FBCWest 695 | Two Reports
Recorded On: 01/18/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 487 “Since Jesus Came into My Life”
SCRIPTURE READING – Galatians 2:20
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Your Love Awakens Me”
“Good Grace”
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Two Reports”
“Battle Belongs”
Sermon Notes
Numbers 13:1 – 3 The Lord tells Moses to send people to spy out the land and he does so
Numbers 13:17 – 20 Moses tells the spies how to go and what to look for
Numbers 13:21 – 26 The spies come back after 40 days and confirm that the land is and how God described it – it’s a land flowing with milk and honey
Numbers 13:28 & 29 Majority report is that the people in the land are too strong
Numbers 13:30 Minority report we can take the land
Numbers 13:31 – 33 Majority report a bad report that they are too strong
Exodus 14:31 & 14 The Lord will fight for you
Ephesians 6:10 – 17 Our struggles are spiritual so arm ourselves spiritually
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
When you were young you probably heard someone say, if all your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you? It's kind of an absurd question, but you have to same token it gets to the heart of the matter. When everybody else is kind of dumb, are you going to do that? Are you strong enough not to?
The children of Israel are going to face a two reports that are in conflict. The question is the greater larger group says not to do something. The smaller group says to do something. Question ultimately becomes whether they do it not right or wrong, but whether they trust God. Let's see what they decide to do.
The context of this week's message, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, the people of God went to Mount Sinai where they received the law and then continued on their journey to the Promised Land. Now they are outside that the boundaries, the borders of the front. And so we're going to see where a people will either have faith in God or not, even though God has been the one who freed them, the one who is carried, applied their needs, even though they've gripped and complained, but now they are at the border of where God has them to be. So if you have your Bibles and you should turn to the Book of Numbers chapter 13 and we're going to skip, we're going to do the first three verses, then we're going to skip down and do some other things.
What says this? Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send out for yourselves men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I'm going to the sons of Israel. You shall send a man from each of their father's tribes, everyone a leader among them.
And so Moses sent them from the wilderness of Peram as a command of the Lord, all them the men who were the heads of so what God said was, I want you to take one man from each tribe to 12 tribes and I want you to take leaders from those tribes. And I want you to go spy out the land. I want you to go there and see what's going on. And so it's the what God has given us. But notice God did not say I'm sending you to take the land. He didn't say I'm sending you to conquer the land.
He said I'm sending you to the land I'm giving you. Very key to understand that. The land that God has given to Abraham, that he promised to Isaac, that he promised to Jacob, the one that took so seriously Joseph who said when I die, and you take my body with you to the promised land. There, which I bet no one thought about that they've been carrying Joseph's body all this time.
And after this event, they will carry his body for another 40 years in order to do what they've said. But that's how much he believed God was going to plan. And so they're now at the precipice of this. And so God wants I want you to see it. So when Moses sent them from the wilderness, he said see what kind of land and whether these people who live in those lands are strong or weak, whether it's skipping on me.
Okay. See what the land is like, whether the people who are living in our strong or weak, whether they are many or few. Is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
So, this is the report I want you to give. And I want you to see what kind of land it is. Is it like the desert or does it have trees and whatever? Is it an agricultural paradise or is it a problem? Guns and I want you to see the type of land that I'm giving you.
And I want you to also be aware of the people who are living in it. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zinn as far as Rebob at Mibo Hamah. And when they had gone up into the Nighrib, they came to Hebron where I'm in and she shy and told my sense of anacquair. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zlan in Egypt. And then they came to the valley of Eskull.
And from there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes. And they carried it on a pole between two men with some of the pomegranate. I want you to get this. When we think about grapes, we go to the store and we see these little round things. This is so big that it takes two men on a pole to carry them.
But you would pretty much think that this is the land as they would say, flowing with milk and honey. It is an exceedingly rich agricultural place because there are grapes, there are pomegranates, there are figs, there are all kinds of fruits that you could in this land is truly flowing. And that place was called the Valley of Eskull because of the cluster which the sons of visual cut down from there.
