Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. That is a fitting song. For the message this morning, concerning the life of Caleb. Caleb was one of the 12 spies sent in to the land to spy out the land but one of only two that came back and said, we can do it. Let's go.

The other 10 cowered in fear and unbelief that the Lord was able to defeat their enemies. In Joshua fourteen twelve, it says this, Caleb says this, he says, now therefore, give me this mountain. Whereof the Lord spake in that day, for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, that would be the giants, and that the cities were great and fenced. If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out. As a result of Caleb's faithfulness, the Lord promised him that he would give him Hebron or Kirjath Arba, the area that he had personally journeyed in survey during their time there.

And so when the land was conquered, Caleb came to Joshua and he said, I want this mountain. I want this mountain that God has promised to me. And there's a song that's entitled, I Want This Mountain. So, I'm going to have David come up and he's going to play a couple of the verses for us and after the second verse, I want you all to sing with me on the chorus. So, he'll play a verse and a chorus.

You follow on the screen and then he's going play another verse and then, I'm going ask you all to sing with me on the chorus and then repeat it at the end. So, here we go. I want that mountain. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, David. And I think we will learn that and sing that again some other time. It's not in our hymn book. So, I had to go hunting for it but when I was a kid, when I was in high school or maybe junior high, Liberty University which was only an hour from my house and Jerry Falwell was trying to grow his his school from a college into a university and they wanted to expand up onto a mountainside that was there near the current campus and so for several weeks, a guy named Robbie Hiner who was a musician at Liberty and at Thomas Road Baptist, would come on the TV as they were raising money to expand the college and he would sing, want stand in front of the mountain and he'd sing, I'd want that mountain. And anyway, they did, they were able to purchase the mountain, expand the university.

But that is my my memory of that song. And it is a good song. Because it's not about Liberty University and the mountain in Lynchburg. It is about a mountain that God promised to a man named Caleb and that's the person we're going to look at specifically today. So, we're going to start out in numbers chapter 13 in just a minute.

So, if you'd find numbers chapter 13, we're going to be looking at some verses there concerning this man. But before that, once you find it, if you'll look up here on the screen, after you find numbers 13 and I'd like to read these verses not from Caleb but written by the apostle Paul. Concerning his ministry and our ministry. Our ministries may be different but we are all called to minister for our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. And Paul has this to say in Philippians three beginning in verse 13.

He says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you again for your word. Thank you Lord for the life of Caleb, the encouragement that he's been to me as I've studied this week.

I pray that he would be an encouragement to all of us and that we would be, you would focus our attention not only on Caleb but on the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior, who conquered the grave for us, who died in our place. Lord, thank you for what you did for us and thank you for your word and thank you for the opportunity to serve you and thank you Lord today for Caleb and for the example that he is in scripture of a man of faith, holy devoted unto the Lord and a victor in Jesus Christ. For it's in Jesus name we do pray. You might receive all the honor and glory. Amen.

Life is a journey. Life's an adventure with new challenges each day. Month and year. As the decades roll by and as you get older, they roll by quicker and quicker it seems. The challenges in life change.

Whether they be in regards to our personal abilities or health or or family relationships or employment or ministry. We must always resist the temptation to either be discouraged by the mistakes of the past or to satisfied with our successors, with our successes. We must keep looking what? Forward in faith. Waiting patiently on the Lord and embracing the new challenges God brings across our path or doors of ministry that he opens.

Caleb is a good example of this. A man of faith, a man of courage, a man of patience, and a victor. Who like Paul did not pull out of the race till the race was what? To the race was finished. Despite dealing with quite a few obstacles along the way.

Sometimes, we look at these heroes of faith and we think, boy, they had it easy. No. No. Many of them had it extremely rough. Their life was not a life often of ease.

It was a life filled with obstacles. Obstacles that they were able to what? To overcome my God's grace and strength. Through faith and that is what we see here in the life of Caleb. So, let's start with obstacle number one.

What was Caleb's first obstacle in life? Something that that maybe we forget. Caleb's first obstacle in life is this, Caleb was a what? A slave. For nearly the first first forty years of Caleb's life, he lived in slavery in Egypt.

It was not a pleasant life. He did not have nearly the enjoyable childhood that many of us experienced. His life was one of of drudgery and servitude for nearly the first forty years. That is a long time. A long time to be a slave but he was a slave with hope.

