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INTRODUCTION
The final chapter brings us back to the main character of the first chapter—Caleb. The land of Canaan was the place of victory for Israel, and it symbolizes the victorious Christian life for the believer.
I have discovered Canaan is not heaven but the place where God wants His people to follow Him for spiritual growth and Christian exploits.
I have discovered there must be a prospect for victory if we expect to be the persons and do what God has planned for our lives.
I have discovered the possession of victory requires building on the foundation laid in the Word of God.
I have discovered the preparation for victory includes new ways of living and abandoning our former ways as an unbeliever.
I have discovered the position for victory involves changes from being wanderers to being conquerors in order for Christ to be the Lord and Master of our lives.
I have discovered the person of victory is the man with the sword in His hand who comes to take over, and I am to be on His side.
I have discovered the plan for victory is provided by the Lord himself who is the author and finisher of our faith.
I have discovered the problems with victory require the conviction, repentance, and cleansing of sin so God’s perfect will can be fulfilled and result in many victories.
I have discovered the priority of victory requires following through; otherwise, unplanned problems will always be the result.
I have discovered the pinnacle of victory involves a continuing spiritual vigil in order to experience the peaks and perks of the Christian life.
God has called us not only to enter Canaan but also to occupy the mountains of Canaan. Many Christians today are earning a living but are not experiencing victory in life or the results of total surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have yet to realize that God does not intend for them to live in the valley of depression but on the mountaintop of victory.
I submit it is God’s plan and will, just as it was for Caleb, for us to take our mountains. Caleb was the first spiritual mountaineer. He had faith to move and take mountains. He wanted to possess his possessions and experience the abundant blessings of the Canaan life. As Christians, we can live on the mountaintops of victory like Caleb if we will possess in our lives Caleb’s same qualities: commitment, confidence, courage, and conquest.
OUR COMMITMENT REQUIRED
8“But I followed the LORD my God fully…9because you have followed the LORD my God fully…14because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully.”
Caleb had given everything to God. Halfhearted religion will never do. The halfhearted will be the fainthearted and will never take their mountains for God. Caleb had completely followed his God. Are we completely following the Lord Jesus Christ instead of trying to get Him to follow us? Have we committed everything to God: our families, finances, faith, and future? Caleb was a conqueror because he was committed. We must commit every area of our lives to Christ, or we will never take our mountains. Caleb learned at an early age what it really meant to follow God. Total commitment is required if we are to live and have the mountaintop victories of the Canaan life.
Dwight L. Moody was a great evangelist in the 1800s. God blessed his ministry in tremendous ways. Among other things, he was the founder of the YMCA, the Young Men’s Christian Association. Although the use of these facilities is different today, the Y’s were started as places for teaching and training men and women in the Word of God. During Moody’s second trip to England for ministry, he visited an open air crusade to hear another evangelist preach. This particular young man was Henry Farley, an evangelist for the European countries at that time. Farley made a statement that struck the heart of Moody in that service: “The world has yet to see what God can do in, through, and with a man who is wholly committed to Christ.” Moody’s response was, “By the grace of God, I will be that man.”
I pray God will speak to us and we will respond in total commitment—totally committed to know His Word, to cease murmuring and complaining, and to be and do whatever is necessary to bless God and establish His kingdom upon the earth.
OUR CONFIDENCE RELEASED
6“You know the word which the LORD spoke…10Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke…12Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day.”
Caleb had confidence. His confidence was in the Word of God. He knew God would honor and fulfill His promises. Caleb’s battle-ax was the Word of God. Caleb conquered his mountains as he was promised by Moses. I can visualize his climbing with a sword in one hand and a deed in the other. Without doubts about his goals, strength, or successes, he knew God would give him victory. We, too, are challenged to know and trust the Word of God. God’s promises of vision, preparations, and advancement will culminate in victory for us also. Dare to know His will, dare to commit to His cause, dare to see the accomplishments for the Canaan life He has promised.
