Joshua 14:6-15
I Want that Mountain
Most know the story of Joshua and Caleb. When the children of Israel
came to the Promised Land, Israel sent out 12 spies to investigate
the land. 10 came back with a negative report, saying that Israel
could not take the land. Two came back saying it would be easy—if God
was on their side. Joshua and Caleb were those two; but because of
the negative report of the 10 spies, the people’s heart melted within
them and Israel refused to go take the land. As a result, God made
them wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
But God promised to bring Joshua and Caleb into the land and to give
it to them.
Nu 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had
another spirit with him, and hath followed me
fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto
he went; and his seed shall possess it.
De 1:36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he
shall see it, and to him will I give the land
that he hath trodden upon, and to his children,
because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
By Caleb’s own testimony, God had made those promises forty-five
years ago.
Josh 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept
me alive, as he said, these forty and five years,
even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses,
while the children of Israel wandered in the
wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore
and five years old.
So, 45 years after God’s promise was made, Caleb comes to collect. "I
want that mountain," he says. "You were there. You know what God
said. Now I want my reward." That reminds me of what the writer in
Hebrews said.
To some, Caleb may have seem forward, cocky, demanding; but he
wasn’t. He was owed. He had believed God and God’s promises. Now
he wanted what God had promised. It was his. It was due.
His attitude reminds me of what the writer in Hebrews said.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in time of need.
Come how? Come boldly, expecting to the throne, not timidly.
God has made some promises to you. If you have lived godly and
faithfully, you have every right not only to expect God to do what He
promised but to boldly expect God to do what He promised. That is not
being forward or cocky. That is faith.
Come boldly, not as though you were asking for something you had not
been promised, not as though you doubted God would do what He has
promised; but with boldness, expecting. Come boldly.
I will tell you this morning that I want my mountains, and you should
want yours too. God has made us some promises. If we have lived clean
and pure, there are some mountains to claim.
What mountains?
I. I want the mountain of SOUND FINANCES!
A. Governments and most people are foolish in their finances.
1. Governments ask, tell, and demand that their people build
a house of credit cards and then wonder why it falls.
2. They set up monetary policies on the principals of
borrowing then have to prop it up with stimulus and
bail out programs.
3. The people who get something for nothing don’t mind it;
but the people who do the actual work have to pay for it.
4. Most people don’t question it since the "experts" say that
is the way it is so supposed to be.
5. It seems to me that no matter what field we pick these
days, they are aren’t very bright!
B. The Bible tells us God’s way.
Proverbs 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and
thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
1. God gives a four-fold plan.
a. Honor God.
b. Work hard.
c. Live within your means.
d. Be generous to others.
2. If we do these things, God promises blessings.
C. I want that mountain!
1. I don’t like what is happening in our country or in the
world.
a. Things are tough and they are going to get tougher.
(1) How do I know that?
(2) The Bible:
Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in
authority, the people rejoice: but when the
wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
b. But even in these days, if you have honored and
served God, there is a mountain out there that you
can claim.
(1) Does that mean you won’t lose your job? Not
necessarily.
(2) Does that mean you will not have to get by with
much less? No.
(3) But it does mean you have the promises of God!
Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need
According to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
2. The problem a lot of people have is that they don’t know
WHEN to measure their riches.
a. The time to measure your riches is NOT in times of
affluence.
b. Those are the riches that will burn in the judgment of
God.
c. The time to measure your riches is in times of God’s
judgment.
(1) God parked Elijah by a brook for months and had
ravens to bring him food!
(2) Then God sent Elijah to a widow’s house that had
only a small bottle of oil and enough flour to
cover a portion of the bottom of the barrel; but
God made it last until a three-year drought was
over.
(3) I would rather have been with Elijah and the
ravens than with Ahaz in the palace!
II. I want the mountain of a SOLID, GODLY HOME.
A. Now, you may think me foolish, but of all the things that
God has promised me for my earthly travels, I want this
more than anything else.
1. I love the ministry. I love to see souls saved, lives
touched by the spirit of God. I enjoying watching new
new converts grow. I enjoy reliving my first days with
Christ with them.
2. But, I do not want to minister to others and my family
become castaways! I must have the mountain of a godly
home!
B. I must have the blessing of a wife and children that love and
respect me.
1. I believe God has promised it to me, and I want it.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,
as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the
body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let
the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
2. I know that is not a specific promise to me.
a. It is a general statement about the roles of the home.
b. But as far as I am concerned that means every man who
will live godly has a right to expect this mountain!
c. But it is not limited to men only.
d. God’s women have the same type of statement and so
should have the same expectation.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
C. I know I expect a lot from God here, but I don’t think I am
disconnected from reality.
1. I Know it is their choice to give us their love and
respect, but I am counting on God to influence both them
and me and to give us all the right kind of hearts.
2. I also know that many far more godly than I shall ever
be have had to endure the sorrow of a broken home.
a. But I don’t care!
b. I want this mountain of a solid, godly, home.
c. I have claimed this mountain, and by the grace of God,
I expect this mountain.
D. The Bible says:
Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it.
1. In recent days, we have seen all our grandchildren.
2. While we are always looking for a reason to see any and
all of the family, this trip was mainly because our
oldest granddaughter, Evvie, was graduating.
a. That is the same child who some years ago called to
ask me to baptize her while we were on a similar
trip.
b. On this trip, I watched an older grandson (Micah) who
came late to breakfast silently bow his head and
thank Jesus for his food while the rest of us were
talking and cutting up.
(1) No one told him to do that.
(2) He did it because he wanted to talk to Jesus.
c. I got to sit with a granddaughter (Madalyn) during
church, look through her Bible, and worship with
her.
d. I watched my oldest grandson and his girl friend
pray together, and then asked the whole family
to gather around the piano to sing favorite hymns—
him leading and all the children calling out their
favorite hymns.
3. This is the kind of mountain I expect to live upon.
a. Friend, I expect all of my grandchildren to be saved!
I have asked God that if He were not going to save
and keep my children, don’t give them to us!
b. I meant it, and I have come boldly to God’s through
expecting this mountain…
4. But it can be your mountain too! Live godly for Christ
Jesus and claim your mountain!
III. I want the mountain of SPIRITUAL POWER.
A. God promises certain powers, certain privileges, certain
abilities to those who are saved, right with Him, and doing
what He has commanded.
B. What are they?
1. God’s presence
Ex 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have
found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way,
that I may know thee, that I may find grace in
thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy
people.
14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence.
16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy
people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that
thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy
people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth.
a. Do you see what Moses wanted?
b. He wanted God to go with him.
c. If God wasn’t going to go, Moses didn’t want to go
either!
2. The leadership of the Holy Spirit
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak
of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to come.
3. I want my victory over the devil.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you.
1Jo 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome
them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that
is in the world.
4. I want freedom from guilt.
Ro 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
There are mountains to be claimed by the child of God who lives
faithfully before God. Caleb said, "You all know what God promised
me. Now, I want my mountain!" Child of God, claim the mountains
that God has promised you.
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