Joshua 14 Lord Give Me That Mountain

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for those present and updates on Barbara's health. They share details about Piper's weight and progress. Prayers are requested for various individuals, including Barbara and Ed. The discussion transitions to two instruments of God, emphasizing dedication and being touched by God. A story is shared about an old violin's worth increasing due to the master's touch. The focus then shifts to Caleb and Joshua, highlighting their faithfulness and Caleb's background as a Kinsesite. The story of the 12 spies sent to Canaan is recounted, emphasizing Caleb's non-Israelite heritage and loyalty to God. Good morning. How y'all doing? Good. Good. It's a wonderful time to be together. Thank you all for being here. Thank you all for praying for Barbara. She's doing better. A little bit of tear, but in her ligament, but it just takes that commodity of which we have a lot, but we don't want to be patient about, and it's called time. And you just have to be sort of like getting out of a boot when you have a broken leg. You just have to be patient until the leg heals, and then you can get out. I can verify that very quickly. And so it just takes time. So thank you. Continue to pray for her. Now let me tell you about Piper. Piper weighs five pounds, how many ounces, babe? Five pounds, seven ounces. Nearly six pounds. In fact, I remember a song that I knew when I was a kid that said, Mama's a little fatty, and she's going to be a girl someday. And she is cute. She's sweetness. She's got little wrinkles in her arms and in her legs. She's putting on the weight. And I told Tricia, I said, Tricia, you'll have to put her on a diet when you get her home. Anyway, she's doing well. It appears that maybe it's moving toward the place where Haley and Zach will be able to take her home, maybe sometime in August. I'm sorry, babe? Pardon? They were able to reduce her oxygen levels. Yeah, they kind of get her oxygen level settled. And she's still on a small breathing machine for about 0.05 oxygen. And as soon as they can get her to breathing the real air, then they can let her go home. And so thank you all for praying for her. We appreciate it. Thanks for praying for Barbara. Thanks for praying for me. Thanks for praying for the Terry family. And we want to pray for Ed. Ed's been fighting kidney problems, and we want to commemorate him and others and many of the rest of you. We've been praying for you. And so put your name on the prayer list so that we'll be able to pray for you. Okay? All right, today we are going to look at two of God's choice instruments. You know, God is a magnificent, magnificent musician. If you don't believe it, just listen to the trees when they sing. Or just listen to the wind as it blows. Or just listen to the thunder as it roars. I mean, you know, God loves music. And you can tell that because the night Jesus was born, the whole clouds came apart singing glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace to men whose wills are made good by the kingdom of God. And so we're going to talk about two instruments today. They're old. Brother Jimmy introduced that to you last week. In fact, I have a new book that came to my desk this week from the wonderful group that has the daily Bible readings. And the book is entitled, Do I Still Matter? And it's 41 and a half page chapters of reasons why at 90 years of age, you still matter. And the last one, I get real tickling really looking at the at the contents of it. The last one says, number 40, how I live each day matters. And here's 40 reasons why you still need to live no matter what age you are. And so the book is entitled, Do I Still Matter? And it's by a person named Kim Taylor Henry, and it's put out by Daily Bible Reading. So if you're interested, it's a great little book on what to do in old age. Now we're talking about two instruments of God that he took and touched with his hand. In fact, two or three times in chapter 14 and in chapter 15, and since I have both of them this week and next week, I don't have to hurry because I can I can blend them in and keep them going for next week. Two or three times in the scripture, it says about these two instruments of God. They followed God, the eternal Lord, holy. They were totally and equivalently dedicated, committed and determined to do the will of God, and they had been touched by God. Which reminds me of a poem. It was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer didn't think it quite worth his while to spend much time with the old violin, but he held it up with a smile. What am I bid, good folks, he cried. Who'll start the bidding for me? A dollar? Two dollars? Two dollars? Who'll make it three? But from the room far back came a gray-haired man. He adjusted the bow, he tightened the strings, then he played a melody so pure and sweet, as sweet as the angels could sing. When the melody ceased, the auctioneer in a voice quiet and low said, now what am I bid for the old violin? And he held it up with a bow. A thousand dollars? Two