0:00 Would you please meet me in your bibles in the book of Joshua chapter 13? The book of Joshua chapter 13. If you've been joining us through this bible study in the past few weeks and months, you know that we have now entered into a new section within the book of Joshua that carries out a very specific and focused theme. And if we want a summary of what the theme of this new section in this book is, it is, found in Joshua 13. And let's look down here in verse seven.
0:52 Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half tribes of Manasseh. That's essentially what's happening from this moment on. Joshua, as we were told early on in this chapter, was old and advanced in years, but his ministry was not yet complete. God still had a job for him to do. And before this moment, he was leading the people as a commander, as a warrior to go out into battle against these different people groups, but now he's essentially operating as a manager.
1:27 He's essentially sitting back, and he is, by depending upon the Lord's wisdom, going to figure out how he's gonna give these different tribes specific portions of this promise according to, again, God's will. And we spent a good portion discussing how though Joshua was advanced, the latter portion of his life in years testifies to a promise, many promises, and here's one for both you and me as well. It's in Psalm 92 verse 14. You know this. Speaks of the righteous, and it says, they still bear fruit in old age.
2:03 They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green. That's speaking about the righteous who are planted in God, who remain steadfast in their faithfulness to the Lord. Here's God's promise that the more you grow, even physically, the more you will grow spiritually. And listen, even though you and I might waste away physically, which is gonna happen to all of us, even though our bodies would fail us, there is one thing that will not stop increasing.
2:35 That's your spiritual vigor. That is your your faith. That is your understanding of the things of God. Your experience of the person of God and his work in and through you. That is something guaranteed.
2:46 So listen, as you and I are questioning what the future will hold, as you and I are wondering what the years will bring forward to us, know this. There's there's something that you and I should never doubt. Nothing should be in our minds that would cause us to make us think that we would never ever have an experience of greater fruit in God. That's always something for the righteous to expect. Always.
3:09 Now it might look different like many saints in church history and even many saints in the word of God, but fruit is always to be expected. God working in you, God working through you, and it gives you and I something to look forward to in life, doesn't it? And in this case, in Joshua's life, again, he was a type of manager looking and overseeing his people. He he's not really carrying a sword as he much as much as he might be carrying a pen, but he's still serving God. He's still giving to the Lord the last bit of his breath and his energy.
3:42 And as we read on in the dividing of this land, you and I have to trust that in the midst of these lists of the different territories that belong to specific tribes, we have to trust that tucked into these details is some revelation for application in our own lives. That's what we have to believe in. That's what we believe about this bible study. And so what happens? We talked about the first few verses last week in chapter 13, but let's now come to verse eight.
4:08 When it comes to the division of the land, we are dealing with two and a half tribes. And again, as we talked about last week, these two and a half tribes are gonna be those who are beyond the Jordan. We're not talking about those within the land. Reuben, the half tribe Manasseh, and Gad. These tribes, as we know, under Moses's leadership, before they crossed the Jordan to go into the promised land, they looked around.
4:34 They said, we like it right here. And so God had essentially made a deal with them, and they received the inheritance beyond the Jordan, and now they're gonna actually inhabit it. And so we see here that there are details, names of places and borders and and who belongs to what and what belongs to who. But there's a specific verse that we wanna focus on as we talk about the West Side Of The Jordan and these two and a half tribes. It's found in verse 13.
5:05 Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Machathites, but Gesher and Maacah dwell in the midst of Israel to this day. What does that mean? What it means is when the people, these specific tribes, came to inhabit their land that there was give that was given to them, they failed to do something. And that was drive out two small people groups that dwelt in their midst. And we read through this list of names and towns and cities, and we think, okay.
5:40 And we almost might glance over that thinking this is insignificant, thinking that this is no real threat. And when you read it immediately, you almost get the sense that this isn't a big deal. What is the big deal? Okay. You have this group called Gesher and this other group here called Macca, and they're they're there.
5:56 But if it wasn't a big deal, if it wasn't a serious problem, the Holy Spirit wouldn't have invested a verse in the bible to tell us about it. There is something serious here that's happening right right in the beginning of the division of the land. Right now when these different tribes are gonna go to their own place, we already encounter something that you and I are gonna realize is a repeated pattern throughout this book. They went to go dwell where God called them to dwell, but they failed to drive out all of the people that they needed to drive out. Why?
6:30 Because long ago, under Moses' leadership, Moses said, listen. When you go into that land, make sure that you eliminate all of them, lest you sin against me because they will influence you. And we go, well, okay. But it's not Jericho. It's not like this great place.
6:50 Who are who are the Geshurites and the Magkites? They don't seem like they're that much of a problem. And the reality is, when you and I continue to read in our bibles, what seems to be insignificant, what seems to be harmless, what seems to be small, is in fact a problem, just like in life, just like what God deems to be wrong and evil and sinful. And in our own wisdom and our own interpretation, we think, that's not a big deal. Just it's harmless.
7:20 This thing can just stay. It's not gonna cause that much trouble. So turn your Bibles to another verse that we might not think is important, found in a narrative in David's life in second Samuel chapter 10 verse six. And here's a great lesson for us in Bible study. This is why when you and I read a verse like verse 13, it's important to highlight these names and say, okay, maybe maybe the Lord wants me to see something here.
7:45 And what are we told in second Samuel 10 verse six? When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, David was king of Israel many years after this point, the Ammonites sent and hired the Syrians. And the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maccah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob, 12,000 men. So when we read of Macca right here in Joshua 13, what do we see? Just a little detail of some neighbors.
8:18 They seem peaceable. They seem fine. They seem like they're not causing any trouble. And all it took was a few years, all it took was a few generations, and now you have the very same people that are coming against God's anointed. The very same people that they left to themselves and said they're not gonna cause anything.
