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[0:00] Joshua chapter 14. A lot has happened in the book of Joshua up to this point. And unfortunately, a lot of times in the church world,! we want to leave it at Jericho.

[0:17] And them going into Jericho, and the walls falling, and that's where a lot of people leave Joshua. There's a lot of other stuff throughout the book of Joshua.

[0:28] But leading up to chapter 14, much has happened. I mean, Moses has died. Joshua, by God's commission, has been placed in the office of leader of Israel at that point.

[0:45] They've gone in. They've crossed the Jordan by miraculous means. God parted the waters of the Jordan River. They've crossed in. They've gone in.

[0:56] The walls of Jericho have fallen. And they've defeated the king of the north and the king of the south. They've defeated Ai. All kinds of things have happened in Joshua.

[1:09] And we come to this section. That's just a real brief, condensed summary of the first 13 chapters. Then we come to chapter 14, where the inheritance begins to be allotted out.

[1:23] But folks, that was a promise made by God to Abraham many centuries before this. But we're going to read tonight about a man named Caleb.

[1:36] We should all be somewhat familiar with Caleb. Caleb and Joshua were two of the 12 spies that were sent into Canaan land. Back in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapters 13 and 14, you can read that account there.

[1:51] And they were the only two that came back with a good report. And therefore, they were the only two of that generation of the Israelites, which would have been millions of people.

[2:02] They were the only two of that particular generation that were allowed in. And God said, anybody 20 years and younger, they're going to go in. But the rest of you, save Joshua and Caleb, are going to wander in this wilderness for 40 years.

[2:18] And that's exactly what happened. We come to this section of Joshua, this chapter of Joshua, with Caleb laying claim to the promise that God made him.

[2:30] And this actually goes a whole lot deeper than what will probably go tonight. And that's fine. But all that being said, Joshua 14, beginning at verse 6, says, Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea.

[3:00] Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.

[3:13] Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.

[3:36] And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness.

[3:48] And now, lo, 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.

[3:58] 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, for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there and that the cities were great and fenced.

[4:17] If so be, the Lord will be with me. Then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord hath said. And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.

[4:34] Hebron, therefore, became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenesite, unto this day because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel and the name of Hebron before with Kirjath Arba, which Arba was a great man among the Anakims, and the land had rest from war.

[4:54] Back to verse 6. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenesite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee, and Kadesh Barnea.

[5:12] So, here is Caleb once again. He has come to Joshua. The time has come. Now folks, I understand the very last line that we read in this account says that the land had rest from war, and to an extent that was true.

[5:28] But you also read that very same line in the previous chapter, in chapter 13, that the land had rest from war. This is talking about the major conquest. We know from the age of Caleb here, the Bible says he was four score and five years old.

[5:45] It also says in this same account, he was 40 years old when he was sent in to spy out the land. We know there were 40 years of wilderness wandering before they crossed the Jordan River into Canaan land.

[5:57] That means that they had been in the promised land at this point for about five years. This was five years of conquest. This was five years of battle. This was five years of warring.

[6:08] And like I said, the biggest battles and the biggest wars had indeed come to an end. But there were still more skirmishes. There were still more driving out. In fact, in the very next chapter, chapter 15 of Joshua, you see where Caleb goes up into Hebron, and he drives out these Anakims that were there.

[6:27] So the land did not completely have rest from war, but it had rest from the major parts of the war. There were still battles to go on. But here, Caleb goes to Joshua again.

[6:39] These were the only two of the original generation that came out of Egypt. These were the only two that were allowed to go in to the promised land as per the decree of Almighty God.

[6:52] And Caleb goes to Joshua, and he reminds Joshua of not what was owed to him. He doesn't remind Joshua or tell Joshua that, hey, I just want this piece of land.

[7:04] I just want this one for myself or anything like that. He reminds Joshua what the Word of God was, what God Himself had promised Caleb. And we read three times in this account here how Caleb wholly followed the Lord.

[7:19] There was five times in all of Scripture that those words are used to describe Caleb. You read it again in Numbers chapter 32. You read it again in Deuteronomy chapter 1.

