"A Different Spirit"

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 14. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. And the title of this evening's message is A Different Spirit. A Different Spirit. Now that term, a different spirit, is found twice in the Bible.

Once here in the Old Testament, book of Numbers chapter 14, and then once in the New Testament, Second Corinthians 11. In Second Corinthians 11, it's a negative usage of the term. But here in Numbers 14, it is a positive usage of the phrase, a different spirit.

So I just want to look at this one verse, and then we'll pray. Numbers 14, verse 24. The book of Numbers 14, verse 24. The Lord said, but my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

Let's open in prayer. Our Father, as we open your word this evening, may you receive honor, glory, and blessings of praise, for you are worthy as Christ is worthy. I pray that you would motivate, edify, and encourage your people as we look at this account of this great man of faith, Caleb, who you said had a different spirit in him.

And may you dispense a portion of that upon us, so that we may do thy will. I ask it all in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. So at this point in the book of Numbers, the children of Israel had been delivered from a bondage, the land of Egypt.

Moses has received the 10 commandments at Mount Sinai. The nation has been officially established. So you have the people, you have their law, you have the government with the leader, Moses, but there's just one thing that they lack.

And what is that? This nation has no land. They are wandering at this point in the wilderness. They have no land of their own. Now God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. And now the time has come for the children of Israel to enter in to the promised land.

Now skip back to chapter 13 for a moment. Numbers chapter 13, we'll read verses one through three. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a leader among them. So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

So one man from each of the 12 tribes who would inherit the land. Now the tribe of Levi, you remember, they did not inherit any land.

Why?

Because the Lord was their inheritance. So to make up for that, the tribe of Joseph was split into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. So one man from each of the tribes was chosen. And the representative from the tribe of Judah was Caleb.

And the representative from the tribe of Ephraim was a man named Hoshia or Hoshia. We have several pastors here, which is a Hoshia or Hoshia? Hoshia, okay.

You heard it there.

Look at verse 16. Because we hear about these two men, Hoshia and Caleb. The other men, we don't really remember them. Verse 16, and these are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshia the son of Nun.

What did he call him? Joshua. So his name has been changed from Hoshia to Joshua. Hoshia means salvation. Joshua means the Lord is salvation. And many of you probably know that the Hebrew name Joshua, the New Testament Greek equivalent is what?

Jesus.

So Joshua is the same as Jesus. Verse 17, then Moses sent them out to spy out the land of Canaan. And said to them, go up this way into the South and go up to the mountains and see what the land is like.

Whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many, whether the land they dwell in is good or bad, whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds, whether the land is rich or poor and whether there are forests there or not.

And he says, be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. He says, now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So the 12 men went out and they spied out the land for how long?

40 days, 40 days. You've probably noticed this when reading through the scripture, some numbers seem much more significant than others. Talk about the number seven and certainly the number 40 stands out.

There's many stories where the number 40 is mentioned. Why is the number 40 significant in the scripture? Because it speaks of a time of testing. That's what this is. It is a time of testing. The number 40 represents a probationary period, if you will.

Do you remember when Moses was on the Mount with God? He was up there for 40 days and that was a time of testing for the children of Israel down below. And by the way, they failed that test and they worshiped the golden calf.

Jesus was led by the spirit out into the wilderness for how long? For 40 days to be tested or tempted of the devil. And where Israel failed, the Lord Jesus Christ succeeded. So the number 40 is a time, represents a time of testing.

So go out and spy out the land for 40 days. God is testing the children of Israel. He is testing these men. So let's see how they fared, shall we? Look at verse 25. And they returned from spying out the land after 40 days.

Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

Then they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large.

Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South. The Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.

So basically what they're doing is they come back and they say, yes, this truly is a wonderful land that God has spoken of. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. It is fertile. It's a wonderful land.

But don't you love that when people say something and then there's the but and you know what's coming next. So it is a wonderful land. Here's the grapes and the figs. It's great. But then they start in with the excuses.

