[0:00] Would open up your Bibles to Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14. As you're turning there, I want to pray for us. Lord Jesus, you are good. Thank you for your word. God, I pray that you would bless this time. Let us bring honor and glory to your name. Be magnified in this place. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[0:22] All right, we're in Joshua chapter 14, and we are going to be looking at an example of faith. And before I do that, I'm going to start with something that I haven't done before. This right here is $10. It's two $5 bills. This will get you half your lunch today. And I want to give this to someone. I want to give this to someone. So today I came here. Audrey didn't know this. Okay, she's not in the room. That's good.
[0:52] This is real. This is our money. Okay? And I want to give it to someone today. So here's the thing. I want you to show me that you believe my word. I want to give this to you. I want anyone. This is open to anybody in the room. Show me that you believe that I'm being sincere.
[1:05] You believe? All right. There it is. All right. Eric, enjoy. Yeah. That's that right there is biblical faith. Right? That's biblical faith. You believed me. You believed that I would give you $10. You raised your hand for it.
[1:32] But I offered it. It was there for the taking. Eric walked up and took it. And no, we didn't plan that either. I mean, that was cool. So here's the deal. We're looking at an example of biblical faith today in the person of Caleb. Caleb believed the word of the Lord.
[1:51] He believed the word of the Lord. And he is a great example for us of what it looks like to believe God's word. It's not just in word. It's not just saying, I believe.
[2:02] It's actually taking action. It is doing whatever it is God has called us to do. So we're in Joshua chapter 14. But I want you to understand the context, the whole setting.
[2:18] So what you have at first in Joshua chapter 14, verses 1 through 5, is the setting. All right? So at this point, Joshua and the Israelites are about to distribute the land.
[2:29] Okay? They've already distributed the land to the east of the Jordan River. And now they're going to distribute the land to the nine and a half tribes. Audrey, I just gave away $10. Nine and a half tribes inside the Jordan River, inside to the west.
[2:43] And so the people, Joshua, the tribal leaders, and the priest Eliezer, have gathered together to divide the land by lot as the Lord had commanded.
[2:57] And that's what you see in Joshua 14, 1 through 5. The Israelites received these portions that the priest Eliezer, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes gave them in the land of Canaan.
[3:07] Their inheritance was by lot, as the Lord commanded through Moses, for the nine and a half tribes, because Moses had given an inheritance to the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan. But he gave no inheritance among them to the Levites.
[3:18] The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. No portion of the land was given to the Levites except cities to live in, along with pasture lands for their cattle and livestock. So the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses, and they divided the land.
[3:32] Now, one of those tribal leaders who approached Joshua and Eliezer was Caleb. This was actually by God's design, by God's command. If you go back to Numbers chapter 34, you don't have to, it's a list.
[3:46] God told Moses which men were supposed to come as the tribal leaders to help divide the land. Caleb was one of them. It would make sense. Caleb was probably the second oldest person in Israel, remember, between him and Joshua.
[4:01] But that's where we are so far here in Joshua chapter 14. In verse 6, you see that Joshua is approached by Caleb. The descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, said to him, You know what the Lord promised Moses, the man of God, at Kadesh Barnea about you and me.
[4:24] So what was Caleb talking about? He approaches Joshua. This is where the whole land distribution is about to get kicked off. And he brings up this promise that God had made to Moses about Caleb and Joshua.
[4:39] Well, to understand this and to really see the depth of Caleb's faith, we need to go back to Numbers chapter 13 and 14. I'm going to give you a rundown, okay? We don't have to actually turn there and read through it because that would take us some time.
[4:54] And in the interest of time, I'll give you a recap, okay? Numbers chapter 13, verses 21 through 22. What you see there is that there are 12 spies in the land of Canaan.
[5:04] Okay, remember, this is 45 years before this point in time, okay? This is the 12 spies. They've just left Egypt. They've seen some things at Sinai. Amazing stuff is happening. They're getting close to the land.
[5:15] And they're at Kadesh Barnea. And Moses sends in 12 spies. You actually see that they found the sons of Anak there in the land of Canaan.
[5:27] These are the giants, right? These are the descendants of the Nephilim. And it really freaked out 10 of the 12 spies. In Numbers 13, 26 through 33, the spies brought back their report of the land.
[5:42] And 10 of them gave a glowing report on one hand and a fearful report on the other. They said, this land is great. It's flowing with milk and honey. It's beautiful. It's lush.
[5:52] It's great. But we should not go there because it is dangerous. These people were so big, they seemed like, we seemed like grasshoppers to them.
[6:05] I mean, in their eyes, they had to see us the same way. So 10 of these spies, they come back and they scare the people. And the people of Israel started to listen to them. So Caleb stood up and stood out because of his faith.
[6:18] They're in Numbers 13, 30. And he tells the people that they should go and take the land because God had promised it to them. Right?
[6:28] He's like, no, no, no, look. That land is good and it's ours for the taking. We should go. Why are we waiting? Why are we putting this off? And the rest of the people, except for Joshua of the spies, they did not like what Caleb said.
[6:43] And in fact, they started to speak against Caleb. But in Numbers 14, verses 6 through 10, Caleb and Joshua tore their clothes, which is a dramatic expression of mourning.
[6:54] They were mourning over the fact that the people of Israel were rejecting the word of the Lord. They were fearful. They were fearful. And they listened to the lies of the tin instead of the truth of God's word.
[7:07] So Joshua and Caleb were upset. They tore their clothes. And they stood in the middle of the people. And they told them, essentially, we should go. The safety, the protection of the people in the land has been removed from them.
[7:20] God has taken that away and given us this land. We should go. And the response of the people was not very favorable, just so you know. Because they picked up stones and were about to kill Joshua and Caleb.
[7:33] And just then, the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting. And so Joshua and Caleb were spared. If you go on through Numbers chapter 14, what you find is that the Lord explains the punishment that's going to come to the children of Israel, to the people of Israel, because of their disobedience, because of their lack of faith.
[7:55] Ten of those twelve spies were going to die pretty much immediately by a plague, because they rejected the word of the Lord. And then everyone who was twenty years old or older was going to die before they made it into the promised land.
[8:08] They would wander through the desert for forty years before they got to take what God had promised them. And he says that only two men who were over twenty years old would survive to see the land.
[8:22] And it was Caleb and Joshua. God said, in fact, that Caleb possessed a different spirit. He gave a glowing report of Caleb's loyalty to the word of the Lord.
[8:36] And now, if you fast forward these forty-five years, we're in the land. And Caleb, the old man, is ready to take what God had promised.
[8:47] So we've looked at the depth of his faith. He had a deep faith. He was convicted and committed to following the word of the Lord. So much so that even when it was risky for himself personally, he stood up and stood firm for God's word.
[9:02] Even when it nearly cost him his life, he was courageous. So we see the depth of his faith. And as we look now in Joshua chapter 14, I want us to see a couple of other things. Number one is the basis of Caleb's faith.
[9:13] The basis of his faith. And number two is the expression of Caleb's faith. So in Joshua chapter 14, verses 6 through 12, we see that the basis of Caleb's faith and the basis of our faith should be God's good word.
[9:30] Joshua 14, verses 6 through 12 says, The descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, You know what the Lord promised Moses, the man of God at Kadesh Barnea, about you and me.
[9:45] I was forty years old when Moses, the Lord's servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to scout out the land, and I brought back an honest report. Literally, he says, I brought back what I saw with my own eyes.
[9:56] My brothers who went with me caused the people to lose heart, but I followed the Lord my God completely. On that day, Moses swore to me, The land where you have set foot will be an inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed the Lord my God completely.
[10:16] As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years as he promised. Since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness, here I am today, eighty-five years old.
[10:29] I'm still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then. Now, give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there as well as fortified cities.
[10:45] Perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out as the Lord promised. Throughout this entire section, I want you to see that every aspect of Caleb's request is based upon God's word, based upon God's promise.
[11:03] If you go through here and count five different times throughout this section, Caleb referred to the promises that the Lord had made. So Caleb didn't base his request for land on his own, you know, estimation of his faithfulness.
[11:22] He didn't base his request on the fact that he had seniority over the other Israelites, that he was the second oldest, and so he got to choose. In my house growing up, we had, there were six kids, and so mom and dad had a rule.
[11:36] Oldest one in the car gets to sit in the front, you know. So she got tired of the shotgun and the, you know, fist fights and all that. And so it was just, oldest one got to sit in the front. They had seniority, right?
[11:47] Caleb didn't base his request on his seniority. He didn't base it on the exploits of having spied out the land. He didn't base it on any of those things. He based his request on what God had said.
[12:01] So what did God say about Caleb? Well, Numbers 14, 24, God says, but since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.
[12:14] In Deuteronomy 1, 36, we see this same scene being explained by Moses, and God says, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it, the land, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he remained loyal to the Lord.
[12:29] See, Caleb based his request on the promise that God had made. He wasn't going out of his way to ask for something that God had never promised him.
[12:39] God had literally said, this will be yours. And so when he approaches Joshua and he says, you know what the Lord said about me and you that day, Joshua would know very, very well what the Lord had said.
[12:53] This was not unfamiliar for him. So there's a few things that I want to point out here as we look at the basis of Caleb's faith, which is the word of the Lord.
[13:05] Number one, God's promises are available to us by faith. God's promises are available to us by faith.
[13:17] That's a principle that was true for Abraham. If you remember Genesis 15, 6, Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.
[13:28] And it's true for us today in terms of salvation. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says, For you are saved by grace through faith, and it is not from yourselves.
[13:39] This is God's gift. It is not from works so that no one can boast. God's promises are available to us by faith. Caleb was simply requesting what God had already promised him.
[13:53] Like, it would not be wrong for a son to go to the reading of a will and request his inheritance that was established for him by his parents.
[14:06] Right? He would be taking what was his. That's not a bad thing. You're supposed to take what is yours, right? And in the same way, Caleb didn't go out of his way to get some new special blessing for himself.
[14:17] He simply went with what God had said. By faith, by faith, God's promises were available to him. Again, this is a beautiful picture of salvation. Beautiful picture of salvation.
[14:28] See, God has promised to us eternal life with him. It's available. Like, eternal life. Protection from punishment. Forgiveness of sins. Eternal life is available to us with him.
[14:42] All we have to do is place our faith in Jesus Christ. We don't have to do anything to earn it. Caleb didn't have to do anything to earn this. He simply went and by faith took what God had promised him.
[14:53] You can receive God's promises by faith. Number two, God keeps his promises. That's an important truth for us to remember.
[15:03] God keeps his promises. See, God told Caleb that he would keep him alive. And God kept his word. Caleb lived for 45 more years when everyone that he knew around him in his own age range, except for Joshua, died off.
[15:18] God preserved Caleb's life. But I also want you to see that there's this, like, special blessing here, too. God didn't just preserve Caleb's life and he aged at a normal rate, evidently.
[15:31] God preserved his life and blessed him with strength and vitality well into his senior years. Why? Because God promises things by his own word.
[15:45] And he blesses us because of his kind and loving nature. So God blessed Caleb with this strength and energy and vitality so that he could not only have the land that God had promised, but that he could enjoy the land that God had promised.
[16:02] He said, look, I'm 85 and I'm still as spry as I was that day. I'm still as strong today. He said, when Moses sent me out, my strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.
[16:16] This wasn't because of a special diet. He didn't cut out gluten. You know what I mean? Like, did they even have gluten back then? I think so. I don't actually know what gluten is. Anyways, I know it's a big deal.
[16:28] I know that. And people don't want to eat it. I do know that. But anyways, this wasn't a special diet. This was the special blessing of the Lord.
[16:39] God had blessed Caleb not only with life but also with strength. It would be great to be 85 years old. And, I mean, here's the thing. I've met some 85-year-olds who have believed that they were as strong as they were when they were 40.
[16:52] I don't think I've ever met an 85-year-old who actually was as strong as he was when he was 40. That's one of those things that guys have. It's like broken in our brain is reality, I think. It's like, no, I'm different today than I was then.
[17:05] You know, that's okay. But in Caleb's case, he seems sincere. And we know that he's sincere because he goes into battle after this. But the point is God gave him life. And because of that, at 85 years old, Caleb is a walking, living, breathing, strong testimony to the faithfulness of the Lord.
[17:22] God made a promise and God kept his promise. We can trust the word of God. Number three, God's promises give us courage. God's promises give us courage.
[17:35] See, Caleb specifically requested the land that he had scouted 45 years before this. When the spies went into the land, they went into Hebron and saw the sons of Anak.
[17:49] And they saw the large fortified cities. They saw these giants. Well, Caleb, as this spry 85-year-old, decided that's the land I want.
[17:59] The exact place that was such a fearful challenge that it turned our people away for 40 years, I want to go there. I have, basically, I have unfinished business there.
[18:11] Right? I've got unfinished business. I wanted to take it then. I'm ready to take it now. So he asked for this specific land. Verse 12, now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day.
[18:21] Because you heard then that the Anakim are there as well as large fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out as the Lord promised. For those who have faith in God's word, even the biggest challenges, the largest enemies, they're not fear-inducing.
[18:40] Right? It's a challenge to overcome in the strength of the Lord, not something to cower and run away from. And when Caleb says perhaps, right, he said perhaps the Lord will give me the victory there, and we can wipe those people out.
[18:53] It wasn't a baseless perhaps. What you see here, though, is that while God's word gives us, God's promises gives us, gives us courage to do what God has called us to do, we also have to recognize that God is free.
[19:05] Right? God is able to do what he wishes. Right? So Caleb didn't presume, it's not presumptuous faith, to say, God, give me this land, and you'll give me this victory because I know you'll do it because I told you to do it.
[19:17] Right? Have you ever heard anybody say things like that? I declare it so it's true. Look, here's the thing. We cannot control God. He's not a genie where you rub the lamp and get three wishes. Caleb knew that, and so he recognized that in the Lord's sovereignty, God had called his people to now go and possess the land, and part of possessing the land meant dispossessing the inhabitants of the land.
[19:40] He knew, in Joshua 13, 6, he didn't have the verse reference, but he knew that God had said, I will go before our people and drive these people out, these nations out.
[19:52] He knew that God was going to do that. So all he's simply saying is, I trust that God will do it, and I'm going to go and hope that he uses me to get there.
[20:03] I hope that he uses me to do it. I hope that he uses me to accomplish it in this area. It wasn't a perhaps that was like filled with question or doubt. It was a perhaps meaning God is free, but I'm going to trust him anyways.
[20:17] We have to remember that sometimes. We can't just call on God and tell him to do what we want him to do. God has called people to go to the mission field, and they were obedient to his call, and some of those people didn't make it home.
[20:35] They thought, perhaps God will give me protection and life and victory, and God may have for a time, but then they didn't make it back home. Does that mean that they were disobedient or wrong for going?
[20:46] No, it means that God was using them for a specific reason. Think of Jim Elliott who went, you know, to the south and down into this, you know, dangerous, dangerous place. He was killed, but then after that, his wife Elizabeth and other people have gone, and this people group that Jim Elliott went to go and do mission work with is now like 98% Christian.
[21:06] I mean, it's unbelievable. He was obedient. He just didn't make it back home. God is in control. He is completely sovereign. Caleb knew that. And so Caleb was courageous to go, even though it could have risked him his own life.
[21:20] And we have to have that same courage in our faith. But Caleb knew God's word. He applied it to his context, which was to go and to dispossess the people of this land. And he went into battle with a confident hope that God would prevail.
[21:35] And after looking at that, at the depth of Caleb's faith, he truly, deeply committed himself to the word of God and the basis of his faith, which was the word of God, the promises of the Lord.
[21:47] I want us to look now at the expression of the word of God. The expression of Caleb's faith, which is Caleb taking hold of the promise. The same way Eric jumped up and took the $10 from me, right?
[21:59] He believed the word, and he showed me by taking it out of my hand. That's fantastic. Caleb, this is him taking that $10, okay? This is him taking that $10. It says in verse 13, By the way, we've seen that same phrase before at the end of Joshua chapter 11.
[22:37] This is a sign for the people to take note of in Israel here. If you go obediently where God has called and take the land that God has given to you, the land will have rest.
