Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday, April 07, 2017
Pro 22:12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, (Caleb and Joshua) but He overthrows the words of the treacherous man. (Ten spies.)
1. In Joh 10:10‑11, He is presented as "the Good Shepherd" in that He lays down his life for the sheep.
2. In Heb 13:20‑21, He is called "the Great Shepherd."
3. "The Chief Shepherd" in 1Pe 5:4 is the title for Christ as we face Him after death and for all of eternity.
a. The believer, like a sheep, is helpless and has no sense of direction; a sheep must be guided by a shepherd.
b. A sheep can't clean himself; this is a reminder of our Lord's provision of rebound and recovery.
c. A sheep is helpless when injured.
d. A sheep is defenseless. He depends on the shepherd.
e. A sheep can't find food or water for himself. A sheep must depend on the shepherd to lead him to water.
f. A sheep is easily frightened or panicked.
g. When the sheep produces wool it doesn't belong to the sheep but to the shepherd.
They did confirm one thing, they knew the doctrine.....the majority of them simply did not believe in the doctrine.
They were familiar with the promises that God had given them.
There was one very important phrase that went with those promises.....the land is flowing with milk and honey. = an idiom to express prosperity in the agricultural economy of the ancient world.
They recognized that the economy and the prosperity were good, just as God had said in all the promises to Israel about Canaan.
Notice that He said that He would drive out the enemy.
My point is that they knew the promises of God concerning the land, but knowing the promises and applying the promises are two different things.
Eze 20:6 On that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.
Eze 20:15 "And also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which i had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.
The phrase flowing with milk and honey is an idiom for economic prosperity under agricultural economy in the ancient world.
Prin- The reconnaissance team did confirm the promises of God.
1. The people who live in the land are strong.
2. The second fear, the cities are fortified and very large.
3. We saw the descendants of Anak (giants) there.
Living by sight instead of by faith is one of the easiest ways for a believer to be deceived.
Living by sight produces insecurity and doubt as in Num 13:33.
This is why the believer is commanded to walk by means of pistis or doctrine and not be sight, 2Co 5:7, For we walk by faith, not by sight‑‑
One of the results of N.V.T.D. is to live in fear and become mentally disturbed because of what sight says.
DEU 28:28 "The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart;
DEU 28:34 "And you shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.
Deu 28:67 "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'would that it were morning!
because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
Job 6:21 "Indeed, you have now become such, you see a terror and are afraid.
Isa 11:3 And He will delight in the respect of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
The first sin ever committed in the human race was caused by the presumption which comes from judging and evaluating by sight, in Gen 3:6.
Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
1Sa 17:24 When all the men of Israel saw the man [Goliath], they fled from him and were greatly afraid.
Psa 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
We are told that the children of Israel saw the wonderful works of the Lord for 40 years, yet seeing is useless without doctrinal perception.
Heb 3:9 Where your fathers tried me by testing me, and saw my works for forty years.
Job 4:8 "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it.
By sight what appeared to be divine discipline was in reality divine blessing.
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
1Sa 16:7b For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Joh 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
Living by sight and appearances is simple the thinking and the viewpoint of the current day Pharisees and self-righteous peasants.
Mat 23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Pro 14:14 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Some believe that they (Amalek) were descendants of Esau and therefore very angry at Israel who was named after Esau's brother, Jacob.
The Hittites were the remnant of one of the great empires in the ancient world.
The Jebusites were never conquered and that was one of the great disasters that overtook the country.
The Amorites conquered the Jews because of their failure to learn Bible doctrine.
The Canaanites lived by the sea and we a constant problem for the Jews.
The reason is that the majority is the non-thinking part of the group in many cases.
In Exo 14:11-12, the majority complained that Moses had brought them out from Egypt to kill them in the wilderness! (not faith rest).
EXO 14:11 Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?
EXO 14:12 "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
In Num 13:31 the multitude of spies said, "we are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.", the majority of the spies said this!
In Num 11:30, "Caleb said, we shall by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it."
In Mat 27:20 the majority of the religious crowd "persuaded the majority of the people to ask for Barabbas to be released rather than TLJC."
In Mat 27:22-23, the multitude said, "Let Him be crucified!"
Exo 23:3 "You shall not follow a multitude or majority in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice."
The reason why he had to silence them is because hysteria and operation cry baby was about to begin.
Notice that Caleb speaks emphatically and with confidence.
He knew his mechanics and he had the spiritual strength to believe in the midst of the greatest difficulties.
Caleb not only understands the mechanics of the faith-rest drill but he has the spiritual strength to believe the promises of God.
Caleb looked at the land of Canaan from the divine viewpoint!