Okay before we begin, let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, as we open up Your Word once again, we pray that You would speak to us. And help us respond to Your Word and not be like that man who looks in the mirror, observes himself, and then walks away, immediately forgetting what he saw. Help us be doers, not just hearers of Your Word, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

I wonder whether sometimes you think about how people would remember you after you have left this world. How would people describe you? Maybe if you have passed from this world maybe five, ten years later, if people were to still talk about you, maybe they’ve already forgotten you. So long ago. Maybe they have just a little bit of memory of you. What would be the most lasting memory you gave them? What would be the most, the strongest impression? How would they describe you? Maybe for some of us, we will be remembered as the person who was very kind-hearted, very generous. Maybe for some others, people remember us for being a very gifted person, gifted in what he does, very smart maybe. Perhaps we hold two PhDs, and people remember us for being the very clever person. Maybe a professor in the university.

Now imagine if we were not remembered for all those things. Imagine people don’t remember us much. All they can think of is ah, that guy, can’t really remember much about him. All I know that this guy, he fully followed the LORD. That’s all we remember him for, not very sophisticated, not remembering him for something very great. Just this simple thing. This guy, I remember him as one who fully followed the LORD. If that could be said of you, oh that would be enough. For any Christian, if people would remember us for just this one thing that this guy fully followed the LORD, this woman, she fully followed the LORD, that would be enough.

Let me read to you Joshua 14:14. And in this case this time I prefer the NASB translation of that word, although it would be bringing about the same meaning. “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he fully followed the LORD God of Israel.”. Do you see a logical link there? Caleb inherited the Promised Land. Why? Because he fully followed the LORD. That’s all. Sounds simple. This implies something. If Caleb got the Promised Land because he fully followed the LORD, what about those who do not get the land? How about those who did not get to enter this land? What would be the reason? Simple, because they did not fully follow the LORD.

This is scary. It is possible. We call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves followers of Christ. Do you know that it is possible to be a follower and yet not follow fully? It is possible to follow partially, halfway, follow outwardly, follow superficially. Superficially. Falsely. Today, this is one very important question that we need to use to examine ourselves: Are we going to inherit the kingdom of God one day? Will we find ourselves in heaven one day? And today just from this verse, we see this guy Caleb, he was in the kingdom of God because he fully followed the LORD. Check ourselves. Examine ourselves. Are we people who fully follow the LORD? And today, we just want to answer one question: What does it mean?

If we want to check ourselves are we fully following the LORD, we just want to know what does it even mean to fully follow the LORD. To answer this question this day, I have three words for you- situation, opposition, and duration. But before we begin, let me quickly bring you up to speed of what we have been looking at so far in the book of Joshua. We have covered the first half of the book. We have covered the first section called entering the Land. We’ve also covered the second section of this book called taking the Land.

And now we are starting a new section, a big chunk of dividing the Land. And in this big chunk of dividing the Land from chapter 13 all the way to 19, we see a lot of failures, a lot of sorrow. But among all these examples of sorrow and failure of disobedience, at least we see two good examples sandwiching these failures. We see Caleb at the start; we see Joshua at the end. And so today we shall see the first of these two good examples, giving us a glimmer of hope that in the midst of all these failures and disobedience it is possible to be faithful, to fully follow the LORD. And so number one, what does it mean to fully follow the LORD? It means to follow God despite the situation. Let us look at the situation that they find themselves in.

Verse 6: “Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the LORD said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.”. What happened? He’s about to tell the story. “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 back word to him as it was in my heart.”. Caleb is recounting a story. Just in case some of them forgotten, or perhaps this is a new generation and they did not know what happened then, he’s telling the story, reminding long time ago something happened.

Now today, we will be looking a lot at Numbers 13 and 14, so you might want to keep your finger there as well. And in Numbers 13, this is the story. This is the story. Moses was bringing the Israelites. They just escaped from Egypt. God delivered them from Egypt. And as they travelled towards the Promised Land, they’re at the edge of the Land and they sent twelve spies. God said you select men, leaders. Send twelve of them, spy out the land, see what you find there first. And as these twelve spies went, what did they see? These are facts. It was a really, really good land, truly as God had said this is going to be a land flowing with milk and honey. Yes, wonderful. This is what we see with our eyes.

The twelve spies all saw the same thing, but not all of them responded the same way. Consider the different responses. All of them saw the same thing. But look at the ten spies and how they responded. This is a very nice land, but we see enemies already living there. You’re expecting us to just chase them away? By the way, their cities are fortified. Their walls, very strong. And by the way, we also see some giants living there. What is going on with these ten? With their eyes they see, with their brain they think, and they decided something. They’re gonna give bad news to the people.

Although we are so close, it’s almost like so near yet so far. We’re almost in this wonderful land that God promised to us, but we’re gonna die if we try. It never once occurred to them that there is a possibility of them winning. For them, all they see it: We have left Egypt, and now we are here stuck because we are facing an enemy that is impossible to defeat. And so why would God bring us like this, take us away from this horrible oppression land to this place where we’re gonna die by the sword? And they complained and they grumbled. And they told people this is the news, bad news. These ten spies were full of unbelief. They rejected. And from there their rejection led to them lying, exaggerating. Suddenly oh, we are like grasshoppers. They are so big, we are so small. Exaggeration.

In their minds, it is a conclusion. They made a conclusion for the rest of the people. We are going to die if we try. We are in big trouble. Hebrews. Hebrews 4:2 talks about this generation and these people. And what is it said of them? Hebrews 4:2- “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”. That is the difference between them and Caleb. God promised them all the same thing that they will enter this land. But for these ten spies not mixed with faith, this news meant nothing to them. It is the same thing.

It is the same thing as we in this world bring about this gospel to people. We can tell them of all the wonderful things, just like these ten spies who knew of the wonderful things in this land. They see it with their eyes, but then they think with their mind. And finally, they say no. You offer me this great salvation, no. No thank you. We decline. And they did not enter the land. This was the situation. They were so near yet so far. The enemies were too strong for them. It seemed humanly impossible for them to win. But now consider Caleb. Despite the situation, he followed God fully. Caleb gave a different report. He did not follow these ten others.

He spoke what was in his heart as we see from Joshua 14:7- “We spied out the land and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart”. Caleb saw the same thing as the other spies did, but his report was different. He spoke what was in his heart. He saw with his eyes, but there’s something else in his heart. What is in Caleb’s heart? The Word of God. The Word of God is something that is always foremost in Caleb’s mind especially when we read Joshua 14 you will notice just now how many times he will say you know the Word of God as God said, as God promised. it is always in his mind.

To Caleb, God’s promises are so special and so precious that I treasure it. I keep it in my heart. This God who let us out of Egypt, who promised us a land flowing with milk and honey. This is a precious promise. I love it. I keep it in my heart. And so if I see some obstacle in front of me, what is the conclusion? It’s no problem because God promised it to me. And these giants in front of him- these enemies, these fortified cities with the tall walls, Caleb wasn’t even afraid. Now we all know Hebrews 11 is that list of heroes of faith. Caleb is not mentioned there. But if he was, I imagined it to go something like this: “By faith Caleb gave a different report, concluding that God was well able to help them overcome the enemy”.

This is Caleb, so different. So different from the others. The contrast between Caleb and the ten spies is put perfectly in Numbers 13:30-31. Numbers 13:30- “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” (Verse 31) But the men who gone up with him said, “We are not able”. You see the difference? All of them see the same thing, and yet one person says we are well able to overcome and the others say we are not able to overcome. What is the problem here? So different. One used their mind, one used their human reasoning and they make a conclusion.

Caleb, he has faith. He believes. God’s Word is in his heart. And when he gave a report, he spoke what was in his heart. And it is not Moses who declare nor the people who declare but God Himself declared Caleb as different. God declares Caleb in Numbers 14, just one chapter later. Numbers 14:24- “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”. Caleb is not being arrogant. As they are dividing up the land, Caleb is not saying eh, please can I go first? I want to get this part. No, he’s just claiming the promises of God.

