Chapter 8: Fear or Faith

If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to Numbers 13. This morning marks an exciting morning for us as a community of faith, as a faith family and really the beginning of an exciting month as we talk about what God is doing among us. In the last year we drastically cut our budget to free up resources in the glory of Christ amidst urgent spiritual and physical need in the world. What we’re going to do this morning is talk about how we’re going to spend those resources for the glory of Christ amidst urgent spiritual and physical need in the world.

The Radical Experiment:

We’re in the middle of what we’re calling “The Radical Experiment.” As a reminder, a year-long journey during which we are giving ourselves to five commitments. Number one: to pray for the entire world. I want to remind, encourage you to be praying intentionally. We’re walking through Operation World. You can link every day from The Radical Experiment website to Operation World. Daily prayer requests, weekly prayer focus as a faith family where we are praying, literally, for every country, every nation, every people in the world during this year. Second, read through the entire Word which is what we’re doing day by day as individuals, as families, week by week and as a faith family. We come this morning to an extremely appropriate text where we find ourselves today. Third, to spend our time in another context. Reminded you last week sign up for global trips. Be intentional now about planning for how you’re going to go into another context this year with the gospel. Fourth, to commit our lives to a multiplying community. I hope you’re involved in a small group. The key at Brook Hills is small groups. The reality is if we are not involved small groups that are making disciples of all nations we’re missing the whole point. So, I want to encourage you, if you’re not involved in a small group, to get involved in a small group, to press on, persevere. Let me encourage you not to waiver any longer on that.

There’s a lot of exciting things going on in small groups. A couple of weekends from now, we’re having our first family “Disciple Now.” Our parents and students…teenagers…are doing Disciple Now together, so there’s a lot of exciting things going on. Let me encourage you to commit your life to multiplying community.

Then, fifth component…what I want us to talk more about today is to sacrifice our money for a specific purpose. What we’re saying is that, as individuals and as a church, we want to take the resources God has given to us and not use them for more comforts and more security and more stuff in this world. We want to spend our resources for the glory of Christ.

Numbers 14 Encourages Us to Support One Another in the Church Community

So, basically, that’s pointed out in two ways: it’s as individuals and families to free up our resources to give to the church. Now, this is the key. We want to, as a church, to take what we have as a community of faith through our offering every week and spend it radically for urgent need. So, we voted last year to cut some of the things that are comforts and make things a little easier for us. We want to minimize those things in order to free up as much as we can to give away. We set our budget at a pretty high level, especially, in light of our economic situation and our context at this point, but we said, “Okay, if individuals and families across our faith family are making sacrifices in their own lives, we can certainly make this budget.” So, to free up resources to give to the church, and then, as the church, as a faith family, to spend our resources on urgent spiritual and physical need in the world.

So, we freed up about a million and a half dollars to spend intentionally on urgent physical and spiritual need in two primary places: number one, locally, in inner-city Birmingham. Locally in inner-city Birmingham. Our zeal for God’s glory in all nations starts right here in Birmingham. God has put us here; we spend most of our time here; we want His glory in Birmingham. Our passion for God’s glory in all nations is not in any way at odds with our passion for His glory in Birmingham. Both/and. We do not have to choose to love people here or there. We love people here and there. We want His glory here and there; it’s a both/and. We don’t have to pick. So, we’re saying we want His glory to be known.

Oswald Smith said, “The light that shines the farthest shines the brightest,” where? “At home.” So, we want that to be a reality. We want to spend our lives for His glory here and there. So, locally in inner-city Birmingham, and then, globally, in India. So, we’re focusing this year on India. Home to 41 percent of the world’s poor in one country. In addition to physical need, the reality that there are more lost people…people without Christ in India than any other country in the world. Many of them unreached with the gospel. For generations, they have never heard the gospel. Urgent spiritual and physical need.

