Acts chapter 20.
We are going to read a few Scriptures that give us an overview of Paul’s life—kind of a beginning, a midpoint, and an end. We will see a consistency here within Paul’s heart’s desire.
Acts 20:24. Paul is speaking in that farewell address to the elders in Ephesus. He says:
“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself,
in order that I may finish my course,
and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus,
to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
Now to Philippians chapter 3. We will read Philippians 3:12-14.
“Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect,
but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
And finally, in 2 Timothy chapter 4. We know this is Paul’s last epistle, soon before his martyrdom. Second Timothy 4:7-8:
“I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith;
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
In verses 17 and 18:
“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished,
and that all the Gentiles might hear;
and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed,
and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom;
to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Let us pray.
Lord, we do rejoice that we can be together in Your presence tonight. Lord, we are so thankful that You have made every provision for us. Lord, we just really want to lay hold of that which You have laid hold of us for.
You have a specific purpose tonight. You have a reason that we are here, and we would be jealous to hunger and thirst after that, Lord. We do not want to allow ourselves, the enemy, or anything to rob us of what You intend for us tonight.
But we come declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord over this time. Lord, You have ordained this time, and when You ordain it, You make every provision for it. By faith we lay hold of that. We enter into it, Lord, that our hearts would be prepared and that we would know of being in the presence of the living God.
We would come with an attitude of, “Speak, Lord, Thy servants are listening.”
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Recently, I have had one recurring thought on my mind, and it is this thought of pressing on and finishing well.
A little background to that is that next month I turn sixty-five. So all of a sudden my vocabulary expands: Medicare, Part A, B, and D, and all that stuff; Social Security; all of these things start entering into my life.
It makes you—you know, the world says, “You are over now. We put you out to pasture.” But we see the Lord is not finished with us. The Lord wants us to keep pressing on.
I have just really had a burden within my heart, my own heart for my own life, that, “Lord, I do not want to settle down. I do not want to be content. I do not want to say, ‘We have done enough. I have been meeting together with brethren for thirty-some years. That is okay. Now I can just coast.’”
There are so many temptations out there. Even in the difficulties, we can say, “Lord, it gets so frustrating being with these brethren. You know, if they would only straighten out, my life would be so wonderful.”
And so, in our frustration, we can just call it quits. We can wipe our hands of everything. It is tragic to see that. At times, we all go through that. We have our times when we just quit and give up.
But praise God, He is there. He encourages us. He lifts us up. He gets us back in the race, and we keep pressing on.
We might not physically give up, but sometimes within our hearts we sure feel that mighty strong. We just want to quit and give up. Most of the time when we want to do that, it is when our eyes have gotten off the Lord and onto ourselves and our circumstances.
So, just in my own life, I have had this desire: I really want to finish well, to be able to serve the Lord as He desires and finish this race that He has set before us.
It is wonderful how Paul could testify. At the beginning of his life, he said, “There is a course set for me.” He did not really know what that course entailed. It was like he was going on this cross-country race, but he had not walked the course or jogged the course before. It was the first time seeing it, and so he did not know what to expect.
Then he goes through this life, and as he goes through this course, he finds the Lord ever faithful. Whether it was going up a hill or down into a valley, whether he met a wall or some obstacle, he found the Lord ever faithful, and he kept pressing on.
He finally came to that point where he said, “I have finished the course.” I have made it to the end, and praise God for that.
I think that is the desire of every one of our hearts. As we are in these times together, that is really what my heart is: that we could really be those who finish well.
As we look at Scripture, we can see that there are ones who started well, but they did not finish so well. We think of the nation of Israel as they came out of Egypt. All twelve tribes came out, but then those two-and-a-half tribes saw that land and said, “Oh, it looks good for our cattle. We will just stay over here.” The others went on into the land.
We know from Samson’s life that Samson had a good beginning. He had a wonderful mother and was called to be a Nazarite, but he never fully became the man of God that he was destined to be. It was because of his own self.
If we look in the New Testament, we have ones like Demas, who was there serving the Lord and being a coworker with Paul. Yet it says in the end that Demas loved this present world. He did not finish well.
