Hi, brothers and sisters. My name is Dana. How many of you do not know me? Let me ask you this: how many people are here for the first time? Wow. Wait a minute—is there anybody here for the second time? Oh, no, only kidding. Okay. That is a large group. I counted thirty-nine hands for the first time. It is really amazing. Some people had their hands up twice. I think it was actually thirty-four.
It is nice to be here. I got on Air Canada this time and flew from New York up here. It was so nice to fly in civilization. Usually I fly in “roach class” with United, you know? My kids call it that. It is actually coach class, but roach class. Air Canada does not call it roach class. They have a fancy name for it—hospitality class.
I had a one-hour flight up here. They actually gave me a muffin and a cup of coffee. Now, listen, you cannot get a muffin from United Airlines anymore. They are cutting back. They cut back the air halfway through the flight. They chop off the air.
So it is nice to be in Canada. As Dan was sharing last night—you remember when he was sharing from the passage in Daniel, and he spoke about how Daniel was kidnapped up here in Canada? I have always suspected that, actually. We have a number of Christians missing from the United States. I think there is some kind of large kidnapping program going on up here in Canada. Do you have a population problem here? Are you trying to get more people? Are we starting a fellowship in Manitoba that I do not know about?
Oh, listen, you have to have a sense of humor to come up here. This is the only country I know where adults get away with talking about, “We got munchies.” Some of the New York kids were not going to go back there because they thought that was a communicable disease. We do not know what “munchies” are in the United States, I do not think.
Well, it is good to be here with all of you. Many years ago, when I was a kid, my mother was an opera singer. She used to go into New York for music lessons, even though we lived on Long Island, about fifty miles away. While my mother was taking her music lesson, my father took us three kids to the Museum of Natural History every Saturday.
I spent most of my time in the dinosaur room, naturally, being rather large myself. But I will never forget—I think it was in the African room, though it could have been in one of the Indian rooms—they had a display called “The Salt Lick.”
This was a little pool somewhere on the plains of Africa. The background was like the Serengeti plains, with tall grass. In the foreground they had this salt lick, some kind of spring with salty water.
The interesting thing was that all kinds of different animals were there, because every animal needs a certain amount of salt. The Museum of Natural History does not like live animals; they kill them and stuff them. So they had these stuffed animals: a leopard on one side of the salt lick and a gazelle on the other side. They were natural prey and predator, but they were down by the salt lick and not eating each other up.
There was something about the salt lick that drew all kinds of animals. Other animals came from the plains because they were all drinking this necessary salt for their systems. I suppose after they all got through drinking, they had a big fight and ran after each other. But there was kind of a time-out: we all need this.
I have always thought of that regarding Psalm 107, which says:
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom the Lord hath redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
We come together, and we are all discombobulated. A number of you may be having problems with sin, temptation, falling away from the Lord, basic malaise, and all kinds of things like that. The Lord gathers us together anyway so that we, the redeemed, can drink the necessary Word of God, fellowship together, and be strengthened together.
So I do not care what your spiritual condition is—I mean, certainly I do—but I am glad you are here, is what I mean. I hope that you will continue. I just heard that the fellowship groups today were lively with discussion. I think that is great.
If I am going to ask one thing, it is that in our worship times here there be more prayers. Do not be so chicken. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
I heard this famous preacher, Matt Graham, speaking about the ruffians who gathered together in the cave with David. They were all no-good guys. David had to hide in the cave from King Saul for several years, and around him gathered this bunch of ruffians. Some were crooks, some did not pay their income tax, and some were dodging the draft in Canada—all kinds of no-goods.
But after a while, they got together in the cave, and even though they were nobodies, they eventually became mighty men. Do you know how they did that? By fixing their eyes on the king and not on themselves.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, maybe your spiritual life is in the doldrums, or in a slight state of confusion, or something. Can I ask you to do something? Forget about yourself. There is something so big that the Lord is trying to apprehend you for that it deserves your forgetting about yourself, your own problems, self-pity, and all that trouble—and looking at the King.