God had promised the Israelites that one day, he would deliver them out of slavery and Caleb, no doubt, a man of faith, trusted that God would do that very thing and indeed, what happened when he was nearly 40 years old? God did it. God raised up Moses and Aaron. He brought plagues upon Egypt and he delivered his people out of slavery. He parted the Red Sea so they could walk across on dry land.

He destroyed the enemy, the army of the enemy, Pharaoh's army in that same sea. And he delivered his people. As he had promised to Abraham four hundred and thirty some years previous. Much like Caleb though, we were also born a what? A slave.

Now, you might say like the Pharisees did to Jesus, what do you mean a slave? We've never been slaves to anyone. No. But we were born slaves to sin. We were born in bondage to sin and to Satan.

Destined it would seem to live a life in bondage to sin followed by an eternity of suffering in hell. That would have been our end if it weren't for who? If it weren't for Jesus Christ. If it weren't for Christ, we would indeed have been without hope. If it weren't for his sacrifice, we would have met our just end.

Because we are sinners but God who is rich in mercy has delivered us through Jesus Christ our Lord. The same and like manner as he delivered Caleb in Israel by the hand of Moses out of Egypt. But whereas their delivery was temporal. Our delivery is what? Eternal.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans six seventeen beginning in verse 17 says, but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin. That word servants could be translated slaves but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which has what? Which has delivered you. What doctrine is that?

That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through faith in the gospel, we have been delivered. For Paul says, for I'm not ashamed gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto what? Salvation. The Jew first and also to the Greek.

That word salvation for it is the power of God unto salvation. That word salvation could also be translated what? Deliverance. Deliverance. God has delivered us by his power, the power of the gospel, being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Praise God for Jesus, our savior, who came, he gave his self on the cross, he conquered death and hell and rose from the grave, and he has given us new life in him. He has delivered us from bondage to sin. Even even greater than the deliverance Israel experienced at the hand by the hand of Moses at the Red Sea. We are now therefore a new creation in Jesus Christ with a new life in Christ, our Lord ahead of us.

As children of who? As children of God and servants of righteousness. God overcame that obstacle for us and if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you have been what? Delivered from the bondage of sin and hell. Your eternity has been changed.

Praise the Lord and I hope that is your case today. If it is not, it can be. For as God delivered Caleb and Israel out of slavery, he can deliver you out of the penalty of sin. Now, let's look at the second obstacle. So, Caleb now has been delivered.

They left Egypt. They went to Mount Sinai. They were given the 10 commandments, the Mosaic Covenant. There, they, from there, they left to go to the promised land. And what is Caleb's second obstacle?

Unbelief. Unbelief. Not his unbelief but the unbelief of others around him. Now, Caleb was faithful. Caleb was faithful but not so for most of his generation.

Look if you would in numbers chapter 13. Numbers 13 beginning in verse one and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone, a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All those men were heads of the children of Israel. He sent the head of each tribe into the land of Canaan to search out, to survey the land before they went in to conquer it.

It wasn't really to determine whether they were going in because God had already told them, I have given you the what? The land, okay? That was not to be the purpose. The purpose was to survey the land before they went in to conquer. One of the 12 that went in was Caleb.

Verse six, of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. So, the 12 went in. Two came back and said, let's do it. 10 came back and said, let's don't. We we've we've seen the people that live there.

The they're giants. We've seen the walls of their cities. They're impenetrable. Oh, we've seen their chariots and their weapons of war and they are insurmountable. There's no way we can take this land.

We'll all be slaughtered. But not Caleb. And not Joshua. In verse 30, it says and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it. For we are well able to overcome it.

But the man that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And unfortunately, the crowd all sided with the 10. And Joshua and Caleb and Moses and Aaron were left in the minority. But that did not change Caleb's decision. The crowd did not alter his perception.

The crowd did not affect his faith. He stood firm on his conviction. Oh, how we need faithful people today who will be unaffected by the sneers or by the mockings or by the decisions of the crowd. To stand for the Lord, to stand for what is right, to be people of conviction, full of faith, and faithful. If you look in chapter 14 verse five, fourteen verse five, then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel and Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which robbed them that searched the land, rent their clothes, and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying, the land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land.

If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into the land and give it us. A land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not you against the Lord. Neither fear you the people of the land for they are bread for us. Their defense is departed from them and the Lord is with us.

Fear them not. But all the congregation begged stone them with stones and the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the people. So, Moses stood up and and and Aaron and and Caleb and and they said, please don't do this. They they're bread for God. They they they will crumble before our God and how true that was.

