“Another spirit”
Numbers 14:13-24
Joshua 14:6-15
Caleb is one of those men whom we seldom meet with in the Bible, but whenever we do meet him we are better for the meeting.
Caleb is one of those rare individuals with “another spirit.” Caleb was a man different from the crowd. He was man made from a different mold. He was a man with “another spirit.”
The spirit of a person is so important. John wrote about the bad spirit of Diotrephes in III John . Paul wrote about the dad sprit that Alexander the coppersmith had in one of his epistles
Korah and others are listed in the Bible who possessed a bad spirit, but Caleb had a "another spirit." His spirit caused him to stand out from the rest. What was so different about Caleb’s spirit?
Let us examine the characteristics of an individual with "another spirit."
I. "Another spirit" is seen in his COMMITMENT to
PURSUE
“hath followed me fully”- the Lord said of him in Numbers 14:34.
"I wholly followed the Lord my God," (Joshua 14:8) This was not the language of presumption, but a plain declaration that he was not daunted by the power of the enemy nor swayed by the scepticism of his brethren.
A. Followed the Lord FULLY
Caleb was whole-heartedly serving God. I like people who do things whole-heartedly. Half-hearted people depress me. I don’t like to be around anyone who is half-hearted about anything. If you’re going to do something or be for something, be for it all the way!
I heard about a preacher who was asked by a man in the community to do his brother’s funeral. Neither of the men had been church goers or showed any religious inclinations. The man offered to give $25,000.00 to the church if the preacher would call his brother a saint at the funeral. The brother had been a real sinner in the community and everybody knew it. A friend of the preacher asked, "You are not going to do it, are you?"
The pastor said that he was going to do it because the church needed the money. The word got out that the preacher had sold out to the family for money and the church was filled for the funeral. The preacher stood up and this is what he said, "The man we are burying here today was a liar, a cheat, and a drunk; however, next to his brother who is sitting here today, he was a saint!"
The preacher did not sell out after all. We must never sell out to this world or what it may offer us. Caleb was a man sold out for the Lord. He was committed. He was so committed that the Bible says of him at least seven times that he wholeheartedly served the Lord.
B. Followed the Lord FEARLESSLY
While others saw a diabolical foe, Caleb saw a defeated foe.
II. "Another spirit" is seen in his CONFIDENCE in the PROMISES
Caleb was fully confident that God could do what He had promised. He was confident that God would make good on His word. You are on sure ground when you stand upon God’s promises. Caleb was resting on the word of Him who cannot lie.
He had a faith that never wavered. Faith’s check is never dishonored at God’s bank of promises. Are you confident in the promises of God?
The Lord gave the commandment concerning the spies to be sent in the land because of the moral condition of the people. Had they been governed by simple faith, they would have acted on those soul-stirring words of Moses, "Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged," (Deut. 1:21). What does faith want spies for, when it has the word and the presence of the living God? The people evidently didn’t rest on what God said when he said, "go up and possess it.” It was called the "Promised Land" for a reason - it was a "Promised Land;" a land promised them by God.
Their request for spies revealed a lack of faith on their part. They are not trusting what He said. God had already been in and spied out the land. He knew all about it.
Caleb went to view the land because he was sent, but not for the same reason the others did. He already believed what God had said!
A. Caleb heard what the others didn’t hear
Romans 10:17
B. Caleb heeded when the others didn’t heed
III. "Another spirit" is seen is his CONVICTION of a PRESENCE
“The Lord is with us: fear them not” (Numbers 14:8).
When you have the presence of God, you need nothing more; and you should settle for nothing less.
A. Caleb reckoned on the personal presence of the Lord Caleb had no confidence in the flesh, but he had confidence in presence the Lord. Caleb was conscious that the successful accomplishment of what lie ahead was quite beyond his own powers; but, he reckoned upon the presence of God to undertake for him.
B. Caleb reckoned on the powerful presence of the Lord
Caleb did not leave God out of his calculation. It is not our efficiency but His sufficiency. ALL OUR EFFICIENCY WITHOUT HIS SUFFICIENCY IS A DEFICIENCY.
Caleb’s motto was simply: With God-anywhere; without God- nowhere. .
NO CHRISTIAN SHOULD PERFORM THE SLIGHTEST ACT IN THE SERVICE OF CHRIST UNTIL THEY ARE EMPOWERED BY PRESENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST OF GOD! The Holy Spirit is the power by which the Christian and the church is to operate. There is no power in us apart from the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:19 - "the power of the Spirit of God"
Micah 3:8 - "Truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord"
Compare Acts 6:5 with 6:10.
IV. "Another spirit" is seen in his CONQUERING HIS PROBLEMS
Caleb was a brave man among cowards, an assured man among skeptics. I challenge anyone to name from memory the ten spies who ran were faithless and fearful. They are all named for us but no one remembers faithlessness, cowards, and quitters. We remember Caleb because he dared to risk everything for God.
I want to be an “another spirit” Christian – seeing the humanly improbable yet believing God for the impossible; pressing on the upward way, gaining new heights every day.
Caleb was “Onward ‘Til Upward!”
It was to be forty years before Caleb entered the land that he seen and god had promised. In the meantime he was faced with war, famine, and pestilence in the wilderness while a whole generation died off.
Much happened to others in those forty years, but Caleb did not change. The 10 faithless spies died along with the whole company of doubters. Failure and frustration was everywhere. Moses died, and Joshua became the new leader.
Caleb did not wilt in the wilderness because he kept his eye on the promise of God! Others proposed to return to Egypt, but not Caleb - his goal was the place that he had been promised. God had made him a promise, and he kept his eye upon it.
The day came and Caleb reminded Joshua, the new leader, of Moses’ promise to him that he could have possession of the mountainous area around Hebron. Three times in the course of Caleb’s short conversation with Joshua in Joshua chapter fourteen, he uses the express-ion: "the Lord said" or "as he said" (Joshua 14:6,10,12). His faith was built on the Word of God.
We come now to the last chapter in Caleb’s life which is the most exciting. When the new generat-ion under Joshua’s leadership had conquered much of Canaan, the country was divided between the tribes of Israel. Now, after all these years, Caleb believes it is time to claim the land that he had seen so long ago when he was on the spying mission for Moses.
Caleb went to Joshua and claimed the mountain that he had set his heart upon more than forty years before. Caleb made his greatest faith claim at age 85 (Joshua 14:10-11).
In Joshua 15 we find that Caleb was successful in driving out the giants when others it is recorded in later chapters of Joshua and in Judges 1, over and over again that they were not able to drive them out. The secret is "another spirit." "Another spirit" enables one to conquer their problems.
A. He had a faith that never wavered
He was not unstable.
B. He had a strength that never weakened
In Joshua 14:11, the Bible says Caleb said, "I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: [forty five years before] as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in." He had a strength that didn’t weaken, because he had faith that didn’t waiver. A MAN OF FAITH IS A MAN OF STRENGTH.
C. He had a life that ever witnessed
His life ever witnesses to a life that conquers.
Conclusion:
Will you be "another spirit" individual? If so, you life will be marked by victory. Oh that God would give our church individuals of another spirit
How deep and yet how simple was the secret of Caleb’s greatness. Great people are not complicated; they are in reality simple. The success of Caleb was seen in his spirit.