Numbers 14 Challenges the World’s Definition of Suceess

So, what we’re saying is we believe the gospel; we believe in a Savior who became poor that we might become rich in Him. So, we are going to go against all the trends in contemporary church culture that say success is shown by spending more and more millions on yourselves in the church, and we’re going to say it’s not biblical. The reality is success in the church leads us to spend more and more millions on the glory of the gospel of Christ going to the ends of the earth. So, we want to put our focus there.

In light of that, The Radical Experiment budget 2010…it’s almost a million and a half. $1,491,645 that you, by God’s grace…I praise God for His grace in you. You said, “We want to spend this for His glory amidst urgent spiritual and physical needs.” So, over the last few months, the elders have commissioned two different teams, one locally and one globally. Teams made up of staff, church members, and elders diving into how we can best spend these resources, this money, a million and a half for His glory in inner-city Birmingham and in India. We have been praying, seeking the Lord through this, researching, going to different contexts in Birmingham and India trying to figure out, “How can this best look?”, and we’ve finalized those teams, put together proposals, and went back and forth and finalized, “Here’s how we can spend this.”

So, what I want to show you this morning and for us to unpack over this month locally is how we’re going to spend $384,364. We’re going to talk about this morning, and next week in particular, about incredible ways we can use that in inner-city Birmingham. Then, globally $1,107,281. We’re going to spend the second part of this month, March 21 and 28, talking about how that can be spent.

There are Ministry Opportunities All Around Us

This is too good. Like, this is really exciting to think about what we have the privilege being a part of this year. Now, the local Radical Experiment we sat back and asked urgent spiritual and physical need in Birmingham. We began to say, “Where is there a concentration of urgent spiritual and physical need in Birmingham, and where are we already involved in ministry?” We don’t have to create something all together new. The reality is God has been leading small groups across this faith family to certain areas. So, what we saw was that there is a concentration of both urgent spiritual and physical need and small groups already involved in ministry in one particular area.

Now, I want to be really, really careful here because I don’t want to imply that this is the only area where Brook Hills is going to do ministry. “If you don’t do ministry here, then you just don’t count.” There are small groups doing different things in all parts of downtown Birmingham, in contexts right around here, and my encouragement is to continue doing exactly that. So, it’s great, and I don’t want us to think that, because we’re focusing on one area, that we just don’t care about other areas. When we talk about, “We want to go to the nations,” people say, “You don’t care about Birmingham.” You pick one place in Birmingham, people say, “You don’t care about other places in Birmingham.” What we’re saying is we want to be involved in ministry wherever the Lord leads. At the same time, we want to be careful not to scatter our resources in such a way that we don’t make concentrated, long-term impact that multiplies the gospel from a particular place. So, what we’re saying is as we’re doing ministry in all kinds of different places, we’re going to put some focus year in this one place…and really it’s two places: East Lake and Gate City.

So, here’s the picture: Gate City, for a long time, has been one of the highest crime, lowest income areas of Birmingham. Just to give you a picture Gate City and East Lake and schools in these two areas. Over 90 percent of the children are on federal subsidized lunch program. Even, as a side note: Gate City Elementary School ranks 677th out of approximately 700 Alabama public schools. So, you’ve got Gate City right next to East Lake which is where so many of our small groups God has led to be involved in ministry and with a variety of different organizations and even churches down there. There are people all across this room whom, this week, will be at the Lovelady Center which is the largest transitional facility in the entire country for ladies that are coming out of prison or homelessness or abuse or addictions. So, there are all kinds of ways we’re already involved there, and then what’s interesting, is right next door in Gate City, the public housing there is only about 20 or 30 percent full because they’re doing renovations which means, in the days to come, that community is going to be growing as people are moving in.

As we prayed to the Lord, it seemed like this was the best place to begin to focus our attention…concentrate ministry. Now, I want to be very, very, very, very careful here. I want to guard us against an extremely dangerous mentality. That mentality is the idea that we’re going to go into a community as saviors from over the mountain to help out these needs. Reality is we are not saviors coming in from over the mountain; we are sinners in desperate need of God’s grace. We are sinners who have bought into the idea that money satisfies when it doesn’t, and we have covered up our sins with our stuff. So, we are not coming in as saviors but sinners who want to show the love of Christ and learn about the love of Christ from some incredible men and women and children in a community that, for years, there have been barriers between us going into communities like this.