Years later, when they came back under Joshua and they came to the walls of Jericho, what happened to the walls? They crumbled like you take an old stale piece of bread and just crumble it up. That's what happened to the walls of Jericho before the might of almighty God. They were no match for God. Caleb knew that.

Joshua knew that. Moses and Aaron knew that but the people, the people rebelled. But Caleb stood firm. Faithful to Moses and Aaron, his God appointed leaders. Faithful to God because he was a man full of what?

Full of faith. Faithful to God because he was a man full of faith in his God. He was not we can't do it person. He was a god can. God can.

God can. He didn't say I can. He didn't say we can. He said, who can? God can.

We need to be that kind of person that says, God can. Not I can't. I remember in high school and beginning of college, when I felt God calling in the ministry again and again, week after week, month after month telling God, I can't, I can't, I can't, and it took two years in college and a miserable semester for God to get hold of my heart and say, I understand. I know you can't. I'm not asking you to do it.

I'm asking you to let me do it. And we need to learn to be people that say, God can. Philippians four thirteen, I can do what? All things through Christ who strengthens me. That verse wasn't wasn't written yet.

When Caleb stood against the people for the Lord but that was his attitude. We can do all things through Christ, through God who strengthens us. God can save souls today. Can he? Yes, he can.

God can give victory over sin in your life. Can he? Yes, he can. God can enable you to do what he has asked you to do. God can.

God can give you peace and joy in the midst of suffering. Yes, he can. God can bring healing. Yes, he can. God can do anything God chooses to do.

God is a god who hears and answers prayers. God is a god who will never leave us nor forsake us. Yes, God can. And that should be our motto. Like that of Caleb's.

God can do it. It's a matter of faith. Matthew seventeen twenty. Jesus said unto them, his disciples, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed. See, here is a grain of mustard seed.

Everybody see it? Okay. No. Actually, I don't have a grain of a mustard seed there but if I did, you still would not be able to what? See it because that's how small it is.

When you put it in between your fingers, it disappears, okay? Because it's this little tiny seed. Jesus said, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Caleb was a man full of faith and as we will see, a man who moved a what? A mountain.

For the Lord. And we can too There are many mountains, many obstacles that we face in life. Our God is able to move them if we will want. If we will trust in him. Thus, he was also a man of courage.

A man of courage because he wasn't standing what? He wasn't standing alone. David was a young man of courage when he stood by before Goliath. How did he get that courage? Because he knew he wasn't standing alone.

The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, and others, Moses were men of courage because they knew they weren't standing alone. And we're not either. As long as we are standing for God, we can be assured that God will what? Will stand with us. Thus, Paul tells Timothy, think I have it here.

Let's see. Second Timothy one seven, for God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind And that is what kept Caleb courageous and looking forward when everybody else was afraid and looking what? And looking back. And that is the kind of person we can be also. So, God promised his faithful servant.

He would return to the land and a piece of the land which he personally surveyed on his journey would be his own. Look if you would in chapter 14 and verse 24. Turn if you would. Chapter 14 verse 24. God says, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, the spirit of faith, hath followed me fully.

Him will I bring into the land where unto he went and his seed shall what? His seed shall possess it. God said, everybody else under the age under a certain age would pass in the wilderness. Over a certain age would pass in the wilderness, would pass away except for who? Except for Joshua and except for Caleb.

They were in the age group that should not have lived. But God made exceptions to those men because they were men of faith. Because they wholly trusted in the Lord and he said to Caleb, I'm gonna give you that area that you surveyed. It will be yours for your possession when we come into the land which brings us to the third obstacle. First obstacle was slavery.

Second obstacle, the unbelief of others. Third obstacle, time and suffering. So, here we see Caleb, the patient. We see Caleb, the faithful, standing against the crowd, a crowd by the way of hundreds of thousands or millions and now we see Caleb the patient. Despite his obedience, Caleb was still forced to wander with the miserable and rebellious nation for how long?

Forty years. For forty years, Caleb and Joshua had to travel with this group of complainers and murmurs as they died one by one by one by one. Forty years, he buried their dead. There were nearly 2,000,000 people in Israel. Probably nearly half of them died in the wilderness.

In forty years, that's a lot of bodies to bury. Forty years, he moved from place to place as God set them here for a few days or weeks and then moved them here and moved them there and moved them there. Forty years, he endured their murmurings. Forty years, he waited and remained what? Faithful to the Lord.