Let us look at the Lord Jesus for a couple of days and see if He cannot gather us together into a group of mighty men, so that we can fight the spiritual battles the Lord is asking us to fight in this important day.
I would like for us to turn to two Scriptures. The one we have been reading is in Ephesians 6, so let us turn there again. I will read a little further on, to deal with the armor.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,
And on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
For which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for praying for me as I try to share tonight. We are all in this warfare together.
Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses.
From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Lord, we gather to this place tonight, and we claim this promise that You are with us wherever we go. Give us grace not to tremble, fear, feel disqualified, or feel condemned. Knowing the great price of Thy precious blood and its tremendous effect and power, may we find ourselves washed, cleansed, refreshed, and restored to the joy of our salvation.
Fill us with the Holy Spirit. Give us vision to propel us forward in this spiritual battle. How we thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy to us. Do be gracious to us tonight. Quicken our mortal bodies so that we can pay attention tonight, and so that we can release the important things necessary to say as we are gathered here in this cave together.
Lord, I am not worthy. Jim is not worthy, and the rest of the gang right here—we are just all those no-goods in the cave. We now look to the King, to the Lord Jesus, who can transform us and make us into mighty men. O God, give us this grace and mercy. Our hearts hunger to be pleasing in Your sight. We lift all these matters to You, and we pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I was out at Biola, speaking on Joshua in terms of the church itself, when it became clear that I wanted to share with my brothers and sisters here on the personal matter of Joshua. The thought came to me: Joshua, the transition man.
Joshua, the transition man. I wish some of you who are artistically inclined would do another Marvel comic: The Transition Man. Catwoman stinks. Nobody is even going to see that one. And Hellboy—come on, forget about it. What we need is a good Marvel comic called Transition Man: the story of Joshua, how he became the man who bridged an important gap and was there at a time of transition.
Most of you probably know that Bible teachers connect Ephesians and Joshua. There are very real similarities in these books, not least of which is this matter of spiritual warfare. When Joshua came into the promised land, that was just the beginning of a number of years of warfare in order to take possession of the land.
Some hymns speak of the promised land as being when we die and go to heaven. We cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land. But the actual book of Joshua, in its type and meaning, cannot be heaven, because you do not have Canaanites there, and you do not have to do spiritual warfare when you get to heaven after you die.
This promised land speaks of something that we, as God’s people, should be able to possess in this lifetime. But it does involve real warfare.
The book of Hebrews is also connected to Joshua, because the matter of Joshua going into the promised land is brought up in Hebrews. Hebrews was written to Christians who were wandering in the wilderness, because they were holding on to the substance of Judaism instead of embracing Christ as everything for them.
Can you imagine being saved and saying, “Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is my Savior,” and yet going down to the temple once a year and offering a lamb at Passover? There is something redundant about that. You do not see that Jesus is your Lamb. You do not need to offer a Passover lamb anymore. But some of these Christians were confused. They were in the shadows; they were in the wilderness. They were not in the promised land.
The book of Ephesians is a very positive book, as the book of Joshua is. It is victory, faith, and taking the ground. But Ephesians is also a very critical book, written in a time of transition for the church in Ephesus.
Sometimes the church can be out in the wilderness, as Hebrews warns. But sometimes the church can be in the substance—that is, it can be in the land—but not possessing, because it does not understand spiritually what the church is all about.
Today, brothers and sisters, I would say that most Christians you know outside your own fellowship groups are in this category: Christians who know the substance but not the full reality. The church comes to a place in its existence where it either becomes earthly and earthbound, or it realizes that its place is in the heavenlies.
True spiritual warfare and true church life are lived in the heavenlies, seated with Christ. But if the church becomes earthly—some of these worship songs tonight, by the way, were written by people who believe that the church should go through the land preaching the gospel and establishing churches here on earth. Of course, there is truth in that.
But the problem today is that most people do not have the spiritual revelation of what the church really is. This is the transitional warfare Paul was talking about in Ephesians. The great warfare in Ephesians is that we might have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, to see what we really are.
