Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Numbers chapter 14 and reading
through our text, verse 24. The verse that we finished our
reading with. Numbers 14 and verse 24. But my servant Caleb, because
he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land where into he went, and his seed shall
possess it. Numbers 14 and 24, and it's specifically
the first words, my servant Caleb, that is on my spirit, it is a
servant that the Lord that is commended and we should always
note when the Lord commends his servants what it is that he is
commending about them and here we have the account that we have
read together of the children of Israel after their two years
in the wilderness had come to the promised land The spies had
been sent forth representative of each tribe and for 40 days
they had searched the land and they saw the land. They brought
back the word again unto Moses and unto Aaron. The report in
one sense was a faithful report. They told of the good of the
land. And they also told of the adversaries, the people that
were there, the giants that were there. But it was the application
where there was such a difference. Ten of those spies, they looked
at that land and they said, well, though it was good in all those
good respects, yet the people were too strong for them. and
that they were not able, the Lord was not able to bring them
into that land. And not only did they bring that
report, they stirred up the people as well, infecting the whole
congregation. And you might say, well, here
is out of 12, 10 against two, the 10 must be right. And no
doubt the congregation felt so as well. But Caleb and Joshua,
those who brought the good report, were able to clearly point to
the reason why they should go in and why they would succeed. Because the Lord was not with
their adversaries, the Lord was not with them in that land, but
the Lord was with them. He was their God. He was able
to do it. Even then they weren't able to
turn the people. The people spoke of stoning them. And then the Lord spoke that
He would destroy that whole people even as one man. And there's
beautiful intercession there. And the reasons that were brought
forth by Moses standing in the breach. And it's for the Lord's
own honour and glory. be encouraged to use that same
way with the Lord, to put him in mind of what he has done,
what he has said he will do, what he is able to do, and to
glorify his great and holy name. And it was effectual pleading,
but the Lord did deal with Israel and with those that rebelled,
and so he turned them back into the wilderness, And they were
then to wander for another 38 years, 40 in total, in the wilderness. One year for one day of the days
that were searched in that land. And all of those that were above
19 years of age were to be destroyed in the wilderness. They would
not see that land at all. It's a most solemn thing that
the Lord not only gets glory in the salvation of people, but
also in judgment. And that's why he said, all the
earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. And the Lord
shall get himself honor and glory both in the saving of his people
and also the judgment of his enemies as well. But it is what
is said here of Caleb, the servant of the Lord, the one that did
his Lord's bidding. But Caleb, my servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him and hath followed me
fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went and
his seed shall possess it. Now I want to look at five points,
look at the reasons that are given here. Look at Caleb and
what the Lord says of him. Remember this is the inspired
word of God. This is the Lord that is speaking
these things concerning Caleb. It is also the witness of Moses,
and later on as well the witness of Joshua that was with Caleb,
and it is also Caleb's witness as well. He is able to testify,
and not presumptuously, that which is backed up by the Lord
and by those round about him, that he had followed the Lord
fully. Now I want to then look at the
points that are before us here, and may we examine them with
that desire, Lord, that I might be one of thy servants. Now it doesn't mean a minister.
Yeah, it does apply to ministers, but all of the people of God
are to serve the Lord. That is what we are called to
serve Him. and His name to be in our foreheads,
to be known as His people. Make me always think of that.
Who do we serve? It's only really two camps. It's
only serving Satan or serving the Lord. And yet when we're
serving ourselves, we're really in Satan's camp. It's a blessed
thing that we be the servants of the Lord. Here am I, send
me. Or in the words of the Apostle
Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? His first desire of
being called by grace is that willingness to serve and obey
the Lord. And when we think of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, he is referred to in scriptures
as my servant, in whom my soul delighteth. I come to do thy
will, O God, thy law. is within my heart. If one could,
we have here Caleb, a poor sinner, but we have our Lord, absolute
perfection of service and that which He did in saving His people
from their sins and fulfilling all His Father's will. So I want to look first at the
two points that expressly mentioned in our text. And the first is
Caleb's spirit, because he had another spirit with him. And we know that all of God's
people, they have the Holy Spirit with them. The emphasis here
is the little s and it is the spirit that was with him, that
was given to him. Try the spirits, whether they
are a God or not. Remember when our Lord was going
into Jerusalem and he had the disciples with him and the Samaritans
wouldn't receive him, and they said to the Lord, shall we command
fire from heaven to come and consume them as Elias did? And the Lord said, you know not
what spirit ye are of. The Son of Man came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And the Lord was pointing at
what spirit they had, what actually was driving them. Was it the spirit of the world?
