Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience

You Do Have A Choice

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-11-11

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver uses the account of the twelve spies in Numbers 13–14 to teach that believers daily face a choice between walking in fear or faith, truth or error, and praise or provocation. He emphasizes that fear originates in forgetfulness of God's works, leads to believing lies, and provokes God, while faith trusts God's promises and leads to obedience and praise. The message calls Christians to consciously choose each day to serve the Lord, walk in biblical truth, and reject the spirit of fear.

[John Weaver] If you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 13 and 14. Actually, the message I'm going to be preaching today is in two parts, but what I'm going to do is combine them and just bring forth one message. I will very quickly go over the first message, which I should have preached last week, but was unable to be here. The title of the message is you do have a choice. So it will be part one and part two that I'm going to be tying together. We're not going to be able to read all of chapter 13 and chapter 14 of the book of Numbers, but everyone should be familiar with this passage because it is when the spies are sent out and they come back. And of course, the people rebel against God because 10 of the spies bring up an evil report on the land. So if you look in Numbers chapter 13 verse 17, and Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them, get you up this way southward and go up into the mountain and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or

[John Weaver] weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether it be wood therein or not, and be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.

[John Weaver] Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin and to Rehob, and came to Hamath. And they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron, where Ahimon, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were.

[John Weaver] Now Hebron was built seven years before Zion in Egypt. And they came into the brook of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bared between two upon a staff, and they brought to the pomegranates and the figs. The place was called the brook of Eshkol because the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence." And of course they returned from searching after 40 days.

[John Weaver] Now there is such an emphasis today upon choice, that oftentimes that which is absolutely necessary and important falls by the wayside. Everyone has heard the chant, my body, my choice, and that chant is quite acceptable as long as one is advocating aborticide, which is murder. However, you apply that to a refusal to accept an experimental gene therapy shot, And all of a sudden, it's no longer a valid chant. And of course, then, when you no longer submit to tyranny but choose freedom, it's no longer a valid chant. And certainly, when we choose independence over dependence, it would certainly not be a valid chant.

[John Weaver] Now, the truth of the matter is that we do indeed choose every day. We choose to get up in the morning. We choose what we're going to wear. We choose what we're going to eat. I oftentimes jokingly say, Sometimes I'll wake up grumpy. Other times I'll let her sleep. But the truth is we do even choose our attitudes is what it amounted to. We can choose to see the glass half full or half empty. And truthfully, attitude is very important because if I view the glass as half empty, I should be thanking the Lord for what I've already consumed. And if I view it as half full, I should be thanking Him for what I have left. I mean, obviously, it is important. So we do choose whether to be happy or sad or to praise or to sulk, and we are choosing every day to either walk biblically or simply walk in the flesh.

[John Weaver] That's all there is to it. Now, the interesting thing is when you look in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, you're going to find that these people did indeed make some very poor choices. You remember there in Joshua chapter 24, verses 14 and 15, it was Joshua who told the people, choose you this day whom you shall serve, whether you're going to serve the gods on the other side of the flood, or you're going to serve the gods of this land. But he said, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

[John Weaver] And so the truth of the matter is we as believers do have a choice. And certainly we must choose to obey Him and honor Him.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to very quickly cover the first point because this is the one that I spent about an hour on last week preaching. And that is this, we must choose either to walk in fear or in faith. Please understand this, that fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time. You're either going to walk in faith, or you're either going to walk in fear. It's impossible to walk in both at the same time. The Bible also tells you in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. So just like faith is the opposite of fear, biblical love is also the opposite of fear as well.

[John Weaver] So, when you get to Numbers chapter 13, Moses now has sent the twelve spies out. They have viewed the land. They've brought back a report. Joshua and Caleb, of course, bring back a good report. The other ten bring forth an evil report. And, of course, they find out who was in the land and who was not in the land. If you look in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 1 very quickly, you'll find that Moses summarizes Numbers chapter 13 and 14. In Numbers chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, look at what the Bible says. Deuteronomy chapter 1, notice if you would, verse 21. He says, Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee.

[John Weaver] Fear not, neither be thou discouraged. And you came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land, and bring us word up again, by which way we must go up, and in what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well. And I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe." In other words, ostensibly, they were to search out the land and bring the best route, and also describe which cities were to come into first.

[John Weaver] Now skip down, if you would, verse 24. And they turned and went up into the mountain and came to the valley of Eskol, and searched it out. And they took the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, he said, you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God."

[John Weaver] So Moses then has sent them, and they have come back, and they said, look, we're not going to do this. And the reason we're not going to do this is because of the children of Anak. If you will go back to Numbers chapter 13, beginning of verse 31, Numbers 13 and verse 31, but the men that went up with him said, we may not be able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

[John Weaver] And they brought up an 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, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

[John Weaver] Now, notice, if you would please, Here is fear. And I want to point out the fact that their fear is really and truly based upon their own forgetfulness. In order to fear, they had to forget. What did they have to forget? They had to forget all the miracles in the land of Egypt. They had to forget the crossing of the Red Sea. They had to forget how God destroyed Pharaoh and his entire army. They had to forget the leadership of God during leading them out by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. In fact, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 9, only take ye to thyself and keep thy soul diligently.

[John Weaver] Listen now, lest thou forget what thine eyes have seen. God says, don't you forget this. You have seen my power and you've seen my grace. Then in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 12, he says, beware that thou forget not the Lord. who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." In fact, David, in Psalm 77 and verse 10, he said, this is mine infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. In other words, David said, my infirmity is I have forgotten. And this was their infirmity. They forgot.

[John Weaver] So, let me put it to you very plainly. Forgetfulness produces fear. Hmm, especially when we forget the Lord, His word, and His promises. So when we fear, we're looking at ourselves, we're looking at our strengths, we're looking at circumstances, we're looking at situations, we're just simply not looking at the Lord. That's all there is to it. And so, actually, these people now are beginning to walk in fear.

[John Weaver] Interesting, if you look in verse 33, he said, And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. So, the Israelites now have viewed themselves as an insect, as a grasshopper. A grasshopper can easily be stepped on and mashed. It can easily be caught. In other words, a grasshopper has absolutely no strength to resist a man whatsoever. And so now they are viewing themselves as absolutely helpless. as grasshoppers before the Anakins. Now, the interesting thing is this. They said, that's what we were in our sight. And then they said, so were we in their sight.

[John Weaver] My question would be, how did they know? Did they ask the Anakins how they viewed them? And the answer is no, of course not. That was just their assessment of the situation because they were living in fear. Very quickly, how can we tell whether or not fear is controlling us or manipulating us? Let me give you some very clear ways. Number one, first of all, I want you to understand that fear belittles one's strength and views oneself as helpless and hopeless.

[John Weaver] They said we were as grasshoppers. Now, it is true that The children of Israel had strength. It is true they had the Lord on their side. But I want you to know it was not just one tribe that they viewed as helpless and hopeless. It was not just two tribes. It was not just three tribes. It was all of the tribes. It was all the 600,000 fighting men that came out of the land of Egypt. They all viewed themselves as absolutely helpless and hopeless.

[John Weaver] And here was their attitude. It's useless to resist. It's useless to fight. we might as well quit, we might as well give up, we might as well accept the consequences. So, we were as grasshoppers in our sight, we're as grasshoppers in their sight as well. And in other words, they based their own estimate of themselves and gave that estimate unto their enemies. Fear always magnifies one's weaknesses. And fear always magnifies the strengths of the enemy.

[John Weaver] You talk about the mind playing tricks upon you. That's exactly what happened here. The second thing is this, that fear also belittles and disbelieves the promises of God. Because it casts doubt and dispersion and unbelief upon God, His person, His power, His position, and His love. So, the truth is that our unbelief is indeed the origin of our fear.

[John Weaver] Now let me show you, skip down, we'll come back to this, but skip down to chapter 14, verse 1. Watch this. Look at this. Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said of them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Or would God we had died in this wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" And they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to note if you would please, they didn't believe God. They said God brought us out here to kill us. God brought us out here to drop us. God brought us out here to destroy us. In other words, they were casting pure blasphemy upon God.

[John Weaver] Now, you remember that passage in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13, when Pharaoh was behind them, the sea was in front of them, the wilderness was on each side of them, they had no place to go. Here's what Moses said, Stand still, and fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians which you have seen, you will never see again." Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. So, the truth of the matter is this, if you fear, you're not exercising faith. If you're exercising faith, then you are not fearing. So, fear, Should be something that is completely unnatural for the child of God Think about this How can I say that fear should be something completely unnatural for the child of God? Well, there's two passages. I want you to turn to them The first one is Romans 8 and verse 15 and the second one is 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7 Look if you would please in Romans 8 and verse 15.

[John Weaver] I want you to note this. Romans 8 and verse 15. Look what the scripture says. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. No, we received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba or Papa, Father. So obviously God has not given us a spirit of fear and if you look in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 in verse 7 he makes that exceedingly plain because look what the Bible says. For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So whenever you're governed by the spirit of fear It's not of God, it's not from God, for God does not give us the spirit of fear. It should be totally and completely unnatural for the child of God to fear. Fear is not our default mechanism whatsoever. So thirdly, I want to point something else out. Fear will allow you to see the fruits of the land, but it will stop you from enjoying and possessing the fruits.

[John Weaver] Remember, if you would, they brought back this one cluster of grapes on a pole between two men who's carrying it on their shoulders. They saw the fruits of the land, but fear kept them from going into it.

[John Weaver] Now, the truth of the matter is this, folks. We need to read through the Bible and underline all the verses that say, fear not. See, what fear will do is this. Fear will allow you to dream. Fear will allow you to wish, fear will allow you to daydream, fear will allow you to pant at the fruits of victory, but fear will stop you from possessing because when you fear, you refuse to act. You can't act on faith, you can't act in obedience because you are afraid.

[John Weaver] That's how most people live today. Now, let me very quickly give you a sharp contrast between faith and fear. Ten of the spies, which I'll point out later, brought back an evil report. Two brought back a good report. Joshua and Cable were the faithful spies. First of all, I want you to understand that faith does believe in one's abilities and the strengths that God has given. If you look at Numbers 13 and verse 30, Look what the scripture says. And Caleb still the people before Moses said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.

[John Weaver] Ah, here is what the truth of the matter is. If we have faith, you believe in the abilities and in the strength that God has given you. It's not that you're trusting in yourself. You're trusting in God who gave you that strength and who gave you that ability. In other words, The statement by Caleb here is much like the statement by Paul in Philippians 4-15 when he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

[John Weaver] He said, we're quite capable of doing this. You have to remember that James 1-8 says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And secondly, I want you to understand that faith always sees the promises of God And faith believes that opposition is nothing more than an opportunity for God to prove himself. So look at Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. Numbers 14, verse 6.

[John Weaver] And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel ye not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. For their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not."

[John Weaver] So, I want you to note something. In faith, The focus is not upon the enemy. It's not upon his might. It's not upon his multitude. It is upon God and his grace and mercy. He said, if the Lord delight in us, then he's going to bring us into this land. That's all there is to it. God will bring us into this land. Did the children of Israel have to fight? Yes.

[John Weaver] But may I remind you, the Bible says in Psalm 44, we've heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old, how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantest them, how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thou, O God, Now, notice if you would, did they have to fight? Yes, but whose sword was it? It was God's sword. It was God's power.