Here are the excuses of why they can't do what God wants them to do. Isn't that amazing that there's all these people, they know what God has said, but well, I know the Bible says that, but Caleb, Caleb had a different spirit.

He wasn't like the rest. Joshua and Caleb were not like the rest. They had a different spirit. Verse 30, then Caleb, after hearing this, he quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it.

Don't you like that a lot more than what the other said? But the man who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they're stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land, which they had spied out saying the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants.

And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants. Now the Hebrew word is Nephil and it's translated giant. Maybe you've heard of the term, the Nephilim. How many of you have heard of it?

You know, if you Google the Nephilim or the Nephilim, you're gonna find all sorts of interesting stuff on the internet about the Nephilim, a lot of crazy stuff about the Nephilim. So it says the descendants of Anak came from the giants or essentially the Nephilim, or at least that's what the people have come to believe.

Or at least that's the excuse that they're giving. Well, I don't know if we can go in there because we saw the descendants of the giants or there's giants in the land. And notice what they said. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight.

And so we were in their sight. So we're not gonna get into the subject of the Nephilim or the giants, except to say that they are first mentioned in Genesis chapter six. There's the sons of God and the daughters of men.

That's a whole other sermon for another day. Yeah, amen.

One of these days.

There's different theories about that. Again, we're not gonna get into, but they were a strong race of people or a strong group. They had become legendary at this point in history. The spies who gave the bad report believed that the descendants of Anak came from these giants.

Here's the thing. I don't think that can be true because all of the Nephilim were destroyed in the flood. You read about them in Genesis six. What comes after Genesis six?

The flood.

And you have Noah and his family who are saved. Everybody else was wiped out. So I don't think that is actually true, but that's what they're saying. They're giving excuses. I think that's what's taking place.

So basically this legend of the giants lived on. It lived on and now they're offering that up as a reason why they can't go in the land. You know, this has happened throughout history. There are certain nations and ethnicities where people look at them and there's no way we could ever fight them and win, right?

There's some nations today perhaps that seem unbeatable. That's been the case throughout history. And even the children of Israel themselves developed that reputation when the word had spread throughout the land of Canaan of what God had done fighting for them.

But again, this is the excuse the spies offer is why they can't take the land. So the Lord said, let's remember what's happening. The Lord said, do it. And they're giving reasons why they can't do it.

They lacked faith. That's the bottom line. They lacked faith. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, Caleb is the one who speaks up. Caleb had what? He had a different spirit. He wasn't like the rest. He had a different spirit.

When everybody else said no, Caleb said yes. When everyone else was afraid, he was courageous. When everybody else said it's impossible and they lacked faith, Caleb said, no, let's take the land. It's ours.

He had faith. And you know, that's what the church needs today. The church needs more people like Caleb and Joshua, not like the rest of the spies. The Lord could use a few more people that don't back down at the first sign of adversity.

The Lord could use a few more people who don't come up with excuses of why they can't obey the voice of God. The church could use a few more good men and good women who recognize that the arm of the Lord has not been shortened.

Now, what God says is true, and it doesn't matter if it's popular or not. It doesn't matter if the heathen like it or not. The word of God is true. His promises will come to pass, and we need to believe it and not listen to the naysayers.

Amen, isn't this what the church needs? More men like Caleb, less men like the other spies. Now, in 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul says that the Israelites in the wilderness, this is an example. Paul says that these things were written for our, speaking to the church, he's saying they're written for our admonition.

This is basically an example of what not to do. So don't be like everybody else. Let's have a different spirit. Let's not go along with the naysayers. Let's have a different spirit. Again, the other spies, we know Joshua and Caleb.

Do you know the names of the other spies? Well, maybe one or a couple of you do, but most people have forgotten the names of the other spies because quite frankly, they're forgettable. You know, people remember, and history looks at those people who stood out from the rest.

Numbers 13, verse 33, look at it. The 10 spies who lacked faith, they said that in the land, verse 33, there we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak came from the giants. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight.

And so we were in their sight. Now it's possible because there are different ethnicities that are known for being larger than others, right? So it's not unreasonable to think that the men of the land, people they saw were larger than the Israelites.