A number of years ago, a good friend of mine passed away. Floyd, a good Christian, died of cancer. During his final days when he was very ill and in much pain, he developed an insatiable appetite for the Word of God. Throughout the day, he would read and study God’s Word. He would often fall asleep with the Bible resting on his chest. Every time I visited Floyd, he was so thrilled to talk about the Bible and the things of God. If we expect to spend eternity with God, we must learn to live by His Word.
Caleb was committed to God, and he had an unshakeable confidence in His Word.
OUR COURAGE REFINED
Caleb’s confidence led to his courage. He wanted Mount Hebron, a very beautiful place, but he had some adversaries. There was no easy, lazy way to conquer this territory. We will never do a great work for God in a rocking chair. We must be determined to conquer our adversaries and mountains in the name of the Lord. God’s doors to the rooms of opportunities always swing on the hinges of opposition. At some point, most everyone will face difficult days and hard times. Adversaries and opposition came against Caleb, and he had to overcome some obstacles in order to take his mountain. Even though the victory has been won, we have to go out and take our mountains. We have a responsibility in the sight of Almighty God.
1. He had to overcome the grasshoppers.
7“I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. 8Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully.”
The fear he talks about had to do with grasshoppers. Numbers 13:33 says, “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Caleb’s comrades had a grasshopper complex. They had come to the place where they felt in their own sight, in their own eyes, that they could not make it into Canaan and live victoriously.
Some people today say the giants of the land are too big—the giants of disease, doubt, fear, bad habits, and worldliness—and cannot be conquered. There is not one giant over which God cannot give victory in our spiritual lives. Before we can do something great for God, we have to get victory over the grasshoppers. Instead of comparing how big the giants are in comparison to us, we should look at how small they are in comparison to God. Your giants may be bigger than you, but they are a lot smaller than God. We will always have to deal with a negative report, someone who will tell you why you are going to fail or why you cannot live victoriously. That is what kept the nation of Israel in the wilderness for forty long years—because they would not trust in God. It is time for the Church to march forward and take mountains in the name of God Almighty. Caleb had to overcome the grasshoppers, and he also had to overcome the giants.
2. He had to overcome the giants.
12“Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken.”
These Anakims are the ones mentioned in Numbers 14: 8“If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. 9Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
Caleb said he would eat the Anakim alive. He recognized the Anakim were there, not to strengthen them but to weaken them. Through adversity, our spiritual lives become stronger. If we never go through adversity and struggles, we will never mature as the believers God has intended us to be. Caleb said the Anakim were bread to them. Bread strengthens and enlarges us. Caleb said the giants were not the means of our defeat but of our growth.
Anakim is the breakfast food of champions. When we determine we are going to experience victory in every area of life, we will not be afraid of the Anakim. When you are flying, you cannot tell the difference between four-foot and six-foot people on the ground. We often get our eyes on the problems and move our eyes off of God. He knew the Anakim were there for the reason of strengthening their lives. When adversity and problems come—and they will come—they are there to make us better, stronger, and more mature in our walk with God. Caleb had to overcome the grasshoppers, the giants, and gray hair.
3. He had to overcome gray hair.
10“Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.”
Caleb is now 85 years old, and he was to receive a wonderful birthday present—the opportunity to take the mountain for which he had been waiting. The principle we need to remember is this that the God who preserves the possession for the man is the God who preserves the man for the possession.
If God gives us a plan and direction, we can mark it down that He will preserve us to make sure we can take our inheritance in the name of the Lord. Do not grow tired or impatient. In time He will give us our possession. Realize and understand that the person who walks close to God is going to experience His blessings.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, averaged preaching three sermons a day for 54 years for a lifetime preaching total of more than 44,000 messages. He traveled on horseback or carriage more than 200,000 miles in the mid 1700s. His published works include a four-volume commentary on the entire Bible, a dictionary on the English language, a five-volume work on natural philosophy, a four-volume work on church history, and histories of England and Rome. He published grammars on the Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French and English languages; three works on medicine; six volumes on church music; seven volumes on sermons; and some controversial papers. He also edited a library of fifty volumes known as A Christian Library. He was greatly devoted to pastoral work later in his life and had the care of many churches upon him.
