”How To Be a Caleb” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua 14

things in Jesus name. Amen.

I want to talk to you this morning from

Joshua chapter 14. We're we're walking

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

through the book of Joshua, chapter by

chapter, preaching through the entire

book. We'll be finished over uh maybe

two more months, three more months.

We'll be finished with the book of

Joshua. We come this morning to chapter

14. And I want to preach just a simple

message titled How to be a Caleb. How to

be a Caleb. And I want to introduce you

to this man named Caleb this morning.

and uh he saw a vision of what God had

for him. In fact, he heard from God what

God had for him. Now, it took Caleb a

little while to get there. In fact,

we'll see this morning in the text that

it took some 45 years from the time God

promised it to him until the time that

Caleb claimed it. But there was never a

time in those 45 years that he doubted

God. He knew what God had said. He knew

what God had given him. And Caleb was

determined that he was going to claim

the victory that God had given him. This

morning, we find a man who was willing

to fight against any giant. We find a

man who is willing to climb the

mountain. We find a man who is willing

to defy the odds. A man who is willing

to go against his culture. A man willing

to stand up for the truth. A man willing

to be bold. A man willing to be

courageous in the face of the enemy. a

man willing to to be diligent in

claiming all that God had promised to

him. I wonder this morning if you and I

want to be that kind of Christian. Do

you desire to be the Christian who lives

in the victory that God has already won?

So many Christians are in churches this

morning just like ours and they they are

saved and by God's grace they're on

their way to heaven but they are not

living in spiritual victory.

They're defeated by maybe a sin maybe

that besetting sin and they cannot seem

to get victory. They cannot seem to get

over it. Perhaps it's discouragement in

their life. Or maybe it's simply the

busyiness of life and they cannot live

in the victory God has promised. They

they are not claiming new ground

spiritually. They're not growing as a

Christian. They're not claiming the

promises of God. They're not living in

the spiritual victory. And and I this

morning just in transparency and maybe

today I'm just preaching to myself and

that'll be fine if that's the case. But

I know for me I want to be a Caleb. I

want to be a man of God who is

constantly pursuing the promises of God,

holding God accountable to his promises

and and doing my very best

to live in oneness with the Holy Spirit

so that I might claim the spiritual

victory. Now, listen, the victory's

already been won. You you and I know

this, right? The enemy has no power over

you and I who are saved this morning

because Jesus has already defeated him.

And if we're in the the the fellowship

with Jesus Christ and we're we're

walking and communing with Jesus Christ,

then victory has already been won. And

so you can live the victorious Christian

life today just simply by following

Jesus.

And I don't know about you, but I know

for me, I want to be a Caleb. And so

from Joshua chapter 14, let's consider

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

this morning how

how to be a Caleb. Joshua chapter 14.

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read I think

I'm think I'm going to read the whole

chapter this morning and I'm going to

just give you a few comments as I go and

then I'll I'll go through my outline

very quickly. So, beginning in verse

number one,

you know where we're at in the book,

right? We've we've seen God prepare the

people chapter 1-5. We've seen chapters

6 through 12, the conquering of the land

of Canaan. They've went through they've

defeated most of the land. And now

they're dividing the land. And in this

dividing process, Joshua is giving the

land to to the different tribes. And

he's going to give this tribe, there's

12 tribes of Israel. We'll talk about

that in a moment. He's going to give

this tribe some land, and he's going to

give that tribe land, and they're going

to divide the lands amongst themselves.

And then it is up to the individual

tribes to finish the job to go in and

drive the rest of the the Canaanites out

of their area. So that's the context.

Verse number one. Now, and these are the

countries which the children of Israel

inherited in the land of Canaan, which

Elar Asar the priest, and Joshua the son

of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of

the tribes of the children of Israel

distributed for an inheritance to them.

So, they're dividing it. They're

distributing the land. Verse two, by lot

was their inheritance

as the Lord commanded by the hand of

Moses for the nine tribes and for the

half-tribe. Now, if you know your your

any of your Old Testament, you're you

ought have immediately noticed though

the phrase nine tribes because there's

not nine tribes to Israel, right? Right.

Are y'all awake this morning? How many

tribes are there in the nation of

Israel? Somebody yell it out. How many

tribes?

>> There's 12 tribes. But there's only nine

tribes mentioned here. Why is that?

Well, we already know the answer because

in chapter 13, we dealt with two and a

half tribes and their the lot of land

that was given them. There are two and a

half tribes who asked Moses years before

if they could stay on the east side of

the Jordan River. And there's a Reuben

and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh.