8:34 Let's let's not waste our energy on this now. In the future became a threat, And David had to deal with it in his lifetime because these tribes would not deal with it in their lifetime. And all you have to do is advance three more chapters from second Samuel, you go to second Samuel 13, and what do we read in second Samuel 13 verse 37? But Absalom, who is David's son, Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Gesher. King of Gesher.
9:10 So we dealt we dealt with Maca, now we're dealing with Gesher three chapters later. And David mourned for his son day after day. So Absalom fled and went to Gesher and was there three years. Absalom was in rebellion against his family because he had killed David's other son. And because he knew he was in trouble, out of all the places he could have gone, he goes to a place called Gesher, And it becomes a place of, fortification and separation and a shield in between him and his family.
9:44 And we see that even Gesher itself is something of a foothold, something of, again, a barrier between him and his own father causing problems for years, by the way. And so what does this teach us? We come to Joshua thirteen seven, we we just wanna read through it because we wanna get to the action parts, when in fact the Holy Spirit wants to highlight something to us, and here's what it is, that our disobedience can possibly carry cross generational repercussions. And we've been hearing that over and over to the book of Joshua, and that is true individually, and that is true on a grander scale. On a grander scale, what one generation tolerates will be the very threat to the next generation.
10:34 What one generation tolerates and does not deal with can potentially grow and become a spiritual threat to the next generation. That's true in the home. When you have a father, when you have a mother with the influence of their children under them, if they don't deal with certain things, you have to understand that a child can absorb the fears, and a child can absorb the the patterns, and the the character, and the attitudes, and the outlooks, and the inlooks from their parents. You'd be amazed to know how many young people, how many people even to their young adult years, when they open up, oftentimes are dealing with things that their father has dealt with, what their mother has dealt with. And it's not because there's some DNA that trickles down necessarily.
11:21 No. It's just because of the environment of what you've seen, what you've witnessed. We see that with Abraham and Isaac. Abraham feared whenever he was in a pagan city that they would kill his wife because she was so beautiful. And what did Isaac do?
11:33 The very exact same thing. He lied in the same area, the same way his father lied. He adopted his sin, his pattern, his way of dealing with life. Can that be reversed? Absolutely.
11:45 Because listen, if our disobedience can have cross generational consequences, so can our obedience. Our obedience, our right standing with God, our choosing to deal with things, our choosing to right walk right with the Lord can bless the next generation. Can we zoom out with what generation concerning the leaders of a nation tolerates and legalizes will affect the next generation. You have to understand what's happening in our day today does not just affect you and I, it's gonna affect our children if God doesn't come and rescue us. See, this is the point here.
12:19 This is the the simple point from Joshua thirteen thirteen. What you and I allow now does not stay with us now. Never does. Never does. It is gonna be carried with us, and if God allows us to have a family, it'll be carried along with our family.
12:35 And that shouldn't make us scared. That should make us excited because the principle is true not just in the negative, but in the positive. God wants to multiply the fruit of righteousness through our lives. And so what happens? They keep them, but then if we know the rest of this chapter, especially early on, this should cause us to think very carefully.
12:57 Why? Look at verse six of Joshua 13. We dealt with this last week. Verse six tells us in the middle of that verse, when God is speaking to Joshua about his new ministry of dividing the land, he says in the middle of that verse, look carefully in verse six, I myself will drive them out before the people of Israel. God will drive them out.
13:23 Then you come to verse 13, and then we see that there are two people groups that were not driven out, but stayed rooted in that area. Contradiction? That'd be a very quick contradiction in the bible. Within few verses, we see that there's a confliction here. No.
13:41 All we have to do is read verse 13 again very carefully. Yet the people of Israel did not drive out. God said he would drive out, but we are told that the people of Israel did not drive them out. But hold on. Isn't God implying that he's gonna do the work and the people don't have to do anything?
14:00 Isn't he saying that he's the one who's going to he's the one that's gonna bring victory, has nothing to do with the involvement of those that are serving him? How do we solve this mystery? Very simply. We solve this mystery by answering it the same way you and I answer the mystery of something known as sanctification. Sanctification.
14:23 You being transformed practically into Christ likeness. That transformational process has the very same equation that is being presented in a chapter of Joshua like this. Because here is the equation to something known as sanctification. You being transformed in your mind, your heart, your actions, your reactions, your interactions. How does that work?
14:50 Let's be more specific. Who's in charge of that? Is it God or is it you? And I believe the biblical answer is both. Both.
15:03 It is God, but it's also you. And so where can we go for proof? Oh, there's many places we go for proof for that statement. Can we not? How about that well known scripture in Philippians two?
15:15 Let's go there. Philippians two, and look at verse 12, and we're gonna see how there's an Old Testament principle that is interpreted in light of this scripture. Therefore, my beloved look what Paul says to Christians in Philippians two twelve to 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. Let's just stop there for a second.
15:47 Isn't that beautiful? Here's the apostle who knew these people face to face. He had relationship with them, And he's writing from prison believing that he might even die in this prison as you read in chapter one. And as he's writing to them, he says, I'm encouraging you. I'm calling you.
16:04 Listen. You've obeyed up to this point, and I praise God for that, but I'm calling you to obey even more, not just in my presence, but in my absence. Why would he say that? Because it'd be a lot easier to have this apostle in front of you as a motivation for obedience, would it not? You have this accountability.
16:26 You have this inspiration. You have this gifted individual in your life that would continually keep you stirred in the path of obedience. But Paul, perhaps believing that this is his last opportunity to write to them, is saying, I might not see you again, but I'm calling you to obey with greater zeal, though I'm not going to be with you anymore. You know what that tells me? That it's possible to obey.