[John Weaver] So the truth of the matter is this. When you look at verse 9, that is the proper attitude of faith, where he said, only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Note, if you would, their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. them not. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say it like this, the doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition. Whenever there's an opportunity there's always oppositions. The Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 9, for a great door and effectual is open unto me and there are many adversaries. The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to give you a quote before I go on to my next point, and that is this. We are being bombarded today with fear on every hand. Most of it's from the government. What's not from the government is from the medical establishment. We're afraid of death. We're afraid of disease. We're afraid of failure. We're afraid of everything. People who are fearful are very easily manipulated and controlled.

[John Weaver] Martin Luther lived during the bubonic plague in the 1500s. I want you to listen to what he wrote. Here it is. I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I will fumigate, purify the air, administer medicine and take medicine. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and then perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. Now listen, if God should wish to take me, he will surely find me. But I've done what he's expected of me And so I'm not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid places or persons, but will go freely.

[John Weaver] This is a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God." Let me summarize that. What he said, I'm not going to live in fear. I will do whatever is necessary. I'll do whatever's wise to protect myself and protect my family, but I'm not going to let it interfere with my ministry. I'm not going to let it interfere with obeying God. I will do what God commands me. So we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in fear or walk in faith. Here's the second thing.

[John Weaver] I want you to notice this. We have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in truth or in error. You're going to find this in Numbers 13 and 14 as well. Let me state this another way. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in truth or a lie. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical truth or humanistic error. You're going to have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical doctrine or walk in heresy. In 3 John verse 4, the Apostle John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth. Truth is vitally important. Truth is what is to govern and to guide our lives. You know that the Word of God is truth. John 17, 17, Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[John Weaver] No man cometh to the Father except by me. John 14, 6. And then of course the Spirit of God is called also the Spirit of truth in John 14 and verse 17. So walking in truth, then, involves walking in light of the Word of God, in obedience to the Son of God, and being led by the Spirit of God.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note, if you would, go back to Numbers chapter 13. Some of this is going to be repeated, but I want you to see it because there's a truth that just has to be announced. Caleb still the people before Moses said let us go up at once and possess it Therefore we are well able to overcome it then we read how he said It's fact skip down if you would to verse 33 there.

[John Weaver] They are talking about that Giants there. They're talking about the sons of Anak Now, let me ask you a question Who spoke the truth? Was it Joshua and Caleb or was it the 10 spies? Joshua and Caleb were the only two that spoke the truth. They said, we're able to come up and defeat these people. The other said, no, we're not able. So here's my question. Did the people believe the truth or did they believe a lie?

[John Weaver] And the answer is they believed the lies. Why? Let's go back to the first point. because they were already walking in fear. You see, they did not wish to face their enemies. They did not wish to fight. Fear prevailed in their lives, and they not only believed the lies, listen carefully, but they also denied the truth. Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth. Let me show you. We read it. We'll read it again.

[John Weaver] Look in Numbers chapter 14. Here it is. When you believe a lie, and they believed it, you deny the truth. Watch verse 1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would God we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return into the land of Egypt.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note what they were doing. They were denying God's promises. They were denying God's power. They chose to believe a lie. They chose to believe those who spake against God. They chose to believe those who were fearful and cowards. They chose to believe that God could not and would not deliver them. They chose to believe that they had it better back in Egypt in slavery. And they chose to believe that their will and their way was better than God's and what they needed to do was to point in a captain and return into slavery. Wow.

[John Weaver] So you have two men speaking the truth and you have 10 men speaking lies. You remember, there were only 12 spies. So that means there were six times more lies being broadcast than truth. Everybody's heard the old adage, a lie will go around the world while truth is putting her boots on. And then the other one, if you tell a lie loud enough, And long enough, most people will believe it's the truth.

[John Weaver] And that's what has basically happened in this country. We, like Old Testament Israel, have believed lies and refused the truth. Very few people today really entertain biblical concepts and compare what is being said with the Word of God. We have been purposefully misinformed, propagandized, and we have absorbed humanistic error. We have been seduced, we've been led astray, and we have been drawn from truth into error. Hardly anyone reads anymore. Hardly anyone researches anymore. Hardly anyone searches for truth anymore. We listen to the mainstream media, And most people believe everything that they hear. In fact, if you change channels, you will hear the same thing on every channel on TV. Isn't that amazing?

[John Weaver] Let me give you three quotes that I came across this past week. Here they are. Number one, the terms propaganda, misinformation, and fake news often overlap in meaning. They are used to refer to a range of ways in which sharing information causes harm, intentionally or unintentionally, usually in relation to the promotion of a particular moral or political cause or point of view. It is possible to separate out three clearly different uses of information which fall into this category.

[John Weaver] Here they are, listen carefully. Misinformation. That is false information shared with no intention of causing harm. Disinformation. That is false information shared intentionally to cause harm. Malinformation. That is true information shared intentionally to cause harm. So you have misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

[John Weaver] Now here are the two other short quotes. The first one is by Robert Black. In dictatorships, the media is controlled by the state. In democracies, the media is controlled by wealthy individuals with political affiliations. Objective media and journalists simply do not exist in the mainstream. And that's true. And here's the last one. One of the greatest responsibilities for the people of our time is to accept everything that he hears in the pro-government media as a lie and to investigate the truth from independent sources personally. Yeah, everything you hear, accept it as a lie.

[John Weaver] I remember years and years ago when I had TV and I used to listen to the news, I discovered that if I believed exactly the opposite of what was being reported, I'd come closer to the truth. And that certainly is true. May I point out something? Truth is still truth even if it is rejected and refused. Ha! Joshua and Caleb were right. They were telling the truth.

[John Weaver] But the people didn't believe them. But the truth was still the truth. So there are so many voices today. There's so much ranting and raving. How do we know who to believe? And the answer is this. We believe those whose reports are in line with the word of God. Everything else is a lie. Everything else is a lie. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who brought back a true report. What was the truth? The truth was based upon the promises of God. It was based upon the Word of God. Caleb said, we read it earlier, he stilled the people and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are quite capable of taking and overcoming.

[John Weaver] If you look at Numbers 14, look at verse 7, And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is a good land, If the Lord delighted us, then he will bring us into this land and give us a land which is full of milk and honey. Let's go get it, boys. That was the truth. And the truth was the truth in spite of the lies, in spite of the fear, in spite of the rebellion.

[John Weaver] And you have to understand that the promises of God were on the side of the Israelites. God had never promised to help the Canaanites. He had never promised to help the Anacoms. No! All the promises and all the power was on the side of the Israelites. That was the truth. And yet they chose to walk in a lie.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7. Look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 7, verse 17. Watch. Deuteronomy 7, verse 17. If thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and all Egypt. Remember I told you fear originates in our own forgetfulness? He said you should well remember this. The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out, so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed. Thou shalt not be a frighten at them, for the Lord thy God is among you a mighty God and terrible.

[John Weaver] And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little. Thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings unto thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven. There shall no man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them."

[John Weaver] Let me just show you something. This is vitally important. When you get to numbers 13 and 14, the people were about to go into Canaan land, but they rebelled against the Lord. They feared, they disbelieved, and they believed a lie. And consequently now they had to wander 40 years in the wilderness until all the fighting men died. And so 40 years later, all of the children whom they said would be a prey, now they are the ones who are going to go in and conquer the land. Let this sink in. The ones who went in to conquer the land, did not have any more promises or any more power. There were no additional promises given. There's no additional power given.

[John Weaver] In other words, the original group had the same promise and the same power available through God. One group just feared and believed a lie, while the other group did believe and go in and conquer. If you'll turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3 and just go ahead and mark this passage because we will come back and I will re-read it and add a verse or two. We'll look in Hebrews chapter 3 and verses 17 through 19. Here it is.

[John Weaver] But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. So notice if you would, he was grieved with them for 40 years until their carcasses fell in the wilderness.

[John Weaver] So let me put it to you like this. It does matter as to whether or not you believe the truth. It does matter as to whether or not you act upon the truth. It does matter to whom you listen. And if you will not walk in the truth, you will walk in a lie. Anytime you believe a lie, you deny the truth. And anytime you deny the truth, you believe a lie. So you can choose whether or not to walk in truth or a lie as a child of God. You can choose whether to walk in fear or faith.

[John Weaver] Here's the third thing that I want to point out. We will choose to either to walk in praise or in provocation. I'm going to show you this again in just a moment. Praise should always be in our hearts and on our lips. In fact, we have been given a command in Hebrews 13 in verse 15, and listen carefully, by him, that is by the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Note, if you would, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips given thanks to his name. Now, listen carefully.

[John Weaver] When situations and circumstances come our way that we do not desire and we do not understand, we have a unique opportunity. We can either praise the Lord and ask for his mercy and grace to give us wisdom and insight or we can whine and complain and bellyache and gripe and provoke God. I'll be absolutely honest, I would not have chosen for Alice to have been sick. I would not have chosen to have come down with sinus.

[John Weaver] But I've got news for you. I'm thankful that God has been gracious and kind to spare us this long. And I'm thankful, and I praise Him for every little bit of progress Alice makes, and every little bit of progress that I make. I'm thankful.

[John Weaver] Now, I want us to go back to Numbers chapter 14. And let's begin reading there verse 11. I want you to watch this. We'll read through verse 24. Watch this carefully. Here's a unique opportunity. But notice what God says. Numbers chapter 14, and we're going to begin reading there with verse 11. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me? For all of the signs which I have shown among them, note if you would how God says they provoke me, they do not believe me, and I have demonstrated my power. Look what he says. Here's how provoked he was.

[John Weaver] I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it. For thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. For they have heard that thou, the Lord, art among his people, that the Lord art seen face to face, that the cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, Then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware to them, therefore he slain them in the wilderness. And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty.

[John Weaver] visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Now watch. Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened unto my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers. Neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.

[John Weaver] But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, follow me fully, him will I bring into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it." Now, note if you would, in verse 11, how long will those people provoke me? And then when you get to verse 23, he talks about being provoked again. The Hebrew word for provoked is the word delos, and it literally means to despise, to condemn, to provoke, to abhor, to blaspheme, and to spurn.

[John Weaver] So provoking God is blaspheming God. It's condemning God. It's spurning God. It's abhorring God. It's despising God. Wow! This is why I'm saying we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in praise or provocation. You know, they could have taken the attitude. Giants. Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. But they didn't take that attitude. Go back, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 3.

[John Weaver] I want to add just a few more verses to the passage we read earlier. Let's go back to Hebrews 3 and let's begin reading with verse 15. Hebrews 3 verse 15. While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation. Isn't that amazing? That whole period is called the provocation. For some, when they heard, did provoke. How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. Now watch.

[John Weaver] But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And whom swear he that they should not enter in unto his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

[John Weaver] Now, let me stop right there just for a moment. You're going to say, well, what in the world has that got to do with me? May I remind you that 1 Corinthians chapter 10 The Apostle takes everything that happened to Israel and applies it to the Corinthian Church. And he says, everything that happened to them happened for our example, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

[John Weaver] Now, after his warning, I want you to look in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Let us therefore fear. lest a promise being left of us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." In other words, don't act like they did in the wilderness. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. They heard the truth. But the truth was not mixed with faith, it was mixed with fear. And they believed a lie instead of the truth. And consequently, instead of praising God, they provoked God. Now listen to me. When you walk in fear, you will be walking in a lie. And when you walk in fear and walk in a lie, you will walk in a provoking manner to God. It's only faith that will allow you to walk in truth and allow you to praise God.