thousand dollars? Two thousand? Who'll make it three? Three thousand once? Three thousand twice? Going, gone, said he. The crowd cheered. Some of them said, we don't quite understand. What changed the worth of the old violin? And the auctioneer said, t'was the touch of the master's hand. So many a heart with its soul out of tune is battered and scarred with sin. And so cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. A sinless life, sinful life, too much wine, a game, they're going on, they're going once, they're going twice, they're going and almost gone, but then the master comes. And the thoughtless crowd can never quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's hand. Caleb and Joshua were touched by the master's hand. Now I want you to get something wrapped around your head that you need to know about, because unless you go through the scripture and actually dig into it with great desire, you'll never find this. When Joshua and Caleb, back in the book of Numbers, were in Kadesh Bornea, they were there with 12 other spies. Now the children of Israel had been out of Egypt for two years. They had celebrated the second Passover at the Mount Sinai. God had given them all of the necessary information about building the tabernacle and the Levitical code and all of the laws and all of those that they needed to follow and those they needed not to follow. And now they were ready to go and conquer the land of Canaan. Two years they had been out of Egypt and they moved from Sinai up to a place called Kadesh Bornea, right on the bottom side of the land of Canaan. And God told them to keep on walking. Don't stop. Every place you put your foot, I will, watch this word, give it to you. He didn't say you'd have to fight for it. He said, I will give it to you. What part of give do you not understand? And they kept walking until they got to Kadesh Bornea. And when they got to Kadesh Bornea, they began to think about who's over there. And so they called a committee together of the 12 tribes. And Brother Jimmy, having been a pastor of church and I having served as executive pastor of churches, understand when you call a committee you're in a heap of trouble. And they called a committee together and they made a committee of 12 members of one from each of the 12 tribes to go and spy in the land of Canaan and to come back and tell them who was there, what was there, and could they just keep on walking and could God give it to them? Well, you know the story. They came back and 10 of the spies said, yes, what you've heard is right. It is verdant. It flows with milk and honey. There's tremendous amount of food. There are beautiful houses. There are orchards and there are vineyards and there are gardens and there's cattle and there's all kinds of sheep. And yes, it is magnificently wonderful and we need to go get it. But, and that conjunction is always the trouble part, but it has giants and there are giants in the land and we look like grasshoppers in the sight of the giants. Now they're talking about the Anakims and they're talking about something we're going to talk about in chapter 14 because the Anakims or Anakak was the king of the Anakins and they lived in a city called Hebron and Hebron is later on going to be very important to this man Caleb. Now let me tell you about Caleb and Joshua. Are you aware of the fact that Caleb was not an Israelite? I'll let that speak in a minute. Unless you really study the Word of God you'll never find that out because if you read cursively over this you'll never see it. But it says it two or three times about him and you need to hear it. It says, and Caleb was a Kinsenite. Kinsesite. Kinsesite, that's hard to say. Has two Z's in it. Kinsesite. And the Kinsesites were a tribe from Esau, Jacob's brother. They were Edomites. And when Jacob, now the older brother of Jacob in Esau, was told by God to take his family and go to Egypt because he had a plan for them. The plan that they did not know was that God had already planted Joseph in Egypt waiting for them to come. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, you've got to understand God has a wonderful plan for our lives if we'll just follow it. God had already said Joseph. He thought Joseph was dead. Jacob thought Joseph was dead. Joseph was already in Egypt. He was such a magnificent man. He'd already made prime minister. He was running the show. And God told Jacob, Jacob take your family and go to Egypt. And he started toward Egypt and on the way he passed by Edom with his group. And it appears that the Kinsesites, who were under the leadership of a man by the name of Jehuzel, decided that they were going to join forces with Judah and go with them to Egypt. And so it appears that these Kinsesites joined forces with Judah, with Jacob, Judah being the lead tribe, and they were going down to Egypt together. And so Caleb was a Kinsesite and he was from this tribe of Edom. And when the twelve tribes, when the twelve spies were chosen, he was the only one. He was so beautifully attached and so lovingly enjoyed the faith that he