Now, when we are talking about finishing well, let me clarify one thing. We are not talking about living a sinless, perfect life, because there are many who finish well but have some tough times in life.
Look at Abraham. Abraham finished well, but we know that at times he went places he should not have gone. But the Lord drew him back. You can look at David. We know of the sins within David’s life, but David was a man after God’s own heart, who would do all of His will. David finished well.
We can look at Peter—all the things that Peter went through—but Peter ended up finishing well. So we are not talking about sinless perfection. We are not talking about some ethereal type of way in which we become sinless. No.
If you look in Revelation, it speaks of those who overcame, and they overcame by the blood of the Lamb. They needed that blood of the Lamb because they were sinners saved by grace. Every day they knew more and more of the precious value of that blood that was cleansing them.
Also, when we are talking about finishing well, I want to be clear that we are not talking about losing our salvation if we do not finish well. Our salvation is sealed and secure. But what we can lose is entering into all of the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of the hymns we sang tonight spoke of our inheritance that we have in Him. There is a richness that the Lord wants us to enter into. But so often, because of some of the choices we make, we do not enter into all of His precious and magnificent promises and the riches of the inheritance that we have in Him.
So we are thankful that, by His grace, we can be those who press on, and by His grace, be those who finish well.
We know in the New Testament, as we looked at Paul’s life, that Paul finished well. There is one in the Old Testament who corresponds to Paul’s life, and I would like to look at him because he has always been one of my favorite characters. It is Caleb.
Caleb was one who finished well. He had a tough time. So often we think we are going along and doing pretty well, but it is always how we are at the end.
Now, I could mention that the Yankees have the best record in baseball. But right now it does not do them much good. It is what happens at the end of the season. Then they will still have it, but that is okay. They just will not have home-field advantage during the World Series. But that is okay. The Dodgers will, right?
Sometimes we can be content because we have run the first half of the race so well. Or we take a course at school and have done great through mid-semester, but then we start fading and we do not finish well.
The Lord wants us to finish well. That is what we want to see as we look at Caleb’s life. Over and over again, it says that he fully followed the Lord.
Caleb was one who, as we look throughout these books in the Old Testament, fully entered into everything that God had promised him. He fully entered into his inheritance.
It is tragic how many of the tribes went in and possessed their territory, but they did not fully possess everything. They did not drive the enemies out. There was still much land to be possessed. But Caleb laid hold of all that the Lord had spoken to him.
We can say that Caleb fully possessed his inheritance. We want to possess that too, because we know that our inheritance is not a thing. Our inheritance is a Person.
What we are talking about is possessing Christ and really allowing the fullness of His life to be experienced in our life—to really taste and see how good He is, to taste of the riches and the blessing that we have in Him.
So let us look back at Caleb in the Old Testament. We first see him in Numbers. Look at Numbers chapter 13.
We are not going to read all of the verses related to Caleb, but we know how the nation of Israel was brought out of Egypt. The Lord brought them there and was telling them to go over and possess that promised land.
They said, “Lord, we would like to send some spies over to spy out the land.” The Lord, in His permissive will, granted them this request. He said, “Okay, send one spy from each of the tribes.”
So those twelve spies went in. They went throughout the land. They all saw the same things. They came back after those forty days, and they reported to Moses and to the rest of the people.
We see this in Numbers 13:25. We will pick up in verse 26.
“And they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh;
and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.”
Remember, they brought back those huge clusters of grapes and all the marvelous fruit from the land to show everybody.
“Thus they told him, and said, ‘We went into the land where you sent us;
and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong,
the cities are fortified and very large;
and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
Amalek is living in the land of the Negev,
and the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country,
and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.’”
“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,
‘We should by all means go up and take possession of it,
for we will surely overcome it.’
But the men who had gone up with him said,
‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.’
So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying,
‘The land through which we have gone in spying it out is a land that devours its inhabitants;
and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
There also we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim;
and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’”
Then the people really became afraid. They started murmuring against Moses and saying, “Why have you brought us out here to die? Let us go back to Egypt. Let us appoint another leader. Let us head on back.”
In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, Moses and Aaron were prostrating themselves before the Lord. In Numbers 14:6, Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes.
“They spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying,
‘The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the Lord;
and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey.
Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us;
do not fear them.’”
But all the congregation said, “Stone them with stones.” Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
We know how, in that glory, the Lord spoke and said that because of their unbelief and disobedience, none of those who had been numbered would be able to enter into the land except Joshua and Caleb.
The Lord further testifies of Caleb in Numbers 14:24:
“But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully,
I will bring into the land which he entered,
and his descendants shall take possession of it.”
As we look at Caleb, we remember that he was born in Egypt. He had heard and seen all that Moses did in the marvelous deliverance. He went through the Red Sea. He was out there with everybody in the wilderness, and he was one of those chosen to be a spy to go into the land.
They all went to the same places and saw the same things. Yet, in the end, Joshua and Caleb came back with what is called a good report, while the other ten gave the bad report.
It testifies that Caleb had a different spirit. Caleb followed the Lord fully. What was this different spirit that Caleb had? How was he able to follow the Lord fully? How was he able to finish well?
I like to divide Caleb’s life into four parts. We will do two tonight, and Lord willing, we will do two more Saturday night.
First, we will look at the promise of his inheritance. Caleb entered in and really saw the promise of his inheritance. Then we will see how he was preserved by his inheritance. Once he had the promise of that inheritance, that inheritance preserved him.
Lord willing, Saturday night we will see how he went in and possessed his inheritance. Then we will see how he passed on his inheritance. He did not hold it for himself. He knew God’s heart and God’s purpose.
First, let us look at how Caleb was able to come into seeing the reality of the promise of his inheritance. What was it that made Caleb different?
Somehow, as Caleb was listening to all that Moses had said, he had a different spirit. Caleb had a heart after God’s interests. He was not focused upon his own personal interests.
As he listened to Moses, he considered, he believed, and he obeyed. He responded to all that Moses had said and all that the Lord was doing.
When we speak of Caleb obeying, what is obedience? Sometimes obedience can seem like such a big obstacle to us. But obedience, brothers and sisters, is simply responding to the grace of God.
He shows us His grace. He gives us His grace. Then we simply respond to that.
As these twelve spies went throughout the land, they went through the same places. They saw the same things. They experienced the same things. Yet there was something within Caleb and Joshua that was different from the other ten.
Caleb had the word of God in his heart. As he went through things, he entered into an experience. All twelve of them gave the same report related to the physical things. What the ten said of the physical was true. They saw with their natural eyes, and what they said was true.
When it came to the fruit and all the blessings of the land flowing with milk and honey, oh, what a blessing. They saw all of that. Yet they saw the giants too, and they said, “Oh, this is too tough.”
But as Caleb was going through the land, there was something that captured his heart. To me, what captured Caleb’s heart—the turning point in Caleb’s life—was when he came to Hebron.
When Caleb came to Hebron and set his foot upon Hebron, he remembered who was buried there. He remembered that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah were buried there.
It was like those were the seeds that had fallen into the ground and died. Suddenly, all the precious and magnificent promises that God had made to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to all these ones became real to Caleb in a very fresh way.
As he touched this place of Hebron, it was as though he had that whisper from the glory. He realized, “There is something special here. This is what it is all about.”
This was the place where the realities of all those promises—all the things Caleb had heard about—were no longer just promises to Abraham. They were no longer just promises to Isaac or Jacob. Now they were a promise to Caleb.
He entered into the reality of God’s heart and purpose. When he saw all that God had promised Abraham—that his descendants would be as the sand of the sea and as the stars in the sky—he said, “Our God is a God of purpose. He has a purpose for this land. It is far beyond any of us, but He desires a people who will come in and take possession of this land.”
Now, we know that Hebron speaks of fellowship and communion. Since it is a city, it speaks of that even beyond the individual; it speaks in the corporate sense.
This was really one of the keys to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s lives. They had fellowship with God. They had communion with God. Through fellowship and communion with God, they entered in and knew what God’s heart and desire was.
As Caleb’s foot came upon Hebron, all these things that he had heard about and known about became real within his heart. They captured his heart in such a fresh way, and they held him.
Later on, as he was going in to finally possess the land, Caleb said that this promise held him for forty-five years. He was able to endure because he was captured by this promise.