[7:30] And you read it three times in these verses that we read here tonight. Folks, the inheritance that Caleb got wasn't because he was strong. It wasn't because he was militarily strategic.

[7:42] It wasn't because he was worthy or because he just thought that he deserved it. He got it because he wholly followed the Lord. And if you want anything, if you want the inheritance that is promised to you, if you want the things of God, if you want the promises of God, you must do like Caleb.

[8:01] I must do like Caleb. We must devote ourselves to wholly following the Lord our God. Hallelujah. I just preached about half the sermon in about two minutes.

[8:12] But that's okay. That's okay. Caleb comes here. He comes to Joshua. He says, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, unto the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadasparna.

[8:28] You know the thing that was said. Again, he's reminding Joshua what God had said. Folks, it does you good and it does me good for us to remind one another what the Word of God says and what the promises of God are.

[8:45] You think everything that we read here, everything that we read here in this account, he even brought up how the brethren, how the report that they brought up, it melted the hearts of the rest of the Israelites.

[8:55] They started crying. They started whining. And by the next morning, they were ready to elect a new leader and make their ways back to Egypt, for goodness sakes. But it never once in all this do you detect a single tone of resentment in Caleb's voice.

[9:15] Forty years he spent in the wilderness. He saw an entire generation. His family. His comrades. His acquaintances.

[9:25] He witnessed an entire generation die in the wilderness. And he was wandering around with them all because of their unbelief. Never once.

[9:38] Never once do we see anything about resentment in Caleb. My goodness, what can we learn from Caleb in all this? Verse 7. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Cadasparnia to a spy out the land.

[9:52] And I brought him word again as it was in my heart. He brought him the word as it was in his heart. Folks, this tells me that those that went into the land, the ten that came back with the evil report, with the bad report, if you recall the account again, you can read it for yourself in Numbers 13 and 14.

[10:13] But if you recall the report, they went into the land. They all saw the same things. They all climbed the same mountain. The Bible says they came in and they ascended the mountain from the south. They went in.

[10:23] They saw the Enakims. They saw the giants. They saw the clusters of grapes. They saw everything. They had identical testimony of what was in the land.

[10:35] But they came back with different reports. They came back with different reports. What they all saw was the same. But how they interpreted what they saw was different.

[10:47] Caleb and Joshua interpreted it by the lens of the promise of Almighty God. The others interpreted it through the lens of fear.

[10:59] Through the lens of doubt. Through the lens of unbelief. How are we interpreting the Word of God? How do we interpret the sermons that we hear the preachers preach?

[11:10] How do we interpret the lessons that we hear the teachers teach? How do we interpret these things? Do we interpret them? By the promises that Almighty God makes in His Word toward us, His people?

[11:22] Or do we interpret them? By different means. Interpret them. The best saith the Word of God. And I promise you, your Christian walk will go a whole lot smoother.

[11:33] Again, Caleb says, 40 years old was I. 40 years old when he was called to go into the land and to spy it out. And he and all those others that went in, they all saw the exact same thing.

[11:48] But the interpretations were different. But he says, and I brought him Word again. He brought Moses Word again as it was in his heart. Folks, him going into the land is not what caused that.

[12:03] No more, no more than David swinging the stone at Goliath is what caused his courage. No more than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace caused their courage and caused their faithful stance before the King.

[12:21] They already had it. It was already purposed in their heart. It was already purposed in their heart. God has promised us this land. Why would we fear these giants?

[12:33] Why would we fear this land? Why would we fear to do this thing? And that's exactly what you read over in the book of Numbers. They say, God has promised us this. Let's go in there and take it.

[12:46] Hey folks, God has promised you some things. God has promised you some things. Lay claim to them. I'm not preaching a name and claim gospel. That's not what I'm preaching at all. You be careful with stuff like that.

[12:57] You be careful what you hear people say to name it and to claim it. People say, if you want a million dollars, name it and claim it. You want a new car, name it and claim it. No, folks. No. Nowhere in Scripture does God promise us those things.

