10/22/23 Numbers 13:17-33 “Facing Your Giants!”

19 Oct 10/22/23 Numbers 13:17-33 “Facing Your Giants!”

10/22/23   Numbers 13:17-33      “Facing Your Giants!”

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I can be a little strange along with some of my ideas.  I have always thought of life as a long series of yes or no decisions.  In math we would call this binary if I’m not mistaken.  A practical application of this would be computers which are also binary or based on yes and no decisions or on and off switches.  Even when we have multiple choices, we say yes to one and no to all the others.  Now I’m sure that there are all kinds of variations to this but I just want to keep it simple so that I can understand.  The problem that creeps into any type of decision that humans make is that we have doubt and remorse when and after we make the decision.  I know that I have made many decisions where doubt has followed me.  But there was one major decision that I made where there was no doubt.  It was the decision to follow God, Jesus Christ when He led us into His ministry.  Today, we are going to explore the question of why does one decision make me doubt while another does not.  I would guess that we all know the answer to this but why is it that I still insist on doing things my way?

Here is an old story that you might have heard before and it shows how our perceptions can cloud or clear our decisions.  There were 6 shoe company executives sent out to scout expansion opportunities in a third world country.  They all looked around the countryside and they met back to make a decision.  But they couldn’t agree so they sent two reports.  The 4 from the majority reported; “No market here.  Everyone goes barefoot.”  However, the 2 in the minority reported; “Everyone here needs shoes.  Recommend opening a branch factory and office immediately.”  All 6 of these guys saw the same thing but they interpreted it differently.  This is pretty much exactly what happened when Moses sent out the spies to look at the Promised Land.

I would like us to begin by looking at the time line on all this.  The Jewish nation had been captive in Egypt and God led them out after sending 10 devastating plagues.  Then he led them by fire and a cloud, parted the Red Sea and closed it over the Egyptian army.  As they traveled God provided them with manna, quail and water.  Their needs were met.  Then He came down to the mountain and gave them the Law which included the Ten Commandments that we talked about last week.  As I said last week, these people had seen some of the biggest miracles in the history of the world, even to this day.  Now they had traveled to the edge of Canaan which was the Promised Land.

I think that it is important to see what God tells them before they start.  In Numbers 13:2 the Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.  From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”  God begins this whole event with a promise.  I have never known God not to honor a promise.  God promises that this land will be theirs.  I mentioned all the things that God had done for them so that you can see that they have absolutely no reason not to follow God.  He has been good to them, he has delivered them, given them law and order and supplied food and water from nothing.  There is no reason to believe that God will turn His back on them.

Now take a look at your own life.  Can you tell me the things that God has done for you?  Let me help you a little.  He has given you your very life.  He has given you all you have.  Yes, you do have to work for it but God has put it out there so you can have it.  He continuously gives you opportunity for happiness.  So why don’t you trust God?  Why don’t you give your lives to Him?  I don’t understand how we can have someone like God who is the very definition of trustworthy and goodness and yet we turn our backs to Him.    And instead of trusting God, we put our faith and trust is some human or some so-called authority somewhere, who has only told us a pack of lies.

Anyway, God tells the people to send out spies and at this point, they are still trusting God.  So, they choose their 12 spies and send them.  These guys go out and see some of the most fantastic land that they have ever seen.  Remember, these guys had been in the wilderness for over a year so when they come to this fertile land, they are excited.  They bring back grape clusters and figs so big that two men have to carry them on a stick between them.  So, they finally get back to their camp and they make the report.  Everything is absolutely glowing except for one minor detail.  This Promised Land is heavily populated with more people than the Jews.  They are a larger people and I would guess that they were fiercer in the eyes of these Jewish spies.  These scouts considered these people to be giants.  They were facing their giants.

So what giants are you facing today?  One giant we all face at one time or another is fear.  We fear all kinds of things like heights, fear of talking in front of people or public speaking.  We fear for our children’s safety.  We fear death.  This list just goes on and on.  You see we are not much different than these ancient people.  They feared these giant people and we fear giant things from our imagination.  In a moment we will see that we really have no need for fear.