16:50 It's possible to obey even if you're stripped from a community, even if you're stripped from gifted leadership. It's not impossible to obey. Does it help to have those things? Absolutely. They're called gifts according to God, But it's no excuse for lack of obedience or zeal.
17:07 See, Paul is saying, I'm stirring you up even more in my absence. How much how much would we be stirred when we are stripped from people? If anything, the opposite happens. There's less stirring, less excitement, less passion. He's saying, no.
17:21 No. No. No. I'm not calling you to draw from your main source, even from me, the chief apostle. There's a greater source, and he's in you already.
17:28 So you you draw that source from within you, and it's possible to even be much more zealous for God. That's not an excuse to be a lone wolf in Christianity. But when it comes to circumstances like this, where you have leaders that are being arrested for the faith and they're gonna be beheaded, know that God will enable you to obey. And he says this, much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. Be careful with a verse like that.
17:58 Work out your own salvation, not work for your own salvation. Big difference. One little word can change theology and can damn souls or save souls. Work out your own salvation, meaning what? Bring to completion.
18:16 Bring out what was deposited in you by the spirit. Continue into maturity what God had started in you. It's a call to walk in obedience in light of what's already been done by grace through faith in your heart. Work out your own salvation. So so there's a call to understand that you've received an inheritance by something called faith.
18:40 A trust, a belief, a knowing in your heart and mind, and a confession of your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, from that moment, something wonderful happens. You receive an inheritance. I want you to imagine now in your mind that you've received this estate. Fields of acres of land. And in that land are buried treasures.
19:03 In those hills, there is gold. In those river banks, there are things to be discovered, and it is all yours. The name, your name is on that title, and it's been given to you freely, purchased by grace, and you receive it and you accept it. But along with that estate, along with that title, you've received tools. Tools, gardening tools, construction tools.
19:27 And from that moment on, you are called to dig out. And there's so much in there, it's gonna take a lifetime to discover all of it. And so that is a picture, maybe a poor one, of what happens when we give our lives to Christ. We receive something, an inheritance, but then we are called to walk out in practical obedience to uncover and discover the hidden treasures that are ours. And that makes sense because you have some people who are saved who experienced way more in Christ because they've chosen to work out their salvation, whereas some didn't.
20:05 And so it's an invitation. It's a call. It's a command to say that there is there is something here for me to know. Lord, I wanna know all that you have for me in Christ, and it's a quest for the rest of your years to discover it. Work out your own salvation.
20:23 Become who Christ called you to become. Not so that you can be saved, but because you are saved. Not to worry because you don't know if one day you're gonna be saved and the next day God erases your name. There is no eraser beside the book of life, by the the way. But there's something for you to know, there's something for you to experience in this side of heaven, and it's a call.
20:46 But what what kind of attitude? With fear and trembling. Uh-oh. Work out your salvation, not work for your salvation. No.
20:55 No. That would be a different verse if we heard work for your salvation with fear and trembling. But he says work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's the kind of attitude. You and I have to believe that when we come to Christ and receive this inheritance, there is no such thing as fear regarding your status as a child of God, or regarding your eternal inheritance that is reserved for you in heaven.
21:22 There should be not one doubt in your mind. There should be not one ounce of anxiety that trickles in your soul concerning where you stand before God forever and ever and ever. Perfect love, finish it, cast out. Now John says that, we quote it, and we use it when we're in a fearful situation, which is fine, but we have to honor the context. When John says perfect love casts out fear, he was talking about a specific type of fear.
21:52 That's first John four eighteen. Let me read it for you, and then we have to look at verse 17. First John four eighteen. There is no fear in love. Is God love?
22:00 Yes. He tells us that in the same book. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Beautiful, amazing, wonderful. But we have to understand what kind of fear is he talking about that's in verse 17.
22:21 By this love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is also, we are in this world. So the fear that John has in mind is the fear of standing before the great white throne, the judgment that will determine the degree of punishment that every unregenerate person will have in hell. And you know what John is saying? You as a child of God should not even have a thought concerning that experience being yours because it's over within Christ. That experience is not possible for you because you are in Christ.
23:01 Perfect love casts out fear, yes, all fear, but specifically this fear. And look what he says in verse 18. That that love is so powerful that it should eliminate that. And listen, if a believer, which there are many are, who have that kind of a fear, who have that kind of a fear You know what John says, the apostle of love? He says in verse 18 that you have not been perfected in love.
23:29 If you have that fear in your heart, whether it's sporadically or consistently, what John's saying is God's love, the revelation of his love towards you has not been made perfect in you yet. There's still work for God's love to do in you. But it's possible to be so aware and so convinced of God's love. If you wanna know that God's love has done his full work in you, you know this. I don't fear punishment.
23:58 I don't fear him rejecting me. I forever and ever and ever know that I'm his child. And everything that he does, even in discipline concerning my sin, he does as a father. He does as a father. And so if you wanna measure whether or not you know that the awareness and the understanding of God's love has done its work in you, check the pulse of your fear towards the judgment.
24:24 You should not fear that. I should not fear that. But then the same book that's not contradicting itself says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. How many believers do you think and let's not judge others, let's judge ourselves as the scripture says. How many believers do you think take on the mission of being conformed to the image of Christ with fear and trembling?
24:55 Paul says that's the standard for new covenant believers. How many do you think? Do you? With fear and trembling? What standard does it have in your life?
25:05 How does it occupy your emotions? What does it do to you when you think about my life being lived out for the sole purpose of being molded and melted and bended into his image? We shouldn't fear God rejecting us, but I'll tell you one thing I fear and I'm not ashamed of it. And I pray to God that he would only increase that fear and that I would never be falsely convinced by other believers who have a different understanding of sanctification than the Bible does, I fear one thing, disappointing Christ. Not because he'll reject me, not because he'll hate me, but because he loves me, and because he's done so much for me, and because his love is immeasurable and his patience is unmatching.
