We're going this morning to conclude our short series on Caleb. If you've been here in this past few weeks, you will remember that we looked at Caleb as he'd been sent out into the land of Canaan as a spy with other men he had returned and gave a very honest report on what he found. The land was a great land, but there were many difficulties there. But in Caleb's estimation, in spite of all of those difficulties, the land could have been taken and the various difficulties, namely the giants, could have been dealt with. Now a long time, a long period of time would elapse between that time and the day when Caleb will eventually be on that mountain again or in that area again because the people were of a mind not to go in and to possess the land. Caleb was a man of approximately 40 years old when he'd been sent to spy out the land. And now we come and we find him as a man of 85 years old. But as far as he is concerned, his spirit hasn't changed. He is determined to have more than a token from the land of Canaan. You will remember the grapes of Eskol and how they showed us that the land was a fruitful land. It was a land of abundance. It was a land that was very different from Egypt. And as far as Caleb was concerned, the thought of enjoying much more than a token was something that he always had in his mind. Now, if someone offered to you a piece of land, brought you out and showed you where there were lush pastures and well water plains, it's unlikely that you would choose a mountain range or a mountain as your inheritance, as it were. But that is what Caleb had his heart set upon, upon the Mount Hebron. And Caleb, of course, in the years since he'd been in the land of Canaan initially, he had faced many difficulties. He had faced, among the people, a lack of enthusiasm. He had faced the discouragement of continually plodding along in the wilderness while he, in his estimation, could have been in Canaan long ago. But in spite of all of these things, we find that Caleb remained steadfast. And if you look there in verse 11 of chapter 14, he says there, As yet I am as strong this day, as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was in, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. At 85 years of age, he is asking for the hardest task of his godly and busy life, asking for the hardest task that he would ever face. And when you take a moment, folks, and consider what was humanly speaking against victory and seeking to possess his inheritance, you will note that his last years were his very best years. He made a brilliant campaign. against the inhabitants of Hebron in that area. And under God, he drove them out. Now, he would naturally have thought, here's an occasion when we will cross swords, we will see much blood spilled. But God did even more than Caleb had asked for and imagined. And the Lord drove them out. And if I was this morning to put a title on this message, I could probably title it Caleb making the giants look small. Caleb making the giants look small. And as we come to our sermon this morning, we do remind ourselves that there are still giants for the Christian to face. You may have other names for them, hurdles, difficulties and so on. but in our own personal experiences they are giants nonetheless. And as we look this morning in this final study concerning Caleb, I trust that you will be encouraged as you find Caleb making the giants look small. You will notice first of all that Caleb was able to drive out the inhabitants of the land even though they were a very formidable foe. Now these men, as we have noted on other occasions, were giants. And for many a well-being soldier, the sheer presence, for many a well-meaning soldier, the sheer presence of these people, their stature, would have been sufficient to send fear and terror into their heart. And when that would happen, there'd be a loss of confidence, and hence, a broken spirit. And when you have a broken spirit in a soldier, then the battle is lost before it really has begun. And if Caleb had dared to stand back and to compare himself with the giants and draw conclusions with regard to the outcome, there may well never have been a conquest there. Because when he looked at himself and he considered the giants, then he would have recognized that any effort that he would have made by himself would have been futile. Yes, he was a strong man. He was 85 years old and as strong as he'd been when he was 40. But he was just an ordinary man. He was facing a multitude of very well organized, heavily armed, very strong giants in the land. He had to overcome these giants. Now, it seems today that the devil is in some degree working overtime, always seeking to have erected in the pathway of those who know the Lord some kind of a hurdle. Or if you want to look upon it this morning as a giant, we must remember that the devil is the God of this world or the world system. And therefore, he will be out to do his utmost to prevent people like you and I from doing what Caleb sought to do. Caleb wanted more than a token. He wanted to see ground one for the Lord, and in doing that, He was now facing these giants. And you can rest assured this morning, beloved, if you want to go forward in the Christian life and you want to achieve for