Okay, now this evening we're
going to take a look at Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14,
and the title of the message is, Caleb wholly, totally, fully
followed the Lord. As we read just a moment ago,
look at verse 8, Joshua 14 verse 8, nevertheless, My brethren
that went up with me made the heart of the people to melt.
Those ten other men said, we cannot. Those ten other spies
said, we cannot take the land. But I wholly followed the Lord
my God. Again, down in verse 9. It says
again, because thou hast wholly, totally followed the Lord my
God. And again, over in verse 14. because that he wholly followed
the Lord God of Israel." Now, anytime something is repeated
twice, three times, it really draws, sucks our attention in. It draws us into it, doesn't
it? It draws us into the story. When I was reading through this,
and I kept reading that over and over again, it just drew
me right into the story, drew me right into the life of Caleb. The servant of the Lord. Now
I want to be a servant like Caleb. 85 years old now and still willing
to fight the good fight of faith and no doubt he died believing
God. He died in faith. He died in
faith. Now we see in this chapter The
precious story of one of God's faithful servants, Caleb. I went back over to the 11th
chapter of Hebrews where it talks about all those faithful, faithful
servants of the Lord. You know, Caleb's not mentioned
in that chapter we call the Hall of Faith. David is mentioned,
Samuel is mentioned, Joshua's not even mentioned. But certainly
the Lord takes notice of His servants that serve Him. He certainly
did to this man. When Joshua was getting ready
to give the inheritance by lot, by assignment, by the grace of
God to the tribe of Judah, Caleb was of that tribe. He was of
the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe, the tribe of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's called the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. And Caleb come before Joshua
with a petition seeking a piece of land that Moses had promised
him 40 years ago. And he never forgot it. because
the word of the Lord is true and sure. Look at verse nine,
Moses swear on that day saying, surely the land whereon thy feet
have trodden shall be thy inheritance and thy children forever, because
you have totally, completely followed, faithfully followed
the Lord. Now, as we read in Numbers chapter
14, of all those men that came out of Egypt, 20 years old and
older, only two men. Now you think how many thousands,
hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of men. Most people
think one or two million people came out of Egyptian bondage,
but think out of all those men that were older, 20 years and
older, only two men. walked in to the land of Canaan.
Only two men crossed the river of Jordan, Joshua and Caleb. And they did so because God said
so. And we know that Joshua and Caleb,
that is also a picture of the Savior and the sinner entering
into the heavenly Canaan in Christ and by his grace. Now we've studied
about how Joshua is a personal type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua is a personal type of
Christ. Now we're going to see how Caleb
is a picture of a faithful believer. He's a picture of you. who believed
the gospel, committed and sold out to the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now here's Caleb. I can just
almost see him. Long beard, probably stooped
a little in his shoulders, 85 years old. He's ready to settle
down in the land. He's ready to take that inheritance
that God had given him. He desires for himself and for
his family, this city of Hebron and the mountain that God promised
him that he would have. But he's also ready to fight
for it and defend the city. And if need be, lay down his
life to take the city and to kill those enemies that were
still in the city. It's interesting, the name of
the city, Hebron, you know what it means? Fellowship and communion. And that's what Caleb was seeking,
fellowship and communion with God. Later this city, we're gonna
see in Joshua chapter 20, later this city, Hebron is one of the
six cities. You remember those six cities
that were designated as cities of refuge that were given to
the Levitical priest? Hebron was one of those cities. A city of refuge where the manslayer
could go and stay in that city and no one could touch him as
long as the priest lived. And all that too is a picture
of Christ and the gospel. Caleb from his youth through
his life, remember he had a hard life. He was born in Egyptian
bondage and worked as a slave until God set the people free.