We are in the land, but we are not possessing it because we do not see. Do you understand what I mean? We are in the land, but we are not possessing it. Joshua and Israel came into the promised land and took Hebron, Jerusalem, and Jericho. They took these places, but then they had to settle there. The New Testament word is abide there.
There are a lot of churches that are, technically, in the land, but they are not abiding. They have not entered into rest because they do not have spiritual reality. They have not seen that the Lord Jesus is the church. They think the church is that meeting place, or merely a gathering of people. No, no, no. The church is Jesus Christ.
Paul says, “I am in warfare,” and he is not just talking about demons that come down and smack him around. He is in warfare for Christians to get past their earthbound understanding of things and realize the spiritual reality of all we have in Christ. So we live in the promised land. All the blessings are ours in Christ.
The book of Ephesians is about a great transition. Here is the transition war: will the church come into the fullness of its reality in the heavenlies, where it must abide? Or will the church end up on earth, merely an earthly form, and eventually leave its first love? That is the crucial issue in Ephesians.
The book of Joshua is also a picture of transition because Joshua is this great transition man. The Bible has a very selective view of history. When you read the Bible, you find out nothing about the seven great wonders of the world. The pyramids are not even mentioned. The hanging gardens, and so on. Most of the great empires, kings, and cultures are not even mentioned—except as they intersect with the purpose of God.
The Bible is concerned with the great transitions of God’s purpose as He brings in His will and His kingdom through history. Every time something happens that brings a transition about in the kingdom, suddenly there is emphasis in the Bible, because that is what God is concerned about.
Canada can become the greatest nation in the twenty-first century, but if the kingdom of God is not here, it will not be in God’s Word. Do you know what I am saying? He is not interested merely in how great the United States is. Do you notice there is nothing in there about the United States?
It all has to do with God’s interest in the kingdom of God and how we relate to it. Your history—I hope you are not a person whose history reads, “They were successful in their job. They made three million dollars in their lifetime. They left a lot of dough to their kids, and they were always found eating at a local Chinese restaurant.” So what?
But if your history is that, in the midst of work, vocation, life, marriage, tragedies, and triumphs, you gave yourself wholly to the Lord, and the Lord was able to do something through your life and bear witness at a crucial time, then your life is worth a million bucks and will go down in the annals of the heroes of faith.
That is what is at issue right here. Will you be a transition person? You know what I mean by that. Abraham was a transition person. Moses was a transition person; he brought them out of Egypt. Joshua was a transition person; he brought them into the land. Samuel was a transition person; he changed them from judgeship into a monarchy. David was a transition man.
You can go on and on, but there were crucial moments in history where kingdom history was changed because somebody faithful was standing in the gap. That is the transition man. Joshua was one of those.
Joshua has great significance as a picture of a transition man because the ultimate transition man was the Joshua of the New Testament. Most of you probably realize that Jesus’ name is actually Joshua in Hebrew. Joshua in the Old Testament and Joshua in the New Testament were both transition men, and Jesus is the greatest transition man of all time.
Look what He brought: new creation for the old creation. The old Adam is dead; the new Adam, the last Adam, is now and forever. In so many ways, a tremendous transition took place through what Jesus did. He was the ultimate transition man.
But do you not know that you and I are called to be such transition people? The technical phrase used to explain the transition man is the epoch-changing vessel. Somebody has to change the whole spiritual economy from this to that.
Would you not know it, ladies and gentlemen? We are right now in a tremendous time of transition. Do you see it? Are you part of it? It is going on right now. This is a tremendous upheaval and time of transition.
We have the opportunity, as young men and women, to be part of this transition vessel that God is preparing and raising up for just such an hour as this. Will you be part of that? Is the Lord preparing you for this time?
Let me give you one example of what I mean. Our tendency is to think small. Do you know the story about Herbert the field mouse?
Herbert and his little family lived in a cornfield out here in Ancaster. They were a happy little family, but they always dreaded the terrible shaking. They had heard about the terrible shaking. They did not know what it was, but they were always afraid of it.