So, what I want to do is introduce you to one portrait of an amazing family that represents, in some ways, Gate City. So, watch this with me.

[Video Plays]

Let’s Hear a Story

Female: My name is Sheryl. I grew up in a large family…five brothers and five sisters. We lived in Smithfield, Alabama just east of Ensley. I didn’t get everything I may have wanted as a child, but my mother always saw to it that we had clothes on our backs and food in our bellies, and that all eleven children graduated high school. When I was 18, I got married and followed my husband’s military career for several years from North Carolina to Germany and eventually back to Georgia, but after returning to the States, my marriage began to fall apart. I never thought I would get a divorce, and to this day, it is something I deeply regret.

About that time, I found out some devastating news from one of my sisters in Birmingham. My niece had just lost custody of her children. The little girl was 19 months old and the boy was three and a half. I didn’t have any children of my own, so I began considering and exploring the possibilities of getting custody of the children. So, I packed up, moved to Gardendale, got a job at Kmart, rented a house from a friend and got custody of my niece’s children. However, the journey didn’t end there.

After three years in Gardendale, my friend decided to sell the house we were renting, leaving us with no place to live and an income that was, unfortunately, not very substantial. That’s when I began considering Marks Village. At first, I was worried about the neighborhood and what my children might be exposed to, but I was encouraged to talk to one of the directors of the housing project who told me that some of the best young men and women she knew had grown up in Marks Village.

As I began making this decision, I remembered my mother’s words: “A person can live anywhere. It doesn’t matter what’s on the outside because the outside has nothing to do with the inside.” So, I decided I would give Marks Village a chance. I was going to embrace the community, and it wasn’t long before I found myself serving and loving the people in Gate City. After school, I would pick up my kids as well as their friends, welcoming them into my home, teaching them, feeding them, loving them. Through life’s joys and difficulties, God has taught me to praise Him. When things are going good or when things are going bad, I know that no matter what, God is in control and working all things together for my good as I live out my life in love for God, because I have been called according to His purpose.

[End of Video]

Numbers 14 Calls us to Live Out the Gospel

So, how can we as a faith family do ministry in East Lake and Gate City? Here’s the plan: first and foremost, as a church, we want to be followers of Christ living out the gospel in the context of a community of faith. Here’s what I mean by that specifically, and here’s where I want to dive right off into the deep end. I want to challenge every single follower of Christ in this room, including every single member of this church, to pray and to ask God if He would have you move into East Lake or Gate City. I want to challenge every single member of this church this week to pray, “God do you want me…do you want us to move to East Lake or Gate City?” This is something we all can and should do. If our lives belong to Christ, if they are His to spend however He deems best, then that means there’s a blank check for God in our lives. So, every single one of us needs to pray and ask God…husbands, dads, I want to challenge you to take the lead on this. Men, you lead your family this week to ask God daily, “Do you want us to do this?” If you are a single mom, a single adult, if you are a college student, I want to encourage you to ask God if He wants you to go.

The picture here is not, “We’re going to come up with some projects that we can do.” Picture, first and foremost, if we want the gospel to be made known then we must live out the gospel. We can’t come and go and make a long-term impact with the gospel. So, I want to challenge you to pray, to put a blank check on the table and ask God if that’s something He wants you to do.

I remember when I moved down to New Orleans, and I was all excited about inner-city ministry. I was sitting in a restaurant one day, and I saw a guy over across on the other side of the restaurant who was a legend when it came to inner-city ministry. He had started a ministry in New Orleans that was extremely fruitful in one of the toughest parts of New Orleans. So, I, eager seminary student, went up to him and said, “I want to have an impact in inner-city New Orleans. How can I do that?” He said, “You really want to have an impact?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He said, “Well take your family, pack your bags and move into the inner-city and live in the housing projects for the next 20 years, and you can have an impact.” I said, “Okay.”

