A Spiritual Mountaineer

Well, this morning I want to continue our worship service by getting to God's Word and preaching His Word.

! Now, some of you are expecting me to tell you to turn to 1 Peter. I finished the Great I Am statements, and so we took a little hiatus away from our preaching through 1 Peter.

So you're expecting to get there, aren't you? Well, we're not going to go there today. The story is told of John Calvin. I don't know what all the humor is, Becky. It's pretty funny, in a way.

Anyway, the story is told about John Calvin, and John Calvin, as several other of the Reformers, were quite committed to what is called sequential exposition, that is, preaching through books of the Bible.

And you're probably wondering if your pastor is committed to the same thing. The story is told about John Calvin, that he was preaching through a book of the Bible. And then the city council of Geneva saw fit to exile Calvin from the city, and he was exiled for some three years.

When he was allowed to come back in and allowed to stand in his pulpit once again, where did he go but where he left off in the particular book he was preaching?

He just had a three-year hiatus from it, and then he just took up right where he left off. Now, I'm not going to wait three years to get back to 1 Peter, but I am going to do something a little different this morning.

And we'll get back to 1 Peter after Christmas, okay? Now, come back tonight because I want to share with you a little bit about the upcoming preaching schedule.

I'm not going to take the time to do that this morning. But I want you to come back tonight, and I'll share that with you. It will be a matter of prayer as well, so please do that tonight, and I'll explain tonight.

But this morning, I want you to take your Bibles and find the Old Testament book of Joshua. Joshua, and you can turn to the 14th chapter of the book of Joshua, one of my favorite books in the Old Testament.

And I want to introduce you to an exceptional man. Exceptional man.

A very courageous man. I'll mention his name here in just a minute. A strong man. And if you found Joshua chapter 14, and you're looking there instead of at me, then you might have already guessed who the man was or the man is that I'm going to be preaching on this morning.

His name is Caleb. Great man. A courageous man. A strong man. And, by the way, he was a senior adult when he accomplished what we're going to read about here in just a minute.

Is that important? Well, I think it's important in that you might remember that a number of senior adults did some pretty exceptional things in the Bible. Take, for example, Noah.

Noah, that's right. He was a senior adult when he accomplished a tremendous task. He and his sons built the ark. And no small task, by the way.

Build an ark, at least not, you know, at least an ark of the specifications that God had set forth for that big boat. And the precious cargo it would carry.

And guess how old Noah was when he built the ark? He was 600 years old. Now, grant you, he lived another 350 years after the flood was over.

And so he lived 950 years. That's a long time. But by today's standard lifespan, that would be the equivalent of 60 years old today.

And so he was a senior adult. So I'm not stretching it by any means. Some senior adults did some pretty amazing things, didn't they?

And now I know him, but you might also consider Abraham. And certainly you know that Abraham was 99 years old when he fathered his first child and his wife was 90.

That's pretty old, isn't it? I'm sorry. I know we have some 90-year-olds here and very vibrant 90-year-olds. And that's fine. But you would have to agree with me that Abraham was a senior adult.

Now, I grant you, he lived another 75 years after he had that child. But again, by today's lifespan, he was well past the mid-age of his life when he had his first child.

And God did a pretty amazing thing there. And then there was Moses, of course. Moses was in his golden years while he was out there tending some sheep on the backside of the desert.

And God called him to a pretty important task. And he led God's people, Israel, out of Egypt. And so, you know, these people, these men were, you know, some pretty amazing people.

And they did some amazing things in their ripe old age. Now, this is not a message necessarily on senior adults. But I just want to introduce it this way because we now come to Caleb.

Caleb did an amazing thing. Caleb was a mountaineer, a spiritual mountaineer. That is, he's going to represent a spiritual mountaineer for us this morning.

And when he accomplished a pretty amazing thing, he was 85 years old. In his golden years, he was a spiritual mountaineer.

And I'll tell you what I mean by that, or at least that will become apparent to us after we read the text. So, if you have found Joshua chapter 14, I want you to notice as I read, starting with verse 6.

Joshua chapter 14, verse 6. Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, You know the word which the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and me and Kadesh Barnea.

I was 40 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. But I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land where your foot was trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.

And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive. As he said, these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness.

And now, here I am this day, 85 years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me.

Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for going in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day.

For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as an inheritance. Hebron, therefore, became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, to this day because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.

And the name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war. All right, there it is.

There's the story about Caleb, not the entire story, because we're going to read a little bit about him back in Numbers. And we'll also look a little bit further here in Joshua and see something about this land that he conquered.