So that's two and a half tribes and they

got their land on that side. Well, now

we've come across the Jordan and that

leaves nine and a half tribes on the

west side and now we have to divide the

land amongst them. So that's why we're

dealing with nine and a half tribes. So

now we know that we're not dealing with

the land on the east side of Jordan. Now

we're dealing with the land on the west

side of the Jordan. Verse number three.

For Moses had given an inheritance of

two tribes and a half on the other side

of Jordan. But this is important. Unto

the Levites gave none inheritance among

them. Now look at verse four. And then

I'm going to come back. I'm going to

explain something to you. For the

children of Joseph were two tribes.

Joseph,

there is no tribe of Joseph. You look at

the tribes of Israel. There's no tribe

of Joseph. Joseph got a double portion.

So his two sons are going to become

tribes. The children of Joseph were two

tribes. Manasseh became a tribe and

Ephraim became became a tribe.

Therefore, continuing in verse four,

therefore they gave no part under unto

the Levites in the land save cities to

dwell in with their suburbs for their

cattle and their substance. So we have

12 tribes. What are the 12 tribes? Well,

if you look at a map and you look at the

12 tribes, you're not going to see any

tribe of Joseph and you're not going to

see any tribe of Levi. So, Jacob has 12

sons. Joseph was one of those sons and

Levi was one of those sons. But if you

look at a map of the tribes of Israel

and their aotments, and perhaps next

week when we get into this dividing a

little more, I may show you a map and

and show you the divisions of the land.

But when you look at it, you're not

going to see no tribe named Levi. You're

not going to see no tribe named Joseph.

So now we've went from 12 tribes to 10

tribes. So how do we get back to the 12

tribes? Because Joseph gets a double

portion. And so his two sons, Manasseh

and Ephraim, each become their own

tribe. So we had 12, we lost two, we

added two. Now we're back to 12 tribes.

Does this make sense to everybody? Okay.

So let's continue reading. Now, that was

the that was the tricky part. We got

through that. I think we'll be smooth

sailing from here on out. Look at verse

number five.

As the Lord commanded Moses, so the

children of Israel did, and they divided

the land. Now we are introduced to our

our character for this morning. Verse

six. Then the children of Judah came

unto Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb the son

of Japun and the Kisanite

and said unto him, "Thou knowest the

thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the

man of God concerning me and thee in

Kadesh Barnea." 40 years old was I Caleb

is speaking to Joshua. 40 years old was

I when Moses the servant of the Lord

sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out

the land. and I brought him word again

as it was in mine heart. By the way,

Joshua was with Caleb. They were the two

good spies. They were together at this

time that Caleb is reminding Joshua of.

Verse eight, nevertheless, my brethren

that went up with me made the heart of

the people melt. But I, watch this

phrase, wholly followed the Lord my God.

And Moses swear on that day, saying,

Surely the land whereon thy feet have

trotten shall be for thine inheritance,

and thy childrens forever, because thou

hast, here it is again, wholly followed

the Lord thy God. Verse 10. And now,

behold, the Lord hath kept me alive.

Caleb is still speaking. He's kept me

alive, as he hath said these 40 and five

years, even since the Lord spake this

word unto Moses, while the children of

Israel wandered in the wilderness. And

now, lo, I am this day four score and

five years old. That's just a old way of

saying 85 years. A score is 20 years. So

four scores is 80 years plus five is 85

years old. Verse 11. And yet I am as

strong this day as I was in the day that

Moses sent me.

How many 85 year olds in here feel as

strong as you did when you was 45?

Anybody want to just say that's me this

morning? Okay. Caleb said, "I'm I'm just

as strong now. I've got just as much

energy and drive now. Even so is my

strength now for war both to go out and

to come in.

Verse 12. Now therefore give me this

mountain whereof the Lord spake in that

day. For thou heardest in that day how

that the Anakims were there. Anakims

equal giants. The Anakims were there and

that the cities were great and fenced.

If so be the Lord will be with me then I

will be able to drive them out as the

Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and

gave unto Caleb the son of Japun Hebron

for an inheritance. Hebron therefore

became the inheritance of Caleb the son

of Japun the kisanite unto this day

because that he oh here it is again

wholly followed the Lord God of Israel

and the name of Hebron which was before

before Kirjath Arba which Arba was a

great man among the Anakims and the land

had rest from war. So we get a little

history there in verse number 15. All

right in this text we see this man named

Caleb. Verse number six and on we see

this man named Caleb. He comes to

Joshua. He's going to remind Joshua, you

remember you and I, we went out to spy

at the land. We came back and I told

Moses, "I want to go get the mountain. I

want to go get Hebron. I want to go get

the land of the giants. God is with us.