[13:10] But God promises us to sustain us for the ride. He promises us. He says, Lord, I will be with you always. He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

[13:22] These are the promises that we can bank on. God doesn't promise us material prosperity. He doesn't promise us a lap of luxury. In fact, He said in the world, you shall have persecution but be of good cheer.

[13:36] I have overcome the world. Jesus Christ Himself gave His people warning that there will be persecution. There will be mockery.

[13:48] There will be all kinds of things coming against His people. But He also told us, I have overcome the world. That was a promise straight from Jesus Christ. He has overcome the world.

[13:58] Therefore, we need not fear what the world can do to us. Hallelujah. Forty years old He was. He says He brought Him word again as it was in His heart, as it was in my heart, as He is talking to Joshua here.

[14:15] Verse 8, Nevertheless, folks, there's a dividing line with that word. Caleb, not braggingly and not boastfully, but Caleb is talking about His faith leading up to this.

[14:28] Then He says, Nevertheless, there's the dividing line between belief and unbelief. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord.

[14:41] Again, Caleb is not bragging here. He is simply stating facts. He is stating facts to Joshua, someone else who obviously wholly followed the Lord.

[14:52] He is stating this fact to him. Folks, this should cause each one of us to question. When our time has come, when we have died and they've lowered us into the ground, what is everyone going to say about us?

[15:05] Will they talk about our accomplishments? Will they talk about our achievements? Will they talk about how helpful we were? Or will they say, hey, he or she was a person that wholly followed God.

[15:19] They wholly followed the Lord. There is no better repertoire on any tombstone out there that I can think of than to say here lies so and so they wholly followed the Lord.

[15:33] Is that what the world would say about us? Is that what the church would say about us? Is that what your family would say about you or what my family would say about me? God help us.

[15:43] God help us to wholly follow the Lord. It's not imperfection that I'm talking about. You won't do it and I won't either. And quite frankly, Caleb didn't do it either. None of us did. Not even King David.

[15:55] A man after God's own heart, according to the Scriptures. Not even he perfectly followed the Lord. But, we can devote ourselves.

[16:06] And truth be known, you can devote more of your time and yourself to God, and I can devote more of my time and myself to God. God help us to do this and to wholly follow Him. Verse 9, And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the Lamb whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.

[16:28] Caleb just said this about himself in the previous verse that he wholly followed the Lord. And here he is quoting Moses on the day that this promise was made, that the land that Caleb's feet had trodden upon would be his.

[16:45] This would be his inheritance. Folks, every one of the tribes were receiving their inheritance right here. But here is Caleb saying, Hey, there was a specific promise made to me by Almighty God.

[16:59] By God Himself that the land my feet had trodden upon. would be mine. And he treaded upon Kirjatharba, which later became known as Hebron.

[17:12] And he wanted that land not because it was great, not because it was fine, not because it was fertile, but because that is specifically what God promised him.

[17:23] And I advise you now not to want any more than what God has promised you. Not to want any more than that, folks. Because anything above that, anything beyond that, anything other than that, can very easily turn into an idol in your life.

[17:40] Can very easily turn into an idol. Now, I'm not saying as far as, you know, I want my family to be saved. Or, I even go as far as saying, I want a new refrigerator.

[17:52] I'm not talking about stuff like that, folks. But, wanting and wanting and wanting. Folks, sooner or later it will turn into greed. It will turn into greed. You be cautious.

[18:04] God made this specific promise to this specific person, Caleb, because he wholly followed the Lord. And it was the land of Hebron.

[18:15] My goodness, what rich history this land had. Hebron, what's so significant about Hebron? Not only is it the place that the spies went into to spy out, but folks, you can read about it all the way back into Genesis.

[18:30] This is where Sarah, Abraham's wife, was buried. That's where the cave in Machpelah was, was in Hebron. You read about that in Genesis chapter 23. You flip on over to Genesis chapter 49, Jacob's laying there on his deathbed.

