Distributing the Land Pt 1

Go ahead and stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started.

We thank you for the day, God, and just thank you for another opportunity, Lord, just to come here to worship you and spend some time with you. We ask that you bless this time, Lord, and prepare our hearts to receive from you that which you would have us to hear tonight, God. And help us just to lift a joyful noise to you. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.

And you guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, and I'll continue on. Christ is my firm foundation, which I stand when everything around me is shaken.

I've never been more glad in Jesus, because he's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. He won't steal God's joy in chaos. Peace that makes no sense, so I won't be gone. I'm not on strength. He's faithful.

I stand when everything around me is shaken.

Through generations, this was built on sin.

Yes, I'm God. He's my firm foundation, which I stand. When everything around me is shaken. God, we just thank you for the day. And God, when everything else around us falls apart, God, we know that you won't. We know that you are faithful, and that you will never fail. We thank you, Lord, God. You're our firm foundation. You are unchanging, unwavering, Lord, God.

You are the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord, God. We thank you. Oh, I come, what you do.

Peace that... Outlasts darkness that's in the blood. There's future grace that's mine today. That Jesus Christ has won.

So I can face tomorrow. For tomorrow, just like you always have.

Mercy and stay. The sea is raging. Your spirit on Jesus Christ. I'll say that it is well.

You're doing the story.

You're doing... Lord, God, we just thank you again for the day that you've given us, Lord, God. We just thank you, God, for who you are and how much you love us, Lord. God, I know that sometimes, like, it just seems like we go through really, really hard seasons, Lord, God, where just nothing seems to go right. And, God, we seem to lose every battle. But, God, we know who wins in the end.

You win the battle. You win the war, God. So, God, just help us just to rest in you. To find our peace in the midst of everything, Lord, God, in you.

No matter what you do.

God, we just thank you again, Lord, for the victory that's yours. And because, Lord, because we are your children, Lord, we get to claim that victory as well. Lord, God, we thank you for the victory over sin and death. Thank you for your victory over sin and death, Lord. God, we thank you for the new life that you give us in you. Lord, it's not us. Pray that you would just open our ears and open our hearts, Lord, just to receive the word that you prepared for us, God.

Lord, let your word not return to you void, God, but accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, God. God, do a mighty work in our lives tonight, God. We love you, Lord. And we praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Bibles 2, Joshua chapter 13.

Joshua 13. We come tonight to a major division in the book of Joshua. Up to this point in time, Joshua and the children of Israel have been taking the land. They have been working their way through. As a matter of fact, just to catch us all up to speed, because we've been gone for a couple of weeks, one for our kalala, and then a great worship night last week.

I thought that was wonderful, the time that we had. We're here worshiping the Lord together. But just to kind of bring us all back up to speed, Joshua and the children of Israel had come into the promised land. They had to cross the Jordan, which they did in a very miraculous way. After God had promised victory through this miraculous way, they crossed the Jordan because the waters were parted.

And the waters were parted, if you remember, not before they crossed, but as they crossed. As the priests put their feet into the water, the water parted, which indicated the way that the land would be taken. It would be taken. It would be taken by faith, by taking steps of faith and obedience. And so they come into the land, and there's four major battles, really, that take place in the taking of the land so far.

We saw the battle of Jericho. We saw the battle of Ai. There was then a confederation of kings in the south that came against them that they were able to defeat. Remember, in that very miraculous way, they had the day where the sun stood still and the hailstones that fell. More people were taken. More people were taken out by the hailstones than even the warriors, and God miraculously provided a victory.

And then, of course, there was a northern confederation of kingdoms that came against them that they were able to defeat. And so when we finished up in chapter 12, there was the listing of all of the kings that the children of Israel had conquered, both on the east side of the Jordan River and the ones that they had conquered within the land. Well, now we come to chapter 13, which begins a division in the book of Joshua that is no longer, the conquest of the land. It is now the division of the land, because now that they have won the major battles, it's now time for each of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel to figure out what their allotment of land is going to be,

and for them to go in and take that land, to take possession of that which is theirs through faith. And so the title of the message this evening is Distributing the Land, Part 1. We'll cover chapters 13 and 14 tonight. Because they're the most interesting chapters. And then we'll cover chapters 15 through 21 next week, because they're the least interesting chapters.