We can take them. We can do this." You

remember the story though? Uh perhaps

you remember the little children song,

10 were bad and two were good, right?

You remember the hand motions? 10 were

bad, two were good. And you sing the

little song. So the the spies, you have

the 12 spies, one from each tribe. They

come back to Moses. Joshua and Caleb,

two good spies, say, "Hey, we can do

this. God is for us. We've got it. Let's

go right now. Let's take the land. God's

going to give us a victory." However,

the 10 spies turned to the heart of the

people and said, "It's too they're too

big. There's giants in the land. We

can't do it. I don't think we'll win. I

don't think that we we ought to go." And

the heart of the nation of Israel was

turned away from obeying God because of

the 10 evil spies. And you remember,

they paid a a cost for that for 40

years. They then had to wander in the

wilderness. And that entire generation

died in the wilderness except two men,

Joshua and Caleb. Joshua now has become

the leader of the nation of Israel. And

he has led them on this conquest. Caleb

presumably there with him. They have now

led in this conquest of the land of

Canaan. And from chapter 6 of the book

of Joshua to chapter 12 of the book of

Joshua, we watch them win battle after

battle after battle. And we watched them

take city after city after city. And

they have driven out the Canaanites.

They started in the middle, then they

went to the south, then they beat the

kings to the north. And now they have

essentially created the central ground

and they have driven the Canaanites out.

So now they're going to divide the land

and it's going to be up to the

individual tribes to finish the job for

their allotment. And in the middle of

Joshua giving the land to this tribe and

giving the land to that tribe, and

that's going to be described for us in

more detail in the coming chapters,

Caleb gets Joshua's attention and he

said, Joshua, you remember what Moses

said 40 years ago. I haven't forgot what

God said that I could have, and I want

the victory that God has given me. For

40 years, Caleb has been patient. For 40

years, Caleb has been praying. For 40

years, Caleb now has been fighting. He

has fought enemies. He fought with

Moses. And now for the last six or seven

years, he's been conquering there with

Joshua in the land of Canaan. And Caleb

said, "It's time. I want what God had

promised for me." I wonder this morning

if there's not a church sitting on top

of a hill on a rainy day in Carroll

County, Virginia with a few people in it

who would just have enough hunger for

God and enough hunger for revival to say

this church has been here for 40 to 45

years. I'll have to look. I think it's

43 years. I think this year

this church has been here and we fought

some battles and we've seen some things

take place and we've had some mountain

tops and we've had some valleys and

we've did some fighting and we've been

patient but I wonder if this morning

there would be a group of people who

said there's more victory for this place

to claim and we are determined that no

matter what it takes no matter what

we're going to hold God accountable and

we're gonna say God we are expecting

something we're gonna get hungry we're

gonna get real. We're going to repent of

our sin and we're going to claim some

spiritual victories.

Let me show you five ways straight from

the text this morning that you and I can

be a Caleb. Write down number one.

How can we be a Caleb spiritually

speaking? Number one, we must remember

God's promises.

Look at what he said in verse number

six.

Then the children of Judah came unto

Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb the son of

Japun the said unto him, "Thou knowest a

thing. Thou knowest the thing.

That should be the sermon title this

morning, right? Thou knowest the thing.

Hey, you know Joshua, you know the thing

that God told me. You know the promise

that he made to me. Look at verse number

nine. And Moses swear on that day,

saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet

have trotten shall be thine inheritance.

Surely, as if it's already done, Caleb,

surely God has promised it to you. Look

at verse 10. And now, behold, the Lord

hath kept me alive as he said these 40

and five years, even since the Lord

spake this word unto Moses. God kept me

alive. That we watched Joshua, you

remember, we watched all of our friends

pass away. We watched all of our

neighbors pass away. We wandered for 40

years in the wilderness and we watched

them all pass away. And now God has kept

me alive and I believe he's kept me

alive to claim the promise. There may be

someone here this morning who has

wondered due to physical conditions or

sickness or hardships or struggles.

There may be someone who has wondered,

God, why am I even alive?

Lord, why am I even here? Just take me

home. And Caleb, I think, gives us a

glimpse into why God leaves his children

on this earth. The Lord has numbered our

days. He has given us a number of days,

a set time that we have on this earth.

