November 2, 2025 • 51 mins
What if the most “boring” parts of Joshua are actually the brightest windows into God’s heart? We walk through the land allotments and find more than borders and cities; we find a faithful God who keeps every promise and then invites us into something larger than maps can hold. The text says Israel received rest, yet Hebrews insists a greater rest still waits. That tension becomes the key: the quiet after battle foreshadows a Sabbath that begins with trust and culminates in the presence of Christ, where striving ends because His work is finished.
We also reframe inheritance. Israel does not grab prizes; they receive a Father’s gift—houses they did not build, vineyards they did not plant. Leviticus calls the land the Lord’s, so the right word isn’t conquest, it’s inheritance. From Abraham’s vantage point, the hope was always bigger: a city with foundations, designed and built by God. Joshua’s geography, then, becomes a signpost to an imperishable kingdom kept for us, a future far more secure than any border stone and far more satisfying than a harvest we grew ourselves.
Grace, surprisingly, is already alive in Joshua through the cities of refuge. There, guilt is admitted and protection is found under the high priest until his death settles the debt. The pattern prefigures Jesus, our High Priest, whose cross turns future sin into forgiven past. Along the way, we confront two modern hazards success brings: complacency that delays obedience and assumptions that fracture unity. Joshua presses us to step into what God has given, to labor in love while time remains, and to guard fellowship with clear words and quick reconciliation.
Come hear how thirty-one fallen kings, a nation at rest, and a map full of city names reveal the gospel’s shape: work now, rest forever; receive what you could never earn; run to the refuge that never closes. If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find it.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Joshua chapter twenty one, beginning in verse
forty three.
Thus the Lord gave to Israel allthe land that he swore to give
to their fathers, and they tookpossession of it, and they
settled there, and the Lord gavethem rest on every side, just as
he as he had sworn to theirfathers.
Not one of all their enemies hadwithstood them, for the Lord had
(01:06):
given all their enemies intotheir hands.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
All came to pass.
This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
Amen.
Thanks, Tori.
Hey Greg, where'd you go?
I couldn't help myself.
Whether it's dispain or datpain, 1-800 dispain, have your
needs met.
I started working on a businessmodel on the walk up.
Tori, thank you for reading.
Really appreciate it.
All right, uh, a couple of headsup.
(01:39):
Uh by the way, first servicemeet, second service, second
service meet, first service.
We're glad you have all joinedus for first service.
Out of curiosity, I wouldn'tusually say this, but I saw
Larry Young walk in and I knowfor a fact his family tends to
be second.
How many of you are secondservice folks that woke up early
and were just like, meh, we'llsee how this goes.
(02:00):
How many of you are normallysecond?
Really?
Well, welcome to Mentry.
A quarter that blows me away.
It's good to see you, yeah.
All right.
Well, Larry, you're the solo.
All right.
Second thing, since thatobviously isn't true, you will
need a Bible today.
So whether you are paper Bibleor a digital Bible, you're
(02:22):
welcome to use both.
As always, you can use the tableof contents here.
You are going to want your Bibletoday.
I will say, recognizing thateverybody had an hour of sleep,
this seemed like the bestSunday, if we were going to do
it, to cover 11 chapters ofscripture of land allotments in
(02:44):
the book of Joshua.
Now, if you need to hop up andgrab a cup of coffee, that's
fine.
I have a very firm conviction onthis.
All of God's Word is all ofGod's Word.
Genealogies inspired by the Wordof God.
Land allotments inspired by theWord of God.
(03:06):
So I have taken pastorally alittle bit of a personal
endeavor to simultaneously showyou a wide breadth of God's
word, a piece that many of uswould get to in our Bible
reading plans and sort of say,all right, okay, well, I
committed to it.
It's only February, okay?
Or we would maybe flip a littlequicker.
(03:29):
The Bible is amazing, alwaysamazing.
And I hope that all of us havethe privilege of being able to
see that today.
So grab your Bibles.
Uh, Tori already told you ifyou're using a pew Bible.
If you don't own a Bible, thatBible is now yours.
Keep it.
We want you to have it.
We are going to look at Joshuachapter 11 through Joshua 22.
(03:52):
And I want you to have, if Gregwanted you to put on spectacles
toward communion, I want you toput on spectacles toward the
work of Jesus in what we wouldsee as maybe an unlikely place
to find it.
So here we are in Joshua.
Let's go ahead and we'll begin.
Uh hit a button in the back.
The the kid with headphones onthat happens to be mine.
(04:12):
All right.
I'm giving you a map to beginwith.
I know it's too small for you tosee.
All right.
This is the land from chapters11 through 19 that is
distributed by God, and I'mgonna do my best to help this
all make sense and cause you toget excited about it.
To be able to slide into thiswith the assumption that some of
(04:34):
you have not been with us everysingle Sunday over the past two
and a half months while we'vebeen in Joshua, let me give you
a little summary as we begin.
Joshua 11, verse 15, issummarizing almost everything up
to this point, and here is howGod's word summarizes.
Just as the Lord had commandedMoses, his servant, so Moses
(04:56):
commanded Joshua, and so Joshuadid.
Notice the hierarchy here.
God looks at Moses, he says,This is what the promised land
is gonna look like, this is howit is going to be, this is what
I have gathered my people for,the promises I have made since I
looked at Abraham, and I said,Your people are gonna outnumber
the stars in the sky and thegrains of sand on the seabed.
(05:19):
That this is how big of a dealthis is gonna be.
Moses then tells Joshua, and Ijust, you gotta love Joshua.
He is such a stud.
And the Bible goes, Joshua heardwhat he was supposed to do, and
he just went and did it.
Awesome.
So this gets us caught up, butthen notice this uh chapter 11,
verse 23.
So Joshua took the whole land,everything, as we think about
(05:44):
the promises of God.
Joshua takes the whole landaccording to all that the Lord
had spoken to Moses.
And Joshua gave it for aninheritance to Israel according
to their tribal allotments, andthe land had rest from war.
Now, how is it that the land gotrest?
If you're in your paper Bibles,I want you to uh turn to chapter
(06:06):
12.
If you're in your digital Bible,same thing, because this is
gonna be difficult to read, andI want to point out two things
from Joshua chapter 12 as weturn the page to these promises
fully becoming true.
One thing that I just kind ofwant you to put in the back of
your mind for a moment is thislittle phraseology, the west
(06:28):
side of the Jordan.
All right, the Jordan is ariver.
I'll show you that in just amoment.
All of these are the kings ofthe land whom Joshua and the
people of Israel defeated on thewest side of the Jordan, and
then there is going to be alist.
I'm not gonna read this list toyou.
If you came uh to our weeklyBible study uh a couple of weeks
ago when we were working throughthis on Wednesday, by the way,
(06:50):
you're all invited to it.
It's on Wednesday afternoons.
I give you more details.
We read through every one ofthese names, we read through
every one of these people.
I want you to see what is at thevery end of this.
31 kings are defeated.
So as we slide into landallotments, if you watched the
documentary on Nolan Ryan, andit gets to the end, by the way.
(07:11):
Nolan Ryan, incredible pitcher.
I don't know who put it out.
I'm gonna guess Netflix, but PatGilbert will know.
Who put it out?
Do you know?
You will not know.
All right.
Have you seen it?
Okay.
All right, anyway, it's awesome.
And it gets to the end, andinstead of scrolling credits, it
scrolls sort of his lifetimeaccomplishments on the mount.
(07:33):
This is what Joshua 12 feelslike to me.
It just goes through king afterking after king after king.
31 kings listed.
Now remember how slowly we havemoved up to this point.
Uh we have started to cross theJordan, and God rips the sea
open so his people can walkthrough.
We see Jericho, the high watermark of a fortress to take.
(07:56):
And God says, Don't worry aboutstones or spears or shields or
swords.
Just walk around the thing, havea really great worship time.
I'm gonna take care of it, andthe walls come a tumbling down.
By the time we get here, theBible itself does begin
summarizing a little bit.
This king lost, and that kinglost, and that king lost, until
31 kings are gone at thebeginning of chapter 12.