had with the eternal Jehovah God, that the whole tribe of Judah, when they decided to get a spy to represent them to look out the land of Canaan, they chose a Kinsesite rather than an Israelite. And Caleb went with the twelve and he was the only of the twelve who was not an Israelite. He was a Kinsesite and he went with them. And he was quite, quite the man. He was a wonderful warrior. He was battle-tested. He was trustworthy. He was true blue. He was the kind of man God would like to have. He was a man God wanted and God had him. And you know what happened at Kadesh Barnea? They decided that they were not going to go into the land, that they were going to disobey the word of God who told them, just keep on walking. What part of give do you not understand? I'm going to give it to you. And they said, no, they're giants. Yes, there were giants there. There were giants in Hebron. And this came from the word that came from the book of Genesis, where in the book of Genesis it talks about giants. Yes, there were some tall men during this period of time. There were five down in Philistia. One of them's name was Goliath. He had four brothers. Later on when David gets ready to fight Goliath, he goes down to the brook and he picks out five stones. Have you ever figured out why David picked out five stones? Goliath had four brothers. He picked out a stone for each of the brothers. And eventually, if you read the end of the life of David, David's army will kill the other four giants, the other four brothers. But David took five stones because he knew that if he killed Goliath, he had four brothers. And you remember the law of the meads and the conversions? An eye for an eye and a what for a what? If you kill my brother, I can kill you. If you kill my brother, I can kill your brother. David was prepared. He got five rocks, picked up the stone, went and killed Goliath. And the other four wanted his hide ever since then. So there were giants. There were tall men. Yes, Goliath was one. Anak was one. The leader of this particular tribe in Hebron, the tribe of the Anakites, was a giant. Yes, they were not lying. There were giants in the land. But God said, I will give it to you. But they didn't want it. And so they abrogated the word of God. And they told God, we're not going. And in the 14th chapter of the book of Numbers, God tells them what's going to happen to them. And here's why I want you to start wrapping your head around something, because you need to know this. Because it's very important. It is from this particular activity that God is going to give an army to Joshua that you've never even thought about. Jacob, now with his family, the Israelites, Caleb, and Joshua. Joshua was from Ephraim. That was one of Joseph's grandsons. And Ephraim and Manasseh were the two grandsons of Joseph. And they will be in the tribe. And so now, here they stand, Kadesh Barnea, Caleb and Joshua, and the other ten. We can't go. God said, okay, here's what I'm going to do. In verse 27 of chapter 14 in the book of Numbers, he says, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings which the children of Israel murmur against me. Say to them, as I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you. Now get this wrapped around your mind. The carcasses of you who have murmured against me shall fall in the wilderness. All of you who are numbered according to your entire number from 20 years of age and older, you shall die in the wilderness. Think about that. Everybody 20 years of age and older is going to die in the wilderness, except for Caleb, the son of Gethsemane, and Joshua, the son of Nun. You shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you to dwell. But as for you and your carcasses, you are going to drop in the wilderness. Now, they've been gone two years from Egypt, and God said for 38 years I'm going to make you to wander in the wilderness. And the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 38 years, and they wandered and they died, and they wandered and they died, and all of those who were 20 years of age and older at Kadesh Barnea died before they got to the Valley of Moab. And when they got to the Valley of Moab, there were only three men who were over the age of 85, and a number of Levitical priests who were in their 70s, and something else, an army behind him. Now, as they came to the Valley of Moab, there are three people who are still alive who have come from Kadesh Barnea. Joshua, who is 85 years of age, Caleb, who is 85 years of age, and Moses, who is 120, and a few Levitical priests who are still in their 60s and 70s, because, you see, the Levitical tribe was not a part of the spy group. So the Levites were forgiven. But because of normal health attrition, I can tell you that over 78,000 Levites died in the wilderness just from attrition. But also dying in the wilderness were 187,000 Israelites. 