KNOWING GOD. CALEB

The Privledged of Knowing GOD

Caleb, the Courageous

Joshua 14:12

INTRODUCTION: Caleb was a man who was in a class all by himself in his day. Comparing him with the present–day run of Christians, he would be a “spiritual giant.” He was so surrendered to God that he lost sight of all impossibilities.

I. CALEB’S RECORD WAS A GOOD ONE

“Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-Barnea” (Joshua 14:6).

Here Caleb recalled to Joshua what God had said to him through Moses.

Caleb’s faith rested wholly upon the word of God.

Let no circumstances alter our confidence in God.

Joshua 14:6 NASB 2020

Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God on account of you and me in Kadesh-barnea.

II. CALEB’S REPORT WAS A GOOD ONE

“Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart” (Joshua 14:7 “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.” ).

Caleb was true to his trust when Moses sent him to spy out the land.

The report of his journey is in Numbers 13:26–33 “they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. So they reported to him and said, “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there! Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. We also saw the Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”” . When he returned he brought with him a sample of the fruit and said, “Surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it” (Num. 13:27).

III. CALEB’S RECOMMENDATION WAS A GOOD ONE

Moses said, concerning Caleb, “Thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God” (Josh. 14:9).

The God of Moses worked miracles on behalf of His people.

Caleb trusted the same God as Moses.

First of all, Caleb was devoted to the Lord.

He allowed nothing between his soul and God. He wholly followed the Lord.

IV. “And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five year... 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” (Josh. 14:10–11). He was 85 years old, and yet had the dew of his youth upon him.