The View from Above

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Hello, South Burdles and Baptist Church. My name is Steve Herring, and once again, I've been asked to bring a message by your pastor, Drew Caperton. For those of you who did not join us last week, that was my first time ever giving a sermon in front of a camera like I did, and so I appreciate you hanging with me and logging on again and giving me a chance to do it again, because I realize that at the end of this message, I'll be twice as experienced as when I first started, which was at the beginning of last week. So we will get right into the message for the day. And I wanna begin by just sharing a story, something that I learned a couple of weeks ago. As my wife and I took a vacation, we went up to Mount Zion National Park in Utah. So we were able to fly there and it was great. We got to see God's glory and just a splendor of his creation. And one of the unique things about Zion

is that unlike other national parks, such as the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon, where at those parks, you start on top of the canyon and the adventure is hiking down into the canyon, at Zion National Park, it's unique because you start at the bottom of the canyon as you drive up, as you come into the park itself, and then you hike up, much like if you were to climb a mountain. And so what we had to do was wake up very, very early and get to the park around six, 6.30 AM. And then you spend the rest of the day hiking up. And it was a lot of fun. What we did is we parked our cars, we walked and we found a trail, my wife and I, and we hiked up the trail. And as we were hiking up, for any of you that have been on top of a mountain or just a high elevation, you look down And it's just, it's an experience to see people and cars and roads and all of these things that look so distant.

And as I was looking down, I saw the ants, right? The people, the size of ants, I saw the cars along the road and you're just, you're so far above them that you have a completely different perspective. And you see the people that are down at the bottom, they're just getting started with their trail. They're just getting started on the path to take up to the top of the mountain. So they don't know what's coming. They don't know about the 20 switchbacks that are waiting them before they reach the summit or the long climb and how potty it gets on the sunny side of the face of the canyon. So as I'm standing there, I realize to a small extent what it must be like, again, a very small extent, what it must be like for the Lord looking down on us and just how He has that perspective, not just looking down from the sky, so to speak, but the perspective of eternity.

Where the Lord looks down on us and he sees us in a moment. He sees us In the midst of our struggles or the midst of of our journey maybe we're at the beginning or maybe we're near the end maybe we're about to give up and In nearly all circumstances and situations. We don't see what's in front of us. What's around the corner? Well, we can't see but God does God is already at the summit, looking down on us. He knows about the switchbacks, the obstacles, situations, and the circumstances that we're going to face. And he has a different perspective, and I believe that the reason why the Bible is written with such hope and grace, why there's such mercy and forgiveness found within his pages is because the Lord is seeking to impart that perspective, the perspective that he has, where he's full of love and grace and mercy on us. And he's speaking into our uncertainty and our one-dimensionality, right? The

perspectives that we have or that we can't have, but God is trying to peel back the curtain and say, hey, now listen, this is what's really going on. And this is where I'm leading you. This is where I'm guiding you. I just want you to trust me. And so I hope that that example maybe speaks and at least shares, sheds some light on this story that we're going to talk about today. One of my favorite stories in all of the Old Testament. It's found in the book of Numbers, the book of Numbers chapter 13, and we're going to be starting in verse 17. Numbers chapter 13 verse 17. We begin, when Moses sent them out to spy the land of Canaan, he said to them, go up there into the Negev, then go up into the hill country, see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. How is the land in which they live? Is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live?

Are they like open camps or with fortifications? How is the land? 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 for the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zen as far as Rehob as Leib Ohemith. And when they had gone into the Negev they came to Hebron where Amai, Hyman, Shashi, and Talmai, the descendants of Anakor. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Then they came to the valley of Eshol 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 pomegranates and the figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshol because on that of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there. So that's through verse 24 and again I love this scene I love how the author of Numbers sets up what's

going on because Moses has taken the people, God of Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, the people are now standing on the brink of entering the Promised Land. The spies go in. Moses' reasoning, maybe, for this is go into the country, see the land, let's get the people excited. And so that's what's going on here. The spies go into the land. They see the Promised Land that God is getting ready to give them. Verse 25 we continue, then they were returned from spying out the land at the end of 40 days and they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Puran at Kadesh and they brought back word to them and all the congregation and they showed them the fruit of the land. Verse 27, thus they told them and said we went into the land where you sent us and certainly it does flow with milk and honey and this

is its fruit. Stop right there. Because I think if we had stopped at verse 27, if the spies report had stopped at verse 27, we'd be dealing with a much different story. Maybe Numbers and Deuteronomy would be shorter books because the story takes a turn at verse 28. But again, I just want to set the scene so that we understand the momentous occasion of what's happening here. That the spies have gone out. They've lived in the land for 40 days. They've brought back the fruit, so much fruit that it takes two men to carry a bushel of grapes between them. And there's excitement, there's a buzz among the entire congregation as the spies are led up in front of the assembly before Moses and Aaron and they start talking about how good the land is and how it is everything that God has promised them. But, verse 28, nevertheless the people who live in the land are