So we'll take a whole bunch of them all at one time. And I will do some skimming. Probably won't read every single verse. And you don't have to turn me into the hierarchy of Calvary Chapel for not going verse by verse. But Chuck skipped it, so I figure I can too. Okay, chapter 13, verse 1. It says this, Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, when the Lord said to him,

You are old and advanced in years. Okay, can we stop there for one quick second? This has to be addressed. That is hilarious, right? Like, you know when Joshua was writing this, he's like, this is going to be epic. Somebody's going to make a Saturday Night Live skit out of it someday, right? So anyway, he says, you're old and advanced in years because Joshua was old and advanced in years.

Okay, we can move on now. It says, and very much of the land remains to be possessed. This is the land that remains. All the region of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurah. From Shihur, which is east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north, it is counted as Canaanite. The five lords of the Philistines, the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite, and the Avite.

To the south, all the land of the Canaanite and Myra that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorite. The land of the Gebelite. And all of Lebanon, toward the east, from Baal Gad, below Mount Hermon, as far as Lebo Hamath. All the inhabitants of the hill country, from Lebanon, as far as Mizrafoth, Maim, and all the Sidonians. I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel, only allotted to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.

Now, therefore, apportion this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and to the half tribe. The land of Manasseh. So what we see is that God gives a command to Joshua to divide the land. And that's what I've entitled this first seven verses, is the command to divide the land. So he calls on Joshua. And again, Joshua is old by this point in time. Some accounts have said that he's 110.

I have a hard time with that math, because he was the same age as Caleb. And Caleb is going to be 85. So I would think, quick math in Ryan's head, he'd be 85. Whatever it was, Joshua had seen a lot by this point in time. Think about the faithful years that Joshua had spent. Just for a moment, think about everything that Joshua had seen up to this point in time in his life.

Before leaving Egypt, he would have seen all of the plagues that came upon Egypt. He would have seen the frogs and the flies and the water turning to blood. He was there when the Passover angel passed over the house. And he saw the miraculous deliverance of the nation of Israel. He saw all of the Egyptians give all of the Israelites. All of the gold and the silver and everything, ultimately, he didn't know at the time.

But everything that they would need for the building of the tabernacle. And then as he was going through the desert, he saw the parting of the Red Sea as he stood right there next to Moses. He saw a miraculous victory over the Amalekites while they were in the wilderness. He watched God come down on the mountain. Because remember, he was the one that went with Moses up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments.

He saw all of these things take place. He saw God. He saw God provide manna in the desert every single day. He saw God provide water miraculously throughout the wilderness. He watched as one of the most faithful men of God led the entire time. And yet, as faithful as Moses was, he was still not perfect. He saw all of these things take place. And then, within the land, he saw the crossing of the Jordan River.

He saw an entire city be taken simply by the praises of the people as they shouted to God. And the walls fell down. And they were able to take that city. He saw the importance of obedience and seeking the face of God to know what the next step was when he first failed in the taking of Ai. And then, saw the victory over Ai when he obeyed the Lord as he was supposed to.

He saw the miraculous falling of the hailstones. And he saw them overtake enemies that for every intent and purpose, they should never have been able to defeat. Because they were far superior in their technology. They were far superior in their military might. And they were far superior in their weaponry. And he had seen all of this faithfulness of God. And now, as he stands there, God says,

basically, it's time for a new chapter of your life. You're no longer going to be Joshua, the military leader. You're now going to be Joshua, the one who oversees the distribution of the land. Joshua, the administrator. Now, one of the most difficult things for us to do in our lives is to move into a new role. To move into a new place in our lives. Because after all, especially if you've done one thing for so long,

it's hard to transition. But those transitions are so important. It doesn't mean what you do is less than. It doesn't mean what you do is not the same as far as caliber. It just means that it's different. It was interesting because I was reading J. Vernon McGee on this. And J. Vernon McGee, I don't know if you know this. He pastored some. Really famous churches.

One of them was a church in the open door. Very famous church that he pastored for years. And he said, of all of the pastors that I had, none of them were as successful as the ministry that I've had since I retired. Because the ministry that I had since I retired was no longer being a pastor. It was being a teacher. And my radio program, if you will, J. Vernon McGee was the first podcaster.

Because he literally sat in a studio out behind his house. And he talked into a microphone. And recorded the Through the Bible radio program. The Through the Bible radio program that, though he died in 1987, is still being played today. And he says, this time that I'm in in my life is more successful than anything that I could have ever imagined as a pastor.