Brothers and sisters, as we go through this life, have we been captured by all the precious and magnificent promises of God? Have we been captured by the purpose of God?
God had a purpose that He shared with Abraham. He had a purpose that He shared with Isaac and Jacob. He had a purpose that He shared with Moses. Caleb had heard about all of that, but once he came to that place of fellowship—that place of communion with the Lord—all that he heard became his. It became reality within him.
Caleb said, “This is what I want, and I do not care what it costs. I am going to be faithful by His grace. This is the provision. This is what the Lord has promised me. This is what the Lord is going to give me. By faith I want to enter into this. I want to respond to this grace.”
Oh, how wonderful it is that Caleb did not look merely at the outward, just the physical. The eyes of his heart were open, and he saw.
This is what the Lord is after among us. Remember how it says in Ephesians chapter 1 that Paul’s prayer was:
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,
so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
At Hebron, brothers and sisters, the eyes of Caleb’s heart were opened. The eyes of his heart were enlightened to know the hope of his calling—to know what it was all about.
He saw that it was far more than just getting out of Egypt. He was no longer content simply to get out of Egypt. He was driven to possess all that God had laid hold of him for, and he was jealous that the people of God would enter into that also.
Because of that perspective, Caleb saw everything within the land from God’s perspective. He saw the giants, but he looked at them from God’s perspective.
The other ten looked at the giants through their own natural eyes, and the giants looked overwhelming. But Caleb, within his heart, looked at it and said—and this is my conversation for him—“Lord, I do not know how You are going to take care of these giants, but You have promised us this land. I know You are going to take care of them, and I am going in.”
Sometimes we face obstacles in life. We might not know how the Lord is going to take care of them, but He has given the promise, and by faith we can go on in. He has given the grace.
As we allow that grace to work within us, that grace grows, that grace abounds, and the grace brings forth more and more of the abundance and riches of the life we have with Him.
Caleb was not content just to go along with the crowd. He was not there to please man. He was there to really serve the Lord.
It is wonderful in Numbers 14:9 how Caleb says the enemy will be our food. Everybody else is saying, “The enemy is too strong. The enemy is too powerful. We have to get out of here. Let us go back to Egypt. We can have all the nice little food and everything back there.”
But Caleb says, “No, the enemy will be our prey. The Lord has called us, and He will make the way. The enemy will be our food.”
Food is for nourishment. Food is for strength. Oftentimes, as we go through some of the challenges of this Christian life, some of the challenges that we face, we learn that the Lord is our strength. We come out stronger than we were before.
None of us would volunteer to go through some of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. But as we find ourselves going through those circumstances and allow the grace of God to meet us and carry us through, we discover a strength afterwards that we did not have before.
Again, it becomes so precious to us that we would never trade that experience for anything. We would never volunteer to go through it again. We would try to get out of it again, but we would not trade it for anything, because there is a preciousness to it.
We have learned something of the Lord. We have touched something of the Lord—whether it is in our individual lives, whether it is something physical we went through, or whether it is a huge fight we have had with a brother or sister in the fellowship. As we have gone through and worked through it, there is a strengthening that comes about.
It is our food, and He is the One who feeds us.
We think of James and 1 Peter. They talk about that testing of your faith, that proving of faith, and how it comes out more precious than gold. Oh, would that we could see with the eyes of a Caleb, seeing all these precious and magnificent things.
Brethren, we all desire to finish well. We all desire to press on to that which He has called us for. But do we have that promise within our heart? Do we have His purpose solidly within our heart, concerning all that He is desiring to do?
As we are going through this life, do we simply see the giants, or do we see that our Lord has won the victory?
Saturday night, we take the Lord’s table here. What a marvelous remembrance of His victory that is. We keep that in view whenever we see something that is just so overwhelming to us, something that we cannot make it through. But God—God, in His great mercy, has made that way for us to go through.
It is not our own strength. It is not our own might.
If we did an interview with Caleb—and we will see later on how Caleb testifies of the Lord being his strength—it was nothing of him. He simply received the grace of God. What he received, he responded to, and he allowed that to lead him into a fuller and greater measure.
The wonderful thing about Caleb and his inheritance is that the inheritance was in Caleb’s heart before Caleb was in his inheritance.
