FOCUSED! [Pastor R. A. Deem, Jr.] And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30 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. INTRODUCTION: Helen Keller was asked, "What would be worse than being born blind?" She replied, "To have sight without vision". What does it mean to be a person of vision? Vision is the ability to see God's presence, to perceive God's power, and to focus on God's plan in spite of the obstacles. Someone has defined vision as the ability to see above and beyond the majority. The eagle has 8 times as many visual cells per cubic centimeter than does a human. At 600 feet and eagle can spot an object the size of a dime moving through 6 inch grass. The eagle can see a 3 inch fish jumping in a lake 5 miles away. Eagle like people can envision what most would miss. Vision for me is the capacity to allow God through His creative powers to create within us dreams and plans for the future that will help others and bring glory to Himself. The key seems to be in our responsiveness to act on His leadership. It is not that God desires to hold back the vision but rather our inability to believe Him for what He has placed in our hearts. Vision is blurred at best without focus. You may be able to see, but if this sight is not focused, you become handicapped. You can tell objects are there, but you can't quite make out what they are. You can see words on a page, but they are simply jumbled forms put together rather than comprehensible sentences and thoughts. When our vision becomes blurred, we go to an optometrist for a new set of glasses. This morning, it is my desire for us all to be fitted with "Kingdom glasses" to enhance and sharpen our focus. Numbers chapter 13 gives us a paradigm – a model – an illustration of vision and focus. When the children of Israel were led forth from the laborious life of Egyptian captivity, they set their eyes on a land of promise. The bones of family and friends were carried forth from that torturous land of the Pharaoh in search of a land they would call their own. This land was their destiny. It was to be similar to that parcel of land surrendered by Adam & Eve so many years ago. It was always God's plan to bless His people. Now the land of promise was within view. The Children of Israel had experienced many trials and troubles, but now they stand on the border of paradise. Moses has led them from captivity to this place. And now the word of the Lord comes to Moses saying "Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel:" [13:2] ["Focused!" --- Cont'd] Moses did as he was commanded, and sent 12 men -- one man from every tribe of Israel - - to scout out the land. What can we learn about being focused by this passage? I believe three things. You see in this story, we can find examples of being . . . I. Focused on the Fact [v 27] What is the fact of the promised land? We might ask, "what was God's perspective regarding the land to which He had brought His children." Verse 27 tells us: ". . .We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country--a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is some fruit we have brought as proof." [TLB] This was a land literally flowing with milk and honey. Verse 23 also gives us insight into this land of promise: "And they [the spies] came unto the brook of Eshcol, 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 of the figs." Chapter 14 verse 7 adds to the report: ". . .The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good." This was as close to paradise one could get on this earth. May I tell you it has always been God's will to bless His people. His desire is for His people to experience the best of His creation. We see this principle put forth in the very first book of the Bible "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." [Genesis 1:28] Since the fall, God has continually made provision for reconciliation between He and His creation. I want that to burn deep into your spirit this morning. God has made provision for reconciliation. In the OT, this was accomplished by an elaborate system of sacrifices. You are very aware that in the New Testament, reconciliation is affected by the shed blood of Christ. This great truth is found in 2 Cor 5:18 "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ . . ." and Hebrews 2:17 "Wherefore in all things it behoved him [Jesus] to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Look at another NT Scripture before we return to our text. It will further clarify the lesson we need to learn this morning. It is found in 2 Cor 8:9 "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Now, to tie this in with our text, we find that the children of Israel -- God's people --were standing on the verge of the land of promise -- the land of great blessing. All that could be hoped for lie just ahead. The end of famine, disease, battle, and captivity is seen just across the river. Although God's people were not there yet, the land was theirs. I don't want you to miss that point this morning. The land was theirs. You might say, "Pastor, I thought the scripture said the land belonged to the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites and Canaanites." No, these warring nations may have been occupying the land, but it was not theirs. The land of promise belonged to the children of God. Canaan land may have been ["Focused! --- Cont'd] occupied by hostile forces, but it still belonged to God's people. I want you to say that with me this morning: The land of promise belongs to God's people! How can I make that bold assertion? Because it is what God's Word declares. Look at verse 1 & 2: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel . . ." How many of you believe that God says what He means and means what He says? He did not say ". . .which I will give unto the children of Israel. . ." He said ". . .which I give. . ." It was their land long before they stood at the river looking over into it. God's promise can be traced all the way back to Genesis 13 when He told Abraham: "And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." There may have been unwanted visitors -- there may have been enemies occupying the land from time to time, but I want you to get this: This land belonged to the children of Israel. It was the land of promise -- the promise coming from God Himself. And so, we see first their land -- It was a land of promise. It was a land of great blessing. All they had to do was go over and take possessions of their blessings! That, my friend is focusing on the fact. The fact of the matter is that God has already given victory. He has already met needs. He has already blessed beyond measure. That is the fact upon which we must focus! However, there was another "focus" present that day. There were those who . . . II. Focused on the Foe [vv 28-29, 32-33] The scouting report, while showing the blessings of the land, also pointed to seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Let's read about them: But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what's more, we saw Anakim giants there! 