And you know why? Because he knew the importance of transition. When God says, I want to use you in a different way, we need to listen and allow God to use us in a different way. And that's exactly what. That's exactly what Joshua was going to do here. He was old and advanced in years. But that didn't mean God was done with him. It just meant that his role was going to change.

Instead of now being the guy on the ground leading the battle, he would be the guy in the office administrating the people. And so that's what Joshua was told that he needs to do. Notice what it says. You're old, advanced in years. 13 verse 1. And very much of the land remains to be possessed. Now, there was a main victory that had been won. We discussed those four major battles.

If you will, the major enemies that they faced had been conquered. But there was still, as John Corson puts in his commentary, mopping up to be done. Because there were still people living in the land. And we remember what God told them that they were to do. They were to make no covenant with the people of the land. They were to completely drive out the people of the land.

Well, that would be the job of each individual tribe. And in this, we are reminded of something. There will always be. There will always be another battle. There will always be more land to take. As long as we live on this side of eternity, we will never reach a place of perfection. And the most dangerous place we can ever reach in our walk with Jesus Christ is what I would call status quo.

Where you reach a place where you say, you know, I'm doing pretty good now. I've seen a lot of victory in my life. I've seen God do a lot of things in my life. And I think that's what we're going to do. I think I'm kind of content with where I am now. I'm just going to coast it out until the rapture. I'm just going to coast it out until I go home to be with Jesus and just sort of live off the victories of yesterday.

Well, my old wrestling coach put it best when he said, if you're coasting, you're going downhill. And if we're status quo in our relationship with Jesus Christ, if we are status quo in our walk, and are not continuing to move forward to take new ground, move forward to take new land, move forward to become who God wants us to be in an even greater way, then we will go downhill. And that will ultimately lead to either apathy in our walk or even sin in our walk with Jesus Christ. And so he tells them there's lots more ground to be taken.

And then in verses 2 through 5, he lays out what all of those things are. We won't read back over it again because, quite frankly, I think I mispronounced them all the first time. So he lays out all of the things that needs to be taken. Now, I want you to think about something. Because in Joshua chapters 12 and 13, there's a beautiful balance that's given to us.

Because in Joshua chapter 12, they recounted all of the kings that the Israelites were able to conquer. Now, that's a really cool thing because one of the great things that we need to do as believers in Jesus Christ is be able to look back on the victories that God has won for us in our lives. Because those past victories always remind us of God's present faithfulness. We know that God's going to win today because we've always seen him do it in the past.

And it's so good to go back and remind ourselves of God's faithfulness in the past to remind us of his victory today. And so that's one thing that we need to do. But there's a problem that can take place. And that's that we sometimes find ourselves content with the victory of yesterday and we no longer move on to the battle of today. And that's where the balance comes in.

Chapter 12 tells us of God's past faithfulness. But chapter 13... Chapter 13 is taking stock of what still needs to be done. Now, I'm going to ask you guys to do something in your lives this week. I'm going to ask you to do something that's going to take a little bit of time. You may have to put your phone down. You may have to turn your television off. You may have to get off of the internet for a little while.

You may have to take a little silent time with the Lord of reflection. But I want you to take stock of your life. We're almost through the end of the year. I'm a person who loves to set goals. We'll talk about this at the end of the month. I'm a person who likes to set New Year's goals. I quit calling them resolutions because resolutions just sound stupid. And nobody likes to make New Year's resolutions.

I like to set goals for myself. Now, I personally have not achieved a good number of the goals I set for myself this year. And I was a little bit behind. I don't even think I set my goals till the end of January. So I think that means till I have the end of January 2024 to accomplish them. Whatever. But I like to sit down at a point in time and take stock. How am I doing in life?

How is my quiet time with the Lord? What does my devotional life look like? How am I doing in victory or struggle? I know the areas where I tend to fall into temptation. How am I doing in those areas? Am I seeing victory or am I backsliding into sin? How am I doing as far as loving my wife? How am I doing as far as loving my kids? How am I doing as a pastor?

Don't answer that. How am I doing in all of the things that I want to be doing in life? Because we should take stock of ourselves. And an even better thing for us to do is allow God to take stock of us. And as we look at our lives, say, Lord, search me and know me. And see if there's any wicked way in me. Because I guarantee if you will sit prayerfully with a pen and paper,

maybe the word of God next to you, and you say, Lord, help me to take stock of my life. You will find that just like God gave Joshua a list of all of the people that still needed to be conquered. He will give you all of those areas in your life where you need to continue to grow. Because God does not want us stuck in status quo. God wants us always moving forward.