[John Weaver] Now let me make some applications. Think about these. Number one, you do have a choice. You do. You can choose whether or not you're going to walk in fear or walk in faith.

[John Weaver] Now it is true that Many times we don't know the answers. Their experiences come upon us and we don't necessarily like. But the truth of the matter is this, fear sometimes just catches our hearts. It gets in our mind. What are we to do? We're to say, Lord, I refuse that fear. That fear is wicked. It is ungodly. It is unbiblical. You have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. And Lord, I refuse it.

[John Weaver] I will walk in faith. I believe your word. It's kind of like that passage in Isaiah 12. Where the word of God said, I will trust. And not be afraid. When our oldest daughter was about two to three years old, she was afraid of the dark. I taught her that verse. You could hear her get up during the night, walking in the dark to the light switch, and you could hear her saying, I will trust and not be afraid. I will trust and not be afraid. Until she found that light switch. Well, that's what we can do until we find the light switch. We can trust and not be afraid. That is for sure. But have you considered that all of your choices should be made in light of the Word of God? You see, you do choose whether to walk in fear of faith. You do choose whether to walk in lie or truth. You do choose whether to walk in a praising manner or a provoking manner. Here's another thing. We need to also consider how much needless trouble and heartache we bring upon ourselves in failing to walk in a pleasing manner before God.

[John Weaver] You know, I don't have it with me, but I did figure it up one time. There were over 600,000 men who came out of Egypt. That doesn't count the women and children. And they died in 40 years. And I divided 40 years into the 600 and whatever thousand it was, and got how many died a year. Then I divided the months, then I divided the days. Do you realize?

[John Weaver] There are multitudes of people dying every day. Not a family missed. I mean, somebody died. I've often thought, what do they do about funerals? Maybe that's why it took them 40 years. I'm just simply saying, usually when we sin against God and we're disobedient, and we dig ourselves into a hole, and we think, somehow if I could just stay in this hole and not repent, and not change, then things are going to be different. No, you're just going to dig yourself deeper into the hole. So we can save ourselves an awful lot of heartache by saying, Lord, just enable me to walk in faith, not in fear. Enable me to walk in truth and not a lie. Enable me to walk praising and not provokingly. You have to also choose each day whom you're going to serve. I think it's a good thing to do when you wake up every morning before you ever get out of bed. Say, Lord, this day I choose to serve Thee. I choose to worship Thee. I choose to honor Thee.

[John Weaver] I choose to walk biblically and scripturally. And I ask you, Father, to make me holy, make me godly, make me obedient, give me wisdom, give me insight, lead me, guide me, direct me. I present my body unto Thee a living sacrifice. Help me, Lord, to walk pleasing unto Thee today. That's my choice. I want to honor Him. I want to obey Him. And He tells us we need to make sure that there's not a promise that we do not receive for failing to believe. Do not walk in fear. Walk in faith. Do not walk in a lie. Walk in the truth. Do not walk in a provocation. Walk in praise. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee.

[John Weaver] We thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. And we ask, Lord, that you'd make us holy and godly and obedient. And Father, give us your wisdom and your direction. We ask in thy holy and blessed name. Amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ you

You Do Have A Choice

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	qz2ToGYWreA
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-11-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 34
Source Timed Segments	79

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Reality of Daily Choices

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that we make choices every day, from our attitudes to our spiritual walk, and that the Israelites in Numbers 13–14 made poor choices.

If you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 13 and 14. Actually, the message I'm going to be preaching today is in two parts, but what I'm going to do is combine them and just bring forth one message. I will very quickly go over the first message, which I should have preached last week, but was unable to be here. The title of the message is "You Do Have a Choice." So it will be part one and part two that I'm going to be tying together. We're not going to be able to read all of chapter 13 and chapter 14 of the book of Numbers, but everyone should be familiar with this passage because it is when the spies are sent out and they come back. And of course, the people rebel against God because 10 of the spies bring up an evil report on the land. So if you look in Numbers chapter 13 verse 17, "And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them, Get you up this way southward and go up into the mountain and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or

weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether it be wood therein or not, and be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, and came to Hamath. And they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were.

Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. And they came into the brook of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and the figs. The place was called the brook of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence." And of course they returned from searching after 40 days. Now there is such an emphasis today upon choice, that oftentimes that which is absolutely necessary and important falls by the wayside. Everyone has heard the chant, "My body, my choice," and that chant is quite acceptable as long as one is advocating aborticide, which is murder. However, you apply that to a refusal to accept an experimental gene therapy shot, and all of a sudden, it's no longer a valid chant. And of course, then, when you no longer submit to tyranny but choose freedom, it's no longer a valid chant. And certainly, when we choose independence over dependence, it would certainly not be a valid chant.

Now, the truth of the matter is that we do indeed choose every day. We choose to get up in the morning. We choose what we're going to wear. We choose what we're going to eat. I oftentimes jokingly say, "Sometimes I'll wake up grumpy. Other times I'll let her sleep." But the truth is we do even choose our attitudes, is what it amounted to. We can choose to see the glass half full or half empty. And truthfully, attitude is very important because if I view the glass as half empty, I should be thanking the Lord for what I've already consumed. And if I view it as half full, I should be thanking Him for what I have left. I mean, obviously, it is important. So we do choose whether to be happy or sad or to praise or to sulk, and we are choosing every day to either walk biblically or simply walk in the flesh.

That's all there is to it. Now, the interesting thing is when you look in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, you're going to find that these people did indeed make some very poor choices. You remember there in Joshua chapter 24, verses 14 and 15, it was Joshua who told the people,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 24:14-15

"Choose you this day whom you shall serve, whether you're going to serve the gods on the other side of the flood, or you're going to serve the gods of this land."

But he said,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 24:14-15

"As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord."

Choose Between Fear and Faith

Fear and faith are opposites; the Israelites' fear was based on forgetfulness of God's miracles, leading them to see themselves as helpless grasshoppers and to disbelieve God's promises.

Now, I'm going to very quickly cover the first point because this is the one that I spent about an hour on last week preaching. And that is this: we must choose either to walk in fear or in faith. Please understand this, that fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time. You're either going to walk in faith, or you're either going to walk in fear. It's impossible to walk in both at the same time. The Bible also tells you in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." So just like faith is the opposite of fear, biblical love is also the opposite of fear as well.

So, when you get to Numbers chapter 13, Moses now has sent the twelve spies out. They have viewed the land. They've brought back a report. Joshua and Caleb, of course, bring back a good report. The other ten bring forth an evil report. And, of course, they find out who was in the land and who was not in the land. If you look in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 1 very quickly, you'll find that Moses summarizes Numbers chapter 13 and 14. In Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, look at what the Bible says. Deuteronomy chapter 1, notice if you would, verse 21. He says, "Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee.

Fear not, neither be thou discouraged. And you came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land, and bring us word up again, by which way we must go up, and in what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well. And I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe." In other words, ostensibly, they were to search out the land and bring the best route, and also describe which cities were to come into first.

Now skip down, if you would, verse 24. "And they turned and went up into the mountain and came to the valley of Eshkol, and searched it out. And they took the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, he said, you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God."

So Moses then has sent them, and they have come back, and they said, "Look, we're not going to do this." And the reason we're not going to do this is because of the children of Anak. If you will go back to Numbers chapter 13, beginning of verse 31, Numbers 13 and verse 31,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:31-33

"But the men that went up with him said, We may not be able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."

And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:31-33

"The land through which we have gone to search it, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

Now, notice, if you would please, here is fear. And I want to point out the fact that their fear is really and truly based upon their own forgetfulness. In order to fear, they had to forget. What did they have to forget? They had to forget all the miracles in the land of Egypt. They had to forget the crossing of the Red Sea. They had to forget how God destroyed Pharaoh and his entire army. They had to forget the leadership of God during leading them out by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. In fact, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 9, "Only take ye to thyself and keep thy soul diligently.

Listen now, lest thou forget what thine eyes have seen." God says, "Don't you forget this. You have seen my power and you've seen my grace." Then in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 12, he says, "Beware that thou forget not the Lord, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." In fact, David, in Psalm 77 and verse 10, he said, "This is mine infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." In other words, David said, "My infirmity is I have forgotten." And this was their infirmity. They forgot. So, let me put it to you very plainly. Forgetfulness produces fear. Hmm, especially when we forget the Lord, His word, and His promises. So when we fear, we're looking at ourselves, we're looking at our strengths, we're looking at circumstances, we're looking at situations, we're just simply not looking at the Lord. That's all there is to it. And so, actually, these people now are beginning to walk in fear.

Interesting, if you look in verse 33, he said, "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." So, the Israelites now have viewed themselves as an insect, as a grasshopper. A grasshopper can easily be stepped on and mashed. It can easily be caught. In other words, a grasshopper has absolutely no strength to resist a man whatsoever. And so now they are viewing themselves as absolutely helpless, as grasshoppers before the Anakims. Now, the interesting thing is this. They said, "That's what we were in our sight." And then they said, "So were we in their sight."

My question would be, how did they know? Did they ask the Anakims how they viewed them? And the answer is no, of course not. That was just their assessment of the situation because they were living in fear. Very quickly, how can we tell whether or not fear is controlling us or manipulating us? Let me give you some very clear ways. Number one, first of all, I want you to understand that fear belittles one's strength and views oneself as helpless and hopeless.

They said we were as grasshoppers. Now, it is true that the children of Israel had strength. It is true they had the Lord on their side. But I want you to know it was not just one tribe that they viewed as helpless and hopeless. It was not just two tribes. It was not just three tribes. It was all of the tribes. It was all the 600,000 fighting men that came out of the land of Egypt. They all viewed themselves as absolutely helpless and hopeless.

And here was their attitude. It's useless to resist. It's useless to fight. We might as well quit, we might as well give up, we might as well accept the consequences. So, we were as grasshoppers in our sight, we're as grasshoppers in their sight as well. And in other words, they based their own estimate of themselves and gave that estimate unto their enemies. Fear always magnifies one's weaknesses. And fear always magnifies the strengths of the enemy.

You talk about the mind playing tricks upon you. That's exactly what happened here. The second thing is this, that fear also belittles and disbelieves the promises of God. Because it casts doubt and dispersion and unbelief upon God, His person, His power, His position, and His love. So, the truth is that our unbelief is indeed the origin of our fear.

Now let me show you, skip down, we'll come back to this, but skip down to chapter 14, verse 1. Watch this. Look at this. Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 1. "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said of them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Or would God we had died in this wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" And they said one to another, "Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt."

Fear Leads to Blasphemy and Rebellion

The people's fear caused them to accuse God of bringing them out to die, to desire a return to Egypt, and to rebel against His command.

Now I want you to note if you would please, they didn't believe God. They said God brought us out here to kill us. God brought us out here to drop us. God brought us out here to destroy us. In other words, they were casting pure blasphemy upon God.