25:48 The last thing I wanna do in my life is disappoint my Lord. I'm not ashamed of it. I believe the Bible promotes that kind of an attitude, and that's one of the things that keeps you and I on track. Does it not? Does not adoration, true adoration tie into a healthy fear of not hurting somebody you love?
26:05 I hope so. Because love is not just proven in what you do, love is proven in what you choose not to do. And that's the perfect way of being able to interpret what Paul is saying, I believe. I fear living. I fear speaking.
26:19 I I fear making decisions or thinking in any way that would hurt my Lord. I fear wasting my life. I fear wasting my Christian life, the only life, only to come to the end of the road to look back and realize that there was so much I could've had in Christ, and so much that Christ could've had of me, only to keep resisting him, only to have my own way, only to to push him away when I wanted my way. I fear that. I tremble at the thought.
26:55 Do we? Paul says to do it. And it's so specific, is it not? Because in the next verse after that, he talks about grumbling. In a couple of verses after, he talks about complaining and grumbling.
27:09 We think, oh, no. Complaining and grumbling. Now if Paul had stopped where we just stopped with Philippians two twelve, you know what that would produce? It would produce a conclusion that you and I think sanctification is solely based on my own efforts. I have to whip up the motivation.
27:28 I gotta somehow plug myself into something to get the strength to do this. And then we can say sanctification is solely your ambition and your motivation and you putting forth the power to do it. But he doesn't end there. What does he say in verse 13 of sec, of Philippians two? He says, as we all know, for it is God who works in you.
27:56 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. That changes everything. If you stop before, go get sanctified. But he doesn't, and now we understand something. Though there is a responsibility on my part, there there is decision making and there is a conscious awareness of walking in this, God works in me.
28:23 What does it mean for God to work in me? The Greek word for work is energeo. Sound familiar? Energgeo, it speaks about an energizing. It speaks about an empowerment.
28:36 It speaks about an enablement. It speaks about providing some kind of a push and a stirring and granting the opportunity to make something that would be very difficult to do on your own to actually do it with grace and ease. God works in you, but you work out your fear and trembling. So then, what's the equation? The equation is this, that as you choose to step out in obedience, God will meet that step of obedience with power.
29:13 That as you take step by step in analyzing your life and seeing where there should be more transformation to Christ likeness, God will meet that act of faith with the ability to do it. And so we go back to the illustration of you receiving this inheritance of fields of fields, acres of land. It's yours freely. You're gonna live there forever. But then, you have to dig it out, and here are the tools to do it.
29:38 So now you have this tool, and you have that tool, and you have this machine, and go for it. Dig out the treasures, they are yours. Endless treasures. But here's what happens. You have the drill, but then God gives you the battery for the drill.
29:54 And you have the vehicle, but God provides the power steering for the vehicle. Have you ever driven a car without power steering? It's not a pleasant experience. Very difficult. But it's amazing.
30:03 Once you get power steering into that car, you don't even need a finger. You can just drive that thing. Compared to power steering, oh, you're gonna sweat one street down. Just to pull that thing to turn. If you've ever go and experience it, be in a safe place and do it, and then you understand this illustration more.
30:23 He is the light to working at night. He gives that illumination. It's this supernatural enablement to do something that if you were to do it on your own would be very tiresome, difficult, and frustrating. God works in you. He helps you.
30:38 He empowers you. And so there are a lot of things to say about that, but let's just draw two conclusions from it. Here's one thing at least. Number one, if you have ever experienced a stirring to obey God on any level, and if you're a child of God, you've experienced that at some point. You know what it's like to be stirred all for a sudden to want to read your Bible.
30:58 You know what it's like to have this motivation to pray. You know what it's like to be so amped up to know that you you're gonna share your testimony. You pray into that at your workplace. You know what it's like to be stirred by God to any act of obedience. And here's the thing, when that happens, please understand that a miracle is taking place in your life.
31:18 The stirring itself is a miracle by God. Do you know why? Here's why. In that famous portion of scripture in Ephesians two one to two, listen to this very carefully. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
31:45 You see that word work? It's the same word used when it says that God works in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. It's the same word, energeal. So you know what that's saying? That amongst sinners, the unregenerate, they're influenced by a different energy and it's provided by Satan and it grants them the grace to sin more.
32:12 And it grants them the excitement and the opportunity and the energy to continue in disobedience. That's why you know when you are not saved, you couldn't help it but be pulled into more sin and not have remorse over it and do it continually and habitually, which is one of the signs that you're probably not born again. Not that you don't sin, but if you do it habitually, first John, the same apostle of love says, you gotta ask yourself some questions. Look at first John three nine. But he says that the same word work here, it's telling us, is use of Satan amongst the disobedient.
32:47 The spirit of the prince of the power of the air is energizing those who are not in Christ to continue to remain outside of Christ. But when you are saved, there's a transfer of energy. There's a transfer of motivation. There's a transfer of desire. And what happens when you become born again?
33:08 The enemy no longer has the ability to energize you to that degree to sin. Now there's something that overtakes it and replaces it, and it's God's work in you. And now you all for a sudden, because you've been born of the spirit, you find this ability and this longing to walk out what this word has to say to walk out. And what could have been an impossible thing, what could have been something that nobody could pay you to do is not something that you wanna do. And yet you find joy in experiencing it.