God promised. Caleb, you are different. You followed Me fully, I promise you this land. And Caleb is just asking for what God has promised to give him. This is Caleb, a man who fully followed the LORD. God Himself declares Caleb as a man who fully followed Me. He followed despite the situation, an impossible situation over there with enemies much mightier than them seemingly. Yet Caleb believed and he followed God fully. Number two, what does it mean to fully follow the LORD? It means to follow despite the situation. It also means to follow despite the opposition. Back to our text, Joshua 14:8- “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I fully followed the LORD my God.”.

Just now it was God who declared him. Now Caleb himself repeats. It is interesting, I find in verse 8 how Caleb phrases his words over here. He said my brethren did this, but I fully followed the LORD. It’s almost like saying but what does it mean to fully follow the LORD? Look at what they do, I do the opposite of that. That is fully following the LORD. He sets it in contrast. And so I did exactly the opposite of what they did. My brethren, those ten other spies, they made the heart of the people melt and I fully followed the LORD. I did the opposite of that. Now I’m going to spend some time here looking at what the ten spies actually did. And actually who were these ten spies?

You see, all twelve spies were selected. They did not go to the people and then they just try and find oh, I want the skinny-looking one. I want the scrawny-looking people, those who can go inside the tunnel, maybe climb through little, little holes, good for spying. It’s good for hiding. You will not find that. In Number 13 if you do a bit of homework, you will see that it is the heads of the people, the trusted ones, their leaders. The twelve spies were selected to represent us all. What the twelve spies say, we’re going to believe. It’s not like the twelve spies come back with a report and then the people said oh, actually I don’t believe you all la. Let me send another twelve spies and let’s try again.

No, they selected the trusted people. And so these twelve spies were given a heavy responsibility to faithfully give a report. And what these ten spies are doing, the people trusted them, and yet they gave a bad report. It is not a small thing. This is not a small thing, what these ten spies are doing here. See last week we looked at James and how the first verse says: “let not many of you be teachers, for you will receive a stricter judgement”. Now I can tell you, I’m a teacher myself. And when I speak, thirty over people write down what I say. Why? Because they believe me. They believe everything I say. I say, say, say, say, say, they write. I say some more, they write some more. I say erase this, they erase this because they believe everything. They trust me.

Those who are teachers, you’re influencing people. That’s why you’ll be careful what you say. You will receive a stricter judgement. How many people are gathered today on a Sunday all around the world? How many hundreds of thousands of people are gathered to listen to people talk, to hear a man preach? What are they doing? They are putting their trust in this one man, and this one man has a heavy responsibility. He has this. He has the Word of God. These people believe this man. This teacher or this preacher, they believe what he teaches. If he teaches wrongly, the people believe wrong things. It’s as simple as that. The ten spies over here, they received a special, a severe judgement. They did not die as the whole other people died. These ten died by a plague.

In an interview, I remember Paul Washer. Pastor Paul Washer as he was giving an interview, he says on judgement day do not fear for the murderer or the liar, all these criminals. Fear for the false preachers because they have been given such a heavy responsibility. They have to be careful what they say. These ten spies rejected the promises of God. Wow that’s bad. But they made the people rebel against God. That’s worse. It is one thing for you to reject the gospel. It is another thing for you to make people, to teach people, make them reject the gospel. They died by a plague. Now Caleb. Caleb said I fully followed the LORD. I did not do what they did. I did the exact opposite of what they did.

They told the people bad news. We are all going to die! The people there are mightier than us. Caleb says don’t rebel. We are well able to overcome. It’s not a problem. And as soon as Caleb was done telling them do not fear, the people say eh, want to stone him ah? Now let’s stone him. This is what you get. You preach the truth. This precious truth, you must preach it. Ask people not to rebel against God. And what is the reward? Stoning, death threats. How unrewarding it is. But Caleb. Caleb fully followed the LORD.

Now when it comes to people who are willing to die for the truth, I always think of the martyr, John Rogers. John Rogers is the first martyr who died under the reign of Queen Mary. We know her as bloody Mary. What is his story? When they were taking him to the stake to be burned and they made his congregation all line-up and watch. This is what we do to people who preach the truth. You better preach what we want you to preach. Don’t preach the truth. Don’t preach the gospel. And as he’s marching there, his family is also there. His children all there. One of his child, his youngest, he’s never even seen before because he’s in prison.

And they gave him a chance. How about you stop preaching? How about you recant? You can go and see your family. We will let you go. We will let you live. All you need to do is just stop preaching this gospel, simple. And John Rogers says this: “that which I have preached I will seal with my blood”. I’d rather die before I stop preaching this. Although not many people will preach this, this is the truth. If the king asked me to preach this, I better preach it. I’d rather die before I stop preaching. This is the only thing that can save people. I will not stop preaching. And that is how he died. Caleb, he knew what he was getting into. It is not easy to go against the majority.

Imagine listening to the twelve spies and ten of them all agree and Caleb has to say something else. It’s a scary thing. We know in our head what to say. If you are faced with a person of a different religion (maybe a Muslim in the room and then a Buddhist in the room), we say oh, I’m sure I would tell them Jesus is the only way. Now put yourself in an actual situation if you are faced with a real Muslim and a real Buddhist in a real room, how many of us would dare to just say this? How many of us would start to say oh, okay, okay, okay. Also okay. This one also okay. Everybody okay. Jesus is one of the ways.

Are we able to say Jesus is the only way? Do we follow God fully despite the consequences, despite the opposition, we may lose our life for it? So this is what it means to fully follow the LORD, to follow despite the situation, to follow despite opposition. Finally, to fully follow the LORD is to follow throughout your life’s duration. Follow until the end. Back to Joshua 14:10- “And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.”. Caleb. Caleb is an old man. He’s still alive, and he attributes it all to God.

You see, the LORD has kept me alive. God is the One who preserved me as He said. God said I will give you the land. Now it would be impossible for God to keep that promise if Caleb perished along the way in that forty years of wandering in the wilderness. If Caleb died along the way, maybe that promise would not come true. For Caleb every day he wakes up, every morning he looks in the mirror maybe, and he says God is faithful. He said I will get the Land, I haven’t gotten the Land, that’s why I’m still alive. God will keep me alive until that day- until that day when I get into the Promised Land.

And finally, he says the LORD has kept me alive as He said. He promised and so He’s keeping me alive because He wants me. He will give me the land. And these forty-five years (actually it was thirty-eight years of wandering in the wilderness plus seven years of the war, so that makes up the forty-five). Ever since the LORD spoke that word. Look at Caleb, still strong. Still strong after forty-five years. Verse 11: “yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.”.

You see Caleb, he is full of energy. He’s saying that these forty-five years didn’t do anything to my body. It’s fine. Now, this is not easy. For sure it’s not easy. I would know. I mean just thinking ten years back. Ten years is a long time by the way. Ten years ago, I still remember myself, Woei Shyong, Oliver, Stephen going around the public courts in USJ playing futsal, dominating, winning, and winning. Ten years later, my knee is now paining already. All not fit already. Look at them, nowhere to be seen. Stephen becomes a legend already. You only heard about him before; you’ll never see him. What would ten years do to us? Ten years is a long time.

Caleb, forty-five years have done nothing to my body. I’m still strong. In fact, both for going out and for coming in. He’s saying for the daily activities, don’t ask me to retire. No problem. You want me to go to the well fetch water, ask me. Don’t ask me old man, sit down. No, I’m not retiring. I’m fine. Physically I’m fine, but we know spiritually he’s as fine. Spiritually he is as strong. Look at verse 12: “Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified.”.

What is Caleb asking for? He’s not an old man asking for some easy job. He’s saying remember forty-five years ago you’re afraid of this. Well, let me pick the most difficult one and show you there is nothing to be afraid of. If God is with us, nothing to be afraid of. We will win for sure. It may be that the LORD will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said. You see his trust? His confidence is always in God’s Word. God said already. God promised me. I’m so sure I’m going to win. Why? Because God promised it already.