[18:44] He says, hey, Abraham's there, Sarah's there, Rebekah's there, Leah's there, all these people, all these patriarchs, they are there, the cave in Machpelah, in Hebron, was a cave with the dead saints, the patriarchs, who the covenant of promise had been made to.

[19:03] And it was in this very land. It was the land of promise. And that cave was there. I've said before, I may have said it here, I may not have. That cave and that field surrounding it, God promised Abraham, I'm taking you to a land.

[19:18] And more people is going to own it. And that cave and that field was the only part of the promised land that Abraham ever owned. And he bought it to bury his wife in.

[19:29] He bought it to bury Sarah in. But that's where this cave was. No wonder, I mean, outside of that's what was specifically promised to Caleb, no wonder he wanted it so bad.

[19:42] Folks, you also consider, he says in this Scripture, four score and five years old am I. This day, I'm 85 years old. You think somebody who's 85 years old, they say, put me down in the valleys.

[19:55] Put me down somewhere where the ground's not going to be so hard to work, where it's going to be fertile because all the rain goes down the hill into the valley. You put me somewhere there.

[20:06] No. No, Caleb wanted exactly what was promised unto him by God because he wholly followed God and because he had full, unadulterated faith and almighty God, he said, I can go up there and I can drive out these giants because God said that I could.

[20:24] That's why he wanted. That's why he wanted. It was the promise. And he said, we read it just a little while ago, talking about, I'm just as strong now as I was the day that I went in to spy out the land.

[20:37] Verse number 10, and now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as he said. The Lord hath kept me alive. We've gone on from promise now to the preservation.

[20:48] The Lord has kept me alive after he made this promise. He didn't let me die out there in the wilderness. He promised me I was coming into the promised land.

[20:59] He told me I would make it here. He didn't let me die in any of the battles. Why? Because he told me what my inheritance would be and I have not received that inheritance yet.

[21:11] God has preserved me is what Caleb was saying to Joshua here. Here in verse number 10 again, and now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as he 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 fourscore and five years old.

[21:32] Eighty-five years old. And he's sitting here begging for a mountain. He's sitting here asking for a mountain. He is requesting a mountain. And he says, the Lord has sustained him.

[21:45] The Lord kept me alive as he said. Folks, it would do no good for God to promise us anything in the future. Say God promised us something two days from now.

[21:56] Why does we die tomorrow? Hey folks, God's word is no good if that happens. But God's word is good. God's word is good. And we have a future promise to us that is better than Hebron.

[22:09] Amen. We have a future promise to us that is better than Kierjatharabah. We have a future promise to us that is better than any title deed here on planet earth.

[22:19] We have a future promise in a kingdom in a country in a land where there will be no sickness there will be no heartache there will be no death there will be no Satan there will be no sin there will be no demons there will be no temptation there will be none of these.

[22:36] All of those things still hung out there in Hebron. We've got a future promise to us. And it is promised. It is promised in the Word of God to all who do what?

[22:48] Repent of their ways and believe on Him. Believe on Jesus Christ. We have a promise made unto us. And the great thing about this, folks, hey, we've been wandering in the wilderness for a long time.

[23:00] Most of you longer than I have. But we've been wandering in this wilderness. God has sustained us. God sustained Caleb here for a reason. Because of a promise that He made to him.

[23:12] God has sustained you for a reason. God has promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He would go with us all the way even to the end of the age, even to the end of the world.

[23:23] God has sustained you for a purpose. Maybe the reason He has sustained you is so that He can save your soul. Maybe you're sitting here lost tonight. Maybe you're sitting here.

[23:34] You've been saved for 50 years. God has still got plans for your life. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. God still had a purpose for His man Caleb here.

[23:46] And Caleb never once says, it's not because of my might. It's not because of my intelligence. It's not because of time and chance. It's not because my luck was good.

[23:58] But again, He says, Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive. As He said, the Lord hath kept him alive. We give too much credit to other people.

[24:10] We give too much credit to medicine. We give too much credit to doctors. Now folks, I praise God for all those things. I praise God for doctors that can figure us out and help get us fixed.