33:38 So know this, when you and I know those stirrings in the heart and the soul, that's a miracle taking place. Who is this in me that's causing me to do this? And see, the thing is because we've been born again for x amount of years, we know that to be a habitual thing, and so we fail to realize that it's a miracle every time every time that it's God's supernatural work in your life that's causing you to take your steps in that direction. Now, number two, we are to take advantage of those stirrings. And what God has given us, sometimes it comes with a fresh excitement, sometimes it comes with a a longing that is triggered by tangible emotional appeal to it, sometimes it's sensational.
34:26 But listen, it's not always the case. Because you and I know that we don't have those feelings all the time. You and I know that we're not stirred into that direction all the time. When it does happen, grab a hold of it. God is working in you.
34:41 But when we don't have that going on inside of us, what do we do? Here's what we do, what I said earlier. By faith, by faith, knowing that that that God, this God is in you, When you choose to say, regardless of whether the sensations are there or not, I am going to step out and trust that as I step out, God will meet me with power. God So to say that I have to wait for God to stir me is the only times I'm gonna make anything happen in my sanctification is wrong. It's wrong.
35:16 That's like saying you're only gonna go to work when you feel like it. How many would lose our jobs if we did that? But I can tell you this, in the realm of ministry, in the realm of ministry, you would be amazed to know, and you don't have to be in ministry to know it, but if you serve God at any capacity, you know very well that there are some days where you wake up on that side of the bed that even serving God because of the frailty of your body, situations going on outside of you, within you, where you're saying, I don't know how I'm gonna get up there and preach to a crowd of people when I need to be preached to. Or sometimes on your way into the sanctuary, you weren't met with angels and you weren't met with roses and you weren't met with graces, you were met with spiritual warfare. And so what do you do?
36:08 Do you say, you know, I don't think I'm gonna serve the Lord. I don't feel like it. No. You step out in obedience, and then God sees that act of faith and says, now I will empower you. Not for your glory, not for your reputation, but so that you can serve my body and that you can glorify my name.
36:26 And what happens is when you realize that it's God working in you, you can't take glory even though you have to choose to walk out and work out your own salvation. You step up and say, this is God. This is the Lord. And so he does work in us, but he meets our obedience. So we just went on this trail and we come back to Joshua 13 and we go, why did we just talk about Philippians two for x amount of time?
36:51 Because it makes sense now, doesn't it? God says, I will drive them out, but the people did not drive them out. So because the people did not act out in faith, for whatever reason in their mind, they did not choose to drive out those inhabitants, God could not meet them with empowerment and grace to do so. I'll do it. But what?
37:08 Is he gonna do it by himself? No. Through you as he's been doing it throughout the book of Joshua. You're the vessel. You're the instrument of my judgment.
37:15 You step out, I empower. You do it your way, I'm not gonna give you grace. You don't do it at all, I can't meet you anywhere. So now we understand. God said he would do it, but the people had to meet him hand in hand to advance in the will and purposes for his life.
37:31 It's a wonderful thing we learned from Joshua 13 and now we come to Joshua 14. And what happens in Joshua 14 is a transition shifting our attention into the land of Canaan now. We dealt with the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan. Now we crossed the border and we are now in the land of Canaan itself, the promised land, God's original intent for all 12 tribes to dwell in. And look at verse two.
37:56 Their inheritance was by lot just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one half tribes. For Moses had given an inheritance to two and one half tribes beyond the Jordan. So now we're dealing with the nine and a half tribes within the land of Canaan. And for the rest of the chapters, that's what we're gonna understand. We're gonna see how this is allotted to Judah and this is allotted to Simeon and this is allotted to Benjamin.
38:20 But before we go into those records, we're met with an interruption. Something happens. Right in chapter 14, as we read on we understand how the the scene is being set, the leaders are being prepared, they are now going to seek the Lord and practically understand how to divide the portion of this land. And all for a sudden a character that we haven't seen for quite some time appears on the scene. And his character's name is Caleb, and Caleb shows up.
38:49 We haven't seen Caleb in a long time. And what Caleb is doing here in this chapter is he represents the tribe of Judah. And Caleb is gonna make a bold request. Caleb is gonna step before Joshua and he's going to ask for a specific inheritance and that he is going to ask for the tribe of Judah to receive the inheritance first. But when we read this, it almost speaks for itself.
39:15 The the the application there is wonderful. It's it's unbelievable, and it's worthy of our careful attention because there's so much to learn from Caleb in light of this overarching teaching of inheriting and experiencing what God wants us to have in Christ. Let's read in verse six, and let's learn some truths here. Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb said to him, being Joshua, you know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, in Kadesh Barnea concerning you and me? I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought the word again as it was in my heart.
39:58 But my brothers who went up made the heart of the people melt, yet I wholly follow the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day saying, surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord has kept me alive just as he has said. These forty five years is the time the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now behold, I am this day 85 years old.
40:29 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. My strength now is as my strength was then for war and for going and coming. Caleb is demonstrating so many characteristics that are worthy of immolation. And Caleb here, though he is an old covenant figure, is displaying new testament principles. I love what Caleb does in the beginning.
40:59 Caleb comes to Joshua and asks of Joshua to be blessed. Why is that important? If you know the story in numbers, Caleb and Joshua were two out of the 12 tribes that under Moses' leadership, many years before this, were called to go into the very land that they are in now to spy it out and to bring back a report. Caleb and Joshua come back, they were the only two that said, we can do it. God will help us.
41:31 They're nothing. This is not a challenge for God. We are able to advance. Whereas the other 10 disagreed and made the entire camp disbelieve. Now what I love about this is that Caleb and Joshua were commended for the same act of faith.
41:49 They were on the same level, so to speak, to some degree at that portion of time in respect to different qualities at different times. They're in the same level of ministry, you can say. They were part of that ministry team that went to spy out the land on the same level. They were spies. And you can almost say that Joshua and Caleb were were in that same age range even.
42:10 Because remember, Joshua and Caleb are the two oldest people in Israel at this point because they were the two from that only that generation that only survived. So you have Joshua and Caleb, the two oldest people in this context. They're probably around the same age range. And yet, Caleb comes to Joshua and submits to his authority. Caleb recognizes God's call on Joshua.
42:40 And though there was many similarities, even in the physical, even in life experience, He recognized that God had something else for Joshua and that he was elevated in position not in worth, and he submitted towards that, and he comes under it. And I can't help but just praise Caleb for his humility here. He doesn't come and just say, hey, Caleb. It's me. What's up?
43:03 So listen. Or hey, Joshua. Hey, it's me. And then just go on like that. He understands that even though they had walked through life together in the same pace and the same experiences, God had something for Joshua, and Caleb recognized that and honored that.
43:19 And he wasn't threatened by that. I look at Caleb, and I think he doesn't seem intimidated. He doesn't seem envious. He doesn't seem jealous. Why?
43:27 Surely because the only time you can come to this place, the only way you can come to this place is when you don't put your identity in what you do for God, but who you are in God. The only place for a a person like Caleb, the only way that your heart can actually emulate this is when you are secure. When you are secure and you recognize that God gives different things to different people, and it doesn't determine your worth or value, it's just part of his grand scheme to to make his kingdom advance. And Caleb recognized that, and Caleb honored that, and Caleb submitted to that. And it's just a beautiful display of a humble spirit.
44:08 Joshua, I need your blessing. I need your blessing. Joshua isn't proud or arrogant. No. He he goes for it, and he he honors his position, and you see that later on.
44:21 But I think that's worthy of consideration concerning Caleb. But then we read something in verse eight. Let's look at verse eight. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, yet I wholly follow the lord, my god. I love how he calls the other 10 spies that failed god miserably, my brothers.
44:44 My brothers. What a term of endearment. He could have associated with them in any other way, but he chooses to say, my brothers. Even though they made a mistake, even though their own choice made you and me wander in the wilderness for an extra thirty eight years, they're still my brothers. And he's not shy to highlight their failure, but he does not go to the extent of cutting off the association that they had and how they are a family and how they are still one.
45:23 He says, my brothers, you and I are gonna walk through this life as brothers and sisters, and I hope it doesn't happen, but it might happen where you will have a brother or sister that will fail. And it's in those moments where we are tested to see if we're gonna still love them as a brother or sister when they do. They're not even there. He still identifies them as my brothers. But that's not the only thing.
45:49 I think there's another angle to this. He says, my brothers have made the people fail in their faith because they failed in their faith, yet I wholly follow the Lord my God. Here's the other angle. Caleb, though he is showing love and he's showing compassion, he's also setting a standard. And here's the standard that he's setting.
46:13 He is reminding Joshua and the Holy Spirit is reminding us that even if your brothers or sisters choose to fail in their faith, will you imitate them Or will you continue on following the Lord? That's an important question. Even though my brothers, my ministry partners, we were out there for a month, so to speak, a little bit over a month, and we were spying out the mission. We slept in the same tents together. We ate together.
46:41 We did life together. But there came a point where they chose not to continue in faith to the Lord, and that was where I drew the line. And I continued to wholly follow the Lord, my God, whether my brothers or sisters came with me. Here's a question, because we might not feel the weight of that. Assuming that all of us are believers in here and that we have friends that are believers and that your closest friends are believers, here's a sobering question to ask ourselves.
47:06 I want you to think about the closest people that you walk this walk with. We should all be close, but we all know that even naturally we're drawn to certain groups of people. That's fine. That's not a sin. So think about that group of people.
47:20 The one that you frequently call, the one that you frequently go out with, the one that you share your heart with. Two of them, three of them, one of them, four of them, five of them. What will you do if all of them they choose? You know what? I think I'm I think I'm gonna just ease it up on this Christianity thing.
47:42 And the world pulls them in, and they stop showing up to prayer meeting. And they stop coming to Friday night bible study, and they stop coming to Sunday morning, maybe sporadically here and there. But they'll skip the worship, and they'll they'll skip the message. They just wanna come for the fellowship, maybe if we have a barbecue. What about you?
48:01 Is that where you draw the line? Or are you like the rest of the Israelites that when they saw the lack of faith and commitment to the Lord, they were drawn to them? You might be tested in that way as these men were. And what you'll realize as you continue in this journey of the Christian faith is that even some Christians will stop at some point. And you have to make a choice.
48:28 Am I gonna continue to wholly follow the Lord? Or am I gonna bring the standard down to what my best buddy has? I've seen people make the wrong choice in that. Why? Because it goes back to that Philippians two reality.
48:41 Their obedience would was dependent upon the presence of somebody else's obedience. Wrong way of doing Christianity. And you might have some people that might not apostasize. You have might You might have some people that won't turn out against the Lord completely, but here's the thing that you and I will have. You will have different people who will not wholly follow the Lord but will still follow the Lord.
49:06 That is a danger. When it's not wholly following the Lord but still somewhat following the Lord, and that's where so many casualties in the faith come from. When it's not wholly following, but it's still following. Be careful. You make up your mind that you're gonna wholly follow the Lord no matter who does, and you will know something what Caleb experienced in this chapter.
49:30 Make up your mind today, brothers and sisters. Make up your mind. If God gives you people who will continue to wholly follow the Lord, then you'll know a greater joy. But listen, Caleb made that choice even when the majority didn't. And guess who's in the promised land while others are rotting in the wilderness?
49:51 And have aborted on the call of God for their lives. He says, I wholly follow the Lord. And then he comes down to verse 10. And now behold, the Lord has kept me alive just as he had said, these forty five years since the time the Lord spoke his word to Moses while Israel walked in the wilderness. So as much as he is reminding Joshua of his faithfulness to the to the Lord, he did not fail to point to God's faithfulness over his life.