Now, you remember that passage in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13, when Pharaoh was behind them, the sea was in front of them, the wilderness was on each side of them, they had no place to go. Here's what Moses said, "Stand still, and fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians which you have seen, you will never see again." Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. So, the truth of the matter is this, if you fear, you're not exercising faith. If you're exercising faith, then you are not fearing. So, fear should be something that is completely unnatural for the child of God. Think about this. How can I say that fear should be something completely unnatural for the child of God? Well, there's two passages. I want you to turn to them. The first one is Romans 8 and verse 15 and the second one is 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. Look if you would please in Romans 8 and verse 15.

I want you to note this. Romans 8 and verse 15. Look what the scripture says.

Scripture Reading — Romans 8:15

"For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

So we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. No, we received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba or Papa, Father. So obviously God has not given us a spirit of fear and if you look in 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 7 he makes that exceedingly plain because look what the Bible says. "For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." So whenever you're governed by the spirit of fear, it's not of God, it's not from God, for God does not give us the spirit of fear. It should be totally and completely unnatural for the child of God to fear. Fear is not our default mechanism whatsoever. So thirdly, I want to point something else out. Fear will allow you to see the fruits of the land, but it will stop you from enjoying and possessing the fruits.

Faith Believes God's Promises and Sees Opposition as Opportunity

Caleb and Joshua demonstrated faith by declaring they were well able to overcome, trusting God's delight and power, and viewing the enemy as bread.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:30

Ah, here is what the truth of the matter is. If we have faith, you believe in the abilities and in the strength that God has given you. It's not that you're trusting in yourself. You're trusting in God who gave you that strength and who gave you that ability. In other words, the statement by Caleb here is much like the statement by Paul in Philippians 4:13 when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He said, "We're quite capable of doing this." You have to remember that James 1:8 says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And secondly, I want you to understand that faith always sees the promises of God. And faith believes that opposition is nothing more than an opportunity for God to prove himself. So look at Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. Numbers 14, verse 6.

"And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel ye not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. For their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not."

So, I want you to note something. In faith, the focus is not upon the enemy. It's not upon his might. It's not upon his multitude. It is upon God and his grace and mercy. He said, "If the Lord delight in us, then he's going to bring us into this land." That's all there is to it. God will bring us into this land. Did the children of Israel have to fight? Yes.

But may I remind you, the Bible says in Psalm 44,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 44:1-3

"We've heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old, how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantest them, how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thou, O God."

Now, notice if you would, did they have to fight? Yes, but whose sword was it? It was God's sword. It was God's power.

So the truth of the matter is this. When you look at verse 9, that is the proper attitude of faith, where he said, "Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Note, if you would, their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not." Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say it like this, "The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition." Whenever there's an opportunity there's always opposition. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 9, "For a great door and effectual is open unto me, and there are many adversaries." The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.

Choose Between Truth and Error

The ten spies spread lies, and the people believed them, denying God's truth. Believers must test all reports against Scripture and reject misinformation.

This is a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God." Let me summarize that. What he said, "I'm not going to live in fear. I will do whatever is necessary. I'll do whatever's wise to protect myself and protect my family, but I'm not going to let it interfere with my ministry. I'm not going to let it interfere with obeying God. I will do what God commands me." So we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in fear or walk in faith. Here's the second thing.

I want you to notice this. We have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in truth or in error. You're going to find this in Numbers 13 and 14 as well. Let me state this another way. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in truth or a lie. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical truth or humanistic error. You're going to have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical doctrine or walk in heresy. In 3 John verse 4, the Apostle John said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth." Truth is vitally important. Truth is what is to govern and to guide our lives. You know that the Word of God is truth. John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." The Lord Jesus Christ is truth. "I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh to the Father except by me." John 14:6. And then of course the Spirit of God is called also the Spirit of truth in John 14 and verse 17. So walking in truth, then, involves walking in light of the Word of God, in obedience to the Son of God, and being led by the Spirit of God. Now, I want you to note, if you would, go back to Numbers chapter 13. Some of this is going to be repeated, but I want you to see it because there's a truth that just has to be announced. Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." Then we read how he said it. In fact, skip down if you would to verse 33 there.

They are talking about the giants there. They're talking about the sons of Anak. Now, let me ask you a question. Who spoke the truth? Was it Joshua and Caleb or was it the 10 spies? Joshua and Caleb were the only two that spoke the truth. They said, "We're able to come up and defeat these people." The other said, "No, we're not able." So here's my question. Did the people believe the truth or did they believe a lie?

And the answer is they believed the lies. Why? Let's go back to the first point. Because they were already walking in fear. You see, they did not wish to face their enemies. They did not wish to fight. Fear prevailed in their lives, and they not only believed the lies, listen carefully, but they also denied the truth. Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth. Let me show you. We read it. We'll read it again.

Look in Numbers chapter 14. Here it is. When you believe a lie, and they believed it, you deny the truth. Watch verse 1. "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would God we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain and let us return into the land of Egypt."

Now, I want you to note what they were doing. They were denying God's promises. They were denying God's power. They chose to believe a lie. They chose to believe those who spake against God. They chose to believe those who were fearful and cowards. They chose to believe that God could not and would not deliver them. They chose to believe that they had it better back in Egypt in slavery. And they chose to believe that their will and their way was better than God's and what they needed to do was to point in a captain and return into slavery. Wow.

So you have two men speaking the truth and you have 10 men speaking lies. You remember, there were only 12 spies. So that means there were six times more lies being broadcast than truth. Everybody's heard the old adage, "A lie will go around the world while truth is putting her boots on." And then the other one, "If you tell a lie loud enough and long enough, most people will believe it's the truth." And that's what has basically happened in this country. We, like Old Testament Israel, have believed lies and refused the truth. Very few people today really entertain biblical concepts and compare what is being said with the Word of God. We have been purposefully misinformed, propagandized, and we have absorbed humanistic error. We have been seduced, we've been led astray, and we have been drawn from truth into error. Hardly anyone reads anymore. Hardly anyone researches anymore. Hardly anyone searches for truth anymore. We listen to the mainstream media, and most people believe everything that they hear. In fact, if you change channels, you will hear the same thing on every channel on TV. Isn't that amazing?

Let me give you three quotes that I came across this past week. Here they are. Number one, "The terms propaganda, misinformation, and fake news often overlap in meaning. They are used to refer to a range of ways in which sharing information causes harm, intentionally or unintentionally, usually in relation to the promotion of a particular moral or political cause or point of view. It is possible to separate out three clearly different uses of information which fall into this category. Here they are, listen carefully. Misinformation. That is false information shared with no intention of causing harm. Disinformation. That is false information shared intentionally to cause harm. Malinformation. That is true information shared intentionally to cause harm. So you have misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Now here are the two other short quotes. The first one is by Robert Black. "In dictatorships, the media is controlled by the state. In democracies, the media is controlled by wealthy individuals with political affiliations. Objective media and journalists simply do not exist in the mainstream." And that's true. And here's the last one. "One of the greatest responsibilities for the people of our time is to accept everything that he hears in the pro-government media as a lie and to investigate the truth from independent sources personally." Yeah, everything you hear, accept it as a lie.

I remember years and years ago when I had TV and I used to listen to the news, I discovered that if I believed exactly the opposite of what was being reported, I'd come closer to the truth. And that certainly is true. May I point out something? Truth is still truth even if it is rejected and refused. Ha! Joshua and Caleb were right. They were telling the truth.

But the people didn't believe them. But the truth was still the truth. So there are so many voices today. There's so much ranting and raving. How do we know who to believe? And the answer is this. We believe those whose reports are in line with the word of God. Everything else is a lie. Everything else is a lie. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who brought back a true report. What was the truth? The truth was based upon the promises of God. It was based upon the Word of God. Caleb said, we read it earlier, he stilled the people and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are quite capable of taking and overcoming."

If you look at Numbers 14, look at verse 7, "And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is a good land, if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give us a land which is full of milk and honey." Let's go get it, boys. That was the truth. And the truth was the truth in spite of the lies, in spite of the fear, in spite of the rebellion. And you have to understand that the promises of God were on the side of the Israelites. God had never promised to help the Canaanites. He had never promised to help the Anakims. No! All the promises and all the power was on the side of the Israelites. That was the truth. And yet they chose to walk in a lie.

Choose Between Praise and Provocation

The Israelites provoked God through unbelief and complaining, while believers are called to offer the sacrifice of praise continually, even in difficult circumstances.

Here's the third thing that I want to point out. We will choose either to walk in praise or in provocation. I'm going to show you this again in just a moment. Praise should always be in our hearts and on our lips. In fact, we have been given a command in Hebrews 13 and verse 15, and listen carefully, "By him, that is by the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Note, if you would, "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips given thanks to his name." Now, listen carefully.

When situations and circumstances come our way that we do not desire and we do not understand, we have a unique opportunity. We can either praise the Lord and ask for his mercy and grace to give us wisdom and insight or we can whine and complain and bellyache and gripe and provoke God. I'll be absolutely honest, I would not have chosen for Alice to have been sick. I would not have chosen to have come down with sinus.

But I've got news for you. I'm thankful that God has been gracious and kind to spare us this long. And I'm thankful, and I praise Him for every little bit of progress Alice makes, and every little bit of progress that I make. I'm thankful.

Now, I want us to go back to Numbers chapter 14. And let's begin reading there verse 11. I want you to watch this. We'll read through verse 24. Watch this carefully. Here's a unique opportunity. But notice what God says. Numbers chapter 14, and we're going to begin reading there with verse 11. "And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me? For all of the signs which I have shown among them." Note if you would how God says they provoke me, they do not believe me, and I have demonstrated my power. Look what he says. Here's how provoked he was.

"I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it. For thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. For they have heard that thou, the Lord, art among his people, that the Lord art seen face to face, that the cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware to them, therefore he slain them in the wilderness. And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty.

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." And the Lord said, "I have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Now watch. Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened unto my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers. Neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, follow me fully, him will I bring into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it." Now, note if you would, in verse 11, "How long will those people provoke me?" And then when you get to verse 23, he talks about being provoked again. The Hebrew word for provoked is the word na'ats, and it literally means to despise, to condemn, to provoke, to abhor, to blaspheme, and to spurn. So provoking God is blaspheming God. It's condemning God. It's spurning God. It's abhorring God. It's despising God. Wow! This is why I'm saying we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in praise or provocation. You know, they could have taken the attitude, "Giants. Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." But they didn't take that attitude. Go back, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 3.

I want to add just a few more verses to the passage we read earlier. Let's go back to Hebrews 3 and let's begin reading with verse 15. Hebrews 3 verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:15-19

"While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation."

Isn't that amazing? That whole period is called the provocation.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:15-19

"For some, when they heard, did provoke. How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses."

Now watch.

"But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And whom swear he that they should not enter in unto his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

Now, let me stop right there just for a moment. You're going to say, "Well, what in the world has that got to do with me?" May I remind you that 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle takes everything that happened to Israel and applies it to the Corinthian Church. And he says, "Everything that happened to them happened for our example, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

Applications: Making Daily Choices to Honor God

Weaver urges believers to consciously choose each day to walk in faith, truth, and praise, refusing fear and lies, and to avoid needless heartache by obeying God.

Now let me make some applications. Think about these. Number one, you do have a choice. You do. You can choose whether or not you're going to walk in fear or walk in faith.