But Caleb from his youth through his life, even in old age, Caleb's
zeal never diminished. His devotion never ceased. His
commitment to God and His cause, to the cause of God and His truth,
never failed. Caleb, indeed, wholly followed
the Lord. And my prayer for us is, Lord,
make me like that man. Make me like that man. I want
to be like him. Now, the first thing I want us
to consider, what the Lord says of Caleb, found in Numbers 14. Don't turn back, let me just
read it to you. And we see the reason behind his faithfulness. There's gotta be a reason behind
his faithfulness and how that him and Joshua differed from
those other men. Who made the difference? What
made the difference? The difference was in God. Now,
Numbers 14, 24. But my servant Caleb, here's
what God says to him. Because he had another spirit
with him, hath followed me fully. He had another spirit. It wasn't
a spirit of unbelief. It was a spirit of faith. And
I'll bring him into the land whereunto he went, and his seed
shall possess it. You see, Caleb was granted the
spirit of faith. while the other 10 spies were
left to themselves and brought the evil report. Only Caleb and
Joshua believed God and said, the Lord is with us. He said
the land is ours, let's go take it. He was granted a given faith
and he acted upon the promise and word of God. He wasn't presumptuous,
he believed God. This is a reason that he fully
and totally followed the Lord. Joshua also had the spirit of
faith and the fear of the Lord, of might, and courage, and truth,
and faithfulness, like unto Caleb, believing the promises of God. like another faithful servant
of the Lord. And we've studied about many
of them. Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness, being fully persuaded that of
all that God promised, he was able to perform. We're going
to see when we get over to chapter 23, Joshua's last words, remember? Joshua's last words. He said,
of all that the Lord promised, Not one word has failed. That's still true today. It's
impossible for God to lie. We are not presumptuous to believe
everything that God says. We ought to, we should, because
it's right and true. You see, faith is a sovereign
gift of God, not of work, lest any man should boast. The only
thing that's native to our wicked heart is that of unbelief. That
is why faith is called the precious gift of God. Oh, I tell you,
if you believe, if you believe the gospel, if you believe God,
It's because He granted you this precious gift of faith. 2 Peter
1.1, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God our Savior Jesus Christ. The reason
we have faith is because Christ died for our sins according to
the scripture. You see, without faith in Christ,
It is impossible to please God. Remember, Hebrews 11, 6, that's
what it says. Those that come to God must believe
that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. But without faith, no man can please God. The man who is
without faith is a man who is without Christ. You see, the
just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Four times in the Word of God.
The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight. We walk in this pilgrim journey
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. That's what Abraham was looking
for. Second thing I want us to consider is this. What his name
means, Caleb. Now we have a son. our son's
name, our firstborn son, we named him Caleb. We named him Caleb. I'm so glad we did. It's a good
name. I love this name. I remember one time Someone was commenting on our
son, his name's Caleb, which means faithful, faithful, faithful,
faithful, faithful dog. And that's what it means. But we know Joshua's name means
savior. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ
received that name. He shall bring forth His Son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sin. So, Jesus is that New Testament
word that is equal to that Old Testament Joshua. Joshua, Jesus,
that's who our Lord is. The Savior who really saved his
people from their sin. Now, Caleb's name has two meanings. I just learned this a couple
of days ago as I was working this message up. Caleb's name
has two meanings. First, it means faithful dog.
Faithful dog. Sometimes if you Well, most of
the time, if you called someone a dog, you'd probably get a hit upside the—somebody would
probably hit you upside the head if you looked at someone and
said, you're a dog. You're a dog. It would take great offense,
wouldn't they? The Jews considered the Gentiles dogs, remember? You remember the story of the
Gentile woman? a Syro-Phoenician woman who came
seeking mercy for her daughter, and she came to the disciples
and asked for mercy, and they said, Lord, send her away. She's
a Gentile. Just send her away. But he answered
the Lord, said, it's not meet to take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs. He called her a dog. She was
a Gentile dog. But I love her answer, don't
you? She said, you're right, I'm a dog. Yet the dogs eat the
crumbs which fall from the master's table. He said, I'm a dog, but
I'm your dog. You're my master. I'm your dog. You know, a dog will follow his
master wherever he goes. A dog will. Dog is a faithful
and loyal pet. But everybody has dogs, don't
they? I'm quite amazed how many people have dogs. Most of you
have dogs. Everybody has dogs. Everywhere
you go, people have dogs. You go to a motel, people have
dogs. You go to a campground, they have dogs. Dog dogs everywhere.
But they're loyal pets. They're loving pets. The little
dog that we have, some of you know our little dog, his name
is Cookie. But that little dog follows Bridget
everywhere she goes in the house. And if she goes in the back of
the house and Cookie's on the couch, she barks and barks and
barks until she gets down so she can go and see Bridget. Now she doesn't follow me that
way, but I'm not the master. Bridget, that's Bridget's dog.
