Now this morning, I have only
one thing I want to show you. One thought that I pray the Spirit
of God will set in our hearts. One thing I want you to leave
here today knowing, desiring, and determined by the grace of
God to set our hearts upon. And that one thing is this. It
is a blessed, blessed thing to follow the Lord fully. A blessed day. I'm calling today
for consecration to Christ. That means consecration to his
church. his kingdom, his calls, and his gospel in this world.
There is no consecration to Christ where there is no consecration
to his church, his kingdom, his gospel, his calls in this world.
The Lord God declared to Moses that he would destroy all of
Israel in the wilderness because of their unbelief. All of them
except for two people. Just two men, two men who demonstrated
faithfulness, Joshua and Caleb. Now, of those two men, Joshua
always stands out because Joshua was always in the limelight.
Joshua was always Moses' right-hand man. Joshua was always there. And there were others who arose
in the camp of Israel who shined for a little while, but they
soon withered. Caleb, on the other hand, was just as faithful
as Joshua. He was always there, always dependable,
doggedly dependable, doggedly, count on this was with Caleb.
You could just flat count on this fella, but he was never
in the limelight. Nobody ever heard his name much.
Nobody ever saw him much. Nobody ever observed anything
much that he did, but he was always there, constantly faithful. This man, Joshua, and this man,
Caleb, were among the spies who went in to spy out the land of
Canaan. And they spent now 40 years in
the wilderness, watching God fulfill his word. For 40 years,
God was killing them off one at a time. for 40 years, killing
off the unbelieving millions who came out of Egypt. Killing
them off, one at a time. The reason they wandered about
in Egypt, no accident, it was a matter of judgment. The reason
they wandered about in the wilderness rather. Because they believed
not God. God said, I'm going to kill you,
every one. Every one of you. And every man who came out of
Egypt from 20 years old and upward died in the wilderness except
Joshua and Caleb. Now these two only were left. Everyone else, their carcasses
lay dead in the wilderness in unbelief. When God told Moses
how that he would deal with the nation of evildoers, one man
stood out above all others. Let's go back to Numbers chapter
14 again, and let me show you what God says about this one
man. There is one man who stood above the others as an example
of faith, commitment, and consecration. Read what God says about that
man. Numbers chapter 14, verse 24. But my servant Caleb, because
he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully. What a word for God to say about
a man. My servant Caleb, because he
hath 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. Now this name
Caleb has two meanings. First, it means a dog, and that's
not much, you know. Normally, a fellow looks at you
and calls you a dog or gives you the name of something that
implies a dog, that's not a compliment. Normally, that's anything less,
anything but a compliment. But in Caleb's case, there was
something distinct about him. A dog has one distinctive characteristic. One thing that distinguishes
a dog above any other animal in the animal kingdom. One thing
that distinguishes a dog above anything, whether that dog's
a purebred or whether it's just an old cur hound, it doesn't
matter. One thing you can count on with a dog, he's always faithful
and loyal to his master unless he goes mad. Unless he goes mad. He's just always loyal. Always
faithful. He takes a master, master stars
him to death, he'll be right there. Master beats him, he'll
be right there. The master abuses him, he stays
right by his master. I have yet in my life, and I've
had a bunch of them. I don't have any now simply because
I'm not home enough to take care of them. I enjoy being around
them. I've had a bunch of dogs. Since I was a boy, I have never
had one yet to leave me. Not one time. I've never had
one yet to turn on me. I've never had one yet that in
any way showed anything but loyalty toward me. And certainly this
man, Caleb, implies that characteristic of a dog. He is one who followed
his master. Faithful, always following his
master from the day that he met him to the day that he entered
into glory. The name Caleb also means all
heart. What a name for a man. It perfectly
suited Caleb. There was nothing half-hearted
about him. He didn't do anything by halves. Nothing lukewarm,
nothing insincere about this man, Caleb. Caleb was all heart. I've known many who had a head
to understand, but no heart. A hand to work, but no heart.
Feet to go, but no heart. Not Caleb. His head understood
what was going on, but he was all heart. His hands were ready
to work, but he was all heart. His feet were ready to go, but
he was all heart. This man, Caleb, was a man with
a lion's heart. And so he is properly named a
dog and all heart. A faithful, loyal, courageous
dog. Or what made Caleb the man he
was? We know that he was not such by nature, any more than
as I was introducing the message to get your attention. Is Lindsay
Campbell such a man by nature? This man, Caleb, was a different
man from other men because of a difference made by God himself.