Another giant we face is complacency.  This can happen to people of all ages.  When we start to get complacent, our lives slow to a standstill.  When we start to get comfortable, then we have a hard time moving forward.  You have heard me talk against the political system in this country.  You have heard me talk about many of the social ills that we have.  Well, many of these things can be traced back to us being too comfortable.  We really don’t want to go out and help anyone, get our hands dirty.  We would really rather just open up our wallets and give some money to a situation.  We don’t really want to know how the people live in Haiti.  We don’t want to know too much about the atrocities that take place every day in Africa, China and other places.  Now we have war in the Middle East again with many atrocities.  We don’t want to know because it makes us uncomfortable.  We are complacent and we want to stay that way.

If we went around the room today, we would probably find as many giants that we face as we do people.  But I would like to mention on more giant that we see every day and that is the giant of unbelief.  If there is someone here today who is struggling with this, then you are in the right place.  Today, I’m not going to talk about the unbelief that we find everywhere outside the church.  This is the obvious stuff and it is a huge problem, a huge giant.  But instead, I would like to address the unbelief that we have as believers.

This is probably the biggest giant we face because it shows itself in the other giants.  We fear things because of our unbelief.  We get complacent and comfortable because of our unbelief.  I want to tell you that Satan is very good at what he does.  He tells us that we don’t have to believe in all of the stuff in the Bible, only some of it.  He tells us that we can pick and choose what we want to believe in the Bible.  He tells us how happy we can be without Jesus.  However, we all know that happiness is only available through Jesus because Jesus is happiness.  Satan told the spies that the people of Canaan were too tough for them to handle.  Everything Satan says is a lie.  We need to remember this and that Satan has no power over us unless we allow him in our lives.

Anyway, we have to be aware of these things because they are often times part of our lives.  I’m going to digress from the story here for a minute and tell you the way to get rid of these giants in your life.  I know for a fact that one of the giants of several people here today is worry.  Are the kids safe?  Is my spouse safe?  Do we have enough money?  Is my ice cream cold?  In Matthew 6 we get the answer to all these questions and more as Jesus tells us not to worry.  Rather than worry, give it all to God.  I know this from experience that when you give your worry to God, there is a weight that will be lifted from your shoulders.  This takes practice.  If you are a professional worrier, then it will take time to break you from this bad habit.  This is another reason why we are to pray continuously.  If we are in continuous contact with Jesus Christ, then we will not be worrying.  Just remember that Jesus is the way out of this problem and every problem.  Go to Him and go to Him often.

So now back to our story.  What will happen to the Jewish nation if they decide to follow God into Canaan?  Of course, we will never know the answer to this question because they didn’t follow.  But we can speculate as we look what happened when they did cross 40 years later.  If they had followed God, then these grape clusters that took two men to carry would be theirs.  If they had crossed the Jordan, God would have delivered this land to them.  He would have helped to defeat the Canaanites and He would have blessed them richly.  He would have made their lives better.  That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  All He has ever wanted to do is to give you a better life, a far better life.

So now you are standing at the edge of the Red River and God has told you to follow Him to the other side.  What are the promises that God has made to you if you follow Him to your promised land?  Here are some of them.  He has promised you eternal life in glory where there will never be hurting or sadness again.  He has promised to be with you in every bad situation.  He has promised you what you need.  He has promised to forgive you if you just confess to Him and let Him live in your heart.  He has promised to love you, to love you even when you are in your most unlovable state.  He has promised you justice, mercy and kindness.  He has promised to be your best friend ever.  He has promised to listen to you.  The list of good things just goes on and on.  And all of this leads to a better life.  It is hard for us to understand but you don’t have to understand.  You only have to believe.  If you have Him right here in your heart, He will help you and guide you in all you do.

Now once again, we need to analyze why we don’t follow Jesus to the other side of the river.  I can sum up the reason in one word; Satan.  If you are not enjoying all of these benefits and more, then Satan has a hold of you.  He may not have a good grip on you yet but he is working on it.  So, today I declare, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, no, I command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that Satan get out of this church (building).  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I command Satan out of everyone here today.  When you are alone, say something like this to cast him out and he will go.  He has to because Jesus is Lord of all, including Satan.  If your heart is right, this always works.