The giants though, were they actually giants? Let's just address that. I don't know about in Romania or Moldova or any of these countries, do you have the nursery rhyme or that story Jack and the Beanstalk or is that an American thing?

I don't know.

Okay, it's an American thing. Jack and the Beanstalk, this is what? Some giant that's 50 feet tall, 100 feet tall. Obviously that's preposterous, that's not possible. But what about David and Goliath?

Goliath was, he was real, he was a giant. And Goliath, people estimate he was about nine, nine and a half feet tall. That's not unthinkable. There was a man in the 20th century in the Guinness Book of World Records who was somewhere around nine feet tall.

So it's theoretically possible that if the average Israelite was maybe five, six, five, seven, that some of these people looked like giants and that's fine. And that would be a little intimidating. Here's the problem though, notice what they said.

So we are like grasshoppers in their sight, fine. But they said, we are like grasshoppers in our own sight. That's not good. It looks like these men are kind of afraid of their own shadow. What is this?

Is this humility? Is this humility? To me, it sounds like cowardice. That's what it sounds like to me. Christians are often called certain things, since becoming a Christian, I've been called a few different things.

One thing Christians should never be called, we should never be called cowards. In the book of Revelation 21, verse eight, it says, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, and it goes on to list a bunch of sins.

They shall have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21, eight and nine. Does that surprise you? But the cowardly, what's wrong with being cowardly? Well, God sees that there's something wrong with it.

You know what Caleb had? Was he a coward? No, Caleb had a different spirit. His attitude was, hey, let's take the land. Let's do it now.

What are we waiting for?

God is with us. Why are we not obeying God?

He had a different spirit. Okay, now this phrase, like I said, there's two usages of this phrase, different spirit. Once here in the book of Numbers, and then in the New Testament, the apostle Paul talked about those who had a different spirit.

In 2 Corinthians 11, he talked about this. He's talking about a different spirit other than the Holy Spirit. You don't want a different spirit other than the Holy Spirit. But here, he's talking about a spirit of bold, courageous faith that doesn't back down in the sight of adversity.

There's a song. I just wanna use this illustration. If you find this illustration too worldly, just pray for me, okay? There's a song by Tom Petty titled, I Won't Back Down. If some of you know it, don't give me those looks.

I know you do. I'm not singing it, absolutely not. But I'm reminded of that song because it says something about hell. And Tom Petty sings, I won't back down. He says, I won't be turned around. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down.

The spies, they backed down.

That's what they did. They backed down.

Joshua and Caleb though, they had a different spirit. They trusted in God. They had faith that what God said was true. That's what we need. Now, there have been some great men of the faith that have backed down.

You think of the apostle Peter. He denied Jesus three times and Peter backed down. That's true, but what happened? He repented, he made that right. He was sorry about it and the Lord forgave him. You know who wants us to back down?

The enemy wants us to back down. The devil wants us to back down. We're really up against it here in the 21st century. If you're a Christian trying to walk with the Lord, you don't need me to tell you, do you?

You face the pressure, you feel the pressure, you see where things are going and it can be a little, well, it is concerning. It could be a little scary where things might go. We can't think that way though.

We need to trust in God and His promises. God is on our side, not because He's on our side, but because we are on His side, amen? We know how the story ends, so don't get discouraged. It's easy to do.

The spies, they were discouraged. We need to have a different spirit. Just considering all that and the things that we face, people are going to try to get you to compromise or to back down or to feel ashamed that you're a Christian.

And let me just speak to the young people for a moment. It's always difficult to stand out from the crowd when you're young. You know, you want to be accepted by your peers. It's really hard to be 14, 15, 16, 17, and be the only one who says, hey, I believe in Jesus Christ and I'm not going along with all that.

Very hard to do. It's kind of hard to do as an adult too. Don't ever apologize to the heathen. Don't ever be ashamed. Don't ever apologize for your faith.

Doesn't matter what it is.