the Lord and to be the best you can be for the Lord in your own day, then you will be opposed by the arch enemy, the devil himself. If you look with me there, please, in the book of Revelation, it says there in Revelation, Chapter 12, concerning those who were the Lord's. You will notice there in verse 9 as well, how the devil is referred to, Satan, the serpent. The one who is the accuser of the brethren there in verse 10. And it says in verse 11, And they overcame him. by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto death. They overcame Him because of the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. In other words, they were living for the Lord and they were depending upon not their own strength, but the strength which was theirs through their union with the Lord Jesus Christ because they were washed in the blood of the Lamb. These were ordinary people. People like you and I. People who faced the hurdles and faced the giants. And yet it says there in the book of Revelation concerning them that they overcame him that is the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Now there are many giants today in the land. There's a giant of apostasy. Apostasy simply means of falling away. and that which is falling away. And the further you fall away, the more you desert the Scriptures. It doesn't matter how religious you sound. If you fall away, then you're apostatizing and starting to embrace those things which are not in keeping with following God's Word. There's a giant of apostasy, which you've mentioned on many occasions. There's a giant of people not showing any interest in what you're promoting. And that can be something which you see as a giant as well. There's also the giant of appearance. The giant of appearance. The fact that out of many, many hundreds or perhaps thousands of people that are reached, the vast majority appear to us to not be interested in the message that you are promoting. That is the message of saving grace and redeeming love. And who would deny today that these things are huge? The apostasy is huge. Animosity may be far more rampant than you imagine. But I want this morning to narrow it down a little bit and say that you and I, in our own personal lives, because let's face it, the battle that Caleb was involved in was a personal battle. You're seeking to go on with the Lord. It's a personal battle. It's a personal warfare for you. We all try and help each other the best we can. If we know you have a difficulty, we'd love to help you. And I know that you would love to help each other as well. But ultimately, we have to be engaged in that battle ourselves. We have to confront the hurdles or the giants. When I think of this personal battle, there is the hurdle of discouragement. Almost everywhere we go these days, we'd be speaking to people and we know through the conversation, through the tone of it and the words that are spoken, that there is discouragement in the heart. Discouragement in the heart. Good people, well-meaning people, people who have sought as best they can to do the best they can. And yet discouragement has set in. Sometimes discouragement, I feel, is really a temptation because it's always there. The temptation is always there to become discouraged. You look into your own heart sometimes and we like to think that we're going on well with the Lord and we're zealous and we're really interested in the work of God in general. And yet, when we look into our own hearts, we sometimes conclude, well, I'm discouraged. I'm discouraged in the work. And we do not want to minimize the effect of discouragement upon a person or persons who wish to serve the Lord. Look at your Bible. Look at the people who even Caleb referred to. They said our brethren have discouraged our heart. It speaks in God's Word about making the heart of the people to melt. I tell you, when your heart's melting, your spirit's broken, you're not really up for the work of God. You'd rather back into a corner. You'd rather pull the sheet over your head on a Sunday morning and lie in bed for another few hours and get up. Not that you mean to be that way. But discouragement has set in. It's a giant. There's of course the giant of sickness. You heard me mentioning earlier on, perhaps with a little bit of humour, how men are hopeless sufferers, even in things like chickenpox. But in seriousness, sickness is something that can come to anyone, in any form. And it's a giant. It's a giant. And it can actually lead to discouragement and despondency. And let's not minimise again the size of this thing. The giant of discouragement, but the giant of sickness is something which is all around us. We pray for sick people here every Sunday and every time we come to our prayer meetings. There is then again, I thought, another giant that sometimes we have to see, and that is the giant of family. Family is important. We need to take care of our families, that is our nearest families and also our wider families as well, and seek to care for them. Hopefully they will seek to care for us. But you know, sometimes, and I'm just seeking to be honest and frank with you, sometimes family can be a bit of a giant when it comes to serving the Lord. Perhaps a family member that has gotten away from the Lord