I. Introduction
A. The Sidekick
1. In most hero movies, there is a hero, but there is often a sidekick, too.
2. The sidekick usually doesn’t get an origin story; they just kind of show up.
3. The sidekick also ends up needing the hero’s help at some point and often provides comic relief.
B. Joshua and Caleb
1. In our passage tonight we read about the twelve spies who went in to spy on the land of Canaan.
2. Only two spies give a favorable report: Joshua and Caleb. We often focus a lot on Joshua, but what about Caleb? Was he just a sidekick?
3. I think we’ll find tonight that Caleb was more than a sidekick, so tonight we’ll give him his own spinoff lesson.
C. Review of Hebrew Series: Better
1. This is written to a group of Christians who are experiencing some type of persecution.
2. They are weary and in danger of giving in to false teaching.
3. They are reminded that Jesus offers a better hope for this life and the next.
4. Hebrews 3:7-4:13
a. First Week: The Promise of Rest
b. Second Week: How to Heal a Hardened Heart
c. Tonight, we examine someone who characterizes the message from our passage: Caleb.
D. Caleb
1. When the spies return from their recon and give a report, only Joshua and Caleb believe the Lord will give them victory. The other ten spies only see obstacles, not opportunities.
2. There is a key bit of information we learn about Caleb in Numbers 14. God says that Caleb “has a different spirit.”
3. The Hebrew word for spirit is רוּחַ, which can mean wind, breath, desire, courage, etc. It really depends on the context to determine what is meant. In this case, it refers to Caleb’s courage and desire.
4. What can we learn from this sidekick’s spirit that can help us enter the Promised Land?
II. A Different Spirit
A. Spirit of
1. Caleb’s spirit was in his faith in God and His promises.
a. When all the evidence of the enemy is presented by the other spies it seems like an overwhelmingly bad decision to try to take the land.
b. Caleb quiets the people and provides a statement of courage and trust. (Numbers 13:30)
2. Caleb could only be courageous because his courage was based on believing that God would keep His word.
a. Roy Gane makes the following observation about the other spies and the Israelites who believed them, “Most Israelites of Caleb’s generation never quite get the hang of what freedom is all about. They think freedom is milk and honey and that Moses is supposed to lead them quickly and comfortably into paradise. But when obstacles loom on the horizon, their freedom becomes chaos, and they miss their unadventurous life of slavery because they are still slaves at heart.”
b. The other spies suffered from the grasshopper complex (Num 13:33), but Caleb examined himself in light of how God saw him, not how he appeared to his enemy.
c. The ten spies make no mention of God at all, but Joshua and Caleb do (Num 14:7-9).
3. The only way to find the Sabbath rest the Hebrew writer refers to is to have a spirit of trust.
B. Spirit of
1. Caleb’s in God led him to obey.
a. The phrase, “…yet I wholly followed the Lord, my God…” is found six times in Scripture regarding Caleb (Numbers 14:24, 32:12; Deut 1:36; Josh 14:8-9, 14).
b. We would say that Caleb was “all in.”
2. Loyalty is a word that comes to mind when I think of obedience.
a. Dane observes that Caleb could easily have sided with the majority opinion of the ten spies, but his heart belonged to God.
b. Caleb’s loyalty to God led him to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.
c. Psalm 119:10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
3. In Hebrews 3-4, we learn that the Israelites’ disobedience was a matter of hardheartedness, as the writer quotes from Psalm 95 (Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7).
4. When the Lord has your , your obedience follows.
C. Spirit of
1. Caleb’s spirit found its from the Lord.
2. Caleb’s Strength
a. Caleb is eighty-five years old at this point, but he hasn’t slowed down. When the Israelites finally begin to conquer the land of Canaan, Caleb approaches Joshua with a land request. (Joshua 14:10)
b. “I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me…” (Josh 14:11)
c. In those 40 years of wandering, the trials had not robbed Caleb of his strength.
d. He had not allowed that time to diminish the work God had given him.
3. Strength in the Wilderness
a. Remember that the letter to the Hebrews is due to weariness. When trials come, they steal our strength.
b. Throughout Scripture, God has reassured us that we are not alone in our struggles and that His strength can pull us through the worst of circumstances:
i. Nehemiah 8:10 …the joy of the Lord is your strength.
ii. Habakkuk 3:19 God, the Lord, is my strength
iii. 2 Timothy 1:7 …for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control
iv. Ephesians 6:10 …be strong in the Lord and in the strength (power) of His might
4. Power of Belief
a. Crane states, “Disbelief is cowardice that correctly assesses the impossibility of a situation but fails to take God into account, thereby snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.”
b. Illustration: General George McClellan is remembered for the victories he missed. Some historians believe that the American Civil War could have ended much earlier than it did if McClellan had utilized the Army of the Potomac more effectively. One case in point is the occasion when McClellan is presented with General Lee’s battle plans to divide the Army of Northern Virginia into five groups, thus making him susceptible to attack. Even though McClellan moved his troops more quickly than he was known to do on previous occasions, his delay still allowed Lee to change his strategy and gather his forces.
c. There are times that we allow doubt, defeat, distractions, and a host of other things to paralyze us.
5. Caleb was a man who understood that whatever the Israelites faced, God would be with them if they trusted in His strength rather than their own.
6. We can have a spirit of strength if we will trust in God’s power more than our .
III. Conclusion
A. Caleb, A Spiritual Hero
1. As a result of Caleb’s faith, he inherits the land of Judah. (He is from the tribe of Judah–Numbers 13:6).
2. Because of Caleb, “the land had rest from war” (Joshua 14:15).
3. Caleb’s spirit led a new generation to follow God with boldness and courage because they trusted in the strength of God.
B. Invitation
1. The challenges of life can paralyze us with fear, doubt, and dismay.
2. God seeks to instill within us a spirit of boldness, but His Spirit must be within you.