The moment Caleb set foot on Hebron and had that revelation of God’s heart and purpose, his inheritance was in his heart. He had not possessed it, and he would not possess it for another forty-five years. But it was in his heart, and he knew that it was as good as done.
Oh, praise God, brothers. Do we have that sure inheritance within our hearts? All those promises, all that knowing of the calling of God that Jim was speaking of last night—those foundational issues—do we have those settled within our hearts, knowing the reality of them?
Do we know that our God is a God of purpose? Have we had that encounter with the Lord? Have we gone to that place of Hebron, that place of quiet fellowship and communion with Him, to have that heart-to-heart time, to have that sharing, and really come into knowing all that is upon our Father’s heart for us?
Our Lord has such a marvelous inheritance and a marvelous experience for each and every one of us. For some of us, that is hard to believe. We look around at the circumstances of some of our assemblies. We look at the circumstances of some of our families and our own lives, and we say, “Well, I do not believe it.”
But it is true: He does.
Are we looking with our natural eyes, or with the eyes of our heart enlightened to know the hope of His calling and to see things from His perspective?
Would we come to that place of seeing things from His perspective and really allow that inheritance, and all the precious purpose that He has for us, to grip our hearts and hold us steady?
It was this inheritance, as it gripped Caleb’s heart, that preserved him. That is what preserved him for those forty-five years.
It is the same way when you look at others. Look at Joseph’s life. Those dreams preserved Joseph. He did not understand them fully, but they preserved him throughout all those years.
Those words that Samuel spoke to David before he was outwardly anointed as king held him. Paul had the words spoken to him on that road to Damascus and the encounter that he had. That held him.
The inheritance and purpose of God were in their hearts before they entered into all the fullness of it.
Do we have that inheritance and purpose of God settled within our hearts in this day and time? That is what will preserve us in the days and in everything that we are going through.
That brings us to the second point in Caleb’s life: the inheritance preserved him. He was not able to enter into his inheritance and begin laying hold of it for forty-five more years.
It is interesting that the name Caleb can be understood as “mad dog.” Now, you do not picture a mad dog being patient for forty-five years. The fact that Caleb could wait forty-five years before he got his possession is a testimony to the amazing grace of God and to how he allowed the Lord to hold him.
As you look at Caleb, he stands up in front of the whole congregation of Israel and says, “Look, we need to go in.” He was getting ready to be stoned. He was willing to be stoned, except that the glory of God intervened.
Then he had to wait forty-five years. What could hold someone for forty-five years except having that inheritance settled within his heart?
He was possessed by his inheritance. He had not possessed it yet, but he was possessed by it, and it was holding him.
As we go through so many shakings in these days, we need to have all of His purpose very fresh in our hearts too.
Caleb testified at the age of eighty-five, “I am as strong now as I was then.” Are we as fresh now as when we first started?
Most of us kind of look down when somebody asks that question. When you are in school and the teacher asks a question you do not like, everybody’s head drops. You try to look spiritual and look down at your Bible, but you are dodging the question. That is what we are doing.
Teachers know that too, right, Jim?
But Caleb stayed fresh in all of this.
What did Caleb’s faithfulness get him? It meant that he had to go through all the stuff in the wilderness. It did not give him any special privileges. He did not get a special card.
It was not like, “Okay, Caleb, you did such a good job, we are going to make this little cart for you, and the rest are going to pull you through the wilderness. You can ride on this for forty-some years and not have to do a thing.”
No. He had to walk through there just like everybody else. He did not get any special food. It was not like, “Okay, Caleb, the angels are going to drop down a filet mignon tonight. Periodically, you will get lobster one night.”
No. You are going to have to eat the manna just like everybody else.
This is the one who had been faithful, and yet he had to go through the same things. Sometimes we can have a concept that because of our faithfulness, we are entitled to something. Because of our faithfulness, we should have an easy life now.
I always remember the story of Hezekiah. He brought about all these reforms, reinstituted the Passover, and restored service within the house of God. If you look in 2 Chronicles 31, he had just finished restoring everything.
Then 2 Chronicles 32:1 says:
“After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.”
It is like, “Wait a minute. What is all this about?” You would think the Lord would keep everything away, but no. Through this pressure, through all that Hezekiah had to go through, he actually grew further and stronger in the Lord.