Don't ever apologize. Obviously, if you do something wrong, you apologize. Don't make them make you feel ashamed. So faith should bring strength. It should bring boldness. Unbelief though, leads to cowardice.

Once you start walking down that unbelieving road, it leads to cowardice and compromise. Again, Revelation 21 verses seven and eight, he who overcomes shall inherit all things. And I will be his God and he shall be my son.

But what?

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, because the two really do go hand in hand, the cowardly and the unbelieving. They shall have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

So not entering into the promised land because you fear the world. That's what the spies were. They were afraid of the world, so to speak. The Canaanite tribes, they were afraid. What would that look like today?

That would look like someone today, they claim the name of Christ and they stop following Christ because of the adversity of the world. Let's get back into the text, chapter 14. Chapter 14, verses one through three.

So the spies give what? A bad report. Says, so all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried and the people wept that night. They had nothing to be weeping about, just trust in God, but they did.

Verse two, and all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness, why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword?

That our wives and children should become victims. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?

What is this?

This is cowardice. It's cowardice. I might call it pathetic, if I can use that term. You know what else it is? It's blasphemous. It's blasphemous. They're accusing the Lord of evil. God just brought us out here so he could kill us.

It's an accusation against God. So the people did what? They complained against Moses through the power of God gave them their freedom. They complained against Moses and really they were complaining against the Lord because Moses was God's man.

The people in the wilderness, they're always griping and complaining. If you've read Exodus and Numbers, this is just a reoccurring theme again and again, God's people just griping and complaining, right?

That's an easy thing to do, isn't it? To just complain about all the things that are going wrong. Let's face it, there's a lot to complain about. There really is. I think the more we talk, the more we say, the more likely we are to complain about things.

There's some people, they love to complain all day long. That's sort of their thing. We don't really need that, it's not really helpful. What we want is a different spirit, to be like Caleb and to be encouraging people, reminding people of God's goodness in his promises.

Let's turn to Galatians chapter five for a moment. We see that Caleb, again, had a different spirit. He had confidence when the others lacked it. He had boldness when the others lacked it. A strong faith in God, that God could do anything and will do what he says.

That's what we want, not the discouraging, complaining, what are we going to do? Paul spoke to the Corinthians, however, when he talked about having a different spirit, this is again, a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.

Here's what I want to bring out in this text. If you have the Holy Spirit, this is what it's going to look like. Look at Galatians 5, 22 and 23. So if you have the Holy Spirit, here's what should come of that.

He says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now having a different spirit, again, in the negative usage of the term, what would having a different spirit other than the Holy Spirit look like?

Well, there's a list here, starting in verse 19. It says, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things, what?

Will not inherit the kingdom of God. If that's how a person's life, you can characterize their life with that list, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Notice he says, those who practice such things.

He doesn't say if you've done some of those things in the past, no, he says those who practice such things. I think everybody, or most everybody's been guilty of something on that list. You say, well, I've never committed adultery, okay.

You know, I've never murdered, I've never done something as bad as this person over here. That's not the issue, that you're not as bad as that person because you're not as good as this person over here.

That's irrelevant, that's completely irrelevant. You know what it is that causes a person to die the second death, you know what it is? It's not that person has committed X, Y, or Z sin, it's that they know what's right.

They know what God says and they disagree and they continue and persist in doing the opposite. And of course, the ultimate denial of God is to reject his only son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and rose again the third day.

That's really what it comes down to. Jesus is Lord. I hear this was the first Christian creed. Can someone confirm that, is that true? Jesus is Lord, that's the first Christian creed. The person who does not accept Christ, what are they saying?

They're saying, I'm Lord, this is my life, I'm gonna do what I wanna do, I am Lord, or Jesus is Lord. This is our decision. Jesus said in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. So because we have been born with a sinful nature, from day one, we are on that broad way, we are on that broad path.

We are on a highway to hell, and the only exit is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, at this point, let's go back to Numbers 14,.

And we'll close.

So did the children of Israel end up listening to Caleb and Joshua or the spies? Well, we kind of know what happened. What's the title of the message? A Different Spirit. Do you have a different spirit tonight?