That's Bridget's dog. In that sense, Caleb was indeed
a faithful, loyal dog to his master, who faithfully followed
him out of Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, and in old age,
85 years old, he's still following the Lord, and he followed him
all the way to glory. You remember what the Lord said
of his sheep? My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow
me. They follow me. You see, we have
a great shepherd. We have a great shepherd. The
Lord is my shepherd. That's all I want. That's all
I need, but that's all I want too. Believers have been made
by His grace faithful and loyal dogs, following the Lord Jesus
Christ wherever He leads. and willing to follow him whatever
it costs, whatever the cost. Willing to follow the Lord, Jesus
Christ. Lord, make me a faithful dog. I wanna be true, Lord, I'm a
dog, but I'm your dog, I'm your dog. So Caleb's name means faithful
dog. Secondly, Caleb's name, and here's
what I learned, Caleb's name means all heart. Paul Hart. What a name for a man, but it
fits him, doesn't it? He's not half-hearted, but he's
whole-hearted. He was not lukewarm or insincere,
but totally sold out to the cause of God and His truth, sincerely
believing the Word of the Lord. I mean, he didn't half-heartedly
believe the Lord. You know, maybe I should believe. He whole-heartedly believed and
sincerely believed the Lord. Believing the Lord. You put the
two names together and you have a good description of every believer
made a new creature in Christ. Fully following the Lord with
all their heart. as much as they can, as much
as in me is, following the Lord and believing Him. The Lord has
put within us a new heart in regenerating grace and a new
spirit within us. He's been made unto us and He's
been made to us and He's given to us a new divine nature and
we've been made one with Christ. Peter talked about it this way,
2 Peter 1, According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are
given unto us exceeding and great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of a divine nature. His divine power
has given us a divine nature that wasn't there before. He's
raised us from the dead, quickened us and made us new creatures
in Christ. Ezekiel talks about it in Ezekiel 36. A new heart,
the Lord says through Ezekiel, a new heart also will I give
you, a new spirit will I put within you. I'll take away the
stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of
flesh, a heart of faith. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgment
and do them. He makes us faithful unto the
Lord. Now here's the third thing I
want us to see. The testimony of Caleb before Joshua. Look down at verse 10. Joshua
chapter 14 verse 10, And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me
alive, as he hath said, these forty 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 eighty-five
years old, yet I am strong, my strength as it was then, and
it is now, I am ready to fight for the Lord." To go out and
to come back home. Here's his testimony. A couple
of things. First of all, he says, The Lord
kept me alive. The Lord kept me alive. Remember, only Joshua and Caleb
were the only two men that entered in. who came out of Egypt that
were 20 years or older. The Lord keeps His people by
His mighty power. We're kept by the power of God. It's the Lord that has kept me
alive. It's the Lord that has given
me life. We're kept by the power of God through faith. You remember
over in Jeremiah 32. Don't turn, let me just get it
for you. this covenant language that God says in Jeremiah 32,
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I'll
give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them. And I'll
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. But I'll put my fear in their
heart, and they shall not depart from me. I like that. I will not turn away from them,
and they shall not depart from me." That's covenant language.
That's a covenant blessing that God gives us. And that's our
testimony as well, is it not? He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. He not only protects us, but
also He provides for us, does he not? He's provided all things
for us in salvation. He provides and supplies for
us abundantly. His name is, after all, Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. My God,
Paul said, shall supply all your need according to his riches
in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember listening to a message
by Pastor Henry Mahan when he turned 80 years old. He said,
and the title of the message is, What I've Learned in 80 Years. It's on Sermon Audio, you can
listen to it. And one of the things I remember that he said
in that message, he said, Eighty years old now. The longer I have
lived, the more I'm aware of the Lord's gracious care of us. How He provides for us. You older
ones can look back through your life, even before you knew the
Lord. And He's provided for you and
cared for you and brought you to Christ in saving faith. You see, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed. Because his compassions fail
not. They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, and my soul. Therefore will I hope in him."
That was Jeremiah's hope. That's from Jeremiah, Lamentation
3, 22 and 23. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. We know our days are determined
of the Lord. He has kept us alive as it is
this day. You remember that song by John
Ryland? He that formed me in the womb
shall guide me to the tomb. Plagues and death around me fly
till he bids I cannot die. Man's days are immortal here
until their work is done. And that is so. We know our days
are determined of the Lord. So, that's the first thing he
said, the Lord has kept me alive. The second thing he said down
in verse 11, the Lord has given me strength. Strength. Now, this is not only talking
about physical strength, but being made strong in the Lord.
As David said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. He is
my light and my salvation, and he is my strength. Yet I am strong
this day as I was that day Moses sent me 45 years ago. The Lord had given me strength.