One day, they were eating their double cheese from Mickey D’s when suddenly they heard something in their field, coming closer and louder. They realized it was the terrible shaking. The ground was shaking and everything. “Let’s get out of here!”
Herbert chased his family out of their hole and over a couple of rows in the cornfield. It sounded like a tornado—like a railroad train. Then the sound went away. Herbert said, “Ha! We escaped the terrible shaking.”
Of course, they had lost their double cheese from Mickey D’s. Then they lost their house in the shaking, but it was okay. The mama did not like the new place too much because it looked like a rat’s nest, but they took Cheese Whiz and decorated it. Ah, they felt better.
Suddenly the shaking started again. Herbert said, “Quick, quick, quick!” They jumped in their little automobile and got out just in time. They ran a few more rows over in the cornfield. “Ah, we’re safe now.”
Of course, you know what happens. Every fifteen minutes: shake, shake, shake, shake. Actually, they lost their lives. I think the remains of them were found in a McCowburger here at Redeemer. Oh, whatever the case is, here is the story: do not eat the McCowburgers here, really. Stay with the chicken.
Only kidding. Please expunge that. I digress.
Most Christians and most people are living like the little mice in the field. They have no idea of the great shaking that is coming. The great transition is taking place. Of course, it was the harvesting machine. The combine was coming down through the field. It was harvest time.
The little mice did not know that. They just heard the shaking and ran. They were trying to survive, running here and there, and ultimately the whole field got razed.
Ladies and gentlemen, do not be stupid. Do not be a stupid mouse. In all the transitions going on, set your heart toward the Lord. Be like the sons of Issachar, who understood the times they were in. This is a very important time of transition.
Let me give you one example to tweak your mind a little bit. There has been a tremendous change in the last ten or fifteen years: a tremendous influx of Chinese immigrants into the United States and Canada.
Why do you think there has been this tremendous movement? You may say, “Of course, economic reasons.” Some people were able to get out, so they got out. Some think it was political reasons: people wanted freedom. Others say it was educational opportunity: they had the chance to do graduate work and stayed.
I hope none of you is a little field mouse like that. I hope some of you realize that God has brought about this tremendous transition because He has something in mind for North America: the reviving and recovery of the church of the Lord as it is supposed to be.
He has brought people with experience from another place, who have learned truth about the house of God and the reality of the church from saints in England in a former generation. These people have not come merely to make money. If they do, they have missed their calling. They have not come merely for educational purposes, freedom, or so they can have three cars.
God has spent a generation teaching some Chinese saints about the house of God: how to meet, how to pray, how to set the Lord as King in the midst, how to obey Him, and how to work it out. And that has been lost in the United States, and probably Canada.
The church, as it is called today—the groups meeting around the corner, down the block, and over here—often functions like a human organization. It has been humanly devised. They have no idea about God’s purpose or how we gather as the body of Christ. They talk about it, but they do not understand it. Somebody needs to show them a way. Who could these people be?
There are twenty-six Americans—Caucasians—in the United States who know this thing. Thank God, we have thousands of Chinese immigrants coming in here who understand the house of God.
Now we have a problem. If these groups just remain to themselves, they will miss their calling and purpose. They are here for transition. But God has raised up some young people.
Some of those young people will stay in those fellowships and groups. Some will be tossed here and there by circumstances and by the Lord’s will. Do you not know you are a transition person? God has taught you something about the truth. Do not ever think you learned all that stuff in vain.
You have spent a lot of time growing up in the house of God. It is all second nature to you, but it is revelation to everybody else. God wants to spread you out through Canada and the United States. I am sorry if the Chinese churches want to keep everybody—you are going to lose some.
There is always a work for immigrants who have recently come in. There is always a work in Mandarin and Chinese because so many people are coming in. Praise God for good evangelistic work. But I am talking about the whole church in the United States. Who is going to plant the seed of reality and bring spiritual revelation to these things? Some transition people.