And if you are here this morning, if

you're breathing God's air, it is

because there is unclaimed victories

ahead of you. God has left you here for

the purpose of claiming more ground

spiritually. There is a soul who needs

your your prayers. There is a a neighbor

or a friend who needs to hear the gospel

from you. There is a person who you are

still here to influence their life for

Jesus Christ. There's still ground to be

taken. There is still mountains to be

climbed. Caleb said, "God has left me on

this earth, and I remember what he

promised."

It says in verse number 12, "Two times,

therefore, give me this mountain whereof

the Lord spake." Then at the end, he

said, "As the Lord said, I remember what

God said." Let me ask you something. Um,

have you have you studied your Bible

enough to know some of the promises that

God has given to you and I? Do you know

that God has given some things to you

and I? He said this, "Be not weary and

welloing, for in due season you shall

reap if you faint not. There is a

harvest to be had if you don't faint. If

you stay faithful, if you continue to

cultivate your Christ, there is a har.

That's a promise of God

that that if you are not weary, don't

give up, don't quit, but in due season,

you will reap. Have you spent some time

thinking over that promise lately

that God has promised some fruit for

your life? Don't give up. Don't be

discouraged. God, remember, remember

what God has promised you. He said, 'I

will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Do you remember that one?

He's never going to forsake you. He's

never going to leave you. You may feel

alone. You may feel as if God's

forgotten, but no, God's never left you.

David said, "I've never seen the

righteous forsaken or his seed begging

bread." God has never forsaken one of

his children ever. It's never happened

and it never will. Do you remember the

promise that he gave Peter? I think this

is a good one for us to remember this

morning. It's a good one for me to

remember. It looked at Peter and he

said, "Upon this rock, I will build my

church." He didn't say, "I might build

it or I could build it." No, I will

build my church. Not upon Peter, but

upon the word of God, upon Jesus Christ

himself, I will build my church. Right?

And then he continues and he says, "And

the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it." Listen, church, as a church

family this morning, there is hope.

There is a future. There is something

that we work for. Why? Because we

remember what God has said. You want to

be a Caleb, you ought to remind yourself

constantly what God has said. How do you

remind yourself? The best way is just to

study his word. You want to know what he

said? Read what he wrote. You want to

know what he has for you? Read what he's

put in here. The word of God does not

return void.

So, we see Caleb remembered God's

promises.

what God had said, Caleb was going to

hold on to. What God had told him, Ga

Caleb was going to hold on to. And you

go through, we sang that song a few

moments ago, in the in the valley, I

will praise you. And we sometimes it's

easy for us to say, "Oh, yeah, that's

that. I'll do that." But then when we

actually get down in there and and

things get really difficult and things

don't go our way, we begin to second

guess that decision and we think, "How

do people do this? How do people just

keep going? How do people keep

testifying? How do how do people just

continue to move forward in their faith

when they're down in these hard times

and in the valleys and and in the

struggle? How do they do it? I'll tell

you how they do it. They remember what

God has done.

The faithful people, listen, faithful

people are not people with a platform.

Faithful people are not people with with

a lot of promotional materials. Faithful

people are not people that have a big

following. You know what faithful people

are? Faithful people are a pastor who

can stand in the same pullpit for 40

years

and just let God be God.

That's a faithful man. It didn't have to

be flashy. You know what he did for 40

years? He just remembered what God had

said. They woke up and he said, "Lord,

this morning we're going to remember.

We're going to remind ourselves of what

you have told me. And when you decide to

just live in this book and faithfully

get into what God has said and remind

yourself of the promises of God, you

will be a whole lot closer. You'll be

ahead of most Christians already in

claiming the promises of God. In

claiming the spiritual victories that

God has. Let me give you number two. My

time is already gone and I got four more

things to give you this morning. So,

let's go quickly. Number two, we must

rely on God's power.

Number one, remember his promises.

Number two, rely on God's power. Look at

verse 12 again. Now therefore give me

this mountain whereof the Lord spake in

that day. For thou heardest in that day

how that the Anakims were there and that

the cities were great and fenced. If so

be, the Lord will be with me. Did you

see it? If so be, the Lord will be with

me. How you going to do it, Caleb? The

Lord will be with me. How you going to

take these cities? The Lord will be with

me. How you going to defeat the giants?