He arose at four o’clock every morning and worked solidly until ten at night, allowing only brief periods for meals. At the age of 83, he was discouraged to discover he could write no more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyesight. At the age of 86, he was ashamed to admit that he could not preach more than twice a day. By the age of 86 he had preached in almost every church in England and Wales and often rode 30 to 50 miles per day. At the age of 86, he was still preaching in the open fields to crowds of more than 30,000 people and bringing hundreds of thousands of people to Jesus.
John Wesley got victory over gray hair. He decided he would not allow anything to rob him of God’s blessings. We will have to stand up for Jesus and take our mountains in His mighty name. We never get too old to serve God, to see the miraculous, and to move mountains in the name of God Almighty. Caleb had confidence, commitment, courage, and conquest.
OUR CONQUEST REJUVENATED
1. The gain of victory.
13“So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully.”
a. There was fellowship. Mount Hebron was a place of fellowship. The name “Hebron” means “fellowship.” Caleb said, “I want the mountain for fellowship with God.”
b. There was fullness. Mount Hebron was a place of fullness. He took the whole mountain which represented fullness. Not only did he want fellowship with God, but he also wanted the fullness of God. He wanted all of God in his life.
c. There was fruitfulness. Mount Hebron was also a place of fruitfulness filled with luscious grapes, pomegranates, and all kinds of fruit. Caleb said he wanted fellowship with God, the fullness of God, and the fruitfulness of God in his life. When we take our mountain for God, it is going to be a mountain of fellowship, fullness, and fruitfulness. We will have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives to enable us to live victorious Christian lives. He wants us to see His glory. He wants us to be full of His power and of His Holy Spirit. He wants there to be fruit so our lives will exemplify the Christian life and what it really means to be a believer in Jehovah God.
2. The giants of victory. More than likely, we will face three giants as we climb the mountain for fellowship, fullness, and fruitfulness. Numbers 13: 22“When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendents of Anak were.”
a. The giant Ahiman. The name Ahiman means “What I am.” This giant is the giant of pride. Pride stops people from going to the altar, from humbling themselves. Pride dries the eyes and puts a chill in the soul. It robs believers of victory in every area of life.
b. The giant Sheshai. The name Sheshai means “Who I am.” This giant is the giant of ego. A lot of us think we have arrived and think we are big shots. God is trying to tell us that we are just little shots. God wants to walk with us and talk with us.
c. The giant Talmai. The name Talmai means “What I can do.” This giant is the giant of self-reliance. It causes us to think we do not need God’s resources, power, and anointing. We do not need a fresh touch of God in our lives. If we want the mountain of fellowship, fullness, and fruitfulness, we will have to defeat the giants of ego, pride, and self-reliance. Caleb had to conquer ego, pride and self-reliance. We have to do the same and rely entirely on the resources of Almighty God.
CONCLUSION
Lou Little was the football coach for Georgetown many years ago when the father of one of his players passed away. Before the next game, the young man whose father had just passed away asked his coach if he could start in the next game against Fordham. The coach reminded the player that he was not a starter but agreed to let the boy stay in for only the first two or three plays. To everyone’s surprise, the young man played so well and was such an inspiration to all the other players that the coach let him play the whole game. In the locker room afterwards, everyone was congratulating the young player when the coach asked what had made him so different and inspired during this game. Reminding everyone that he often walked his dad around the field after practice sessions, the player said, “What you did not know was that my father was blind. Today is the first time he ever saw me play. It just inspired me so that I knew I had to do the best I could.”
Our heavenly Father is watching how we play. He does not want us on the sidelines but on the field and in the game. God has not called us to the valley of depression, defeat, or discouragement but to the mountain of fullness, fellowship, fruitfulness, and victory. I challenge you to take your mountain for Almighty God.