Was it the spirit of the law? Was it the spirit of the adversary? Or was it the spirit of the Lord? the spirit of the gospel, the
spirit of mercy, that spirit. And Caleb here, what is identified
is the spirit. You know, by nature, we do not
have a right spirit. We have a wrong spirit. But it
is the gift of God to give to his people of his spirit, and
that will, in fact, influence their spirit and know their spirit
will be the same spirit and mind of the Lord. Another spirit. And so it implies here there
is a contrast. You can see the spirit of the
ten and you can see the spirit of Caleb's. Caleb's spirit was
to believe the Lord. His was to believed that the
Lord was able to bring them into that land, to believe the Lord's
promise, to not limit the Holy One of Israel. Their spirit of
the 10 was to limit Him, was to not believe what the Lord
had said, was to bring up an evil report of the land designed
to discourage the people of God, Whereas Caleb, his spirit was
to encourage the people of God. And we always be mindful of that.
That we have a spirit that encourages rather than discourages. And sometimes we can not really
know what we are saying at all. Remember, my dear brethren in
the ministry, I had a visiting minister one day and He was standing
in their porch as the congregation came out. And one of the congregation,
because their visiting minister was standing next to their pastor,
and one of the congregations shook the visiting minister's
hand. He said, I really enjoyed that service. We haven't had
preaching like that for a long while. And off they went, and
there's the poor pastor standing there. And he said he probably
didn't realize what actually they'd said. and what effect
that would have on the pastor. And it is a spirit that actually
encourages in many, many things that discourage. And when we
see this picture of these 10 spies coming back with this evil
report, and the two with the good report, and how much was,
how they were encouraging One was encouraging to go up, and
the other was really encouraging to rebel, and encouraging disbelief,
and encouraging limiting the Holy One of Israel. And so Caleb's spirit was a very
different one. It's a spirit of faith. All men
have not faith. His eyes had seen exactly what
the other ten had seen. They'd seen the giants. They'd
seen the land, what it was. the hills, the difficulties,
the layout of the land, but his faith, his trust in the Lord,
he could see what they could not see. And the spirit of faith,
again, is what we would desire to have. Lord, increase our faith,
said the dear disciples. And when our Lord would pray
for Peter, He doesn't pray that he be kept from falling, but
that thy faith fail not, thy faith fail not, that that which
is given from heaven, that remain, and that faith in not himself,
but in the Lord, in what the Lord would do. And another aspect
of his spirit was the fear of the Lord. real apprehension of
who the Lord was, who it was they were rebelling against,
who it was that they were limiting, the mighty God of Israel, He
that had brought them through the Red Sea, He that had brought
all those wonders in Egypt. And yet the fear of God did not
appear to be with that ten at all, but that other spirit The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's a vital thing,
and often I think that one of the best illustrations of the
fear of the Lord is that balance, as David knew, when they were
bringing the ark back up into Jerusalem, and Uzzah put forth
his hand and touched the ark, and the Lord slew him. And David
was then too frightened to bring the ark up. He said, who can
stand before this great God? On the one hand, they were seeing
how the Lord could execute judgment and was such a God that would
deal with iniquity and sin. But when the ark was put in the
house of Obed-Edom, the Lord blessed that house. And David
saw that blessing. And then he was able to bring
the ark up. And it's those two balances.
