I WANT THAT MOUNTAIN

Joshua 14:6-12 (KJV)

Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.

Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea 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 sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, 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: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, 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 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 the LORD said.

The Hebrew name, Caleb, means something like "to bark" or "to attack" as a dog would. 

I think boldness is a pretty fair implication from it.

Certainly, Caleb was a bold man.

A quality that the early Christian asked God to give them,

Acts 4:29-31 (KJV)

And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

I am led to tell you then that a sign of spirituality is boldness.

I. CALEB SPOKE BOLDLY

Numbers 13:17-30 (KJV)

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:

And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;

And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

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.

Of the twelve men sent to spy out Canaan, Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people that they should obey God and enter the Promised Land.

But this passages says that it was Caleb who voiced their faith in God.

Being one who speaks publicly on a regular basis, I see at least three elements of boldness in Caleb’s speech:

A. The boldness to speak out in a large crowd

Almost everyone in this room can identify to some degree with this.

You may be one who has had opportunity to speak publicly.

·   Maybe you have given a presentation at work

·   Maybe you have given a testimony at church or

·   Maybe you have spoken at a popcorn preaching service or at one of the ladies’ conferences

You know that this is tough work.

It might be that your experience is from the other end of the scale and you have never spoken publicly because you are just too shy to do it.

Either way, most everyone in this room knows that it is no easy task to stand in front of a group and speak.

When we were at the men’s retreat I had a conversation with a very good friend of mine.

He’s a pastor in Oregon. I sat on his ordination council. We’ve been friends I guess 25 years.

We were having a typical conversation these days – about the effects of the years that are wearing on us.

I asked him if he did any sort of regular exercise routine and he said that he has been going to a gym every weekday for the last ten years.

·   He said that the membership was originally a gift from his wife.

·   He explained that for the first ten or more years of his ministry he would come home from church after preaching with so much pain in his legs he could barely stand.

·   His wife suspected that it was stress and bought him the membership to help him work it off.

·   He got so nervous when he preached that he would clinch up his legs so tightly that he had worn them out by the time he was through with the message.

Public speaking is not easy work.

But then add to that

B. The boldness to speak out in opposition to the majority

It’s hard enough to speak up in public.

It is that much harder to speak out when the majority in the crowd feels differently than you do.

Notice that Caleb got the platform AFTER the others had already voiced their sentiment, “Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.”

God told Jeremiah not to look at the faces of those stiffnecked hard hearted Jews as he preached to them.

I’ve preached to people whose expression was of absolute anger over what I am preaching.

When I first started preaching there was a lady who would

·   gasp,

·   cover eyes and

·   shake her head

at the things I preached.

Once a family visited our church for the first time and sat right on the front row.

·   I had not gotten very far into my message when his face turned red and his eyes began to bulge.

·   His wife, sensing his rage, began to softly massage his neck while they sat there until after I was finished preaching.

They left in a hurry!

I’ve been preaching before when, someone I know who doesn’t come to church much but who I knew would get mad at a certain thing I was about to preach walked into the church.

I have this immediate debate in my soul –

·   Do I preach what I believe God gave me to preach? Or

·   Do I skip that part of the message that will make this guy so mad?

What Caleb did took boldness beyond boldness.

He spoke AND he spoke in opposition to the majority opinion.

Further Caleb displayed

C. The boldness to speak out in favor of God’s Word

For most of us it is much easier to talk about

·   Work

·   Sports

·   Children

·   Philosophical subjects and even

·   Politics

Some people don’t even mind talking about religion.

But when it comes to actually talking about the Bible,

·   Our throat constricts,

·   Our diaphragm paralyzes and

·   Our voice gets squeaky

I think there is a reason for that – one person’s opinion is just as good as another person’s opinion.

As long as we are talking about opinions, everyone is on even soil.

But the Bible is different.