He was made to be a peculiar, different man, faithful in all
things and dependable because the Lord God gave him another
spirit. Look at their text again, Numbers
14, 24. God says he had another spirit. He had another spirit. Now, there's something that characterized
this man Caleb. Something that characterizes
believing men and women in this world. They have another spirit. They're different from other
people. They're different from other people. They just have
another spirit given them, given them by the grace of God. Turn
over to Ezekiel chapter 36. Here is God's covenant promise
to his people. Among many others, he makes this
promise in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh. Now look at verse 27. And I will
put my spirit within you. I want to do something for you
men never tell it before. I'm going to put my spirit within
you. and calls you to walk in my statutes. That is, I'm going to give you
a heart and a spirit, a new nature that will call you to walk in
my statutes, that will call you to be obedient to me, that will
call you to seek my glory, that will call you to stand out among
men. And you shall keep my judgments
and do them. Now this is where we must begin.
I hear folks these days being called on to start serving the
Lord. Well, first thing for you to
do is not start serving Him, but bow to Him. First thing for
you to do is not start seeking to do something for Him, but
seeking that He do something for you. If you and I would follow
the Lord fully, if we would be truly consecrated to our Christ,
there must be given us a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature. And that new heart, that new
spirit, that new nature is to be found only at the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, where God the Holy Spirit brings about
the new birth, giving us life and faith in Christ through the
glorious efficacy of his shed blood. This is what our Lord
says in Zechariah 12 verse 10. You don't need to turn there.
He said, I will pour upon the house of David, that is my elect,
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the church of my choice, the
spirit of grace and supplication. When will men pray? When God
pours on them the spirit of grace and supplication. And I will
pour on them the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one is in bitterness for his firstborn. Now this is
what I'm saying. Come to Christ. Fall on your
face before the Son of God. Ask Him to give you His Spirit. Sue for mercy. Lay hold of Him
like Jacob of old, and do not let go until you know that He
has given you of His Spirit. You say, well, Pastor, that sounds
like Arminianism to me. That sounds like free willism
to me. I don't care what it sounds like. It's like it's Bible. This
is what our Lord said. Look in John chapter 7. I'll
show you. Look in John chapter 7. Verse 37, our Lord had been
up to Jerusalem where folks were, you know, debating their doctrine,
debating their intricacies of theology. I get so sick of it. I recall
one time, years ago, I was preaching for a fellow who deemed himself
a brilliant theologian, and Brother Milton Howard and I were present,
and after services we went out, and man, folks bought stacks
of theology books, you know, stacks of theology books, and
I was impressed. The purpose was to impress me,
and I was flat impressed. After about 30 minutes, I said,
well, I got to go. And this fellow's wife said, I got to go. We started
outside, and she said, I can't take just so much of their theologizing. And I said, I can't take that
much. Just debating points of theology while men go to hell
without regard to the souls of men and their needs. Now, listen
to me. Listen carefully to me. Let us
never, never, never, become so callously hard in our seeking
to understand doctrine in an abstract sense that we neglect
the souls of men in the plain statements of Holy Scripture.
Look here in John chapter 7, verse 37. Our Lord watched this
great multitude coming back from Jerusalem. They'd been up on
the feast, and they had gone up empty, and they came away
empty. And the Lord Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink. Are you thirsty? Come to Christ and drink and
listen to what he says. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
waters. But this spake he of the spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
In Ephesians 1 verse 13, the apostle speaks of believers as
those who have trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ. After that,
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed you were sealed. What does that
mean? You mean the sealing depends
on our believing? No, but you can't get it without
it. Does that mean that somehow getting this blessed seal of
the Spirit is all dependent on whether or not we believe? No,
no, no, no, no, no. But you can't get it without
it. And the promise is this, you believe on Christ and He
will give you His Spirit and seal you in His Spirit. That's
His promise. I know that you can't believe unless you have
the Spirit of God. I know that faith must be the
fruit of regeneration. Faith must be the fruit of the
new birth. Faith must be the fruit of God's Spirit working
in you. But I know this as well. You cannot have the Spirit of
God unless you believe on the Son of God. So come to Jesus
Christ and receive the spirit of life and faith in Christ the
Lord. The spirit of life and grace
is given to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So
if we would follow the Lord fully, we must consecrate ourselves
to Christ. We must be filled with his spirit,
led by his spirit, ruled by the spirit of God. To be filled with
the spirit, Ephesians 5 18, be not drunk with wine where it
is excess, but be you filled with the spirit of God. In this
day of religious nonsense, you know, I have to pause every time
I come to that and explain it. Being filled with the Spirit
is not speaking in some kind of an unknown gibberish, calling
it speaking in tongues. Being filled with the Spirit
is not walking around with a pious look on your face and say, bless
the Lord, every time you stomp your toe. Being filled with the
Spirit is being controlled by the Spirit of God. To be filled
with the Spirit is to walk in the Spirit. To be filled with
the Spirit is to look to Christ and be directed by Him in all
things, just as a man who is drunk with wine is under the
control and influence of the wine with which he is drunk,
so the believer is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that
his life is constantly under the rule and direction and sensitive
influence of God the Holy Spirit. Now Caleb was the man he was
because he had another spirit with him. The spirit of God made
him a new spirit. The spirit of God took this man
Caleb and made him a believing spirit. Caleb took God at his
word. Moses came from the backside
of the desert. He'd been gone for 40 years,
and this 80-year-old man came. Now, you try to picture this.