And so Caleb was 85 years old. And he came to Joshua, and he said, Give me this mountain, the mountain that God had promised to me. Now, before we talk about Caleb, let's understand a little bit about the book of Joshua, the larger context here, or the larger text.

In fact, so large it would take in the entire book of Joshua to understand something about Caleb and what his life might represent for us, might teach us.

Let's understand about Joshua the book. The book itself is a, I would say, a bit of a type or an illustration of something. The entire book, when you take in the entire story, the historical events that took place there, it represents an illustration to us, a type.

And what would that type be? Well, I believe it illustrates the victorious Christian life. That's what you need to get as the application to our lives today as you read the book of Joshua.

The spiritual life, the victorious Christian life. And so Joshua, if you've read the book, and I'm sure most of you have, Joshua, the book documents for us Israel's possessing of the land of promise, Canaan land.

Because, you know, as the story goes, and you know the history, Joshua led God's people across the river Jordan. Of course, it was a miraculous crossing.

But they crossed over Jordan, and they possessed their promised land, the Canaan land. Now, the question is, what does this side of, this other side of Jordan represent for us?

That is, what does the Canaan land represent? What is it symbolic of? Well, some have concluded that it is symbolic of heaven. That we can make a connection there spiritually.

That Canaan land represents heaven for the Christians. But I do not believe that's the case. I believe, rather, Canaan represents the Spirit-filled life.

The Spirit-filled, Spirit-possessed, victorious life for the believer.

Egypt represents lostness in the bondage of sin. Their deliverance, of course, represents salvation. And the wilderness, the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, that would, I think, very clearly represent broken fellowship with God.

Because of their disobedience, which, by the way, does not have to be the Christian's experience. And then, therefore, Canaan represents victory. Spiritual victory. Living in victory.

Spiritual victory represents the Spirit-filled life. And so, the book of Joshua is all about possessing Canaan land. Canaan represents victorious, the victorious Christian life.

And Joshua, while he represents the Lord Jesus Christ, of course. In fact, I think very clearly, Joshua is a type of Christ.

An Old Testament type. The very name Joshua is the Hebrew counterpart to the Greek name for Jesus. Same name.

In fact, Jesus would have been named in his Hebrew name, Yeshua. Joshua. And so, Joshua, you see, led Israel out of the land of, or into, rather, the land of victory.

And Jesus Christ is the one, of course, that leads us into our spiritual land of victory. Spiritual victory. I think it's a very clear type.

The Spirit-filled life. And so, what about Caleb, then? Let's get back to Caleb. What about him? Who does he represent? Well, isn't it clear?

He represents you and me. Or, I might say, he represents what you and I ought to be as Christians.

What every one of us ought to be, and I would also add, can be. Can be as God's children. And, what is that? Spirit-filled.

Spirit-empowered. Victorious, living Christians. That's what every one of us ought to be, and can be.

Conquering our Canaan. Our Canaan land. Possessing our promised possessions in Christ. That are promised to us, and yet, must be conquered.

And so, having said that, it might be a good idea, then, to look at the life of Caleb, don't you think? I mean, if Caleb represents you and me, then maybe we ought to learn something about him. And, see how his life crosses over, or applies, or illustrates, the life, the kind of life, that you and I, as believers, ought to be living.

Pretty simple logic. And so, let's look at several things about Caleb this morning. first of all, let's consider Caleb's character.

His character. What kind of guy was this? This Caleb. Consider his character. Well, let's look at how the Bible defines the character of Caleb.

Look at verse 8, for example. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but, and what does he say about himself? This is a clear definition of his character.

I, wholly, followed the Lord my God. There it is. Wholly, followed the Lord my God. Look to verse 9, the very next verse. So Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because, what?

You have wholly, followed the Lord my God. And skip on over there to verse 14. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, to this day, because he, what?

Wholly, followed the Lord God of Israel. This is incredible. Three times, you see. He's not trying to be redundant here.

This is, this is more than just simply a superlative. We might not write this way, but almost verbatim, three times he repeats it, Caleb was a man who wholly followed the Lord.

That was his character. That is, we might put it in these terms, Caleb was a man who gave God everything he had.

Everything. It's just that simple. That was his character. Now, the question we need to ask ourselves is, could that be said of us?

Each of us. In fact, if we're honest students of God's word and we really desire to hear God speak to us, then that would be our question to our own hearts.

