06 -- MOUNT HEBRON
The Mount of Possession.
Dear reader, we read in the 14th Chapter of the Book of Joshua,
that when Caleb was four score and five years old he said to Joshua,
"Give me this mountain for a
possession forever," and we read that Joshua blessed him and gave him
the mountain for an
everlasting possession.
One beautiful thing
about it is that when he got in possession of this wonderful gift it was
on his birthday, the day that he was 85 years old. Another thing that I
want you to notice is the kind
of gift that this man asked for. He surely had lofty desires; he asked
for a mountain. That was the
biggest thing in the world. He did not ask for a mole hill, and he did
not ask for a beautiful plain;
he wanted to get possession of the thing that could be seen from a
distance.
A plain is beautiful, but
you cannot see it if you are not down on it; and the little hills are
beautiful, but you can't see them very far; but when you look at that
great old mountain lifting its
head above all the country for hundreds of miles around, you are made
to stand bewildered and
you feel like taking off your hat and bowing down to that great
mountain. I am not surprised when I
hear of the poor heathen worshipping the great mountains of their
nation. When I stood yonder at
the foot of Pike's Peak in the great old Rockies, a feeling of love and
a feeling of admiration stole
over me. As I stood and gazed at that mountain with his old head all
covered with snow and the top
of his head three miles above the level of the sea, I said, "Nobody but
the God that I love and
worship could make anything that looks like that."
So we see the greatness of
the man's character when we see his choice. It is just so today.
You see some men that make a choice and it is tobacco, and others make
a choice and it is liquor,
and others make a choice and it is hogs, and others make a choice and
it is cows, and still others
make a choice and it is horses, and others too numerous to mention,
make all kinds of choices that
go to make up the real character of the man. It has been said, "Show me
the kind of a book a man
reads and I will tell you what kind of a man he is." It could be just
as truly said, "Tell me what
kind of a choice the man made and I will give you the man's character."
You can see the
greatness of Caleb when you see his choice. He said, "Give me Mount
Hebron," and there the old hero sits on the side of that great old
mountain with a sparkling,
splashing spring bursting from the mountain side to sing Caleb to sleep
at night. He said that he got
that gift because he wholly followed the Lord. Now beloved, if a man
can follow the Lord in such
a way as to get possession of a mountain don't you think that it is
worth his time and his energy to
seek and strive for it? I get the lesson that we are to have a
mountain-top experience.
If Caleb could get a
mountain by wholly following the Lord, if you and I would wholly
follow the Lord He would give us a mountain also. The Book says that
there is no respect of
persons with Him, and if that is so, and we know it is, we can have as
much as Caleb. He got
Mount Hebron, not to keep till the camp meeting was over, but for an
everlasting possession.
There is something
about the religion of Jesus Christ that is elevating and uplifting. You
may see a man one week all dirty and ragged, and you may let that same
man get a good case of old
fashioned, heart-felt religion, the next week you will see the same man
all cleaned up and washed
and with clean clothes on. His clothes may be ragged, but he will wash
them, and you will see a
great change in the man. In only one week he will look like a brand new
man, and if you did not
know that he was the same fellow you would not believe your own eyes. I
have seen men one
week look like a beast, and the next week they would look like a man,
and by the next week look
like a gentleman, and by the next week would look like a saint. Well,
what ailed him? Well, you
can see that he has got rid of sin, and the reforming grace of God has
come into that man's heart and
life, and he is a new creature and old things have passed away and
behold all things have become
new. You are not looking at the man that you saw last week. The old man
that you saw last week is
dead and his funeral has been preached and the last song has been sung
over the last sin that he
ever committed. He is a delivered man and is now ready to climb the
mountain.
If it were preached to the
young converts all over the country, and if all the people of God
expected them to get the experience of sanctification, they would like
to go to the mountain top at
once and think nothing of it. But the devil on the outside and the
preachers on the inside have made
the people believe that they could not live a holy life, and they have
settled down to the life of
plains and swamps and mud holes and hollows and valleys.
Off yonder in the
distance is the great old Mount Hebron, and old Caleb said to Joshua,
"Give me this mountain." Caleb had no thought of living down in the
valley. Well, I don't blame
him at all, do you? If it was to do over again I would shout while
Caleb climbed the mountain side.
It is perfectly natural to hear the holiness people sing all over the
United States, "I am dwelling on
the mountain, Where the golden sunlight gleams," and then you will hear
them sing, "I can see far
down the mountain, Where I wandered weary years, Often hindered in my
journey By the ghost of
doubts and fears." Then notice again, "Broken vows and disappointments
Thickly sprinkled all the
way." Now I don't remember the author of that old hymn, but his
theology is as true as the rising
and the setting of the sun. Thank the Lord for the good example we have
before us. Just listen:
"Give me this mountain for an everlasting possession." Now children, do
we want the
mountain-top experience? If so, let's go and possess the Land.
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