up unto the hilltop nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the lord and moses departed not out of the camp then the amalekites came down and the Canaanites was dwell on the hill and smote them and discomfited them even unto form of the bioces well what's the lesson we learned here you better serve god today because you may not have the chance tomorrow and instead of investing so much energy into complaining about serving god you know why don't you actually just do it because there's going to come a season where you can't do it anymore and you're going to wish you had that opportunity oh i'm sure inheriting the land sounds really good right now especially after the judgment was given to them now it sounds great now it's just like you know what i don't want to die in the wilderness i rather just take on these the the sons of anak and moses like too late it's too late decisions have consequences making a hasty decision speaking hastily with your mouth has consequences and sometimes the repercussions are severe that's why it's important folks that when we make decisions we prayerfully consider the decision we're going to make you get counsel we prayerfully consider because it can have some devastating ramifications and i've met christians throughout the years that regret the decisions that they made and they even think back and said man what i had before was a lot better than what i have now you know in the moment they thought to themselves like oh i don't want to just keep serving god or just keep going to church and you know i rather just like kind of do my own thing but then they did that and then they realized later on actually what i had was better you know don't allow a bad decision to teach you that what you had before was better realize now that it's better and obviously i'm preaching to the choir here because you're in church today but this is just a warning amen and and you know what don't be a selfish parent either and think to yourselves well you know we just got to do our own thing what about your kids though yes your kids deserve an opportunity to serve the lord and if you are uh too cold and too lazy and apathetic to serve god well at least do it for for the sake of your children because of the fact that one day when you grow older and wiser and realize you know what i want my kids to serve the lord it's too late you're gonna wander in the wilderness and maybe after you die maybe god will begin to work in the hearts of your kids you know what would have been better is for the parents to go into the promised land with their kids you know what's better is to serve god with your kids to serve god with your family to go sowing with your family to go to church with your family that's a better option but you know what too many christians see just the here and now and they're like yeah but right now it's not for us that's not what we're going to do okay when p-body turns 20 you're going to wish you instilled that discipline in their life but you know what's going to happen you're going to want to get right with god but they're not they're going to be out in the world and they're going to be a grief of mind unto you they're not going to want to serve god but it's because of the decisions you made earlier in life folks if it seemed evil to serve the lord if it seemed evil to you to serve the lord get right with god and realize it's not an evil thing just bite your tongue go get an in-and-out burger go take a nap go home sleep it off read your bible listen to some godly music listen to some preaching and come back the next week and say well that was a stupid thought i'm glad i'm still in church bring your kids to church bring your spouse to church go soul winning read your bible and just do it over and over and over and over again because i'm telling you the difficulties that you will have serving god are nothing compared to the difficulties you will face out in the world away from the presence of god away from the will of god and the ramifications are way more devastating at least here you know if you're not right in your heart you're at least in an environment where we'll help you to get right with god you'll hear preaching you'll have friends that admonish you and then you get back on track hey here's the let me tell you the best place to backslide right here the best place for you to backslide is in church as long as you stay in church and as long as you realize like i need to get back on track the worst thing to do is get out of church backslide where you're on the world and you have no one to talk to you you have no church to go to because then you can't be recovered are you a 10 or are you a two i don't know about you but i want to be a two i want to be like joshua and caleb i want to be those who had a different spirit who wholly followed the lord and not be some wimpy christian that just gives up only when the going gets tough oh man it's going it's getting really hard right now oh yeah so let's just get out of church man why don't i think of that let's just stop reading our bibles then oh i know what to do stop serving god oh i got a better idea let's go back to egypt it's the dumbest thing to do you know if i was one of the 10 and i was legitimately afraid i just wouldn't say anything i'd just be like let's go in there because here's the thing folks is that it's okay to be afraid to serve god what's not okay is to not obey god so you can still serve god afraid and that is an act of faith do what you're supposed to do even if you're afraid to do it but nope that's not what they weren't content with that in fact they wanted to discourage anybody from going in there because they thought oh the multitude would just follow us and we can just lead everyone back to egypt no you're gonna die in a few days plain and simple don't be a 10 be a two amen let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the example of joshua and caleb lord who wholly followed you because they had another spirit i pray that you help us as your people to never bring up an evil report about the will of god and help us to be a church that rejoices in serving you and may we exhort one another daily to serve you as well maybe we encourage and exhort and and equip people to serve you lord and i pray that if someone's discouraged and they they can't seem to want to get it together and they're struggling that we would encourage them to but help us never to be the 10 that brings up that evil report against your will lord may you be honored and glorified and all that's accomplished today we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen