Following God Fully Text: Joshua 14:6-15 Series: The Venture and Victory of Faith [Joshua; #11] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl May 31, 2015 Theme: The victory of faith comes through following God fully. Introduction Last week we wrapped up the section in Joshua about Israel taking the land God gave them. Now we come to a large section of the book beginning at chapter 13 which describes how the land was divided between the tribes of Israel. Today I want us to focus on another important part of victory from this section that we see in a man named Caleb. Caleb was fully devoted to God. He followed God fully. One writer describes three kinds of followers of God: the curious, those who listen and learn; the convinced, those who have listened and accept; and the committed, those who are totally and completely committed to God and His word. 1 Caleb was one of the committed and shows us some of what being fully devoted to God looks like. He shows us that the victory of faith comes through following God fully. Caleb s example of following God fully. We just read the account of Caleb in chapter 14, but his story of following God fully began forty-five years earlier. So we begin at the beginning, with his key role early in Israel s journey from Egypt to the land God gave them. God miraculously led Israel out of bondage in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. God parted the waters of the Red Sea for them, He provided water when they could not find any, He gave them manna to eat, He led them by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night so they could see and know He was with them and leading them. God led them to the edge of the land. He instructed Moses to send twelve men, one from each tribe, to check out the land for themselves, to verify that it was, as God had promised Moses, a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 2 When the men returned they all agreed that it was a good land, 3 and that it flowed with milk and honey. 4 But ten of the twelve, all but Joshua and Caleb, complained about the powerful people and
fortified cities and concluded, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us. 5 Caleb pleaded with the people, We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it. 6 In spite of that, the people were not willing to enter the land but, as Moses said, rebelled against the command of the LORD [their] God. 7 The people even wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua. 8 Caleb knew God s promise to Moses that He would lead the people into that good and spacious land. 9 In spite of the fear of ten out of twelve on the team, he was totally, completely committed to God and His word. In spite of the nation wanting to stone him, he remained steadfast, fully devoted to God. As he said here in chapter 14, he brought back word that was both from his heart and in full trust in God. 10 And now, forty-five years later, Caleb is still fully devoted to God, still following Him fully. Moses promised him an inheritance, a part of the land, because he followed God fully. 11 And so now, although 85 years old, he was still strong in faith as well as physically and asked for his inheritance. He did not ask for a fertile river valley that had already been taken, but some rugged hill country where there were still battles to be fought. God had promised and Caleb believed. He stepped out in full confidence to follow God fully and take that land. Lessons from Caleb on following God fully. Let s look at four pictures from Caleb of what it looks like, what it means to follow God fully. First, it means to follow God with all your heart. Caleb contrasts his heart with that of the people forty-five years earlier who listened to the majority report. Verse 8. Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully. While the heart of the people melted with fear, his heart remained solid, confident. He followed God with all his heart. When we think of the heart, we often picture our emotions. But in the Bible the heart refers to the center, the core of our being. It describes and sums up who we are and what we are like. God tells us in Proverbs, Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding (3:5). This is another thing that is easier to say than to do to truly trust God, to follow God with all my heart and not think that I can figure things out, chart a course by myself that is the best, that pleases God for education, career, marriage, family, finances. Jesus said that we are to count the cost of being one of the committed. We are to do that just as a builder checks to see if he has enough money to complete a project before 2
he begins, just as a king checks to see if he is strong enough to defeat an enemy before he goes to war. 12 One part of counting the cost is to trust God with all my heart in everything. Question: Are you following God with all your heart? Is that a distinguishing mark of who you are? Are there areas where you don t think you need to, or don t want to follow God with all your heart? The victory of faith comes through following God fully, and that includes following God with all your heart. Then following God fully involves following Him through all the difficulties and dangers that come your way. Caleb did that. He stood firm against the pressure of the ten who were afraid to enter the land. He did not abandon God s promises and mission when the people wanted to stone him. He followed God through the disappointment and adversity of Israel s wandering for forty years in the wilderness because of their rebellion. He followed God through the dangers of five or more years of fighting for the land. At age 85 he followed God by facing the difficulty and danger of taking his land of inheritance from fierce foes. Caleb demonstrated and kept building his devotion to God in the dangers and difficulties he faced. Everyone faces difficulties and dangers. Christians face unique dangers and difficulties because we have been joined to God through Christ and now face attacks from Satan s forces as well as rejection and attacks from those who reject God. Remember that Jesus has told us, If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you, and If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. 13 Paul spoke plainly to Timothy, and to us, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 14 At the same time remember that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (NIV). 15 So, if we experience God s miraculous deliverance or die for Him, nothing can separate us from Him. Whether we live or die, Paul wrote, we are the Lord s. 16 Do you follow God through all the difficulties and dangers you face? Do you ever give up on God, even briefly, when going through tough times? If nothing can separate us from Christ and His love, why would we separate ourselves from following Him regardless of how bad it gets? 3
Following God fully means following Him through all the difficulties and dangers we face. Next, following God fully includes following God in all He says. Selective hearing has been around for a long time. It can start early in life as young children learn to tune out what they don t want to hear and zero in on certain words or phrases. All parents know this. A health care professional writes in an article on the subject, A few weeks ago, our clinic had a mandatory active-listening workshop. I did not attend. Not that I wasn t interested, but it was on my day off after two exhausting 12-hour shifts. I did not think I would be in the right frame of mind for an active listening workshop. I was more in the mood for active sleeping. Also, the fact that this class was mandatory seems to make me not want to do it. If anyone asks why I wasn t at the class, I will just claim I wasn t listening when they announced it. 17 Sometimes people have selective hearing when it comes to the Bible ignoring things they would rather not read, understand and obey; or reading into Scripture what they want to hear. Committed followers of God follow all He says. Caleb did. God told Moses that the Land He was giving Israel was a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey. 18 Moses sent the twelve men to check out what the land was like, which route they should take and the cities they would encounter, 19 not to determine if they would enter. Caleb and Joshua s report was the same as the other ten men factually, but opposite in conclusion because they believed all that God said God was giving them this good and spacious land just as He promised to Abraham centuries earlier; Caleb knew that if the nation refused to enter the land it was an act of rebellion against God because God had spoken He had commanded and promised. 20 Committed followers of God follow all He says. We should, we must in order to be God s committed followers. As Moses called Israel to be committed to God, he told them, you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today (NLT). 21 And a second time, 4 Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God (ESV). 22
And a third time, for emphasis, Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. 23 Again, Jesus has told us, Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them (NLT). 24 All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me (NLT). 25 God is gracious and merciful, knowing we all stumble in many ways. 26 But we should never excuse our stumbling, our lack of obedience. We should confess that sin, receive God s cleansing and move back into following all that He says. And, finally, following God fully means following God all your days. King Solomon wrote, There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. 27 Even in the wildest selective hearing of Scripture we cannot stretch this to include a season for not being fully devoted to God, for not obeying Him fully. In fact, the call of God and pattern of commitment is a life-long growing devotion and commitment. 28 Caleb followed God fully in the forty-five years between his spying out the land and being given his inheritance of land. He followed God fully at age 85 and beyond as he fought for and took the area of Hebron. He followed God fully all the days of his life. Moses told Israel, These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life (NIV). 29 And, You must love the Lord your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands (NLT). 30 King David testified, I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. 31 And so he told others, Trust in Him at all times. 32 5
Wherever you are, just entering your teen years, graduating from High School, or moving on in education, work or career, or even in retirement, wherever you are, and for as long as you are on earth, God s appointed time for following Him fully is now, and always. And as you do this never, ever compare yourself, your circumstances, your devotion to others. Always remember Jesus answer to Peter s question about John s future in comparison to his own, Jesus said, If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me! 33 Conclusion. The victory of faith comes through following God fully. Four generations after King David, King Asa ruled over Judah. Scripture tells us he began well. Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God, for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment. 34 When the mighty Ethiopian army, which outnumbered Judah s by almost two to one, came against them, King Asa turned to God. He prayed, LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD You are our God; let not man prevail against You. 35 He trusted and followed God, and the LORD routed the Ethiopians. 36 God rewarded the king s devotion with many years of peace. 37 Then later King Basha of the northern kingdom of Israel cut off access to Judah. This time King Asa did not seek and follow God, but paid the King of Aram to form an alliance and help fend off the northern kingdom. God sent a prophet to rebuke King Asa. He reminded the king of God s deliverance from the Ethiopians. And then he told the king, For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars. 38 6
Three years later King Asa became sick. Though his illness was serious, Scripture tells us he did not seek, did not rely on God. And so he died. 39 Yes, then and today, always, the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 40 Is your heart completely devoted to God? If and as it is, God will strongly support you. Thank God that He saved you, made you one of His own by His grace through your faith in Christ Jesus; that He does not give up on you, but continues to call, to work in you, to strengthen you. Confess to God any and all areas and specifics of turning away from following Him fully. Decide to always follow Him fully. 1 J. Dwight Pentecost. Design for Discipleship: Discovering God s Blueprint for the Christian Life. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1966. Chapter 1, Making Disciples, pages 9-17. 2 Exodus 3:8. 3 Deuteronomy 1:25. 4 Numbers 13:27. 5 Numbers 13:28-29, 31. 6 Numbers 13:30. 7 Deuteronomy 1:26. 8 Numbers 14:10. 9 Exodus 3:8. 10 Joshua 14:7-8. 11 Joshua 14:9. 12 Luke 14:25-33. 13 John 15:18, 20. 14 2 Timothy 3:12. 15 Romans 8:38-39, NIV. 16 Romans 14:8. 17 Rod Moser. Selective and Non-Selective Haring, on Family Webicine. <http://blogs.webmd.com/ all-ears/2006/11/selective-and-non-selective-hearing. html>. 09 November 2006. Accessed 06 June 2012. 18 Exodus 3:8. 7
19 Deuteronomy 1:22. 20 Numbers 14:9. 21 Deuteronomy 11:32. 22 Deuteronomy 12:28, ESV. 23 Deuteronomy 12:32. 24 John 14:21. 25 John 14:23-24. 26 James 3:2. 27 Ecclesiastes 3:1. 28 cf. Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18. 29 Deuteronomy 6:1-2. 30 Deuteronomy 11:1. 31 Psalm 52:8. 32 Psalm 62:8. 33 John 21:22 cp. verse 23. 34 2 Chronicles 14:2-3. 35 2 Chronicles 14:11. 36 2 Chronicles 14:12. 37 2 Chronicles 15:19. 38 2 Chronicles 16:9. 39 2 Chronicles 16:12-13. 40 2 Chronicles 16:9. 2015 Lyle L. Wahl Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. 8
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 9