Now it is true that many times we don't know the answers. There are experiences come upon us and we don't necessarily like. But the truth of the matter is this, fear sometimes just catches our hearts. It gets in our mind. What are we to do? We're to say, "Lord, I refuse that fear. That fear is wicked. It is ungodly. It is unbiblical. You have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. And Lord, I refuse it."

I will walk in faith. I believe your word. It's kind of like that passage in Isaiah 12, where the word of God said, "I will trust and not be afraid." When our oldest daughter was about two to three years old, she was afraid of the dark. I taught her that verse. You could hear her get up during the night, walking in the dark to the light switch, and you could hear her saying, "I will trust and not be afraid. I will trust and not be afraid." Until she found that light switch. Well, that's what we can do until we find the light switch. We can trust and not be afraid. That is for sure. But have you considered that all of your choices should be made in light of the Word of God? You see, you do choose whether to walk in fear or faith. You do choose whether to walk in lie or truth. You do choose whether to walk in a praising manner or a provoking manner. Here's another thing. We need to also consider how much needless trouble and heartache we bring upon ourselves in failing to walk in a pleasing manner before God.

You know, I don't have it with me, but I did figure it up one time. There were over 600,000 men who came out of Egypt. That doesn't count the women and children. And they died in 40 years. And I divided 40 years into the 600 and whatever thousand it was, and got how many died a year. Then I divided the months, then I divided the days. Do you realize?

There are multitudes of people dying every day. Not a family missed. I mean, somebody died. I've often thought, what do they do about funerals? Maybe that's why it took them 40 years. I'm just simply saying, usually when we sin against God and we're disobedient, and we dig ourselves into a hole, and we think, somehow if I could just stay in this hole and not repent, and not change, then things are going to be different. No, you're just going to dig yourself deeper into the hole. So we can save ourselves an awful lot of heartache by saying, "Lord, just enable me to walk in faith, not in fear. Enable me to walk in truth and not a lie. Enable me to walk praising and not provokingly." You have to also choose each day whom you're going to serve. I think it's a good thing to do when you wake up every morning before you ever get out of bed. Say, "Lord, this day I choose to serve Thee. I choose to worship Thee. I choose to honor Thee.

I choose to walk biblically and scripturally. And I ask you, Father, to make me holy, make me godly, make me obedient, give me wisdom, give me insight, lead me, guide me, direct me. I present my body unto Thee a living sacrifice. Help me, Lord, to walk pleasing unto Thee today. That's my choice. I want to honor Him. I want to obey Him. And He tells us we need to make sure that there's not a promise that we do not receive for failing to believe. Do not walk in fear. Walk in faith. Do not walk in a lie. Walk in the truth. Do not walk in a provocation. Walk in praise. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Fear vs. Faith

Summary: Fear and faith are mutually exclusive; fear stems from forgetting God's works and leads to disobedience, while faith trusts God's promises and enables obedience.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.' He explains that the Israelites' fear came from forgetting the miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea.

Truth vs. Error

Summary: Believers must choose to walk in biblical truth rather than humanistic lies; the majority report of the spies was a lie, and the people believed it, rejecting God's truth.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in truth or a lie... Joshua and Caleb were the only two that spoke the truth.' He emphasizes that truth is still truth even if rejected.

Praise vs. Provocation

Summary: Believers can either praise God in difficult circumstances or provoke Him through unbelief and complaining; the Israelites provoked God and were barred from the Promised Land.

Evidence: Weaver cites Numbers 14:11, 'How long will this people provoke me?' and explains that provoking God means despising and blaspheming Him. He contrasts this with the command to offer the sacrifice of praise.

The Danger of Forgetfulness

Summary: Forgetfulness of God's past faithfulness produces fear; remembering His works is essential for faith.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Forgetfulness produces fear... especially when we forget the Lord, His word, and His promises.' He references Deuteronomy 4:9 and 6:12.

The Believer's Daily Choice

Summary: Every day, believers must consciously choose to serve the Lord, walk in faith, truth, and praise, and reject fear and lies.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We do indeed choose every day... we are choosing every day to either walk biblically or simply walk in the flesh.' He references Joshua 24:15.

Key Arguments

Fear is unnatural for the believer because God has not given a spirit of fear.

Summary: Weaver argues from Romans 8:15 and 2 Timothy 1:7 that fear is not from God and should be completely unnatural for a child of God.

Evidence: He reads Romans 8:15, 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,' and 2 Timothy 1:7, 'For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.'

Fear belittles one's strength and magnifies the enemy's strength.

Summary: The Israelites viewed themselves as grasshoppers, helpless before the giants, which was a distortion caused by fear.

Evidence: Weaver points to Numbers 13:33, 'we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,' and explains that fear always magnifies weaknesses and enemy strengths.

Believing a lie necessarily means denying the truth.

Summary: When the Israelites believed the evil report, they simultaneously denied God's promises and power.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth,' and shows from Numbers 14:1-4 how the people denied God's ability to deliver them.

Unbelief provokes God and leads to severe consequences.

Summary: The Israelites' unbelief provoked God to bar that generation from the Promised Land, demonstrating that failure to believe has serious repercussions.

Evidence: Weaver cites Numbers 14:11, 23 and Hebrews 3:17-19, emphasizing that they could not enter because of unbelief.

Faith sees opposition as an opportunity for God to prove Himself.

Summary: Caleb and Joshua viewed the giants not as threats but as 'bread for us,' trusting that God would fight for them.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Numbers 14:9, 'they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not,' and references Dr. Bob Jones Sr.'s saying about doors of opportunity.

Scripture References

Numbers 13:17-20

Context: Moses sends the spies to search out the land of Canaan.

Numbers 13:23-24

Context: The spies cut down a cluster of grapes at the brook of Eshkol.

Numbers 13:30

Context: Caleb stills the people and declares they are well able to overcome.

Numbers 13:31-33

Context: The ten spies bring an evil report, saying they are as grasshoppers before the giants.

Numbers 14:1-4

Context: The congregation weeps, murmurs, and desires to return to Egypt.

Numbers 14:6-9

Context: Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and urge the people not to rebel or fear, for the Lord is with them.

Numbers 14:11-24

Context: God threatens to disinherit Israel; Moses intercedes; God pardons but swears the unbelieving generation will not see the land.

Deuteronomy 1:21-22

Context: Moses recounts God's command to possess the land and the people's request to send spies.

Deuteronomy 7:17-24

Context: God instructs Israel not to fear the nations but to remember His deliverance from Egypt.

Joshua 24:14-15

Context: Joshua challenges the people to choose whom they will serve; he declares his household will serve the Lord.

Psalm 44:1-3

Context: The psalmist recounts how God drove out the nations, not by their own sword.

Romans 8:15

Context: Believers have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption.

2 Timothy 1:7

Context: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Hebrews 3:15-19

Context: The Israelites could not enter God's rest because of unbelief; their rebellion is called 'the provocation.'

Hebrews 4:1-2

Context: The gospel was preached to them, but it did not profit because it was not mixed with faith.

1 John 4:18

Context: Perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment.

1 Corinthians 10:11

Context: All these things happened to Israel as examples for us upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Hebrews 13:15

Context: By Christ we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.

John 17:17

Context: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 14:6

Context: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Historical References

Martin Luther's response to the bubonic plague in the 1500s

Context: Weaver quotes Luther's balanced approach: trusting God, taking precautions, and not avoiding ministry to neighbors.

Dr. Bob Jones Sr.'s saying about opportunity and opposition

Context: Weaver quotes, 'The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition,' to illustrate that faith sees opposition as opportunity.

Important Quotes

Fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.

Significance: Establishes the foundational dichotomy of the sermon: fear and faith are mutually exclusive.

Forgetfulness produces fear.

Significance: Identifies the root cause of fear as forgetting God's past works and promises.

We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Significance: Illustrates how fear distorts self-perception and magnifies the enemy.

The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition.

Significance: A memorable quote from Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to encourage faith in the face of obstacles.

Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth.

Significance: Highlights the inevitable consequence of accepting falsehood.

Truth is still truth even if it is rejected and refused.

Significance: Affirms the objective nature of truth regardless of human response.

How long will this people provoke me?

Significance: God's response to Israel's unbelief, showing the seriousness of provoking Him through fear and lies.

Discussion Questions

In what areas of your life are you most tempted to walk in fear rather than faith? How can remembering God's past faithfulness help you overcome that fear?

Context: Weaver teaches that fear originates in forgetfulness of God's works and that we must choose to walk in faith.

How can you practically 'test' the messages you hear from media, government, or culture against the truth of God's Word?

Context: Weaver warns that we are bombarded with misinformation and must believe those whose reports align with Scripture.

What does it look like to offer a 'sacrifice of praise' when circumstances are difficult or painful?

Context: Weaver contrasts praising God with provoking Him through complaining, using his own family's health struggles as an example.

Why is it impossible to walk in both fear and faith simultaneously? How does 1 John 4:18 support this?

Context: Weaver states that fear and faith are opposites and that perfect love casts out fear.

The ten spies brought an 'evil report' that was factually true about the giants but lacked faith. How can we avoid presenting true facts in a way that spreads fear and unbelief?

Context: Weaver notes that the spies' report focused on the obstacles rather than God's promises.

How does the concept of 'the provocation' in Hebrews 3 challenge you to examine your own heart's response to God's commands?

Context: Weaver explains that the Israelites' unbelief provoked God and barred them from His rest.

Applications

Consciously choose each day to serve the Lord and walk in faith.

Summary: Weaver encourages believers to wake up each morning and declare their choice to serve God, walk biblically, and reject fear.

Evidence: He says, 'Say, Lord, this day I choose to serve Thee... I choose to walk biblically and scripturally.'

Refuse the spirit of fear by remembering God's Word and past deliverances.

Summary: When fear arises, believers should actively refuse it as ungodly and remind themselves of God's promises and power.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Lord, I refuse that fear. That fear is wicked. It is ungodly. It is unbiblical.'

Test all information against Scripture to avoid believing lies.

Summary: In a world of misinformation, believers must compare what they hear with the Word of God and reject anything contrary.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We believe those whose reports are in line with the word of God. Everything else is a lie.'

Offer praise to God continually, even in trials, rather than complaining.

Summary: Instead of provoking God through grumbling, believers are commanded to offer the sacrifice of praise, giving thanks in all circumstances.

Evidence: Weaver cites Hebrews 13:15 and shares his own practice of thanking God for progress in his wife's illness.

Avoid needless heartache by walking in obedience and faith.