The Lord will be with me. How are you

going to go in and conquer this this

mountain, this city of Hebron? The Lord

will be with me. If the Lord is with me,

then I've got everything I need. I don't

I may be 85 years old. I'm I might say

that I'm as strong as I am, but I've

talked to enough 85 year olds to know

that Caleb might have been a little over

motivated right here. Right. It didn't

matter. He was trusting in God. How

could he say I'm as strong today as I

was when I was 40 years old? Because God

was as strong on that day as God had

been 40 years ago. And God is the same

God today as he was 40 years ago in your

life. He's just as big. He's just as

powerful. You don't have to trust in

some new idea or some new plan or some

new strength. No, just trust God. Rely

on his power. There are three specific

uh obstacles that are mentioned in that

verse for us. First, there's the

geography. It's a mountain. There was

some climbing to do. He was going to

have to put on some hiking shoes. he was

going to have to start climbing. And uh

at 85 years old, mountains probably

weren't as easy to climb as they were

when he was 40 and 45 years old. But

Caleb said it, the geography doesn't

bother me. There they were giants. Not

just geography, but they were giants.

The Anakims were the giants in the land.

They were these humongous individuals.

And we talked about this a few weeks

ago, but it was like fighting multiple

Goliaths. We we highlight David and what

David did when he fought Goliath. and

rightfully so. But these guys were

fighting Goliath every day. They were

conquering a land of Goliath. They were

these giants. But Caleb said, "I'm not

worried about the giants, and I'm not

worried about the geography." And then I

just use this word to keep the

alliteration. It's his generation, his

age.

He's 85 years old. But Caleb said, "I'm

not worried about my own limitations.

I'm not worried about my own

shortcomings." Oh, wouldn't it be good

for Christians just to stop worrying

about their own shortcomings and just

start worshiping God and trusting him?

You know what I hear people say to me

all the time? Well, I would sing, but

I'm not a very good singer.

You think I am? No. Listen, it's not

about who's a good singer and who's

talented. Listen, we all have

shortcomings. We all have limitations.

Nobody's perfect at anything. But when

you get a body of believers together and

we all work together to worship one God

and and magnify and exalt one savior,

then God is the one who empowers us. And

God puts all the pieces together. And

God begins to get in a place and he can

get in a little church where everybody

has limitations and it can feel like we

are unlimited. Not because of who we

are, but because of the God that we

serve. Caleb said, "I'm going to rely on

God's power."

Let me give you another one. Number

three.

Run.

Run in God's path.

Look at verse eight. We see it in verse

eight. In fact, I'll just I'll just I

won't read the verses again, but you we

highlighted the phrase. It's in verse

eight. Holy followed the Lord my God.

It's in verse 9. Holy followed the Lord

my God. And then we see it again in

verse 14. Holy followed the Lord God of

Israel. Three times in this chapter,

Caleb said that he wholly followed the

Lord. It's interesting that those are

not the only times in the Bible that we

read of Caleb wholly following the Lord.

There's actually three additional times.

We find it in Deuteronomy and we find it

in Numbers. So, six total times in the

Old Testament, we read that Caleb was a

man who followed the Lord. What was the

identifying characteristic of the life

of Caleb? He was obedient. He was

obedient. It's interesting to me what

that word holy means. I did a little

study last night. I was looking into

this and I thought, what does that word

really mean? Holy. It's kind of a

strange word. We probably don't use it

usually in our vocabulary. So, what does

it mean? The word literally means to be

filled.

And I at first I thought, well, that's

not very that's not as exciting as I

thought it would. I don't even

understand. I'm more confused now than I

was a minute ago. Means to be filled.

And so I began to dig and I began to

read and here's what I discovered last

night. The word holy means to fill in

the space behind.

So there's no space in this case in this

context. He wholly followed. So he's

behind someone and there's no more room.

He is right up in the space. He has

wholly filled in the space. So here's

the picture. Here's God leading the way.

And here's Caleb as close behind God as

he can possibly be. There's no more

space. He's not looking this way and

he's not looking that way and he's not

worried about what's going on. He is

right behind the leader and there's no

there's no space left. He's as close to

God as he can be wholly following the

Lord, obedient to what God has done.

What a lesson for you and I this

morning. What a practical lesson for the

church today. Oh, we are. We say we

follow the Lord today and and then we

make excuses and we look this way and we

look that way and we're distracted doing

this and we're busy over here doing that

and and and we can't hardly get people

to show up to a church service once a

week and yet we say that we're following

the Lord.

When we follow God, it ought to be like

the example that Caleb gave us. No

space. I want to be as close to God as I

can be. And every step that God takes

moving me forward, I want to be right

behind him in lock step. Every time God

says go, I go. And when God stops, I

stop. And we wait on him to move again.