[24:21] I praise God for medicine that keeps us going, keeps us ticking. I praise God for all those things. But ultimately, ultimately, it is Almighty God. I've said many times to many congregations, it doesn't matter how many doctors are around your bed, how many nurses are present, how much machinery is in the room, when your number comes up, when your time has come, there is no doctor on planet Earth that can save your life outside of God's will.

[24:51] Period. But, if it is God's will, will you continue? There ain't no sickness going to take you down to the grave unless it be God's will. There ain't no heart attack going to take you into the grave unless it be God's will.

[25:05] And that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes. I understand that. But it all falls under the sovereign will of Almighty God. Now that being said, can God extend things?

[25:19] Absolutely. He extended Kezekiah's life by 15 years, did He not? You can't extend something. You can't add to something unless it had a definite end. So Hezekiah's time was on a calendar somewhere out there in the cosmos.

[25:33] God added 15 years to His life. On the flip side of that coin, you've got Ananias and Sapphira over in the New Testament. Their lives were snuffed out like that.

[25:46] Did God have further plans for them? Scripture doesn't tell us. But it was snuffed out real quick. Why? Because they lied to the Holy Ghost. And God made an example out of them in doing so.

[25:59] So, folks, He is God. He is God. You may be slated to live for 110 years for all I know. In fact, that's how old Joshua was when he died.

[26:12] You may only be slated to live for 40. You may only be slated to live for 30. Who knows? But, here, Caleb recognizes it as God who kept him alive.

[26:28] Verse 11, 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.

[26:41] Now, He is talking about physical strength in this. He's talking about I am in just as good a shape now at 85 years old as I was at 40.

[26:53] How many of y'all can say that? I know I can't. I had 40 a lot fewer years ago than most of y'all did. But I'm not in the shape now I was when I was 40. But, He says, I'm in as good a shape now as I was when I was 40 years old.

[27:10] Folks, it's no different than Moses. Moses was 120 years old when he died. But you read there at the end of the book of Deuteronomy when he goes up on Mount Nebo and God allows him to look out over into the promised land.

[27:22] It says, His eye was not dim nor was his natural strength abated. Folks, He did not die of old age. He did not die because some sickness came upon him. He died simply because God said that he was going to die.

[27:35] I'm not saying that God killed him. But, he died because God said that he would die before he got over into the promised land. But God allowed him to see it. God allowed him to see his efforts.

[27:48] God allowed him to see what leading a bunch of ornery church folk through the wilderness for 40 years what the payment was on the other side.

[27:59] But He did not allow him in to the promised land. But He says, I'm as strong this day at 85 years old as I was when I was 40. Now folks, again, He's talking about natural strength.

[28:12] We need to go up just a little bit because there's people, all kinds of people in this part of the Scriptures that are living well beyond 100 years. We don't have that now. We don't have that. The average age now is what, 70, 75 years old, 76 I think for females, something along those lines.

[28:26] That's the average. We don't have that now. But how can we apply this? Folks, the promise was made to Caleb. You will inherit Hebron.

[28:38] You will inherit the land where your feet tread upon. When he was 40 years old and then 45 years old. You see it over and over in this passage of Scripture.

[28:49] That is the great reference point of Caleb's life. That's what he keeps going back to. It's the promise that God made him when he was 40 years old. What do we see here?

[29:00] Yes, he's talking about physical strength. But what else do we see here? We see that his faith did not dwindle one single iota in 45 years. Even in 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

[29:12] Even in all the battles. Even with everything going on in his life. His faith in God never dwindled. Hallelujah. Can we say that?

[29:23] Can we say that? Does our, your faith ever dwindle? Mine does. Mine does. And if you're honest, yours does too. But folks, he never lost sight and never forgot the promise that God made him 45 years previous to the point that we are right now in Scripture.

[29:42] Regardless of everything that he had been through and everything that he had seen. Regardless of the fact, like I said earlier, that he spent four decades wandering around in the desert because of a bunch of other people's unbelief.

