Mountain Believing Faith: Part 2
Text: Joshua 15:13-19
Introduction
1. Illustration: ‘You see things as they are, and ask ”why?” But I dream things that never were, and ask “why not?” (George Bernard Shaw)
2. Faith is a verb, not a noun. Therefore, faith requires action. Once we have believed the promises of God, we need to act on the promises of God.
3. All too often, we do not receive what God has promised because we were unwilling to step out in faith.
4. We have spoken already about the faith of Caleb.
a. How during the time in the wilderness he had come back with a favorable report in scouting the land.
b. How at the age of 85, he was ready to claim the promises of God.
5. In our text today, we see how he was willing to not only believe the promises of God, but to act upon them. We can see it in his:
a. Conquering the mountain
b. Conquering sacrifice
c. Conquering a request
6. Read Joshua 15:13-19
Proposition: If we want the promises of God, we have to be willing to step out and take hold of them.
Transition: First, we see Caleb...
I. Conquering the Mountain (13-14)
A. Caleb Drove Out
1. Back in chapter 14, we read about Caleb coming to Joshua, and in faith requesting the land that had been promised him by the Lord when they were in the wilderness.
2. However, requesting something is not enough. Caleb had to take an even bigger step of faith. He had to go and take the land.
a. Illustration: I can offer to someone my 12-string guitar, but until they go up and take the guitar, it does them no good.
b. God had promised him the land, but in order to possess it and live in it, he had to go and take it.
c. It was more than just the faith to believe, Caleb had to have the faith to receive it.
3. To go in and take this land was truly a step of faith for Caleb. Verse 13 tells us, "Caleb was given the town of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), which had been named after Anak’s ancestor."
a. Caleb’s challenge was the same one that they faced in the wilderness - the Anakites were huge!
b. As compared with the Israelites, they were tall like giants, and it would therefore seem that the "giant" Goliath and his family were of their race.—(International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
c. Num. 13:33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
d. They hadn’t gotten any smaller over the years, and they would be a formidable foe.
e. It was now up to Caleb to drive out the enemies who were still embedded in the territory assigned him.
f. They weren’t just going to lie down and give Caleb the land; he had to take it from them.
4. Taking it from them is exactly what Caleb did. In verse 14 it says, "Caleb drove out the three groups of Anakites—the descendants of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the sons of Anak."
a. The phrase "drive out," means to dispossess or lay siege to.
b. He went in, took the land from them, gave them a good old fashioned whoppin’ and through them out.
c. He didn’t just go in and politely ask them to leave; he took them by the scruff of their necks and through them out.
d. He didn’t care how big they were or how many of them their were, because he knew that the Lord was with him.
e. Rom. 8:31-32 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
5. It is ironic whom the leaders of this band were that Caleb drove out: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
a. These three are mentioned in Num 13:22 as having been at Hebron when Caleb and the other spies went into the land the first time, forty-five years earlier.
b. So there is a certain poetic justice in Caleb’s now driving them out of the land that he had urged the Israelites to take a generation earlier.—(New American Commentary)
c. He wasn’t afraid of them then, and he wasn’t afraid of them now.
d. He knew that as long as the Lord was with him, there was nothing that he could not do.
B. Taking the Mountain
1. Illustration: "Entering into a relationship with God is not just about rewards we receive in this world or the next but rather how we show God that we are serious about our relationship with Him…Commitment is demonstrated through action" (The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Laws in Everyday Life, p. 7, 8).
2. Just like Caleb, we have a mountain to take - Mt. Gilead.
a. It is also a mountain filled with giants.
b. It is also a formidable challenge.
c. It is also a situation where they are not going to just lay down and give it to us - we have to take it.
3. 2 Cor. 10:3-5 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
4. We are not going to take this mountain with:
a. Programs
b. Clever cliché’s
c. Advertising Campaigns
5. The only way that we are going to take the mountain is on our knees and our faces before God in prayer.
a. Weeping and mourning for this mountain.
b. Asking for His divine help.
c. Taking authority over this mountain in the mighty name of Jesus!
6. 2 Chron. 7:14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
7. The question is not "does God want us to have this mountain?" but are we willing to take this mountain in the name of Jesus?