(08:22):
And when you get toward the endof the book, this would be a
summarizing statement.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
Every one of them came to pass.
Many of us have this on ourbracelets right now.
This is on the green bracelet.
(08:42):
And if you're like, no, itisn't, it's Joshua 1-9.
We print it on the back side,assuming that you would get 1-9
knocked out pretty quickly.
This is one of the mostbeautiful passages in the entire
book of Joshua.
Every promise God made, everysingle one, happened and
happened and happened andhappened.
Now, there are two things thatall people need to hear from the
(09:07):
text we're going to look attoday, and two things that I
think are specific for Midtree.
So if you're new to Midtree, uh,if you're just kind of feeling
it out, if Midtree ends up notbeing a good church for you,
that is not awkward for us.
We want you to find a goodgospel preaching church.
Let us know.
We would love to help you find agood church if Midtree is not
the exact right fit for whateverreason.
(09:27):
Midree, there are two thingsspecifically for us as we walk
through this, and then there aretwo things I think for all
people.
Now, Joshua at this point isold.
He's advanced in years, and theLord said to him, You are old
and advanced in years.
(09:49):
Sometimes scripture makes mesmile, and this is one of those.
Joshua, uh, in case you arecurious, I think you're old,
thus saith the Lord, which is abit of a lift because the Lord's
been around.
And there yet remains, thereremains yet very much land to
possess.
I told Abraham this was gonnahappen.
(10:11):
Has it not?
I told Moses this was going tohappen.
And were it not for his sin, hewould have been able to walk in
this land.
But because of it, he stood onthe edge and he peered in and he
looked to you, Joshua, and hesaid, These are all the things
that the Lord our God hascommanded.
Do them.
And Joshua says, Moses, you gotit.
If you're telling me to do it,I'm gonna go do it.
(10:32):
Joshua goes in, and now here heis prepping for the end of his
life.
And the next number of chaptersare land allotments.
This is not the kind of thingthat you would expect in a
funeral.
This is not the kind of thingthat you would expect if you're
(10:52):
going over the greatest hits ofsomebody's life.
But every single chapter thatfollows is God saying, Didn't I
tell you I was gonna do this?
Done.
Didn't I tell you I was gonna dothis?
Done.
Did I tell you I was gonna dothat?
Done.
And so Joshua preps it up, andland is only the beginning.
(11:14):
We'll be finishing Joshua nextweek.
So next week we will completeour walk through the book of
Joshua.
And you will miss out on theentire book if you don't feel
this reality.
Joshua is a prologue of thewhole of the Bible.
So what you're about to read,what we're about to look at, the
(11:35):
land is only the beginning, is aprologue to a promise that God
made a long time ago.
This is the first real successof it.
What do I mean when I say landwas only the beginning?
Well, if you look in yourBibles, here's what you'll see
in the subtext in chapter 13,15, and 16.
The inheritance east of theJordan, that's chapter 13.
(11:59):
In 15 is an allotment for Judah,and in 16 is an allotment for
Ephraim and Manasseh.
All right, let's see if thisworks.
I tested it twice and it did,and now it's not.
Come on, do it.
You want to do it.
I worked four hours on this.
Do not let me down.
All right, we're gonna wait forjust a minute and hope.
Crockett, you may be running aniPad, buddy.
(12:20):
Crockett gets excited whenthings break.
When you're happy, I'm unhappy,buddy.
I just need you to know that.
Come on, man.
I'll come back to it.
Y'all can pray for it.
Here's my best shot.
The first map that I showed youhad a distribution of different
colors.
How many tribes of Israel arethere?
(12:42):
Bonus points at the camp store,if you can guess.
Or because there was a halftribe, okay?
So the way that it works out,when I showed you chapter 13,
what was happening is Joshua andGod's word are going to break
out all of the different landallotments into thirds.
But they're not thirds by area.
They're not even thirds bychapters in the Bible, they're
(13:05):
thematic thirds.
So there are three tribes thatMoses said, This is the land
that you're going to get.
They walk into it.
They're on the east of theJordan River.
Now you may not remember this.
They settled in, they hadhouses, they moved in, and
everything was wonderful, butthe remaining tribes had
nothing.
So Joshua, the Lord, looks atthem and he says, Before you
(13:27):
rest, you are going to crossover this river and you are
going to obtain land for theother nations of my name before
you go home and rest with yourwives and with your children.
That happens on the west side.
So you have one third on theeast, and then you have one
third on the west.
That third exists because Godhad very special promises for
(13:50):
them.
He looked at Ephraim and helooked at Manasseh and he said,
Because of the promise I made toyour father, it is carrying down
to you.
You, Joseph's family, are goingto inherit land.
And then he looked at Judah andhe said, You have been given a
special promise.
The scepter is never going toleave.
Jesus is known as the Lion ofthe tribe of Judah.
(14:11):
So these in scripture are brokenout.
And then we have the remainingseven.
And the question is, all right,how is this going to play out?
How is the land going to work?
So let me see if we have anyhope right now.
All right, hit the button.
Okay.
Good enough.
Okay.
(14:41):
Okay.
Now I have to go off of memory.
Let's see how good my study is.
So you have the Jordan Rivercoming down here.
And these nations, these three,one, two, and three, Moses said,
This is going to be your land.
Don't rest, because in just aminute, you're going to cross
over and you're going to beginhelping your brothers take it.
(15:05):
When they begin moving over, itdoesn't matter what chapter you
go to.
This is why I wanted you to haveBibles.
Anything from 15, 16, 17, 18,19, I just want you to look down
and you're going to seesomething that says land
allotments for Naphtali, landallotments for Dan, land
allotments for fill in theblank.
And there's one word that I wantyou to begin looking for.
(15:27):
I want you to look for the wordcities.
So look down, and I want you tofind it.
When you find the word city inone of those paragraphs, you
don't have to be all crazy proudabout it.
Just pop your hand up a littlebit.
Okay, Amy, who are you lookingat?
What what nation?
What tribe?
Reuben?
(15:48):
Okay.
All right, who else has one?
What do you got, Chris?
Okay, Judah.
Yep, there you go, Sarah.
What you got?
All right, we got that.
Anybody see anybody see anythingelse with the word cities near
it?
What we got, Rachel?
All right, Benjamin grabs one.
Everywhere you look, who yougot?
Zebulon.
Everywhere you look, there'sthis concept where they walk in
(16:12):
and they begin getting thesecities.
Why am I why am I stopping andsaying that land is only the
beginning?
Because when you read this,here's how we are prone to read
it.
All right, way to go, Zebulon.
Good job.
Here's your land.
Northern border, western border,eastern border, southern border.
This is gonna be your place andthe cities within it.
(16:33):
When you read it, it beginssounding redundant, right?
You're gonna take this, you'regonna take that, you're gonna
take this, you're gonna takethat.
What ends up happening after hetakes all the land is these two
words appeared in scripture.
Joshua 11, 23.
So Joshua takes the whole landaccording to all that the Lord
had spoken to Moses, and Joshuagave it for an inheritance to
(16:55):
Israel, according to theirtribal allotments, and the land
had rest from war.
Notice the screen for a minute,and these two words that go with
it inheritance and rest.
All people who want to knowanything about the God of the
Bible should pause in Joshuawhen you get to this passage and
you see these two words.
(17:16):
Why?
Because rest and inheritance aremassive for you to understand
what it is that God is doinghere.
Let's just start with rest.
In Joshua, God's people getrest, but Joshua is a prologue
to the Bible.
So they the rest that they aregoing to get as they move
through, the rest that they getis pointing to this better,
(17:38):
wider, deeper rest.
Here's what I mean.
In Hebrews, so many years later,when we think of Joshua, when we
think of this promise, here iswhat the Bible says.
If Joshua had given them rest,flag on the field, time out,
didn't the Bible just say theygot rest?
(17:59):
So what is going on in Hebrews?
There's something bigger thanthis.
If God had given them rest, ifJoshua had given them rest, God
would not have spoken of anotherday later on.