Wholly followed the Lord. Run in God's

path. Be right with him. Wherever God

goes, we go. That was Caleb. That was

Caleb. I I heard a story

here. Here's the deal. Most of us as

Christians, the problem for us, we we're

not we're so far from being in that

place of complete surrender and wholly

following God. Most of us are not there.

We're actually resisting following the

Lord. A lot of Christians, it's not even

a distraction problem. It's a me

problem. And God's saying, "Go one way

and I'm saying, I don't want to go that

way." Right? I don't like that. I don't

like the way that feels. I don't like

that direction. I don't want to obey.

And we're resisting. heard this story

about a a man who broke down. His car

broke down on the side of the road. So,

he called a a wrecker. He called a truck

to come pick him up. Record truck came,

mechanic came in the truck, they hook

up, hooked the car up. And uh the the

record driver said, "Just get in your

car and just ride along with me and I'll

pull you over to the shop and we'll get

you fixed up." The the the record driver

got in. And the man gets in his car and

they start driving and and they're out

in the mountains and the hills and

they're driving the taking these corners

and they get on this little back road

and and they start up this hill and at

the bottom he looked up this man in the

back looks up and and it was an

extremely steep hill and he didn't know

if he was going to make it or not. So,

the record driver and they just start up

the hill and up they go. And

[clears throat] the the driver of the

the record truck is is realizing as

they're going up the hill that his truck

is really struggling

and and it usually will make it up. I

mean, this is a hard pull, but usually

it makes it up the hill. But this time,

it's really struggling to make it up the

hill. And they finally get to the top

and they park and the record driver

says, "I something might be wrong with

my truck. I It was really struggling to

come up the hill." And the poor man in

the car behind said, "Yeah, I noticed

that." And I saw it was real steep, so I

just put my brakes on the floor the

whole way up to make sure that if

anything went wrong, we wouldn't roll

back to the bottom.

Isn't that how we treat God a lot of

times?

Here, God goes and he's leading the way

and he's showing us what we ought to do

and he's guiding our life. And all of a

sudden, we get to a part and God begins

to lead us to a place that looks

difficult.

I don't know if I want to go there, God.

And so instead of wholly following Lord,

we begin to stand on the brakes and

resist what God has for us. You want to

be a Caleb, just be obedient, God.

Wherever you lead, I'll go.

Whatever you say, I'll obey. Whatever

you've commanded in your word, I will

do. I want to be wholly following the

Lord. Number one, remember God's

promises. Number two, rely on God's

power. Number three, run in God's path.

Number four,

rejoice.

in God's prevailing.

Rejoice in God's prevailing. Look at

verse 13 and 14 towards the end of the

chapter. Joshua blessed him and gave

Caleb the the son of Japun a Hebron for

an inheritance. And then you go down

into chapter 15 and and we'll look at

some of this next week, Lord willing.

But we get down into chapter 15 and we

begin to see Caleb actually driving out

these giants and and doing the work and

getting in there and fighting. And guess

what? God gives him a victory. God

prevails over the enemy. And Caleb gets

to rejoice in what God has done. He is

blessed by Joshua. There's reason for

worship. There's reason for rejoicing.

But guess what? Battles still had to be

fought.

Hills still had to be climbed. Mountains

still had to be climbed up. The enemy

was still there. They had to be

defeated. They had to be driven out. But

Caleb said, "I'm going to wholly follow

the Lord. I'm going to fight and I'm

going to do what God's called me to do."

And what we need if we want to be a

church full of Calebs is we need some

people who will just commit and say,

"God, I'm going to fight. I'm going to

stand for my faith. I'm going to fight

the good fight of faith. I'm going to

oppose evil. I'm going to stand up for

what is right and what is true." And and

this isn't Sometimes we think like

especially with social media today,

we've got all of all of the politics and

everybody seems to be fighting for

something, right? And you can get on and

you see the news and and this person's

fighting that person and this person's

fighting that person and you hear a

preacher stand up and you think, "He's

telling me I got to go fight." That's

what he means. I gotta get me a news

segment and let the whole world know

that this is right. Listen, God God will

raise those people up. But that's not

everybody's job.

Standing for truth doesn't always have

to be a news anchor on a TV screen.

Sometimes it's just a dad

leading his family in devotions.

Sometimes it's just a mom who instead of

getting carried away with the busyiness

of her day says, "You know what? I'm

going to pause for a little while and

for 15 20 minutes while the kids are

napping, I'm going to pray.

That's standing for truth. That's where

the rubber meets the road. Faithful

people are not always people with a

platform.