And so he tells him, he says, there's still lots more land left to be taken. And he gives him the stock of all of the things that need to be taken. But now I want you to look down at verse six. It says, It says, If you're an underliner, that's a good little section to underline. If you have a highlighter, which is what I did, that might be a good spot to highlight.

Because there's two things I want to point out to you out of that verse. Because it deals with the responsibility that the tribes, have, but I will apply that to the responsibility that we have. The first thing I want to point out to you is what God promises to do. I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel. God just listed all of those people that they're still going to have to defeat.

All of the enemies that they're still going to have to defeat. And I want to remind you that mixed in with all of those enemies, which we'll talk about in chapter 14, are a group of people known as the Anakim. The sons of Israel. The sons of Anak. Giants. Right? God lists all of those people for Joshua. This is what still needs to be done. Now, sometimes when we start looking at everything that still needs to be done in our lives,

all of the areas where we still need to grow and we still need to see victory, we're kind of like, but Lord, some of those are giants. And this is where God reminds us. I will drive them out from before you. See, God does the work. He shows us what needs to be done. He leads us into what needs to be done. And he empowers us to do it. But you see, there's also a responsibility.

Because notice what it says. Only allotted to Israel for an inheritance. As I have commanded you. Why? Because even though God was going to drive them out, the tribe still had to be involved. Did you notice that all of the major victories that they had to achieve, the major enemies that they had to face, they faced together as a nation. But now each individual tribe has a responsibility.

God's still going to be the one bringing the victory, but they each have a responsibility. I was thinking about this today, sort of meditating on this, knowing that we each have that same kind of responsibility. And have you ever thought about the fact that when you really face something difficult in your life, the body of Christ comes around you, or they should come around you. Then you kind of face that big thing together.

But once you're past it, there's still territory to be taken. And you're not alone. And you still have a responsibility. I think it's important for us to understand that there comes a point in time in our walk with Jesus Christ where you have to own responsibility for your walk. Where you have to own the responsibility for the enemies that you still have to defeat.

Are there brothers and sisters around you that can assist you? Yes. But ultimately we can't do the work for you. Ultimately we cannot do your walk for you. You have to live that out yourself. You have to walk that out yourself. And there's too many people in the Western culture right now as far as church is concerned that say the reason why they didn't continue in their walk is,

and they give you all the list of excuses, that usually involve what everybody else did. You don't understand the church hurt that I had. You don't understand no one came alongside me. You don't understand no one reached out to me. Nobody did this. Nobody did that. And if it weren't for all of these other Christians, I probably would have had success in my walk.

I have news for you. No you wouldn't have. Because you won't own responsibility. And we as a Western culture are not a people that like to own responsibility for who we are. Or the things that we do. We like to blame everything else in the world on our sin. You see, I sin because it's part of my nature. I sin because it's part of my past. I sin because it's part of who I am.

And I'm really probably never going to get past it. It's really just kind of my identity. You don't understand the way that I was raised. You don't understand the struggles that I have. I don't need to. Because we're all the same. My struggles wear different names than yours do. But we're all the same. And at some point in time you have to say, what I really struggle with is,

remember we talked about this before a few Sundays ago, what I really struggle with is sin. And it's my problem. It's not the church's problem. It's not my neighbor's problem. It's not even my pastor's problem. It's my problem. And I have to own responsibility for it. Because my walk with Jesus Christ is my walk with Jesus Christ. And that's what we have to eventually do,

is own that responsibility for ourselves. Because that's what each of the tribe would have to do. They have to own the responsibility for themselves as to whether or not they would gain victory. God promises that we have to take the responsibility for it. So he goes on to say, verse 7, Now apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.

With the other half-tribe, the Reubenites and the Gadites, they received their inheritance, which Moses gave them beyond the Jordan. Now, from verses 8 through verse 33 is going to be the inheritance for Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. You may remember at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, or excuse me, at the end of the book of Numbers, they had taken over the region of Og, King of Bashan, and Sihon. They had taken those regions on the east side of the Jordan River.

