You know, I believe that God loves everybody in the world the same, but that He likes some people more than He likes other people.
No, I'm serious. Do you believe that? Well, you should believe that because it's biblical. I mean, when we look in the Bible, God points out some people that He really liked more than He liked other people and had a special relationship with. For example, Abraham was what? Well, James 2 says he was the friend of God. David was what? Psalm 17 says he was the apple of God's eye. And you remember the book of Job, God used to punch Satan in the ribs and he used to brag about Job.
Have you considered my servant, Job? Now, according to the Bible, one of the biggest factors that determines how much God likes a person, how much God enjoys being around a person is found in Hebrews 10 38. It says now the just shall live by faith. And if anyone shrinks back in unbelief, my soul will take no pleasure in them. Friends, there are two kinds of Christians in the world.
There's number one, those who walk by faith and number two, those who shrink back in unbelief. And the Bible says Hebrews 10 38 that the more you and I as Christians walk by faith, the more we bring pleasure to the heart of God and the more God, frankly, likes being around us. Now, today in our series on the life of that great man of God, Moses, we are going to meet a man that God really liked because he was a living, breathing embodiment of what it means to walk by faith. His name was Caleb, and we find his story in Numbers chapters 13 and 14. So that's where we're going to be today.
Now, just before we dig in, let me give you a tiny bit of background. Remember that the Israelites have left Mount Sinai after almost a year of camping there and they've headed off for the promised land. They arrive at Kadesh Barnea here in Numbers 13. It's a beautiful oasis at the southern end of modern day Israel today. Behind them lay the Sinai desert and all of its bleakness and and ahead of them lay the promised land and all of its glory.
And that's where we pick up the story. Numbers 13, verse one. Then the Lord said to Moses, Send out men that they may spy out the land of Canaan, one man from each of the tribes of Israel. Now, all of us know the names of two of these 12 spies for verse six says from the tribe of Judah, there was Caleb. Verse eight says from the tribe of Ephraim, there was Joshua. We all know Joshua and Caleb. Now, what's interesting is that here in Numbers 13, the Bible gives us the names of the other 10 spies. But I guarantee you, not a single one of you knows the name of any one of those 10 spies. And you shouldn't. You know why? Because unbelief is not worth memorizing. You understand what I'm saying? So I don't blame you for not knowing their names.
Who cares their names? Verse 21. So they went up and spied out the land from the Negev in the south to Hamath in the north. And when they returned from spying out the land, they came to Moses and to the congregation and they showed them some of the fruit of the land. And they said, we went into the land where you sent us and it certainly does flow with milk and honey. Okay, so far so good, right? But all of the Israelites' problems start with the very next word out of their mouth. The very next word out of their mouth is the word but.
Here we go. Verse 28. But, they said, but the people who live in the land are strong and their cities are strongly fortified and very large. You know, it's interesting that archaeology has confirmed that the spies report was spot on, was absolutely right. We know that in 1400 B.C. from archaeology that indeed the land of Palestine was densely populated.
And we also know that it was full of very large and well fortified cities. My point is that when it came to the report that these spies gave, there was nothing about the facts they brought back that was deficient. What was deficient is their perspective on the facts.
Watch this now. Verse 31, then these men said, we are not able to go up against the people of this land for they are too strong for us. All the people whom we saw in the land are giants and we became like grasshoppers in their sight. So the 10 spies gave the Israelites a bad report of the land. Friends, the reason that their report was bad, the reason their report was deficient is that these guys had totally omitted. They had totally lost sight of the living God. I mean, in their report, did you hear one word about God? Did you hear one word in their report about God's power? Did you hear one reference anywhere in their report to what God had done sending the 10 plagues on Egypt? Or how God had opened the Red Sea for them? Or how God had provided miraculous manna for them to eat and water from a rock for them to drink in the desert?
