Caleb – 11th May 2008 am
Joshua 14:6-15
Caleb was a man who finished well. It is a great thing to finish well. Paul tells of his fear of finishing up his life as a wicked old man on one of God’s rubbish dumps, of being a “Castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27) Many people have started well but have not finished well. Solomon started well, king Saul started well, Lot started well, and Demas started well. John Phillips says, “The Bible is strewn with the wreckage of people who started well but ended as castaways.
As we get older we may become weak in body, but the important thing is to be strong spiritually, strong enough to say to God “Give me this mountain!” Let us take on a mountain before we die.
This passage centres on a man called Caleb. Caleb was a part of Israel when they left Egypt. He was there when God divided the waters of the Red Sea. By the way - Israel crossing the Red Sea is a picture of Salvation. Free from bondage and free from Pharaoh.
Observing Israel as they journey through the wilderness shows us there is much more to salvation than just being set free. God had a land flowing with milk and honey prepared for them. It would be a land of giants and a land of battles, but it was theirs if they wanted it. Now, as you know - Israel chose to wander in the wilderness. Here’s another great picture of the Christian life.
God saves us, and promises us that we can have a life of victory and intense spiritual joy, but rather than claim what is rightfully ours - things like peace, joy, fellowship, power, and the glory of God, we choose to live in a spiritual wilderness, defeated and depressed.
What was it that enabled this 85-year-old man to possess that which God had promised him. Caleb pictures the Christian who is willing to pay the price, fight the battles and win the victory that God has waiting for him.
I. Caleb Followed the Lord – Joshua 14:8-9, 14
Now the first key to Caleb success was that God had all of Caleb that there was! Note the repeated phrase "Wholly followed the Lord." This is said about Caleb 6 times in the Old Testament. It is a phrase that means "To close the gap." It refers to the fact that Caleb was committed to keeping the distance between him self and the Lord at a minimum.
Every inch, every ounce, every nerve, every fibre of Caleb belonged to God. Now you may think that because you are not a preacher or deacon or SS teacher or whatever, God doesn’t expect to have all of you. Wrong! God deserves your all.
If you are saved, you are all His anyway - 1 Cor. 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The man who kneels before God can stand before anybody or anything. Our commitment to Christ affects all our other relationships. The more devoted we are to Jesus, the more faithful we will be to our church, family, and friends.)
All Jesus wants from you is your total commitment. Anything less will keep you from reaching your Canaanland victory.
II. Caleb Believed the Lord – Joshua 14:12
What was it that gave 85 year old Caleb the idea he could be a giant killer? Caleb’s confidence was in God’s word.
Deut.1:34-36, "And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
In Canaan the spies had seen the sons of Anak, a race of giants, they had seen themselves as grasshoppers. Not Caleb.
• When others saw giants, Caleb saw God.
• When others saw cities walled up to heaven, Caleb saw cities reduced to rubble.
• When others saw a dreadful enemy, Caleb saw a defeated enemy.
• When others saw only foe’s, Caleb saw fruit.
Caleb had seen the Promised Land and while others complained, Caleb looked for a mountain where milk and honey flowed. He was able to see beyond his circumstances into the promises of the Lord.
Faith is more than saying that you believe; it is acting on what you believe. Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
III. Caleb was Strengthened by the Lord
Caleb had to scale 3 great obstacles in his quest for his Canaan.
A. He Had To Overcome Grasshoppers - Num. 13:33
For Caleb to claim what God had promised he had to go against the majority. There will always be someone saying that it can’t be done, it’s never been done like that before, we can’t afford it, etc.
B. He Had To Overcome Giants - Num. 14:8-9
All of us have giants in our lives. Giants of discouragement, finances, sickness, family, distress, doubt and the truth is - we can’t defeat them ourselves. We have 2 options.
We can say look how small we are compared to those giants. This is the outlook of fear! 2 Tim. 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Or look how small those giants are compared to God! This is the uplook of faith! Eph. 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
C. He Had To Overcome Gray Hairs - Josh. 14:10-11
What does this tell us? When God makes a promise, He will give us the strength to see its fulfilment! True faith looks beyond the present circumstance and sees the provision of the Almighty!
IV. Caleb Fellowshipped with the Lord – Joshua 14:13-14
Caleb experienced what God had promised! He climbed the mountains and he defeated the giants - he claimed his possession.
The name of the place Caleb inherited was named Hebron. This means "Fellowship". Caleb refused to quit until he had obtained everything the Lord has for him! He refused to stop until he had obtained that place of fellowship with God.
It isn’t God’s will for you to wander around in the wilderness of defeat forever. It is His will that you walk in victory and in His power- 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place..
There will be trials? Well, God had: a flood for Noah, a fire for the 3 Hebrews, a lion’s den for Daniel, a cake for the widow and a cross for Jesus, but there was victory in the midst of each trial for these and there will be victory for you as well!
Conclusion
Where are you in your personal walk with the Lord this morning? Have you entered into your Canaan, or are you wandering around in the wilderness still struggling day to day? God has a place of peace and power for you, but you must be willing the claim your possession.
It isn’t for the fainthearted, but it is for the faith hearted. You see, there is a vast difference between a promise and a possession! God promised Israel the land, but they had to possess t before it became theirs. God has victory for His children, that is His promise! However, that promise must be actively pursued and possessed before it will ever become a reality.