And when they had returned from spying out the land at the end of 40 days. Now this wasn't a quick survey. 40 days checking out the entire land from the south to the north, taking fruits and whatever so that they can bring them back for the people to see. And so this is a fairly extensive report. And it also tells us some of the people that live there. And they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of visual in the wilderness of Ferran at Kadesh.
And they brought back word to them and all into all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. So they said, look at the grapes, look at the pomegranates, all of these things that we have brought back. This is a land that's excellent. And thus they said to him, we went to the land where you sent us and it certainly does flow with milk and honey. And this is again they're doing a show until they're saying, we're verifying what you told us. God said it's a land of flowing with milk and honey. You told us it's a land flowing with milk and honey. And yes, look at we can show you the produce of it and it certainly is a quality land.
But they don't stop. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong. And the cities are fortified and very large and all over we saw the descendants of an ant out there. So they're saying these the inhabitants of the land are very strong. Which should not be surprising. If the land is this rich with produce, then people should be able to eat well. And if they're able to eat well, they get strong and tall and are able to fight.
So this would not be a surprising, it'd be different if it was this was a barren land. This was where you eat a difficult living and so everyone was emissated, emissated. They're not saying this is a land of abundance.
So you would expect the people to be strong. You can see, for instance, there are those other parts of the world to America and especially when you come to Southern California. And you see the older adults and they're short. But their children are taller and their grandchildren are taller because they're eating more protein than they're eating more. They're limited to what they can eat. And in essence, that's the same thing as you would expect this land to produce strong people. But then they go on and say, and the amulac is living in the land of the negive and the hitites and the jabuse sites and the amurites are living in the hill.
The anites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan. Now they're listing all these people that they think are fearsome. But notice they're not unified. They just left Egypt, a unified power controlled by a fero and God sits in place. This is not even a coalition. They're not even unified together. They're just each separate kingdoms. And so it should be easier to take the land because they're not unified.
But because of their size and their lack of trust in God, saying, this is a problem. Then Caleb, quieted the people before Moses and said, we should, by all means, go up and take position of it for we will surely overcome it. So you've got this majority who say, it's good. It's too tough. A greater emphasis on this later to respond to Caleb. Now Caleb is right, but Caleb is wrong. He's saying we can't take it, but how is it that they can take it? Because God has given them the land.
It's not that they to overcome the people, God has given them the land. And so therefore God will take it for them. So Caleb's argument should have been, but God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
But he limits it to their power. He's right in the sense they should go to the land and they should take it. It's by the power of God and not by their power. And by that, they then respond. The majority and says this, but the men who had gone up with him said, we are not against the people, for they are too strong for us.
He's saying, these are powerful strings will be if we seek to fight them, we are going to lose. And they don't want to go. But again, the situation is isn't in the wrong ideas.
You see, they're determining what their strength is versus the opposition string. God has said promised their forefathers. God has promised them. God is able to deliver, provide for them and their trek from Egypt to the promised land. And it's provided for them and sustained them and protected them. And the whole point of them, leaving Egypt was to go to the promised land to leave slavery and be free.
They're not considering God's plan at all. All they look is at their abilities. And that's the same result that we do. God will call us to do something than we look at our capabilities and say, well, I can't do it. That's right. Because God's going to accomplish it. God is going to give them the land.
If God has called you to do a ministry, then God will accomplish that ministry because He's going to do it and He's going to get glory because He called you. But they're panicked. So they get sons of Israel a bad report.
You see, they're no longer providing a report. They're not saying this is the great and the people are strong. They are saying we want to submit not only our ideas and our agenda, but our recommendation and our recommendation. They gave them a battery and which they had spied out saying, the land though which we have gone and spined it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people who saw it are men of great size. Now to me, that doesn't make sense.
It's the exact opposite because they say the land devours its people. Well, the land is so harsh that it devours its people. How are they of great size and strong? Consistent, but they don't want to go because they don't believe God.
They want to, but the point is, what are you going to do if you don't go? You're going to go back to Egypt. They're going to welcome you with loving arms.
