Learning more about the place to which we are going

I'll just read a few verses here. Verse 2. Send, O men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among you.

Now, he sent out the twelve tribes. Now, come down, please, to verse 21. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin under Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

And they ascended by the south and came on to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zon in Egypt. And they came unto the brook of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bared between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs.

Verse 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. 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.

But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought an evil report of the land. Verse 33.

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, so we were in their sight. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his word. A few simple thoughts.

The children of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, just as we are traveling through a wilderness world. And God would encourage their hearts by telling them something about the place into which they were going. He said, I'm going to take you into a land flowing with milk and honey.

They were discouraged as they went through the wilderness. So Moses, he sent spies into the land and the spies went in and they were to search the land and come back out and tell the people what kind of a land it was. God wanted really to encourage the people just as he wants to encourage us.

Now, we know the land that they were going into really isn't a picture of heaven because, you know, there's battles there. They had to fight to possess the land. But nevertheless, it speaks of the present enjoyment of heaven.

And that's what we're coming here for at this weekend, to learn more about the place that we're going into. God has given us a great inheritance. How are we going to enjoy it today? Well, we're going to enjoy it in the word.

So the brethren that have come along and hopefully, I'm sure they have, they have searched the word. They've gone into the word and they have searched it out. And hopefully they're coming out with something to encourage God's people.

I hope none of us would be like the ones that they saw, the giants. And they said, no, it's too difficult. We'll never get into the land.

There are too many difficulties to overcome. Well, of course, the ministry of the word of God can overcome a lot of difficulties. None of us know altogether what everyone is coming through, but we know that the word of God has the answer.

And that's why we come together, that the word of God might be opened and we might have an answer from God. So, how big are the giants? Well, they said they're so big, we're just like grasshoppers in their sight. I don't know how they knew how the giants saw them, but I'm sure it wasn't a little bit of an exaggeration, I would say.

But, you know, what we need to say today is how big is God? There may be difficulties that we can't surmount, big giants, difficulties in front of us. But we say, how big is God? God's bigger than all. And some of them, they brought out the grapes of Eskol, and they said, cut, says they cut down a branch, one cluster of grapes, and they brought out pomegranates and figs.

I think that would be telling on what kind of a land they were coming into. That would encourage their hearts to keep on for God in the wilderness. It's a place where there's no really the thought of one big cluster of grapes on a pole.

There's no end of joy. And there should be no end of joy for us if we're hearing ministry from the Word of God that will encourage us. And, of course, we ourselves, everyone can get into the Word of God to get something out.

But bringing it out to encourage others, that's the important thing. We should always encourage one another. And at a conference like this, we can say, you know, there's lots of joy.

Joy in getting into the inheritance. Joy of learning more of what lies ahead for each one of us. And then he said, not only that, but you're not only going to be joyful, but you're going to be fruitful.

Pomegranates speak of fruitfulness. Pomegranate is full of seeds and speaks of fruitfulness. And he said, now, I want you to be fruitful.

And the result of the ministry, of course, should be with each one of us that we might be fruitful for God. You say, what is fruit for God? Well, sometimes we're inclined to think if we see somebody saved, that's fruit. And so it is.

But there's more to it than that. The Lord Jesus was fruitful in every aspect of his life. The fruit is what God would get from him.

And from his thoughts and actions and words and everything brought pleasure to God, was fruitful to God. So then anything that you and I can do, or he can do through us, is a better way to put it. Not what I can do isn't important.

What God can do through me or through you is important. So whatever he would do, if it's Christ-like, then it would be fruit for God. So God wants us all to be fruitful in our lives.

We can be fruitful in reaching out to others as well. There's no doubt. We'll bring joy to the hearts of one another.

We can be fruitful. And then the fig. What does a fig speak of? Well, in the parable of the fig trees, the fig said, shall I leave my sweetness? So it speaks of sweetness.

Maybe you could look at it as grace. If so, we should end up being more gracious by coming to meetings like this. It should have a definite effect on us.

Politicians, they're all talking about change, but there hasn't been a lot of change, but it hasn't been for the good. But we need to be changed, but for the good. So may the Lord help us to enjoy the things that have been brought out of the inheritance.

The word of God for us would be what we would get into to get things to encourage us and to help us as we go onward and heavenward. So we should continue to pray that God will give us something, some little thing out of the inheritance that we won't see the difficulties. You know, when God gave the manna, the very time he gave the manna, he told him to look toward the wilderness.

As we look onward toward the wilderness, what do we see? Do we see the difficulties? There are many. The product of the wilderness was a thorn bush. So there's lots of pain in the wilderness.

But when the children of Israel looked toward the wilderness, what did they see? They saw the glory of God, the God, the glory of God. So we need to get our eye on the Lord Jesus. He's a glory of God, the outshining of of God, instead of maybe difficulties that will never come.

Like these people, the spies, most of them, they come out and they said, it's impossible. We can't. There's too many difficulties for us to enjoy the things of God.

And when you think of Hebron, it speaks seven years before zone in Egypt. Hebron speaks of fellowship or or company or communion. And that's what God wants us to enjoy with one another.

You can't get it in the world. God had Hebron in his mind before he had a zone in Egypt. God has that for us.

He's got that sweetness that we can enjoy by being together. Got the joy that should fill each one of our hearts. And the result would be that we would leave the place and would be more fruitful for God.

God would get more from us in every aspect of our lives. So we trust that this will be true of the conference, that our brethren will come out with what they have gleaned in the land, the inheritance, and be able to be an encouragement to us as God's people.