100,000 men, 400,000 women died, 600,000 men and 400,000 women died in that 38-year period. Now, Moses is up on Mount Pisgah. God is letting him see the Promised Land. And God says to him, Moses, you know because you struck the rock when I told you to speak to the rock, I cannot let you go into the Promised Land, but I can let you see it. And Moses was taken to the top of Mount Pisgah over in what is now Jordan, in the Valley of Moab, and he looks across and he's able to see the whole of the Promised Land. And God shows him the Promised Land. And then the Scripture says, and this is the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I will have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over into it. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows to this day where he was buried. Now there are two left, 85 years of age, Joshua and Caleb, and a few Levitical priests who are in their 60s and 70s, but following him was an army that had been born in the wilderness after the time of Kadesh Barnea, and this army was growing to be a magnificently great army. Those people in this army who were in their 60s were the commanders. For you see, if this was 20 years of age, and you've got 38 years going through the wilderness, and now you're getting ready to go, the 20-year-olds who were born in the wilderness are now 58 to 60 years of age. The oldest people in the army of eternal God in Moab, the valley of Moab, are 58 to 60 years of age. Put that in your mind. And then drop down one, and I've got a full commander sitting back there. Congratulations, Dan. Dan has been made full commander in the Navy. Give him a hand. Thank you, Dan. God bless you. He's one of those commanders I'm talking about. You see, all of their great leaders of the army of Israel were in their 60s. Their commanders were in their 50s. Their majors and their captains were in their 40s. Their lieutenants were in their 30s, and their troops were in their 30s, 20s, and their teens. What an army! Wrap that around your head. Think that you're standing here, 85 years of age, and you've got an army behind you, and the oldest of the people in the army are in their 60s. And the greatest part of your army is in its 40s and 30s and 20s. Folks, that is a pretty solid army. Amen? And that's what Joshua is going to have to fight with. And so, he gets ready, and here's Caleb. And Caleb is the other part of this duo. Now, I look at both of these men as two battered, scarred, tested, proven, trustworthy, wonderfully committed instruments of God. They were all violins, but in the hands of God, they became magnificent instruments of the kingdom. And so, chapter 14 begins. Joshua is ready now to, with several different people, allot the land. In fact, I gave you a map in your packet today. And the map is a map of the location of the nine and a half tribes of Israel on the western side of Jordan, and the two and a half tribes of Israel on the eastern side of Jordan. And you remember that nine and a half tribes were over on the western side, and two and a half were left over on the eastern side, and the whole of them together, with the two grandsons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh, make twelve tribes that are going to inherit the land of Canaan. But wait a minute. I thought the Levites were a tribe. They are, but you remember that it says in the scripture that the Levites will not receive any of the allotment of the land. The Levites are going to be given cities in which to live. And the Levites are going to be given land to cultivate, and land to put their herds and their cattle and their sheep on. But they will not be given an apportionment of the land. And so, none of the Levites are going to have any of this apportionment. But on your map, you see the twelve tribes of Israel, including the two from Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim. And then you have the other of the tribes of Israel. And if you take the nine and a half on one side, and the two and a half on the other side, and you add them together, guess what you get? You get twelve tribes of Israel. And so now the twelve tribes of Israel are getting ready to go in, are getting ready to have their land apportioned. So it says this, these are the areas which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan. Which Eleazar, by the way, go all the way back to Kadesh Barnea, go back thirty-eight years. Eleazar is a Levite. He's the son of the high priest. At this point, he is now the high priest. And Eleazar is in Kadesh Barnea with these spies who've come back. He's a Levite. And he's the one in Kadesh Barnea who identifies and commands Moses to give Joshua part of his responsibilities. And at Kadesh Barnea, Moses is given part of, Joshua is given part of Moses' responsibilities. Later on, Joshua will be the leader. And so back in Kadesh Barnea, Eleazar is an old priest. He's probably in his seventies, maybe in his early eighties. But he's Levitical. He was not part of the love that went into the land of promise and came back with no answer. He was the part that did not have a good answer. He was the part that had an answer of yes. And so it says that Eleazar, the son of, in the Canaanites, and the children of Israel, Eleazar, the priest, Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads and the fathers of the tribes came out to distribute the land. And they started giving it. Now, I'm going to tell you, the last part of the book of Joshua gets to be a little bit boring because it's going to start telling you that Judah got from here to here to there to there. Okay? That's really important, right? And that Athenian was kind of incorporated into Judah. Okay? And just above there was a little group called Benjamin. And Benjamin had it from here to here to there to there. And then right next door to Benjamin was Dan. And Dan had the coastal side. And they had the Philistines. And Dan didn't like the Philistines. In fact, Dan abrogated God. And later on, Dan, the tribe of Dan that had the coastal side, that had to fight the Philistines, they moved all the way up to Mount Hermon and left the side to the Philistines. They just abrogated God's will all together. I mean, it gets kind of boring. And we're going to have to be real careful, John, as we teach this, because we don't want to bore you to death telling you that the land structure is from here to here. But we'll help you to understand where it goes. Okay? So they're getting ready to give it out. And it's in verse 3, 2, it says, And the inheritance was by lot. Okay? The inheritance was by lot as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine tribes and the half tribe. Moses gave the inheritance of the two tribes and a half tribe on the other side of Jordan. But to the Levites he gave no inheritance. But he gave them cities, and he gave them places to cultivate, and he gave them places for their herds. So God took care of the Levites, but not in a land acquisition. Let's talk about the lot. What was the lot? What is a lot? And how did the children of Israel use the lot? Do you know when, in the Holy Bible, the entire Word of God that we call the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation, do you know when the lot was used for the last time? And it was used for the last time. Now, let me back up, and I'll tell you, I will tell you before we get through, because you need to know this. The lot was two stones in the breastplate of the high priest. Now, we don't know what they look like. I've seen hundreds of pictures depicting the lots. One picture was a round stone with a thing pointing down, which meant no. The other lot was a thing with an end pointing up, which meant yes. They fit in the breastplate of the righteous of the high priest, which was called his ephod. The ephod had 12 stones on it, a stone for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. And as the high priest would do the lot, he would shake his ephod, he would reach down in it, he would pull out a lot, and whatever the lot said, that was the divine guidance of God. If the lot said yes, they did it. If the lot said no, they did not do it. And so the lot was a very spiritual activity. A lot of people said, well, boy, that's by chance. Yeah, it is. But can you see the Holy Spirit of God guiding the hand of the high priest as he goes down into the ephod and pulls out the lot? It is the choice of the Holy Spirit in the life of the high priest. And so although it was a human activity, it was also a spiritual-led activity. Now I want to take you to the New Testament. And I want to take you to the book of Acts. And in the book of Acts, they're missing a disciple. And the disciples have come back to Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus. And they're in the upper room. And Jesus told them to stay there for 10 days and pray. And that after 10 days, he was going to send the Holy Spirit. They had no idea what he was talking about. And so the 11 disciples minus Judas, who killed himself, the 11 disciples were in the upper room. And here's the story. Verse 24, Acts chapter 1. And they prayed and they said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen. Have you chosen Matthias? Or have you chosen Justus? Now those were the two men. And they were capable, either of the two, of being the twelfth apostle. And so it says, You take part in this ministry and apostleship for which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place. And look at the next phrase. They cast their lots. Last time. And the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the 11 apostles. Ladies and gentlemen, in the Word of God, that's the last time you'll see the word lot used. Can you tell me why? I'm going to read the next verse and you'll know why. Now, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one place, in one accord, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared on them divided tongues of fire, as one sat upon each of them. And they were filled, all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. They didn't need the lot anymore. They had the Holy Spirit. And folks, you don't have to gamble with two lots when you have the Holy Spirit living in you. That's the last time you'll hear about a lot in the Word of God. Last time. And that's it. Now let's get back to this other one. Now they're casting lots. They're