So then there remains, there'sthis waiting, this holding, this
gift under the tree that hasn'tbeen opened yet.
There is this Sabbath rest forthe people of God.
(18:21):
For whoever has entered God'srest has also rested from his
works as God did from his.
Whoever has entered into God'srest has rested from his works.
Why in Joshua does the land haverest?
Because whatever Moses said toJoshua, Joshua did.
Whatever Joshua said, the peopleof God did.
And it would be very easy forthem to look back and say, guys,
(18:45):
we have done it, we haveaccomplished it.
We no longer have war.
31 kings for just for a start,Jericho, Achan, all of these
massive battles, we are done.
And the Bible says, enter yourrest, but time out for a minute.
This is a lowercase our rest.
As you walk into this land, asyou walk into these cities, you
(19:09):
did not build, as you begin tolay down your sword and pick up
your plow, as you go fromembracing a brother in battle to
embracing your wife andembracing your children, as the
mode of your mind begins tochange, rest.
But only with a lowercase r.
Because there's a better restthat I want you to see is
(19:31):
coming.
And if Joshua had been able togive them that rest, he would
have, but he couldn't.
Because there's a rest that goesbeyond a good day's work.
And we all know this.
We rest differently on vacationthan we rest at 5.01 p.m.
This is the 5.01 p.m.
rest.
(19:51):
You have worked your nine tofive.
You are driving home.
You know that you need to be adad, you need to be a mom, you
need to be a neighbor, you needto be this, but at least you're
not checking your email.
At least you're off of yourphone, whatever it is that work
is.
You're gonna go home, you'regonna flip on the TV, you're
gonna cook some dinner, you'regonna hang out with your family,
(20:12):
you're gonna be at rest.
The Bible says that is abeautiful thing, but it isn't
beautiful enough for me, saysGod.
There's a different kind ofrest.
There's a rest where you go on avacation, but there's also a
rest that none of you haveexperienced yet.
It's a rest where you go on avacation and you never come
back.
It's a rest where everything iscovered and everything is paid
for.
(20:32):
It's a rest where you never haveto pick up your hand again to
toil.
So Joshua and the people of Godunderstand there remains a rest
that you can't even begin toimagine yet.
And as though God needed toprove it to him, he said, and
let me kind of just twist theknife on this a little bit.
Do you know why you're gettingthis land?
(20:54):
Not because of yourrighteousness or the uprightness
of your heart are you going topossess their land?
Hey, don't think that justbecause things are going well,
it's because you're knockinglife out of the park and your
heart is right and your mind isright.
God says there are two reasonsthat you're possessing this
land.
Because of the wickedness ofthese nations, the Lord your God
(21:15):
is driving them out from beforeyou, and that he may confirm the
word that the Lord swore to yourfathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob.
There are two reasons you'rewalking into this land.
Number one, those nations arewicked, and you are my arm of
judgment.
Number two, you are receivingfrom my arm of promise
fulfillment.
(21:36):
This is the word that I swore.
For these two reasons, notice,none of it is because God's
people are awesome people.
They're just really bad, and hispromises are really good.
And these two things cometogether, and God says, now
welcome to a well-earnedvacation.
But there is more to it thanjust a well-earned vacation.
(21:57):
There is a rest that I have foryou.
They wanted to rest from theirobedience to work.
God wants us to rest in anotherperson's perfect work.
This is pointing to Christ.
This is saying you are able toearn some level of rest,
typically at the end of yourdiligent, faithful hard work,
(22:20):
but you will never be able tograsp at what God wants to give.
So when you find yourself inrest, let it point forward to
something bigger.
The second thing is this Joshuagave it for an inheritance to
Israel.
God's people get rest.
The whole story is better.
They're looking forward to atruer rest.
(22:42):
And God's people are going toget a new kingdom as well.
They're going to inherit it.
But even this inheritance ispointing to something that I
think is absolutely staggering.
I didn't notice this until I satdown and I read all of the
chapters in one sitting.
By the way, typically I like tomove a lot slower.
I like to grab a verse, analyzeit, pull stuff out.
(23:05):
There is some benefit ingrabbing, uh hopping on a
helicopter and shooting up to30,000 feet and saying, Oh, I've
been driving through the citythis way.
Have you ever done that?
Have you ever opened your GoogleMaps and zoomed out and realized
for 20 years you've been takingone of the worst routes to get
from here to there?
Because in your mind it was up,but it actually isn't up.
It's off to the side.
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout?
(23:26):
That's what this text is.
It's zooming up and saying, Youdidn't even realize this was
aligned this way, did you?
You didn't even notice this.
When I read through the entiretyof it in one sitting, this is
what struck me.
Why does the word inheritancekeep coming up?
They're not getting land fromtheir family.
They're not getting land fromtheir father or from their
(23:48):
grandfather.
They're getting land from theirenemies.
That is not an inheritance.
Not the way we think of it.
But in Leviticus chapter 25, Godsays, All of that land is mine.
And when God gives something tohis children, when the father
(24:10):
gives something to his kids,that can rightly be called an
inheritance.
This is the way to think aboutthem moving into the promised
land.
They're not pushing outoccupiers.
They're not taking owners out.
They were just people who werein the place that God had always
(24:31):
destined for them to be andpromised.
So this idea of inheritancebegins to come up.
So when the Lord your God bringsyou into the land that he swore
to your fathers, all of thoselittle passages that I had you
look at with the word cities,this is unbelievable to me.
When you go into that land, tothe land of Abraham and Isaac,
(24:53):
to Jacob to give you, when yougo into a land that has great
and good cities that you didn'tbuild, when you walk into a
place with houses full of goods,things that you did not fill.
When you go to a place ofcisterns, this would have been a
holder of water.
(25:14):
You found uh a city with a watertower.
You're not going outside to pumpit, you just turn on the knob
and it comes out.
God's like, when when you walkinto a place with cisterns that
you didn't dig, and when youfind vineyards and olive trees
you didn't even plant, you'regonna walk and pull the fruit
from a tree that neither yourdad nor your granddad ever
planted.
I'm the one who planted it.
(25:36):
I planted it there, even withpeople who hated me and were
opposed to me.
When you do that, when you eatand are full, don't forget me.
Don't forget the Lord, becauseit was the Lord your God who did
this.
This is why it's referred to asan inheritance, because it was
(25:59):
something that God had for them.
And an inheritance is allthroughout scripture.
When we look in Hebrews 11, byfaith, Abraham obeyed when he
was called to go out to a placethat he was going to receive as
an inheritance.
And he went out, not evenknowing where he was going.
His dad, his granddad, hisgreat-granddad had never laid
(26:22):
foot on the land before.
And God says that's aninheritance for you because I am
the Father.
You are the Son.
Now go into this creation ofwhich I own all of it.
I have something special foryou.
This is why in the New Testamentwe read phraseologies like this.
The king will say to those onhis right, Come, you who are
blessed by my Father, inheritthe kingdom prepared for you
(26:46):
from the foundation of theworld.
And what is the inheritance ofthe Christian?
Imperishable, undefiled,unfading, kept in heaven for
you, Christian.
Welcome to a vacation that neverends, in a condo that has been
purchased in your name.
This is what we begin to see inJoshua.
(27:09):
But it gets better when you movefrom verse 8 in Hebrews 11 to
10, you realize Abraham knew itfrom the beginning.
For he was looking forward to acity that has foundations, not
in Canaan, not like Jericho, ashigh as they could build.
He wanted a city whose designerand builder was God.
(27:31):
Yes, the land that God hasprepared is a gift.
I hope you feel like whereveryou live is a gift of God and
his gracious generosity to you.
Did you have to pay for thathouse?
Out of curiosity, did you haveto pay for the house that you
live in?
Are you paying for the housethat you live in?
When you open the pantry, do youopen it and go, it is amazing
that I get airdrop this foodevery Monday?
(27:54):
God's people did.
For 40 years, manna was justlike fill your pantry, but only
for a day, right?
Ah, we're kind of tired ofbread.
And then quail just startflopping through.