I'm going to have a map next week, at least that's my goal. On the east side of the Jordan River. And they said, you know, that's pretty good pasture land. We kind of like this. What if we just stayed here? And Moses said, this can be your land on one condition. You send your warriors over to do the work of the battle with your brethren. And then when that's finished,

you can go back and reclaim your land. And so that's what this is. This is the allotment of those two and a half tribes that are going to stay on the east side of the Jordan River. There's only a couple of things that I would like to point out for you about these two and a half tribes. The first one comes in verse 13. It says, But the sons of Israel did not dispossess

the Geshurites or the Ma'akathites. For Geshur and Ma'akath live among Israel. And they are the sons of Israel to this day. Now I point this out for one reason. What you just heard there is that there were certain inhabitants of the land that they did not completely drive out. And so where did they dwell up into that day? Right there amongst them. You see, this is the first hint

of the problem that the nation of Israel is going to have. Because the biggest problem that the nation of Israel is going to have is that they will not drive out all of the inhabitants of the land. I want you to notice the use of my verb there. Will not. Not could not. But they will not drive out the people of the land. The reason why that's important is because God had promised them victory.

They had the responsibility for the victory. But if we decide the victory's too hard, it doesn't matter how much God's fighting for us if we just stop and say, you know what, that's good enough. When I work construction, the famous saying was, well, can't see it from my house. Right? Because that's what every guy that works, so if something doesn't look right in your house

that some construction guy did, just know it, he can't see it from his house. So you can only see it in yours. And too many of us live with that. In our walk with Jesus Christ, we're like, eh, close enough. Right? And so we live just like them. And we'll see, especially in the book of Judges, how big of a problem this is for them. The second thing that I want to point out to you

comes out of verse one. Out of verse 14. It says, Only to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritance. The offerings by fire to the Lord, the Lord God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he spoke to him. This is one of the multitude of times that's pointed out to us that the tribe of Levi does not receive an inheritance in the land. There will be some cities,

and we'll see that at the very end of this section on the distribution of the land. They're called cities of refuge. We'll cover that later. Those will be given to the Levites in the pasture land around there. But other than that, the Levites have no inheritance in the land. Instead, there's two things that are the Levites' inheritance. Number one is the sacrifices.

Remember throughout the book of Leviticus, many of the sacrifices, the Levites were able to keep some of the meat from those and some of the grain from those. And that was always theirs. So they always got choice pieces of meat because of that off of those sacrifices. But that really wasn't the greatest part of their inheritance. You see, the greatest part of their inheritance

was the second thing that it says. The Lord God was their inheritance. And I think that that's a really important thing for us to pay attention to as believers in Jesus Christ living in a New Testament way, because we don't have a physical land that we're trying to take. Therefore, we don't have an inheritance on this earth. As a matter of fact, we need to remind ourselves

that on this earth, we are strangers and we're pilgrims who are just sojourning until we can get our final inheritance, which is the Lord. Because ultimately, He is our greatest inheritance. And I need us to understand something. If you're laying up for yourselves treasures on earth, moth and rust is going to corrupt. Thieves will break in and steal. You will be taxed on it.

You should be laying up for yourself treasures in heaven because your ultimate inheritance is with the Lord. And so, He lays out all of the land that the two and a half tribes are going to receive. But now we come to chapter 14, one of the more fascinating chapters in the Bible. Caleb's request or the inheritance for Caleb. Notice what it says in verse 14 or chapter 14, verse 1.

It says, Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, by the lot of their inheritance as the Lord commanded through Moses for the nine and a half tribes. For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half tribe beyond the Jordan. But he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.

And they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land except the cities to live in with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. Thus the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and they divided the land. So the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses, the man of God concerning you, in Kadesh Barnea.

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 back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear. But I follow the Lord God fully. So Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God fully.

Now, it's time for them to distribute the rest of the land. He starts with the sons of Judah. But before we get into the sons of Judah, there's this little parenthetical statement, this little parenthetical story about Caleb. Caleb was a part of the tribe of Judah and Caleb comes forward to his old friend Joshua. Remember, these boys have been friends for a long time.

And he reminds him of a little history lesson, which Joshua hasn't forgotten. But he reminds him anyway. He says, you know, I remember when I was about 40 years old, we went to spy out the land. And when we went to spy out the land, I came back. And I love the way that it's stated here. I came back and I brought word back into verse seven to him as it was in my heart.

