"And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land," -- Numbers 13: 26.

There is a world of instruction in the incidents that are touched upon in this chapter. 0, what a world of interest clusters around the action of the Jews. You know they marched from Mount Sinai right straight toward the land of Canaan, and God's design was that they should go right up into the land of Canaan, without crossing the river Jordan; they were to go on the south side of the Dead Sea, so that there was no river at all to cross, only a valley. Kadesh is the name of the place that was on the boundary line, right between the wilderness on one side and Canaan on the other, and when they came up to this boundary line, there they halted; and from the boundary Kadesh they sent out twelve spies to spy out the land and bring back word again. The word "Kadesh" means holiness. They took a straight line from the time of their conversion for the land of Canaan, and there was no break, there was no positive rebellion until they came to Kadesh, and there is where their faith and patience were tested. There the spies went out and brought back that wonderful report, of which we have an account in this lesson; ten of these men bring back a miserable report of unbelief and rebellion and hardness of heart, and two of the men bring back a minority report of faith and of patience; but the people, you remember, took sides with the majority, and adopting the majority report they backed down from entering the land of Canaan, and from that time they began to wander forty years in the wilderness, and when they did cross over they did not cross over on the south side where the valley was, but they had to cross over on the north side, across the river.

We learn from this thought that when a young convert comes out of Egypt and is delivered from the guilt and dominion of sin, and receives within him the tastes of divine love, under proper guidance he will take a straight line to Canaan, and when he comes to the boundary line of holiness his faith will be tested. Kadesh will always be the testing point of everyone's faith; and if the young convert under divine light, with a willing heart, will go over into Canaan, then he can go over without crossing the river; he can go over by simply crossing a valley; but if he draws back like the people here did and refuses to go over, he may have a long "up-and-down" life, with many missteps and terrible vicissitudes in his experience, and when he does enter he must enter through the severe crisis of the crossing of the river Jordan. In bringing back of the report from the land, we see here in the report of the ten men the progress of unbelief. In reading this thirteenth chapter clear through, and then reading the fourteenth chapter, it is amazing to gather up their ideas and see how their unbelief grows at every step. If you want to know the biography and the history of unbelief and see how it can grow and spread, you will see it in these two chapters. In bringing back their report these ten men gave quite a lengthy account of the land, the products, the climate, and the people; but they bring in that terrible word about the giants; the giants are there, and in all the report that these ten men made, they never mentioned the name of God once. What a significant fact that is! When Caleb and Joshua brought in their report they began by bringing in the Lord, and they said, "If the Lord will be with us we will still be able to go." The ten men on the other hand were talking about what we can do, we are not able, and we saw the giants, to whom we were as grasshoppers; it is all we all the way through, and us and our.

Their whole attention was directed to the resources of themselves, while Caleb and Joshua looked over themselves and mentioned God. That is so everywhere in the earth. Unbelief! If you have unbelief in your heart it will always behave like these ten spies. It always searches the human side, looks at what you can do, what you can be, what you can develop; ignores the cleansing ability of Jesus and ignores the almighty Holy Ghost. Then from that standpoint their unbelief gets worse and worse as they proceed, until it reaches the point where they take up stones to stone Caleb and Joshua. People say, I am all right, except I have unbelief in my heart. People think unbelief is a kind of sickly thing that doesn't do much harm in the world. The unbelief of these ten men commenced by forgetting to mention God' but it wound up by being murderous. It so turns out that the men who brought in this report, that the very names of these men indicate their character. By looking at the names that these men bore, we get an insight into their inner character, and you never have the key to a man's life until you get the key of his inner character. Then you can unlock the man's conduct. So you take the ten spies that brought in this majority report, and see what their names imply, and here we have got the key-note of their failure to believe. Sometimes when men die they call in a committee of surgeons for a post-mortem examination. We want to hold a post-mortem examination on these ten men, and find out of what disease they died.

