Turning now to the book of Numbers, chapter 12 and verse 1. The book of Numbers, chapter 12, verse 1. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. We come to this twelfth chapter and hopefully this evening we will proceed through chapter 13 and part of chapter 14 looking at turning points in life and particularly in church life. And we noted in our studies in numbers that the enemy of souls, the devil, attacked the congregation, the people of God generally, and created havoc. And now in this 12th chapter, which I shall look at just briefly, he attacks the leadership of the congregation, of the people of God. So Satan strikes at the leaders, Miriam and Aaron in particular. Miriam is named first, And we generally assume that that is because she started the problem. Miriam and Aram speak against Moses, derogatory things, and particularly in the criticism of his marriage. Of course, it's difficult to know whether this is a term, an Ethiopian woman, of his only wife. And it's a derogatory term of whether she had died and now he had married, our version says, an Ethiopian woman, a Kashite woman. But they found fault with this. Why? We're not told. Perhaps if she was a second wife, the first wife having died, perhaps Miriam felt her position and her influence was in some way threatened by Moses having with him this woman. Maybe there were other reasons, but whatever the cause, it was entirely unnecessary, and God's anger was against Miriam and against Aaron. Verse 2, and they said, and here is the main point, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. They wanted some equality with Moses. It's often suggested that Aaron, for his part, may have been overlooked, because God did not mention him, in the appointing of the elders. Perhaps that's so. Again, it's hard to say. But Aaron had office, the high priest's office, gone to his head, and the wearing of the special garments and so on, because both he and Miriam seemed to have got themselves worked up to thinking it was vital to them to have greater recognition and to be equal to Moses. And they forgot that Moses was God's special appointment, and God revealed himself to him in a very different way, and he was the one who God had called to lead this work. But they felt perhaps left out and boosted. The Lord heard. Verse 3. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. As we believe that the Pentateuch is written by Moses, and this is inserted by him, he's working under inspiration of God, and he says something which by his very nature he would not have said of himself. Can you imagine the person who was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth mentioning it in this connection? However, if Moses wrote this, as we believe he did, obviously it was pressed upon him to insert this comment, and it's a very important comment because it shows, as we read the narrative, that Moses had done nothing to provoke this jealousy. or he had not treated them or been condescending to them and therefore brought it about. And that's made clear. He'd set an example to them, in fact, never seeking special praise or notice for himself, but they hadn't followed it. And probably it's important to know how meek Moses was and how unblemished his record was because it helps you to see in a way that it made it easier for Miriam and Aaron to rebel and to object to him. It's not his fault that they did that, but if he is not somebody who is trying to assert his own authority, then obviously, however wonderful and creditable that is, he's exposed to unworthy conduct. And it was. And verse 4, the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam. It implies that the culprits, Aaron and Miriam, had no idea what was going to happen. Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they came out. And verse five, the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called, not Moses, but Aaron and Miriam. And they came forth. And then comes the reproof of the Lord. It isn't a reproof to dismiss them or to put them all together down. They're going to continue as privileged leaders and as prophet and prophetess but there's going to be a measure of punishment for Miriam, and shame, which is going to teach her, but, well, you'll see the balance. In verse six, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, that applies to the two of them, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. But it was so much different for Moses. Verse seven, my servant Moses is not so. who is faithful in all mine house, scrupulously faithful. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, which probably means that God will so speak to Moses in a very personal, authoritative, and clear way, with Moses able to respond. For clarification, in prayer, in praise, there will be conversation. And that is how it had been. Moses was the great interceder, and he had cried out and prayed, and God had virtually interacted with him. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, as person to person, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, in mysteries, which have to be understood, and by the very nature of the case, the message that came in a vision often had to be studied very carefully. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Not the Lord, but some form of divine appearance which was overwhelming to him and spoke of the glory of God. Wherefore then were ye not afraid? Why are you so disrespectful to speak against my servant Moses? And God somehow, well we know how in the case of Miriam, showed his anger against them both. and departed, the cloud departed. And verse 10, Miriam was leprous, white as snow. And Aaron, he wasn't, but he looked upon Miriam and he said to Moses in verse 11, alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us. There's repentance on the part of Aaron and presumably on the part of Miriam also. Lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned. Aaron is filled with repentance, but he doesn't want Miriam to be cut out and never used again and never to be instrumental in the way that God gave her privileges to be. Let her not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed and so on. And Moses prayed. Only Moses could pray out of the three of them at that moment, because you cannot effectively intercede when your hands are unclean. And that's what we remember, to have a ministry of intercession, to pray for others, to call upon the Lord for their salvation or for their help and blessing. We have to be walking with the Lord. Moses, he was the one alone who could cry out for Miriam, heal her now, O God. Verse 13, I beseech thee. And the response of the Lord in verse 14 is that Miriam must be out of the camp for seven days, shut out before she would be whole. And in verse 15, that was what happened. And all the people in the camp stayed in that place. So it was a massive public shame. And Miriam would never forget that and would never lift herself up again nor Aaron. And afterward the people removed and went on with the journey. So we begin just with a glance at that twelfth chapter because it's so important. Satan will attack leaders, pastors, elders without doubt all the time but From time to time perhaps it may be that he will attack them with the desire for notice and great pride and resentment at correction possibly that was stewing inside Aaron. He'd been corrected previously. and then failure to keep themselves humble before the Lord. So chapter 11 deals with the fall of the whole congregation, or many people in it, and chapter 12, the leaders. The Bible leaves nothing untouched if it deals with the rank and file, it deals with the leaders also. But now we pass to chapter 13, which most of you will be quite familiar with these events, the sending of the spies. And Deuteronomy chapter 1 tells us, as I'm sure you know, that in fact the sending of the spies was the initiative of the people. They cried out, for spies to be sent ahead. Moses approved it and God approved it, but it was the people who wanted it, probably for quite different reasons from those of Moses. They wanted it, we may anticipate, because of their faithlessness, because they were timid and anxious. and they wanted to be sure of everything. But Deuteronomy 1 tells us that they first of all put up the plea, and now in Numbers chapter 13, that's disregarded here, and it reads as though it was the Lord to Moses in the first place. Verse 2 of chapter 13, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan. which I give unto the children of Israel. And there's going to be one representing each tribe. Every one of those people will be a ruler among them. Now they're not people who've been named as elders or rulers previously, but obviously they are tried and trusted people. part of the mechanism of leadership in their tribes, and they're listed here in chapter 13, in verses 4 down to 16, with two notable names, Joshua, well, Joshua is renamed from Usher by Moses, and Caleb. And in verse 17, Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and they have to do it thoroughly. And from verse 18, all the kind of information that is required from them, the kind of land, the number and state of the cities, the state and condition of the occupants, whether the land is fertile or whether it's wooded, and they're to collect specimen fruits, It's the right time of the year for them to be able to do that. And there's this great word from Moses in verse 20, second half of the verse, and be ye of good courage. That's not just a courtesy. They needed courage. We wonder how they did it. Unlikely that 12 spies stuck together. That would make them rather conspicuous. One would think they would have to split up and go, well, perhaps just in twos. And they would feel very vulnerable and they would feel at risk. So they would need courage and they had to be thorough to spy out the land. So verse 21, they went up and searched the land very thoroughly with the information that were given. and we come down to verse 25, they returned from searching of the land after 40 days and they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel at Kadesh and brought back word unto them. And they told him, verse 27, that is Moses, yes, certainly, it surely flows with milk and honey. And they exhibited the fruits. Nevertheless, verse 28, and it's a terrible 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, very very tall, very powerful people. And then there's mention in verse 29 of the Amalekites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Hittites there. And verse 30, Caleb stilled the people. Why did he do that? Well, because already there was sorrow and unrest. Just the first hearing of these obstacles, and the people were clearly of a mind that this was hopeless, the mission was a disaster, they couldn't go on, and there was tumult beginning even then. I think, in verse 30, Caleb stilled the people. And he said, probably in any number of words, let us go up at once. We should go as soon as we can and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But he, and we read later also Joshua, were for that position. But ten of the spies, responsible men, people who'd been tried as rulers, Nevertheless, in verse 31, we be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And in verse 32, they brought an evil report. And that's a very significant statement. The Hebrew, which is translated their evil, literally means a dishonest report. You could translate it so. A slanderous, infamous report in which they exaggerated