Like, this is what God did forhis people.
Oh man, that's a that looks likea really dangerous place.
They've got one of the biggesttowers we've ever seen.
Don't worry, just walk aroundand blow some trumpets.
(28:15):
Like, this is the generosity ofGod.
You didn't build it, you didn'tmake it, you didn't plan it, you
didn't design it, you didn'teven think about it, and Abraham
knew it before Moses or Joshuaever stepped foot on the ground.
Abraham said, It will be greatfor me to have a nation of
descendants.
It will be great for God tobuild his family.
(28:35):
But do you know what I'm reallylooking forward to?
A city that man didn't build.
A city whose designer andbuilder is God.
Because these all died in faith.
Not having received the thingspromised.
Flag on the field number two.
Did God's people receive theinheritance God promised to
(28:58):
them?
Yes or no?
Yes.
Then what is this talking about?
How can it say they didn'treceive what was promised when
God was like, I made a promiseso you'd get it, so you'd get
it, so you'd get it, and you'dsee, I'm a promise-making,
promise-keeping God.
He's saying, Joshua is theprologue.
This is about more than land.
What's happening here is thatyou got to see them, you got to
(29:19):
greet them from afar.
Moses, you stood on the edge andyou looked in, but you knew
there was something even betterthan that.
You were strangers and strangersand exiles on the earth.
But as it is, even Abraham, evenuh Moses, even Joshua, when he
walked into the land and hepicked from a tree that he
(29:40):
didn't plant, they desiredsomething better than that.
They desired something heavenly.
So God is not ashamed to becalled their God, for he has
prepared for them a city.
Why do you think Jesus talksthis way?
In my father's house are manyrooms.
If it were not so, would I havetold you that I go and prepare a
(30:02):
place for you?
Christian in the room, do yourealize that in whatever
heavenly way it works, two byfours are being thrown up so
that when you get there youdon't have to swing a hammer?
You will walk into a land youhave never set foot on, in a
vacation that will never end,where it is nothing but good and
light and true rest, and youwill never swing a hammer, and
(30:26):
you will never pay a dimebecause somebody else has done,
is done, and continues to do thework for you.
Do you know what's crazy aboutChristianity?
That is crazy aboutChristianity.
Pick any other religion in theworld.
Work like this, you'll earn thisin heaven.
This you'll earn this in theafterlife.
(30:47):
Not Christianity.
Christianity is like work ashard as you can because this is
where we do the work.
We have a really long restcoming, a huge vacation coming,
an incredible place to livecoming.
Work, cry, bleed, sweat, hear,because you only get 80 years to
do it.
That's the way Christianity seesthe world.
(31:09):
You only get 30, 40, 60, 80, 90,maybe for some of us, a hundred
years.
And if you are in Christ'smillennia of rest and
inheritance, little flock, fearnot.
God's not begrudging about this.
It is his good pleasure to handyou a kingdom.
(31:31):
You see, God's people do getrest in Joshua, but the whole
story is so much better.
And they do get an inheritancein Joshua, but the whole story
is so much better.
This might be the closest thingto revelation in the entirety of
the old Bible I can imagine.
(31:52):
Why?
Imagine them walking into thatland.
Pick whichever one you looked atin Scripture, and imagine if
you're a Christian, you walkinginto heaven.
The tribe of Gan walks, Gadwalks in.
Hey, uh guys, uh, this land isours.
Who wants that field?
(32:12):
I'll take it.
Who wants this house?
I'll take it.
Does it have food in it?
It sure does.
They walk into a land and God'sjust like, here you go.
They pick it.
How does that even work?
How is all of Joshua notsquabbles over houses?
Well, I wanted the one that wasnext to the river.
I wanted one for the cows.
(32:33):
Like, how do we not even seethis?
Because they are so blown awayby the generosity of their God
that they walk in and they'relike, I'll take 320.
Okay, well, I'll take 318.
Which one do you want?
Well, we've got a couple ofkids, so we'll take the one with
the extra bedroom.
Sounds good.
Who wants this field?
Who wants this field?
Who wants this orchard?
(32:54):
They just walk in and God'slike, take it, take it, take it,
take it.
And then we walk into heaven.
And Jesus says, Well done.
Good and faithful servant.
You have bled like my son andsweat like my son.
You have cried tears like my sonfor 50, 60, 70, 80 years.
(33:15):
Well done.
Enter your capital R, rest.
I've been waiting on you.
Can I show you the house I builtjust for you?
I know you.
I designed you.
I made you.
I knew how you would want tospend eternity.
(33:36):
Come walk down this road thatyou didn't pave, to this
neighborhood with people you'regonna love, to this house that I
made for you that is stockedwith food.
Welcome to a rest.
You see, Joshua is simply theprologue of the entirety of the
Christian life, and it has beenforeshadowing that grace from
(33:58):
the beginning.
But grace looks really differentbefore Jesus steps on the
picture.
This is the second thing thatall people should see about God.
This is gonna sound a littleweird, so just track with me for
a minute.
Say to the people of Israel,appoint cities of refuge, of
which I spoke to you throughMoses, that the manslayer who
(34:21):
strikes any person withoutintent or unknowingly may flee
there, that they shall shall befor you a refuge from the
avenger of blood.
Let me explain.
God recognizes that even in thisnew world, sin is going to creep
in.
And in this particular case,he's saying, There are going to
be six cities.
(34:43):
And there's this really cool mapthat I put together for you.
If anybody wants to see it,catch me for coffee, and I
promise not to be bitter aboutit.
There are these six cities, andthey were called cities of
refuge.
So that if somebody committed acrime of accident, not intent,
you gotta follow with me on thisbecause there's about to be a
theological concept.
By accident, not intent, God istucking in to this new kingdom,
(35:08):
pointing to the future kingdom,that grace exists even before
Jesus' arms are spread andthorns are crushed on his head.
There are going to be these sixcities so that if somebody dies
accidentally, that person canflee to the city.
And so long as they are in thecity walls, they are safe from
whoever would come and avengethe blood of their family.
(35:30):
This is God saying, Justice isreal and grace is coming.
It's coming, guys.
Just you watch.
But notice this he shall remainin that city, stay there, and
not leave, until he has stoodbefore the congregation for
judgment and until the death ofhim who is high priest.
(35:51):
At that time, then the manslayermay return to his own town, to
his rest, to his promise, andhis own home, the town in which
he fled.
This is one of the mostbeautifully hidden tucked
pointers to Jesus you will findin the book of Joshua.
Six cities in the event thatsomebody is killed on an
accident and their family wantsjustice.
(36:13):
You go to these six cities andyou live there, you stay there.
So long as you are under theprotection of the high priest,
you are safe.
And when that high priest dies,your debt has been covered.
Now, who does this sound like toyou?
(36:35):
This is Christ foreshadowed.
This is people running, andthey're not hiding their sin.
They're not lying about theirsin.
They're not saying the thingdidn't happen.
What they're saying is, I needgrace.
I deserve potential judgment,wrath.
Something horrible has happened.
Eye for an eye, tooth for atooth.
(36:55):
So I am gonna flee temporarilythis rest, and I'm gonna live in
this city.
And that high priest would havemade sacrifices, and that high
priest would have madeatonement.
And when that high priest dies,all of those that he was
covering are considered pasttense.
Turning of the chapter, it hasbeen dealt with.
When Christ dies on the cross,your sins become past tense,
(37:21):
even tomorrow's.
Christian, your tomorrow sin isseen as past tense in the eyes
of God because of the fullnessof the sacrifice of the high
priest Jesus.
Now, let me step on a toe,partially for fun, but also
because the moment I read citiesof refuge, it sounds like
(37:45):
something to me in our currentpolitical climate.
Is anybody brave enough to saywhat this sounds like?
Sanctuary cities.
Let me give you the different ina city of refuge and a sanctuary
city.
In these cities of refuge, guiltis admitted.
In a sanctuary city, in themodern sense, guilt is being
(38:08):
denied.
That shouldn't be a law.
That shouldn't be wrong.