and backslidden, and they seek to speak to you in such a way that would have you pull back on your service for the Lord. I think if you think carefully about what I'm saying, you will understand. that this too can be a giant, because you don't want to offend family. Family members influence us because they're family. Sometimes we influence them. But family can be a giant in serving the Lord. And if you want this morning to serve the Lord, maybe discouragement has set in. Maybe it is sickness. Maybe it's family. Maybe it's doubt. Doubt is a great giant. It doesn't take very much to bring us from the point where we're believing every word that God says and we're seeking to follow on and the Lord is answering prayer. It doesn't take very much to bring us to that point where we're starting to doubt. We're starting to doubt. The giant of doubt. Also the giant of habit. We're all in the frame for this one. Habits that are hard to shake. Something that we would rather not be involved in or be doing. And yet it seems too much for us. Why? Because it's a giant. Well, brethren and sisters, even though these things seem too much for us, God is bigger than all of the things that I have mentioned. If you look, and I was just reading this yesterday over in Jeremiah chapter 17. There's a couple of lovely verses there. Jeremiah chapter 17. It says there in verse 9, You're familiar with this verse, verse 9. It says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Sometimes our heart surprises us, doesn't it? Things that we're thinking. The plans that we're putting in place. Our heart surprises us. Sometimes it's so unpredictable, we scare ourselves. That's why the Bible says, The heart is deceitful above all. and desperately wicked. But look at the two verses before that. Verses 7 and 8. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when he cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. And then it follows on, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart." You see, the Lord knows your heart. He knows that you and I think we know our heart, but the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Lord knows it. And therefore, when you look at verses 7 and 8, you and I can thank the Lord today that even when our hearts are troubled, when there is a giant there Perhaps we have become discouraged through what a family member has said, through doubt, through some habit, through discouragement, or some other giant that we see in the way. Remember this, that the Lord is able to make us like the tree spoken of in verses 7 and 8, in spite of that which influences us. Because the Lord is Almighty. And you and I, because of our limited understanding, and even in sitting down and trying to think out a circumstance or think through a set of circumstances. Even at that, we're limited. You can take Caleb here. He was wanting to get into what seems, humanly speaking, like an impossible situation. He couldn't wait to get into it. But he remembered what the Lord had said. The Lord had promised him the land and he was able to drive out those Gents in spite of the fact that they were in a very They were a very formidable people. But notice also here that he was able to drive them out and make them look small, even in spite of the fact that they had a reputation for ability. They had a reputation for ability. Now, Caleb was as strong as ever. We've already read that and talked about it. His physical strength would have been far surpassed by the men that he was going up to confront the giants. The Anakin's, as they were called, And we've read earlier on how Hebron was called Curdarth Arbon, which was initially called after one of these giants. These men had a reputation, not only really for their ability, but for their wickedness. For their wickedness. Look what it says over there in Numbers chapter 13. Numbers 13, verse 32. Here's the report of the other spies. That is not the report of Joshua and Caleb, but of the others. It says, And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search, it is a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it, are people of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. So were we in their sight. Now I happen to believe that Caleb and Joshua and the men that went up with them were not like grasshoppers. I think they were fighting men. Men who were well trained and fit and able for the task. And yet when they seen the giants, They felt like grasshoppers. They felt like grasshoppers. Their savagery prompts the expression, the land eateth up the inhabitants thereof. In other words, they came back to the camp scourged stiff because they saw what these men were and what they were able to do now. The title giant, a couple of words in our translated giant, one of them is Nephal in the Hebrew language, signifies falling as you would fall in battle. And the other one is Rapha, which carries the thought of faintness or faint heartedness as when you were terrifying. So when you look at verse 33 and you compare it with verse 32, you can really say here are men, giants, And they failed men. Again, the words Nephal referring to falling and the Rapha faintness or mobilization. These were they who cut down all in their path. And yet, Taleb was able to drive them out in spite of their reputation for ability. He was as much aware of it as anyone else. You know, brethren and sisters, there is no victory for you and I. as God's people. No victory that we cannot win with God's assistance. It's important to remember that. A wee verse or two over there in 2 Chronicles. Very encouraging. Chapter 13. 