strong and the cities are fortified and very large and moreover we saw the descendants of a nap there. Amalek is living in the land of the Ngev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan. What happened is that the people, the spies, began to focus on the people of the land, the obstacles in their way, right? The circumstances that were preventing them from realizing the promise that God had already made to them. They were focused on the people, not the promise. And so then an argument breaks out. In verse 30 we see, then Kayla quieted the people before Moses and said, we should by all means go up and take possession of it for we will surely overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said we are not able to go up against the people for

they are too strong for us. So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying that the land through which we have gone and spying it out is a land that avours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it were men of great size. There we also saw the Nephilim, the sons of Enoch are part of the Nephilim and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their sight. Favorite story right? There's so much going on here because again it is this pinnacle, this watershed moment in Israel's history where they are standing on the brink of the Promised Land and they can either go in and receive the promise but instead they listen to the spies report, they focus on the people and the obstacles. And without going into every single verse, chapter 14 of Numbers kind of reads like a bad ending to a tragedy that you saw coming from a mile away, where the people believe

the spies reports, they don't heed the word of Moses or Aaron or Caleb or Joshua. These people who try to say, listen, we need to accept God's promise. We need to take hold of what he's told not only us, but our forefathers, our ancestors, that were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fully realized, or about to be realized in this generation if they had just taken hold of the promise that was theirs, but instead they fell short. And we kind of know the story somewhat. It's that the people rebel, and the trip that should have taken them 11 days from Kadesh Barea into the Promised Land, 11 days this trip should have taken them. Instead it takes them 40 years God punishes them and allows them to wander around in the wilderness. And so the people sin and they're turned back. And I think that, again, maybe it doesn't seem like a happy ending right now, but there is one character in this

story that we're going to get into later. I want to just go back and again encapsulate what's going on here in Numbers because it is like a tragedy that just slow moving kind of spells out. But I think it's a tragedy that we should all be able to relate to because we all have obstacles in our life. We all come up short sometimes and I think we all try to do things on our own strength and through our own power and inevitably we will fall short because God hasn't designed us that way. He hasn't designed us to go at it alone. And especially as Christians, to be able to overcome, to see, to achieve, to do the things that he would purpose in our life, we can't do it on our own, not without his help. And so we see that the people come to their end, that after 40 years the entire generation dies off, even Moses and Aaron don't enter the Promised Land. But one of

the spies, Joshua, becomes the leader of the people in place of Moses. But whatever happens to Caleb, Caleb gave a good report. He tried to encourage the people to go into the land. What happened to him? I love, again, this story, I see it as one story, numbers, but But also we're going to turn to Joshua chapter 14, because in Joshua chapter 14, we see the ending to the story of Caleb, because he hasn't just been sitting on his hands for 45 years. He's been faithfully serving the Lord. He remembered the promise that God gave him, the promise that Moses made to Caleb, that he would enter into the Promised Land, because he believed the Lord. He had faith. And so Caleb, we return to his story in Joshua chapter 14, beginning in verse six. Caleb draws near to Joshua and he says, you know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses, the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Berea.

I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Berea to spy out the land. And I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear. but I follow the Lord my God fully. So Moses swore on that day saying, surely the land in which your foot is trod will be an inheritance to you and your children forever because you have followed the Lord my God faithfully. Verse 10, now behold, the Lord has let me live just as he spoke these 45 years from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses when Israel walked in the wilderness and now behold, I am 85 years old today. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me and my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and for coming in. Now then, give me this hill country

which the Lord spoke on that day. For you heard that on that day the Anakin were there with great fortified cities, perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken." So Caleb at 85 years old is still just as ready and just as vigorous to go to war, to fight the battles that the Lord's put before him And to claim the promise that God made for him, it was the Anakim, the descendants of a neck that really made the people afraid, the spies to begin with, and then when they spread the report to the people, because they saw the Anakim as giants, people that were huge and scary, obstacles in their path that they seem like grasshoppers in their sight. Caleb 45 years later again this new generation of Israelites has come into the land they've begun conquering it they're on the outskirts we've already had the conquest of Jericho the the people are are doing it they've crossed

the Jordan and they're seizing the promise this new generation Caleb as one of two people left from the old generation is ready to claim the promise. In chapter 15 verse 14 we read, Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Shashi and Ayman and Talmai, the children of Anak. Caleb receives the promise. He was patient for 45 years. I haven't even been on this earth for 45 years. I don't know what it's like to wait that long for something. Especially in this day and age where we get nervous waiting five minutes for a text message response. I just I think that this story encapsulates the kind of spirit that we're supposed to have as we trust and obey the Lord. He is seeking obedience from us. Not that we have to know the circumstances, not that there are gonna never be setbacks in our life. Can you imagine what it would have been like for Caleb, living among the people for 40 years, knowing that each and every one of