trying to get this allotment. And Moses is trying to take care of them. So verse 4 of chapter 17 says, For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except civets to dwell in, which common lands were their livestock and their property. And the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land. Okay, so now the map you have is the division of the land. The bottom you see Simeon and Judah. Coming up you see Benjamin and Dan. Going up you see Ephraim, and then you see the land of Manasseh, one half Manasseh. And going up you see the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun. And up at the top you've got four tribes around the Sea of Galilee. Then over on the other side you have two tribes. You have two and a half tribes on the other side. That's what they're talking about. And they allotted the land. God allotted the land to the two and a half tribes on the eastern side, and Moses and these people of Israel, along with Joshua and the others, divided the land to the Israelites. And so it's divided. Now, would you believe that since Caleb represented Judah as one of the spies, although he was a Kinsesite, evidently for Judah, Caleb was a wonderfully trustworthy person of integrity and care. And when the whole of the tribe of Judah, including Simeon, who had been incorporated in them, when the whole of the tribe of Judah came together to choose a spy to go into the land of Canaan, to come back with a response to tell them as to whether or not they should go in, they chose a Kinsesite. And Caleb ends up being the only spy who was not an Israelite. Do you know what that tells me? God can use any old kind of violin. Amen? He can use any old kind of violin. And so now they're ready to do the allotment. And so in verse 6, it says, And the children of Judah came to Joshua. Now, what's the children of Judah wanting to do with Joshua? Well, they came to Joshua, and Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jethenu, and the Kinsesite, said to him, You know the word which the Lord God said to Moses, the man of God concerning you and me and Kadesh Barnea. Now, Caleb's talking to Joshua. I want you to look at verse 6. It is so personal. Caleb is helping Joshua to remember what Moses said at Kadesh Barnea. And he uses some wonderful words. He uses the word you and me. We're the only ones left, Josh. I'm 85. You're 85. We were 40 years in the wilderness. We were 45 years of age when we came out from Sinai. We're 85 years of age. Hey, Josh, it's just you and me. And I love the way the scripture says it. And the children of Judah came to Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb said to Joshua, You know the word which the Lord said to Moses, the man of God concerning you and concerning me. Now, let your mind wrap around this. These two men are the only senior citizens in the entire family of Israel in Canaan. Oh, yeah, there's an older Eleazar, but he's not one of the commanders. You've got two people. And Caleb is reminding Joshua who these two people are. Joshua, you remember these two people are you and me. We are the only ones left from that crowd. They all dropped their carcasses in the wilderness. And now we have this tremendously young army sitting here behind us. The eldest of our commanders are in their late 60s. The youngest of our fighters are in their late teens. Everybody in between is a fighting machine. Joshua, do you realize what God said to you and what God said to me at Kadesh Barnea? Here's what he said. He said to you and me, I was 40 years of age when Moses, a servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought him back words. And that word that I brought him back was good. Nevertheless, the other brethren, the other 10 who went up with me made the heart of the people melt. But I watch this word, mark this word, put your pencil on your Bible in verse eight and mark this word. But I wholly followed the Lord. That was Caleb. That was Joshua. When God puts his hand on an instrument for the kingdom of God, that's you. And that's me. As Caleb said to Joshua, when God puts his hand on an instrument and he is wholly committed to that God, that is you and that's me. And so Caleb says, look, I am wholly committed to following the Lord. And so Moses swore on that day saying, surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever because you have wholly followed me. There it is the second time. You see, Joshua and Caleb were battered and scarred. They were trusty. They were true blue. They were men of eternal God. They had wholly put their commitment in the hand of God. They were totally his. They were used and used and used. And in fact, Caleb here is going to say in a few minutes, I want you to know that I am as strong today as I was on the day when I left Kadesh, Barnea. Why? Because God had kept him strong and God had kept him moving. And so the scripture goes on to say, and now behold, the Lord has kept me alive. And he says for 45 years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to me, to me while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am