2 Chronicles 13. We read quickly from verse 13 of the chapter. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them. So they were before Judah. And the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind. And they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. And the Bajondist people slew them with a great slaughter. So there fell down, slain of Israel, five hundred thousand chosen men. You see, in spite of the situation that had gathered around Judah at this time, in spite of the known ability of these chosen men, God was too strong for them. And again, I say that around us, the giants are all too strong. You and I are very aware of the strength of temptation, of the strength of doubt, of the strength of discouragement. We've heard others talking about these things often enough to discourage us in itself. But in spite of all of these things, and when you feel that all is arrayed against you, your weakness is brought to your attention as perhaps never before, and the outlook regarding victory and going on and pushing on with the Lord seems to you to be slim, we must keep looking to the Lord. Because the effort is ours, that is true. But please remember this, the strength is His. The effort is ours, but the strength is His. And do not let the devil's persuasion, the devil's scorn, swallow you up and drive you from doing what you can for the Lord. And seeking to drive out the giants and possess land for the Lord. You want to move on now and say that Caleb here in making the giants look small, he drove them out in spite, yes, of the fact that they were very formidable people, in spite of the fact that they had a reputation for ability, very able fighters. But he also drove them out in spite of the fact that they were in a very favoured position. They were in a fenced city on a hill. The word fenced very often means a walled city, and that's what it was. In other words, for Caleb, it would be all uphill. It would be hard work. Every step, as far as he would see it, would require effort. They had had, remember, 45 years more from Caleb's first night eyes on them to establish themselves, to prepare themselves for any confrontation that there would be should anyone seek to attack them. Tremendous strongholds. Huge walls. On top of that, men who were perhaps eight or nine feet tall. It is said that some of them were capable of tearing a man's limb off with their bare hands. And they were in a very favorable position. Strategically positioned at the top of the hill. And when you're in a position where you're battling uphill, let's put ourselves in a war situation. You're fighting uphill. Is your mind not attacked? Is your will not affected when you look and you see that the enemy are in a very favorable position? Now sometimes when you look around you today, it seems that that which is wrong, if we can look at that for a moment, and that which is not in keeping with God's Word is in a very favorable position. Looked upon favorably. Upheld by many. And yet the Christian is able to overcome through the Lord. Remember what Paul said long ago, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. It wasn't after the battle. It was in all these things, in the midst of them. Right when they were going on. In all these things, we are more than conquerors. In the time when the giants of modernism, the giants of liberalism, and again to narrow it down to the individual, the giants of doubt and the giants of temptation. the chance of discouragement, a time when they seem to be in a favourable position all around us and we feel that all is going to be lost. There's no way we're going to make any more ground. It is that very time that we can be conquerors through Him that loved us. None of us this morning is denying the fact that sometimes God's work seems uphill. It seems that every step has to be hard earned and it's uphill. But you will notice that whenever Caleb approached, the giants fled. They fled. Do you remember we said the Lord did more than he asked? The Lord was fighting for them just as the Lord was fighting for Judah when they faced Jeroboam. And they were surrounded all around. Things were hopeless as far as they were concerned. And yet the Lord stepped into the situation. You and I would need to pray today that the Lord would step into the situation in Great Britain and indeed in the United Kingdom. Because all that is against the teaching of the Scriptures seems to be having great favor with far too many people. And on top of that, the Christian in their ordinary, everyday battles against the giants are finding the going tough. And we're finding, yes, and maybe there's someone here this morning, and you say, yes, you're right, preacher, for me, it's an uphill battle. If you've read the book of Ephesians in chapter 6, Reading verse 11 speaks about the wiles of the devil, which really refers to a cunning procedure or to lure away into something. Is that