Hold Nothing Back

It had been a LONG time coming… but the day had finally arrived. Now 85 years old, the man who went against the word of the spies, now stood ready to claim his promised inheritance.

45 years ago, he stood with Joshua and the other spies on the other side of the Jordan.

He had been sent in with the other spies to check out the land. The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptians and now they stood on the boarder of the promised land… a land God said would belong to them.

And… the land was exactly as God described it - a land flowing with milk and honey. The spies brought back some of the fruit and it was truly amazing!

But then… the reports regarding the people who inhabited the land began to ring out.

Numbers 13:28–29 NIV

28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

Before the Israelites could take possession of the land, the inhabitants had to be… cleared out. And these people were not looking to move anytime soon. They were happy where they were!

Think about it… when you buy or rent a home, you do not move in, until the previous family has moved out. It is a mutual transition that occurs as you take possession of your new living space.

But this transition wasn’t mutual. If the Israelites wanted to take possession of the land, they would have to fight for it. This wasn’t a matter of negotiating over final price and closing costs… this was winner takes all… loser takes a walk.

The report that the spies had given regarding the inhabitants was true. There was nothing wrong with the facts that they offered the assembly that day… but there was everything wrong with their heart.

They had forgotten that God promised them this land! And if God is in it… the work… or in this case… the battle has already been won! They simply needed to continue to walk in faith and obedience as they entered the new normal.

One man speaks up… one man who was a part of the group that spied out the land doesn’t deny the facts… but his heart remained aligned with God’s promise. That man was Caleb… and we see his response to the report in the next verse.

Numbers 13:30 NIV

30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Immediately the other spies began to dismiss what Caleb said.

The people are stronger than we are.

The land devours those living in it.

The people are giants - they are of great size.

We are like grasshoppers in comparison.

So in response to the negative word… the people grumble and they miss their opportunity to enter what God had promised them. None of the people who witnessed the miracle in Egypt would set foot in the promised land because of this rebellion.

But God did not forget Caleb… specifically the heart of Caleb.

Numbers 14:24 NIV

24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

Fast forward 45 years and we now find Caleb in the land that God had promised the Israelites. At this point, they had fought and won many battles. The land was was almost cleared out… there was one more battle to be fought.

Before the battle takes place, Scripture gives us insight regarding an amazing conversation that takes place between Joshua and Caleb. Caleb, at 85 years old, declares he is still as strong as he was when they spied out the land. He is ready to finish this.

Joshua 14:7–9 NIV

7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’

Caleb is ready to fight one more time.

His age has changed, but his heart… his desire to follow God with EVERYTHING he had… remained the same. Just as he knew 45 years ago that victory was ahead… he knew total victory was just one more battle ahead.

Joshua 14:13–15 NIV

13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. 15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest from war.

There is a word, rather a phrase that is used repeatedly throughout this story. From beginning to end, Scripture makes a point to reveal a specific detail regarding Caleb’s walk with the Lord. Caleb followed God WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

Caleb was all-in. Caleb made the choice to hold nothing back… to give God EVERYTHING!

When He made the declaration “We can certainly do it” it had nothing to do with the Israelites abilities but it had everything to do with his trust in the Lord. CALEB KNEW GOD WAS WITH THEM!

Yes, the enemy before them was mighty. Yes, the road ahead would not be easy. But if God said this is our land, the only thing keeping them from possessing it was a lack of faith… not the battles that had to be fought.

How often do we hear from God then back down because of the challenges that might lie ahead? How often does our human reasoning and understanding stop us from entering into the new normal that God has for us?

The difference between Caleb and the other spies had nothing to do with his strength, age, knowledge, or ability. It had everything to do with his heart. CALEB FOLLOWED GOD WITH ALL OF HIS HEART!

A wholehearted pursuit of God means NOTHING gets in the way of faithfully following the Lord. NOTHING.

For the spies… it wasn’t the size of the enemy that stopped them from entering the promised land… it was the size of their faith! In their grumblings… they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness! They couldn’t fathom why God had brought them this far to die by the sword!