But the people of Israel didn’t follow God and we all know what happened.  God took them back into the wilderness for 40 years.  Ever since they had left Egypt, they had been grumbling, complaining and rebelling against God.  God decided that all these rebels had to be dead before the younger generation could go into the Promised Land.

Now we might think that 40 years in the wilderness is a little harsh.  But we have to remember that these complainers had seen all the miracles that God had done.  They were all part of the crew that God freed.  Then God continued to show them miracles and they continued to rebel.  God knew that these bad seeds would have to be gone before He could get the younger generation to believe.

So, there are consequences for not obeying God.  In today’s world, we can see this just about everywhere we look.  I praise the Lord that there are places like this church and our online church where real people meet with our real God.  But think about all the people who live in our neighborhood, in the area who don’t know God.  I know that as a Christian you don’t have perfect lives but I also know that those who don’t know God have a much harder time in life.  I know because I have lived it.  It’s getting to be many years since I lived like this but I remember.  Life is infinitely, infinitely better with Jesus Christ than without and that is a fact!  That’s a fact, Jack!

When you don’t obey God, He withdraws His blessings from you and you are on your own, all by yourself.  Often times you like to think that this is great and you are doing wonderfully well without God.  But that is just not true.  It is totally false!  Like I just said, you will always do better with God.  Our punishment today for not obeying, not following God to our Promised Land, is a life where there isn’t much good.  This is a life where you have no one to help you.

So, as you are sitting here today looking to the other side of the river to your Promised Land with the hand of God on your shoulder, what do you see?  I would guess that you see a life of fulfillment; a life of love and kept promises.  So, the next question is; Are you going to follow God or not?  Which way are you going to go?  You are the only person who can answer these questions.  But don’t try to answer them yourself.  Pray for Jesus to help you.

We just took a quick look at what can happen when we do or don’t follow Jesus.  There is the old story of a very small business man who was being threatened by a large chain store in a big city.  The chain bought up all the properties around the man trying to force him out of business, but still he refused to sell.  So, the chain store built their store around the man’s small business.  The day came when the man was completely surrounded by this new store. The new store was going to open and they had banners up everywhere announcing, “Grand Opening.”  The lone merchant countered by putting up a banner of his own that said, “Main Entrance.”  Let God, let Jesus Christ be the main entrance for your life.  He loves you and will never let go.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I can be a little strange along with some of my ideas.  I have always thought of life as a long series of yes or no decisions.  In math we would call this binary if I’m not mistaken.  A practical application of this would be computers which are also binary or based on yes and no decisions or on and off switches.  Even when we have multiple choices, we say yes to one and no to all the others.  Now I’m sure that there are all kinds of variations to this but I just want to keep it simple so that I can understand.  The problem that creeps into any type of decision that humans make is that we have doubt and remorse when and after we make the decision.  I know that I have made many decisions where doubt has followed me.  But there was one major decision that I made where there was no doubt.  It was the decision to follow God, Jesus Christ when He led us into His ministry.  Today, we are going to explore the question of why does one decision make me doubt while another does not.  I would guess that we all know the answer to this but why is it that I still insist on doing things my way?

Here is an old story that you might have heard before and it shows how our perceptions can cloud or clear our decisions.  There were 6 shoe company executives sent out to scout expansion opportunities in a third world country.  They all looked around the countryside and they met back to make a decision.  But they couldn’t agree so they sent two reports.  The 4 from the majority reported; “No market here.  Everyone goes barefoot.”  However, the 2 in the minority reported; “Everyone here needs shoes.  Recommend opening a branch factory and office immediately.”  All 6 of these guys saw the same thing but they interpreted it differently.  This is pretty much exactly what happened when Moses sent out the spies to look at the Promised Land.

I would like us to begin by looking at the time line on all this.  The Jewish nation had been captive in Egypt and God led them out after sending 10 devastating plagues.  Then he led them by fire and a cloud, parted the Red Sea and closed it over the Egyptian army.  As they traveled God provided them with manna, quail and water.  Their needs were met.  Then He came down to the mountain and gave them the Law which included the Ten Commandments that we talked about last week.  As I said last week, these people had seen some of the biggest miracles in the history of the world, even to this day.  Now they had traveled to the edge of Canaan which was the Promised Land.