The first name is "Shammua." The English of that name is "Fame." Now you see why that man did not go into the land of Canaan. His very nature, the key to his life, his whole inner character, was woven around a central thought of fame. Love of praise, love of notoriety; he wanted to be great in the eyes of men; wanted to make a great show; wanted to see his name in print and have it heralded through the earth; that is why that gentleman forget to mention God when he rose up and made a report of the committee. The fact is, his own name was so great in his eyes that he forgot to mention God, whereas the Bible says, "In the beginning God. . . ." In the eyes of the world fame is thought to be a virtue. Young men are taught to be famous; they are exhorted to make a big name for themselves. We love the fame and honor of distinction, of being flattered. Why, there are thousands and millions of people that think it a virtue, and even nominal Christians think it is a virtue, but the very things that the world thinks to be great God despises.

The true doctrine of the Bible is that we are to love and obey God. We are to trust him and let the Lord make our reputation, our character, our standing. The love of fame will keep any man in this world out of salvation. If you want a pure heart, if you want an inner rest of soul, if you want a deep and settled peace of mind, you must tear from your breast that miserable itch of hungering for notoriety. If you have a craving to be famous in your little set, in the little circle where you are, I want to say that that is nothing less than the idolatry of worshiping yourself; it is no wonder that such souls die, no wonder that people do not give themselves up, when the fact is they are hungry for fame. That is why they cannot trust God. We must consent to be little and unknown and humble in order to enter the land of love.

The next man's name was "Shaphat." The English of that word is "to judge." Mr. Shaphat was a man whose inner character and disposition was to get on a throne and put himself up, and be rendering judgment on all his brothers. He wanted to measure everybody by himself. He wanted to judge their motives, to judge their conduct, and thus he was so busy judging all his neighbors and family acquaintance, that he unconsciously got into the place of God. God is the judge; He alone knows; God alone can penetrate a human soul; He only can turn on the search-light in your moral nature; and yet there are many people in the world that seem to have this disease of sitting in judgment on people. That is what kept that man out of the land of Canaan. People criticise this and that. I was kept out of the blessing of perfect love for some time because of the spirit of criticism' and yet I did not think I had it very bad; but I want to say, friends, before the Lord ever lets us have a clean heart, before ever he takes the burden from our soul, before he gives the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we reach a place where we are willing that all other people should be esteemed better than ourselves.

As long as you are judging others you are taking the place of the Lord. You are sitting in the seat of the Lord, and are doing the work that doesn't belong to you, and the very spirit of judging human beings will forever keep you out of the land of Canaan, the land of rest. We must lay that aside. When you are judging people you are taking the place of God, and He will not allow anyone to take his throne.

The next name was "Igal." The English of that word is "God will avenge." That is a very good name, apparently, but you look at the import of it. The name implies that this man Igal had in him a spirit of resentment and retaliation, but as he does not want to take the responsibility of executing the penalty against his enemies, he hopes God will do it. He is one of those men that think the Lord ought to go around with a club and beat people, and in his heart he wishes the Lord would smite certain ones to death. This name signifies retaliation from God. In other words' this man would retaliate, but he either cannot, or is afraid to, and so he wishes that God would do it. How many times in your life have there been when you have felt, Oh! if God would only kill some people, if God would only burn somebody's house down; I would not dare kill them myself, but somehow I wish that God would kill them! Do you know there is a killing spirit in there? Have you not been tempted, brother or sister; have there not been times in your lives when you have had that spirit in you, although you did not dare to be the executioner, but in your heart you somehow wished God would put some people under the guillotine? I have heard some men say that they wished God would kill all the saloon keepers; and even Martin Luther, before he got sanctified -- 'he was a grand, good man -- said once, "What a sight it would be to see the pope and his cardinals hanging in a row." You will find that people have in them that resentment which leads them to feel that they would not like to hurt certain people, but they wish God would. That man Igal could not go into the land of Canaan; and if we have that spirit in us we cannot get into perfect love. It must be given up. We must cast it down. All resentment and all bitterness must be laid aside.

The next man's name was "Palti."� The English for this is, "Deliverance of Jehovah."� The meaning of this man's name forms the key to his conduct; it means in his case orthodox indifference; and so the man said, "The Lord will deliver us."� We need not be in a hurry to go up into Canaan, it is the Lord's work," A great many people say, the Lord wants to sanctify me, here I am," There is in them that indifferent, don't care spirit that talks in an indolent way to God, as much as to say. If the Lord wants to do it, let him do it by main force.