So we're not gonna hold itagainst you.
Here, God's word is not sayingdeath is it's okay.
It's just an accident.
It's fine.
What he's saying is this is abig deal and it's a heavy deal.
But I can handle big deals, Ican handle heavy deals.
(38:28):
To put it differently, scripturenever rescues by redefinition,
it rescues by redemption.
What do I mean?
Our modern culture tries to findpeace apart from Christ by
relabeling their reality.
The world calls envy ambition,and it's good to be ambitious.
(38:50):
How else are you going toprogress in life?
We call lust and sensualityself-expression.
All we do is clean it upverbally so that there seems to
be no need.
You see, we're just going toredefine it.
Scripture never redefines sin,but it does redeem it.
We call greed stewardship.
(39:12):
I need to hold on to thisforever so that I can be at rest
here.
Your capital R rest was nevermeant to be here.
We call pride confidence.
We redefine sin so we can feelbetter about ourselves.
The Bible does not.
It calls sin, and it doesn'targue that it isn't.
(39:36):
It just argues that there is away for sin to be paid for.
This is grace tucked in from thebeginning.
Now, if you go to Mitri, thereare two things for you
specifically.
Success is going to invite twothings in this text.
It's going to invite complacencyand it's going to invite
(39:57):
conflict.
Here's what we see in Joshua 18.
The whole congregation of thepeople of Israel assembled at
Shiloh and they set up a tent ofmeeting there.
The land laid subdued beforethem.
I had this really cool map, andI wish I could have showed you.
But on this really cool map, Ican show you all of the land
(40:18):
that they were promised and havetheir boots on the ground in.
And then all of the land, likethe kings have been handled, all
the difficulties done.
All they need to do is walk inand pick the house, pick the
neighborhood, pick the vineyard,which is going to be theirs.
And so Joshua turns around andhe says this there remained
among the people of Israel seventribes whose inheritance had not
(40:39):
yet been apportioned.
So Joshua said to the people ofIsrael, This to me sounds so
much like dad.
It sounds like dad when therewas a chore that was supposed to
be done four days ago and itdidn't get done.
All right?
There's a little bit of angst inyour tone, but you also realize
if you would just get yourchores done, you'd be a happier
(41:00):
person because this burdenwouldn't be hanging over your
head.
How long will you put off goingin to take possession of the
land?
Joshua dealt withprocrastination as much as any
of us, okay?
And I don't know how you dealwith that word.
Some of you hate it because ofyourself.
Some of you hate it because ofothers.
But Joshua looks and he's like,guys, God has done it.
(41:21):
Go pick the house, walk into theland, stop being lazy because
these three tribes on the eastside of the Jordan are waiting
for you to finish so that theycan fully go home.
You are making your brotherswait because you are
procrastinating.
I don't know if anybody canrelate to this.
When everybody's in the carexcept for one kid, and you're
(41:43):
like, just come.
All of us, all of us are waitingaround for you.
And Joshua says, How long areyou gonna put off?
How long are you gonna wait onthis, which the Lord, the God of
your fathers, has given you?
Mitch, let me give you a headsup.
You can walk into a buildingthat you did not build, on land
(42:04):
that you did not buy, droppingyour kids off in rooms with toys
provided, and you do not knowwhere it came from.
We all now sit in vineyards thatwere planted by others.
We stand on land that waspurchased by others.
We hear testimony aftertestimony, month after month,
(42:26):
because of ministry that wasdone by others.
We're a young church.
When I get a phone call for thehospital, 95% of the time, it is
life coming into the world.
We will move into a season wherewe are celebrating lives well
(42:46):
lived.
People hearing, well done, goodand faithful servant, enter into
your rest.
Joshua looks at his people and Iwould look at mine and I would
say this.
Don't grow complacent.
Don't assume that just becausewe we walk into a building and
(43:08):
there's an air conditioning,some of us remember when we
didn't have that.
Some of us remember animalsmaking all kinds of noise at
this part, usually in theservice, when I'm trying to
point most to Jesus.
Some of us remember going tochurch at 5:30 and 6 o'clock at
night.
You are all sitting on pews froma myriad number of churches who
(43:29):
have had saints who are nowsitting in their homes in
heaven.
The nature of the Christian iswe bleed and we sweat and we cry
because I've only got 80 yearsto do it.
Now, I I don't have anything topush you toward right now in
this moment.
But but I will just tell you,it's easy to walk past that MCG
(43:52):
wall and think, we're good.
No, we need more MCG leaders.
Bleed, sweat, cry.
We need more people on theworship team.
I'd love to pay off thisbuilding.
I'm literally looking at alittle building that was built
by someone who will remainnameless.
In fact, a bunch of them, justbecause they don't want to
become complacent.
Church is not a sport that wewatch on TV.
(44:14):
It is something that we getinto, and when we do, we truly
find life.
There's a tendency to sit back,there's a tendency to enjoy and
forget all the groundwork, thelabor, and the pain that gets us
here.
It is better to cry and to sweatand to bleed, Christian.
I promise you that.
(44:34):
Because the one who had 33 yearsfilled them with it.
So that a symbol of his workwould be what we put our eyes
to.
The second thing that I wouldtell you is watch for conflict.
This makes me laugh.
I know we're at a heavy part andBennett's playing minor chords.
(44:55):
But this does make me, am Iright?
Alright.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
All came to pass.
That's chapter 21.
You turn the page to 22.
I love this.
I love the Bible.
I just think it's wonderful.
And then chapter 22.
(45:17):
I'll read this and I'll brieflyexplain it.
When they came to the region ofthe Jordan that's in the land of
Canaan, the people of Reuben,the people of Gad, the half
tribe of Manasseh, built therean altar by the Jordan.
I had this really cool map, itwould have made more sense, but
don't sweat it.
An altar of imposing size.
The Bible points to that.
They build this massive altar.
And when the people of Israelheard of it, the whole assembly
(45:40):
gathered at Shiloh to make waragainst them.
They just got in their house.
Their wives are hanging theirfamily picture above the mantle
or whatever it is that you as awife would do.
You're like chopping the pillow,whatever the final like touch
is.
I don't know.
Laying it, they're like, andthen all of a sudden they catch
(46:02):
a quick text message.
Hey, bad news.
These guys just built an altarto an unknown God.
We need to go and kill all ofour brothers.
And so all the tribes get readyfor war.
They all go out, and within afew verses, here is what
happens.
Therefore, we said, let us nowbuild an altar.
Hey guys, guys, don't kill us.
We weren't building this for aburnt offering.
(46:23):
We weren't building this for asacrifice.
We were building this as awitness.
And here's what had happened.
They were afraid that all thesenations, which they helped move
into their new homes, becausethey were separated by a river,
would forget about them.
They were afraid service onewould forget about service
number two, or Midry wouldforget about Cross Point, the
(46:44):
church that planted them, orwhatever else it is.
And so they build this altar.
Well, the other nations getupset because they're like,
there's one altar and it's atthe temple.
And you do not need to run afteranother God.
You need to remain with us.
And they say, guys, guys, guys,here's what we were worried
about.
We didn't want your children tothink that we were separate from
you.
So we built this altar.
We're not burning uh sacrificesto it.
(47:07):
We are actually building this totry to show you we are with you
when there are generations yetto come.
Why do I point to this?
Because when everything is goingwell, that is when
miscommunication andmisunderstanding is most likely
to happen.
At the height of peace, theyalmost lose everything.
(47:27):
Because God's people are notonly vulnerable to enemies on
the outside, but the assumptionson the inside.
And when things are going well,pause.
Praise God, things are goingwell at our church.
They are.
We can talk about, I will go tolunch with you and celebrate the
incredible things that God isdoing.
And I'm not even talking aboutbuildings, I'm even talking
(47:48):
about money, talking aboutlives.
I'm talking about, I keep havingcoffee with people who keep
saying, I'm just like growing inmy relationship with the Lord,
and I'm feeling comfortablebeing stretched, and I'm doing
new things.
I was never like a share myfaith person, and now I am.
We never read our Bible as afamily, and that's what you
celebrate.