This 80-year-old man, who had been a wanted fugitive in Egypt
for 40 years, comes back to Egypt, and he says, boys, I've seen
the Lord, and he told me I was going to bring you out of Egypt. How do you know? He told me his
name's I Am. And most everybody laughed at
him. But Caleb believed Him. Caleb believed God. As God sent
His Word, he took God at His Word and just believed Him. That's
what faith is. Faith is not speculating, debating,
and investigating. Faith is believing the revelation
of God. Now, as you believe, you'll understand. As you believe, you'll grasp
things. As you believe, the light will shine brighter and brighter.
But I'm telling you that faith does not come by you getting
understanding. Understanding comes by you believing
God. Caleb believed God. God gave
him a meek spirit. This man, Caleb, being of another
spirit, understood and recognized just who and what he was before
God. And he gave him a brave spirit. I'll tell you what, you
find a truly meek man, you better step out of his way, because
that man's a courageous spirit. That man who knows what he is
before God is a courageous man. He recognizes he's nothing, but
God's everything. He recognizes he's nothing, but
Christ is everything. He's nothing, but the spirit
of God in him is everything. And he's therefore courageous,
bold as a lion. Gave him a loving spirit. You
see, grace does that for men and women. Makes them love each
other. And Caleb, as he walked before
God, loved him. And he loved his people. He loved
Israel. And he willingly sacrificed much
for the good of his people. This man, Caleb, being of another
spirit, was a zealous spirit, so that he was consecrated, committed
to God. His spirit was a heavenly spirit.
He walked on this earth. He wandered about in the wilderness
for 40 years. For 40 years, he wandered about
in that wilderness. But you know where his heart
was all the time? All the time. His heart, he had been up to
Mount Heber. He had seen the anechoms, and
he had seen the clusters of grapes, and he had seen the land filled
with milk and honey, and that's where his heart was all the time. All the time. Oh, God, give me
such a spirit. Give me such a spirit. The things
that went on around him in the wilderness, He'd look at a baby,
might even pick up morning paper and read it. Might even shed
a tear over it. And then he'd go on his way because
his heart was in Hebron. His heart was fixed. He walked
in the wilderness just as we walk through this wilderness
in our pilgrimage here. But his heart was fixed on the
inheritance God promised him. And he walked that way for 40
years. Because he had another spirit
with him, God says. He hath followed me fully. God
give you another spirit. God give me another spirit and
we'll follow him fully too. The problem where there's no
faithfulness, the problem where there's no count on it-ness,
the problem where there's no dependability, the problem where
there's no steadfastness, is all you got's religion, not another
spirit. All you got's a profession, not
another spirit. All you got's a name, not another
spirit. But what does it mean to follow
the Lord fully? Caleb wasn't a prophet. He wasn't
a preacher. He was just a man, a man like
Bob Pontzer who believed God. and believed in God, he followed
him. He followed him. I'm afraid very few follow the
Lord fully. At best, most of us, most of
our lives are like Peter in the judgment hall, following the
Lord afar off. At worst, I fear we're like King Saul, following
the Lord conveniently. That's the way with most people.