They're just people who do what God's

told them to do and they wholly follow

God.

So when I tell you, hey, fight the good

fight of faith, understand, I'm I don't

if you want to go out there and and

preach on the street corner and talk to

people, go for it. But I'm I'm afraid

that sometimes we get so focused on that

that we miss what's right in front of

us. And it could be a family member. It

could be a neighbor. Could be a son or a

daughter.

And somebody needs to stand up and speak

truth into their life. And you might be

God's man for that. Will you obey?

Will you obey and just do what God is

asking you to do today?

Let God open the doors and then rejoice.

Rejoice in the victory God gives. I love

what 1 John 4 and verse4 says,

"Greater is he that is in you than he

that is in the world." Yes, there will

be battles, and yes, there is an enemy,

and yes, there may be mountains that we

have to climb, and there may be enemies

that we fight, and there's truth that we

must stand for, but greater is he that

is in you than he that is in the world.

There's a great day coming where we're

going to get to see Jesus, and the true

victory will be ours. And it's going to

be a great day of rejoicing when we

gather around the throne and we praise

God for the eternal final victory of

righteousness over evil. Okay, let me

give you number five and I'm done. You

can come.

Number five, we rest at God's place.

Verse 14 and 15, we see that Caleb

receives a a town. It's a city named

Hebron.

Now this city is not uh in it is not

insignificant in the Bible. We've seen

Hebron before. In fact, Abraham spent

some time in Hebron.

In fact, Abraham enjoyed this city so

much that he bought a cave in Hebron.

When Abraham died, he was buried in the

cave that is located at the city that

Caleb is fighting for.

When Sarah, his wife, died, she was

buried in the cave that is located at

Hebron, the place, the city that Caleb

is now fighting for. Years later, Caleb

is years after Abraham. They've been in

they've been in Egypt in Egyptian

bondage for 400 years.

Then they spent 40 years in the dead.

We're almost 500 years removed from

Abraham.

And he's buried there. And Caleb said,

"I want that piece of ground. I want

Hebron."

Hebron would be used later on after

Caleb had passed away. And and time goes

on down the on down the road. There's a

king who comes to power. Perhaps one of

the greatest kings in the history of the

world. His name was King David. He was a

man after God's own heart. And do you

know where David started his kingdom? Do

you know where he ruled from? He started

in Hebron. This city is where David

ruled from.

Why would Caleb want it? This is so

amazing. I love this picture so much.

Why would Caleb want Hebrron? I don't

know all the reasons, but I know what he

did with it. He didn't build himself a

great castle.

He didn't build himself a house.

What did Caleb do with Hebron? Well, you

remember we read this two times earlier

in the chapter, and it's why I took time

to do it. The Levites received no land

inheritance. Remember that back at the

beginning a few minutes ago, the Levites

didn't get a land inheritance, but they

received certain cities from people.

Do you know what Caleb did with Hebron?

He gave it to the Levites and they made

it a city of refuge.

Get to the end of the book of Joshua and

we find out that Hebron was the first,

it's the first mentioned city of refuge.

What's a city of refuge? So, so Caleb

fights for this thing and he gives it

away as a city of refuge. What's a city

of refuge? Well, in Old Testament law,

obviously things were very different

than they are here, but there were

pictures and types in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, when someone would

involuntary involuntarily murder

someone, involuntary manslaughter,

then they were fair game. They didn't

have a a court system like we have

today. So, if if someone accidentally

killed somebody else, then you were

revenge could be taken. And so there

were certain cities set up all

throughout the land of Canaan called

cities of refuge. And it was where these

people who had who had made a mistake,

could run to and they would find safety

and security. You could not touch them

when they were in the city of refuge.

As long as they were in that city, they

they they had safety and they had

security. And then they would decide,

you can read about this and and I think

the book of Deuteronomy probably you can

read how they would decide then, okay,

who who gets to go free? whose charges

are dropped essentially. But in the

meantime, they had to have a safe place

that they could go and that was a city

of refuge. And the first one, you get to

the end of the book of Joshua, the first

one is this city, the city of Hebron.

So Caleb is 85 years old.

He is 85 years old. The last

the last big thing of his life. What are

you going to do, Caleb? I'm going to go

fight these giants off of this mountain.

take this city, this walled city, the

city of Hebron. Oh, that's a great plan,

man. You can see so much from up there.

You can have a great homestead up there.

You can really retire nice up there. And

Kevin said, "No, no, no, no, no, no.