If you remember correctly, what Caleb and Joshua brought back was a really good report. All 12 spies, went and they all saw the same things. They all saw the abundance of the land. They saw the wonderful produce of the land. They all saw the walled cities. They all saw the giants. They all saw the chariots. They all saw the difficulty. They all saw the good.

They all saw the bad. Yet they came back with two very different views. 10 of them came back and said, look at all of this fruit. It's amazing. But the enemy is too great for us. We were like grasshoppers. We were like grasshoppers in their eyes. But Caleb and Joshua came back and said, look at all of this fruit. It's amazing. It's going to be difficult, but God will give us the land.

Unfortunately, everybody listened to the 10 bad guys, which is why they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And Caleb says, but I brought back to him, meaning Moses, what was in my heart. And what was in Caleb's heart was faith. Because he believed that no matter how great the difficulty was that he was going to face, God was bigger and God would handle it.

And so he says, my brethren who went up with me, verse eight, made the heart of the people melt with fear. But I love this. But I followed the Lord my God fully. And because of that, Moses made him a promise. He said, because you follow the Lord fully. And God made him a promise. He says, there's a different heart in Caleb. Because of that, he and Joshua, they're going to be the only two guys that survive

the next 40 years in the wilderness. So Caleb comes to Joshua and he reminds him of this little history lesson. He remember, I was promised an inheritance in the land. And that's what Caleb is coming to claim. Let's pay attention to what Caleb is going to claim as an inheritance. Verse 10. Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as he spoke these 45 years

from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses when Israel walked in the wilderness. And now behold, I am 85 years old today. And I am still as strong as I was the day Moses sent me. As my strength was then, so my strength is now for war, for going out and for coming in. Now then, give me the hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day. For you heard on that day

that Anakim were there with great fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken. Dude, Caleb is a man, right? I mean, this is, you're talking like, show me a Navy Seal movie where the old like gnarly, I watched 13 hours last night. You know, show me one of those old, you know, show me one of those old school warriors

who just doesn't care about anything. He's just ready to go to battle, right? Dude, that's Caleb. This guy's like, I'm 85 years old. God promised me some property and I want to take my property. Now, I guarantee, most people by the time they're 85 years old, they are looking for what? Retirement. I need a quiet house in the mountains next to a bubbling brook

where I can do some fishing every now and then. And I can, remember, coast out the rest of my life, coast it out until the rapture or Jesus takes me home in death. Dude, that's not Caleb, man. He's like, I'm 85 years old. Give me the land with the giants, right? He's not ready to go to bed. He's ready to go to war. And I love it. He wasn't looking for a recliner.

He was looking for a battle. He is excited. And that's exactly what he wants because where does he want to go to? He wants to go where the Anakim are. Why? Because they're the giants. What is the reason why they did not want to go into the land 45 years before this? Because there were giants. What's he been thinking about for 45 years? Giants. You know what else he wants to go to?

He wants to go to the hill country where there were walled, fortified cities. This guy is a beast. He's ready to roll. He's like, let's get with it. We've got wars to win. We've got battles to fight, brothers and sisters. We need believers like Caleb. I don't care what age you are. You need to be like Caleb. You need to have the kind of heart that says, I don't care what the enemy looks like.

I'm taking him down because maybe the Lord will give us victory. Maybe I'll find favor in the eyes of the Lord and we will work them over. I don't care how big they are. I don't care how tough they are. I don't care how difficult it is. I'm going to battle. Too many of us are looking for a recliner. I don't care what age you are. Too many people in our culture right now

are looking for a recliner. Kids, it's not time for rest. It's time for war. I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but it's not getting any easier. And I don't think it's going to get any easier. And too many of us as Christians are looking for a place that we can sit down and relax and not have any more battles. Listen, that's called heaven, okay? That's when we'll sit down

and not have any more battles. Until then, it's time to suit up because it's time to go to war. And Caleb had that mentality. Caleb said, I'm 85 years old. And I'm as strong today as I've ever been. Now, his battle's going to look a little different than it would have at the age of 40 because we're going to see that he becomes an administrator too because he's realized he doesn't have to be

the guy at the front all the time. He's happy to bring some guys along with him. But he's still ready to go to war. He's still ready to battle. And that's exactly what he asked for. And so I can't help it. I don't know if this is true or not. Dude, I think Joshua got a little geeked up about this. I think he got it. Because notice what it says in verse 13. So Joshua blessed him.