Not only had kept me alive, but also given vitality and vigor
to serve the Lord's purpose even though now 85 years old. He was strong in faith
when he was 40 years old and now even stronger in faith at
85. We call that growing in grace.
That is what saving faith does. It grows. God Given faith never
diminishes, even though the body wears out, it continues to grow
in the Lord and in the power of His might. Now, there's body
growing frail and growing weak, but we don't grow. Faith that's
God-given continues to bloom and continues to grow. Paul writes
this, finally, my brethren, be strong, be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might. That which is alive grows. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the third thing he says over
in verse 12. I love this. Verse 12, now therefore
give me this mountain. You give it to me. The Lord's
promised it to me. Now Joshua, you've got the right
to give it to me because the Lord has said it's mine. Wherefore
the Lord spake in that day for thou heardest in that day how
the Anakins were there. They were giants in the land,
and that the cities were great and fenced. If so be the Lord
will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as
the Lord said. Now, I love his attitude, don't
you? If the Lord be with me, I'll
drive them out. I'll drive them out if the Lord's
with me. Caleb does not have confidence in his physical strength,
but rather in the promise of God to fulfill the word of the
Lord spoken by Moses. I'm gonna drive them out because
God said, I'm gonna have that mountain. I believe God. That's our hope too. God who
has promised us salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot
lie. My God, I can do As Paul said,
with God, all things are possible. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Anything too hard for the Lord?
Now in chapter 14, it ends, and we don't really know what happened
to Caleb when he went to Hebron and took that land. But if you
read chapter 15, you know the answer, don't you? Look over
in chapter 15. You know Caleb's gonna, he's
gonna win, right? You know he's gonna win. You
know he's gonna be victorious. And Caleb drove, verse 14, Joshua
15. And Caleb drove thence the three
sons of Anak, Shishai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. He drove them out. He drove them
out of the country. With God, you see, all things
are possible. Anything too hard for the Lord,
if God be for us, who can be against us? Joshua did win because
God said he'd win. I mean, Joshua and Caleb did
win because God said they would win. Now, the last thing I wanna
give you is this. In verse 13, Joshua blessed him
and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.
And Hebrew therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son
of Jephunneh the Kizanite unto this day because that he wholly
followed the Lord. Joshua blessed him. Joshua gave
Caleb Hebron. This too is a gospel picture. Joshua here acting as The leader,
the prince, the one who is the type and picture of Christ, the
less being blessed of the better. Remember Hebrews 7, 7, without
contradiction, the less is blessed by the better. The better being
Joshua. Blessing Caleb. Here we see Joshua
again as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed his
people the better, the better, the better, the less is blessed
of the better, with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us all grace now, and
he gives us glory forever. The last thing I want to consider
is the name of this city, Hebron. Hebron. You know, it's still,
if you look on a map of the current country of Israel, you still
see the city Hebron. Now, back in old, old times,
in the day of Abraham, it was called Kirjath Arba, which is
Arba. Arba was a great man among the
Anakins and the land rested from war. Now Hebron, the name of
the city, means fellowship and communion, and certainly the
city is a type and picture of Christ. It's one of those providential
types. It later becomes a city of refuge
where the manslayer could go and be protected. But this place
has a rather famous history. Sarah, Abraham's wife, was buried
there. in Hebron. It says in Genesis
23, 2, Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, the same as Hebron in the
land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for
Sarah and to weep for her. Both Abraham, Isaac, Jacob lived
in this area of Hebron many years before Joshua and Caleb were
there. We're going to find in chapter
15 that Caleb, you know, Joshua was not of the tribe of Judah. Joshua, I had to look this up,
Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim. But we're gonna see in chapter
15 that Caleb was given Hebron and that mountain, and Caleb
gave some of that to Joshua to dwell in. He had a, and the point
there, I'm gonna make next week, Lord willing, he had a generous
spirit. He had a, he know and believed
grace, but he was gracious. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived
in that area. near to Machpelah the cave where
they were buried. Now Caleb defeated the Anakins
because of the promise of God. And later, you know what Caleb
did? He not only gave Joshua a part of that land, but he gave
the whole city of Hebron to the Levitical priest as a city of
refuge to dwell in. He was later given by Caleb to
the priest of God for a city of refuge, and even that too
is a picture of the gospel. You see, everything's relative
to the gospel, is it not? Christ is our refuge. Also in
Hebron, Hebron is the first place where David reigned king over
Israel many years later. Why in Hebron? Why not first
at Jerusalem? Well, there's something special
about this place called Hebron. So all the elders of Israel,
2 Samuel 5, so all the elders of Israel came to the king to
Hebron, and king David made league with them in Hebron before the
Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was 30
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. In Hebron
he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem
he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. So
Hebron was a very special, special spot of ground. God gave it,
really, originally to Abraham. God gave Abraham that whole land. May the mountain of our spiritual
Hebron, it says there, and the land rested from war, may the
mountain of our spiritual Hebron, In Christ's communion and fellowship
be our rest and our portion here and hereafter in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, the land rested from
war, Christ is our Sabbath rest. We rest in him. He said, come
unto me, all ye that labor heavy laden. I will give you, I will
give you rest.