Indifference is one of the worst things that the word of God has to contend with. In the temperance cause, in the missionary cause, in revivals of religion, there are thousands who are willing to say "Amen," provided they do not have to give their time, or their zeal, or expend any of their strength, their money, or ability for the cause of God. They are orthodox, yet they slumber on, and say. If the Lord wants to save the world, let him do so; if he wants to sanctify us it's all right.

No, friends, we must work with God; we must cooperate with his Holy Spirit. Hence the lazy, orthodox Palti never got into the land of holiness.

The next name is "Gaddiel," which signifies "Fortune from God." The key to that man's character was, he served the Lord for what he could make out of him. He was hunting for fortune, he was seeking wealth, and was keenly alive to his own well-being, he simply wished God to give him a good fortune. Fortune from God! He felt as if God's bounty and grace were the only means of piling up his wealth. There are so many of just such people in the world to-day. They look upon God as simply our servant, and so there are thousands who would like to he Christians, provided they could make something by it; and some Christians would like to get into full salvation, provided they could make something by the operation. I have known people to get into certain communities, and join certain churches, simply for the purpose of making gain; denying their conscience, denying their faith, getting away from their convictions, and for the sake of popularity, for the sake of worldly gain, they simply attach themselves to this church, or that, as an instrument of their own honor and glory.

The idea of turning the blessed God into a money-making machine! Yet they did it in Paul's day right under the apostle's eyes. They said 'They supposed that gain was godliness"; and I have heard men talk that way, that the more prosperity they have, the more God will bless them. To turn the Lord and his mercy and his love into a convenience for our welfare, and good fortune, is an awful degradation of grace, and if any one simply uses God as a means of having good fortune, and good success, you can't get it. If we ministers seek the doctrine of holiness, in order merely to have a great revival, we will never get it. If we want the mighty power of God on us, simply for the piling up of big collections, we will never get it. Why? Because we are then using the Holy Ghost, the blessed Spirit of God and his Son, as the means of good fortune. And this man died, and was buried in the desert sands, because he simply wanted God to give him good fortune.

The next man's name was "Gaddi."� He was worse than Gaddiel. The word gaddi simply means "good luck."� Now Gaddiel wanted good fortune from the Lord. He did have some idea of religion; but the man Gaddi just wanted to have "good fortune;"� he was simply in for the big things God or no God. There is the key to that man's heart. Mr. Gaddi was desirous of success; anything that would be brilliant, taking, popular, successful, he was in for it. He has a great many followers. They will resort to any foolish thing, if it will only bring prosperity. Instead of worshiping God, our loving Lord, how many there are who worship religious success! Give to God your whole heart, whether you succeed or fail. By a careful study of the Bible you will find all through its pages that the grandest saints were those that never had seeming success.

The Hebrew children said, "Be it known unto the king that we will serve no image. The Lord our God is able to deliver us, but if not, be it known unto you, we will not serve your god, even if we die.-" Brothers and sisters, God will make you succeed in his way, but I want to say, you must get that idea of success out of your minds, die to it, and when you consent to be a failure for Jesus then the Lord can do something with you. And so Gaddi was a man that went in for success, and found eternal failure.

The next man's name was "Ammiel." The name signifies "The people of God." The key of his character was, "Are we not the Lord's people; are we not the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and have we 'not been predestinated, and so it does not matter if we do not go up into the land of Canaan." He was depending on his election, on God's decrees. We cannot depend upon our church history, but only upon our fidelity to the blessed God. If your soul is not pure I beg of you do not lean on your past religion, or on church membership. Ammiel depended on that and found a grave in the burning sands, and millions who put their trust in decrees will die in a like manner.