this day and I am 85 on this day and I'm 85 years of age and Joshua, I want my portion of the land. As yet, I'm as strong this day as I was 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. Joshua, it's you at 85 and me at 85. And Joshua, we are just as strong today as the day we were in Kadesh, Barnea. And Joshua, it's time for me and you to have our apportionment. Now remember, Joshua is from Edom. He's from Ephium. And Caleb is a stranger taken in by the Judean tribe on the way to Egypt. And that group called the Kinsesites were incorporated into and put in. They were strangers and pilgrims. And you remember that the Jewish people always welcomed strangers and pilgrims. Song says, I am a stranger here within a foreign land. My home is far away upon a golden strand. Ambassador to be of lands beyond the sea. I'm here on business for my king. That's Caleb. Caleb was here, 85. You and me on business for our king. Now, Caleb's getting ready to ask for the toughest assignment in the entire conquest of the land of Canaan. Now there was a city to the southeast of Bethlehem. It was up in the hills. It was in the hill country. It was a beautiful city, but it was wall high. It was twice the size of Jericho or more. And the walls were stronger than the walls of Jericho. It really was a fortified city. And the name of the city was Hebron, just down to the southeast of Bethlehem, up in the hill country, up in the area where you had to go into the hills to fight. And most people of military background understand that the most difficult place to fight is in the hills because there are trees and there are hills and you can hide. You can climb up in trees and you can get away and it can protect you. And hill fighting is the worst hand-to-hand fighting in the entire world. May I take you to Germany for a minute? May I take you to a town in Germany where we lived for nearly a year? And in that town, just to the east of it, is the hill country. It looks like North Carolina. Hills, trees, mountains going to the River Saar. And this little town sits there. And during the Second World War, one of the fiercest battles that was fought was the American Allied troops coming across the Saar River, going into those hills and fighting the German infantry in those hills where they tied themselves in the trees and they hid behind the hills. And we are reported that more Allied troops were lost in the hills going into this little city than any other battle in the German force. Of course, the Germans lost thousands of troops as well. And in the little city, there is a piece of art. Barbara, what's the name of that little city? You know what the name of it is. Just to the east, it's where Ramstein is. And in the city is this piece of art. And it's a piece of art to the German infantry. And it shows the picture of a German woman sitting there, holding the head of a dead German infantryman. Tears coursing down her cheeks as she holds the head of one of her German infantrymen who died in the hills by this city. And there's only one word on the entire piece of art. Danke. Danke. Thanks. Thanks. You see, that's what Caleb is looking at. He's looking at the hills. He's looking at the fortified city. He's looking at a guy by the name of Anak, who they profess to be a giant. So let's see what happens as we continue. Now, therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim, and the Anakim were giants. They are purported them to be giants. You heard how the Anakim were there and that their cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. Let's talk about Anka and the Anakims. This city had huge, tall fighting men. In fact, they were so tall that they were identified as giants. And in this city, the hill country, it was named Kireth Arba. Arba was the lead person of the city in its early beginning. And Arba is purported to have been personally the name from which the Anakites got their name. They were fierce fighters. At one time, this city was four cities called the Theropolis. And in this particular city, there were a group of people described as giants who lived in the Canaan before the conquest. An Anak was their king. An Anak was considered to be the greatest fighter among all of them. An Anak was a Nephilim, as he was called in the book of Genesis, a giant. An Anak was a fighting man and anyone who attacked the city had great fear because of two, three factors. One factor was the Anakites were very fearsome fighters. Number two, not only were they fearsome fighters, but they were also difficult to battle in hand to hand battle. And they were able to hide in the trees and hide in the mountains. And they were able to fight man on man, hand to hand. And they were a tough crowd and they were big and they were typholen and they were giants. And it's the kind of people you would not want to pick a fight with. And yet, who did Caleb pick a fight with? Hebron. And so, it goes on to say, and Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron and said to him, good luck, good luck, hope you get it. And he blessed Caleb, son of