Sometimes we can think that the tribulations and sufferings we go through mean that the Lord is displeased with us. No, brothers and sisters.
Look through Joseph’s life. Joseph never did anything wrong, yet look at all the suffering. The same with David. David did some things wrong, but he had a lot of suffering too. Look at Paul’s life. What did faithfulness get him? He ended up in prison, betrayed, and going through everything described in 2 Corinthians.
Probably the prime example is our Lord Jesus. Look at His faithfulness. What did it get Him? He was rejected. He was betrayed. Everything was going against Him.
Why do we think that we are any different?
Somehow within modern Christianity, we have this thought that if you are a good Christian, everything is just going to be okay. But that is so contrary to the Word of God.
Yes, it is okay in the sense that we have a solid and sure foundation. But if you look through Scripture, the Lord gives full disclosure. He does not hide anything from us. He does not try to trick us. He tells us what things are going to be.
Acts 14:22 says:
“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Now, we like the part about entering the kingdom of God. But how do we enter? Through many tribulations.
Through those tribulations, we are learning more and more of the wonderful grace of God—grace that carries us through, not somehow, but triumphantly.
Paul writes in Romans 8:18:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Not worthy to be compared.
Amy Carmichael, in Edges of His Ways, a couple of days ago actually used this verse. The things that we go through in life do not make for an easy life, but they are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed.
Caleb had that glory to be revealed. Caleb had that whisper from the glory in his heart.
That does not mean that some of the tribulations and trials we go through are not big things, hurtful things, or tough things. But if somehow we can have that glimpse of glory, that glimpse of what the Lord has for us, the comparison pales beside what the Lord has for us.
Paul writes again in 2 Corinthians 4:
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us
an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
These are not some of our favorite verses. But in the day and shakings that we are in, we need to be aware of some of the things ahead of us and of the normal path that we will be going through in this life as we grow in Him.
If we are not aware of this, we are going to think something is wrong. We are going to think God is mad at us or displeased with us. No. He is bringing many sons to glory. He is working. He is conforming us into the image of His own Son.
We see that those who come through these things are simply those who have responded to the grace of God.
That is why Peter, as he closes his second epistle and talks about all the end times and shaking, encourages us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a growing in grace. Grace is not stagnant. There is a growing in that grace to taste more and more of what He has.
Caleb grew in the grace of God. As Caleb was going through the wilderness, he grew day by day in the wonderful grace of God.
Just think of some of the things he had to go through. When he came back with his report, it was totally rejected by the brothers and sisters—rejected to the point that they were ready to stone him.
But the wonderful thing about Caleb and Joshua was that Caleb did not allow the actions of others to rob him of his inheritance.
He did not allow the actions of others to rob him of his inheritance. That inheritance had been made real to him. He had that seed in his heart. He had that purpose sealed in his heart.
So often, we can allow the actions of others to intimidate us. They can shake us, and they rob us of what God has given us. They rob us of the precious promise.
The Lord had said, “Caleb, this is going to be your possession.” Then all this uproar comes, and he could have said, “Well, maybe I did not hear God right.” No. He knew. He had it settled in his heart.
What was Caleb’s attitude toward those ten spies? It is wonderful that in Joshua, Caleb refers to them as “my brethren.” We refer to them as the bad spies. Caleb referred to them as “my brethren.”
When we have people who disagree with us and treat us in ways that we really do not appreciate, do we still look at them as “my brethren”? Or all of a sudden is there a “we” and “they”?
“We were faithful, but they were the bad guys.”
No. Caleb still referred to them as his brethren because he saw that God was after a people. He saw that there was a relationship there.
We know how active the enemy is today in trying to divide brothers and sisters from one another over any small thing that can come in. But if we see and have God’s purpose settled in our hearts, it gives us grace to overcome and to be able to go on, even when people treat us in ways we do not appreciate.
But we know it is bringing forth an eternal weight of glory. Oh, would we have it settled within our hearts?
After the time there that we read in Numbers, think about some of the other things Caleb had to go through. Pretty soon, a couple of chapters later, there was Korah’s rebellion, where God’s authority was being challenged.