In the book of Acts, you see it as clear as day. God grounded everybody there in Jerusalem. They learned to live before the Lord in Jerusalem. They learned how to live in the body of Christ, how to be the house of God, how to fellowship, and how to live under Jesus’ headship. Then suddenly, one day, the saints were scattered.
They were the transition people: Stephen and Philip. Paul did not actually grow up in body life in Jerusalem, and so he was not allowed to minister when he first got saved. Why do you think that is? He knew the Word. He had seen Jesus. But he did not understand what God was trying to do.
God sent him among companies of believers where he had to sit there and be a brother until he learned these lessons, so he could be a transition man as well.
These transition people went out from Jerusalem. Strange to say, they bridged a gap between the Hebrew church and the Greek church. They understood the house of God and the timeless verities found there, and they were able to communicate them in the language of the people beyond Jerusalem and beyond Israel.
That is a very important and crucial transition. God needs somebody who understands the language of the land but also understands the truth of the house of God and is willing not to compromise it.
Many people leave this house. Maybe they grow up in some Chinese assembly, then go to college and get a job in Manitoba, where there are no Christians—only kidding, of course. They go there and join the Western variety of church, which I call the large house: just a mishmash, a compromise. A big worship team, all the accoutrements, great whiz-bang ministry, purpose-driven baloney.
They have lost the house. If they are satisfied with that, then they have compromised themselves, and they cannot be a transition person.
What if He scatters you like seed? Some of you, He will. Some of you are getting ready for great transition now in your life. Some are leaving home and going to school. Some are leaving school and going to a job. Do not be small field mice. God has a big purpose and a plan.
A transition person is a brother or sister who understands, knows how to live, and is not satisfied without the house of God—ready to do anything to see these things come about.
I like the last of the parables in Matthew 13. Matthew 13 contains parables of the kingdom. This great mystery of the kingdom has much to do with those who are able to bring transition because they see the King’s will in the kingdom.
Many people say there are seven parables in Matthew 13, but some say there are eight. I agree with them on this point. After the final parable of the dragnet, in Matthew 13:51, Jesus says to His disciples, “Have ye understood all these things?” And they said, “Yea.” Those dumb disciples—they did not understand it, but they would later by the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then Jesus said in Matthew 13:52:
Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Do you know why you are precious? Because you can sing a new chorus and then sing an old hymn in the same body. God has to open a new and living way for the church in the twenty-first century until He comes back, but it must be based on the timeless principles of the house of God.
That involves morality, the headship of Christ, body life together, and many other essential things you have grown up in. Here is somebody needed to draw the kingdom age to its conclusion: somebody who understands the value of both the new and the old and has no problem with that. How rare that breed is.
I recently went to a church in North Carolina. All they do is sing choruses. They hate hymns. That is what they say: “We hate hymns.” They got rid of the hymnbooks. Then there are other churches that are like a funeral parlor: all they do is sing hymns. “Can we sing a chorus?” “No, sit down.”
The transition people have to understand things both old and new—the treasures that we have. Our brother Hosea was exhorting us, and we need to guard the treasure that we have. Do you know the treasure that you have, and how long God has been working it into you?
Please do not think it is just circumstance or chance that you are in the situation you are in. May God bless you and send you out as a transition person for the Lord to effect this final transition and recovery of things.
The Lord is burdened for the church here in North America because there are so many Christians here—millions of evangelical, truly born-again Christians—and most of them are without vision. They do not know the truth, and you know the truth. How can you keep it to yourself?
I want you to have a bigger understanding of the gospel. The gospel is not merely preaching to people about Jesus and getting them saved. The full gospel is expressing the whole thought of God regarding God’s people in this day: how we live, how we love, how we work, serve, and experience His life together in the church. That is the full gospel. Many of your Christian friends still need to hear the gospel, and you have not told them yet.
We are in this transition, and Joshua was a transition man. He came out of Egypt, so he was of the old generation. But somehow he survived and overcame while his whole generation died. He brought the new generation into the land.
The old generation could not go in. They were stuck in tradition, culture, law, and many other things. But Joshua brought them into the promised land. What generation was he from? Was he old generation? Was he new generation?