Most follow the Lord conveniently. I pray God will give us grace
to follow our Savior fully. When God says that Caleb followed
the Lord fully, he means for us to understand that he followed
Christ universally. He followed Christ the Lord in
all things. His obedience to Christ was a
universal obedience. Whatever the Lord said, whatever
his master told him to do, that's what he did. He did not pick
and choose what he wanted to do, but he followed the Lord
fully. He didn't decide for himself what he would like to do, and
as long as this was agreeable to him, then I'll do that. But
he followed the Lord fully. He was unwilling to violate the
will of God anywhere. If it came to doctrine, Peter,
hear Moses. As Moses opened the word, he
said, now boys, this is what God said and this is what he
meant. Caleb listened. He said, that's what God said
and that's what God meant. That's simple enough. The Lord didn't choose you because
you were greater in number than anybody else. He chose you because
he loved you. That sounds good to me. That
sounds good to me. He heard the doctrine that Moses
taught by the Spirit of God and he followed the doctrine. Never
once do you hear him quibble about it. Never once. Never once
did you hear him say, well, but now Moses, I remember back yesterday
or 20 years ago, I remember that you said this thing concerning
God's purpose and this thing concerning God's grace, this
thing concerning God's election, and I don't see how they all
fit together. No, he kept his mouth shut and listened. He just
listened and followed the Lord, followed him. Worship. Moses said, now boys, God said,
if you build an altar, You build your altar of earth. Just earth. Just earth. And don't you dare come up on
an altar you've made out of wood, or an altar you've carved out
of stone, or an altar that you've made out of fine rubies and emeralds.
Don't you dare bring that to God. And other folks look around
and they say, well, shoot, if the Egyptians can have golden
altars, we ought to be able to have golden altars. If the Egyptians
can have these beautiful buildings, we ought to be able to have these
beautiful buildings. Caleb, he said, I'll walk up an altar of
earth. That earth is what God made, not what you made. If you
worship on an altar of stone, let it be an altar of not of
human stone, but an altar of stone that comes just like it
came out of the quarry. Said it right there. You've got this tabernacle. This
tent. Well, everybody laughing is worshiping
in that tent. But the Egyptians and the Canaanites,
everybody's got prettier places to worship than that. And here
we are worshiping this tent. We tell them this is where God
is. Caleb said, I worship down there. That's where God is. That's
where God is. I had a lady. contacted me just
recently. I'd recommended that she take
her family, her and her husband go over and hear a fellow from Virginia by the Jack
Hamilton live close by, about an hour away. She wrote me back
and said, you know, my husband wants us to go to church over
here. They have so much for the kids. They entertain the children. They have programs for them all
the way from cradle roll right on up through high school. And
they don't preach anything. But he says, we can teach them
truth at home. And she says, what do you think we ought to
do? That's the wrong thing to do. So I wrote her back. And
I said, if you care for their souls, the glory of God in your
soul. Play games with them at home, teach them the truth in
the house of God. Don't take them down to Babylon where they're
going to have their souls destroyed. Caleb believed God and therefore
he worshiped as God prescribed that he worshiped at the altar
that God prescribed Jesus Christ the Lord and his free grace in
him. In all matters of duty, Caleb simply took God's word.
What am I to do? This is what God says, honor
me. How am I to live in this world?
It's what God says. How much man am I to gather up today?
It's what God says. It wouldn't make good sense to
gather up a bushel basket full. But if you do, it's going to
be wormy in the morning. Just give what you need. It's what
God says. Caleb was consecrated to God.
His mind, his heart, his money, his family, his life, everything. Mr. Spurgeon said in commenting
on this man Caleb, he said, a spirit of partial obedience is a spirit
of radical disobedience. Paul, that's just right. That's
just right. I want to be obedient to the
Lord as a pastor, but not a husband. I want to be obedient to the
Lord as a civilian, but not as a wife. I want to be obedient
to the Lord in this capacity or that capacity, but not in
another. Oh, no. Oh, no. Partial obedience. Merle is total disobedience.
Remember what Saul did? Samuel said, you go down there
and you take Agag and kill everything. kill everything. And Saul came
back and Samuel came up and he heard the bleeding of the sheep
and he said, Saul, what's this? And Saul said, well, we killed
everybody except Agag and we kept the sheep and the cattle
and the spoil to divide among the Israelites because this is
so good. And Samuel said, give me your
sword. It's better to obey than to sacrifice.