everything. It truly was an evil report. They said, we've inspected it, we've researched and searched it, and there are two major problems with it. And this is spelled out in verse 32, halfway through. A land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. That's the first great problem. And that could mean that at that time they inspected it, there was a plague or a disease in parts of the land, and there was trouble there, and therefore they concluded, or chose to conclude, in order to dissuade the people from going, that it was a land where that was habitually the case. a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And the second great objection is that all the people we saw in it, which was an exaggeration of course, are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak. Well that's a tremendous exaggeration, because plainly it's probably the case that they were descendants of Anak, but they wouldn't have been anything like of the proportion of Bild that we read of earlier in scripture. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight. They saw us and they despised us and they treated us with disdain and with contempt. And the effect of this, as you know, on the people was dramatic. Chapter 14, verse 1. And all the people lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. There was mourning, there was misery, they were inconsolable. And all the children of Israel murmured. There was no question of entertaining an attempt, as Caleb had called for. They were commanded by God to go into this land. That meant nothing to them. They would rebel. They'd had all the evidences of the power of God. Up until that point, even now, they were being fed by manna miraculously. And there was the fiery, cloudy pillar and all manner of things for them to remember and to see. And none of that comforted them. The absolute promises of God, nothing spoke to them. Mind you, we can all relate to this to some extent. Is there a believer here, a Christian here, who's had certain assurance of salvation, and tremendous answers to prayer, and wonderful blessings, and understanding of the things of God. Yet at some times, in facing our problems and our trials and our griefs, we found ourselves behaving as though we had no faith and God was powerless to help us and we were inconsolable. Everybody can relate to these moments of extreme and even pathetic and utterly unworthy faithlessness. We have to face that, all of us. and be very careful how we react to the behaviour of the largely unconverted Israelites at this time, and see a reproof to we ourselves. Well, verse 3, the men, and it's the men speaking here, as will be evident, are pathetic. Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto 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? They don't admit to themselves it's their lack of courage, it's their lack of faith. We're only thinking of our wives and children, they say. No, they were thinking of themselves. Briefly, in verse 4, they said one to another, let us make a captain, depose this Moses and let us return into Egypt. This is quite fascinating because they've now opted for something vastly more difficult than going on and attempting to take the promised land. They've now opted for something you'd think much more difficult. How are they going to get back to Egypt? How are they going to traffic back and cross the Red Sea, and how would they be treated when there? Whatever would happen to them? What revenge would they face? Extraordinary how reasoning goes crazy when we're defying what's right and what's from the Lord. It's so with churches today. There are many Bible-believing churches and they will not obey the Lord. in serving him, evangelising their communities, reaching the young. And then when the numbers go down and the churches are depleted, rather than get down to work and what God has called us to do, Like the children of Israel, they propose to do something even more unlikely to succeed. Oh, what we'll do is we'll carry on as we are, we won't open Sunday schools, we won't visit the community, we won't get down to work, we'll just collapse. to the world's culture and try entertaining the people into the house of God. And things that will never work and are absolutely impossible and will never truly build congregations or see people saved. Things that the Spirit of God will never use. And such numbers as they get will only be hollow and sham, not true conversions and true spiritual living. But here it is, you see it all here in this fourth verse, and let us return into Egypt, an impossible thing to accomplish and survive or be happy. But the response of Moses and Aaron in chapter 14 of verse 5 is they fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation and the children of Israel. Let me just return to this for a moment. It's something that has to be emphasized these days. Isn't it remarkable? that there are churches in our land that strive and that reach out where the gospel is preached where people witness, where people visit communities and try all manner of things to win people to the Lord, where the rising generation is reached and Sunday schools and Bible classes. But there are many others equally and there's grand people in those churches and the Lord is loved. And the Bible believed, but they just don't do anything. And it's very hard to try and persuade them to do anything. Now this is the book, Numbers, of mobilization to the service of the Lord. This is the book of conscription. This is the book of warfare. This is the book of going forward and possessing. This book, as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, speaks to us, and reproves us, and urges us forward. Some pastors were telling me last year it was, oh, they were at