Good things come to them that wait and so wait he did and suffer he did. Along with the people who caused him to endure the wait. You see, they were supposed to go into the land the first time. They were not supposed to wait. They weren't supposed to wander and they weren't supposed to die.

They were supposed to go in and conquer. But they didn't. And now, Caleb and Joshua have to suffer with everybody else and wait forty more years. Is that a long time to wait? Seems like a bit of a long time to wait to me.

As especially as you're seeing the decades of life go by, 50, 60, 70, 80, 80 years old now, Caleb is. You know, we often suffer due to the wickedness, the foolishness, and the poor choices of others. We often suffer because of our own choices but sometimes, we also suffer because of the choices of others. It is a fact of life. It could be our parents.

It could be those whom we call friends. It could be a spouse. It could be children. It could be an employer. It could be somebody who was driving a car drunk and crashed into ours.

It could be a thief who stole something precious to us. There are many people who bring pain and suffering and trials into our life. These things unfortunately in a sinful world are part of life. We must not give in to the temptation to quit and blame them. They may have very well been wrong.

They may have very well brought us suffering but we must not quit and excuse it because of them. Caleb could certainly have thrown in the towel and said, I'm not leading anymore. I'm not dealing with it anymore. I'm tired of it. I'm sick of it.

Why should I have to suffer with all these people? But it seems as though he didn't. He didn't quit. We must not be tempted to quit as many do. We must carry on.

We must draw close to who? We must draw close to Lord. When we are going through times of trial and suffering, whether they were brought into our life by our own doing or the doings of others, the answer is not to throw up our hands and give up. The answer is not to take vengeance and revenge. The answer is to do what?

The answer is to draw close to the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall what? Direct thy path.

Thy thy path may be obscured. Thy path may not be easy but God says, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a prize awaiting you. If you will just what? Trust me.

Trust me. Hang on. Stay true to your God. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. All things work together for good to them that love the Lord.

If you will hang on, God will bring something to your benefit out of the worst of situations. You just have to learn to be patient. Choose not to live as a victim but as a victor in Christ Jesus. That's what Caleb did. Sometimes, the blessings of God come at the end of the journey but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah forty thirty one. We must learn to wait and be faithful and keep looking forward to the prize awaiting us.

Philippians three thirteen and fourteen again. Say, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before. I press for the mark of the for the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says, I'm looking forward. There's a lot of reasons Paul had to look back.

He said, those are behind me. I'm choosing to look forward. Galatians six nine says, and let us not be weary in well doing for in due season, we shall what? Reap if we faint not. The prize, the treasures we lay up in heaven, the blessings of God, they're there.

We'll reap them. But we can't be discouraged, and we can't grow weary, and we can't quit. We need to be like who? We need to be like Caleb. We need to be people of patience.

Endure. Four, joy comes in the morning. It was a long night for Caleb. Forty years in the wilderness but the morning came. The morning came and Israel crossed over Jordan and they went into the land and they conquered Jericho and they conquered the land as God had said they would do.

And that brings us to the fourth obstacle and that would be giants. Giants. And here we see Caleb the mighty victor. After forty years of waiting, Caleb hasn't lost his zeal nor his faith in God. Turn if you would to Joshua 14.

Joshua 14. We're gonna read verses six through 14. Joshua fourteen six to 14. Now, Israel's in the land. The land has been conquered and now Caleb is coming to Joshua and he has a request.

Can you imagine what the request might be? Chapter 14 and beginning in verse six. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite, said unto him, to Joshua, thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea. 40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.

And Moses swear on that day saying, surely the land whereon thy foot have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as he said, these forty and five years. Even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Now, low, I am this day fourscore and five years old. That's 85.

And as yet, I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there and that cities were great and fenced, if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. Now, Caleb said to Joshua, requested of Joshua, give me the land that God promised me. God has sustained my strength so that I can go take it. Now, he's he probably didn't mean all by himself.

He had others with him that were going to help him. But most importantly, he said, if the Lord, he said, if you look in verse 12 again, he said, if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able. Even though he felt strong and able and he had others with him, the important thing was whether who was with him was whether God was with him and he was sure seeing that God had promised him that land that God would be with him. You know, God has promised us who are children of God many things and we can be assured that God is also with who? With us.

