Caleb's Faith

Pastors Peter and Carolyn Linnecar looks at the life of Caleb and how God told him he would possess the land. Caleb saw the giants in the land just as the other spies did, but his eyes were fixed on the promise not the problems. When we look at our doubts and fears we can become swamped, but when we look at the nature of our Father there is nothing that He will withhold from those who love Him and walk with Him.

Pastor Peter Linnecar – There is an old African proverb which says: It takes a whole village to raise up and educate a child. Some of you may think, well I don’t have children. But today we want to focus on something which affects everyone whether you are a parent or part of a church.

Pastor Carolyn Linnecar – We’re going to look at the life of one of the giants of faith. Last weekend Pastor Linnecar looked in Hebrews chapters 11 and 12 at the list of historical people of faith.

Hebrews 11:33

We have a greater provision than they knew. We have the indwelling Christ. They lived according to what they knew, but we have the indwelling Christ. We have His word and we have His power within us.

The life of Caleb

I want to look at the life of Caleb. He possibly wasn’t an Israelite by birth. He was born into a nomadic tribe, but Caleb had become a Hebrew by adoption. He stood out as a man of integrity, as a man of his word. He had the capacity to represent his people.

Caleb was one of the ones who was chosen to go in and see the land. His name means dog, not a pretty meaning. But he had the dogged persistence to believe God no matter what. His faith took God’s word and stood on it. He had a stubborn faith.

There are two ingredients we need as parents. One is faith in our God. And the other is to take his principles and apply them in our homes.

Deuteronomy 1:20-21

God has given you the land. God has said the land is yours. It doesn’t matter what the opposition is, the land is yours. But there’s something in human nature which thinks it knows better than God.

Deuteronomy 1:22–23

When there are problems in your life be careful who you listen to, be careful what advice you take on board. Do you take on board advice from someone who has proven through their life that they know their God?

The spies explored the land. They discovered that the land was one flowing with milk and honey. But they also found a tribe of giants living there. Caleb and Joshua weren’t blind. They saw the giants just as much as the others saw the giants. Unbelief looks at the problems and assesses the situation in terms of their own weaknesses. Faith looks at God. Faith says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Faith looks at the one who makes the way. Caleb was one whose eyes were fixed, not on the problems, but on the promise.

Deuteronomy 1:29-33

After all God’s provision, protection and guidance. He had delivered them from Pharaoh. Now they said ‘We can’t go, it’s too great a task, we can’t face it, we can’t go’. It was a moment of definition. And in that moment a whole generation discarded everything that God had done and had promised. Because of that they perished in the wilderness and only Joshua and Caleb went into the Promised Land.

I want to say something to the young people in particular. And I want you to listen with seriousness as if it’s for the first time. Some of you are concerned about the concept of being born again. ‘I am not sure what I believe any more. It doesn’t happen for me, I’m not sure it happens at all’. But in the background of your life there is the provision of God. And if you’re honest you can’t deny God’s provision for you and your family. You can’t deny God’s faithfulness in providing your education, your job, opened doors for you. And you say, ‘I give up’.

Hebrews 3:7–11

Listen to what God says; don’t listen to what you’ve discussed amongst yourselves.

Hebrews 3:12–14

I don’t think there’s hardly a young person in this room who hasn’t known at some point the moving of God in their heart. You might have pushed it away, you might have forgotten about it. When God starts something in your life He intends to finish it. When God opens a door in eternity for you He intends to take you through it. God isn’t tantalising you with something you can never have.

I want you to go back in your mind and remember the time that you knew God was there for you, and rest on that. Your confidence should be in Him, not in yourself. He loves, and He seeks, and He saves and that can never change and can never vary. You’re not just beyond the pail of God’s provision. You’re one for whom He sent His Son.

Do you think He did that lightly? Do you think He did that in order that He would fail in your life? For we hold our confidence in Christ steadfast until the end. We need to stop examining ourselves and look unto Him who is the answer. The same applies to the parents who are perhaps concerned about their child. Whether that child is here or somewhere else.

Two reports came back from that land, both accounts were true. But one looked at the problems, the other looked at God.