[22:47] If you obey the word of the Lord, you will experience rest. So Caleb requested this land, and he went into battle. And if you look ahead to Joshua chapter 15, there's this story of Caleb taking the land.
[23:02] It's recorded for us. Starting verse 13, He gave Caleb son of Jephunneh the following portion among the descendants of Judah, based on the Lord's instruction to Joshua. Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak.
[23:13] Verse 14, Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahimon, and Taumai, descendants of Anak. From there, he marched against the inhabitants of Deber, which used to be called Kiriath Sefer.
[23:27] And Caleb said, Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath Sefer, I will give my daughter, Aksah, to him as a wife. So Othniel, son of Caleb's brother, Kenaz, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter, Aksah, to him as a wife.
[23:42] When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, What can I do for you? She replied, What you see is the story of Caleb actually going and doing what God had called him to do.
[24:05] Caleb didn't just receive the promise in his ear. He received it and went and took what God had set up. He took action. He drove out the giants that had caused so much fear and disturbed so many people before.
[24:19] He went and fought. And also, just a side note, the reason I kept reading through that whole section is because we're introduced to a person named Othniel. Does anybody recognize that name, Othniel?
[24:31] He was the first judge. So if you keep reading through Joshua and go to Judges, he's the first judge. That's your homework. Keep reading through Joshua. Okay. So Caleb believed the word of the Lord.
[24:43] He heard the word of the Lord. And he took action. Caleb serves as an example for the faith. For us, as I've already pointed out. But I want you to put yourself now into the mind of somebody in like 12th century B.C.
[24:53] in the land of Canaan. Who was questioning whether or not they should go and actually fight these people. Or maybe they should try to like live with them anyways. And maybe we can be good enough neighbors to them that they won't attack us.
[25:05] And maybe we can just have such strong religious boundaries that they don't try to infiltrate our religion. And we won't try to, you know, infiltrate theirs or anything like that. Like for these people who were questioning how they should handle possessing the land that God had given to them.
[25:21] Caleb serves as an example. Caleb took the land that God gave him. And he dispossessed the people who were living in it. He went out in obedience and fought on behalf of the Lord.
[25:31] He's an example of the faith not only for us today, but especially for the Israelites then in the land. He's a powerful model. He shows them, the people of Israel, and he shows us what active faith looks like.
[25:45] In obedience, they could dispossess the people of Canaan and take their land. God had promised it to them. Caleb just showed that all you have to do is trust the Lord and go to battle. He'll do the rest.
[25:56] He will work. Right? Trust the Lord and go to battle. But again, this is a really important reminder for us that faith, apart from works, the Bible says is dead.
[26:08] It's useless. Right? Like believing that I'll give you $10 and not acting on that costs you $10. Right? It costs you $10. Faith without works, faith without action is dead.
[26:23] This is explained to us in the book of James in the New Testament. James 2, 18 and 19 contain what I think to be some of the scariest verses in the Bible. It says, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works.
[26:35] Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. Listen to this. Verse 19. You believe that God is one. Good. Even the demons believe and they shudder.
[26:48] There's no question that Jesus Christ is the son of God on his throne. There's no question about that whatsoever. And you can believe that intellectually.
[26:58] Yeah, Jesus Christ is God's son. I see it in history. Logically, sure, it makes some sense. But if you don't actually put all your hope and trust in the name of Jesus and then let his love and his salvation transform your life completely so that you have this active faith that produces fruit, that is a living example the same way that Caleb was for others to see.
[27:25] If you don't have an active faith, then you should really question what is the basis of your faith. Is the basis of your faith that you prayed a prayer when you were a kid and then like you haven't actually lived for God or Christ whatsoever in your life since then?
[27:40] But like I'm going to go to heaven because I prayed a prayer when I was a kid. I was baptized at VBS, so I know I'm going to heaven. Is your faith placed in the fact that you got dunked? What is the basis of your faith?
[27:55] The basis of our faith has to be nothing less than God's word, than Jesus Christ and him crucified. By faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God, we should live an active faith.
[28:08] We should produce good works. I read Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 that we're saved by grace through faith. This is not of yourselves. It's God's gifts, not of works so that no one may boast.