No, you didn't hear any of that. And as a result, because they had lost sight of God, every molehill in the promised land looked like an insurmountable mountain to these guys. Friends, I want to say that this is a truism in every age. When we lose sight of God, when we lose sight of God's power in our lives, when we begin looking at our circumstances through the eyes of unbelief, the result for us will always be the same as the result was for these 10 spies. Namely, fear, apprehension, intimidation, paralysis, and cowardice will always be the result. And you know, it didn't take long for their unbelief to begin spreading to the rest of the nation. Numbers 14, verse 1, then all the congregation lifted up their voice and wept aloud. And the Israelites grumbled against Moses and they said, Oh, that we had died in Egypt, they said. Oh, would that we had died in the desert, they said. Why did the Lord bring us to this land to let us fall by the sword? And only to let our wives and children be taken as plunder. And so they said to one another, we should choose a new leader and we should go back to Egypt. Friends, here we have the charter meeting of the Back to Egypt Club, the BTE club, the Back to Egypt Club right here. And you know, in almost no time, virtually every Israelite had joined this club.
But there was one man who wanted no part of this club. His name was Caleb. Watch.
Numbers 13, 30, then Caleb quieted the people before Moses. And he said, here's what he said. He said, We should by all means go up and take possession of this land for we can certainly do it. Wow. Where did he get all this positivity from?
You hear all that? Where did he get it from? What was it that he just had an upbeat personality? No. Is it that he was practicing the power of positive thinking? No. Did he get all this positivity because he had just finished watching Oprah? No. No, no, no.
None of the above. I'll tell you where this positivity came from, my friends. It came from the promises that God had made the Israelites the day they left Mount Sinai. What did God say to them the day they left?
Moses tells us Deuteronomy chapter one, verse six. Moses said, Remember how the Lord spoke to us at Mount Sinai and said, Go now to the land of the Canaanites. See, I have given you this land. What does that promise? I have given you this land. So go in and take possession of it. The land that that I swore by an oath that I promised to give to your forefathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.
Listen, friends. Caleb was supremely confident that the Israelites could take this land. And he wasn't confident because they had a bigger army than the armies in the land.
And he wasn't confident because they had superior tactics to the people in the land. He was confident because they had the promises of God on their side. And since Caleb knew that God is always faithful to his promises. And since Caleb knew that God has the power to back up every one of his promise. Caleb, therefore, looked around and said, You know what? Taking the promised land is a done deal if we will simply believe God and step out and walk in faith standing on his promises. And so Caleb pleads with the Israelites. He begs the Israelites.
Watch Numbers 14, 8. Caleb said, If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord, he says. And do not be afraid of the people in the land because we will swallow them up.
You've got to love this guy. We will swallow them up. Their protection is gone.
Why? Because the Lord and his promises are with us. Friends, what is Caleb trying to do here? What is he begging the people of Israel to do here?
He's begging them to walk by faith. Now that's as far as we want to go in the passage today because we want to stop now and we want to ask our most important question. And so all of you folks, are everybody all ready? Hey, are we ready?
I hope so. All right. Here we go.
Nice and loud. One, two, three. Yeah. You say, Lon, so what? You know, Caleb, who cares about any of this stuff? What difference does any of this make in my life today?
Well, let's try to make that connection, huh? You know, a few years ago down at Dallas Theological Seminary in class one day, Dr. Howard Hendricks was teaching and one of the students asked him a question. He said, Dr. Hendricks, what do you think was the number one thing that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples during his three year ministry with them here on Earth?
What do you think was the most important thing? Well, you know, in the end, when I heard Dr. Hendricks tell this story, he says, I didn't have an answer. I didn't know immediately what to say. So he said, I had to think about it. I had to go home and pray about it. He said in about a week later, I thought I had the answer. I walked back into class and I said to that young man in the rest of the class, he said, I think I've got the answer. He said, I believe that Jesus was trying to teach them above everything else how to walk by faith.
And I believe that Dr. Hendricks answer is exactly right. Friends, the the walking on the water, the turning water in the wine, the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus, all of the miracles, all of the healings, even Jesus's own resurrection from the dead. I believe all of that was aimed at teaching these men how to walk by faith because Hebrews 11 six says without faith, it is impossible, not unlikely or improbable.
It is impossible to please God. And Romans 117 says the righteous man or woman shall live by faith. So here's the question, folks, if living by faith is what makes God like us more than he likes other people. And if living by faith is what Jesus was trying to teach the disciples above everything else, then living by faith must be pretty important. Our question is, what exactly does it look like to walk by faith? I mean, if you were doing it, what would that look like?