It’s the picture. It was the picture in that ministry. It’s the picture in people, even in this room in Birmingham, who have moved down to Restoration Academy; it’s the picture that we’ve seen there, and it’s primarily the picture we want to be a part of. So, I want to encourage you to pray this week and ask God if that is something that He wants you to do.

I want to show you a picture of a brother who has done that and who has lived out the gospel in the context of East Lake and Gate City and hear a little bit of his story. Watch this with me.

[Video Plays]

Let’s Listen to Another Story

Male: My name is David. In 1990, I was living in the East Lake area with my wife and four daughters. My family and I had joined a church near Gate City, and soon after, started teaching a junior high class. We saw a tremendous void in many of the teenage boys’ lives for male role models. The church eventually closed its doors due to lack of financial support, but the work God had begun in our hearts continued to grow.

Sensing a need to walk more closely with those in the community, our family moved into the neighborhood in 1993. It was interesting. In our previous neighborhood, rarely did we even speak to our neighbors. However, when we moved to East Lake, God provided numerous opportunities for us to become established within our new community. As relationships grew, it became clear that God was calling me to invest my life in even deeper ways into young men. This meant helping high school dropouts get their GED and find a job and hiring young men to work for me. It meant taking the time to teach a boy how to drive a car, so he could go get a driver’s license, and then helping him to go buy the car, and then show him how to work on the car when it broke down.

Ultimately, it meant celebrating with them in their successes, comforting them in their struggles and correcting them when they needed it. I’m often asked, “How do you reach the bad ones?”, and I always say, “You deal with them. You take them to camp; you talk to them; you pray with them and invest the gospel in them.” When they see you caring about their families, their siblings, their cousins, eventually, they begin to respect you because you’re sharing life with them.

I like the way The Message Bible interprets John 1:14 when it says, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” I’m excited to see what God is planning to do in the Woodlawn and East Lake areas. I am encouraged to see the church rise up as we join together to spread the gospel in Birmingham as it is my desire to multiply my life. The goal is to equip other leaders who can make an impact on our city.

You know it’s cool to see a young boy who had no father and no direction grow up, and ten or 15 years later, become a man who has a relationship with Christ. Now, he is loving his wife and leading his family. He’s buying his first home, and he’s raising up his children to worship God. I have experienced the grace of God and seen Him transform people’s lives in such a way that only He can get the glory. When that happens, I realize this isn’t just my story anymore; it’s God’s story.

[Video Ends]

This Verse Challenges Us to Pray and Hear What God Says

So, the challenge is to pray. Don’t pray and give God the answer. I know that immediately that we think of all the reasons why, “Okay, I know it’s not me.” Pray. You hear what God says.

One of our staff members, Ben Deloach and his wife Kylee and their kids are committed to taking the point, lead on this. You’ll hear more from him next week, but they are moving into East Lake and Gate City, and the picture here is followers of Christ living out the gospel in the context of a community of faith. That’s really intentional. We’re not saying we’re going to go in and start a church and build a building and show DVDs of David every week. No, we want to go in and live out the gospel in the context of community of faith.

So, God will lead. I am confident some…many of us, probably not all of us…it would be kind of weird if you did. It would change things around here for sure, but just because God may not lead you to take that step does not mean there are not other avenues to be involved. Church members serving selflessly and continually as individuals, families and small groups. Again, not going in as saviors but as servants. We want to come alongside people in East Lake/Gate City laying down our lives. Key words: selflessly this is not about what we’re doing. “Look at what we’re doing.” It’s not about us at all. Continually: it’s not about going in, doing a one-time project, patting ourselves on the back, and moving on. That is easy. It’s about continually, intentionally, even when it’s tough, pressing in and making long-term investment.

