READ: NUMBERS 13:17-33 TEXT: v30 WE ARE ABLE TO WELL OVERCOME IT
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at
once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
Context: Moses sent out 12 spies (1/12 tribes) to spy out the land/Canaan a.k.a. the Promised Land (v17)
A fact finding mission (v18-20)
Which they did (v21-25)
The report was certainly sweet/sour
It was certainly a land to be desired as previously reported (v27)
Nevertheless there were certain problems (v28-29)
The people were inclined to doubt that they could inherit the Promised
Land, but Caleb stilled them and stated that they could - being not
only able, but well able to overcome any difficulties
Entering into the Promised Land here pictures entering into the reality
of God's salvation and Caleb's words are teaching us that through
Christ, any sinner is able to enter into salvation
Note: Caleb spoke these words indiscriminately and to people who did
not ultimately enter into the possession and who perished/wilderness
This justifies us looking every last sinner in the face, viewing him as if he were elect (and unless he dies/unbelief, who are we to deny it?) and invite/exhort him to flee for refuge to Jesus Christ
This is the Biblical example - both here and especially in the NT,
where Paul (Acts 13) spoke indiscriminately to the crowd with words like "To you is this word of salvation sent" even though (later) many of them would judge themselves unworthy of eternal life (v46)
4 things we, as sinners, are "well able" to overcome
1) THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME THE RIGHTEOUS CLAIMS OF THE LAW OF GOD AGAINST US:
Perhaps this is a little left/centre to put this thought in here as
pictured by walled cities manned by ferocious children/Anak etc.,
Let's mention it any way. God's law does keep sinners out of heaven
A/ God's law is inflexible and unbending in its righteousness
Can never be said for man's law
Man's law chops/changes regularly - Man's law seldom tightens its grip,
but is often relaxed to reflect the sinful demands of its framers
Even when the relaxing of the law leads to or towards the total
breakdown of law/order and decency etc., and increases misery etc., the
demands for further compromises are forcefully made and any attempts to
prevent them grievously maligned:- "Taliban"
But God's law does not swing according to popular opinion or demands
B/ Seen: The expulsion/from God's presence of all who disobeyed God
From the angels/sinned through to Adam and Eve and then Cain etc.,
The law/God has shown itself to be inflexible. Light cannot have fellowship with darkness, no matter who is involved
Even in the Day/Judgement at the end/age…we still have sinners
being banished from God's favourable presence into everlasting fires
Why? Because His Law is inflexible - Knows no compromise or change
standards. Neither too tight/relaxed, or too relaxed to be tightened
C/ This truth is suggested also by the cherubim/God keeping the way/Tree of Life guarded by the sword/fire (Genesis 3:24)
Thought here: Not only keeping it open but also keeping it pure i.e. by admitting none but whom the Law/God permits to come
D/ How then can the guilty sinner come to enjoy salvation?
We answer: By Christ
Important: Christ did not in any way compromise the Law/God
He said He wouldn't (Matthew 5:17) and He didn't
The condemned sinner can go free because the Lord Jesus took every last
demand of the righteous, burning, uncompromising law/God upon Himself
in the sinner's place. Calvary is the ultimate proof
God spared not His own Son
When His Son took the sins of His people upon His own body/tree, God forsook Him - No law for Christ and another for sinners
E/ If the sinner worries that God is too holy to save Him, then this fear can be overcome - and well overcome - through Christ
He has silenced the law/God against His own people - not by negotiating
a compromise or by destroying it…but by meeting its every last
demand and satisfying it on our behalf
Now a non issue as far as being a reason not to come is concerned
2) THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME THE NATURAL DISPOSITION/UNBELIEF OF OUR HEARTS:
A/ Another real barricade/road to God - our naturally, sinful and
deceitful hearts that love darkness and sin rather than light/purity
B/ Here is an encouragement for us in the Bible
To merely acknowledge this truth of our own wickedness indicates the gracious moving/God upon us.
Many who won't even acknowledge it
Or if they eventually do - so loaded with qualifications as to render the confession practically worthless
These folk will not be saved.