Let's put some handles on this and make it practical so you and I know how you and I can do this in our everyday life. What does it mean to walk by faith? Well, walking by faith has three component parts. And Caleb illustrated every one of them. So we're going to watch and we're going to delineate what are the three parts of walking by faith.
Here we go. Number one, component number one to walk by faith. Number one, we must believe that God is this is what Hebrews 11 six goes on to say.
Watch and without faith, it is impossible to please God for for he who comes to God must believe that God is. And friends, this means a whole lot more than simply believing that God exists. This means believing that God exists the way he says he exists in the word of God.
Let me repeat that. This means believing that God exists the way he says he exists in the Bible. That is, it means believing in our heart of hearts that there is a living, breathing, supernatural, almighty, sovereign, majestic, unlimited, omnipotent God. Just the way the Bible says. And also believing that this God can do anything and everything that he says he can do, that he promises he's going to do.
And it doesn't matter how big the human obstacles are. God can do it anyway. This is what Abraham believed, why God loved him so much, why God liked him. Romans Chapter four, verse 19, talking about God's promise to give Sarah a child when she was 90 years old. Look what it says. It says, and without becoming weak in his faith, Abraham did not worry about the fact that his body was about as good as dead since he was 100 years old.
Or that Sarah's womb was also dead. Indeed, with respect to God's promise, Abraham did not waver in unbelief, but he stood strong in faith. Here it comes. Watch this now.
I love it. Being fully persuaded, fully persuaded that what God had promised God was fully able to perform. Wow.
Wow. Now Caleb had that same component, component number one. Caleb was the one who stood up and said, numbers 14, 8, if the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into this land and he will give it to us. Don't worry about the obstacles in there. God can do it. So don't be afraid of the people of the land because we will swallow them up since the Lord is with us. Friends, listen, Caleb never denied that there were obstacles in the land.
He didn't do that. He was simply convinced that God was bigger than the obstacles because, don't miss this now, Romans 4, Caleb was fully persuaded that what God had promised the Israelites back at the foot of Mount Sinai, God was fully able to perform. Now, friends, this is where walking by faith always begins. It always begins with our view of God. A person who walks in unbelief is a person who's always focusing on the obstacles.
A person who walks by faith, it's not that they don't understand that there are obstacles, it's just they don't focus on the obstacles. They focus on the power of the living Christ, which is always bigger than the obstacles. And they know that God always keeps his promises and they know that God has the sovereign, unlimited power to do anything he says he can do. And that's where they focus in life. And where do people who walk by faith get that kind of focus from?
Well, friends, they get it from the B-I-B-L-E because this is where God explains to us who he is. This is where God puts on display for us his awesome power so that we can, on the basis of that, walk by faith and keep our focus on the living Christ. A person who's walking by faith is a person who is saturating themselves in the Word of God on a regular basis and keeping their focus on Christ as a result. Number two, want to walk by faith? Number two, to walk by faith we must believe, second of all, that God rewards those who live this way, who walk by faith. Hebrews 11, 6 goes on, and without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that God is, we've already looked at that, and it says, and that person must believe that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You see, friends, walking by faith is hard. Walking by faith always has a high price connected with it, and unless we are utterly convinced that God is going to reward us for paying that price here on earth, we're not going to do it.
We have to be convinced of that. This is what Hebrews 11 is all about, this verse we've been working with. Hebrews 11 is commonly called the honor roll of faith. It is a memorial, the whole chapter, to the great men and women of God who spent their whole lives walking by faith. People like Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Gideon and Rahab and David.
But you know what? It's also a record of how God rewarded these people when they did walk by faith. Hebrews 11, 33 says, by faith they conquered kingdoms, they shut the mouths of lions, they quenched fiery furnaces, they became powerful in battle, they put foreign armies to flight, women had their dead raised back to life again, and on and on and on it goes. 1 Samuel 2, 30 says, they who honor me, I will honor back, says the Lord. And people who walk by faith, friends, not only know that promise of God, they utterly believe it.