It's like a parent with their children. That parent loves those
children. For when they do wrong, he'll
chasten them, he'll correct them. And in that way they fear him
because, not in a slavish fear, but a fear because they know
he has the authority, he know he will correct for their, what
they do wrong. But that's balanced with a love
and balanced with knowing that he is doing, or the parents are
doing that for their good. And the fear of the Lord has
those two elements within. And this is the spirit that Caleb
had. And may our desire be then to
have that other spirit, another spirit, a good spirit. And may
we always remember Often these two things go together. These
two companies, these two people with these two different spirits. You think of David going up,
fleeing from Absalom, and Shimei's casting stones and dust. And
then you see two men with two different spirits. Abishai says,
let me go over and take off his hat. Why should this dead dog
curse my lord the king? But David says, let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be the Lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day. And he had a spirit to bow
before the Lord's hand, before those things that were happening. Very different than the spirit
of, I'm going to forcibly deal with this. I'm going to fight
against this man. I'm going to destroy this man.
similar with Job and all the things that came on Job, they
came on his wife as well. And Job, he says, the Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Shall we not receive good at the hand of the Lord? Shall we
not receive evil? His wife says, Dost thou retain
thine integrity? Curse God and die. There are
two different spirits, husband and wife. And you'll find it
in a family, in a church, in a work situation, and you'll
see those two spirits, there's a very definite difference between
them. And may we always watch and not
come under that word that our Lord said that we spoke just
before, ye know not what spirit ye are of. But may we have the
spirit of Caleb. The second thing commanded is
his following. Because he had another spirit
with him and hath followed me fully. And this particular point,
the Holy Spirit in the inspired word of God here, brings before
us six times. We have it here in our text,
If we were then to go further on to chapter 32, we have another
mention in verse 11 and verse 12, where it's rehearsed again. Surely none of the men that came
up from outer Egypt from 20 years old and upwards shall see the
land. But then in verse 12, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,
the Kenizzite, and Joshua, the son of Nun, for they have wholly
followed the Lord. And then it is mentioned as well
in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 36. And this very same
point is set before us, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,
at the end of that verse, verse 36, because he hath wholly followed
the Lord. And that is then followed up
in Joshua. In Joshua they actually came
into the land, in Joshua 14 and verse 8. We have at the end of
that, and this is Caleb speaking himself, but I wholly followed
the Lord. And in verse 9, and Moses is
continuing to rehearse this, and Moses swear on that day saying,
and this is Caleb speaking, surely the land where unto thy feet
have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever because
thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And it is again
mentioned in verse 14, at the end of that verse, because that
he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. And this phrase, this
highlighting, wholly following the Lord God of Israel, following
me fully, is then six occasions that it is set before us. And a very, very important point
What is the other ways? Well, you can have those that
do not follow the Lord at all. It's very easy to see those,
isn't it? You can identify those. But what
about those that follow partially? They're those that are easy to
deceive. And you see the bit that they
follow and think, oh, they must be Lord's people. Or if you're
one of those people, you look at the part that you are following,
And you comfort yourself and say, I'm one of the Lords, I'm
following the Lord. But are you following Him fully?
This is what is mentioned here, not just that he followed, but
followed fully. Well, how is that to be understood
then? Is understood in this, in everything,
not just part of his life. It's easy to have a life that
has compartments in it. We'll follow the Lord fully where
it comes to the Lord's day and with his people, but now we come
into the week and we come into our workplace, but then we have
a different stand and a different way of working. And we're not
following the Lord fully in that way. maybe at school as well,
that it's not fully following the Lord in every part of our
lives. It's not fully following the
Lord if it's not sincerely. If there's some part that actually
is hypocritical, it's wanting to appear so unto men, but really
in our hearts, We're just acting, and we're not really what we
are. To follow the Lord is following
the Lord willingly. The Lord has said that, this
people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise,
but they shall be made willing in the day of my power. not by
force, not by constraint, but drawn. No man cometh unto me
except the Father which sent me, draw him. And that then is
the willing offerings, the freewill offerings that are made. And to follow the Lord fully
is also to do so in a cheerful way, not well, well, Thou, Lord,
would want me to do this, but I don't really want to do it.