50:20 And this is what he highlights. Throughout that whole wilderness journey, I know that God has kept me. I know that God has kept me, Joshua. I'm telling you that I recognize God's faithfulness throughout those forty five years. And we might think, well, that's nice.
50:38 But again, we gotta put ourselves in his sandals. Why? Because Caleb and Joshua were the only two men left alive in that generation. Do you know what that means? Throughout that entire wilderness journey, Caleb was walking and attended millions of funerals.
50:59 He attended his friends funerals, the 10 spies funerals. He saw his his family members go out into the to the sand, so to speak, six feet under. He witnessed it all. And can you imagine after one death and the other, and the population is thinning and it is coming down to them, would the thought have come by in his mind where he maybe thought, it's really wearing thin right now. Is God really gonna bring us through Joshua?
51:26 Is it is it really gonna happen? Because I'm looking all around, all I'm seeing is one person dropping like flies after the other, and it's getting really close to us. But he says, I know that God has kept me. I know that God has kept me. Meaning what?
51:45 That Caleb, in his relationship with God, realized that God was the source of his preservation. Preservation in this expansion of life in years, and preservation and strength to serve God. They come from him and him alone. He realized that from God. He knew this.
52:04 If I'm gonna walk in obedience as I had, if I'm gonna walk out in the will of God for my life, I knew this and I know it now, that God will keep me as long as he needs to keep me. And listen, not just the length of your life. Look at verse 11. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. My strength now is as my strength was then for war and for going and coming.
52:32 Here is the wonderful inheritance within the realm of obedience and wholly following the Lord. This is what it is. God literally, amongst the millions of other Israelites, kept his hand on Caleb, kept his hand on Joshua, and says death, not only death, but any limitation to the mind, to the muscles, to the eye vision, to the ability to wield a sword, none of it will affect them until I say so, while everybody else died in their disobedience. And that is a great theological verse for any believer. What is it?
53:07 That you and I can know the guarantee of his providential care. Providential care, not just in a matter of years, but in a matter of even the level of your mental ability, verbal ability, mobility. It's all controlled by God, and that is his promise to you and I when we say, I'm gonna wholly follow the Lord. I cannot guarantee you that from a theological standpoint if you do not choose to wholly follow the Lord. But one thing is certain, if you are completely convinced that you wanna serve the will of God, Caleb's experience is your experience.
53:48 Caleb's faith and trust is your faith and trust. Caleb's experience in knowing God's faithfulness is yours. Listen, that doesn't mean that you can have a long life and have no aches and pains though. That's not a promise as some theological points would give that it's gonna be health and wealth forever and ever and ever. No.
54:11 No. That's not right. You know why it's not right? Because if that is the case, that the sign of God's favor in your life for your obedience is long life and strength, then Jesus is not our example. Because our Lord and savior lived up to 33 years old and he died on a cross.
54:29 He was the most faithful, and the most obedient, and the most surrendered to the will of his father. So it's not a matter of extension. It's not a matter of numbers. See, the world interprets blessing that way. The church cannot interpret blessing that way.
54:44 We cannot think that long years without pain, long years without sickness is a sign of God's favor. Because you can live a hundred years and not be blessed. Jesus proves us that you can live up to your thirties, die a brutal, torturous death, and know God's wonderful faithfulness and his will for your life. What's a blessing? To live a hundred years without sickness, but be outside of the will of God or to be in the will of God whether it's with sickness or not?
55:23 So the preservation power, the principle of God's preservation over your life is not you having so many years and you living in your eighties as you did in your forties. No. It's about God guarding you and protecting you and ushering you into his perfect will no matter what. That's what it is. So when I say, God, you're gonna preserve me, and, God, you're gonna keep me, and, God, you're gonna provide for me, The way we interpret that is whatever your will is for my life, nothing can thwart it, even my own body.
55:54 And so if I get sick and God chooses not to heal me, guess what that means? God has a purpose for it. Do I pray for healing? Yes. Do I believe God can heal?
56:02 Absolutely. Can he heal anything? You betcha. But you'll be amazed to know God's wisdom in allowing something to happen in the life of a saint. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
56:14 Keep your eyes on the Lord, and interpret it that way. Now, what he says here is amazing. In verse 12, so now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day. How how is Caleb so bold? And you have to understand, he's acting in faith, but he's acting in faith on the basis of God's word.
56:42 Moses spoke on behalf of God over Caleb, and he says, the very land that your feet trotted on, the very land that you stepped on when you spied it out, God is gonna give you that same land. That was a promise from God's word. So Caleb is not naming it and claiming it. Caleb is not coming to Joshua and he's saying, I decree and declare that that portion of the land of Canaan is mine. He received something forty five years ago, God promised him something, he took the promise of God, he brought it to the present, he says, I know God promised me this.
57:17 So now I'm here by faith to receive it. But you know what I love about this 85 year old man? The display of his hunger for the promise of God even in his old age. He says, now give me this hill country. Give it to me, Joshua.
57:38 I want it just as much as when I wanted it when I heard it initially from God. I want what God has for me now. As he grew older, he didn't become more relaxed. He was just as fierce as he was in his forties. He was just as desperate, and he was just as energized to know everything that god had planned for his life at 85.
57:59 85. You can't get 18 year olds to get like this. You can't get 28 year olds to get like this. But here's a man at 85. You know why?
58:10 Because he could care less about what other people wanted. Give me this hill country. I'm not dependent and I'm not swayed by the lack of hunger or the display of hunger of others. I didn't when I was 40 years old when the my brothers failed in their faith and the desire for God and I'm not changing now. I'm the same person as I was then.