Summary: Disobedience and unbelief lead to self-inflicted trouble; repenting and choosing God's way saves much sorrow.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We can save ourselves an awful lot of heartache by saying, Lord, just enable me to walk in faith, not in fear.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:39:01Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T08:50:19Z

Clean Transcript

You Do Have A Choice

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

If you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 13 and 14. Actually, the message I'm going to be preaching today is in two parts, but what I'm going to do is combine them and just bring forth one message. I will very quickly go over the first message, which I should have preached last week, but was unable to be here. The title of the message is "You Do Have a Choice." So it will be part one and part two that I'm going to be tying together. We're not going to be able to read all of chapter 13 and chapter 14 of the book of Numbers, but everyone should be familiar with this passage because it is when the spies are sent out and they come back. And of course, the people rebel against God because 10 of the spies bring up an evil report on the land. So if you look in Numbers chapter 13 verse 17, "And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them, Get you up this way southward and go up into the mountain and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or
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weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether it be wood therein or not, and be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land."
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Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, and came to Hamath. And they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were.
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Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. And they came into the brook of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and the figs. The place was called the brook of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence." And of course they returned from searching after 40 days.
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Now there is such an emphasis today upon choice, that oftentimes that which is absolutely necessary and important falls by the wayside. Everyone has heard the chant, "My body, my choice," and that chant is quite acceptable as long as one is advocating aborticide, which is murder. However, you apply that to a refusal to accept an experimental gene therapy shot, and all of a sudden, it's no longer a valid chant. And of course, then, when you no longer submit to tyranny but choose freedom, it's no longer a valid chant. And certainly, when we choose independence over dependence, it would certainly not be a valid chant.
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Now, the truth of the matter is that we do indeed choose every day. We choose to get up in the morning. We choose what we're going to wear. We choose what we're going to eat. I oftentimes jokingly say, "Sometimes I'll wake up grumpy. Other times I'll let her sleep." But the truth is we do even choose our attitudes, is what it amounted to. We can choose to see the glass half full or half empty. And truthfully, attitude is very important because if I view the glass as half empty, I should be thanking the Lord for what I've already consumed. And if I view it as half full, I should be thanking Him for what I have left. I mean, obviously, it is important. So we do choose whether to be happy or sad or to praise or to sulk, and we are choosing every day to either walk biblically or simply walk in the flesh.
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That's all there is to it. Now, the interesting thing is when you look in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, you're going to find that these people did indeed make some very poor choices. You remember there in Joshua chapter 24, verses 14 and 15, it was Joshua who told the people, "Choose you this day whom you shall serve, whether you're going to serve the gods on the other side of the flood, or you're going to serve the gods of this land." But he said, "As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord."
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And so the truth of the matter is we as believers do have a choice. And certainly we must choose to obey Him and honor Him.
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Now, I'm going to very quickly cover the first point because this is the one that I spent about an hour on last week preaching. And that is this: we must choose either to walk in fear or in faith. Please understand this, that fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time. You're either going to walk in faith, or you're either going to walk in fear. It's impossible to walk in both at the same time. The Bible also tells you in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." So just like faith is the opposite of fear, biblical love is also the opposite of fear as well.
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So, when you get to Numbers chapter 13, Moses now has sent the twelve spies out. They have viewed the land. They've brought back a report. Joshua and Caleb, of course, bring back a good report. The other ten bring forth an evil report. And, of course, they find out who was in the land and who was not in the land. If you look in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 1 very quickly, you'll find that Moses summarizes Numbers chapter 13 and 14. In Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, look at what the Bible says. Deuteronomy chapter 1, notice if you would, verse 21. He says, "Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee.
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Fear not, neither be thou discouraged. And you came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land, and bring us word up again, by which way we must go up, and in what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well. And I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe." In other words, ostensibly, they were to search out the land and bring the best route, and also describe which cities were to come into first.
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Now skip down, if you would, verse 24. "And they turned and went up into the mountain and came to the valley of Eshkol, and searched it out. And they took the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, he said, you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God."
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So Moses then has sent them, and they have come back, and they said, "Look, we're not going to do this." And the reason we're not going to do this is because of the children of Anak. If you will go back to Numbers chapter 13, beginning of verse 31, Numbers 13 and verse 31, "But the men that went up with him said, We may not be able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."
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And they brought up an 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, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
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Now, notice, if you would please, here is fear. And I want to point out the fact that their fear is really and truly based upon their own forgetfulness. In order to fear, they had to forget. What did they have to forget? They had to forget all the miracles in the land of Egypt. They had to forget the crossing of the Red Sea. They had to forget how God destroyed Pharaoh and his entire army. They had to forget the leadership of God during leading them out by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. In fact, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 9, "Only take ye to thyself and keep thy soul diligently.
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Listen now, lest thou forget what thine eyes have seen." God says, "Don't you forget this. You have seen my power and you've seen my grace." Then in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 12, he says, "Beware that thou forget not the Lord, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." In fact, David, in Psalm 77 and verse 10, he said, "This is mine infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." In other words, David said, "My infirmity is I have forgotten." And this was their infirmity. They forgot.
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So, let me put it to you very plainly. Forgetfulness produces fear. Hmm, especially when we forget the Lord, His word, and His promises. So when we fear, we're looking at ourselves, we're looking at our strengths, we're looking at circumstances, we're looking at situations, we're just simply not looking at the Lord. That's all there is to it. And so, actually, these people now are beginning to walk in fear.
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Interesting, if you look in verse 33, he said, "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." So, the Israelites now have viewed themselves as an insect, as a grasshopper. A grasshopper can easily be stepped on and mashed. It can easily be caught. In other words, a grasshopper has absolutely no strength to resist a man whatsoever. And so now they are viewing themselves as absolutely helpless, as grasshoppers before the Anakims. Now, the interesting thing is this. They said, "That's what we were in our sight." And then they said, "So were we in their sight."
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My question would be, how did they know? Did they ask the Anakims how they viewed them? And the answer is no, of course not. That was just their assessment of the situation because they were living in fear. Very quickly, how can we tell whether or not fear is controlling us or manipulating us? Let me give you some very clear ways. Number one, first of all, I want you to understand that fear belittles one's strength and views oneself as helpless and hopeless.
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They said we were as grasshoppers. Now, it is true that the children of Israel had strength. It is true they had the Lord on their side. But I want you to know it was not just one tribe that they viewed as helpless and hopeless. It was not just two tribes. It was not just three tribes. It was all of the tribes. It was all the 600,000 fighting men that came out of the land of Egypt. They all viewed themselves as absolutely helpless and hopeless.
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And here was their attitude. It's useless to resist. It's useless to fight. We might as well quit, we might as well give up, we might as well accept the consequences. So, we were as grasshoppers in our sight, we're as grasshoppers in their sight as well. And in other words, they based their own estimate of themselves and gave that estimate unto their enemies. Fear always magnifies one's weaknesses. And fear always magnifies the strengths of the enemy.
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You talk about the mind playing tricks upon you. That's exactly what happened here. The second thing is this, that fear also belittles and disbelieves the promises of God. Because it casts doubt and dispersion and unbelief upon God, His person, His power, His position, and His love. So, the truth is that our unbelief is indeed the origin of our fear.
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Now let me show you, skip down, we'll come back to this, but skip down to chapter 14, verse 1. Watch this. Look at this. Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 1. "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said of them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Or would God we had died in this wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" And they said one to another, "Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt."
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Now I want you to note if you would please, they didn't believe God. They said God brought us out here to kill us. God brought us out here to drop us. God brought us out here to destroy us. In other words, they were casting pure blasphemy upon God.
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Now, you remember that passage in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13, when Pharaoh was behind them, the sea was in front of them, the wilderness was on each side of them, they had no place to go. Here's what Moses said, "Stand still, and fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians which you have seen, you will never see again." Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. So, the truth of the matter is this, if you fear, you're not exercising faith. If you're exercising faith, then you are not fearing. So, fear should be something that is completely unnatural for the child of God. Think about this. How can I say that fear should be something completely unnatural for the child of God? Well, there's two passages. I want you to turn to them. The first one is Romans 8 and verse 15 and the second one is 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. Look if you would please in Romans 8 and verse 15.
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I want you to note this. Romans 8 and verse 15. Look what the scripture says. "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." So we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. No, we received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba or Papa, Father. So obviously God has not given us a spirit of fear and if you look in 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 7 he makes that exceedingly plain because look what the Bible says. "For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." So whenever you're governed by the spirit of fear, it's not of God, it's not from God, for God does not give us the spirit of fear. It should be totally and completely unnatural for the child of God to fear. Fear is not our default mechanism whatsoever. So thirdly, I want to point something else out. Fear will allow you to see the fruits of the land, but it will stop you from enjoying and possessing the fruits.
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Remember, if you would, they brought back this one cluster of grapes on a pole between two men who's carrying it on their shoulders. They saw the fruits of the land, but fear kept them from going into it.
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Now, the truth of the matter is this, folks. We need to read through the Bible and underline all the verses that say, "Fear not." See, what fear will do is this. Fear will allow you to dream. Fear will allow you to wish, fear will allow you to daydream, fear will allow you to pant at the fruits of victory, but fear will stop you from possessing because when you fear, you refuse to act. You can't act on faith, you can't act in obedience because you are afraid.
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That's how most people live today. Now, let me very quickly give you a sharp contrast between faith and fear. Ten of the spies, which I'll point out later, brought back an evil report. Two brought back a good report. Joshua and Caleb were the faithful spies. First of all, I want you to understand that faith does believe in one's abilities and the strengths that God has given. If you look at Numbers 13 and verse 30, look what the scripture says. "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it."
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Ah, here is what the truth of the matter is. If we have faith, you believe in the abilities and in the strength that God has given you. It's not that you're trusting in yourself. You're trusting in God who gave you that strength and who gave you that ability. In other words, the statement by Caleb here is much like the statement by Paul in Philippians 4:13 when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
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He said, "We're quite capable of doing this." You have to remember that James 1:8 says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And secondly, I want you to understand that faith always sees the promises of God. And faith believes that opposition is nothing more than an opportunity for God to prove himself. So look at Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. Numbers 14, verse 6.
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"And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel ye not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. For their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not."
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So, I want you to note something. In faith, the focus is not upon the enemy. It's not upon his might. It's not upon his multitude. It is upon God and his grace and mercy. He said, "If the Lord delight in us, then he's going to bring us into this land." That's all there is to it. God will bring us into this land. Did the children of Israel have to fight? Yes.
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But may I remind you, the Bible says in Psalm 44, "We've heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old, how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantest them, how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thou, O God." Now, notice if you would, did they have to fight? Yes, but whose sword was it? It was God's sword. It was God's power.
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So the truth of the matter is this. When you look at verse 9, that is the proper attitude of faith, where he said, "Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Note, if you would, their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not." Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say it like this, "The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition." Whenever there's an opportunity there's always opposition. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 9, "For a great door and effectual is open unto me, and there are many adversaries." The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.
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Now, I want to give you a quote before I go on to my next point, and that is this. We are being bombarded today with fear on every hand. Most of it's from the government. What's not from the government is from the medical establishment. We're afraid of death. We're afraid of disease. We're afraid of failure. We're afraid of everything. People who are fearful are very easily manipulated and controlled.
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Martin Luther lived during the bubonic plague in the 1500s. I want you to listen to what he wrote. Here it is. "I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I will fumigate, purify the air, administer medicine and take medicine. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and then perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. Now listen, if God should wish to take me, he will surely find me. But I've done what he's expected of me and so I'm not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid places or persons, but will go freely.
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This is a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God." Let me summarize that. What he said, "I'm not going to live in fear. I will do whatever is necessary. I'll do whatever's wise to protect myself and protect my family, but I'm not going to let it interfere with my ministry. I'm not going to let it interfere with obeying God. I will do what God commands me." So we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in fear or walk in faith. Here's the second thing.