a particular fraternal and they were talking about Christian conferences and the opinion of some of the ministers there was, don't you go to that tabernacle conference, that school of theology. They're always on about the same thing. They're always talking about spiritual activism. and consecration and doing things for the Lord. They're scarcely Calvinists anymore. Well of course we are. But Calvinism and service for the Lord are not mutually exclusive. They go together and that's what this chapter is about. Now don't go there because they'll make you feel uncomfortable. They're always calling to arms. I hope we're doing many other things also. But that's exactly, it's very sad, even among true believers, but that's exactly the attitude which you find here in the book of Numbers. And no wonder the churches are reduced almost year by year. No, these things are too hard. If you were in our community, some people say, down there in central London, there's something different about that community. You can get lots of children and lots of teenagers and so on, but we can't. It's different here. Why is it different? Other people have done it in similar communities. Other people do. But this is the kind of thing you hear. It's too difficult. It's just like the children of Israel. There are giants in that place. The difficulties are exaggerated. We can't go forward. We can't take the country. And no faith in the promises of God and the commission that he has given. Well, back to chapter 14 and verse 5. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. It was a mark of sorrow and of prayer. And verse six is another attempt to persuade the people, Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. This public demonstration of regret and grief. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying, the land which we pass through and so on is an exceedingly good land. And verse eight is profound. 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. There's a condition. If the Lord delight in us, if we would be used in witness, in service, in Sunday school teaching, in assisting in any way in the work of God, then we have to strive for holiness and be pleasing to the Lord. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land. Only, verse 9, rebel not ye against the Lord. This was an issue of rebellion. Neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred for us. They've left tilled fields and everything for us to take over. And their defence, in the Hebrew, their shadow, is departed from them. And the Lord is with us, fear them not. And again, there's an abundance of matter in that single verse. Their shadow is departed from them. Well, some say there you are, that's the plague that had been there. And the situation with them is that many have died and they're weakened. but more likely it's that the richness of the land had made them a decadent people. and now they were disorganised, their tribes, city-states that wouldn't work together. The people were soft in a sense and had weakened through their immorality and their surplus too, their plenty. And so their shadow or their defence is departed from them. And the Lord is with us, fear them not, But look at the response of the congregation, all the people, in verse 10. All the congregation, bad, shouted out to stone them with stones. And it was only the glory of the Lord appearing that stilled all that. Otherwise Joshua and Caleb would have been stoned, they would have been murdered, but God intervened. So, people get angry. You say to lazy Christians sufficiently, this is the calling of the Christian, to be serving the Lord. What are we doing for the Lord? In the end, the lazy believer gets angry with you. In these days he won't want to stone you, no. He's not quite like an unbelieving Israelite of old, but he will get angry with you and turn against you and be very critical of you. Why are we like that? Why can that happen? Why can churches become so lazy, so idle? And I mentioned this before, but we hear from various people who've gone out from the tabernacle, and the Lord has moved them to another part of the country, and they've settled down in a local church, and they've said, oh, we'd like to start a Sunday school here. And sometimes they've been robustly rejected, and other times people have said, oh, that's very nice. Well, you go ahead. And they have done. And five years later, they've still been the only workers They started it, it's flourished, it's got underway, but nobody's joined them. Nobody's assisted them, nobody's helped them. Why are Bible-believing churches with often dear Christians, why are they like that? What brought about this strange culture in evangelical churches over the years, whereby people don't expect to do anything now? People are not putting themselves forward to do things. What's happened? Never used to be like that. Again, if I can play grandpa for a while, I'd remember days when it wasn't like that. When in every church people expected to be busy for the Lord, and active, and productive, and doing things. What happened over 40, 50 years that people think you're crazy? If you advocate Christian service and churches acting and people, of course, observing the voluntary principle, nobody must be forced, but people being urged. to labour for the Lord. What's happened? It's astonishing. Well, I could make some suggestions to you, but it wouldn't be fitting. To advocate cure rather than investigate causes is probably more important at the present time. Well, there's the great call to prayer. Verse 11, and the Lord goes about it as he has before with Moses. The Lord said unto Moses, how long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. Well, the Lord has said similar things to Moses. I will