Disillusionment
Numbers 14:24 “But my servant lCaleb, because he had another spirit with him, and mhath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” [1]
I. Excluded
A. Overlooked
B. Overthought
II. Deluded
A. Overshadowed
B. Overthrown
III. Included
A. Overjoyed
B. Overall
Introduction: Most everybody who knows much about the Bible understands the events that led up to the Israelites saga of forty years in the wilderness. Some understand that there were very few of the original group that left Egypt still alive as they crossed the Jordan to enter their Promised Land. Even Moses was unable to cross over because of his insurrection in the wilderness. The text this morning is God’s response to their disillusionment with what He intended for them. They trusted in those who did not trust God. Their disillusionment caused their downfall and most died. In fact there were only two who survived.
It is very hard to watch others win when we feel lost. To be honest without the knowledge that God is sovereign I’d be a spoil sport. Who can understand why bad things happen to so-called good people. It hurts when bad things happen. Do you feel happy when bad happens? When you hear someone say that there are only a few people they trust with their stuff, do you want to hear as they speak the list. If and when they do say who is on their list and your name isn’t on the list if you’re honest it probably hurts a little; maybe it hurts a lot!
Today is another little overlooked nugget of gold in the life of one of the heroes of the Old Testament. Oftentimes there are lessons in what it not spelled out in the Bible. Some of these lessons might not ever hit their mark until God allows something to happen in your life that relates to what happened to some other person in the Bible.
Let’s be honest if we can. Why do we do the things we do to honor God? Of course the good church goer that you are will always say, “I do what I do to honor God.” Well sure we do and we are not lying one bit about that. Is that truly the only reason? Is there a deep ulterior motive that might not come out until a calamity hits?
I picked my friend up in Hendersonville NC and we flew out of Asheville. We were flying to a place close to the Virginia state line near Henderson. He was going there to speak at a Baptist church. All of a sudden he began sobbing harder than I had ever heard a man cry. My very good friend and brother lost his parents and he didn’t learn of their death until it was all over.
This is a paraphrase from his talk with me that day. “I accepted Jesus and lost my home because my Muslim family rejected me. The missionaries brought me here. I had to go back to the first grade to learn to read and write English so I could go to school to preach. I am heading to Texas now to get a doctorate in Theology. I thought one day I would go back to Tanzania and bring my family to The Lord. Now they are gone and I may never see them again. Why?”
We prayed then I asked him, “Did you really do all this because you expected something in return that you think now you won’t get? I know that you feel disappointed but God has not taken your appointment away from you. You are still appointed for God’s mission. Whether your parents accepted Jesus or not is not for me or you to know. We are in the same place flying together in this little plane so that you can console others how God has protected and provided for you. I am sick to hear of your loss and I hurt along with you. There is no way for me to say truthfully that I know how you feel and to be honest I have felt disappointed in the past when I felt that God overlooked my wants. All I do know is this; you trusted God as He is took you from one appointment to your next appointment and you will never lose that unless you decide to throw it away.”
Scripture: The scripture today is Numbers 14:24.
Message: The real subject of today’s message is Joshua. Have you ever heard this saying, “It goes without saying?” Sometimes it is better to say a thing if the person who needs to hear it misunderstands your lack of acknowledgment. In the case of Joshua, perhaps his faith in God eliminated the need to hear his name mentioned as one who would go across to enter the Promised Land. Here in this particular verse God only mentioned Caleb.
Jealousy is a deadly sin mentioned throughout the whole Bible. It started with the serpent wanting power that was meant only for God over people. Adam shifted the blame to his wife because he decided to follow someone and something other than God. He decided to listen to someone else and take what was not freely given to him. The last of the Ten Commandments is to not covet; which is another way of saying not to desire something that is not intended for you. In other words, don’t be jealous.
It is probably the temptation that we face the most. You have heard the focal passage. Now let’s turn back and consider Numbers 13. The Lord instructed Moses to send a delegation of one man from each of the twelve tribes including the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Joseph’s son Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Joseph’s son Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Gad. The priests from the tribe of Levi had no man in the expedition. Notice in the KJV that we see here that Joshua’s name is spelled as Oshea without the J. Joshua represented the tribe of Ephraim. Caleb represented the tribe of Judah.
They went and they came back forty days later with a report of a wonderful place with some scary people. In verse thirty Caleb spoke and calmed the people and encouraged them to trust God. BUT! “31 cBut the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up dan 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 thereof; and eall the people that we saw in it are †men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw †the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of fthe giants: and we were in our own sight as ggrasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. [2]
They all got on their cell phones and Facebook and Twitter and decided to turn the whole assembly against Moses. Isn’t it amazing how just a few people can turn a large group of believers into not believing? It only takes a few who have decided against following the truth of God to get together and turn the minds of others that have witnessed the wonder of faith. In this particular case it only took ten to turn thousands away from God.