Where do you kind of go along with everybody else who has reasons why they don't wanna obey God and they wanna do what they wanna do? Caleb had a different spirit. He was a man of faith. And notice, Caleb was a man who put his faith into action.

He was ready to go. The Lord promised the land to the children of Israel, and Caleb said, let's go in and take it. They are our bread, let's go. Caleb, just a few words about him. Caleb was a man of perseverance.

This is an example for what we should look to and what we should do. He was a man of perseverance. He lived in Egypt, living in bondage and slavery. He faced amazing hardship and difficulties, and yet he overcame all of that.

Caleb was also a man of encouragement. When the others gave the bad report, he had good things to say. And we need people that can tell us good things and encourage us in our faith. Caleb was also a man of loyalty.

In the church of Jesus Christ, we need loyalty and fidelity. Caleb was loyal to God, and he was loyal to the man of God, Moses. And when Joshua, who was the successor of Moses, when Joshua, who was his contemporary, Joshua became the number one man.

Was Caleb jealous? No, he was loyal to Joshua. Christians ought to be loyal. We ought to be an encouragement, and we need to persevere even through difficult times.

And we're living.

And I think in the future, we're going to be living in more difficult times. I pray that's not the case, but that's the way it appears. So the children of Israel in the wilderness, loyalty, let's face it, this was not high on their list of priorities, was it?

Bold, courageous faith, loyalty, encouragement. This was not really their thing. They had already turned on Moses and Aaron. By doing so, they're turning against God. And now, guess who else they're gonna turn against?

You know, Joshua and Caleb. They were rebels, okay? They were rebels. God's people, God's covenant people, but so many of them, not all of them, but many of them were rebels. You know, to the young people again, young people like to rebel, right?

Some of you older folks, when you were young, you rebelled. If you want to rebel, let's rebel against the world in the sense that let's not be conformed to the world. Let's not be like everybody else.

Conformity to the world is not rebellion. Isn't that strange? You know, kids think it's, I'm rebelling. No, you're just doing what everybody else is doing. That's not rebelling. Numbers 14, verse seven, Joshua and Caleb, it says, and they spoke to all the children, to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, the land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. That's one person you don't rebel against.

Do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. In other words, we are going to devour them. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

If you have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in him and in him alone for your salvation, the Lord is with you.

What are you afraid of?

Verse 10, this is how the children of Israel respond to this great speech by these men of faith. And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. This is just unbelievable. They rebel against Moses and Aaron, rebel against God.

Now they want Caleb and Joshua dead. This was the final straw. It says, now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the meeting before all the children of Israel. The Lord is, he's had enough.

He's had enough at this point. And he threatens to destroy the children of Israel. And you know, he had every right and reason to do it. But, here's the word but again, but it's positive usage. But Moses, Moses stepped in.

And Moses as a type of Christ, he interceded on behalf of the people. They deserved God's wrath. They deserve God's judgment as every human being does, because the scripture says all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.

But Moses as a type of Christ stepped in and said, Lord, have mercy on these people. Well, that generation was spared. God did not wipe out the nation. However, they would not be allowed to enter into the promised land.

They would have to wander in the wilderness for how long? 40 years. One year for every day, they spied out the land. And all of that generation died. Every single one of them died in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb.

Why?

Because they had a different spirit. I pray that each and every one of you tonight is placed your faith in Jesus Christ, and that you would have a different spirit and not go along with the world and not go along with what everybody else is doing.

We'll close with verse 24. But my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. Let's close in prayer.

Our Father, what an example this man is. To all generations after him, he persevered and stood firm because of one thing. He had a steadfast faith in you and your promises. Lord, I ask that you would strengthen and encourage your people to face the days ahead.

We thank you for what you've done, and we even thank you now for what you are about to do. Lord, I believe you're going to do great and mighty things in the near future. It's just a matter of, are we making ourselves available to serve you?

Lord, put a different spirit in the heart of each one here tonight. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.