Could that be said of us? That we wholly follow the Lord. Well, let me ask you something. Does God deserve everything you have? Now, think about that.

does God deserve all you have and hope to have and want to have?

Does God deserve all you are? All of it. And all you hope to be and want to be.

Have you given it all to him? That's a simple question. Simple concept. Simple truth.

There's any any deep mystery about this. This is what God expects of us. He wants us to wholly follow him. Each of us individually.

As his as his children. To wholly follow him. It ought to be said of us. Now, half-hearted Christians. Half-hearted Christians will never, ever fully possess their Canaan land.

Spiritual victory. And we have a perfect case in point or right here in Scripture. We're talking about Joshua leading God's people into the promised land.

Into Canaan land. And he did that. He led them into that land. And for a while, they were conquering it. Did they fully conquer the land of Canaan?

No, they did not. They fell short of that. Didn't quite get all the way there. It had all been promised to them and yet they did not come to the place of full possession of it.

That's another sermon. But it's a case point, isn't it? Because half-hearted Christians or divided-hearted Christians, if we could say it that way, will never ever fully know spiritual victory through the Holy Spirit-filled life.

Because half-hearted Christians are always faint-hearted Christians. Some of you have read the biography of Dwight L. Moody. If you haven't, I recommend it.

He was a great man of God, Dwight L. Moody. And one of the turning points in his ministry happened early on in his life, in his ministry, and it happened during a revival meeting in England.

Dwight L. Moody wasn't the preacher on this particular occasion, but there was an evangelist there by the name of Henry Varley. And Henry Varley was preaching, and one night, while Varley was preaching, he said something that forever changed.

Dwight L. Moody's life. And this is what he said. He said, the world has yet to see what God can do in and through and with and for a man wholly committed to him.

The world has yet to see that. And Dwight L. Moody, when he heard that, he said, by his own testimony, he said, by the grace of God, I will be that man.

I will be that man. And God took Dwight L. Moody, this uncultured, uneducated shoe salesman, and he used Dwight L. Moody to bring a mighty revival and spiritual awakening on two continents on this planet.

And why was it? Because he wholly followed the Lord. mercy. Now, listen to me. God expects you to attend his church, to be faithful in attendance.

Did you know that? In fact, he has commanded it. Do not forsake the assembly. But God is not satisfied with that.

God expects you to tithe. Did you know that? In fact, he has commanded it. Bring the whole tithe into his storehouse.

But God is not satisfied with that. God expects you to serve him. Through his church. Many of you are.

And I'm so grateful. Some of you need to be. But God is not satisfied with that. God will be satisfied with nothing short of total commitment of life to him.

That you and I would wholly, wholly follow him. That's what God wants. That's Caleb's character. Caleb's character.

He wholly followed the Lord. But now, Caleb's character led him to something else. Well, it's difficult to say whether his character led him to this or this led to his character.

But I would say that Caleb's character led to his confidence. So that's the second thing we need to notice. Caleb's confidence. Caleb had a confidence.

We're going to read a little bit about the confidence of Caleb here in a moment. But you cannot read about his life. Whether you go back to those accounts when he was part of the spies that spied out the land and came back and gave that bold report.

He and Joshua. Or whether you read what he says here some 45 years later when he is talking with Joseph. You cannot miss this part of him.

His confidence. confidence. But you might miss what his confidence was in. But it tells us right here.

It's a truth that runs throughout this text in chapter 14. Look at verse 6 for example. Then the children of Judah came to Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know the word which the Lord said.

I'll just stop right there. Skip on down to verse 10. And now behold the Lord has kept me alive as he said.

These 40 years. Ever since the Lord spoke his word. Now we'll stop right there. Skip on over to verse 12.

Now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. Do you get it? In what was Caleb's confidence?

In the Lord, yes. But specifically what he had said. In the word of God. You see Caleb was a mountaineer.

About to be. Caleb had a mountain to conquer. Not just to climb but to conquer. And God had had promised that mountain to him.

That's what he's referring to here. God promised it. God had given him that mountain. And so it's clear that as Caleb, we're going to read about it in chapter 15.

As Caleb marched up the side of the mountain with a sword in his hand, he had a great confidence. Why? Because he had the title deed in his pocket already. Because God had promised it to him.

It was his. He had to conquer it, yes. But he had a great confidence that he would indeed conquer that mountain God had given to him. Because God had said so.

God had promised the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Bible says for God himself has said so we may boldly say.

We can't boldly say until God has said. But God himself has said and so we may boldly say. And that was Caleb all over. And it ought to be us as well.