58:30 Give me what God promised me, Joshua. Do you think that kind of boldness offends God or it attracts God? Or it attracts God especially with the knowledge that Caleb had of his need of God. Because what does he say? He says here, give me this land.
58:53 And then the second part he says, it may be that the Lord will be with me. It may be that the Lord will be with me. That's not a doubt. That's an acknowledgment that even though he had all the strength and the energy and the combat ability as he did when he was 40, he didn't depend on that. He didn't depend upon this almost supernatural ability to be able to do war in his eighties.
59:16 No. Nor his experience during the seven years of conquesting the land. He still knew what he knew at 40. God is gonna give me the victory. God is the one who's able to help me.
59:29 And so he's not acting in pride here. There's a holy boldness being shown here. By God's grace, may we be like that at 85 years old. If we get to 85, his vision is still clear. It's still there.
59:44 It's still laser focused on what God has for his life at 85. And I don't wanna be at 29 any less hungry than this man who was at 85. So Caleb shows, as we read in the beginning in Psalm nine two fourteen, that the righteous, they still bear fruit in their old age, and they are ever full of sap and grim in life. They lush out spiritual vigor. There's a fragrance, and it's available to you and me.
1:00:22 And so what's gonna happen? Verse 13, then Joshua blessed him and he gave Hebron to Caleb. Verse 14, therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath Arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim, and the land had rest from war.
1:00:46 You know what's amazing about this? Is that the very land that Caleb is going to inherit was the very same land that he spied out when he was 40 and came with the other men, and they said, there are giants in the land. The Anakin are there. The Anakin are there, and we seem like grasshoppers to them. And Caleb, at 85, still believed that God can give him the strength to overcome these giants as he did when he was 40.
1:01:19 Older, weaker, more susceptible to defeat, and yet, he still displayed the same faith. He says, give me the neighborhood with Anakim in it, because I believe that God can still conquer this at 85. Then he did, and he was able at 40. Caleb shows us an attitude that we must have if we wanna know the fullness of God's blessings in Christ Jesus that he purchased for you and I. That's the example that we get from this text.
1:01:58 He wholly follow the Lord. That's mentioned more than twice in this chapter. He wholly followed the Lord. He wholly followed the Lord. He wholly followed the Lord.
1:02:05 And he confessed that God was the one that kept him alive to this point. For what reason? To experience his promises. If God is going to keep you alive on this earth for anything, it's to experience his promises, to experience his will for your life. But for those who don't wholly follow the Lord, that preservation promise is not guaranteed.
1:02:30 And so what do we conclude from this? Well, we can say we conclude after every bible study. Lord, I wanna wholly follow you. I wanna wholly follow you, and give me this same hunger, whether my brothers have it or not. Whether this church has it, this church has it, doesn't matter.
1:02:49 Caleb shows that you have to make that choice as an individual. Let me close here. What did Paul say? Work out your own salvation. Guess who's not gonna work it out for you?
1:03:02 Your pastor. Your parents aren't gonna work it out for you. Your best friend, your spouse isn't gonna work out your own salvation. Paul says, you as an individual have to make a choice. I myself will determine to work this out and to partner with God's enablement in and through me to experience it all.
1:03:22 Guess who made that choice? Well, here's one Old Testament figure, Caleb. He chose, I'm gonna work this out, whether the 10 spies or the rest of the camp does or not. And we see the big picture. The others the other Israelites were deep in the wilderness somewhere, and here's Caleb at 85 knowing the fullness of God's purpose for him.
1:03:44 What an exciting thing to read. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this text in the book of Joshua that speaks so clearly to our own experience in Christ. And Lord, in this moment, we just reflect on the boldness and the humility and the the fierceness of a man that you've recorded for us to draw truth from. Lord, if there's anybody in here that doesn't fear and tremble in their working out of their salvation, may we all believe that that fear and trembling is a gift more than it is a burden.
1:04:59 Lord, it's something that stems from a a great love for you. It says, the Lord has done this for me, and I want to complete what he begun in me. The Lord invested this in me. The Lord saved me. The Lord has a plan for me that he determined before I even existed, and I will not squander what he purchased from my life through my salvation.
1:05:26 Lord, we ask that every person in this place would be a reflection of the friendship between Caleb and Joshua, that we would be able to walk as a church into the things that you have purposed for us, that none of us would look out and see either the things that threaten us or the things that tempt us and say, God isn't able to pull me through this. Lord, may we all, hand in hand with you and with each other, take on everything that you've purchased for us and say it's possible in God. Lord, if there's anybody in here who feels defeated, let them know that the energy to overcome is in you. And let it be known that it takes just the humility and the crying out daily to recognize and to experience that power. Lord, on this night, we choose to say, by the grace of God, as I declare in my twenties, in my thirties, in my forties, in my fifties, in my sixties, as we all declare tonight, I will wholly follow the Lord, the same way Caleb did at 40, that we will be able to say the say the same at 85 and say, I I'm still wholly following the Lord.
1:06:40 People came and went. People joined and aborted. But as for my my heart, it's sold out to him. Lord, we look at Caleb in the old covenant and we say if it was possible in that dispensation, surely it is possible for us who has received the deposit of the Holy Spirit sealed, promised, remaining. So Lord, we we hear a Bible study like this, and we don't fear in the wrong way, nor do we feel overwhelmed.
1:07:18 We are invited to know a power, and we are invited to know a preservation grace to see God's hand in our lives because of one condition. My heart says, holy following Jesus. Lord, we declare that to you tonight knowing that even if we want to go there but we can't, you give us the grace to get there. So, Lord, may we declare it not just in the whim of emotion, but on the basis of truth that's written in this word. Receive it, Lord, and may you respond to it with your preservation graces.