This is why. Caleb begged the Israelites not to doubt God, why he begged the Israelites to please not shrink back in unbelief because he knew that if the Israelites would just believe God and step out in faith, God would honor them. God would reward them in ways beyond anything they could ever imagine. He believed that. Now, you know, even today, friends, if we're going to walk by faith, we've got to believe this very same thing.
I mean, think about it now. When we refuse to compromise our integrity at work, even if it means we may lose our job, friends, we're walking by faith. When we refuse to lie on that proposal draft we're working on, even though we know if we don't lie, we might not get the contract, friends, we're walking by faith. When we fill out our tax returns honestly and end up paying a lot more money, friends, but we do it anyway, we're walking by faith. In the confidence, God's going to bless us for that. Hey, when we give up material things that we'd love to have so we can give sacrificially to the work of God, we're walking by faith. When we share Christ with people who need to hear him, even though we understand it might cost us our reputation, it might cost us our popularity, in some cases it might cost us our inheritance or even our family members, we're walking by faith. When we're single and we continue to walk with God in a contented and joyful way and we just don't run off and marry the first person that comes along, but we're willing to wait on God to bring us his person, we are walking by faith. And when we remain faithful to the Lord and we continue to trust him even through times of pain and heartache and tragedy and we continue to say, no, I'm going to worship God anyway because I know he's got control and I know he's out for my good, we are walking by faith. And friends, let me just say to you, we will only be willing to live this way to the degree that we are utterly convinced that God will supernaturally and personally reward us for living this way. Otherwise, there's no reason to do this.
There's no reason to do it. Number three, and finally, to walk by faith, we must be willing to take risk for God. Hebrews 10 38, remember what it said, Now the just shall live by faith, and if anyone shrinks back, my soul will take no pleasure in them. Friends, walking by faith and shrinking back are mutually exclusive. To put it another way, walking by faith always involves risk. I mean, it's risky to share your faith at school or at your office or with your family. It's risky to tell your boss, no, I won't lie and I won't deceive the customer. I don't care what you tell me to do. It's risky to be totally honest with people in your bidding for a contract.
And we could go on and give hundreds of other examples. But the point is, it is always risky in any area of life to step out and obey God with nothing but his power and his promises to hold us up. It is a whole lot easier to play it safe. But listen carefully, listen carefully. Without this third component, without taking risks for God, friends, you can have all of the first two components you want, but you cannot walk by faith without the third one. You see, we can believe that God is and is the powerful God he says he is, and we can believe God will reward us if we step out and walk by faith. But what takes those two things and turns them from potential into kinetic, what takes those two things and brings critical mass to our life when it comes to walking by faith is the third component, which is we're willing when God asks us to to step out and take risk because we believe the first two things so deeply. And if you don't willing to step out and take risk, friends, you can't walk by faith. Think about all the people that God asked to walk by faith in the Bible.
Every one of them had to take risk. What about Caleb? Caleb was willing to step out and take risk and go into that land, walled cities, giants being outnumbered, the whole thing. He didn't care. He said, I'm good to go.
Who's ready to go with me? Now, that was risky. I mean, friends, if David had played it safe, Goliath's head, which would still be on his shoulders. If Moses had played it as safe, I mean, the Israelites would still be slaves in Egypt. If Joshua had played it safe, the walls of Jericho would never have come crashing down. If Nehemiah had played it safe, the walls of Jerusalem never would have gotten build back up.
If Esther had played it safe, Haman would have won and wiped out the Jewish people. If George Whitfield had played it safe, there would have been no great awakening in America. If William Carey had played it safe, there would be no modern missionary movement the way we know today. If Bob Eckhart had played it safe and never ventured onto the streets of Chapel Hill, North Carolina to hand out tracts through the abuse and through all the cursing and the spitting that he put up with, friends, I would very possibly be in hell today. By the way, that was the man who led me to Christ in Chapel Hill. And you know, if I'd have played it safe and never shared Christ with my family, my father, my mother, and my brother would very possibly still be lost today.
And friends, if we'd have played it safe as a church and not taken radical steps of faith, we would never be in this building we're in, on this wonderful campus that we're in. My point is that God's fruit is out on the limb. I love what Ken Ball used to always say when he was here. He used to always say, if you want the fruit, you got to go out on the limb. Friends, the fruit don't grow on the trunk.