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I want you to notice this. We have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in truth or in error. You're going to find this in Numbers 13 and 14 as well. Let me state this another way. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in truth or a lie. You have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical truth or humanistic error. You're going to have to choose whether or not you're going to walk in biblical doctrine or walk in heresy. In 3 John verse 4, the Apostle John said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth." Truth is vitally important. Truth is what is to govern and to guide our lives. You know that the Word of God is truth. John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." The Lord Jesus Christ is truth. "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No man cometh to the Father except by me." John 14:6. And then of course the Spirit of God is called also the Spirit of truth in John 14 and verse 17. So walking in truth, then, involves walking in light of the Word of God, in obedience to the Son of God, and being led by the Spirit of God.
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Now, I want you to note, if you would, go back to Numbers chapter 13. Some of this is going to be repeated, but I want you to see it because there's a truth that just has to be announced. Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." Then we read how he said it. In fact, skip down if you would to verse 33 there.
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They are talking about the giants there. They're talking about the sons of Anak. Now, let me ask you a question. Who spoke the truth? Was it Joshua and Caleb or was it the 10 spies? Joshua and Caleb were the only two that spoke the truth. They said, "We're able to come up and defeat these people." The other said, "No, we're not able." So here's my question. Did the people believe the truth or did they believe a lie?
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And the answer is they believed the lies. Why? Let's go back to the first point. Because they were already walking in fear. You see, they did not wish to face their enemies. They did not wish to fight. Fear prevailed in their lives, and they not only believed the lies, listen carefully, but they also denied the truth. Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth. Let me show you. We read it. We'll read it again.
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Look in Numbers chapter 14. Here it is. When you believe a lie, and they believed it, you deny the truth. Watch verse 1. "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would God we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain and let us return into the land of Egypt."
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Now, I want you to note what they were doing. They were denying God's promises. They were denying God's power. They chose to believe a lie. They chose to believe those who spake against God. They chose to believe those who were fearful and cowards. They chose to believe that God could not and would not deliver them. They chose to believe that they had it better back in Egypt in slavery. And they chose to believe that their will and their way was better than God's and what they needed to do was to point in a captain and return into slavery. Wow.
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So you have two men speaking the truth and you have 10 men speaking lies. You remember, there were only 12 spies. So that means there were six times more lies being broadcast than truth. Everybody's heard the old adage, "A lie will go around the world while truth is putting her boots on." And then the other one, "If you tell a lie loud enough and long enough, most people will believe it's the truth."
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And that's what has basically happened in this country. We, like Old Testament Israel, have believed lies and refused the truth. Very few people today really entertain biblical concepts and compare what is being said with the Word of God. We have been purposefully misinformed, propagandized, and we have absorbed humanistic error. We have been seduced, we've been led astray, and we have been drawn from truth into error. Hardly anyone reads anymore. Hardly anyone researches anymore. Hardly anyone searches for truth anymore. We listen to the mainstream media, and most people believe everything that they hear. In fact, if you change channels, you will hear the same thing on every channel on TV. Isn't that amazing?
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Let me give you three quotes that I came across this past week. Here they are. Number one, "The terms propaganda, misinformation, and fake news often overlap in meaning. They are used to refer to a range of ways in which sharing information causes harm, intentionally or unintentionally, usually in relation to the promotion of a particular moral or political cause or point of view. It is possible to separate out three clearly different uses of information which fall into this category.
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Here they are, listen carefully. Misinformation. That is false information shared with no intention of causing harm. Disinformation. That is false information shared intentionally to cause harm. Malinformation. That is true information shared intentionally to cause harm. So you have misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.
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Now here are the two other short quotes. The first one is by Robert Black. "In dictatorships, the media is controlled by the state. In democracies, the media is controlled by wealthy individuals with political affiliations. Objective media and journalists simply do not exist in the mainstream." And that's true. And here's the last one. "One of the greatest responsibilities for the people of our time is to accept everything that he hears in the pro-government media as a lie and to investigate the truth from independent sources personally." Yeah, everything you hear, accept it as a lie.
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I remember years and years ago when I had TV and I used to listen to the news, I discovered that if I believed exactly the opposite of what was being reported, I'd come closer to the truth. And that certainly is true. May I point out something? Truth is still truth even if it is rejected and refused. Ha! Joshua and Caleb were right. They were telling the truth.
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But the people didn't believe them. But the truth was still the truth. So there are so many voices today. There's so much ranting and raving. How do we know who to believe? And the answer is this. We believe those whose reports are in line with the word of God. Everything else is a lie. Everything else is a lie. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who brought back a true report. What was the truth? The truth was based upon the promises of God. It was based upon the Word of God. Caleb said, we read it earlier, he stilled the people and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are quite capable of taking and overcoming."
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If you look at Numbers 14, look at verse 7, "And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is a good land, if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give us a land which is full of milk and honey." Let's go get it, boys. That was the truth. And the truth was the truth in spite of the lies, in spite of the fear, in spite of the rebellion.
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And you have to understand that the promises of God were on the side of the Israelites. God had never promised to help the Canaanites. He had never promised to help the Anakims. No! All the promises and all the power was on the side of the Israelites. That was the truth. And yet they chose to walk in a lie.
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Now, I want you to look very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7. Look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 7, verse 17. Watch. Deuteronomy 7, verse 17. "If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and all Egypt." Remember I told you fear originates in our own forgetfulness? He said you should well remember this. "The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out, so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them, for the Lord thy God is among you a mighty God and terrible.
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And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little. Thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings unto thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven. There shall no man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them."
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Let me just show you something. This is vitally important. When you get to Numbers 13 and 14, the people were about to go into Canaan land, but they rebelled against the Lord. They feared, they disbelieved, and they believed a lie. And consequently now they had to wander 40 years in the wilderness until all the fighting men died. And so 40 years later, all of the children whom they said would be a prey, now they are the ones who are going to go in and conquer the land. Let this sink in. The ones who went in to conquer the land did not have any more promises or any more power. There were no additional promises given. There's no additional power given.
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In other words, the original group had the same promise and the same power available through God. One group just feared and believed a lie, while the other group did believe and go in and conquer. If you'll turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3 and just go ahead and mark this passage because we will come back and I will re-read it and add a verse or two. We'll look in Hebrews chapter 3 and verses 17 through 19. Here it is.
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"But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." So notice if you would, he was grieved with them for 40 years until their carcasses fell in the wilderness.
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So let me put it to you like this. It does matter as to whether or not you believe the truth. It does matter as to whether or not you act upon the truth. It does matter to whom you listen. And if you will not walk in the truth, you will walk in a lie. Anytime you believe a lie, you deny the truth. And anytime you deny the truth, you believe a lie. So you can choose whether or not to walk in truth or a lie as a child of God. You can choose whether to walk in fear or faith.
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Here's the third thing that I want to point out. We will choose either to walk in praise or in provocation. I'm going to show you this again in just a moment. Praise should always be in our hearts and on our lips. In fact, we have been given a command in Hebrews 13 and verse 15, and listen carefully, "By him, that is by the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Note, if you would, "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips given thanks to his name." Now, listen carefully.
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When situations and circumstances come our way that we do not desire and we do not understand, we have a unique opportunity. We can either praise the Lord and ask for his mercy and grace to give us wisdom and insight or we can whine and complain and bellyache and gripe and provoke God. I'll be absolutely honest, I would not have chosen for Alice to have been sick. I would not have chosen to have come down with sinus.
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But I've got news for you. I'm thankful that God has been gracious and kind to spare us this long. And I'm thankful, and I praise Him for every little bit of progress Alice makes, and every little bit of progress that I make. I'm thankful.
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Now, I want us to go back to Numbers chapter 14. And let's begin reading there verse 11. I want you to watch this. We'll read through verse 24. Watch this carefully. Here's a unique opportunity. But notice what God says. Numbers chapter 14, and we're going to begin reading there with verse 11. "And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me? For all of the signs which I have shown among them." Note if you would how God says they provoke me, they do not believe me, and I have demonstrated my power. Look what he says. Here's how provoked he was.
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"I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it. For thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. For they have heard that thou, the Lord, art among his people, that the Lord art seen face to face, that the cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware to them, therefore he slain them in the wilderness. And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty.
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visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." And the Lord said, "I have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Now watch. Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened unto my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers. Neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.
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But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, follow me fully, him will I bring into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it." Now, note if you would, in verse 11, "How long will those people provoke me?" And then when you get to verse 23, he talks about being provoked again. The Hebrew word for provoked is the word na'ats, and it literally means to despise, to condemn, to provoke, to abhor, to blaspheme, and to spurn.
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So provoking God is blaspheming God. It's condemning God. It's spurning God. It's abhorring God. It's despising God. Wow! This is why I'm saying we have to choose whether or not we're going to walk in praise or provocation. You know, they could have taken the attitude, "Giants. Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." But they didn't take that attitude. Go back, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 3.
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I want to add just a few more verses to the passage we read earlier. Let's go back to Hebrews 3 and let's begin reading with verse 15. Hebrews 3 verse 15. "While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation." Isn't that amazing? That whole period is called the provocation. "For some, when they heard, did provoke. How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." Now watch.
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"But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And whom swear he that they should not enter in unto his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."
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Now, let me stop right there just for a moment. You're going to say, "Well, what in the world has that got to do with me?" May I remind you that 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle takes everything that happened to Israel and applies it to the Corinthian Church. And he says, "Everything that happened to them happened for our example, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
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Now, after his warning, I want you to look in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left of us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." In other words, don't act like they did in the wilderness. "For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." They heard the truth. But the truth was not mixed with faith, it was mixed with fear. And they believed a lie instead of the truth. And consequently, instead of praising God, they provoked God. Now listen to me. When you walk in fear, you will be walking in a lie. And when you walk in fear and walk in a lie, you will walk in a provoking manner to God. It's only faith that will allow you to walk in truth and allow you to praise God.
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Now let me make some applications. Think about these. Number one, you do have a choice. You do. You can choose whether or not you're going to walk in fear or walk in faith.
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Now it is true that many times we don't know the answers. There are experiences come upon us and we don't necessarily like. But the truth of the matter is this, fear sometimes just catches our hearts. It gets in our mind. What are we to do? We're to say, "Lord, I refuse that fear. That fear is wicked. It is ungodly. It is unbiblical. You have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. And Lord, I refuse it."
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I will walk in faith. I believe your word. It's kind of like that passage in Isaiah 12, where the word of God said, "I will trust and not be afraid." When our oldest daughter was about two to three years old, she was afraid of the dark. I taught her that verse. You could hear her get up during the night, walking in the dark to the light switch, and you could hear her saying, "I will trust and not be afraid. I will trust and not be afraid." Until she found that light switch. Well, that's what we can do until we find the light switch. We can trust and not be afraid. That is for sure. But have you considered that all of your choices should be made in light of the Word of God? You see, you do choose whether to walk in fear or faith. You do choose whether to walk in lie or truth. You do choose whether to walk in a praising manner or a provoking manner. Here's another thing. We need to also consider how much needless trouble and heartache we bring upon ourselves in failing to walk in a pleasing manner before God.
#75 | 50:07 to 51:28 | cleaned
You know, I don't have it with me, but I did figure it up one time. There were over 600,000 men who came out of Egypt. That doesn't count the women and children. And they died in 40 years. And I divided 40 years into the 600 and whatever thousand it was, and got how many died a year. Then I divided the months, then I divided the days. Do you realize?
#76 | 51:33 to 52:10 | cleaned
There are multitudes of people dying every day. Not a family missed. I mean, somebody died. I've often thought, what do they do about funerals? Maybe that's why it took them 40 years. I'm just simply saying, usually when we sin against God and we're disobedient, and we dig ourselves into a hole, and we think, somehow if I could just stay in this hole and not repent, and not change, then things are going to be different. No, you're just going to dig yourself deeper into the hole. So we can save ourselves an awful lot of heartache by saying, "Lord, just enable me to walk in faith, not in fear. Enable me to walk in truth and not a lie. Enable me to walk praising and not provokingly." You have to also choose each day whom you're going to serve. I think it's a good thing to do when you wake up every morning before you ever get out of bed. Say, "Lord, this day I choose to serve Thee. I choose to worship Thee. I choose to honor Thee.
#77 | 52:12 to 53:28 | cleaned
I choose to walk biblically and scripturally. And I ask you, Father, to make me holy, make me godly, make me obedient, give me wisdom, give me insight, lead me, guide me, direct me. I present my body unto Thee a living sacrifice. Help me, Lord, to walk pleasing unto Thee today. That's my choice. I want to honor Him. I want to obey Him. And He tells us we need to make sure that there's not a promise that we do not receive for failing to believe. Do not walk in fear. Walk in faith. Do not walk in a lie. Walk in the truth. Do not walk in a provocation. Walk in praise. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee.
#78 | 53:29 to 54:29 | cleaned
We thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. And we ask, Lord, that you'd make us holy and godly and obedient. And Father, give us your wisdom and your direction. We ask in thy holy and blessed name. Amen.
#79 | 54:29 to 55:21 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:39:01Z