The next man's name was "Sethur." It signifies "secrecy," "mystery." The key to his life is this: "Now this going up into Canaan is too deep and too profound for us, and it won't do for us to meddle with any of these deep and profound mysteries." How many there are who think sanctification is so deep and mysterious, and they say you ought never to mention sanctification where young Christians are, that you thereby discourage them. They say you should only mention sanctification in a whisper, whereas the going up into Canaan and the blessed fulness of salvation is a gospel so plain that boys and girls can take hold of it. There is no great mystery in believing Jesus, and children can be converted and boys and girls can be fully sanctified. Never hold back because you think a thing is a mystery and profound. The greatest profundity in the world is the unbelief of the human heart. Sethur was a secret society man, who thought Canaan must be taken by "grips" and degrees.

The next man's name is "Nahbi" which signifies "to hide," to cover up, to shun, to run away, to conceal one's self. The secret of that man's heart was, he was a coward. He would get behind the tree when the bullets flew, and he would run when he was not being looked at. He did not want to bear any responsibility. He was afraid to take front rank, he was afraid to stand up and be a target for Jesus. He shunned responsibility. What a large family of relatives that man has! People say. Please get somebody else, I am not adapted to it; people who excuse themselves are trying to conceal and to hide. They have the spirit of cowardice. That man could not go into Canaan. It takes a brave heart to come out for the fulness of salvation. It takes a brave heart to come out for Jesus. Brothers and sisters, you must be brave, and if you have any timidity, settle it to die to it. Come to the crucifixion and get the blessed God to take all the cowardice out of you.

The next man's name was "Geuel." He was a high churchman. The name Geuel signifies "The majesty of God." The key to that man's heart is: everything must be done majestically. There must be tone, splendor and dignity about everything. Everything was pervaded by the word majesty. God is majestic. He wants us to give him the majesty, but man's idea of majesty is just the opposite of God's. When we put on majestic forms and ceremonies we only cloud ourselves. And so in all these men you will find the progress of self-love. Begin at the top and run down; it is self. The first word is self-praise; the second is self-enthronement; the third name is self-revenge; the fourth is self-seeking; the fifth name is self-interest; the sixth is self-sufficiency; the seventh is self-security; the eighth is self-deceit; the ninth is self-preservation, and the tenth is self-splendor. You find there is a progress of self-love, and all these men when they came back, and made their report, they put in their report such expressions as: We saw; we saw the giants.

How take the report of the other two men. The name "Caleb" signifies a dog. The name Joshua signifies salvation. Put the two together, a dog and salvation; the name of Caleb signifies the extreme weakness and helplessnes of the human side. Caleb's name signifies the man's side, so blind, so helpless, so good-for-nothing; and the name Joshua supplements it, signifying God's ability. His grace, that He can cleanse, can save; and yon have one name representing the absolute frailty, weakness, depravity of the human race, and the other name signifying the sufficiency of the blessed God to cleanse and save. When the man's side opens and says Lord, I faint, I faint, I am nothing more than a dog; when a man opens his heart without any whitewash in it, without any splendor or self at all, and makes a complete confession to God, Jehovah opens his heart and says to him, I have got salvation; I have got grace; I can forgive; I can purge. When a man confesses everything there is in his heart God will turn around and confess everything that is in His heart. If you will just take the place of a poor little animal, and open your heart to God, he will open his heart of salvation to you.

These two men, when they brought their report, the Bible says, 'They brought a report as it was in their heart." The ten men brought a report as it was in their head, and they said, we saw this, and we saw that. But the two men brought their report not as it was in their head, but "as it was in their heart." If you look at God through your head you will be like the ten men; but after you see him in your heart you will get down to the great things of God. When you come to seek the perfection of love don't go head-foremost but go heart-foremost. You do not understand perfection, but God does. Those men lived once. When they lived they had life like we have it, but they are dead and gone. The bones of these ten men are bleaching today, are somewhere in the great Arabian desert, and the Bible says they fell in the wilderness; but the bones of Caleb and Joshua are reposing this very minute in the land of promise. We will soon be gone; we have not long to live. Let us believe God, and report the precious things of his kingdom, his forgiving, his restoring, his cleansing, his healing, his touch of flaming love, as we see them in our hearts. Compare Numbers 13:38 with Joshua 14:7.