Better to obey than sacrifice. There's a prophet you remember
back in first Kings. He came down to Bethel and he
had a word from the Lord. And another prophet who was a
deceiver came to him. He said, I'm a prophet like you
are. And I've got a word from the Lord too. And this is what
Lord sent me to tell you to do. Now remember, he already had
a word from God. And on his way home, Bobby Lyon
killed him. Partial obedience is total disobedience. Caleb followed the Lord fully. He followed the Lord not only
universally, but sincerely without hypocrisy. He was not a dressed
soldier. He was not a lip service disciple. He was not one of those who flattered
the Lord with his lips, but lied to him with his heart. Oh no,
this man Caleb was faithful and loyal, sincere in all things.
He proved it. One of the surest test of sincerity is a person's willingness to
suffer for the cause of Christ. You read the account given in
Numbers 13 and in Numbers 14 again. And you'll see that this
man Caleb stood before Moses and all the congregation of Israel
And when all the spies, all of them except Joshua, said, Moses,
we can't take the land. We can't take it. I know we got
this big cluster of grapes here, but there's giants in that land.
It's a fortified, fenced land. We can't take it. We'll go up
there and be slaughtered, every one of us. And even Joshua kept
his mouth shut. Joshua didn't say a word. And
I can picture O'Caleb. He's just a young convert, hadn't
been around long. But he looks over at these fellas
who are disturbing Israel, turning their hearts away from the Lord.
And he looks at Joshua as if to say, man, ain't you going
to say something? And Joshua just stands there.
And all is real now. is turning against Moses and
turning against Caleb, and Caleb says, wait! Take it, we can take
it. We can take it. And in the face
of total opposition, in the face of everyone else ready to kill
him, he said, God's as good as his word, we can take it. You
see, there are many who follow the Lord Jesus in the sunshine,
who'll never follow him in the storm. And many who began to
follow him in the storm, who will never follow him in the
sunshine of prosperity, Caleb followed him fully. And he followed
him cheerfully. Those who serve Christ, who truly
serve Christ, do so with willing hearts, because they want to. Grumbling servants are not servants
at all. I, uh, I'm so thankful to have
a wife who, uh, who loves me and delights to wait on me. She
delights to do everything she can just see me smile. You know,
she just, if I like things certain way, unless my son-in-law's coming
over, that's the way I get up. I, uh, if I, if I want things
in my house, certain way, this is the way they are. If I want
coffee, you want some coffee before I even mention it, here
it comes. Why? Well, she does it, but she don't
like doing it. I want to tell you something.
If she didn't like doing it, I'd let the coffee sit there
till mold grew over it. I wouldn't drink it. That's right. I'm not interested in having
someone do anything for me who doesn't want to do it. But my
soul, that's nothing. God Almighty says, give me your
heart. Give me your heart. That's a
principle thing. Give me your heart. Out of it are the issues
of life. And Rex, if he's got your heart,
he's got everything. Everything. Everything. That woman sitting back there,
she's got your heart. Whatever it is that's needed
for her good, she's got it. If she's got your heart. That's
it. Lord spoke by Paul about the
Thessalonians or those of Macedonia. He said they first gave themselves
to the Lord. He said God loves a cheerful
giver, a cheerful giver, so that those who give anything to him,
anything in his cause, give with purpose, yes, give with determination,
yes, but give cheerfully, cheerfully. Paul said, every man, therefore,
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And Caleb followed
the Lord perseveringly all the days of his life. Now, I want
to camp here for just a minute. I'll move on. Caleb was 40 years old when he
went to spy out the land. I've been thinking about this
man lately. You notice the article in the
bulletin I wrote a couple of weeks ago, and I started working
on this message. Apparently, best I can figure,
he was about 35 years old when God saved him. About 35 years old. First, the
Lord crossed his path. Moses came back to Egypt and
God spoke a word by Moses. Moses told him about God's deliverance.
You mean we've been down here for 400 years in darkness and
bondage and drudgery and slavery, working in slavery for these
Egyptians and God's going to bring us out? Yes, Sir Caleb,
God's going to bring us out. And right here is where he said
he's going to do it. And this is the time when he said he's
going to do it. And I've come to bring it to
pass. Caleb, believe me. He not only heard the message
of deliverance, but he saw deliverance and redemption. He saw, for he
obeyed the word of God and took a paschal lamb and sacrificed
the lamb and he put the blood on the doorpost in the little
and judgment came and Caleb went through judgment and never touched
him. He came across the Red Sea. That
man was there. When Moses said, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And everybody was cussing
him. Everybody was cussing him. Except
Caleb. He was standing watching that
river. And Moses put his foot in the river. And here it goes.