Here is the point: there is no old generation and new generation. There is a kingdom generation. It consists of people who see what God wants and are willing to fight for it. If you become a transition person, God bless you—you are going to have to fight your way into the reality of it.
It is one thing to say, “I believe in the promised land. I believe in the body of Christ.” It is another thing to be willing to fight for the reality of it. It takes a lot of time in the heavenlies to come to this place.
Joshua was this transition man. Tonight, I am only introducing him. I want to pose one burning question: how come Joshua and not Caleb?
Why was it, when it came time to choose the transition man to bring the generation into the promised land, that God chose Joshua and not Caleb? I present to you seven reasons why Caleb should have been chosen.
Actually, this question about Caleb is really this question: Caleb is the Christian man you wish you were. And I am saying, why is God choosing you?
First, Caleb should have been chosen because he was from the tribe of Judah. What tribe was Joshua from? He was the son of Nun—oh, no. His whole upbringing was questionable, being born of a nun. But we will not go into that.
Joshua was an Ephraimite. Can you name two Ephraimites? Ephraim and Joshua. There you go. But Caleb was from the tribe of Judah.
Judah was the victorious tribe, the prevailing tribe, and the first tribe of warfare. Out of Judah came David, and out of Judah came Christ. Caleb, therefore, should have been the guy.
Second, in Numbers 13:27-33, it was Caleb who gave the faith report. Actually, there were three reports given when the spies came back.
First was Joshua’s factual report:
We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.
Joshua gave the fact report. He was a bean counter, you know—boring, boring, but he got the facts. Moses had asked the spies to find out about the land, its fruit, its people, and its cities. Joshua gave the factual report.
Then came Caleb’s report, Numbers 13:30:
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
That is the faith report. First you have the fact report, now the faith report. Caleb injected faith. Why did Caleb have a faith report? Because he believed the Word of God. God said, “I am giving you the land,” and Caleb said, “Of course there are giants, but we can take it. Let’s go.” Why? Because he believed the Word of God.
Then came the evil report, or as I call it, the fear report, to make all three start with “F”:
But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
The fear report—that is usually the committee report. The majority report is usually the fear report. But Caleb gave the faith report, and Joshua gave the fact report. Joshua did not say too much in this altercation. Caleb kept speaking up.
Third, Caleb exhorted the people with faith. In Numbers 14:5-9, when the people said they were not going in, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the congregation. Joshua and Caleb did also. Then they spoke to the congregation:
The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
That is Caleb. Man, this guy has faith.
Fourth, in Numbers 14:24, God says:
But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Nothing is mentioned there about Joshua, but it says Caleb had a different spirit and followed the Lord fully. Man, this guy is the best.
Fifth, in Numbers 14:30, when Caleb is listed with Joshua, Caleb is mentioned first:
Surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Caleb indeed was a man of faith. So number five: he was acknowledged first in the list.
Sixth, in Deuteronomy 1:34-38, Moses rehearses the history:
And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither:
Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Again, Joshua is not mentioned at first, and Caleb receives a special promise. Whereas the rest gained their inheritance by lot, everywhere Caleb put his foot down, he could have it, because he was such a faithful guy.
But then Moses says, “Joshua, the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage thou him.” Help old Josh out. He does not have all the bravado of Caleb. Encourage him, because he is going to help you in. There is a difference there, if you notice.
Seventh, in Joshua 14, forty-five years after Caleb spied out the land, he was in the land. Here was this eighty-five-year-old man, strong in the faith.
I love that some people live to be eighty-five—and some of them are strong in faith at eighty-five. Our brother Hosea’s father was a dear brother. I had the chance to meet him before he passed away. What a soldier for the Lord. He was strong in the faith. He died at ninety-two, and almost to the very end he shepherded people in the Philippines in a difficult situation. He was a man of faith.
Listen to Caleb’s testimony in Joshua 14:7-13:
I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
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 sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy children for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.
And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as He spake, these forty and five years, from the time that the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness: 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: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in.