We’re meeting with one official from public housing in Gate City, and for the first hour, he tried to talk us out of coming down there because he wanted to see if we were serious about this. Church members living selflessly and continually even when it gets difficult. What we do…partnerships with organizations, schools, churches; we’ve already begun meeting with different schools to find out ways we can serve there. As I mentioned, we’re already partnered with a variety of different ministry organizations as well as churches there. So, coming alongside ministry to orphans and widows, James 1:27.

This Verse Serves as a Reminder That people Need Help Everywhere

Now, this whole picture of Radical Experiment really includes all that we’re doing that comes to foster care and adoption and, just as a side note, let me encourage you to be praying. There are families across this room who have been through training…some going through training right now, some have finished training, gotten everything, all of the boxes checked off and children are now coming into their homes from a variety of different situations and a variety of really tough situations in our city. This is where the gospel becomes real and comes alive. Not in a sermon or informational meeting, but as the challenges that are associated with this whole picture come along. So, let me encourage you to be praying for and supportive of all the different families that are walking through this whole picture.

What we found, though, is when we looked at East Lake/Gate City and these communities, interestingly orphans and widows are often times in the same home. The reality is 62 percent of children in these areas live with their grandparents without mom or dad. Sixty-two percent. Then, many times grandparents is really grandparent. It’s usually a grandmother and so oftentimes, you have orphans and widows in the same picture, and as you can imagine, all kinds of different challenges and needs that accompany that. So, there are all kinds of opportunities for a James 1:27 kind of ministry.

Then, finally, outreach ministry focused on needs in the community. Possibilities here are endless. Sports, basketball leagues, health classes, job training seminars, tutoring, innumerable types of ministry that can be platforms for the gospel.

Portrait of the Fearful

So, we find ourselves this morning in Numbers 13 and 14, as the people of God stand on the brink of the land before them. Now, we’re not going to have a lot of time to dive into this text. So, really briefly, we’re not going to be able to read most of the text, but I just want us to see a portrait of God’s people on the brink of the Promised Land in Numbers 13 and 14. I want us to see how, in fear, they turned back from what God had called them to. I want us to see it, because I know there is a dangerous temptation for us as the people of God and individuals and families to see what God is doing in our midst and leading us to and in fear to turn around, and I want us, instead of being fearful, to urge us to be faithful and to step forward.

Go to Numbers 14, and I want us to see a portrait of the fearful and a portrait of the faithful. I want you to see people’s response. Remember the lead up here. Numbers 13 just opens with anticipation; the people of God have been delivered from slavery. We’ve got all the numbers of the people, all the Israelites, all the soldiers that are ready to take the land, and they’ve got the law from Leviticus, so there they are on the brink of the Promised Land, and they send in spies to check out this land that is abundant and flowing with milk and honey. It is just a prosperous land. The spies come back, and two of them, Caleb and Joshua, say, “Let’s take the land…” They are the faithful. However, ten spies rise up and say, “No, we can’t take it.” They are the fearful.

Listen to how the people respond. Numbers 14:1,

All the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Numbers 14 Shows Us That Unbelief Breeds Fear

They didn’t believe God, and unbelief always breeds fear. Don’t miss it. Fear in our lives is always grounded in unbelief.

They disregarded the goodness of God. “Would that we would had died in the land of Egypt!” What? In an instant, the people of God have forgotten the grace of God. He had delivered them from hundreds of years of slavery, and they stand on the brink of an exceedingly good land before them, and they conclude, “God has not been good to us. We wish we were still slaves in Egypt.” We must be very careful, brothers and sisters, not to be too hard on the Israelites. We must be very careful to see our own sinful hearts in the Israelites, because any time we turn to sin in our lives, we are doing the same thing. We are going back to that which we have been delivered from, and how easy it is to get into a tough situation or a tough circumstance or a tough decision and all of a sudden to forget the grace of God that brought you there and the grace of God that will lead you from there.

They disregard of the goodness of God, and they doubted the greatness of God. “Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?” They think that Yahweh has brought them there to die. They look around as if they had forgotten a sea that was split in half; as if they had forgotten plague after plague that miraculously showed the power of God that had brought them to this place, and now, they go into the land. It says, at the end of Numbers 13:32, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw and are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who came from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” They see the Nephilim; they were known as a large, Goliath-type people, but the reality is they were much smaller in number than is implied here. It’s not that Goliath was walking around everywhere in the land of Canaan.