It's not about me. I'm going to go up

there and then I'm going to make it a

city where people who are hurting and

people who are running and people who

are wicked and people who have messed up

can come to and find a place of revenue.

It is a picture of so many New Testament

things. There's a picture of Christ who

said, "Come unto me all ye who are

heavy, he heavy laden and burdened and I

will give you rest." You can find safety

and security in the person of Jesus

Christ who is our refuge. And you and I

who are dirty and vile and wicked and

have made mistakes. We run to the person

of Jesus. And oh, there's such sweet

rest at his place. That's the city of

Hebbron. I think it's also could be a

picture of the church.

in this little place up here on this

hill. This could be a Hebron

where people who are hurting and people

who have made mistakes and people who

have a past can come into a little

church and hear about how much Jesus

loves them and they can take their

burden to the Lord and they can leave it

there and they can call on the name of

Jesus and whosoever calls on the name of

the Lord shall be saved.

And we can see people come to know

Christ. And we can see people's lives

turned around. And we can see addictions

be broken. And we can see marriages be

just restored. And we can see children

come to know Christ. And we can see

baptismal waters stirred. And we can get

a sense and a spirit of revival in this

place.

Oh, but we're so far from that

culturally as a church.

I mean, like the broad church, churches

in general.

No, nobody comes to church with an

attitude like Caleb.

Nobody comes to church anymore saying,

"Lord, how can I serve?

How can I minister to someone in need?

How can I help them?" Or, "How can I

serve them?" No, we come to church to be

served.

If it was me, if it was you this

morning, if we're just being honest, if

it was us who had conquered Hebron, we

would have made us a nice homestead with

a white picket fence and a mountain

view,

right?

and we would have enjoyed the rest of

our days in retirement

and we probably would have even been

spiritual enough to thank God for it.

God said, "Caleb, you've been so close

to me.

Hebron is for my people,

not just for you."

and up in heaven. I can imagine Jesus

Christ himself

looking forward into the future

and saying the cross is not for me but

it's for my people

so that whosoever comes to Jesus Christ

can know for sure they're saved.

Hebron is such a be I I don't have time

to I want to preach a message on what

Hebron pictures for us and really all

the cities of refuge. But maybe this

morning I've just been able to give you

a glimpse of the heart of Caleb.

It really was never about Caleb. That's

his heart. Was never about Caleb. It was

about God being close to his savior. I

wonder if that's your heart this

morning.

First of all, do you know for sure

you're on your way to heaven today?

Are you're saved? And you know you're

saved 100% sure if you were to die

today, you know 100% that you would meet

God in a moment. Are you ready to do

that? Are your sins washed and forgiven

and covered by the blood of Jesus? If

you're not saved this morning, it's very

simple to be saved.

You recognize you're a sinner. We all

have sin. I'm a sinner. Oh, but Jesus

came and he died and he took my sin upon

him. He paid the price in full for my

sin so that now I don't have to pay it,

but I get to go spend eternity with God.

When you recognize you're a sinner and

you can't do anything about it, but

Jesus took the price and he paid it for

you. Took your sin on his cross.

All you have to do is call on his name.

God so loved the world that he gave his

only begotten son that whosoever

believeth on him should not perish but

have everlasting life. Would you just

pray and ask him to save you this

morning?

But then there's another step beyond

that. Once you are saved, and most of us

today probably are.

I wonder if we would ask God to give us

the heart of Caleb.

A servant's heart.

A heart that's willing to fight. A heart

that's willing to go allin for God. A

heart that's willing to be committed and

serve, get involved, and make a

difference in our culture. And guess

what? There are some spiritual victories

just [music] ahead.

For those who decide to do that, would

you stand with me this morning all over

the auditorium?

I wonder this morning

if God spoken to you in some way.

I said this last week. I think I read it

in a book. I don't know where I read it

at, but be a shame if you're walking

down the street and someone speaks to

you and you ignore them and don't speak

back.

This morning, the word of God has spoken

to our hearts.

And I think it'd be quite rude of us to

just rush out of here and not take time

to talk back,

answer him.

So this morning, while she plays, we're

going to just take a moment, open this

place up as a prayer room. If you want

to come and kneel at this altar, I want

you to do that. If if you need to stay

in your seat, that's fine, too. But what

if we could just come before God and

say, "God, make me a Caleb. I want to be

a servant.

I want to serve you. I want to serve

your church. I want to serve [music]

others. I want to fight the good fight

of faith."

While she plays, would you just talk to

the Lord about that?

Ask him to increase your faith.