You Do Have A Choice

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver uses the account of the twelve spies in Numbers 13–14 to teach that believers daily face a choice between walking in fear or faith, truth or error, and praise or provocation. He emphasizes that fear originates in forgetfulness of God's works, leads to believing lies, and provokes God, while faith trusts God's promises and leads to obedience and praise. The message calls Christians to consciously choose each day to serve the Lord, walk in biblical truth, and reject the spirit of fear.

Introduction: The Reality of Daily Choices

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that we make choices every day, from our attitudes to our spiritual walk, and that the Israelites in Numbers 13–14 made poor choices.

Scripture Reading — Joshua 24:14-15

"Choose you this day whom you shall serve, whether you're going to serve the gods on the other side of the flood, or you're going to serve the gods of this land."

But he said,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 24:14-15

"As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord."

Choose Between Fear and Faith

Fear and faith are opposites; the Israelites' fear was based on forgetfulness of God's miracles, leading them to see themselves as helpless grasshoppers and to disbelieve God's promises.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:31-33

"But the men that went up with him said, We may not be able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."

And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:31-33

"The land through which we have gone to search it, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

Fear Leads to Blasphemy and Rebellion

The people's fear caused them to accuse God of bringing them out to die, to desire a return to Egypt, and to rebel against His command.

I want you to note this. Romans 8 and verse 15. Look what the scripture says.

Scripture Reading — Romans 8:15

"For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

Faith Believes God's Promises and Sees Opposition as Opportunity

Caleb and Joshua demonstrated faith by declaring they were well able to overcome, trusting God's delight and power, and viewing the enemy as bread.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 13:30

Ah, here is what the truth of the matter is. If we have faith, you believe in the abilities and in the strength that God has given you. It's not that you're trusting in yourself. You're trusting in God who gave you that strength and who gave you that ability. In other words, the statement by Caleb here is much like the statement by Paul in Philippians 4:13 when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He said, "We're quite capable of doing this." You have to remember that James 1:8 says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And secondly, I want you to understand that faith always sees the promises of God. And faith believes that opposition is nothing more than an opportunity for God to prove himself. So look at Numbers chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. Numbers 14, verse 6.

But may I remind you, the Bible says in Psalm 44,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 44:1-3

"We've heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old, how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantest them, how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thou, O God."

Now, notice if you would, did they have to fight? Yes, but whose sword was it? It was God's sword. It was God's power.

Choose Between Truth and Error

The ten spies spread lies, and the people believed them, denying God's truth. Believers must test all reports against Scripture and reject misinformation.

Choose Between Praise and Provocation

The Israelites provoked God through unbelief and complaining, while believers are called to offer the sacrifice of praise continually, even in difficult circumstances.

I want to add just a few more verses to the passage we read earlier. Let's go back to Hebrews 3 and let's begin reading with verse 15. Hebrews 3 verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:15-19

"While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation."

Isn't that amazing? That whole period is called the provocation.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:15-19

"For some, when they heard, did provoke. How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses."

Now watch.

Applications: Making Daily Choices to Honor God

Weaver urges believers to consciously choose each day to walk in faith, truth, and praise, refusing fear and lies, and to avoid needless heartache by obeying God.

Now let me make some applications. Think about these. Number one, you do have a choice. You do. You can choose whether or not you're going to walk in fear or walk in faith.

You Do Have A Choice

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	qz2ToGYWreA
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-11-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 34
Source Timed Segments	79

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Reality of Daily Choices: Weaver introduces the topic by noting that we make choices every day, from our attitudes to our spiritual walk, and that the Israelites in Numbers 13–14 made poor choices.
Choose Between Fear and Faith: Fear and faith are opposites; the Israelites' fear was based on forgetfulness of God's miracles, leading them to see themselves as helpless grasshoppers and to disbelieve God's promises.
Fear Leads to Blasphemy and Rebellion: The people's fear caused them to accuse God of bringing them out to die, to desire a return to Egypt, and to rebel against His command.
Faith Believes God's Promises and Sees Opposition as Opportunity: Caleb and Joshua demonstrated faith by declaring they were well able to overcome, trusting God's delight and power, and viewing the enemy as bread.
Choose Between Truth and Error: The ten spies spread lies, and the people believed them, denying God's truth. Believers must test all reports against Scripture and reject misinformation.
Choose Between Praise and Provocation: The Israelites provoked God through unbelief and complaining, while believers are called to offer the sacrifice of praise continually, even in difficult circumstances.
Applications: Making Daily Choices to Honor God: Weaver urges believers to consciously choose each day to walk in faith, truth, and praise, refusing fear and lies, and to avoid needless heartache by obeying God.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Fear is unnatural for the believer because God has not given a spirit of fear.

Weaver argues from Romans 8:15 and 2 Timothy 1:7 that fear is not from God and should be completely unnatural for a child of God.

He reads Romans 8:15, 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,' and 2 Timothy 1:7, 'For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.'

Fear belittles one's strength and magnifies the enemy's strength.

The Israelites viewed themselves as grasshoppers, helpless before the giants, which was a distortion caused by fear.

Weaver points to Numbers 13:33, 'we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,' and explains that fear always magnifies weaknesses and enemy strengths.

Believing a lie necessarily means denying the truth.

When the Israelites believed the evil report, they simultaneously denied God's promises and power.

Weaver states, 'Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth,' and shows from Numbers 14:1-4 how the people denied God's ability to deliver them.

Unbelief provokes God and leads to severe consequences.

The Israelites' unbelief provoked God to bar that generation from the Promised Land, demonstrating that failure to believe has serious repercussions.

Weaver cites Numbers 14:11, 23 and Hebrews 3:17-19, emphasizing that they could not enter because of unbelief.

Faith sees opposition as an opportunity for God to prove Himself.

Caleb and Joshua viewed the giants not as threats but as 'bread for us,' trusting that God would fight for them.

Weaver quotes Numbers 14:9, 'they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not,' and references Dr. Bob Jones Sr.'s saying about doors of opportunity.

Scripture References

Numbers 13:17-20: Moses sends the spies to search out the land of Canaan.
Numbers 13:23-24: The spies cut down a cluster of grapes at the brook of Eshkol.
Numbers 13:30: Caleb stills the people and declares they are well able to overcome.
Numbers 13:31-33: The ten spies bring an evil report, saying they are as grasshoppers before the giants.
Numbers 14:1-4: The congregation weeps, murmurs, and desires to return to Egypt.
Numbers 14:6-9: Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and urge the people not to rebel or fear, for the Lord is with them.
Numbers 14:11-24: God threatens to disinherit Israel; Moses intercedes; God pardons but swears the unbelieving generation will not see the land.
Deuteronomy 1:21-22: Moses recounts God's command to possess the land and the people's request to send spies.
Deuteronomy 7:17-24: God instructs Israel not to fear the nations but to remember His deliverance from Egypt.
Joshua 24:14-15: Joshua challenges the people to choose whom they will serve; he declares his household will serve the Lord.
Psalm 44:1-3: The psalmist recounts how God drove out the nations, not by their own sword.
Romans 8:15: Believers have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption.
2 Timothy 1:7: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
Hebrews 3:15-19: The Israelites could not enter God's rest because of unbelief; their rebellion is called 'the provocation.'
Hebrews 4:1-2: The gospel was preached to them, but it did not profit because it was not mixed with faith.
1 John 4:18: Perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment.
1 Corinthians 10:11: All these things happened to Israel as examples for us upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Hebrews 13:15: By Christ we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
John 17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 14:6: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Historical References

Martin Luther's response to the bubonic plague in the 1500s: Weaver quotes Luther's balanced approach: trusting God, taking precautions, and not avoiding ministry to neighbors.
Dr. Bob Jones Sr.'s saying about opportunity and opposition: Weaver quotes, 'The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition,' to illustrate that faith sees opposition as opportunity.

Important Quotes

Fear and faith are absolutely opposite. You cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.

Establishes the foundational dichotomy of the sermon: fear and faith are mutually exclusive.

Forgetfulness produces fear.

Identifies the root cause of fear as forgetting God's past works and promises.

We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Illustrates how fear distorts self-perception and magnifies the enemy.

The doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition.

A memorable quote from Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to encourage faith in the face of obstacles.

Whenever you believe a lie, you deny the truth.

Highlights the inevitable consequence of accepting falsehood.

Truth is still truth even if it is rejected and refused.

Affirms the objective nature of truth regardless of human response.

How long will this people provoke me?

God's response to Israel's unbelief, showing the seriousness of provoking Him through fear and lies.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what areas of your life are you most tempted to walk in fear rather than faith? How can remembering God's past faithfulness help you overcome that fear?

[Context]

Weaver teaches that fear originates in forgetfulness of God's works and that we must choose to walk in faith.

[Question]

How can you practically 'test' the messages you hear from media, government, or culture against the truth of God's Word?

[Context]

Weaver warns that we are bombarded with misinformation and must believe those whose reports align with Scripture.

[Question]

What does it look like to offer a 'sacrifice of praise' when circumstances are difficult or painful?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts praising God with provoking Him through complaining, using his own family's health struggles as an example.

[Question]

Why is it impossible to walk in both fear and faith simultaneously? How does 1 John 4:18 support this?

[Context]

Weaver states that fear and faith are opposites and that perfect love casts out fear.

[Question]

The ten spies brought an 'evil report' that was factually true about the giants but lacked faith. How can we avoid presenting true facts in a way that spreads fear and unbelief?

[Context]

Weaver notes that the spies' report focused on the obstacles rather than God's promises.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'the provocation' in Hebrews 3 challenge you to examine your own heart's response to God's commands?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the Israelites' unbelief provoked God and barred them from His rest.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T08:50:19Z