So. The point is we had better take God's word. And soak our lives in it. Shouldn't we?

God to saturate ourselves, our minds, our lives with it. Read it. Yes. Learn it. Know it.

Live it. Trust it. God has said. So that we can at every juncture in life be able to say with confidence God has said.

God has said. Now the crucial question of course is do we know what God has said? You got to come back to that. Because we can get all wrapped up in the energy of this.

Yes. God has said. Do you know what he has said? We need to saturate ourselves in the word of God. Know it.

So that we can live it and trust it. And so Caleb was a great man of God wasn't he? Because Caleb believed the word of God and he believed the word of God because his heart was pure.

He wholly followed the Lord. And so let's move on from there and get the flow and logic of this. Caleb's character, he wholly followed the Lord, led to Caleb's confidence.

He believed the word of God. And that led him to something else. Something else that you and I very much need. And that's Caleb's courage.

His courage. You can't escape this reality when you consider Caleb's life.

He was a courageous man. Very bold. Very, very brave. He was very courageous. Now, the area of land that God had promised him.

What about that land? It was a mountain, a mountainous region of the promised land. It was Mount Hebron. And Mount Hebron was promised to him.

And it was a land that was rich and fruitful. As a matter of fact, if you go back and study the journey of the twelve, the spies into the land, you'll discover, you know, you remember they came back with big clusters of grapes, so heavy that they could barely be carried.

In fact, the rods, the sticks they were carrying along were breaking because of their weight. And we remember that. Of course, we think and know the Bible speaks of Canaan, the promised land, as a land flowing with milk and honey, very fruitful land.

Well, it was this region, Mount Horeb, where these grapes came from. Very rich, very fertile, very fruitful land.

Great thing to be promised, right? There's just one problem. it was inhabited by a clan of giants.

Not just simply, you know, abnormally large people. These were really giants, real giants. The sons of Anak, the Bible says.

Goliath was a descendant of the sons of Anak. We know how tall he was, right? Nine feet. That's a giant. I mean, that's a real life giant.

And so, this land that God had promised Caleb was inhabited by these giants, the sons of Anak. And so, before the land could be his, what did Caleb have to do?

He had to drive out the giants. He had to conquer the giants, didn't he? That's what Caleb had to do. He had to conquer the land that was his. Same thing the children of Israel had to do with the entire land of Canaan.

That was the mandate. It's yours, I promised it to you, but you must go in and conquer it. And that's what Caleb had to do. Now, see, we're making a spiritual connection here that I think is very valid.

That this Canaan land, this promised land, signifies the spirit-filled, victorious, Christian life. And if you and I are looking for an easy way, some kind of shortcut, some kind of lazy way, some kind of let go and let God kind of way to experience spiritual victory, then you can just forget it.

It just doesn't work that way. God hasn't designed it that way. That doesn't mean that we go forward in our own strength and that somehow it's up to us. We'll get to that in a little bit.

But the point is, we must conquer that land. And Caleb, you see, had some opposition, didn't he? I think giants would qualify as bona fide opposition.

And we know about Goliath, don't we? He was not only a giant, but he was a warrior, and these were warring people. I think we can assume that these giants were warrior kind of people, and they were nine feet tall, at least, some of them were.

That qualifies as some opposition. We also have opposition, don't we? Not going to be what you think.

Someone has said that the door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition. opposition. I think it's a pretty wise state. By the way, that goes for a church as well, doesn't it?

That is God's people in a collective sense. It did for Israel, it does for us today. I mean, we can say, I believe wholeheartedly, that we can say like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, 9, for a great and effective door has opened to me or to us.

And yet we also must say what he said next. He says, and there are many adversaries. And there are. So, let's just look at the opposition Caleb faced.

first of all, this may seem odd, but Caleb had to overcome grasshoppers to begin with. He had to overcome grasshoppers.

Look there at verse 7 again in our text in Joshua 14. Caleb said, I was 40 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. And of course he brought back a very bold report. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt.

Made the heart of the people melt. Now, how did they make the heart of the people melt? Well, now let's turn over to Numbers chapter 13.

Turn back to it. Numbers chapter 13, just a few chapters back. And listen as I read verse 30 and following.

This is after the report, after the spies had come back from the land. And of course, Joshua and Caleb gave a very courageous report, confident report, confident in the Lord.

And so verse 30 says, then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession. We are well able to 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 stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants.

And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants. The descendants of Anak came from the giants.