But they think they can't do as opposed to what God does. But they give a bad report. But when people want to hear certain things, they believe what they want to hear. And not only that, then they go on and say, not only their great size, they're all the nephatillum, the sons of Ana are part of the nephatillum and we became like grass operas in our own side and so we were in theirs. They're saying, not only are we small, we became even smaller in our own side are so intimidated than those who intimidate you, think you're even weaker. And so they're saying, these are nothing. One of the last times you ever heard this was before the flood of Norse know this time. From men of renowned who have great size and whatever, and so they're saying, we can't do it.
But again, they think the wrong thing. The Moses said to the people, do not fear standby and see this which he will accomplish for you today for the Egyptians whom you have seen today will never be seen again forever. I'm going to take you back to Exodus before they left Egypt, which was a powerful kingdom united by a Pharaoh. God saying, don't worry, because God's going to do it.
Then He says this, the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Will God fought for them against the Egyptians who was a wall power? And God delivered them from slavery and is provided for them and protected them and now He's giving them the promised land. Will God not fight for them to give them what He has promised to give them? 19, I weighed 155 pounds, it was a college student. And Marine did something that I could not tolerate and could not let continue, so I tackled him. Now the reason I'm still here today is because he didn't fight. Now you might think, well, that was a useful indiscretion.
As a 73 year old overweight guy, I would have still done the same thing. And even if he would have fought back, the fight would have been, and it would have been worth losing because what he did was not to be tolerated. To not trust God, should not be tolerated. We should not allow ourselves to do that. As it was once said, though he slay me, though he killed me, I will still trust him. To me, it would have been far better for them to have marched into the promised land and be killed than to die the power of God.
There are certain things worth living and dying for, and trusting God is worth dying for. I would much rather say, God, I trusted you and you didn't deliver me than I didn't trust you, God. Shadrach, Misha, can have been to go.
For they were thrown on the fire said, God can protect us, but even if he does not, we will not bow down to you. Again, God has the power to save, but I'm going to trust him regardless of whether he's because he is God and I am not. To remind us, again, our fight is not with flesh and blood, but it's just fight in Ephesians chapter 6, it says, it's finally be strong in the Lord, and in his strength of his might. Notice when we fight, we don't fight in our strength, we fight in history, and they should have fought in history, not theirs. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. So then he's going to tell you what the armor of God is.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness and the heavenly places. And I said, our fight is not with you, each other. Our fight is not even with the world.
Our fight is against forces of darkness of Satan. It says, how do we fight this fight? We put on the armor of God. So it says, therefore, take up the full armor of God. He doesn't say, take up a sword or take up a shield or take up a shoes.
He says, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having stand firm, therefore, having girded your lorings with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So he says, get ready for battle. Now notice, he tells us to take God and that we are to resist the devil. He didn't tell us to fight the devil. He said, now I want you with this armor to go out and attack no we are to resist him.
We're not to tolerate what he wants, especially in our lives. We are and firm and go stand firm. The reason you do so that you extinguish the arrows, but you're standing firm there because let's face it, when a army loses a battle, times the highest casualty rate is when they turn and run. And if the Satan can get you to turn and run, it's amazing what he can do to your faith. But if you stand firm and resist him. Now one mother could share and it's not in your bulletin, it's in James chapter 4 and it says this, submit therefore to God. So the first thing we're to do is who we're fighting for and who we're submitting to, where to submit to God.
Resist the devil, similar to what Paul said, resist and he will flee from you. Resisting doesn't mean fighting, it means I'm not going to allow you to be involved in my life. I'm standing firm and once I stand firm, I don't have to fight you because you're going to flee because God is fighting the, I'm just taking his armament.
So it's kind of like if I dress like a navy seal, I'm not one, but all of a sudden I intimidate the, because I'm dressed like a navy seal, like I know what I'm doing, like I know how to fight. If I put on the armor of God, I could resist him and I look like I know how to fight, but I don't have to fight because God does the fighting for me. And even if he, I can't, I would rather die fighting for him and again, Satan, then he's okay, Satan you wear, because I don't trust God. Now, I know, but this thing's going to be hard, just like the children of Israel, these people are too strong, Satan is too strong, that's why I don't fight him, God does. And when God decides to put him in his place, he takes one angel and throws him an ale. He's a paper tiger. Why do we pretend to give him any power at all, resist him, but we resist him by submitting to God and letting God fight our battles for us. And all God's people said.