When he says it may be that the LORD will be with me, he’s not starting to doubt and say oh, I’m scared already, not so sure. No, that sentence is simply saying that if the LORD wills. He’s attributing it to God. He’s not saying oh, I’m going to go and I’m going to win. No, he’s repeating it over and over again. God is the One who will help me win. That is what he means by that. If the LORD wills, by His grace I will win. And so we have that hymn written by Joseph Gilmore: “And when my task on earth is done (towards the end of our life) when by thy grace the victory’s won. Even deaths cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me”. This is Caleb.

Verse 13: “And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.”. It’s interesting to take note of this. Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb. Under the leadership of Moses, he did not get it. Only under the leadership of Joshua he got it. As we consider this text, this command to fully follow the LORD. I must end with this. This command to fully follow the LORD is actually an impossible command. Which human, who in their right mind, would want to follow God, let alone follow Him fully? If this is what it means to follow God, to follow Him despite a seemingly impossible situation, to follow Him even if it means all these severe consequences, who wants to follow God?

We are people who rather do what we want to do. Self-centered people full of pride. We’re trying to make a name for ourselves. We are great until- until we have been transformed, until we understand the gospel, we understand what Christ has done for us. And so it is this as we consider this command which is actually impossible for any of us to follow, we look to the cross. And there we will find the power to follow this because at the cross our Saviour did something for us, giving His life for us so that He can reconcile us back to God. Let me read to you quickly Isaiah 50:6 just to understand a little bit, just to take a glimpse of our Saviour’s love for us. It will transform us.

Isaiah 50:6 says: “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”. Our Lord Jesus endured not just physical suffering, physical pain. He went through all these. The beard was a sign of honour, and He allowed people to pluck it out, to spit on His face, to shame Him, to insult Him. Why would someone willingly go through all that for us, for you and for me? That is the love. We sing of the love that our Saviour has for us. That is the love, and that transforms us. None of us can live the same way once you understand the love of Christ.

We were once selfish and full of pride, trying to make a name for ourselves. But what a transformation. Now we understand, we become meek. We become, we have a very low view of ourselves now. We want something very different, not to make our name great. Once you understand what Jesus has done for us, we want to follow God. Let’s take a look at the last verse in Joshua 14. Verse 15 says this: “And the name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim, which is the giants). Then the land had rest from war.”.

Verse 15 seems to be a little bit of a side note, maybe. Maybe the story is done already, and then the narrator say oh by the way ah just for your information I want to tell you that the place of Hebron was actually known for a different name. But I don’t believe it’s just here for our information. I think there’s something here. A change. The change of name is a wonderful thing here. Imagine Caleb living in this land called Kirjath Arba, literally means city of Arba. Who is Arba? The greatest man among the giants. This was a place that celebrated how great is man. The name changed, changed to Hebron.

What is Hebron? Literally means alliance or rejoining of friendship. Hebron was a very special place, a place of significance for Abraham. Abraham built an altar there to worship God. Hebron was the place where Sarah died. Hebron was the place where Abraham wanted the entire land to be buried there. Hebron was a place of significance because it was a place of fellowship with God. What a wonderful change. A place that celebrates Arba. City of Arba (great is us, great is man), totally changed to fellowship with God.

I hope that is a change that has happened to you and to me. Once in our life we were searching for our own glory, making a great name for ourselves. I hope there has been a change, a radical change because of what Christ has done. And now we become Hebron. That’s all we want. There’s all Caleb wants. Caleb requested for this. I want Hebron. I want nothing else but Hebron, I want fellowship with God. May God help us this day to live as He wants us to live. And hopefully, may God help us to live in such a way that He, not people, not men but God Himself may declare us as a person who is different, who has a different spirit because this person follows Me fully. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We pray that we will respond to this Word in our lives. May Christ increase and we decrease. May we look to the power of Christ. May we be compelled by His love for us to live a radically different life. Only with Your help can we do this. Only with Your help may we fully follow the LORD. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.