Caleb walked right across on dry ground where the rest of
Israel looked back and saw Pharaoh and his armies drowned in the
river. I've seen better things than that. I've experienced better
things than that. I've been delivered from a greater
bondage than that. I've seen redemption accomplished,
not in picture, but in reality. I've seen God's Son sacrifice
my sin. I've seen Satan and his army
drown in the river behind me. Therefore Caleb, believing God,
followed the Lord. He was 40 years old when he went in to spy out the
land. and brought back the report of faith. He said, we're able
to overcome it. And then he spent 45 long years
among unbelieving people who called themselves the people
of God. Can you imagine? 45 years. But all the time, Caleb
followed the Lord. All the time. He stayed with
Moses to the end of his days. And then he followed Joshua,
just as he had followed Moses. Man, that's faithfulness. He followed Moses. He heard Moses
bring the word of grace. And here comes Korah. Where'd
he find Caleb? Well, I've seen fellas like Kehora
come and go before. I'll stay here with Moses. Here
comes this fella and that. I'll stay here with Moses. This
man is the man by whom I first heard the word of God's grace.
This is the man. This is the man who showed me
the way of life. This is the man to whom I owe everything. He brought me grace. The Lord
used him to bring me eyes and light and faith. I'll stay with
him. And when Moses was dead, not
a bit of competition between him and Joshua. Not even a smidgen. Caleb, you've been around as
long as Joshua has. Yeah, but Joshua's man God set
up. What are you going to do? I want to follow him just like
I did Moses. God said it that way. Never once did Caleb consort
with the murmuring crowd. Never once did he join the rebels. You see, faithfulness to God,
means faithfulness to his servant and faithfulness to his people.
It just does. Brother Charlie Payne, most of
y'all knew him. He was an elder at Ashland. Some years ago, Charlie
was the manager of the Norandex building
supply place up in Cerrito, Kentucky, or Cerrito, West Virginia. There was a fellow who came to
13th Street, and God did a work of grace for him, Brother Dick
Pennington, the fellow who provided all these windows here. He owns
Penco Window Company. He big shot up in that area.
He big shot. Somebody came up one day to Charlie
and started the Bad Mouth Penco Company. They sat at Charlie's
desk. He said, wait a minute. Now remember,
these two fellows are competitors. Charlie runs Norandex. Dick owns
Bingo. He said the fellow who owns that
company over there, Dick Pennington, he's my brother. He said my father owns both those
companies. And he runs that one over there
in Kentucky, and I run this one here in West Virginia. And so
we're not going to hear any bad talk about my brother. That's
called faithful. It's called faithful. He said, well, you ought to listen. Open the door to it. You open
the door to a sewer. No, you don't listen. You shut
it up. When his time came to claim his heritage at the age
of 85, this grand old man, Caleb, was still following the Lord
fully. He still had the strength of his youth, the faith of his
youth, and the zeal of his youth. Oh, God, give me that. If I live
to be 50 years old, if I live to be 100 years old, let me live
and die in faith following the Lord. Most. I wrote down here how many
there are who fail in this respect. But the fact is, Merle, most
do. Most do. There were somewhere between
10 and 20 million who came out of Egypt. Somewhere between 10
and 20 million who came out of Egypt. Four million men. Four million of them. There were
two who walked into Canaan. So pastor, you surely don't think
things that way now. They've always been that way.
And it's going to be that way to the end. Most people follow
the Lord in spurts. Most of the people in your family
and mine, most of the people we know follow the Lord in spurts.
They have spasms of religion. I don't know any other way to
describe it. They have fits of religion. They leap into the church like
flying fish leap into the air and then they fall back into
the world like the fish fall back into the water. The one
thing required of stewards is that they be found faithful.
And the one thing lacking in these shooting stars is faithfulness. Faithfulness. I've said this
so many times that it must sound like a broken record, but man,
I hope you'll hear it. There is nothing more despicable
in the character of any man than the lack of faithfulness. Nothing. Adultery, theft, nothing more
despicable than a lack of faith. Just dependability. Just dependability. I know men, their wives can't
count on them to keep a job. Their children can't count on
them to feed them. And they just strut in church on Sunday morning
like they're somebody. Faithfulness, where does it go? For most people, the only thing
you can count on them for is the fact that you can't count
on them. And I know the reason. They come and go because they
were not of us. That's what John said. They went
out from us because they were not of us. I got a letter from
a pastor this past week, fixing to baptize a young believer. He said, I hope she lasts. He
said, I don't mean to be critical or cynical, but he said, if we
had all the folks here who've been through here, we'd have
the wall busting out and have to build another building. But
we don't have that problem. How come? Because they come and
go like shooting stars. They just spring up and they
go. There are many like Lot's wife.