(48:08):
When things are going well,that's when communication
becomes the most fragile becausewe assume we understand each
other.
And we stop talking.
We just assume, hey, we allthink the same thing, believe
the same thing, see the world inthe exact same way.
And this attempt at unity almostcompletely destroyed them.
(48:31):
Just one little encouragement.
In any relationship you have inthis room, whether it's with a
leader, whether it's withsomebody in your small group,
whether it's with somebodyacross the room, whether it's
something from 15 or 20 yearsago, and maybe you've been
coming to church for a year anda half and they showed up two
(48:51):
weeks ago and you're like,awkward.
By the way, it happens everySunday.
I'm not single.
If you're like, he heard aboutit, he's talking to me, happens
every single Sunday.
God has built a ministry ofreconciliation.
He loves watching broken things,he loves seeing things break so
that he can make it morebeautiful for the brokenness.
If there is anything sideways inthis room, sideways with others,
(49:15):
sideways with you and the Lord,the Bible instructs us not to
take communion until we haverestored that thing.
And when things are going well,we just kind of paint over it
with a bunch of kills and wepretend there was never any mold
underneath it.
Christian, do not.
And if you will not, you willhave all of these good promises
(49:39):
that the Lord has made.
None of them will fail so thatyou can serve the Lord with all
your heart, with all your mind,and with all your soul.
It was never about land.
It was always about rest.
It was always about inheritance.
Grace was always tucked in fromthe beginning.
And when it would be easy for usto lean back, we lean in and we
(50:04):
cry and we sweat and we bleedbecause our Savior dead.
And he says, follow me.
So let's follow him as weprepare to close this book
together in the days ahead.
Take a few moments, thinkthrough a few of the questions,
and we'll get ready to respondwith communion.
Joshua chapter twenty one, beginning in verse
forty three.
Thus the Lord gave to Israel allthe land that he swore to give
to their fathers, and they tookpossession of it, and they
settled there, and the Lord gavethem rest on every side, just as
he as he had sworn to theirfathers.
Not one of all their enemies hadwithstood them, for the Lord had
(01:06):
given all their enemies intotheir hands.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
All came to pass.
This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
Amen.
Thanks, Tori.
Hey Greg, where'd you go?
I couldn't help myself.
Whether it's dispain or datpain, 1-800 dispain, have your
needs met.
I started working on a businessmodel on the walk up.
Tori, thank you for reading.
Really appreciate it.
All right, uh, a couple of headsup.
(01:39):
Uh by the way, first servicemeet, second service, second
service meet, first service.
We're glad you have all joinedus for first service.
Out of curiosity, I wouldn'tusually say this, but I saw
Larry Young walk in and I knowfor a fact his family tends to
be second.
How many of you are secondservice folks that woke up early
and were just like, meh, we'llsee how this goes.
(02:00):
How many of you are normallysecond?
Really?
Well, welcome to Mentry.
A quarter that blows me away.
It's good to see you, yeah.
All right.
Well, Larry, you're the solo.
All right.
Second thing, since thatobviously isn't true, you will
need a Bible today.
So whether you are paper Bibleor a digital Bible, you're
(02:22):
welcome to use both.
As always, you can use the tableof contents here.
You are going to want your Bibletoday.
I will say, recognizing thateverybody had an hour of sleep,
this seemed like the bestSunday, if we were going to do
it, to cover 11 chapters ofscripture of land allotments in
(02:44):
the book of Joshua.
Now, if you need to hop up andgrab a cup of coffee, that's
fine.
I have a very firm conviction onthis.
All of God's Word is all ofGod's Word.
Genealogies inspired by the Wordof God.
Land allotments inspired by theWord of God.
(03:06):
So I have taken pastorally alittle bit of a personal
endeavor to simultaneously showyou a wide breadth of God's
word, a piece that many of uswould get to in our Bible
reading plans and sort of say,all right, okay, well, I
committed to it.
It's only February, okay?
Or we would maybe flip a littlequicker.
(03:29):
The Bible is amazing, alwaysamazing.
And I hope that all of us havethe privilege of being able to
see that today.
So grab your Bibles.
Uh, Tori already told you ifyou're using a pew Bible.
If you don't own a Bible, thatBible is now yours.
Keep it.
We want you to have it.
We are going to look at Joshuachapter 11 through Joshua 22.
(03:52):
And I want you to have, if Gregwanted you to put on spectacles
toward communion, I want you toput on spectacles toward the
work of Jesus in what we wouldsee as maybe an unlikely place
to find it.
So here we are in Joshua.
Let's go ahead and we'll begin.
Uh hit a button in the back.
The the kid with headphones onthat happens to be mine.
(04:12):
All right.
I'm giving you a map to beginwith.
I know it's too small for you tosee.
All right.
This is the land from chapters11 through 19 that is
distributed by God, and I'mgonna do my best to help this
all make sense and cause you toget excited about it.
To be able to slide into thiswith the assumption that some of
(04:34):
you have not been with us everysingle Sunday over the past two
and a half months while we'vebeen in Joshua, let me give you
a little summary as we begin.
Joshua 11, verse 15, issummarizing almost everything up
to this point, and here is howGod's word summarizes.
Just as the Lord had commandedMoses, his servant, so Moses
(04:56):
commanded Joshua, and so Joshuadid.
Notice the hierarchy here.
God looks at Moses, he says,This is what the promised land
is gonna look like, this is howit is going to be, this is what
I have gathered my people for,the promises I have made since I
looked at Abraham, and I said,Your people are gonna outnumber
the stars in the sky and thegrains of sand on the seabed.
(05:19):
That this is how big of a dealthis is gonna be.
Moses then tells Joshua, and Ijust, you gotta love Joshua.
He is such a stud.
And the Bible goes, Joshua heardwhat he was supposed to do, and
he just went and did it.
Awesome.
So this gets us caught up, butthen notice this uh chapter 11,
verse 23.
So Joshua took the whole land,everything, as we think about
(05:44):
the promises of God.
Joshua takes the whole landaccording to all that the Lord
had spoken to Moses.
And Joshua gave it for aninheritance to Israel according
to their tribal allotments, andthe land had rest from war.
Now, how is it that the land gotrest?
If you're in your paper Bibles,I want you to uh turn to chapter
(06:06):
12.
If you're in your digital Bible,same thing, because this is
gonna be difficult to read, andI want to point out two things
from Joshua chapter 12 as weturn the page to these promises
fully becoming true.
One thing that I just kind ofwant you to put in the back of
your mind for a moment is thislittle phraseology, the west
(06:28):
side of the Jordan.
All right, the Jordan is ariver.
I'll show you that in just amoment.
All of these are the kings ofthe land whom Joshua and the
people of Israel defeated on thewest side of the Jordan, and
then there is going to be alist.
I'm not gonna read this list toyou.
If you came uh to our weeklyBible study uh a couple of weeks
ago when we were working throughthis on Wednesday, by the way,
(06:50):
you're all invited to it.
It's on Wednesday afternoons.
I give you more details.
We read through every one ofthese names, we read through
every one of these people.
I want you to see what is at thevery end of this.
31 kings are defeated.
So as we slide into landallotments, if you watched the
documentary on Nolan Ryan, andit gets to the end, by the way.
(07:11):
Nolan Ryan, incredible pitcher.
I don't know who put it out.
I'm gonna guess Netflix, but PatGilbert will know.
Who put it out?
Do you know?
You will not know.
All right.
Have you seen it?
Okay.
All right, anyway, it's awesome.
And it gets to the end, andinstead of scrolling credits, it
scrolls sort of his lifetimeaccomplishments on the mount.
(07:33):
This is what Joshua 12 feelslike to me.
It just goes through king afterking after king after king.
31 kings listed.
Now remember how slowly we havemoved up to this point.
Uh we have started to cross theJordan, and God rips the sea
open so his people can walkthrough.
We see Jericho, the high watermark of a fortress to take.
(07:56):
And God says, Don't worry aboutstones or spears or shields or
swords.
Just walk around the thing, havea really great worship time.