It grows on the limb. And if you want it, you got to go out on the limb to get it. This is the way it's always been. And let me just say one other thing about this.
You know, yes, it's true. We say take risks for God. But may I just point out to you that all the risks that God asks us to take is perceived risk.
So what do you mean by that? I mean, didn't God already know what he was going to do when the Israelites went into the promised land? Didn't he already know he was going to bring the walls of Jericho down? Didn't God already know what he was going to do with Pharaoh when he asked Moses to go back and face him? Didn't God already know what he was going to do with Goliath when he asked David to go out and meet him? Didn't God already know what he was going to do with the king of Persia when he asked Esther to go in and meet him? Doesn't God already know what he's going to do when he asks us to step out and take risk? Well, of course he does. Hello? Doesn't he know?
Of course he does. So is there any real risk? Was there any real risk when Esther walked in there? Was there any real risk when David walked out to meet Goliath? Was there any real risk when the Israelites went into the Promised Land?
No. God had already gone ahead of them and fixed everything. It was just perceived risk. It felt risky because they didn't know how God was going to work it out yet. But there was no real risk there, not if God's asking you to do it.
He's already gone ahead of you and cleared the decks, friends. And a person who knows God the way the Bible teaches him to be, and a person who walks with God understands this, and they understand all they need to do is break through that membrane of perceived risk in their life. It's just perceived risk. That's all. The people who walk by faith understand this and they do it. So let's summarize. What have we learned today? Well, we've learned that walking by faith has three parts. Number one, it means that we have to believe, number one, that God is the powerful God He says He is. Number two, it means we must believe that God rewards people who choose to walk by faith.
And number three, we must believe these first two things so completely that we are willing to step out in faith when God asks us to and we're willing to take risk for God. And friend, let me just say in closing that I don't care if every follower of Christ you know is determined to walk by sight. I don't care if every single follower of Christ you know is determined to walk in unbelief. I don't care if every single follower of Christ you know is a card-carrying member of the Back to Egypt Club.
I don't care. My challenge to you is to be different. My challenge to you is to be like Caleb. My challenge to you is to walk by faith, to let God show you in your life where He wants you to step out in faith, where He wants you to take risk for Him, where He wants you to defy the human odds and the human obstacles with only His promises and His invisible resources to sustain you. And then I want to challenge you to do it. To do it.
It's not good enough to know it. You've got to be willing to do it, my friends. And I promise you that God will do for you what He did for every one of these people that we just talked about. He will reward you and He will honor your life in ways beyond what you could ever imagine.
Why? Because that's what He promised. First Samuel 2.30. Those who honor me by stepping out and believing me enough to take the risk and to walk by faith when I ask them to every day. Those who honor me, I will honor, says the Lord. Friends, we need to believe that and then we need to live the way God calls us to live. And God will do for you more than you'll ever imagine.
He would have done it for the Israelites if they would have just stepped out. Don't you be like them. You be like Caleb. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thanks for talking to us today about real life. Lord there are some of us here today who are facing situations where you're asking us right now to step out and walk by faith. Maybe it's in an area related to our business. Maybe it's in an area related to sharing our faith.
Maybe it's in an area relating to being single. Lord whatever it is, you're asking us to believe you and step out on your promises and simply walk hand in hand with you, trusting your power alone to sustain us. And Lord it's scary, it is. But I pray today that you would use the example of Caleb to remind us that it's only scary because we don't know yet how you're going to work it out, but you've already worked it out. And if we can simply rise up in biblical faith and embrace that truth, because it is true, and press through that membrane of perceived risk, Lord what you have for us on the other side of that membrane is glorious. So help us Lord Jesus, every one of us, to follow you the way Caleb followed you.
And Abraham, and Moses, and Esther, these great men and women. And Lord we pray that you'd punch Gabriel in the side and point to us and say, you see that woman down there? I love that woman. You see how she's living?
Gabriel, I love her and I like her too. Lord make us those kind of people. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. When God's people said, amen. Amen. Amen.