I think that it is important to see what God tells them before they start.  In Numbers 13:2 the Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.  From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”  God begins this whole event with a promise.  I have never known God not to honor a promise.  God promises that this land will be theirs.  I mentioned all the things that God had done for them so that you can see that they have absolutely no reason not to follow God.  He has been good to them, he has delivered them, given them law and order and supplied food and water from nothing.  There is no reason to believe that God will turn His back on them.

Now take a look at your own life.  Can you tell me the things that God has done for you?  Let me help you a little.  He has given you your very life.  He has given you all you have.  Yes, you do have to work for it but God has put it out there so you can have it.  He continuously gives you opportunity for happiness.  So why don’t you trust God?  Why don’t you give your lives to Him?  I don’t understand how we can have someone like God who is the very definition of trustworthy and goodness and yet we turn our backs to Him.    And instead of trusting God, we put our faith and trust is some human or some so-called authority somewhere, who has only told us a pack of lies.

Anyway, God tells the people to send out spies and at this point, they are still trusting God.  So, they choose their 12 spies and send them.  These guys go out and see some of the most fantastic land that they have ever seen.  Remember, these guys had been in the wilderness for over a year so when they come to this fertile land, they are excited.  They bring back grape clusters and figs so big that two men have to carry them on a stick between them.  So, they finally get back to their camp and they make the report.  Everything is absolutely glowing except for one minor detail.  This Promised Land is heavily populated with more people than the Jews.  They are a larger people and I would guess that they were fiercer in the eyes of these Jewish spies.  These scouts considered these people to be giants.  They were facing their giants.

So what giants are you facing today?  One giant we all face at one time or another is fear.  We fear all kinds of things like heights, fear of talking in front of people or public speaking.  We fear for our children’s safety.  We fear death.  This list just goes on and on.  You see we are not much different than these ancient people.  They feared these giant people and we fear giant things from our imagination.  In a moment we will see that we really have no need for fear.

Another giant we face is complacency.  This can happen to people of all ages.  When we start to get complacent, our lives slow to a standstill.  When we start to get comfortable, then we have a hard time moving forward.  You have heard me talk against the political system in this country.  You have heard me talk about many of the social ills that we have.  Well, many of these things can be traced back to us being too comfortable.  We really don’t want to go out and help anyone, get our hands dirty.  We would really rather just open up our wallets and give some money to a situation.  We don’t really want to know how the people live in Haiti.  We don’t want to know too much about the atrocities that take place every day in Africa, China and other places.  Now we have war in the Middle East again with many atrocities.  We don’t want to know because it makes us uncomfortable.  We are complacent and we want to stay that way.

If we went around the room today, we would probably find as many giants that we face as we do people.  But I would like to mention on more giant that we see every day and that is the giant of unbelief.  If there is someone here today who is struggling with this, then you are in the right place.  Today, I’m not going to talk about the unbelief that we find everywhere outside the church.  This is the obvious stuff and it is a huge problem, a huge giant.  But instead, I would like to address the unbelief that we have as believers.

This is probably the biggest giant we face because it shows itself in the other giants.  We fear things because of our unbelief.  We get complacent and comfortable because of our unbelief.  I want to tell you that Satan is very good at what he does.  He tells us that we don’t have to believe in all of the stuff in the Bible, only some of it.  He tells us that we can pick and choose what we want to believe in the Bible.  He tells us how happy we can be without Jesus.  However, we all know that happiness is only available through Jesus because Jesus is happiness.  Satan told the spies that the people of Canaan were too tough for them to handle.  Everything Satan says is a lie.  We need to remember this and that Satan has no power over us unless we allow him in our lives.

Anyway, we have to be aware of these things because they are often times part of our lives.  I’m going to digress from the story here for a minute and tell you the way to get rid of these giants in your life.  I know for a fact that one of the giants of several people here today is worry.  Are the kids safe?  Is my spouse safe?  Do we have enough money?  Is my ice cream cold?  In Matthew 6 we get the answer to all these questions and more as Jesus tells us not to worry.  Rather than worry, give it all to God.  I know this from experience that when you give your worry to God, there is a weight that will be lifted from your shoulders.  This takes practice.  If you are a professional worrier, then it will take time to break you from this bad habit.  This is another reason why we are to pray continuously.  If we are in continuous contact with Jesus Christ, then we will not be worrying.  Just remember that Jesus is the way out of this problem and every problem.  Go to Him and go to Him often.