·   It is authoritative

·   It is supernatural

·   It has eternal consequences

And whenever we pull out the Bible a spiritual battle ensues.

Satan hates it and he gets aggressive about shutting it up.

Caleb spoke boldly

Secondly,

II. CALEB LIVED BOLDLY

Joshua 14:6-12 (KJV)

Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.

Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea 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 sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, 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: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, 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 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 the LORD said.

We have now fast forwarded forty-five years since that day when Caleb spoke up and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”

A lot of living has gone on since then.

More specifically, a lot of dying.

Every single adult, 20 years old and over, that was alive when Joshua and Caleb came back from spying Canaan, including Moses and Aaron, has died by now.

They have witnessed millions of funerals

But they have also seen God:

·   Give them water from the rock

·   Give them victory over enemies

·   Give them Joshua as their new leader

·   Give them dry ground to cross over Jordan

·   Give them a clear path into Jericho and

·   Give them possession of the Promised Land

Caleb is eighty-five years old

But he is not about the quit living!

Forty-five years earlier he had set his eyes on a piece of property and he had not given up on getting it.

We can rationalize this any way we want to;

Caleb wasn’t any healthier than a senior citizen in our day has the potential to be.

He was more vigorous and full of life at 85 than most people are at 55 these days, because he chose to be.

I read an article this week in the AARP[1] magazine, about President George W Bush.

No matter what may be a person’s opinion of his politics, I can’t help but like the guy.

After his second term as President he stepped out of politics and spends much of his time now painting portraits of the soldiers who were wounded in the war he led our country into.

The article is a question and answer style so the author asks President Bush, “At 70, you remain vigorous and busy. What advice would you give our audience?”

Bush responds, “ Life should be lived to the fullest. The problem with taking it easy is that it sounds attractive at first, until you get into a routine of doing nothing. You don’t expand your mind or help anyone else. Life’s final chapters should be just as full as the initial chapters.”

When I first began pastoring there was a preacher in Oregon named Morris Wilgus.

Brother Wilgus went to Bible College after he retired from the military. He used to say, “I’m not retired. I’m retreaded.”

Beloved, there is no reason to give up – especially on serving the Lord.

We need some men and women with maturity and some years under their belts.

·   With wisdom and

·   With life experience

To step to the plate and say with Caleb, “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…”

Caleb spoke boldly

Caleb lived boldly

Thirdly,

III. CALEB INSPIRED BOLDLY

Joshua 15:13-16 (KJV)

And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.

And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.

And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher.

And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

It is this passage, I think, that indicates that Caleb’s youthful vigor in chapter 14, was maybe as much a state of mind as a physical truth.

He did say he was strong enough to take the mountain.

But then he got some help to get the job done.

May I give you something that is going to be a bit tough for some of you to accept?

There is very little honor in doing a job yourself.

The greatest thing you can do is inspire and delegate others to do.

Teach your kids to work.

·   Give them jobs to do

·   Give them responsibilities to perform

And don’t do the work for them

You can guide them to do the work a little better, but if you do it for them, they will learn to let you do it for them.

Some people just can’t do it.

·   They don’t like how others do the job or

·   They get frustrated teaching them how to do the job or

·   They are afraid they will be called lazy if they do not do the job or

·   They get jealous that others might get the credit

The very best work you can do, even if the work isn’t technically as well done as you could have done it yourself, is to inspire others to do.

·   If Jesus had spent his 3 ½ years doing good without training the Apostles

·   If the Apostles had given their lives preaching the Gospel without commissioning other to preach the Gospel

·   If the pastors of those very first churches had done their ministries without inspiring others to go out and start other churches

None of us would have had the opportunity to hear the gospel and be saved today.

Conclusion

Caleb:

·   Spoke boldly

·   Lived boldly and

·   Inspired boldly

Do you want to be spiritual?

Ask God to give you boldness.

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[1] That’s right. I am old enough to subscribe to a magazine called, American Association of Retired Persons.