However, here’s what they did: they magnified potential problems. They took this one picture, and they blew it up and said, “The whole land is like this. We’re grasshoppers in comparison.” It’s exactly what we do whenever we face a difficult situation or circumstance, and we see it, and we focus on it so much that it gets bigger and bigger, and we magnify the problems before us and, in the process, they minimize powerful promises from God. We do the same thing. We see the problems in front of us, and we miss out on the greatness of God that trumps them all. There’s so much here.

You look in Numbers 13:22, and what you’ll find is when the spies went into the land, they went to a place called Hebron. You can see the whole land from there. Now, do you remember Hebron? Just in case you don’t, write down Genesis 13 because, when God brought Abraham into the land that He would show Him, and Abraham settled there, and in Genesis 13, Abraham and Lot split up ways, Abraham settles in Hebron. So, he settles in Hebron, and that’s where God promises him, two chapters later, in Genesis 15, “I am going to use my people. My people will be slaves in a foreign land, sojourners there for 400 years, and then I’m going to bring you back to this land.” So, this is where Abraham is settling down.

Where were Sarah and Abraham buried? They were buried in Hebron. What about Isaac and Rebekah? They were buried in Hebron. Jacob and Leah as well were buried there. That’s where God had said, “This is the land for my people.” So, the spies come up into Hebron. You would think at this moment, they would be overwhelmed with the faithfulness and the greatness of God. God has done exactly what He said. He’s got an army of 600,000 men waiting to take the land He has promised to bring them; He has done exactly what He has said. You would think you’d see them on their faces worshipping. Instead, they are saying, “Look how big those guys are.” They were so focused on the danger or the problem or the obstacle in their way that they lost sight of and minimized the greatness of their God.

They come back, and they give this report and, as a result, they disobey the Word of God. They said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” They turn around in disobedience and, as a result, they disqualified themselves from the blessing of God. They flinched in the face of fear, and they missed it. You look at the end of Numbers 14:35. It’s one of the most humbling verses when you think about it. This is God speaking to His people. He says to them, “I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” The ten spies die almost immediately, and then every single person in that generation will die in the wilderness. They missed it. They tried to overcome it and say, “Let’s go fight,” and they try, and they are struck down there. Don’t miss this: when God is for you, nothing can stop you, but when God is against you, you have no hope. You don’t want God against you.

Portrait of the Faithful

This is the humbling picture we see. It’s the portrait of the fearful. Joshua and Caleb rise up and speak. Look at Numbers 14:7. It’s one of those epic speeches. You can imagine, for the people, they “said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.’” They believed the goodness of God. They said, “This is a good land. God has made it good.” Why? “He has made it prosperous for us. This is evidence of His grace. He has brought us to this point by His grace.” They believed His goodness.

They trusted the greatness of God. Verse 8, “If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.” “He’s going to give it to us.” He says, “Do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” Don’t miss it: Joshua and Caleb are not saying, “Guys, this is a piece of cake.” They’re not saying, “No, you missed it; those guys are really smaller than you saw.” Instead, what Joshua and Caleb are saying is that, “Yes, there are challenges; yes, there are obstacles; yes, they are big, but God’s bigger.” Where others saw an obstacle, they saw an opportunity.

Were there obstacles? No question, but this is the picture God brings His people to over and over again throughout history. He puts His people in places where they are dependent on Him and His power and strength and His glory to come through. Joshua and Caleb believed in that, and they know this is an opportunity for God to show His greatness.

One place I want to take us, but we don’t have time to go there. I’m going to read Joshua 15:13 to you. This is when they do take the land and listen to Caleb in here. “According to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah…” Guess what portion Caleb got? He got Hebron. “And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak.” Caleb took them down because he was stronger and bigger and better? No. Because he believed in God, and he didn’t doubt the greatness of God. That’s why.