So now back to our story.  What will happen to the Jewish nation if they decide to follow God into Canaan?  Of course, we will never know the answer to this question because they didn’t follow.  But we can speculate as we look what happened when they did cross 40 years later.  If they had followed God, then these grape clusters that took two men to carry would be theirs.  If they had crossed the Jordan, God would have delivered this land to them.  He would have helped to defeat the Canaanites and He would have blessed them richly.  He would have made their lives better.  That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  All He has ever wanted to do is to give you a better life, a far better life.

So now you are standing at the edge of the Red River and God has told you to follow Him to the other side.  What are the promises that God has made to you if you follow Him to your promised land?  Here are some of them.  He has promised you eternal life in glory where there will never be hurting or sadness again.  He has promised to be with you in every bad situation.  He has promised you what you need.  He has promised to forgive you if you just confess to Him and let Him live in your heart.  He has promised to love you, to love you even when you are in your most unlovable state.  He has promised you justice, mercy and kindness.  He has promised to be your best friend ever.  He has promised to listen to you.  The list of good things just goes on and on.  And all of this leads to a better life.  It is hard for us to understand but you don’t have to understand.  You only have to believe.  If you have Him right here in your heart, He will help you and guide you in all you do.

Now once again, we need to analyze why we don’t follow Jesus to the other side of the river.  I can sum up the reason in one word; Satan.  If you are not enjoying all of these benefits and more, then Satan has a hold of you.  He may not have a good grip on you yet but he is working on it.  So, today I declare, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, no, I command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that Satan get out of this church (building).  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I command Satan out of everyone here today.  When you are alone, say something like this to cast him out and he will go.  He has to because Jesus is Lord of all, including Satan.  If your heart is right, this always works.

But the people of Israel didn’t follow God and we all know what happened.  God took them back into the wilderness for 40 years.  Ever since they had left Egypt, they had been grumbling, complaining and rebelling against God.  God decided that all these rebels had to be dead before the younger generation could go into the Promised Land.

Now we might think that 40 years in the wilderness is a little harsh.  But we have to remember that these complainers had seen all the miracles that God had done.  They were all part of the crew that God freed.  Then God continued to show them miracles and they continued to rebel.  God knew that these bad seeds would have to be gone before He could get the younger generation to believe.

So, there are consequences for not obeying God.  In today’s world, we can see this just about everywhere we look.  I praise the Lord that there are places like this church and our online church where real people meet with our real God.  But think about all the people who live in our neighborhood, in the area who don’t know God.  I know that as a Christian you don’t have perfect lives but I also know that those who don’t know God have a much harder time in life.  I know because I have lived it.  It’s getting to be many years since I lived like this but I remember.  Life is infinitely, infinitely better with Jesus Christ than without and that is a fact!  That’s a fact, Jack!

When you don’t obey God, He withdraws His blessings from you and you are on your own, all by yourself.  Often times you like to think that this is great and you are doing wonderfully well without God.  But that is just not true.  It is totally false!  Like I just said, you will always do better with God.  Our punishment today for not obeying, not following God to our Promised Land, is a life where there isn’t much good.  This is a life where you have no one to help you.

So, as you are sitting here today looking to the other side of the river to your Promised Land with the hand of God on your shoulder, what do you see?  I would guess that you see a life of fulfillment; a life of love and kept promises.  So, the next question is; Are you going to follow God or not?  Which way are you going to go?  You are the only person who can answer these questions.  But don’t try to answer them yourself.  Pray for Jesus to help you.

We just took a quick look at what can happen when we do or don’t follow Jesus.  There is the old story of a very small business man who was being threatened by a large chain store in a big city.  The chain bought up all the properties around the man trying to force him out of business, but still he refused to sell.  So, the chain store built their store around the man’s small business.  The day came when the man was completely surrounded by this new store. The new store was going to open and they had banners up everywhere announcing, “Grand Opening.”  The lone merchant countered by putting up a banner of his own that said, “Main Entrance.”  Let God, let Jesus Christ be the main entrance for your life.  He loves you and will never let go.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.