Deuteronomy 7:9

When I think about the future, knowing that God is going to keep His mercy and His love for a thousand generations, I’m happy with that.

Caleb heard the promise of God. He heard God say that He had given a land to the children of Israel. And he took hold of that promise and refused to let it go. This was a general promise for an entire people. It wasn’t just for Caleb, and yet Caleb actually dared to believe that God meant what He said.

Numbers 13:26–29

All the problems listed, you can imagine the response. The panic rose within the people.

Numbers 13:30–31

Caleb stood in the midst of the panic, and stilled the people because Caleb had believed the promise God gave him - a personal promise. And here God has always shown us that His promise is to the generations. That’s a general promise in God’s Word. And if you will believe His general promise God will give you a specific promise.

Deuteronomy 1:34–36

Numbers 14:24

This was no longer a general promise for a people; this was a promise for Caleb, and for Caleb’s family. The very place where he’d been sent in to reconnoitre, that very place God was going to send him in to possess it.

Take the general principles of God and apply them in your life, start to believe that they’re real for you, and God will give you a specific promise.

Not everyone has the same experience, take what you know is true, hold on to what you know is true, and God is going to come and reveal Himself to you. Don’t sit there saying there’s nothing I can do. Grab hold of what you know, stand in what you’ve been taught, and wait for God to come for you with the Word that is for you. But you can do an awful lot from just believing God’s general principles.

Caleb had to wait for 40 years. He had to wait for a whole generation to wander in the wilderness. A whole generation wandered, but I dare to believe that Joshua and Caleb walked with God.

We now come 40 - 45 years on in the life of this man and the same persistent dogged trust in God still motivates him. He won’t back down. And as parents we won’t back down. We will take these principles and apply them in our families. We will put our trust in a God who is a Shepherd, a God who has never been against us but is for us and our children. And as we apply these general principles in our families we’re going to see God come with the specific.

It took 40 years. And after that the Israelites went into the Promised Land and all Israel gathered at Gilgal to determine how they were going to divide up the remaining land. And before they were going to draw lots Caleb stood up and made his claim.

Give me this mountain

Joshua 14:7–14

Give me this mountain. The mountain that the people feared because of the inhabitants. The word of God is as strong and as alive to me now as it was 45 years ago. Because there’s a faith and a faithfulness in my heart. I know the God who gave me this faith, and it is as strong in me as ever it was.

Live by the principles which you know to be true and God will speak to you.

When we look at our doubts and fears we can become swamped. But when we look at the nature of our Father there is nothing that He will withhold from those who love Him and walk with Him. Take the general and God will give you your own personal promise.

This man Caleb, who came through so much and waited for so long. For all those years he walked in the wilderness some of the faith that was in him was transmitted to his family. And I know that as Christian parents that’s what we want. We hope that the faith we have will grow and flourish in the lives of our children.

Pastor Peter Linnecar -

Joshua 15:16-20

It sounds familiar doesn’t it. Caleb said give me this mountain. Then his daughter married and said give me a blessing, give me springs of water.

John 4:7–14

This weekend is about Christian parenting in an uncertain world. This woman at the well with Jesus had an encounter with the living God face to face. The conversation was intimate.

When, perhaps as a parent, you are at your wits end, what we’re trying to say now is that God’s faithful. He is a God of love. And it doesn’t matter what the circumstances look like. You as a Christian parent have within you living water – His name is Jesus. Do not write yourself off as having done your bit, don’t think what is the point. There is a particular word for you – there is a well of life inside you and you can’t stop it springing up. You can’t. The nature of God is everlasting. The nature of God is always faithful, a limitless supply, always causing you to triumph. Why? Because of what happened on the cross. He conquered death and there is nothing that can hinder Him giving you that spring of eternal life.

He will give you the wisdom with your family. He loves you. It could be that what you’ve heard today has been particularly personal – where you’re thinking OK Lord I’ve got to recognise where I am in you. I’ve got to recognise that I can go forward in you knowing that you are the solution. And the faith that you’ve given me will increase. You are the author of that faith and you are going to be the finisher of it. He’s inside, by His Holy Spirit.