But God didn’t bring them there to die… He brought them there to receive! The land was as good as theirs! If God is in it… the work is already done!

This morning we are going to briefly talk about what a wholehearted pursuit of God looks like. We are going to ask ourselves, “Am I all in? Am I willing to hold nothing back? Or is my walk all but talk? Have I truly given God my WHOLE heart?

God does NOT want just a part of you… He wants all of you. God desire for you to be all in… to love Him with all your heart, mind, and soul. The moment we hold back in one of these areas is the moment we begin to grumble instead of rely on His grace.

As Moses, Caleb and Joshua dealt with the grumblings of the people… three things stand out in their response that reveal keys to a wholehearted pursuit of the Lord. We find those points in Numbers 14:7-9

Numbers 14:7–9 NIV

7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

It was clear the Israelites were up against some difficult obstacles… but they served the God who delivered them from the hand of Pharoah… and parted the Red Sea. GOD IS ABLE. But in this moment… their hearts were going the wrong direction. Joshua and Caleb gave warning against what was happening and they gave three things to be watchful for:

Do Not Rebel Against God

It was clear that God had brought the people this far… yet in this moment, they began to grumble and rebel against what the Lord had for them.

The promise land was right there… I do not believe there was a single person in that assembly that didn’t want what God had promised. The problem was, they didn’t want to walk the path necessary to get to where God was leading them to go.

God has a plan for each and every one of us - and it is a good plan. The reason Caleb stood in the middle of God’s promise 45 years after this all took place was because he never stopped following God. His heart NEVER rebelled against the Lord.

Rebellion is a serious thing in the eyes of God. Rebellion is the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. As the spies stirred up grumblings and murmurs, they were rebelling against the word Caleb had given AND against the direction God was leading them to go!

Caleb stood in the middle of God’s promise because he chose not to rebel against God.

Wholehearted pursuit of the Lord will choose to lay down any and all grumblings and will trust in the word given by God.

Grumblings do nothing more than allow for doubt to enter the picture. Grumblings give room for our limited understanding to divide us from God’s infinite power and ability.

A wholehearted pursuit of God says no to grumblings and yes to what God is leading you to do.

God’s calling into a new normal will sometimes come when we least expect it and will often require more than our resources can handle.

And that’s the point… if it was something we could acquire on our own… then we wouldn’t need God’s promise to assure us it could be done.

God is calling us into something new… something big… something beyond what any of us can do on our own. It will look different, it will require faith to get it done. It will require a people who will rise up… who will hold nothing back in their pursuit of what God has for us.

It will require that we resist grumbling… and instead give God praise. Church… His grace is sufficient to carry us through! All we have to do is simply walk by faith!

Yes there were giants, and yes there were many enemies to overcome. But Caleb realized, as I hope you realize today, that there is nothing our God cannot do!

So chose to remain on course and resist the urge to rebel. Remain faithful to the call for with the help of the Lord, you can certainly do this!

Do Not Be Afraid

Fear can become a prison that keep us from experiencing the promises God has for us. Fear is a weapon the enemy uses and it is deployed before any soldier takes to the field.

The spies came back with the fruit of the land in hand, and the fear of the enemy in their hearts. Caleb and Joshua, however, had a different perspective. Theirs was a perspective only God could give. They were not afraid. They were ready for the promise.

Fear will work to shift your focus from what God can do… to what you can do. Fear can rise up as we compare our resources against the challenges ahead. But faith rises up when we remember all that our God can do!

Fear wants to keep you where you are. Let that sink in. Fear led the Israelites to rebel and remain. Fear led them to MISSING OUT on God’s promise ahead.

I get it… facing new challenges and obstacles bigger than you can cause our emotions to get stirred up a bit. Change will often come with feelings we do not like to experience.

However, Those feelings CAN BE SILENCED with faith. But in order for that to happen, YOUR HEART MUST BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

Caleb and Joshua both saw the same obstacles the other spies saw. The difference is, they knew God was able. Their hearts remained aligned with faith… not fear.

Fear opens the door for the “what if” questions to begin to rise up. Fear opens the door for the “I can’t” reality to supersede the “HE CAN” reality.