Numbers 14 Encourages Us to be Confident in God’s Presence

While others worried about man’s power, they were confident in God’s presence. The Lord is with us. You don’t need to fear. Brothers and sisters, when God is with you, you never have a reason to fear. They believed in His goodness and trusted His greatness, so they obeyed the Word of God. They stood up to the people, and it almost cost them their lives. While they were saying this epic speech, people are picking up stones, and just before they’re about to be stoned, the glory of the Lord shines on behalf of His servants. They obeyed the Word of God, and as a result, they would experience the blessing of God.

Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that would go into that land. Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim would become dominant in the northern part of the Promised Land. Caleb from the tribe of Judah would become dominant in the southern part of the Promised Land, and these men would experience the abundant blessing of God.

What about us? Who do you think Numbers was written for? The reality is, it was written for the sons and daughters of those who stood at the Promised Land and turned back, who would go into the land to remind them of God’s faithfulness and to remind them to warn them not to sit back in fearfulness. In fact, it was a reminder to the people of God all throughout the rest of the Old Testament. You see the Psalms and the Prophets make reference to what happened at Kadesh-Barnea. You get to the New Testament, and you see Hebrews 3 and 4 saying, “This story is a warning to us, as a reminder to us.” We as the people of God are intended to learn from the people of God at Kadesh-Barnea.

What About Us?

So, the question is for us, first and foremost, on an individual level, will we turn from God and trust in ourselves? I’m not even talking here about going into the inner city. I’m talking about our lives. I’m talking about every detail in our lives. Will we turn from God and trust in ourselves, or will we turn to God and trust in Christ? That’s the picture when you get to Hebrews 3 and 4. I would say to people who are not trusting in Christ with all of your heart, maybe you’re here, and you have lived your life trusting in yourself, and you have never come to the point in your life where you have trusted Christ to save you from your sins. Through what He did on the cross that we sung about today to save you from your sins, to change you from the inside out, you never received the salvation He alone can give. You said, “I am going to do it myself.” I want to urge you, if you’ve never trusted in Christ, to turn from your sin and turn from yourself and trust in God. Followers of Christ who know that gospel, if you are facing a situation, a circumstance, a decision, whatever it may be in your life, I want to urge you, no matter how difficult it gets, do not disregard the goodness of God. He is gracious. He has brought you to where you are by His grace, and He will lead you from where you are by His grace. Do not doubt His greatness. There is nothing you need to fear.

I would encourage you to fear unbelief. Fear not trusting in God. Run from that and know that even the obstacle that is greatest before you is an opportunity for you to know God deeper and to glorify His name and to see His name glorified on your behalf. You have the presence of God with you so obey Him, walk with Him into whatever He has put before you and, in the process, you will receive the very blessing of God Himself. I am not saying it will be easy, but it will involve blessing.

Will we turn from God and trust in ourselves or will we turn to God and trust in Christ? Then, God has, by His grace in this church, brought us to this place. So, will we sit back in fear of the world? Will we flinch as we hold on to our stuff and our safety and our security and this zip code, or will we step forward with faith in the Word? Don’t miss it: God never promised that taking the land of Canaan would be easy, and He did not promise it would not be costly, but He did promise that He would give it to them, and He would give it to them in a way that it would be for their good and His glory. I’m not saying that as we walk this road ahead, whether it’s the inner-city or anywhere else in the world, that things are going to get easier or more comfortable. They will get harder and less comfortable.

One preacher said about this text, “Christ wants a fearless people. Christ wants a people who live in the most dangerous neighborhoods without fear, who go to the unreached peoples behind closed doors without fear, who speak to neighbors about Christ without fear, how? By faith in His promises.” Listen to this: faith in the promises of God makes you fearless before the threats of men. Will we sit back in fear or will we step forward in faith?

Will we waste our lives in routine religion? Will we rest content to sit back as haves in a city of have-nots? Or will we spend our lives in radical devotion? This is the question before us.