Now therefore give me this hill-country, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified: it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord spake.
So Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
What a man. At eighty-five years old, he took the most ancient city. There was Jericho, and there was Hebron—both ancient cities. Hebron was the ancient city in the land of Canaan itself, a beautiful old city.
But the thing about taking Hebron and the mountains around it was that they were still full of giants. It was like Caleb said, “Josh, can I take the most difficult part of the land? I think the Lord will be with me. He is still true to His promise, and every place I put my foot, He gives me the victory. I am eighty-five. Can I go up and kill the giants?”
And Joshua said, “Well, sure, sure.” Caleb went, took Hebron, and killed the giants. We will read about that another day. What a wonderful man. There are seven good reasons why he should have gone in.
So how come Joshua went in? Let me ask you: how come the Lord has chosen you? Are you the Christian man you wish you could be? You look around at school, or wherever, and see some Christian person and say, “Oh man, I wish I was like them. They witness to their friends. They read their Bible even when they are taking a shower.”
Then the Lord comes and says, “Hey, Caleb, I am calling you.” There is a mighty man right here. He is going to take the giants one day. But listen: how come God chose Joshua?
Let us look at Numbers 27:18-20:
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thy hand upon him;
And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey.
Why did God use Joshua? Because God chose Joshua. That is the first lesson we have to learn, and I want you to apply it to your life. Why has God chosen you? Because He has chosen you. Why has God called you? Because He has called you. That is what He does.
God simply said to Moses, “Now take Joshua. Lay your hands on him and commission him to lead the children into the land.” Moses did not say, “But what about Caleb?” God chooses whom He chooses. This is something we cannot argue with.
There are two other points I would like to make. The second is this: they both had faith. But here we see a wonderful distinction between two forms of faith. Both are necessary to be a transition man; both are necessary to be overcomers and victorious in these days.
Caleb had what we would call, from the Bible, a picture of the gift of faith. It was almost an anointing this man had, where faith came upon him to believe the impossible. He had boldness in his faith to take his stand, declare the Word, and step on the land, and God honored it.
He had the gift of faith. But Joshua had faith too. We would call it the spirit of faith.
What is the difference? The gift of faith is something outward, something precious. There is nothing wrong with it. The Bible lists the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and some have the gift of faith. May God grant that to you. We need that gift in impossible times. May the Lord set it into His body, even among some of you.
But there is also the spirit of faith. As you look at Joshua—even as we read at the beginning from Joshua 1—is it not amazing that, with all his commissioning and faithfulness in the past, the Lord says to him three times, “Be strong and courageous”? That means three times for the field mice.
“Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous.” Why? Because Joshua had a chicken soul. He was a fearful person. He was probably more careful, thoughtful, and not as bold as Caleb.
But why do I say he had a spirit of faith? Here is the deal, ladies and gentlemen: there are those who have bold faith. Many of the great missionary pioneers, when you read their stories—like C. T. Studd—were incredibly bold. They did not know defeat, even when they were defeated.
He had a gift of faith to do the impossible—to forge into the depths of Africa and preach the gospel among headhunters. That takes tremendous faith. Joshua would never go among the headhunters. He would go down to South Africa, where people were living the cool life on the coast.
But Joshua, even though he had a less bold temperament, yielded in obedience to God’s Word and obeyed.
What is the difference between Caleb, who had the gift of faith and stepped out so that God honored his step, and Joshua, who, despite his fears, obeyed and stepped so that God honored it? Faith is faith. They are two different kinds of people.
Some people are strong and bold. Some are not strong and bold. But here is the deal: obey God. That is how the spirit of faith is proven in your life.
It does not have to be showy. It does not have to involve a lot of words or standing up and declaring things. But you stand in obedience and do the will of God, and that is the spirit of faith.
The testimony of the spirit of faith is this: when people see Joshua taking a step, they immediately think, “It is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit that that man is moving.”
A man of the Spirit is not merely somebody like Caleb, overwhelmed with a tremendous aura. A man of the Spirit is also the brother or sister who obeys and does the will of God.