Now, this is my wondering, but I wonder whether some of those people tried to get Caleb to be their spokesperson. Often, when you challenge someone in authority, the other side likes to get somebody as their spokesperson. Perhaps they came to Caleb and said, “Look, why do you not come? We want you to be our leader. You are the one who was so faithful.”
But I think Caleb was Moses’ best supporter. He was there one hundred percent for Moses. He knew that he was going to be one under authority. When God’s authority was being challenged, he was not entering into murmuring and backbiting. He was standing on God’s side.
Later on, the people started to grumble: “My needs are not being met. I do not like all this food. I do not like God’s provision.” But you do not see Caleb elevating himself.
Sometimes, when others start to grumble, there can be a self-righteousness within us that lifts ourselves up. “Yeah, they can grumble. They do not appreciate things. But look at me. I was one of the faithful ones.”
We have this way of elevating ourselves and separating ourselves, saying that we are a little better than the other brothers and sisters. But not Caleb. He was there, standing for all the people of God.
As he went on through the wilderness, he saw Moses, this faithful one whom he had loved so much. A minute ago, I said they challenged Joshua. I meant to say Moses there, but you all knew that anyway. That is what is good about you all: you know what I am talking about even when I do not.
But as Caleb saw Moses strike the rock, he saw that Moses was not going to be able to go into the promised land. This was one whom he really looked up to and respected.
Was Caleb’s hope in a man, or was his hope in the Lord? He was one hundred percent for Moses, but he knew Moses and he also knew the Lord. He knew Moses was under the Lord. He had a right perspective.
So often, when we see certain ones whom we respect—men of God—and things happen to them, does it shake our confidence? Do we start to question what the Lord is after?
Caleb went through that. He knew that God still had a purpose for this land. He knew that God had a purpose He was calling him to. He did not allow even Moses’ discipline to hinder him from entering in fully.
Later on, Joshua became the leader after Moses could not enter in. Joshua was selected, and I think this was probably the toughest test Caleb had to go through: Joshua was selected over Caleb.
Now, I am part of the Caleb fan club, if you have not picked up on that. But I yield to the Lord. He picked Joshua, so we will go with that.
But you can imagine Caleb saying, “Well, Lord, I spoke up first. How come You picked Joshua? I spoke up first. I should be the leader.”
No. He had it settled within his heart whom God wanted.
Oftentimes, brothers and sisters, do we find ourselves getting jealous when others get the glory and credit? One of the wonderful things about a conference like this is that whenever so many people are serving, different ones get credit. Different ones are thanked for this or thanked for that, and often there are others who did just as much.
Maybe something is done, and we say, “We thank Sister So-and-so for doing that.” You are sitting over here saying, “Well, I did most of the work for that. Why do they not thank me?”
We see these things, but the wonderful thing is that if we are honest with the Lord, He can deal with that. It is real.
Do we realize that when those things occur within us, it is His great love pointing them out to us so they can be dealt with? He loves us so much that He points out the jealousies in our lives. He points out the things where we think we are the greatest.
The disciples were sitting around the Lord. The Lord was getting ready to go to Calvary, and they were sitting around fighting over who was the greatest.
The Lord exposes these things not to condemn us, but to set us free of them so that we can go on and more fully possess all that we have been laid hold of for.
Caleb later saw Reuben and Gad. They did not enter into the land because they were so focused on their earthly possessions—their cattle.
But Caleb had one possession, and that was his inheritance in the Lord. He was not interested in all the earthly possessions and everything. He was one who was really pressing on to all that the Lord had for him.
Caleb did not even allow his natural affections to hinder him. We know Caleb had at least one brother. His name was Kenaz, and he was the father of Othniel. His brother died in the wilderness too. Caleb probably knew and was close with many of the others who died there in the wilderness.
But he did not allow his natural affections to rule him and hinder him from fully going into all that the Lord had. That is one of the hardest things to deal with.
We have our natural affections and our love for one another, but they all have to come under the government of the Lord and His purpose and His heart.
Again, when Caleb got into the land, he had to walk around Jericho all those times. He did not get out of that. He had to walk. He had to go through the battles. He had to go through everything.
The wilderness was really a test for Caleb. It was a character test.