I'm going to do it, but not cheerfully. We can do that in a lot of things
naturally in life, can't we? We've known that when we were
children, especially a parent tells us to do something, we
don't really want to do it. We go away, and we bang this,
and we bang that, and we stamp our foot, and we do it, but we're
not doing it cheerfully, not doing it very willingly either. following the Lord fully, constantly. It's one thing to begin, it's
another to continue, constantly. Whether it is in prayer, whether
it is in that which we do in our lives, consistently, day
by day, and hour by hour, fully following the Lord. It's easy to put a spurt on,
as it were. I remember years ago, when I
was at school, and we had to do book reviews. And in the first
term or so, I think I read 40 books, and I did lots of book
reviews, and the teacher was very pleased with me. But then
I thought, I've done enough for the year. By the end of the year,
I'd hardly added unto them at all, and I didn't get very good
marks. It would have been a lot better to start off slowly and
consistently through the year. than to try and do a whole lot
at the start. And if you're running a race
as well, seen the grandchildren yesterday, the advice was given,
it's a long distance race, don't sprint at the start, go steady
and then you will endure unto the end. He that endureth unto
the end shall be saved and to follow the Lord fully is with
that desire, it won't be just for today or tomorrow, not just
for this year, but for the rest of my life, to wholly follow
the Lord. Let the Lord be my portion. It
is also to follow Him wholly in all things that are required
of us. Caleb, he discharged that which
the Lord required of him in seeing the land, bringing the report,
strengthening the children of Israel, to be a true witness
and a true servant in what he had been given to do. And may we be mindful of what
the Lord sets before a believer, sets before his people, of what
he requires of them and to fully follow the Lord. It's a sad thing
when there are those that, if you ask them, they'd say, well,
we do believe, we believe the Lord has worked in our hearts,
but there is no desire to fully follow the Lord in the ordinances
of his house, in baptism, in the Lord's Supper, sometimes
it may be with not realising that actually they have the true
tokens of a child of God, that the ear be opened, that there
be the willingness, that the Lord Jesus Christ has been precious,
they've been drawn to him, drawn to his people like Ruth was,
As sheep their ears had been opened to hear the Word. One
of the Lord's servants came here recently and he highlighted,
he spoke of the blessing of having a hearing ear and open to hearing
the Word of God and receiving it. And I think of how many that
I speak to in this town or those that There's no desire to hear. They'll patiently hear you out
for a while, but you can see that the shutters come down.
They don't really want to hear. They're not interested. There's
not an appetite. There's not a realizing of any
need in themselves. And I've often thought if the
Lord was to give a real spiritual revival in this land, then that
is one thing we'd suddenly begin to see very different. People
were hungering for the Word, wanting to hear it. In past revivals,
that has been the thing. And when the Lord began with
me, and called by grace a desire to hear where there wasn't before,
and an appetite for the Word, and if the Lord has given you
that, and given you that desire, an aching void which the world
cannot fulfill, and you see that contrast, Remember, part of the
witness here was not only others seeing what Caleb was and seeing
his spirit, he knew, he knew that his spirit was different
than those other ten. And if you know that the Lord
has given you another spirit that is different and you follow
differently then these are true tokens. Thou only hath wrought
all our works in us. It is the Lord that begins with
His people and continues with them. And it is putting in the
way and is that light and understanding is given to follow the Lord fully. I think one of the most solemn
characters in the Word of God and searching I find for myself
is that of Jehu. Because Jehu, he executed the
will of the Lord against Ahab for his Baal worship and for
all his wicked life. And he completely cut off the
house of Ahab. But he said at one time, to one, come up into my chariot
and see my zeal for the Lord. But then we read the solemn word,
how be it from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel
the sin, ye who departed not from after them. to wit the golden
calves that were in Bethel and they that were in Dan. And actually the witness is in
this, but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God
of Israel with all his heart. There are many things that commended
what he'd done well. The Lord said unto Jehu, because
thou hast done well, in executing that which is right in mine eyes.
And he is commended, and for his generations would be remembered
after him. But that in his heart he did
not take heed to. We can pay attention to many
outward things, and even have a zeal. No, in Romans 10 is spoken
of those that had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And so to follow the Lord fully
is not only outward, but it's inward and in the heart and dealing
with our sin and bringing that before the Lord. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we are given a hearing ear,
Really it's the Lord that will dictate what we should do and
what we should not. All that is needed is to obey,
isn't it? And if in each point we obey,
then it will be said of us, like Caleb, that we have followed
the Lord fully. Well there are three other things
that I bring before you. that mark out Caleb as different,
as a true servant of the Lord. And the third is this, then that
his submission to God's will. Even though Caleb had brought
a good report, he had to suffer with the rest. You don't hear
him saying to the Lord, Lord, I brought a good report. Why
do I have to go for 40 years in the wilderness? Why do I have
to suffer with the rest of them, endure with the rest of them?