Fear can become a prison that keeps us from experiencing the promises of God. The key in overcoming this fear is fully trusting in God - we cannot hold any part of our trust back with the Lord.

With God, it really is all or nothing. There is no grey area. He either has all of you… or He has none of you. When it came to Caleb, he wasn’t afraid after spying out the land… and he wasn’t afraid 45 years later as he prepared to claim his inheritance. He had no fear because he had unwavering faith!

Caleb is never described as bigger or stronger than anyone else; we have no description of him being a superior strategist or charismatic leader. He wasn’t brimming with any special gifts or talents that we know of. But… he had a heart that was willing to give fully to His God - and THAT made all the difference.

He wasn’t afraid of the battles… he wasn’t afraid of the enemy. He wasn’t afraid that God wouldn’t come through. Caleb wasn’t afraid because he wholeheartedly pursued God.

Think of ALL the things in recent years that have caused a rise in fear. From the economy to a pandemic to moral issues to violence to war and the list can go on and on.

People are living in fear of what might happen… people are imprisoned by things they cannot control. And that fear is taking a toll on people physically and spiritually.

God does not want you living in fear! That is why He called out Caleb as one having a different spirit than the others. Where the spirit of fear gripped the hearts of the other spies… Caleb spoke boldly from a spirit of faith and assurance!

WE NEED MORE OF THAT SPIRIT TODAY! Hearts full of the assurance that GOD IS ABLE. hearts that are not afraid to pursue God no matter where He leads us to Go!

And in that leading, there is one more thing we need to NEVER forget.

Do Not Forget God is With You

I want to close with this challenge today: We talk a lot in church circles about wanting more of God. But if we are real with ourselves, then we know that God is always accessible. His sons and daughters have unlimited access to Him. We can have as much of God as we want!

So what’s the problem? The issue isn’t getting more of God… the issue is God getting more of us! God is with us ALL THE TIME! Do you believe that? Go was with Caleb and Joshua then… and He is with us today! As Caleb and Joshua addressed the grumbling crowd, they did not attempt to ease the fear and rebellion rising up by trying to give a pep rally of sorts. They reminded the people that God was with them. This was NEVER about what the people could do… it was always about what God could do for His people!

In Moses’ day, God had not brought the people to the promised land for a tour or a flyover. He had not brought them there for a visit or vacation. God took them there to take possession of the promise. They were not to view the land from a distance… they were the new owners… the new occupiers… the new inhabitants.

I hear so many people talk about how they wish God would move powerfully in their lives. They talk about what God is doing for people over here or groups over there and they wonder why God isn’t moving in their lives like that?

Could it be… that instead of taking possession of the promise, you have settled for taking a tour instead? God doesn’t lead you to a new normal and then leave you on your own. HE IS WITH YOU.

A person’s inability to enter the new normal God has for them does not come down to their lack of natural gifts or ability. It will not be because that person wasn’t the best or brightest. It won’t be because they weren’t tough enough or strong enough. It WILL be because they were not willing to pay the the price of TOTAL COMMITMENT. They were unwilling to follow God wholeheartedly.

Jesus told us the cost of being His disciple. He said in Luke 9:23

Luke 9:23 NIV

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

This is total commitment. This is wholehearted pursuit of Jesus. All of the old is left behind as you WALK BY FAITH into the new that He has for you.

So the final question is: how much of you are you willing to give to God?

If you truly desire all that He has for you… you must be willing to wholeheartedly give ALL that you are to Him!

Today is NOT a day of holding back… it is a day of boldly walking in faith as the Lord would lead us. But in order for Him to lead us… we must be willing to follow.

In order to follow, we must have a relationship with Him.

PRAYER - Salvation

Lastly, if you recognize today that there are areas in your life where you are holding back… then it’s time to let go. It’s time to wholeheartedly pursue the Lord.

Are you willing to pay the price of total commitment? Stand if that is your decision today.

PRAYER

And now lets get ready to celebrate with those who have made the decision to follow Jesus… we are going to celebrate as they make that public profession of faith through water baptism!