them had failed. That they were the reason why he could not enter the Promised Land. Why he, even though he fully believed everything that God told him, fully believed that God would be with him, that his presence would overcome the enemies, the people that he was surrounded by, his community, his his brethren, all of them were keeping him back, making him wait, in essence, for 45 years. But his response isn't one of bitterness or anguish. It's a faithfulness of certainty, knowing that the Lord was with him, that the Lord was going to achieve his purpose, and that he was going to use Caleb to drive out the beautiful descendants of Enoch. So I want to ask you, as we consider this story, as we see, again, in essence, a somewhat happy ending, at least for Caleb and for his family, that they got what was given to them because they believed. I want to ask you, what promises has God made in your life?

Think about that for a minute. And think about how often we forget about those promises, how we let obstacles, we let uncertainty cloud our judgment, get in the way. Other people, we allow other people to define our days or things that we have no control over. We don't seek the presence of the Lord as we should. don't rest in Him and trust that He has the view from above, that He already knows what's coming and how long it's going to take us to get there. Instead, we have a lot of doubts, we're impatient, God loves us anyway. So what promises has the Lord made in your life? Promise to always be with you. The promise to never leave you or forsake you, the promise of His Spirit that resides in you. What I love about the Lord is that He doesn't sit back on top of the mountain and just watch us go, just wind us up, but God seeks to actively participate and calls us to

participate with Him where He's working. So yeah, I know life is full of uncertainty, especially now, the year 2020, where it seems like we've been living the last few months over the course of many, many years. But the Lord knows what the future holds, and he's turning this around. He's using it for his glory. Time spent, time not spent. God is in control of it all. And my hope for you is that that you would not be a prisoner of your circumstance, that our faith in the Lord would not be defined by our circumstance. By way of example, I think about how in the year 2012, I was a huge ranger stand. I either watched or listened to nearly every game. This was after our back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011. I thought that 2012 was going to be our year. I watched each game or followed it and I got so upset every time the Rangers lost. Every time there was a close game that ended in defeat, it ruined my day.

My whole day. The thing about baseball is that it lasts for six months. There's 182 games and if a team has a record of 90 and 62, that's a fantastic record. You're probably making the playoffs. We have 90 wins. The Rangers did very, very well that year. As I looked back and reflected on that season, which came to a very bad end, the Rangers losing in a one-game playoff to the Baltimore Orioles, what I realized is that my fandom, my joy in watching the Rangers throughout the course of that season was just crushed every time that they lost. And they lost over 60 games that year. So that was 60 days, two months out of the year, where I allowed myself to be negatively impacted by the circumstance of the Rangers losing these games. And I know that's a silly example, but how many times do we let other circumstances, whether circumstances that we can or we can't control, overshadow

the foundational faith that we should have in Jesus Christ. He has seized eternity for each and every one of us. The life that we live here, sure, it's great. And we have so much to hope for and to cherish and to joy, but it's just a taste. It's just a taste of what He has waiting for us in eternity. And sometimes I wonder if we truly believe that. Because a lot of times I know I don't live like it. I'm focused on the here and the now. I'm worried about what today has in store. And if I don't get what I deserve today, then that just ruins it for me.

But I don't want us to be a people whose faith is determined by their circumstances. faith should be determined by the promises, the eternal promises that God has made for us in His Word. We have something beyond circumstance that we can trust in. Someone who has conquered death, who gives us life, who brings purpose and joy to everything that we do, even when we don't see it. So my hope is for you that we would just continue to trust in the promises that God has made over us, that we would be like Caleb, that we would hold fast to what God has done and is doing in our lives despite whatever else is going on around us, that we would hold firm to the promises. God is faithful. He loves us. And I pray that you're not in a season where it's going to take 45 years to realize the promise that God has for you. I pray that you're not surrounded by people who express an unbelief in the Lord and who make it harder

for you to live out your faith. But I pray that you are grounded in who Jesus is, that his presence lives inside of you, and that he is actively working, that you would trust that. Don't trust your doubt. I mean, where has trusting your doubt ever gotten you? No, we need to trust the Lord. Trust him like Caleb. God again, we come before you and we thank you for just this time that we have Lord to open up your word to see the story of the Israelites who over and over again have had failed you and yet Lord you remained faithful to them they were the children of the promise and out of them you brought about the salvation of the world so we thank you God that you are faithful even when we are faithless God that you are worthy to be trusted and believed in, that you will not fail us or change your mind or let us down. God we pray that we would be receptive to the ways in which

you are working in our lives, that we would be attuned to your spirit, that we would have the view from above knowing that even if we have uncertainty in our life even if we can't see what's around the corner that you do and that we can trust in that. We trust you Lord. Give us the faith to trust you more. It's in Jesus name we pray.