I'm gonna take care of it, andthe walls come a tumbling down.
By the time we get here, theBible itself does begin
summarizing a little bit.
This king lost, and that kinglost, and that king lost, until
31 kings are gone at thebeginning of chapter 12.
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And when you get toward the endof the book, this would be a
summarizing statement.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
Every one of them came to pass.
Many of us have this on ourbracelets right now.
This is on the green bracelet.
(08:42):
And if you're like, no, itisn't, it's Joshua 1-9.
We print it on the back side,assuming that you would get 1-9
knocked out pretty quickly.
This is one of the mostbeautiful passages in the entire
book of Joshua.
Every promise God made, everysingle one, happened and
happened and happened andhappened.
Now, there are two things thatall people need to hear from the
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text we're going to look attoday, and two things that I
think are specific for Midtree.
So if you're new to Midtree, uh,if you're just kind of feeling
it out, if Midtree ends up notbeing a good church for you,
that is not awkward for us.
We want you to find a goodgospel preaching church.
Let us know.
We would love to help you find agood church if Midtree is not
the exact right fit for whateverreason.
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Midree, there are two thingsspecifically for us as we walk
through this, and then there aretwo things I think for all
people.
Now, Joshua at this point isold.
He's advanced in years, and theLord said to him, You are old
and advanced in years.
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Sometimes scripture makes mesmile, and this is one of those.
Joshua, uh, in case you arecurious, I think you're old,
thus saith the Lord, which is abit of a lift because the Lord's
been around.
And there yet remains, thereremains yet very much land to
possess.
I told Abraham this was gonnahappen.
(10:11):
Has it not?
I told Moses this was going tohappen.
And were it not for his sin, hewould have been able to walk in
this land.
But because of it, he stood onthe edge and he peered in and he
looked to you, Joshua, and hesaid, These are all the things
that the Lord our God hascommanded.
Do them.
And Joshua says, Moses, you gotit.
If you're telling me to do it,I'm gonna go do it.
(10:32):
Joshua goes in, and now here heis prepping for the end of his
life.
And the next number of chaptersare land allotments.
This is not the kind of thingthat you would expect in a
funeral.
This is not the kind of thingthat you would expect if you're
(10:52):
going over the greatest hits ofsomebody's life.
But every single chapter thatfollows is God saying, Didn't I
tell you I was gonna do this?
Done.
Didn't I tell you I was gonna dothis?
Done.
Did I tell you I was gonna dothat?
Done.
And so Joshua preps it up, andland is only the beginning.
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We'll be finishing Joshua nextweek.
So next week we will completeour walk through the book of
Joshua.
And you will miss out on theentire book if you don't feel
this reality.
Joshua is a prologue of thewhole of the Bible.
So what you're about to read,what we're about to look at, the
(11:35):
land is only the beginning, is aprologue to a promise that God
made a long time ago.
This is the first real successof it.
What do I mean when I say landwas only the beginning?
Well, if you look in yourBibles, here's what you'll see
in the subtext in chapter 13,15, and 16.
The inheritance east of theJordan, that's chapter 13.
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In 15 is an allotment for Judah,and in 16 is an allotment for
Ephraim and Manasseh.
All right, let's see if thisworks.
I tested it twice and it did,and now it's not.
Come on, do it.
You want to do it.
I worked four hours on this.
Do not let me down.
All right, we're gonna wait forjust a minute and hope.
Crockett, you may be running aniPad, buddy.
(12:20):
Crockett gets excited whenthings break.
When you're happy, I'm unhappy,buddy.
I just need you to know that.
Come on, man.
I'll come back to it.
Y'all can pray for it.
Here's my best shot.
The first map that I showed youhad a distribution of different
colors.
How many tribes of Israel arethere?
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Bonus points at the camp store,if you can guess.
Or because there was a halftribe, okay?
So the way that it works out,when I showed you chapter 13,
what was happening is Joshua andGod's word are going to break
out all of the different landallotments into thirds.
But they're not thirds by area.
They're not even thirds bychapters in the Bible, they're
(13:05):
thematic thirds.
So there are three tribes thatMoses said, This is the land
that you're going to get.
They walk into it.
They're on the east of theJordan River.
Now you may not remember this.
They settled in, they hadhouses, they moved in, and
everything was wonderful, butthe remaining tribes had
nothing.
So Joshua, the Lord, looks atthem and he says, Before you
(13:27):
rest, you are going to crossover this river and you are
going to obtain land for theother nations of my name before
you go home and rest with yourwives and with your children.
That happens on the west side.
So you have one third on theeast, and then you have one
third on the west.
That third exists because Godhad very special promises for
(13:50):
them.
He looked at Ephraim and helooked at Manasseh and he said,
Because of the promise I made toyour father, it is carrying down
to you.
You, Joseph's family, are goingto inherit land.
And then he looked at Judah andhe said, You have been given a
special promise.
The scepter is never going toleave.
Jesus is known as the Lion ofthe tribe of Judah.
(14:11):
So these in scripture are brokenout.
And then we have the remainingseven.
And the question is, all right,how is this going to play out?
How is the land going to work?
So let me see if we have anyhope right now.
All right, hit the button.
Okay.
Good enough.
Okay.
(14:41):
Okay.
Now I have to go off of memory.
Let's see how good my study is.
So you have the Jordan Rivercoming down here.
And these nations, these three,one, two, and three, Moses said,
This is going to be your land.
Don't rest, because in just aminute, you're going to cross
over and you're going to beginhelping your brothers take it.
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When they begin moving over, itdoesn't matter what chapter you
go to.
This is why I wanted you to haveBibles.
Anything from 15, 16, 17, 18,19, I just want you to look down
and you're going to seesomething that says land
allotments for Naphtali, landallotments for Dan, land
allotments for fill in theblank.
And there's one word that I wantyou to begin looking for.
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I want you to look for the wordcities.
So look down, and I want you tofind it.
When you find the word city inone of those paragraphs, you
don't have to be all crazy proudabout it.
Just pop your hand up a littlebit.
Okay, Amy, who are you lookingat?
What what nation?
What tribe?
Reuben?
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Okay.
All right, who else has one?
What do you got, Chris?
Okay, Judah.
Yep, there you go, Sarah.
What you got?
All right, we got that.
Anybody see anybody see anythingelse with the word cities near
it?
What we got, Rachel?
All right, Benjamin grabs one.
Everywhere you look, who yougot?
Zebulon.
Everywhere you look, there'sthis concept where they walk in
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and they begin getting thesecities.
Why am I why am I stopping andsaying that land is only the
beginning?
Because when you read this,here's how we are prone to read
it.
All right, way to go, Zebulon.
Good job.
Here's your land.
Northern border, western border,eastern border, southern border.
This is gonna be your place andthe cities within it.
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When you read it, it beginssounding redundant, right?
You're gonna take this, you'regonna take that, you're gonna
take this, you're gonna takethat.
What ends up happening after hetakes all the land is these two
words appeared in scripture.
Joshua 11, 23.
So Joshua takes the whole landaccording to all that the Lord
had spoken to Moses, and Joshuagave it for an inheritance to
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Israel, according to theirtribal allotments, and the land
had rest from war.
Notice the screen for a minute,and these two words that go with
it inheritance and rest.
All people who want to knowanything about the God of the
Bible should pause in Joshuawhen you get to this passage and
you see these two words.
(17:16):
Why?
Because rest and inheritance aremassive for you to understand
what it is that God is doinghere.
Let's just start with rest.
In Joshua, God's people getrest, but Joshua is a prologue
to the Bible.
So they the rest that they aregoing to get as they move
through, the rest that they getis pointing to this better,
(17:38):
wider, deeper rest.
Here's what I mean.
In Hebrews, so many years later,when we think of Joshua, when we
think of this promise, here iswhat the Bible says.
If Joshua had given them rest,flag on the field, time out,
didn't the Bible just say theygot rest?
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So what is going on in Hebrews?
There's something bigger thanthis.
If God had given them rest, ifJoshua had given them rest, God
would not have spoken of anotherday later on.