And we were, now notice what they said here, we were grasshoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their sight.

that is such a revealing statement, isn't it? I mean, every word of it. Like grasshoppers, that's who we are, in our own sight.

And so we were in their sight. You see, the problem with the people, these ten spies that gave a bad report, the report, by the way, that the majority of God's people believed.

The problem with these people was they had a grasshopper complex, didn't they? A lot of Christians today have the same complex.

things. And they say, you know, this victorious Christian life, it's a great concept, too bad nobody can live it.

Or, in some such way, people think. Great thing, great ideal, people. But nobody's able to do it.

And our problem is, we see ourselves as grasshoppers. We really do. Because there are too many giants in that land of spiritual victory.

Too much opposition to it. Nobody could ever live there. And, you know, to make another application to the church, or to kind of a collective application, before a church, really, can do anything great for the Lord, the church has to overcome a grasshopper complex.

Too many giants out there. Sometimes it's the giants of the past that are still kicking around. We need to kick them out. And other giants that we face, in fact, the biggest giants we face, are really in here.

We'll see that in just a moment. It's a grasshopper complex. So, Caleb first had to overcome the grasshoppers. And then, secondly, he had to overcome the giants.

I mean, there were giants. I mean, real live giants. He had to overcome the giants. Look at verse 12 in our text again. Now, therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day.

For you heard in that day, how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

The Anakim. That's a rather interesting word, isn't it? Well, I already said that these giants were the descendants of Anak, and they were the Anakims, or Anakims.

And what were they? I mean, what are Anakims? Well, it's not what you take for a headache. That's a bad joke. Anakims were giants, of course.

Real giants, like Goliath, had descended of the Anakims, nine feet tall. But here's the point I want to make. Caleb was not at all worried about those giants, was he?

Matter of fact, he was excited about them. We might today say he was pumped at the thought of going against these giants, these nine foot giants.

And I guess we might assume that some of them might have been taller than Goliath. Who knows? Some shorter, some taller, but on the average, they were real life giants.

And Caleb was not worried about those giants. He was excited about them. And that's true, based upon Numbers 14 verse 8.

Now you've got to listen to this. Numbers 14 verse 8, if the Lord, and this is Caleb, actually it's Joshua and Caleb giving this report, so we don't technically know who's speaking, but they were both of this opinion.

If the Lord delights in us, talking about going into the land, conquering that land, if the Lord delights in us, if He is gracious, 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, nor fear the people of the land, specifically those giants, for they are our bread. Isn't that an interesting expression?

They are our bread. That's the way Caleb felt about it. They are our bread. It's amazing what a man Caleb was. They are just bread.

Those giants, they are just bread for us to eat. Somebody pass the peanut butter and jelly. We are just going to eat them up. That's how he felt about these giants.

Quite a different report of a different perspective on things than the balance of the spies. I say Caleb was ready to go.

people. And here, some 45 years later, he's speaking to Joshua and he's still just as ready to go against these giants. They're just bread to us.

But let's learn a spiritual lesson here. These giants, the opposition, Caleb said they're like bread. Now bread is food, isn't it?

Let's just reason this out. Bread is food and food serves as nourishment right to the body. And so the nourishment produces growth, strength, it produces health.

And so what is Caleb saying here? Pretty clear, isn't it? I think he's saying that God did not place these giants here to defeat us.

He placed them here to grow us. just like bread does. We're going to eat them up. The opposition. God allows the opposition and places the opposition there for us to face so that we will grow, make us grow, and to strengthen us, and to give us opportunities to rely upon him.

See, that's the purpose of the giant. What an example of courage for us. Caleb said give me this mountain. it. And he sat down at the table and said, pass the anicum plate.

Breakfast of champions. Remember the Wheaties commercials years ago? Some of you don't. By the way, how small or big things look to us depends upon our perspective.

that is, from what angle we're looking. I heard about a lady who was about to take her first trip on an airplane.

She'd never flown before, and so she got on the airplane, she requested to sit right by the window, because she'd never flown before, she wanted to experience it, and so there she is looking out the window, and she looks down and she says, it's true, people look just like ants, she said.

And she said to the flight attendant, they look just like ants. The flight attendant said, those are ants, we haven't taken off yet, okay? And so it depends on your vantage point, doesn't it?