He was willing to actually submit to that. And there's many times
the people of God, and sometimes the psalmist, he stumbled at
this. He said, why is it that God's
children, they also have to suffer these things? When there's a
war in a country, Like in Ukraine, God's children are suffering
along with those that are not. And the same with the children
of Israel here, same with Caleb here. Do we need also that reminder
to be submissive? You think of Daniel. Daniel was
a, with the right spirit, a godly man. He was carried away into
Babylon, when at the end of that captivity he confessed The sin
of the nation, he confessed it as his sin. He numbered himself
with them. He didn't say, well, they have
sinned, and because of the sin of my forefathers, that is why
we are here. He confessed it as part of a
whole. And he endured it with the rest
of them. And may we think of that spirit. May we think of the Spirit of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who had not sinned, nor was any
garb found in his mouth, and yet he suffered the just for
the unjust. He dwelt here below. He was submissive
to the law of God, and he then stood in the place of his people
and endured the wrath of God. in their place, yet laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. And we see that spirit with Caleb. But how does that work out for
your life and mine, things that we are going through? And we
might say, yes, but I have sought to do right. We might even say
with Caleb, I have followed thee fully. Why these things? Why am I being treated just like
them or perhaps worse than those that have rebelled against thee?
But Caleb, he is submissive unto the will of the Lord. The next
thing I notice is this, his patience for the blessing. We're told
that he not only had to wait the other 38 years, It was 46
years before he actually had the blessing that was promised
here. I will bring, him will I bring
into the land where into he went and his seed shall possess it.
And he waited for that blessing. All those years through the wilderness,
waited for it. Are you waiting for a blessing?
Waiting for the Lord to appear, waiting for the Lord to do what
He said unto you. Maybe the devil is saying, well,
because it's so long delayed, because of this and this and
this. You point the devil to Caleb and say, well, he waited
that long. He patiently waited. As he got
older and older and older, he still waited. Maybe be given
that patience. Endurance, to wait in the Lord's
time. And the last thing is this, his
seeking of the blessing at the right time. You know, we're not
to put ourselves forward, but dear Caleb had been promised
this. He'd been promised it, and he
waited, and you hear, as it were, silence. And even when they first
came into the promised land, he's not jumping to the front
of the queue and saying, I'm first, I want my portion, and
this is due me. No, he patiently, he waits still
until the right time. And then he comes, and you can
read a letter in Joshua 14, and from verse six, then it is that
Caleb, he comes and he says, unto Joshua, thou knowest the
thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning
me and thee in Cades Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses,
the servant of the Lord, sent me from Cades Barnea to espy
out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in mine
heart." He speaks of how it is with him
at this time, and he says in the end of verse 10, I am this
day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this
day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength
was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and
to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain,
whereof the Lord spake in that day. And he makes petition, and
he is given it. Joshua blessed him, gave unto
Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance. After all
those years, and he was given it, he had the promise of it,
he waited for it, he endured through all the wilderness, and
the Lord blessed him with it. and able to overcome that land
those years later. May we seek that blessing. May
we plead the precious promises of God. Remember the mark of
those that have faith in Hebrews 11, 13. They saw the promises
afar off and they embraced them. It was not only embracing them,
it's pleading them and putting the Lord in remembrance of them. He mentioned Daniel, how he did
that at the end of that 70 years, putting the Lord in remembrance.
The Lord has said 70 years. Now is the time of deliverance.
Now is the time to be set free. So may the Lord be pleased to
grind unto us Caleb's spirit, that other spirit, and to follow
the Lord fully. But my servant, Caleb, because
he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess
it. May we be a true disciple of
the Lord, that is a follower of the Lord. The Lord said to
those that believed on him, the Jews, if ye continue in my word,
then shall ye be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth,
the truth shall make you free. And may we be a disciple indeed,
a follower like dear Caleb. The Lord add his blessing. Amen.