And then he high-fived him and he bro-hugged him. No, I wrote that in there. That's not true. It says, So Joshua blessed him. And he gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, for an inheritance. Notice what it says, verse 14. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, until this day. Why? Because he followed the Lord God of Israel fully.

I love the commentary that Joshua gives us there. He says, He blessed him with the land of Hebron. And so Caleb went in and took the land of Hebron. As a matter of fact, it's his inheritance to this day. It belongs to him. As a matter of fact, he doesn't change the name. Notice what it says, verse 15. Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-erba. For Erba was the greatest man among the Anakim.

Not anymore. Now it's Hebron. Because he took it. And then the land had rest from war. Well, I can't help it. I get geeked up every time I read about Caleb. He's one of my more favorite characters in the Bible because of this chapter. Because that dude was ready to roll no matter what, no matter how hard it was. Because his faith in God was big. And so I was thinking about this today and some things that I read.

And so I thought, what was it that made Caleb this kind of a man? What was it that made him the man of faith, the man of battle, the man of war, the man who was ready to go, no matter what, what makes him the way that he is? And so I rolled a whole bunch of different things around in my head. My list grew and shrank, grew and shrank, grew and shrank. Finally, I came down to three things.

This is what I want to close with tonight. Because there are three things that I think made Caleb the man that he was. Number one, Caleb was full of faith. Caleb was full of faith. I want you to remember something. Caleb saw everything that Joshua saw. He saw all of those exact same things. And as he saw all of those things, his faith continued to build. You know what?

If it's not too hard for God to defeat the Egyptians, it wouldn't be too hard for God to defeat all of the Philistines. If it's not too hard for God to part the Red Sea, then it's probably not too hard for God to overcome fortified cities. If it's not too hard for God to come down and give us his law, then it's probably not too hard for God to defeat anybody that he wants to. If it's not too hard for God to give us manna in the wilderness every single morning of every single day for 40 years while we wandered in the wilderness, then probably God's going to supply everything else that we need.

If Moses could have spoken to a rock and water could have flowed out of it, then probably we don't ever have to doubt whether or not God is bigger than whatever it is that we face. If we can watch God part the waters of the Jordan River, then I'd say he can handle just about anything else. If I watch God knock down walls of a city, then I don't think walls of a city are too big for him. If I watch God take on five kings, then I don't think anything's too hard for him.

If I watch God take on ten kings, I don't think anything's too hard for him. And his faith continued to build. And he was so full of faith that his trust in God was so strong and so complete that he said, give me the land with the giants. You see, every step of faith that he took provided the faith that he needed for the next step. And his faith in God was so great

that by the end of his life he says, I don't care. Let's take them on. Give me the hardest place to take because I have a God that's bigger than all of it. Brothers and sisters, he was full of faith. Enough faith to know that nothing is impossible for God. And if you want to be the kind of believer in Jesus Christ in a New Testament scenario that Caleb is, then allow each step of faith that you take

to build your faith just a little bit more. But you know what this can require of you? Taking some steps of faith. And as you do, your faith will continue to build. You'll take that next little baby step of faith and God says, see, I took care of that, didn't I? Now let's go a little further. And pretty soon, nothing is too hard for God to where you can face whatever fear,

face whatever temptation, face whatever failure, face whatever you need to because nothing's impossible for God. Caleb was a man who was full of faith. Number two, Caleb was a man of wholehearted obedience. You know how I know Caleb was a man of wholehearted obedience? First of all, he had no problem. He had no problem obeying when it meant going into the land

45 years before this, before he had seen the next steps of the faithfulness of God. He had no problem going in there because God said that they were supposed to go in there. And he had no problem obeying. But do you know what really tells me Caleb was a man of wholehearted obedience? He didn't die in the wilderness. I want you to think about who should have been more mad

than anybody else in the world. Who had the reason to complain more than anybody else among the nation of Israel? Caleb. Caleb was like, guys, if we would have just listened to me. Right? I would have said that every ding-dong day in the wilderness, right? It'd be like, oh man, another day in the wilderness. If you'd have listened to me, we wouldn't be here right now.

He didn't do that. You know how I know? He didn't die in the wilderness. All of the other complainers, they all died in the wilderness. But he continued to be a man of wholehearted obedience every day in the wilderness, day after day. You may think to yourself, how on earth did he do that for 40 years? One day at a time. Every day he decided, today I'm gonna obey.