[29:57] Despite all that, he never lost faith and never lost sight of the promise of God. God help us to have that attitude. God help me to have that attitude.

[30:08] Now therefore, verse 12, now therefore, give me this mountain. This is where a lot of people end this account. Give me this mountain. Folks, there's a therefore in this line.

[30:23] Now therefore, give me this mountain. What does therefore put you back to? Everything has been talked about up to this point. What has he talked about? Again, the great reference point of Caleb's entire life was the promise that God made him.

[30:40] And he has gone back to that a couple of different times in this passage of Scripture. Now therefore, therefore, because God has made me this promise, therefore, because I have wholly followed the Lord my God, therefore, because I am 85 years old now and I still have hold and I still have hope and I still got my side on the promise that Almighty God gave me.

[31:02] Therefore, give me this mountain because of my faith and the promise that God made me. For no other reason, again, not because he was worthy, not because he was deserving, but because the promise was made by God to him for this particular piece of land, this particular mountain.

[31:27] Therefore, because of everything I've talked about here, because I brought the good report back, because I wholly followed the Lord, because I never lost faith, never lost sight of any of this, therefore, give me this mountain.

[31:42] Therefore, give me this mountain where the Lord spake in that day. For thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there and that the cities were great in fence and if so be, the Lord will be with me then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

[31:57] Give me this mountain. He just, just previous to this, reminded Joshua of his age. I'm 85 years old. Therefore, give me this mountain.

[32:08] You know that the Anakims are there. You know that there are giants there. You know that they have fortified cities. You know that they have walls. They have fences. You know that they have all of these things.

[32:20] But as the Lord has kept me alive as we read just a couple of verses ago. As the Lord kept me alive all this time. As the Lord said here in this verse, if so be, the Lord will be with me.

[32:36] Then, I shall be able to drive them out. Giving all the credit to Almighty God. He says, I can't go in there in my own strength. Folks, he wasn't even able to believe God in his own strength.

[32:52] It is God who supplies us with a mind. It is God who supplies us with a heart. It is God who supplies us with it all to even have faith. It is all of God.

[33:04] And Caleb is recognizing that here. If so be, the Lord will be with me. Then, I shall be able to drive them out. Not if the Lord is with me. I got a better change.

[33:15] Not if the Lord is with me. I can drive out most of them, 90% of them. No! That's not what Caleb says. He says, if the Lord be with me, I shall drive them out.

[33:28] That's the faith that he has in the promise of God. God. We need to have the same faith in the promises of Almighty God. We've all got giants that we worry about, don't we?

[33:42] We've got giants. We've got sicknesses. We've got death. We've got economic problems. We've got national problems. We've got state-level problems.

[33:52] We've got community-level problems. We've got family problems. And many of those things look like giants in our eye. But there is no giant that God is unable to defeat.

[34:04] And there is no giant that God is unable to help you defeat. To help you get around. To help you get under. To help you get over. To help you kill, for that matter, whatever the case is.

[34:18] Here is Caleb. A man that lacks 15 years being a century old. Saying, give me this mountain. And if God goes with me into this mountain, if God goes with me because of the promise that He gave unto me, that He made unto me, I shall drive out the inhabitants of that mountain.

[34:41] The Anakims. The very ones that brought fear upon Israel because of the report of the ten other spies. The very ones that they said that the Israelites were like grasshoppers in their side.

[34:54] Caleb says, if God be with me, I'll drive them all out. Folks, you need that attitude and I need that attitude. If God be with me, He is.

[35:06] Praise God, He is. If God be with me, I shall drive them out. I shall drive them out. Verse 13, And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.

[35:21] I see no hesitation here. Caleb made a wonderful case for himself, didn't he? No hesitation. There was no negotiation. There was nothing like that. Why?

[35:31] Hey folks, Joshua was there when the promise was made. In fact, Caleb brought that up just a few verses ago. Says you were there. And he was.

[35:43] Joshua and Caleb were the only two that came back with good reports over in the book of Numbers. Joshua had no reason to doubt. Joshua was there when the promise was made. It says, And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.