If what they say is true…then they do not saved or at least Jesus Christ to save them
Only saves real, genuine, helpless sinners
But if we acknowledging this truth because the Spirit/God is convicting
us of our sins…then here's evidence God is already at work upon
us
C/ This is why preachers must emphasise two unpalatable things:
[i] The demands: the law/God - to reveal depths/sin (Romans 3:20)
[ii] The need of repentance - another necessity to bring the sinner to the place of salvation
C/ Gospel is not about reforming the heart, but having it replaced or regenerated (i.e. born again)
Christ told a parable about the danger of merely reforming the heart:
Matthew 12:43-45 Look at the 3 adjectives backwards:
[i] Garnished (Nice/view) [ii] Swept (reformed) [iii] Empty (!)
Gospel promise is this: I will give you a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26)
D/ This wicked heart manifests itself so many ways when it comes to the gospel
Indeed…it comes almost to its own when it's very existence is under the greatest threat
[i] It cries that it cannot believe the gospel and so venture itself upon the gracious and whosoever will promises/God
Ans:- This should not be taken as an excuse to sit back
A man/Bible cried: "I believe…help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24)
If the sinner is genuine in this belief of his own inability, then it will manifest itself in the greatest distress/soul
I've heard people say it, but they couldn't have cared less about the matter
Only an excuse
The sinner who is really concerned about his unbelief should kneel in prayer and tell God about it
Will he in prayer accuse God of being a Liar? Or (a lesser charge)
being somewhat misguided in offering something so great to all who come
and call upon His name?
If the sinner then should reply: "I cannot trust myself to come with a
proper faith" - We would ask him to define " a proper faith" and ask
him where does the Bible ask us to "trust himself"
Indeed: He that trusts his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26)
A truly awakened soul casts himself completely with all his failures upon the work/Cross
Faith is not the basis of salvation
It is Christ
When Caleb called these men to go up/possess the land…he was not
urging them to trust their own selves/faith…but to trust God
They could prove nothing one way/other until they went over Jordan and took on the Canaanites
Caleb had no doubts: Well able
3) THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME THE MANY IMAGINATIONS OF SATAN TO HOLD US BACK:
If the evil heart is the enemy within…the Devil: the enemy without
He is at once a vicious, malignant, brutal and cruel foe
He is the present possessor of the soul/unsaved and whose hatred of the soul leaving his servitude cannot be measured
Therefore he takes many measures to prevent the soul from coming
A/ He tells the soul there is no God (Atheism) or it is impossible to know if there is a God (Agnosticism)
What short term relief/guilty!
He can now find another reason or to be more accurate another person/persons to blame for his guilt trip
He can blame the church for creating conditions leading to guilt
He can blame religion for all wars and a money making racket etc.,
Through Christ, we are able to overcome this most foundational lie
Christ sent the Spirit/God to convict men/sin and when the Spirit
really starts convicting…the cover of atheism is blown away
B/ Satan then goes to the other extreme and persuades men that a little religion suffices to rid them of guilt
Sees them settled into a nice little Pharisee led type church where
even occasional attendance is considered enough to cover all their past
sins
Again...if the Spirit/God is working, this fails to work for any length of time either
Desperate sinner starts to look more/more to Christ
C/ Satan, never one to surrender to the very last, then plays his master card
He urges the sinner to delay his great decision.
Danger of which is covered in this very OT incident
One reason why Caleb urged to folk to go up immediately (text)
D/ The Lord Jesus can silence every attack of the Devil
The Divine Sower can plant seeds that the Evil One cannot remove or
hamper - and we can urge sinners to disregard any lying words of the
Prince/Hell and be assured: they can overcome by His divine power
They are not pioneers in this matter. Only standing where every last
child/God both dead/alive has ever stood. We all struggled.
Every last child/God has overcome at the last
We have but cast ourselves upon the mercy/power of God which flows from
the Cross/Empty Tomb of Christ and we have/will defeated Hell
4) THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME THE MANY SEDUCTIONS OF THE WORLD TO HOLD US BACK:
A/ These take place in many different forms, which I will but mention
[i] Family and social pressures including work mates/friends etc.,
[ii] Financial/business considerations
B/ Christ challenged anything standing between the soul and Him (Mark 8:36-37)
He promised that any losses would be more made up, both in this life and then life to come (Mark 10:30)
C/ Many have been enabled to overcome because of Christ
In closing: When Caleb said "Let us go up at once" this indicated not only the element of "Don't procrastinate"
but also: "There is no reason why you shouldn't" True. Come to Christ etc.,
Appeal