And that's all we have to do. Every day we have to get up and decide, today I will do what God has called for me to do. Today I will be the man or the woman that God has called for me to be. Today I will follow what God's word has to say. By the power of his Holy Spirit, prayerfully seeking him, I will be who God has called for me to be. I don't have to worry about whether or not

I'm gonna obey a week from now. I just have to worry about whether or not I obey today. And when I fail to obey, I fall back on God's grace. And I decide I can't do anything about yesterday. I'm gonna move on to tomorrow. He was a man of wholehearted obedience. But number three, he was a man who was focused. He was a man who was focused on the goal. He was a man who was focused on the goal.

How did he do that one day at a time? Caleb had a goal in mind. You know what his goal was? The promised land. Do you know what I think Caleb thought about every day? Giants. I think every day he thought, I just can't wait to get in there. I can't wait to get into that inheritance. I can't wait to take on the giants. Because Caleb had a goal. You know what gave Caleb a goal?

He had a vision. He had a vision for the future. And his vision for the future was living in the promised land. And brothers and sisters, if we are to live like Caleb, then we need to be focused on the goal. And I think for some of us, that means that we need to set some goals. Now, I thought about this a lot today. This particular point has really been rolling around in my head a lot lately,

especially today. What kind of goals, what kind of goals do we need to set? Because again, we're kind of coming towards the end of the year where we're going to tie a little bow and send 2023 down the river. And we'll be looking at 2024. What kind of goals do we need to be setting? And we don't even have to wait until then. Make them for this week. I think there's three areas

where we need to be setting goals. We need to be setting what I would call goals in this world. That doesn't mean worldly goals. I don't think we should have worldly goals. But you should have goals in this world. You should have goals for yourself and your job. You should have goals in your health life. You should have goals in your personal life. In your job,

you should always be trying to be better, trying to move up, trying to be the best employee that you can be. We'll talk about that in another week or so in the book of Ephesians. You should have goals for your job. You know why you should have goals for your job? Because if you don't have a goal for your job, you know what you'll stop doing? You'll stop trying.

And you'll become apathetic. You'll go, eh, another day at work, just waiting for Jesus to come back. You won't work very hard. The Bible tells us, do all that you do heartily as unto the Lord. That means you're going to have to set a goal. And that goal is going to have to be to continue to get better at your job. You need to set some health goals. You need to decide how healthy am I going to be

because God has given us these bodies to be stewards of. And while bodily exercise profits little, it still profits, right? And we should set some health goals for ourselves. We should decide I'm going to be as good as I can be so that I can serve the Lord as well as I can serve Him. Because God works best with prepared vessels. And you should set some personal goals.

Whether those goals be for your family, whether those goals be for just you and maybe education or reading books, whatever it is, you should set some goals for this world for yourself. The second thing that you should set is some spiritual goals. Spiritual goals have to do with what is your family going to look like? How are you going to love your husband or your wife?

How are you going to continue to point them to the Lord? What is your prayer life going to look like? What is your devotional life going to look like? What scriptures are you going to memorize? Memorize scripture. That's legalistic, isn't it, Ryan? No! That's what the Bible tells us to do. What books of the Bible are you going to continue to read? What are you going to study a little bit deeper?

What are you going to understand a little bit better? How are you going to grow in the gifts of the Spirit? Maybe, how are you going to step into ministry? Because God has spiritual goals that He wants you to set. But you know, I think the ultimate goal that we need to keep in mind is the goal that this place is not our home. The goal of heaven. Because we can continue to live on this earth

knowing that we have a goal that we're trying to reach. Knowing that this is not it for us. I can find joy in the daily grind because I know that this place is not my home. It is going to end. It is going to end and we are going to get to a place where eventually we don't deal with all this stuff anymore. How did Caleb continue to survive one day at a time in the wilderness?

He was focused on his goal. And the goal was the Promised Land. How do you and I live and survive in this wilderness? We have a goal. And that's the Promised Land. A house made with hands. Eternal in the heavens. Amen. May we be men and women of faithfulness. Ready to go to war. Just like Caleb. Would you bow with me? Father, we come to You. Can we thank You, Lord,

for what You have spoken to us through Your Word. Lord, would You fashion in us the hearts of the men and women of God that You have called for us to be. Lord, help us to move on. Help us to move up. And help us to become better every day. Closer to You. And more effective in the use for the Kingdom. Father, we thank You and we praise You for who You are in Jesus' name.