God makes some people shake in their boots. But in the end, the only question is this: will you obey what God tells you to do?
In Hebrews 4, that is the warning that comes from the book of Joshua. We have promises given to us just like the children of Israel, but they did not obey and mix those promises with faith. So they never entered into the rest.
How about you? Are you a bold Caleb? I hope you are. Some of you are. Do not disrespect those people. Or are you one who has the spirit of faith? Maybe you worry about things, fret, and fuss. But if God tells you to do something, do you do it?
That is one reason Joshua was chosen in the long run: because God gets the glory.
That is the third reason, which I will have to bring up next time. Joshua, unlike Caleb, had been trained and prepared in the inner man by God over a process of forty years for this moment.
Transition does not simply come when God takes person A and person B and says, “Well, they both have faith. He has outward faith; he has inward faith. I will pick this guy.” No, no, no.
It is all about preparation, ladies and gentlemen. Some of you, by the grace of God, despite your own unfaithfulness, fears, and everything else, have been trained by God. Do not take that lightly. That is why Joshua was chosen and overcame.
Tomorrow we will have to look at some of that preparation for the transition man so that we can understand these things.
Here is my final point. I plead with you. Some of you are here for the first time, and some of you are quite young in the Lord. Maybe you are not ready to hear this, so do not hear it. But the older ones who have been around—you have been here in the Canadian prison for several years. You keep coming back. You are masochists.
You sit for long hours, you fall asleep, and then you feel ashamed. You fellows leave, so you make up for it by staying up all night in the dorm. Then you are recidivists: you keep committing the same crime and signing up again. You are back. You have been here for years.
Here is my one single question to you, and I want to point it to you by the power of the Holy Spirit: Do you not know by now that you are a chosen vessel?
Do you think this is all in vain? Is this just gamesmanship for young people? Do you not know you have been chosen? Do you not know He has been preparing you? Do you not know He is calling you to be a transition man?
This is very serious. I am not asking you to wait until you are thirty-five, married, with two kids and a big belly. I am not asking that of you. You may be a transition person now, in the transition. We might not have until you become thirty-five.
Do you not know you are chosen? Please, God, open their eyes so they can see. A whole new generation—do you not know you were raised in the house of God for a reason?
Those things that are blessed second nature to you—do you not know there are people thirsting, like a deer searching for water, just for that touch of life: to come into the midst of the assembly and taste that kind of thing?
Finally, do you not realize, in your heart of hearts, despite all your fighting, that you are captured? Even when you try to run away, you run into the world and find it totally empty. You try to hide from God, and He finds you right there. You try to do something wrong, and you always get caught.
Do you not know you are captured? Do you not see it, Jeff?
Then I want you to see one more thing. Through all your sin, failure, scrapings, indecision, lost opportunities, and all your reasons for disqualification, I wonder if you can hear the Lord saying, “Come unto Me. You have nowhere else to go. And I have a job for you in this transition age that you cannot imagine.”
O Lord, do capture those who need to be captured in this place. And for those who are captured, help them to be the glad bondservants needed for this transition time.
Lord, we come to You and give You thanks that You can bring us together to this salt lick from all different backgrounds, experiences, and ages. You want us all to drink from the water of life. You want to prepare hearts and lives for this most important transition age.
O God, raise up those who are willing to fight all the conflicts necessary to come into the fullness of the land. We do not want merely to touch the outer reality of the church, so that we can say we go to meetings on Sunday and Wednesday night.
No, we want to learn how to abide in the body of Christ, in that kind of fellowship that is a perfecting work of the bride. O Lord, lift us up to higher ground—not in the shadows, but in the land; and not merely in the land, but possessing the land; not on this earth, but in the heavenlies; and because we are in the heavenlies, affecting this earth.
O Lord, raise up those who see the goodness of Your promise and are willing to be transition people. Lord, I thank You for all Your dear children. I believe You have purpose for each and every one.
Lord, confirm in the hearts of the fearful ones Your calling in their lives. We pray in Jesus’ precious name.