I See Victory
The Book Of Joshua • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 views"I'm telling You" the report of the spies simply confirms what God had already said. This is a prime example as to why we cannot allow the moral patterns to overshadow the work of God.
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22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. 24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”
Introduction
Introduction
The faithfulness of God alone, is a recipe for victory. When we assess the probability of a successful outcome we have to weight those odds on the scale of God’s faithfulness.
Coach’s watch film and prepare scouting reports on the other team as a means of putting together a game plan that will ensure their team’s success. They look at the strengths and weaknesses of individuals on the other team and compare them to the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals on their team. They use that information to figure out exactly what plays they have to call to win the game. This is called a game plan. However, when you have God working on your side you don’t need a game plan. You have a God plan. Because God is faithful you don’t have to worry about him calling the right plays. What I love most about his plan is that it’s success is not dependent on the individuals, it is dependent on his faithfulness.
We often go searching for clues or confirmation that we can use to convince ourselves that we can in fact triumph over the many challenges we face in life. The problem is that we are often looking for signs and signals that will indicate that we can handle it on our own. We are called to see things by faith. We walk by faith, and not by sight.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
If Joshua had faith, why did he need to send spies to search the land?
The significance of this passage is best understood by contrasting Joshua’s commissioning of spies with Moses commissioning of spies in Numbers 13. There are several questions that arise as you begin to look at the two passages side by side:
If Joshua had faith, why did he need to send spies to search the land?
Perhaps Joshua was just following the precedence set by Moses when Moses sent out the 12 spies to search the land and bring back their report. Now there were some differences between Joshua’s spies and Moses spies so let’s get that together up front:
Moses sent 12 spies, Joshua only sent 2
Moses gave detailed instructions, Joshua’s instructions were very brief
Moses ended up with a committee of doubters, Joshua ended up with a committee of supporters
Okay well if Moses had faith, why did Moses need spies? God told Moses to send out the spies. So if God already knew that he would give them the land, why did he tell Moses to send spies to search the land?
That is an excellent question and based on what we know about the events that succeeded this command we can safely conclude that spying out the land was a test of faith. It was a test to see whether or not the people of God would trust God, no matter what they saw.
He’s Keeping You
He’s Keeping You
22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them.
We can look at the present and discover the evidence of God’s favor and faithfulness that will keep us in the future.
Despite having their lives threatened they did not come back with a bad report. You’ve got to be able to look at even the challenges you’ve faced and see God at work. What should have been your testimony is not your testimony. What should have been the headline is not the headline.
It was rather simple for these two spies. They had seen God’s favor in the land and that perspective would serve their faith in experiencing victory in the land. Sometimes we get so caught up in our problems that we fail to see God’s favor. When Moses sent his spies they got to take the milk and honey but that taste was not enough for them to have the faith that God would give it to them.
Count It Complete
Count It Complete
24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”
Faith is a belief in the preemptive work of God. He does not wait until the challenges come to put together a plan. He has determined the results well in advance. The spies say to Joshua, “the LORD HAS GIVEN all the land into our hands.” Has given indicates that this is a work that has already been completed.
There is no need to worry about what God is going to do, because he’s already done it.
Competition Can’t Compete
Competition Can’t Compete
24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”
Even our enemies are no match for God’s faithfulness. We sometimes make the mistake of believing that we’ve got to be able to outmatch and over power our enemies ourselves.
Too often we get so caught up in the strength of our enemies that we discount the strength of our God.
Can’t nobody stop what God has started.