As to how tall the giants are, and so what we need to do is stop looking up, up to the opposition, from that perspective, whether it's past opposition, that we can't seem to get out of our thinking, or whether it's current oppositions we face, or suspected opposition, or feared opposition in the future, for our lives, or for our lives collectively as a church, when you stop looking up at them, and looking down to them, that is looking down to them from God's perspective, because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

Remember, Caleb's confidence in what God has said, and that's what God has said. But then old Caleb had to overcome something else, and I'll just mention this in passing.

Caleb had to overcome gray hairs. Well, look at verse 10 here in chapter 14. Caleb said, And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these 45 years, ever since the Lord spoke His word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, here I am this day, 85 years old, as yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me.

Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. you see, Caleb had overcome gray hairs.

We somehow reached the point where in our age where we either think we're not good for anything anymore, which is a lie, or we think what we have is not good enough, I'm not strong enough to do anything for the Lord anymore, and so I'll just kind of step aside, sit back, and let the younger people take over and do things.

He had to overcome gray hairs, and many of us have to as well. By the way, you don't have to be really old to have that problem. I started seeing the gray hairs at around the 40 mark, maybe even earlier.

And we start to think that we're just not able to do anymore, and it's just not right. Let me tell you one last thing about Caleb. Caleb was also a man of conquest.

Let's consider Caleb's conquest, his conquest. Now put all these together. Caleb's character, he wholly followed the Lord, led to Caleb's confidence.

He knew and believed in God's word. And Caleb's confidence led to Caleb's courage, and he said, give me that mountain. And finally, Caleb's courage led him to his conquest.

His conquest. And what was Caleb's conquest? conquest. It was Hebron. Hebron. Mount Hebron. That region around that mountain.

You know what the word Hebron means? You probably don't. In the Hebrew, it means fellowship. Isn't that interesting?

I think we can make an application there. I wouldn't say that Scripture is intending to be symbolic of anything here, but we can apply something here.

Hebron means fellowship. That was the name of the land that God had promised Caleb. Fellowship.

Caleb wanted that fellowship. Fellowship. Isn't that what you want? Fellowship with Jehovah God?

And do you know how much of that land, Hebron, God promised to Caleb? You know how much of it?

Well, just all of it. All of it. And we might make an application here, not just fellowship, but fullness. Fullness of fellowship with God, the presence of God.

We're describing this spirit-filled life. Oneness of fellowship with God and the fullness of it.

And do you know what Hebron was known for? I've already told you this. It was known for its fruitfulness. It was a fertile land.

Isn't that what you want? You apply that to the Christian life, the spirit-filled life, fellowship, a mountain of fellowship with God, a mountain of fullness, the fullness of God, that is full fellowship in His presence, and a mountain of fruitfulness from God.

Wouldn't you like to be there and live there? Surely you would. Well, you can't. Because God has promised it to you, to all of His children.

But you have to possess it. It's yours, yes, but you have to possess it. This kind of mountaintop has to be conquered daily.

And how do we do that? Well, we do it by conquering three giants that oppose us.

I want you to look a little bit further in Joshua, chapter 15, and verse 14. I'll start with verse 13.

Now to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he gave a share among the children of Judah according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, Kerjath Arba, which is Hebron.

Arba was the father of Anak. Verse 14, Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there, Shishai, Ahimon, and Ptolemai, the children of Anak.

What about those three giants? Someone has done a study on the meaning of the names, these three names, and have discovered an interesting parallel.

Shishai means I am noble. And so it represents who I am.

and applies to the giant of ego who I am. Now listen to this.

Ahimon, the name Ahimon means I am a gift or what I am. So you have Shishai, who I am, signifying the giant of ego.

you have a hymen, a gift, what I am, paralleling the giant of pride. And then Ptolemai means to furrow.

It's an agricultural term. And signifies what I can do. Kind of interesting if you make an application here.

Does that not identify the three giants we face in our life? You have the giant of ego, who I am, the giant of pride, what I can do, and the giant of self-reliance, or the giant of pride, what I am, and the giant of self-reliance, what I can do.

Who I am, what I am, what I can do. Ego, pride, self-reliance, those are the three giants before we face any other giants externally.

Those are the three giants we face every day. Ego, pride, and self-reliance. There is a land of spiritual victory promised to every born-again believer.

there really is. And there is a way to provide for us, a way provided for us to live a life on the mountaintop of fellowship with God, the fullness of God's presence, and the fruitfulness from God.

but to have that mountain become a reality, to possess it, you and I must come to the place where we say, God, I cannot do it.

I cannot. We defeat who we are, what we are, what we think we can do. God, I cannot do it.

But God, you can. you can. I trust you. Give me that mount. The End