[28:20] Well, verse 10 says that you are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared for you ahead of time. So the person who has faith in Jesus Christ lives out their faith.
[28:33] This is explained a little bit differently in the book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, Paul is giving this instruction to Timothy on how he should pastor, how he should love this congregation.
[28:49] And at the end of the letter, he gives him a powerful, powerful phrase. God's word gives us a powerful phrase to take hold of eternal life. I'm going to read it for you.
[29:00] 1 Timothy 6, 11 and 12 says, But you, man of God, flee from these things. That means the worldly, sinful, idolatrous, greedy passions that were listed before.
[29:13] Flee from those things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. I'm sure you've heard this phrase, fight the good fight of the faith.
[29:26] You've heard that phrase? Right after that, he says, Take hold of eternal life. To which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
[29:39] Take hold of eternal life. See, eternal life is God's promise for us then. When we die, we will have eternal life. We will die on this earth. We'll have eternal life with him in heaven.
[29:52] But what we see here is that that reality is actually something we can take hold of now. That's actually something we can live out now. The same way that Caleb went and took hold of the promise by taking the land, we, you and I, can take hold of eternal life.
[30:08] How do we do that? Well, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. We fight the good fight of the faith. We live according to God's word.
[30:19] We submit to the authority of scripture. We live as witnesses in this lost and dying world. We don't put our hope in false gods. We don't put our hope in politics. We don't put our hope in entertainment.
[30:30] We put our hope in Jesus Christ and nothing else. We don't put our hope in the fact that we were baptized. We don't put our hope in the fact that we prayed a prayer. We put our hope in the fact that we put our hope in the cross. We put our hope in the cross. We put our hope in the cross. We put our trust completely and exclusively in Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross and his resurrection.
[30:47] That's it. That's it. That's how we live out our faith. That's how we take hold of eternal life. We recognize that God's word is true. So think about it like this.
[30:59] Caleb believed that God's word was truth and he lived like it. He believed that God was good on his word and so he went and fought. You and I should live like God's word is true.
[31:10] We should live like Jesus Christ really is the son of God who died on the cross for our sins and that we are saved by his grace. We should live lives of obedience, submission to the authority of God's word.
[31:25] We should live as if God's word is true, that his promises are faithful. So do you have an active faith?
[31:36] What is the basis of your faith? And then, how do you express your faith? How do you show the world? How do you show the church? How do you show your family?
[31:48] Fathers, how do you show your sons? Moms, how do you show your daughters? Parents, how do you disciple your kids? By showing them that you truly do believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
[32:00] Do you have an active faith? How do you express your faith? How do you live out your faith in Jesus? So that's our challenge today. Looking at this example of Caleb, it's just such a beautiful picture of what real, genuine, active faith looks like.
[32:19] We live as if God's word is true. We rest on God's word, and specifically for us, on Jesus Christ as the basis of our faith. And then, we're obedient.
[32:32] We trust him. We go where he calls us to go. We do what he calls us to do. We're going to have a closing song. We'll stand and sing. But I want you to consider today, as you examine your heart in light of the text, are you a Caleb?
[32:48] Are you a Caleb? Do you live out your faith? Do you have a deep faith? Faith. And not faith in faith. Faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God. Are you a Caleb?
[32:59] And then if not, if you've never believed in Jesus Christ, if you've never sought him for the forgiveness of your sins and for eternal life, do not leave this room.
[33:10] Don't even leave the campus, but like especially. Don't even leave this room until you talk with me or a deacon wearing a name tag. Let us pray with you. Let us encourage you. Let us show you how you can take hold, you can receive the promise that God has made.
[33:26] It's by believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, you are good. God, as we look at the example of Caleb and his faithfulness, we know that even Caleb was a sinful human being.
[33:42] He wasn't perfect. But he had faith. He had faith. And he points us ahead to a better, more perfect, more loyal, more faithful Caleb in the person of Jesus Christ.
[33:59] So God, as we wrap up this time of worship, I pray that you would just penetrate our hearts with the truth of your word. Lord, show us our great need for you. And let us rest not in our own opinions, not in baptism, not in anything other than the blood of Jesus Christ.
[34:21] We love you and praise you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Thank you.