The Christian's Confidence

Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Numbers, please. Numbers in chapter 13. Caleb has been on my mind today, and I think in Caleb we'll find in shoe leather what you've just heard from our previous brethren, a perfect man and a man confident in God.

In fact, my title is The Christian's Confidence. Numbers chapter 13, verse number 30 to start, says here, just for the sake of time, you know the story of Joshua and Caleb, they were the two good spies. Verse 30, 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 men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the son of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.

And so were we in their sight. Chapter 14, verse 6, And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. Verse 24, But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess it.

Drop down to verse 30, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Now Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14, verse 6, Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said.

Now you're going to notice four times he refers to what the Lord said. That's important. Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea.

Forty years old was I when Moses, a servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people to melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because I was 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. There it is again.

For thou hearest in that day how the Anakims were there, and 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. And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for inheritance." Christians' confidence.

I've been thinking just recently of the different people that claimed God is their God. We come to Ruth chapter 1, and there she says that your God shall be my God, and that's the convert's confession. That dear woman there, she was going to live in a strange place with a strange people, and that's one thing.

But to go from an idolater to make the claim that the God of Jehovah, Naomi's God, was going to be her God, that's the convert's confession. And we go to Thomas in John chapter 20 there, and he says, My Lord and my God, after he sees the resurrected Christ, and there he realizes that Jesus Christ is, he confesses it, that he is God, and that's the Christian's creed. Everything is based in our faith, in our Christianity, in our salvation, of the Lord Jesus Christ being God.

God manifest in the flesh. But we come to Caleb here, and it's the Christian's confidence. And I just want you to take this home with your heart as you've heard of a perfect man.

Caleb, in a sense, was a perfect man. His faith was pure. His faith was holy.

His faith was unwavering. And because of that, his service to God was unwavering, and his love to God was unwavering, as far as the record that we have. And his confidence was absolutely everything to him.

Why? Because the Word of God was everything to him, as God said. And we're going to see four things here that a person that is confident in God, that what they'll do, what they'll do. First of all, we read that as they brought back the good report, you know, they talked about giants in the land.

There were only two giants in that land that day. That was Caleb and Joshua. Those are spiritual giants.

Those are giants that count. The Anakims, they didn't count. There were two men there, and I was thinking of these men, now 80 plus years old, and they're having a conversation.

Two spiritual giants. Two men that went into a land that was promised, and they believed God. Two men that lived throughout the wilderness experience, and they still grew closer to God, and they believed God.

And their confidence only grew in God. Let me just ask you a question. When was the last time you shared with another Christian your experiences with God? Now, we talk about the weather, don't we? And we talk about how the fish are biting, and we talk about how the business is doing, and how the corn is growing.

But when was the last time you and another Christian just had a heart-to-heart of what your God has done? And you fed on Christ. And you fed on your God. And you encouraged one another in the Lord.

And you were absolutely thrilled by what God had done. This is what these two men are talking about. Caleb is now coming to claim what was rightfully his that God had promised him.

But a Christian that is confident in God is going to still God's people. Going to still God's people in a time of trial, in a time of distress, in a time where everything seems to be going the wrong way. Is there a Caleb in the audience today? And you're going to seek to still the people of God.

To calm them. There's a panic. There's a stir.

There's confusion. What are we going to do? Which way are we going to go? The giants are great. The battle's too much.

Caleb stilled the people of God. He calmed them down. Can you imagine calming down that mob that day? A million people plus women and children.

Who knows for sure how many? And this man, confident in his God, that his God was able to do that which he said, calm the people. He calmed them. He didn't stir them up.

He didn't poke the fire. But he calmed them. Listen, listen, he says.

Hold your peace. My God is able. My God.

What about your God? You see, he calmed them. And he changed their focus. Not to put the focus upon the spies that brought the report.

Not to put the focus on the giants in the land. Yea, not even to put the focus on the grapes of Eskol and all that was there. He calmed the people.

And pointed them to God. Some of us today, we're looking at the grapes of Eskol. And we're looking at the reward and we're looking at the great things.

And that's nice. And really what God has is great. And what God does is great.

But who God is, eclipses it all. I want to calm your heart this morning. Look to God.

Not the grapes. Not the giants. Look to God.

Caleb stilled the people. And then we read in chapter 13 there, or 14 rather of Numbers, that he rent his clothes. He rent his clothes.

I've not yet seen a Christian rent their clothes. But I take it that it was in protest of unbelief. Protest of unbelief.

How often have you seen a protest of unbelief? You say, well what do you mean? Well, practically speaking, maybe in your assembly there's a reality, or in your own soul rather, let's keep it personal, there's a reality there of unbelief that is creeping in. Has there ever been a protest in your own soul? Ah, that's just unbelief. His confidence was still in God.

And I almost think it broke his heart, the unbelief. He calmed the people. The others stirred up the people.

And there he is. And he doesn't really have any other option, any other thing that he can do. And just because of a broken heart, and he's just going to rip his clothes.

This isn't right. This isn't the God that I know. And it says here that he rent his clothes.