Especially, if we are wholly devoted to him. So he had this this promise, this confidence in his God. And so he requested humbly of Joshua to give him the land and Joshua did and he took it and he conquered the giants and he cast them out and it became the inheritance of Caleb and of his kin. The name was changed from Kirjath Arba to Hebron. In Hebron is kind of a special place.

Hebron was one of the first places Abraham came to when he entered the land and he there built an altar and made a pledge of allegiance to God who had promised to give him all of the land. That was this same area. It's the same area where Sarah died and was buried along with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and where Joseph would finally be laid as they brought his bones back from Egypt as he requested. It is a place where the 12 spies checked out the land particularly Caleb and they cowered in fear before the Anakims but Caleb only saw the promises of God and it would be the place where David would be crowned king of Judah and seven years later, crowned king of all Israel. That would also take place in Hebron.

As David also was a descendant of Judah as Caleb was. Caleb was eager to take on the feared Anakin at the age of what? eighty five. But despite his eagerness, he still submitted himself to his leader. He still made request.

He still did it the right way and we always need to do it the right way. Humbly, trusting our God and doing it his way. When we do it his way, then we will win. He wanted his mountain. He wanted to conquer his mountain.

Don't give up on your mountain. And if you have it licked, look for another. Because God is able and God can. We have mountains. Don't let the mountain lick you.

Let God defeat the mountain in your life. At the age of 85, Caleb conquered his that he had waited a long time to conquer. You may have been waiting a long time to see your goal reached or to conquer something in your life that has been standing in your path. Don't get discouraged and quit. Trust God and move on.

And Caleb inspired others to reach new heights for the Lord. The first one of the judges in the book of Judges is the nephew of Caleb. His name was Othniel. Caleb inspired Othniel to go conquer another city and to do many other great exploits for the Lord. It was Caleb's encouragement that helped to give this strength and confidence to his nephew, Caleb, to his nephew Othniel and we can do the same.

Good leaders and elders inspire others to conquer and to endure by their faithfulness, trusting God, and optimism. You can be the one to inspire somebody else because trust me, somebody else is watching you. And you can be the one to inspire them. Be that Caleb. And then finally, Caleb's real strength resided in his spiritual fortitude.

Let's look at this as we close. Numbers thirty two twelve, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite, and Joshua, the son of Nun, for they have what? Holy followed the Lord. Deuteronomy one thirty six, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it.

He shall see the land and to him will I give the land that he has trodden upon and to his children because he hath what? Holy followed the Lord. That was also in Joshua chapter 14. Holy followed the Lord. How did he gain the victory?

Because he holy, truly, completely followed, and trusted in the Lord and the Lord honored his what? His faith and he gave him the land that he promised. It wasn't merely by his brute strength. It wasn't the arm of flesh that gave him the victory. It was the power of the Lord and whom he trusted and God can do the same for us.

What is the key? You have to holy what? Follow the Lord. Holy trust in the Lord. So, I don't know about you but I can't begin to count the number of people, many of whom claim to be Christians, some of who may have been Christians that came to me and were defeated people.

And I just everything is no matter what I, it all falls apart and my life is in shambles. I talk, I talk to these people like that every week in our parking lot who live homeless on the street. And there are many different stories and many different reasons that they are in the plight that they're in. But so many of them have given up on God and they've given up on life and they are defeated people. And I don't know their story But I know for many of them and many Christians I have talked to.

We are defeated and we're not seeing success and we're not reaping the blessings of God. Why? That last phrase matters, folks. Holy followed the Lord. The Lord wants to bless you.

But we need to commit ourselves to his service. We need to wholly follow him in our life. And if we do, he will keep us. He will bless us. He will give you the victory.

As he did, Caleb. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For the inspiration of this man and how Lord that he conquered the mountain and a people too great for he himself. But he did it because he trusted in his God.

He did it because he wholly followed his God because he was a man of faith that made him a man of courage and a man of patience and Lord you sustained him and Lord, you gave him the victory. Lord, there may be some here today that are are have mountains and obstacles and battles in their life of which I am completely unaware but Lord, you are aware and Lord, I pray that you would give them the faith to trust you, to have confidence in you. Lord, that you will give them that mountain, that you will give them victory, that you will give them grace and strength, That we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and that you might make in us a Caleb. And I pray Lord if there be one here that's never trusted in you as savior. Who needs deliverance from sin and hell?

That they might trust you today. They might come as we sing this hymn of invitation. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.