29 The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River valley are the Canaanites. 32 So the majority report of the spies was negative: "The land is full of warriors, the people are powerfully built, 33 and we saw some of the Anakim there, descendants of the ancient race of giants. We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall!" [TLB] Friends, may I tell you this morning that the peril was a matter of perspective. They were looking at things with "earthly vision" rather than "kingdom glasses". Instead of the fact, they were focusing on the foe. Instead of rallying to possess their possessions; they were retreating in fear. Look at their appraisal of the situation: The people are strong. The cities are walled. There are warriors in the land. There are giants possessing the land. I want to call your attention to a telling statement found in verse 33: ". . .and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers . . ." [KJV] They had a grasshopper mentality. They were full of doubt -- full of fear -- full of anguish. "We were grasshoppers in our own eyes." ["Focused!" --- Cont'd] I wonder if we have any here this morning with grasshopper mentality? Notice what they said in verse 27: ". . .[the land] flows with milk and honey. . ." Now, in verse 28, we read "Nevertheless". Know what they were saying? Yes this is a great land -- a blessed land -- a promised land, but the risks are too great! These statements betrayed their lack of confidence in the Lord. Let me share a theory with you. I don't believe that the Lord instructed Moses to send spies in the land to find out where the enemies were. We don't find that anywhere in the Word. Moses is the one that instructed the spies to see what kind of people were in the land. The Lord simply said "Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel:" [v 2]. I believe God's purpose was to encourage the children of Israel to go over and take possession of the land. The spies, however began to focus more on the peril than on the promise. Remember what I said earlier: The land of promise belonged to the children of God. Canaan land may have been occupied by hostile forces, but it still belonged to God's people. Yet, 10 of the 12 spies said the promise could not be possessed. You talk about a majority! That's 83%!! They were ready to surrender the land of promise rather than claim their possessions. They stood prepared to forfeit that which God had promised them. They operated on the wisdom of the flesh rather than the Word of the Almighty God! It made little difference to them that God had promised them this parcel of land. We find at work here a negative spirit who's only creative energy has been focused on why something can not or should not be done. And may I tell you Negativism in infectious. Chapter 14: 1-4 illustrates for all of us the power and influence of attitude: Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron. "We wish we had died in Egypt," they wailed, "or even here in the wilderness, 3 rather than be taken into this country ahead of us. Jehovah will kill us there, and our wives and little ones will become slaves. Let's get out of here and return to Egypt!" 4 The idea swept the camp. "Let's elect a leader to take us back to Egypt!" they shouted. Instead of focusing on the fact of God's promise, these people had chosen to focus rather on the foe of God's promise! But, let's not stop there. Let's go forward to view two who . . . III. Focused on the Future [ v 30] I realize it would be many years before the children of Israel would ultimately possess their possessions, but there were 2 men who were ready to do it immediately. Verse 30, of Numbers 13 tells us the response of Caleb: "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." Numbers 14:7-8 adds Joshua's testimony to that of Caleb: "And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8 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." The majority felt that possessing the land was an impossibility. The minority felt they should immediately go up and possess it. Let me show you something. Do you know who of those listed in Numbers 13 - 14 actually went into the land of promise. There were only 2 -- Caleb and Joshua. ["Focused! --- Cont'd] Numbers 14:36-38 says: "And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still." Why? They believed the word of God and didn't look at the circumstances. Thank God for men like Caleb and Joshua that will courageously look adversity in the face, and say: "That promise is mine! I'm not going to wait for you to give it to me, I'm going to take it from you!!" Here's how scripture describes Caleb: "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it." [Numbers 14:24] Thank God for men who have "another spirit" with them. Thank God for those who refuse to focus on the foe, but rather focus on the fact and the future. Thank God for those who see things as God sees them. Scripture tells us that after their failure, the children of Israel had to wander another 40 years in the wilderness. 40 more years of eating manna. 40 more years of inhaling the dust of the desert. 40 more years of parched desert terrain. 40 more years of unthinkable hardships. Why? Because the majority failed to go up and possess their possessions. Because they failed to believe the Word of God. Because their vision was blurred. Their focus was on the wrong thing. Make no mistake about it, the land of promise would eventually be occupied by the children of Israel, led by Joshua and Caleb -- but the occupation would be later rather than sooner. Most of those living in the time of Numbers 13 surrendered the deeds to the land of promise. Moses himself never entered into that promised land. It was there, ready for the taking -- yet doubt and fear stopped God people from His blessing. CONCLUSION. I remind you again of the words of Helen Keller, what is worse than being born blind, to have sight without vision. What should we carry away from this message this morning? 1. We must shift our focus. We must see things as God sees them, not as they appear. 2. We are still claiming the promises of the Word! 3. We must focus again upon that which God plans for Harvest Temple. Remember, it is our vision . . . 4. It makes no difference the adversity --- God has already given us the Land!