Last night I preached on the stand of faith taken by Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13 & 14.  Perhaps you’re familiar with the story.

Directed by God’s leadership, Moses sends 12 spies into the Promised Land on a reconnaissance mission—to check out the land and the people.

The spies do that and return.  Their report is that the land is good but that the people there and their cities are too strong to be successfully conquered.  All of them felt this way except for two: Joshua and Caleb (more about them in a moment).

This report upsets the people of Israel greatly, so much so that instead of advancing forward into the land God had promised them they would rather go back into Egypt and be slaves.

At the heart of my sermon was a comparison between the “evil report” of the spies and and the stand of faith taken by Joshua and Caleb.

5 Observations Concerning Those Who Fell Prey to the ‘Evil Report’:

• They took their eyes off of the purposes and power of God and placed them on the problems they saw in front of them.
• They placed their faith in themselves instead of in the Lord.
• They grew content in a ‘backslidden’ state.
• They were afraid to take risks for the kingdom of God.
• The murmured and complained themselves into misery.

5 Observations Concerning the Faith of Joshua and Caleb:

• They experienced great grief over sin among God’s people (Num. 14:6)
• They knew that what God promises is both good and desirable (Num. 14:7)
• They trusted God more than anyone or anything else (Num. 14:8)
• They submitted to God’s leadership and were not afraid to advance into enemy territory (Num. 14:9)
• They did all of these things even though it wasn’t the popular thing to do (Num. 14:10)

Sermon Audio:

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