Transition: Next, we see Caleb...
II. Conquering the Sacrifice (15-17)
A. I Will Give
1. Caleb wasn’t satisfied with taking Hebron, so he "went to fight against the people living in the town of Debir (formerly called Kiriath-sepher)."
a. There was a spiritual significance.
b. "the city must have been a sacred one with a well-known temple."
c. Kiriath-sepher is translated "town of books," and in all probability, there was a great storehouse of clay tablets here; it was also considered the "town of scribes." —(International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
2. This city was so important that Caleb was willing to sacrifice for it.
a. He was willing to go the extra mile
b. He was willing to give up something important to him
c. He was willing to put it all on the line.
3. In verse 16, he says, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.”
a. It was not uncommon to offer special incentives for acts of bravery (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM).
b. Although this may not have been an uncommon practice, it still required sacrifice on the part of Caleb.
c. He was willing even to sacrifice giving his own daughter in marriage in order to take this city.
d. There is no greater sacrifice that a person can make then to give up one of his or her own children for a cause.
e. Illustration: Lincoln’s Letter to Mrs. Bixby: Dear Madam,-- I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln
f. Jn 3:16
4. In verse 17, we read "Othniel, the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz, was the one who conquered it, so Acsah became Othniel’s wife."
a. Othniel was part of the Kenizzite clan, being Caleb’s nephew (v. 17), so the land remained in the family.
b. Othniel later was one of the twelve judges whom God used in delivering the Israelites from foreign oppressions during the turbulent period described in the Book of Judges —(New American Commentary)
c. However, the most important aspect here, one that we must not miss, is Caleb’s willing to sacrifice.
B. Are You Willing to Sacrifice?
1. Illustration: Story: C.T. Studd (Charles Thomas Studd) (1860-1931) had this motto: "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
2. Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
3. If we are going to take the mountain, it is going to require sacrifice.
a. Sacrifice our gifts
b. Sacrifice our time
c. Sacrifice our finances
d. Sacrifice our desires
4. How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to take this mountain?
a. Are you willing to sacrifice your time by coming to church on Sunday night rather than staying home?
b. Are you willing to sacrifice sleep in order to pray an extra thirty minutes?
c. Are you willing to sacrifice embarrassment in order to witness to someone or invite them to church?
Transition: Caleb also shows us about...
III. Conquering the Request (18-19)
A. Give Me Another Gift
1. Verses 18-19 shows Caleb’s willingness to give over and beyond what he was required.
2. After his daughter Acsah was married to Othniel, "she urged him to ask her father for a field."
a. Caleb had already given his daughter to take the land.
b. Now he is being asked for land too. He is being asked to go over and beyond.
c. Not only that, but the one asking him is his son-in-law.
3. However, even more is asked of him. This time his daughter does her own dirty work and says “Give me another gift. You have already given me land in the Negev; now please give me springs of water, too.”
a. The Negev is notorious for being very dry.
b. Land in the Negev is of little value without water, but it is very productive when irrigated ( Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM).
c. This is a logical and reasonable request, but once again, Caleb is asked to give.
4. Notice how Caleb responds: "Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs."
a. Again, we see Caleb go over and beyond the call of duty.
b. He not only gives her the upper springs, but he also gives her the lower springs.
c. This is definitely a picture of unselfishness, for water was a priceless gift in a dry country.
B. God’s Request
1. Illustration
"If you give what you do not need, it isn’t giving"
Mother Teresa
2. One aspect of faith that people do not realize is that God never asks us to give something that he cannot supply.
3. Phil. 2:5-8 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
4. Sometimes the Lord asks us to give, and then give some more.
a. Faith tells us that whatever it is, God will supply.
b. Faith tells us that God will not ask of us what we are not capable of giving.
c. Faith tells us that on the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided.
5. Lk. 6:38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ”
Transition: The thing that God requires most from us is that we give of ourselves.
Conclusion
1. What will you do with the promises of God today?
a. Will you conquer the mountain?
b. Will you conquer the sacrifice?
c. Will you conquer the request?
2. Do you have the faith of Caleb to act on the promises of God?
