Sermons of Robert Murray MCheyne 5. Follow the Lord Fully

“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” Numbers 14:24.

The children of Israel lay encamped below Mount Sinai for about a year, during which time God gave them the law and the tabernacle. Moving across the desert with the pillar-cloud before them, they soon came to Kadesh-barnea, in the edge of the desert, and on the border of the promised land. Here, by God’s direction, they sent twelve spies to search the land, and to bring back word “whether the people were strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds” (Numb. 13:18, 19). Accordingly the spies searched the land from one end to another, going up by the rocky dells of Hebron, and returning by the pleasant vale of Eshcol. After forty days they returned, bearing a cluster of grapes between two upon a staff; also some pomegranates, and some figs. And as they stood in the midst of assembled Israel, all eyes rested on them — all ears were open to hear their report. The land was good, they said, flowing with milk and honey; but the people were strong, and their cities walled, and very great. Two men alone of the twelve stood boldly forward — Caleb and Joshua; and Caleb said: “Let us go up at once, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the people wept that night, and “bade stone Caleb with stones” (Numb. 14:10). And God was angry, and said that the congregation should die in the wilderness. “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.” (Verse 24.)

Doctrine. It is a blessed thing to follow the Lord fully. …