[35:59] It's yours. Go take it. Drive out the giants. Drive out the Anakim. Take all their crops. Take all their grape clusters. Take it all for yourself.

[36:11] Is what Joshua is saying here unto Caleb when he gives him the inheritance. Folks, ultimately it wasn't Joshua. It was God giving the inheritance. God was using Joshua as a tool to do this.

[36:26] And what's really neat about this, if you really think about it, if you want to go just a little bit deeper with this, we actually see in this, in verse 13, And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.

[36:42] We actually see the ministry of two great men of God come together as one. The ministries, I should say. The ministry of Moses who originally gave the promise because God told him to.

[36:58] Remember, Moses was the mediator between the Israelites and God. We see the ministry of Moses and now we see the ministry of Joshua. And they both come together because of the promise that was made to one man.

[37:15] And it was neither one of them. It wasn't Moses that was promised Hebron. And it wasn't Joshua that was promised Hebron. It was Caleb. But you see, two ministries completely agreeing with one another.

[37:31] And that's what ministry should be. It should agree. Ministries should agree. Doctrines should agree. We can thought and fuss and bicker about some secondary and tertiary things about Scripture.

[37:45] Some things that Scripture is not real plain about. But folks, as far as true ministry goes and as far as true doctrine goes, as far as true theology goes, we have got to agree on the first hand points.

[37:59] On the most important point. We must believe on the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. If He wasn't born of a virgin, He was tainted when He came into the world. He was tainted before He came into the world for that matter.

[38:10] While He was still in the womb if He wasn't virgin born. We must agree on that. We must agree that He lived a perfect sinless life. There's people out there that will try and convince you know Jesus' sin.

[38:23] The Bible says for all sin comes short of the glory of God. Christ would be included in that number as far as all goes. No! The Bible teaches that He was sinless. The Bible teaches He was blameless.

[38:34] He was spotless. He was the perfect unblemished Lamb of Almighty God. We must believe that He lived a sinless life. He never married Mary Magdalene like some people will have you believe.

[38:47] He never went out and got drunk like some people will have you to believe. None of these things happen. How in the world in a book from beginning to end preaches so much against drunkenness how could someone say that the Son of God went out and got drunk with anyone?

[39:06] But there's people out there that will tell you that. You know why? Because they like their drinking. They like their drinking and they like to try and justify it. And they like to try and drag you in on it too. We must believe Christ is sinless because He was.

[39:20] He was as He walked this earth and He is now. It is not possible that He can sin. It's not that He won't sin. He can't sin. It's an impossibility for Him to sin.

[39:33] We must believe that He was sinless. We must believe that He died a vicarious death on a cross that His blood was shed. That vicarious death means He died in your place and He died in my place.

[39:46] It was substitutionary atonement is another phrase that we can use for that. We must believe that for without the shedding of blood there is no remission. We must believe that He was buried that proved He was dead because there's people out there right now this very day that will say Christ did not die.

[40:05] He just passed out because of all the pain. He was unconscious. No, folks. They took Him down and they placed Him in a grave. They don't do that with unconscious people.

[40:17] Amen. Even then, 2,000 years ago, they knew that some movement in the chest was signs that the lungs was working or signs that the heart was working, signs that something was working.

[40:28] We must believe that He died and we must believe that He resurrected the third and appointed morning. We must believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[40:39] Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. That our preaching is in vain. We have no hope. We are of all men most miserable because of all that.

[40:52] We must believe that He rose from the dead. And we must believe that He has ascended to the Father where He does what? Makes intercession and mediation on behalf of all those that have repented and believed on His Gospel.

[41:07] Folks, if we don't believe that, we don't believe we have a mediator. We don't believe we have a mediator. Even as Paul explains in Romans 5, he says, if we were reconciled to God by the death of Christ, how much more are we reconciled now by His life?

[41:25] What is His life now? Seated at the right hand of majesty, making intercession. Mediating on our behalf. We must believe those things. We must believe those things.