Jephthahneth, as the inheritance. And Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephthahneth, the Kinsesite. To this day, what does that mean to this day? To the writing of the book. Who wrote the book? Oh, we can look at chapter 15 next week. The writer of the book that he's talking about, who wrote the book of Judges, is going to be mentioned next week. Oh, he's going to be the son-in-law of Caleb. He's going to marry Caleb's daughter. And he's going to become the first judge of Israel in the book of Judges. And his name is Othaniel. And he is going to be the one who's writing the book. And he wrote here, and as to this day, the day that I, Othaniel, am writing this book, the city of Hebron still belongs to Joshua, to Caleb. Still his Caleb, still his city, he's still there. And the Lord, and the name Hebron, for formerly Kirtiath Araba, for Araba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war. He was battling scarred. He was trustworthy. He was faithful. I put down here in the bottom of your page, he was holy, followed the Lord God of Israel, a touched old violent, a touched old scarred, battered, violent, yet a commander and a captive of wonderful treasures called Hebron. Have you ever heard of Fanny Crosby? You know, we're talking about people who are old in age. Have you ever heard of Fanny Crosby? Fanny Crosby, ladies and gentlemen, died at the age of 90. I want to show you what a wonderful person she was. She died at the age of 90. She wrote 8,000 gospel songs. She was blind since she was 16 months old. A doctor working with her as a child did a procedure that caused her to become blind. She lived for 90 years. She was totally educated in the school for the blind. She was a magnificent Christian woman. She wrote over 8,000 gospel hymns. And in her old age, the last of her life, she was living in an upstairs apartment at the gospel mission in New York City. And she had a piano up there. She had her table up there. And she went to sleep one night. And the next morning, she didn't wake up. And when the people went to check on her, they found that she was dead. And on the table was a poem. And the poem was later taken by a musician and was put into music. And the poem said something like this. Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can bestow. Touched by a loving heart, awakened by kindness, cords that were broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. They found that song on the table. She wrote all the way my Savior leads me. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. I am thine, O Lord. Draw me nearer, nearer. Jesus is tenderly calling me home. Near the cross. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Saved by grace. Some day the silver cord will break and I alone will now shall sing. For in that door when I awake, I'm the presence of the King. And I shall see Him face to face and I will say, Saved by grace. Standing across me. She wrote, Tell me the story of Jesus. Right on my heart, every word. Tell me the story of Jesus, sweetest that I've ever heard. Now, in her last years, she wrote, To God be the glory. Did you know that? 8,000 hymns. An old, blind, unusable violin picked up by the master's hand and used to bless the kingdom of God. Remember, folks, God's not through with you yet. In fact, I want to tell you something. You still matter. And no matter how old you are, no matter how old Caleb was, no matter how old Fannie Crosby was, no matter how useless we are, God, if you follow Him wholly, will use you will use you to bless His kingdom. Now, next week, we're going to find out about Caleb and his son and his daughter-in-law. And we're going to find out what he did after he took over Hebron. And it's an interesting story in verse chapter 15 about two chapters about Caleb. And we'll see what goes on then. But the thing you remember is, you and me. Don't forget those words. Caleb said, Josh, remember Kadesh Barnea? It was you. And it was me, Joshua, that God said He would do it to. And He's done it. Now, as we go out this week, hey, gang, it's not the preachers. It's not the teachers. It's not the missionaries. It's not those who are called by God. It's you. And it's me who are touched by the master's hand. Go as a master, Josh. Heavenly Father, thank you for the life of Caleb. Thank you for a man who was a stranger, a foreigner, an alien, a tribe that wasn't even of Jacob. He was of the tribe of Esau. He was an Edomite, Father. He was nothing. He was a sold-out. He was a has-been. And yet his tribe, joined with Judah, became invested in the kingdom of God through Jacob, his uncle. And, Father, because of that, Caleb is allowed to be touched by the hand of Almighty God and to be used as one of two people who lived through the entire wilderness wandering and came into the land of Canaan as conquerors in their 86 years of life. Thank you, Father, for keeping us in a place where we can be used. And I do matter. And my friends here matter. And we matter to the kingdom of God for it is in your holy name that we thank you and pray. Amen. See you next week.