As he went through all the testings in the wilderness, his true character came out. We would say it was the character of Christ within him.
He learned every day. He was learning more and more. In that hymn we sang to begin with, the second verse starts off:
“In the glory of His promise, I am living day by day.”
Brothers and sisters, are we living in the glory of His promise day by day? He has given us many precious and magnificent promises. Are we living in the glory of those promises day by day?
Praise God, Caleb was preserved by his inheritance. But oftentimes, as we find ourselves in the midst of battle, in the midst of shaking, we find that we are really just looking out for our own interests.
Caleb did not look out for his own interests. He looked out for the interests of others. But we can become so self-centered that we look out for our own interests.
We can get tired. We just get tired along this way. We can get tired of not seeing results and of things that are going on. We have been faithfully serving in an assembly for so many years, but we do not see results with our eyes. Then we start getting frustrated.
I went through this frustration of not seeing things, and the Lord brought that verse to me. He said, “Mac, we only see in part.”
Sometimes we think we see things so clearly. We can see something firsthand and think, “Ah, I saw that. I know exactly what is happening.” No, we do not. We just see in part.
He sees far more clearly. He is on the throne. He is ruling, and He is leading us through into all that He would have for us.
Praise God for that. Praise God for the provision we have in Him. As Caleb went through that wilderness, he did not faint, but he strengthened himself in the Lord.
Caleb had that promise within his heart. He saw that God was a God of purpose. God had a purpose for the people of God to come in and possess that land and to be a testimony on the earth in the days and times in which they were living.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord has a purpose for us. He has called us together in this day and time to be a testimony unto our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not here for ourselves. Yes, He loves each one of us individually. He died for us individually. He cares for us individually, and He wants us each individually to grow up in Him.
But our growing up in Him is so that we can be built together and be that testimony—a light shining in the midst of darkness.
When all the shaking is going on, the Lord desires us to be that steadfast light in the midst of the storm, one that people can come to.
We know we cannot do it in ourselves, but we know the grace has been made available to us. We pray that we would not be those who take the grace of God in vain, but that we would respond to that grace and allow it to strengthen us and keep us.
Are we clear? Do we have it settled in our hearts once and for all that it is not about us, but it is about Him? It is about His purpose and the calling that He has upon us.
Praise God. Caleb stood in the gap. We could say, as an intercessor, that Caleb stood in the gap for forty-five years—for all those years—so that God’s purpose could finally come in.
We need people in this hour, in the times we are living in, to stand in the gaps. We know that within many of our assemblies there are huge battles and great conflicts going on. There is both the enemy without and the enemy within. Our own selves are the worst enemy. We are the greatest problem to the Lord building His house together.
Would we be those who see in such a way what God has called us to that we love not our lives unto death and press on to all that He has for us?
Caleb stood in the gap, and may we be those who stand in the gaps for our assemblies—standing in the gaps for our own lives, for our families, and for God’s testimony in our assemblies—that we could be those who are really hastening His return.
Would His promise, the promise of that inheritance, be within our hearts? Then that inheritance would preserve us as we go through the many things and battles that we go through.
As Caleb went through that wilderness, one of the reasons I like that hymn is that the fourth verse reads:
“The desert way can be just a pilgrimage to glory.”
That is what, by God’s grace, the desert way can be made: just a pilgrimage to glory.
Many saw those forty years as just a wilderness and a desert place. Caleb saw it as a pilgrimage to glory.
As we are upon this earth with our brothers and sisters, standing for His heart and purpose, standing for the testimony of Jesus, are we just seeing it as a wasteland? Or are we seeing it as a pilgrimage to glory?
Praise God, we taste some of that glory now. We touch it in part now. But there will be a day when what we are touching now will not even compare to the exceeding greatness of all that He has for us.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are so grateful for the provision that we have in You. We are thankful, Lord, for all the promises that we have in You. Lord, we are thankful that You have called us according to purpose.
We are thankful for the examples that we have. Lord, we would be those who, as You give these examples for our instruction, would learn. We would learn from Paul. We would learn from Caleb. We would learn of Christ, that You could teach us and lead us on into all that You would have for us in this day and this time.
In Jesus’ name, amen.