[41:38] And we must believe He's coming back as judge one day. On His thigh, the name was written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And He doth judge and make war according to His description in Revelation 19.

[41:52] Caleb believed all these things. And he tells Joshua, give me this mountain. And Joshua blessed him and gave him the very mountain that he asked for. Verse 14, Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenneziah, unto this day because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.

[42:13] There it is again, folks. That's the third time in this passage of Scripture that we're reading here tonight. The third time it is brought up that Caleb wholly followed the Lord.

[42:24] What does that tell you? And what does that tell me? The promises are given to those who do what?

[42:35] Wholly follow the Lord. Again, folks, you won't do it perfectly. And I won't do it perfectly. None of us will. Speaking of things that are taught nowadays, there's people out there that will teach you when you get saved, you never sin again.

[42:52] Dewey Williams would say that's hogwash. Folks, and the Bible backs that up. Even Paul said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.

[43:06] Paul said, when I go to do good, evil is present with me. Paul said, that which I would do, I do not. And that which I would not, that I do. Paul being a writer of half of the New Testament.

[43:19] Paul being closer to Jesus, my personal opinion, than any of the apostles that walked with Him for three and a half years. Said those things. Yes, we'll still sin.

[43:29] We will not follow perfectly. But we must be devoted to God. We must be. And those promises will be ours. The promise of eternal life. The promise of mediation by Jesus Christ.

[43:43] If we believe on Jesus Christ, there's a promise in the Scripture that our sins will be washed away. If we believe in His Gospel, the good news that He died on behalf of you and me, rebel sinners, if we simply believe that, it is promised in the Scriptures that we will be grafted into the family of Almighty God.

[44:07] Praise God what promises there are. But we've got to be devoted to God. To God. In other words, don't walk around with one foot in the world and the other on the path to heaven.

[44:21] It won't work. You might deceive yourself into thinking you're doing that. But it will not work. It cannot work. Verse 15, In the name of Hebron, before was Kirjath Arba, which Arba was a great man among the Anakims, and the land had rest from war.

[44:45] The land of Hebron was before Kirjath Arba. It was before named after this man Arba, who was a great man of the Anakims. He was a great man of these giants.

[44:57] And again, this land which once stood for strength against God's people, once stood for intimidation against God's people. And folks, that's all that the Israelites would have thought about was how terrifying that land was.

[45:14] At this time, it was named Hebron. What is Hebron? Hebron is fellowship. Hebron is having an acquaintance with.

[45:27] In other words, what we would call nowadays is communion. God gave Caleb this land long before he actually inherited it.

[45:40] Folks, you and I are promised a land that we have not fully inherited yet. my name's up there. We just sang it before church. My name's up yonder in a book.

[45:53] And there ain't no demon can climb up there and erase it. Satan himself can't go up there and erase it. Nothing like that. My name is there.

[46:04] But I have not fully seen it yet. Folks, Caleb was promised this land when he'd just gone in and called a glimpse of it and brought back a report.

[46:15] But he went in as a pilgrim. He went in as a stranger. He went in as someone that wasn't welcome there because of these anticombs.

[46:25] But God said the next time you go in the next time you go to that mountain you'll go owning it. You will go owning that mountain.

[46:36] And folks, we are promised in the Scriptures when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that we will be saved. Praise God. The invitation is given in Isaiah chapter 1.

[46:47] Isaiah says, Come, let us reason together saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.

[46:58] And that is after the reasoning. What is the reasoning? That God is holy, God is righteous, God is sovereign, and God is Savior. What is the other side of that reasoning?

[47:09] Reasoning that you are wretched, you are depraved, you are hopeless outside of God. That's the other side of it. The reasoning is God has supplied a man named Jesus Christ His only begotten Son.

[47:24] That took your place on a hill called Calvary. Bled out all of His blood. Gave His very life on your behalf. While you were yet a sinner.

[47:37] That you could repent of your ways and believe on Him. Be like Caleb. Be like Caleb. And wholly follow God. Wholly follow the Lord your God.

[47:48]  That's this evening's message. God bless you all. may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may