They flee out of Sodom for fear, but they look back with regret. She was alarmed. She was scared
to death of going to hell. Scared to death to go into hell.
She's in trouble. And she didn't want to fall into
the judgment of God. But her heart was still in Sodom. And she perished with Sodom.
There are good many like those in John chapter 6. They follow
the Lord for a time. They call themselves his disciples.
They hear the word enthusiastically and they, boy, they just, you
preach to them and they just seem like they're ready to just
pop out and shout and jump up and wave their hands and act
crazy and carry on something awful because they're just so
excited they can't contain themselves. Don't take long for them to start
containing themselves. Our Lord had a whole, He had a whole parcel
of folks like that in John chapter 6. They're following Him everywhere. They had eaten the loaves and
dishes. They had been there and watched him. Man, this is something
else. Let's get in on this bandwagon.
They had seen him heal the sick. They had seen him cause the blind
to see. They saw him ate the loaves and
fishes. And he began to preach to them
about the necessity of faith, about the depravity of man, about
the free and sovereign grace of God, about the power, the
irresistible power of God's spirit. And man, it started weeding out. It started weeding out. They
just looked back. You know who was left? The same
ones you started out with. And he turned around and looked
at Peter and James, John, those 12 disciples, and he said, you're
going to leave too? Folks don't fall out because
of the doctrine. They'll fall out because of some
duty, some requirement of faith. You see, faith in Christ is demanding. It's demanding. It demands all
of you. And sometimes fellows fail to
calculate that. They fail to set down and count
the cost, as our Lord told them to. And they say, now, wait a
minute. I remember listening to Brother
Don say that, but I didn't pay attention to that part. I wasn't listening then. No,
I... No, I can't do that. I can't
do that. That costs too much. That costs
too much. And if doctrine doesn't get them,
and some point of responsibility doesn't get them, Some petty
something or other will. And usually, Lindsay, it's some
petty something or other. Some silly, you know, kind of
like men and women spatting, you know, they get spatting over
round toothpicks or flat ones. And so the marriage is broken
up and you wonder what they broke up over. And boy, this happened. Some tragic thing happened. You
get it all boiled down to, you know, I remember when this thing
started. We were discussing round toothpicks
are flat. Nothing happened like that. Sit
down, I'll tell you some stories. Many are like the Galatians.
When Paul first preached to them, they received him, he said, as
an angel of God. This man came and preached free
grace. And they said, man, we never heard it like that before.
This man preaches like nobody we ever heard before. He's as
an angel of God. He said, you received me just
as though I were Christ himself. And when he began to tell them
the truth in such a way as it kind of ran against the grain,
Bill, those fellows who would gladly have plucked out their
eyes and given them to him now looked at him as an enemy and
despised him. Many in time of affliction began
to follow the Lord, but they don't follow Him fully. Turn
to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. I want to keep your attention
now. Turn back there and look at this. Psalm 73. People ask me, you know, about going to see
folks and they got trouble. False prophets and lawyers have
this one thing in common, they're both ambulance chasers. God's
servants aren't. Not God's servants. God's servants
don't have to go chasing somebody down and trick them into making
a profession of faith. We don't try to sneak up on somebody when
they're down and they're having a bad time and, boy, they're
ready now. They're ready for anything now.
They're gullible now. Here in Psalm 78 verse 34, when
he slew them, Then they sought him and they
returned and inquired early after God. They got up early in the
morning and said, we're going to start praying at four o'clock
in the morning. We're going to read a chapter a day before daylight
comes up. And they remembered that God was their rock and the
high God their redeemer. Nevertheless, it was all a joke. It was all pretense. They did flatter him with their
mouth and they lied to him with their tongue. I've been corresponding off and
on for 12 years with a young man. He's now in Africa. I think
maybe God's done something for him. Last time he wrote to me,
I sat on the letter for a couple of months, kind of unusual for
me. And I said, now, the reason I'm sat on this letter this long
is because I don't have time to play games with you while
you play games with God. And if you're still playing games
with God, just leave me out of it. Just leave me out of it.