And it says that he had another spirit. He had another spirit. I believe, you know, in the Old Testament people weren't indwelt with the Holy Spirit like we are.

The Spirit of God come upon him. And I believe that he was full of the Spirit of God, at least at this time. And it seems like there wasn't a time in his life when he wasn't.

But he had a different spirit, it said. Spirit wasn't quenched. Spirit wasn't grieved as far as the Holy Spirit in him.

But he was different. Because he fully followed his God. He wholly followed the Lord.

His confidence was only in God. It wasn't in the armies of Israel. It wasn't in the leadership of Moses.

It was in God. It was in God. He was perfect in that way, wasn't he? His confidence was in God.

Another thing it says to him, about him, is he followed fully. He was absolutely consistent. Isn't that a nice attribute to a Christian? Absolutely consistent in their faith in God.

And really that's the place that God is seeking to get us in. And through the difficulties that we face and even the joys that we have and the blessings that we have, it's to get our faith consistent in the good and in the bad and have that abundant life in the future. Confident in Him.

Then we come to Joshua. And Caleb is remembering. He's remembering the Word of the Lord.

He's remembering the battles. And I can just see these two. You know, when you read your Bible, do you ever put yourself in the story? Are you ever the fly on the wall or the mouse in the corner? And you're just watching what's taking place here.

Picture two experienced Christians. Two men that have borne the burden in the heat of the day. Some older Christians here.

We're thankful for you. See some gray-headed men and women. This is what I picture.

Caleb comes to Joshua. He says, You know the thing that the Lord said to Moses concerning me? How could Joshua forget? They were both there. How could he ever forget that day when two men stood with a broken heart, with confidence in their God, that the land would be theirs? A lot of water's gone under the bridge, hasn't it, Joshua? You remember that day? Oh, Joshua remembered that day.

Forty years old. The good old days. The good old days.

No, he didn't say the good old days. What does he say? He said, I'm as strong this day as I was that day. Strong spiritually.

His confidence in God was even stronger. So they're remembering. Remember, Joshua, when the other spies give an evil report? Yeah, I remember that, too.

Remember how that felt? Yeah, I remember that. Remember how the hearts of the people melted? How could I forget? How could I forget? But the Lord swore on that day, He told me that the land that my feet touch is going to be mine. He kept me alive, as He said.

The Lord told me He would bring me into the land. And not only did He tell me that He was going to bring me into the land, but He said that I'm going to see it. Moses got to see it, but he didn't get to go in.

These are the promises that God gave Caleb. He said He was going to bring him into the land. And He says, Caleb, you're going to see it.

You're going to see it. And not only am I going to bring you to it, and not only are you going to see it, but I'm going to give it to you. That's what God promised Caleb.

You can find that in the account of Caleb, those three things. And now we're here. We're here.

And so he asks, only for what God promised him. Nothing more, and nothing less. What has God promised you? If Caleb was going to get to keep everything his foot touched, do you suppose he stood on one little spot and walked around in circles? Did he walk up and down the same mountain? If you had that opportunity, what would you do? I'd be seeing what's on the other side of the mountain.

And then I'd be seeing what's on that side of that mountain. And then that mountain over there. This book is full of God's promises to us.

How many are yours? So they're there. And notice what he says. You remember the bad spies.

It was the Anakims, they were the problem. Those giants, you know. With the great walled cities.

And he says to him that, in verse number 12 of Joshua 14, 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, and 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. As the Lord said. Those giants were still there.

The very same giants were still there. Caleb is 85 years old. And he's ready to go.

He's ready to go. Are you ready to go today? You see, when God is our God, and He is, and we realize it. I want you to notice three things.

Just quickly. His word is valuable. His word is valuable.

That's all Caleb went back to. He remembered what the Lord had said to him. And he lived with that for 45 years.

Before he got to receive the blessing. His word was valuable. Is God your God today? Is His word valuable to you? Oh, it's valuable to the perfect man, isn't it? It's absolutely necessary, if we're ever going to have confidence in God.

And the things of the Lord were valuable to Caleb. They were valuable. God's people were valuable to Caleb.

He stilled the people. He loved the people. He sorrowed over the people.

Because they all died. And they didn't get to receive the promised land. And I think of him often times, there's no doubt he would think, what am I that I'm going to be able to see it? His heart would break for his brethren.

And so the things of the Lord were important. Is the Lord's day important to you? Is it important to you? It's the Lord's day. How about the Lord's presence? Is that important to you? Oh, it's important to Caleb.

Because he says, If so be, the Lord be with me. The Lord's presence was everything to Caleb. If the Lord wasn't present, it wasn't going to happen.

But he was confident in the Lord's presence. The Lord's people. I was thinking of him there.

Going through the wilderness. And there the ten spies over the course of time would die. And I got to thinking, what would he remember? Is there anything good that he could remember? Brethren, when you think of the Lord's people, think of the good.

Think of the good. Because they are the Lord's people. And now Caleb goes in to take the land.

And we didn't take time to read it. But he did defeat the giants. He did get everything that was promised to him.

And his generations inherited the land. The Christian's confidence in the word of God. In God himself.

The person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord bless us.