So what about Joshua? 14:6 “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, hThe land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8 If the Lord idelight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; ka land which floweth with milk and honey. 9 Only lrebel not ye against the Lord, mneither fear ye the people of the land; for nthey are bread for us: their †defence is departed from them, oand the Lord is with us: fear them not.” [3]
Well you know what happened. There is that BUT again. 14:10 “pBut all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And qthe glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 11 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people rprovoke me? and how long will it be ere they sbelieve me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?” [4]
God had much more to say before verse twenty-four where He only mentioned Caleb. Have you ever heard someone whom you respect single out another person to praise that person who was equal to you in your effort to do a right thing? Why didn’t God mention Joshua in verse twenty-four? Maybe it was to build Joshua’s faith for later on when he would really feel alone.
Can you put yourself in Joshua’s place here? Have you ever wondered if you were excluded and overlooked when someone got more credit than you? Maybe it’s just me. Maybe the overthought personality that I have didn’t matter to Joshua. What do you think? That kind of overthinking can lead to delusion. If a person dwells too much on what they don’t have that someone close to them does have, it will drive you to all sorts of things. Instead of respecting and admiring that other person it can lead to hatred.
In our focal verse we see that Caleb apparently had none of that. There was no spirit within Caleb that overshadowed the trust that Caleb had in God. If a person allows that wrong spirit to enter, the Holy Spirit could be overthrown in that person’s conscience. When he/she finally allows God to return to His rightful place after the test is over then the lesson has been learned.
Caleb did not do that. He had the right spirit within him. He kept faith in God. We can’t say that the exclusion in verse twenty-four caused Joshua’s faith to waver but later on we find that Joshua was indeed included when God promised to bring only those two into the Promised Land. God would use Joshua to lead them. They would possess the land and so would their offspring.
We here in this world in this age have been struggling with a plague now for over two years. Many have died. Listen to verse thirty-seven about what happened back then. "37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, idied by the plague before the Lord." [5]
How many died back then without seeing the Promised Land? The number is almost too large to consider. It is much easier to number those who did not die from that generation. “38 kBut Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.” [6]
Joshua indeed was included. Were there feelings of animosity from Joshua towards Caleb? It doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things. Now the two were overjoyed because they had believed in God and overall they would be in the Promised Land to tell of the account first hand.
Here is an “Oh by the way”; Joshua has a book in the Bible with his name. I expect that Caleb has no jealousy whatsoever about that.
Prayer:
Invitation: We all know people who have been disillusioned. They come into a church and they like what they see. Sometimes they even join the congregation and for a while they contribute as a family member. Something happens and the rumor mill starts spinning and some of the dust flies off and offends that one who is not so well rooted in faith to God. Now the gossip starts back and forth and before you even know there is a problem, there it is.
What do you do? Without the Holy Spirit guiding you, there really is nothing that you can do. You are affected by what someone else has said and now you are making your decision about what to believe. That is the easy way. The narrow way is to stay on the path and not take the detour.
Caleb knew what and Who to believe. Joshua perhaps had an even greater faith than Caleb. God knew that Joshua didn’t need the pat on the back. Joshua had God and God had Joshua and that was enough. What about you. Have you got God? If you haven’t fully accepted and allowed God to have you then you are still lost. Trust God! Are ye able said the master? Is the stuff around you causing you to reexamine your faith? Today is the day for recommitment. Please consider as we sing…
l See ch. 13:6.
m ch. 32:11, 12, and marg. So Deut. 1:36 marg. Josh. 14:9.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 14:24). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
c ch. 32:9. Deut. 1:28. Josh. 14:8.
d Gen. 37:2. ch. 14:36 (Heb.), 37. Ps. 31:13 (Heb.).
e So Amos 2:9.
† Heb. men of statures.
† Heb. men of statures.
f Gen. 6:4 only.
g Lev. 11:22. Eccles. 12:5. Isai. 40:22. So 2 Chr. 7:13 (Heb.).
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 13:31–33). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
h ch. 13:27. Deut. 1:25.
i 2 Sam. 15:26. & 22:20. 1 Kin. 10:9. Ps. 18:19. & 22:8. Isai. 62:4.
k ch. 13:27. See Ex. 3:8.
l Josh. 22:16, 18, 19, 29.
m Deut. 7:18. & 20:3.
n ch. 24:8.
† Heb. shadow. Ps. 121:5. Isai. 25:4. & 30:2, 3. Jer. 48:45.
o See Gen. 48:21. So Deut. 20:1, 4. & 31:6, &c.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 14:6–9). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
p Ex. 17:4.
q Ex. 16:7, 10. Lev. 9:23. ch. 16:19, 42. & 20:6.
r ver. 23. ch. 16:30.
s So Deut. 1:32. & 9:23. Ps. 78:22, 32. & 106:24. John 12:37. Heb. 3:18.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 14:10–11). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
i 1 Cor. 10:10. Heb. 3:10, 17. Jude 5.
[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 14:37). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
k See ch. 13:8, 16.
[6] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Nu 14:38). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