make your descendants the bearers of the torch and I will smite all these. But we've seen as previously that it is the Lord's way of calling Moses to action and his sympathy for the people is brought out and his concern for the honour of God and he begins to pray and he uses arguments in prayer. Verse 13, 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 the land, for they have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people, and that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and so on. Now verse 15, if thou shalt kill all of 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. So Moses feels for the honour and glory of God. And no doubt in a most humble way he pleads before the Lord, But Lord, how will this look? How will that preserve thy great and wonderful honor? He wants to know. Verse 17, And thou, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken. And then he pleads, verse 18, that the Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. And he calls for undeserved mercy, but He also brings halfway through verse 18, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and so on. He seems to be praying to the Lord, Lord, can it not be that the judgment will fall only on the worst offenders? The greatest offenders, or perhaps Moses knows that there is a larger portion of the people who were not really crying out the same things that the offenders were crying out. And he prays that the Lord would distinguish and preserve those who were not guilty or less guilty. And verse 19 is his plea for pardon based on those arguments. And verse 20, the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word. What a tremendous encouragement to all who engage in regular intercessory prayer. Moses cries out, probably over a long period of hours, who knows? And immediately, I have pardoned according to thy word. God hears earnest intercessory prayer. So we'll intercede all the more. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. I'm sure Moses understood that. That was a prophecy. That was a prophecy reminding Moses of what this is ultimately all about. That the great descendant of Abraham will come. That the woman's promised seed, promised in the Garden of Eden, will come. And then all the earth will be blessed. All the families of the earth. And the Lord reminds Moses that there is a time coming when all the Gentiles will be blessed through their great descendants. And then verse 22, But the guilty, yes, the people who've seen the miracles, seen the wonders, had all the assurance, and have now tempted me, verse 22, halfway through, these 10 times, we could go through the 10 great events where the people have been unbelieving. Surely they, verse 23, shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it. By contrast Caleb and then later on Joshua will see it. And faith will be rewarded. Verse 24, Caleb is going to come into the land and his seed shall possess it. Faithfulness will be rewarded. Now, the people repent. But it's too late. I ought to just direct your attention to verses 36 and 37. The men which Moses sent to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him. Their sinful, wicked, misrepresentation of the land and attempts to stir the people to discontent are now judged. They slandered the land and, verse 37, they died by the plague of the Lord. They were summarily judged. And the people at large, they repented to, or appeared to, Verse 40. They rose up early in the morning, up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we behear, and I will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised, for we have sinned. Well, I mustn't anticipate the succeeding scriptures, but now they want to go to war, and they want to go up, and they want to possess the land. But it's too late. It's too late. The rebellion has gone on too long. There have been too many events of unbelief. There's been too much disobedience. So that adult generation is going to perish in the wilderness. The entry of the land into the land is going to be delayed. It'll be the younger generation who go. What an awful thought. that God may treat. This is the typical church. Many of them were not true believers, perhaps most of them. But however, it's an awful thought that true believers who will not go to war for souls and will not take up the Lord's commands and will not be useful in his service And churches that constantly reject any attempt to persuade, urge, encourage them. It may be that there'll come a time, it's too late. It's too late. One day they'll look at each other and they'll say, we're down to 20 people. We're down to 10 people. We better do something. But the Lord will not be with them. If they save people, they won't lose their salvation. But it may be that the typical teaching from a passage like this, which 1 Corinthians 10 tells us to take very seriously, may be that we can go too far with disobedience, idleness, laziness, indifference, failure to preach the gospel. And then the Lord will not use us. We've gone too far. What a terrible thing. So we go on persuading ourselves as a congregation, persuading others that you don't have to give way to the world and the culture of the world and the world's music and the world's entertainment as many even Calvinists are doing. changing the entire culture of Christian churches. You don't have to do that. All you have to do is the people of God is see their calling. The book of conscripts, the book of mobilization, the book of action. and God will bless the serious application of his servants. So that seems to me to be the inevitable message of the 12th to 14th chapters of the book of Numbers. May God help us to promote active Christian service. Let's close this evening singing the hymn 490. Hymn number four.