not what he does? Is that not what he seeks to do with us? When you look at the enemies, all the different giants that the church faces, that the individual faces, they seem up there on the hill, well stationed. We're down here and every step is an uphill battle. You feel like giving up. You feel like you're losing out. Well, you're actually being lured into a sense of defeat. Because it speaks about the wiles of the devil, who will indeed attack the mind. Will bring negative thoughts to your mind and to your thinking. About the work of God. Perhaps I do speak to someone today. You just need to get your eyes on the Lord again. And get encouraged in the Lord. The devil has been busy. You saw the giants. And the more you looked at them, the bigger they seemed to get. The Bible tells us to resist the devil and he shall flee from us. And you know, the Bible also tells us there in the book of Hebrews of looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It doesn't mean simply saying there he is, but it means continually looking to him, continually relying upon him. And in spite of the fact that it is an uphill battle, the victory can still be yours. There's very much else we could say, but we want to move on and say that Caleb made the giants look small because he was able to see them driven out. in spite of the fact that some would have been sceptical. Of course, some would have been sceptical of what he was doing. He was perhaps, in the mind of some, a fool. There may have been others who would have said, well, I wish you well, but you're alone in this. We're not facing these giants. But you see, God had promised and Caleb was willing to pursue and possess and to make that promise become a reality for him. These are giants. When you see people speaking against what you're doing or seeking to discourage you from doing what you're doing, implying that you're wasting your time, then you can become a little bit sceptical. You can become fearful. And there's a danger here because apathy can set in and you can content yourself with doing nothing. Doing nothing. You want to do something for the Lord. Well, you need to be pursuing and seeking to do your best, remembering the effort is ours, but the strength is His. You see, that was the secret of Caleb's success. Caleb believed that when he was 40 years old and now at 85, he still believed it as much as ever, maybe more than ever. Because he had to seek to drive out these giants who need 45 years to think of their position up on the hill, strengthening themselves more every year. And yet when he come to the promised land, he wanted the mountain. Give me this mountain. And we read this morning how he got that mountain. He was able to drive out the giants in spite of their formidable position, the formidable people that there were, in spite of the fact that they had a reputation for ability, in spite of the fact that they were in a very favorable situation, in spite of the fact that there would have been those who would have been very skeptical of him. And there's one other point. He was able to make the giants look small in spite of self. You see, even though Caleb knew that God had given him great strength and vigor for his years, he wasn't a foolish man. He knew that he could not do anything without the Lord's assistance. In fact, he mentions what God said so often, it is evident that he learned early in his Christian life to lean only on what God says. And if anything was to be achieved by him, For God, it would be despite self. How many of us need to remember that often? We do remember it very often. If we are to achieve anything for the Lord, then it will only be through the Lord's strength. Self is a great opponent. We could nearly add self to the list of giants. We look at ourselves, we feel weak, inability. The old nature can come along seek to gauge every exploit or endeavor by what we see self to be capable of. How often that hinders us. Holds us back from being our best for the Lord. And how much more effective we would be if we continually consulted the Lord and let the Lord be our strength. And I trust as we've looked at Caleb, and we must stop there, there's more we could say, that you will agree with me that Caleb's knife is a tonic. It is a tonic. He was a man who wanted more than a token. And if I were to say to you this morning, raise your hand if you're happy with just a token, you may say to me, well, I appreciate the token, but I want more than that. Well, the Lord is able to give us much more than this. And you and I have looked at Caleb, but we must remember in concluding that he was only a man. His battles are over. You're still involved in the battle of seeking to possess ground for the Lord. And I trust that the Lord will help us Like Caleb, through his strength to make the giants look small and to know what it is to go from victory to victory for the Lord. Remember what the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5. He said, Our sufficiency is of God. So it is. And it always will be. But we can read those words and say, truly our sufficiency is of God. It still is. And the Lord is able to do far exceeding abundantly above anything that we could ask or even think. May the Lord bless you. Keep thoughts to your heart.