Quit pretending and faking with God. Just quit it. And he wrote
me back, I got a humdinger from him last week. I mean, it's good.
I believe the Lord's got him where he's not playing games
anymore. You ready to quit playing games with God? Don't you flatter
him with your mouth. Lie to him with your tongues.
For their heart was not right with him. Neither were they steadfast
in his coming. Hear the parable of the sword
and be warned. All are not Israel which are
of Israel, and all that glitters is not gold. If we follow the
Lord fully, we must follow him always. Perseverance is the test. It's the characteristic of true
faith. True faith just doesn't quit. It just doesn't quit. It
never fails. It never quits believing. It
never quits obeying. It never quits following. Our
Lord Jesus said, if ye obey my word, if you hear my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. But if you don't follow my word,
you're not my disciples. He said, if you continue steadfast
to the end, to the end. I want by the grace of God, this
kind of faithfulness. I want to be like Jephthah. Jephthah, your obedience to your
God It's going to cost you. It's going to cost you. You didn't
realize what you were saying. But it's what's going to cost
you. And you have to look at his daughter whom he loved. This
is what he said, buddy. I've lifted my hand to God. Can't
go back. That's what you're going to do
in a couple of weeks in this water right here. Lift my hand
to God, no matter what it costs me. Can't go back. Can't go back. I want to be like Mary. who sat
at his feet and heard his word, like Simeon, who even in his
old age was found in the house of God, waiting for the consolation
of Israel. That old man, that old man come
to the house of God every day. What you doing there, Simeon?
I'm waiting. God said, consolation of Israel
is coming, and I'm waiting for him. And when he saw him, he
picked him up. And he said, Lord, now I've seen
your salvation. Let your servant depart in peace.
I want to be like the palm tree or the cedar tree as described
in Psalm 92, faithful to the end, still bringing forth fruit
in their old age. This is what God says. Listen
to me. The righteous, the righteous,
the truly righteous shall hold on his way. He that has clean
hands shall be stronger and stronger. Well, Pastor, that shuts me out.
It just might. It just might. The path of the
just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto
the perfect day. Our Lord said, he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. Most dangerous thing on this
earth to your soul. Now you listen to me. I know
to whom I'm speaking. Arminian free will works religion,
not terribly dangerous to any of you sitting here. Tell you
the most dangerous thing on this earth to yourself is the apathy of carnal ease
and security. Woe unto them that are at ease
in Zion. Well, I don't have to worry with
this thing. I got it fixed up. I got it all
sewed up. I made my decision for Jesus
20 years ago, and everything's all right now. That's not the
language of the Apostle Paul, is it, Merle? He said, I pressed
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, and
I'm not going to give this thing up. I keep under my body. I beat it down to being in subjection.
Lest when I preach to others, I myself should prove reprobate. I'm calling for you specifically. I'm calling for me. Oh God, hear me. Make me to be a man whose name
is synonymous with faithful dog. I'm calling for consecration
to Christ. Follow Christ in unswerving faithfulness. self-denying obedience, self-sacrificing
love, and in total consecration. Don't be like those foolish virgins. Don't be content just with a
lamp of profession. Don't you be. Don't you be. Don't be content just with a
lamp of profession. Make sure you've got the oil
of His grace in you. Oh, I'd hate for you to go to
hell blinded with religious delusion. I'd hate for you to go to hell
sitting on these pews without the knowledge of God. Make your calling and election
sure. Where there is Life, there's
growth. Therefore, we're bidding grow
in grace, in faith, in love, in dedication, consecration to
our Redeemer. Not less and less, and not more
and less, and not less and more, but grow more and more in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor, what encouragement can
you give us? Let me wrap it up by giving you
this. When God destroyed Israel, Caleb was preserved. God gave him long life and vigor
to the end. When he left this world, he didn't have any sons, he just
had two daughters. And you read the book of Joshua,
you'll find out that because their dad was Caleb, they inherited
a double portion because he followed the Lord fully. Lot, on the other hand, lost
everything but his soul because he perceived that there was something
to be had down inside of him. Oh, let us ask for grace every
day, Mark, to follow the Lord fully. God promised, them that
honor me, I will honor. Caleb proved it. Follow the Lord
fully. Amen. Please you come listen
to him.