So then there remains, there'sthis waiting, this holding, this
gift under the tree that hasn'tbeen opened yet.
There is this Sabbath rest forthe people of God.
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For whoever has entered God'srest has also rested from his
works as God did from his.
Whoever has entered into God'srest has rested from his works.
Why in Joshua does the land haverest?
Because whatever Moses said toJoshua, Joshua did.
Whatever Joshua said, the peopleof God did.
And it would be very easy forthem to look back and say, guys,
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we have done it, we haveaccomplished it.
We no longer have war.
31 kings for just for a start,Jericho, Achan, all of these
massive battles, we are done.
And the Bible says, enter yourrest, but time out for a minute.
This is a lowercase our rest.
As you walk into this land, asyou walk into these cities, you
(19:09):
did not build, as you begin tolay down your sword and pick up
your plow, as you go fromembracing a brother in battle to
embracing your wife andembracing your children, as the
mode of your mind begins tochange, rest.
But only with a lowercase r.
Because there's a better restthat I want you to see is
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coming.
And if Joshua had been able togive them that rest, he would
have, but he couldn't.
Because there's a rest that goesbeyond a good day's work.
And we all know this.
We rest differently on vacationthan we rest at 5.01 p.m.
This is the 5.01 p.m.
rest.
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You have worked your nine tofive.
You are driving home.
You know that you need to be adad, you need to be a mom, you
need to be a neighbor, you needto be this, but at least you're
not checking your email.
At least you're off of yourphone, whatever it is that work
is.
You're gonna go home, you'regonna flip on the TV, you're
gonna cook some dinner, you'regonna hang out with your family,
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you're gonna be at rest.
The Bible says that is abeautiful thing, but it isn't
beautiful enough for me, saysGod.
There's a different kind ofrest.
There's a rest where you go on avacation, but there's also a
rest that none of you haveexperienced yet.
It's a rest where you go on avacation and you never come
back.
It's a rest where everything iscovered and everything is paid
for.
(20:32):
It's a rest where you never haveto pick up your hand again to
toil.
So Joshua and the people of Godunderstand there remains a rest
that you can't even begin toimagine yet.
And as though God needed toprove it to him, he said, and
let me kind of just twist theknife on this a little bit.
Do you know why you're gettingthis land?
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Not because of yourrighteousness or the uprightness
of your heart are you going topossess their land?
Hey, don't think that justbecause things are going well,
it's because you're knockinglife out of the park and your
heart is right and your mind isright.
God says there are two reasonsthat you're possessing this
land.
Because of the wickedness ofthese nations, the Lord your God
(21:15):
is driving them out from beforeyou, and that he may confirm the
word that the Lord swore to yourfathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob.
There are two reasons you'rewalking into this land.
Number one, those nations arewicked, and you are my arm of
judgment.
Number two, you are receivingfrom my arm of promise
fulfillment.
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This is the word that I swore.
For these two reasons, notice,none of it is because God's
people are awesome people.
They're just really bad, and hispromises are really good.
And these two things cometogether, and God says, now
welcome to a well-earnedvacation.
But there is more to it thanjust a well-earned vacation.
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There is a rest that I have foryou.
They wanted to rest from theirobedience to work.
God wants us to rest in anotherperson's perfect work.
This is pointing to Christ.
This is saying you are able toearn some level of rest,
typically at the end of yourdiligent, faithful hard work,
(22:20):
but you will never be able tograsp at what God wants to give.
So when you find yourself inrest, let it point forward to
something bigger.
The second thing is this Joshuagave it for an inheritance to
Israel.
God's people get rest.
The whole story is better.
They're looking forward to atruer rest.
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And God's people are going toget a new kingdom as well.
They're going to inherit it.
But even this inheritance ispointing to something that I
think is absolutely staggering.
I didn't notice this until I satdown and I read all of the
chapters in one sitting.
By the way, typically I like tomove a lot slower.
I like to grab a verse, analyzeit, pull stuff out.
(23:05):
There is some benefit ingrabbing, uh hopping on a
helicopter and shooting up to30,000 feet and saying, Oh, I've
been driving through the citythis way.
Have you ever done that?
Have you ever opened your GoogleMaps and zoomed out and realized
for 20 years you've been takingone of the worst routes to get
from here to there?
Because in your mind it was up,but it actually isn't up.
It's off to the side.
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout?
(23:26):
That's what this text is.
It's zooming up and saying, Youdidn't even realize this was
aligned this way, did you?
You didn't even notice this.
When I read through the entiretyof it in one sitting, this is
what struck me.
Why does the word inheritancekeep coming up?
They're not getting land fromtheir family.
They're not getting land fromtheir father or from their
(23:48):
grandfather.
They're getting land from theirenemies.
That is not an inheritance.
Not the way we think of it.
But in Leviticus chapter 25, Godsays, All of that land is mine.
And when God gives something tohis children, when the father
(24:10):
gives something to his kids,that can rightly be called an
inheritance.
This is the way to think aboutthem moving into the promised
land.
They're not pushing outoccupiers.
They're not taking owners out.
They were just people who werein the place that God had always
(24:31):
destined for them to be andpromised.
So this idea of inheritancebegins to come up.
So when the Lord your God bringsyou into the land that he swore
to your fathers, all of thoselittle passages that I had you
look at with the word cities,this is unbelievable to me.
When you go into that land, tothe land of Abraham and Isaac,
(24:53):
to Jacob to give you, when yougo into a land that has great
and good cities that you didn'tbuild, when you walk into a
place with houses full of goods,things that you did not fill.
When you go to a place ofcisterns, this would have been a
holder of water.
(25:14):
You found uh a city with a watertower.
You're not going outside to pumpit, you just turn on the knob
and it comes out.
God's like, when when you walkinto a place with cisterns that
you didn't dig, and when youfind vineyards and olive trees
you didn't even plant, you'regonna walk and pull the fruit
from a tree that neither yourdad nor your granddad ever
planted.
I'm the one who planted it.
(25:36):
I planted it there, even withpeople who hated me and were
opposed to me.
When you do that, when you eatand are full, don't forget me.
Don't forget the Lord, becauseit was the Lord your God who did
this.
This is why it's referred to asan inheritance, because it was
(25:59):
something that God had for them.
And an inheritance is allthroughout scripture.
When we look in Hebrews 11, byfaith, Abraham obeyed when he
was called to go out to a placethat he was going to receive as
an inheritance.
And he went out, not evenknowing where he was going.
His dad, his granddad, hisgreat-granddad had never laid
(26:22):
foot on the land before.
And God says that's aninheritance for you because I am
the Father.
You are the Son.
Now go into this creation ofwhich I own all of it.
I have something special foryou.
This is why in the New Testamentwe read phraseologies like this.
The king will say to those onhis right, Come, you who are
blessed by my Father, inheritthe kingdom prepared for you
(26:46):
from the foundation of theworld.
And what is the inheritance ofthe Christian?
Imperishable, undefiled,unfading, kept in heaven for
you, Christian.
Welcome to a vacation that neverends, in a condo that has been
purchased in your name.
This is what we begin to see inJoshua.
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But it gets better when you movefrom verse 8 in Hebrews 11 to
10, you realize Abraham knew itfrom the beginning.
For he was looking forward to acity that has foundations, not
in Canaan, not like Jericho, ashigh as they could build.
He wanted a city whose designerand builder was God.
(27:31):
Yes, the land that God hasprepared is a gift.
I hope you feel like whereveryou live is a gift of God and
his gracious generosity to you.
Did you have to pay for thathouse?
Out of curiosity, did you haveto pay for the house that you
live in?
Are you paying for the housethat you live in?
When you open the pantry, do youopen it and go, it is amazing
that I get airdrop this foodevery Monday?
(27:54):
God's people did.
For 40 years, manna was justlike fill your pantry, but only
for a day, right?
Ah, we're kind of tired ofbread.
And then quail just startflopping through.
Like, this is what God did forhis people.
Oh man, that's a that looks likea really dangerous place.
They've got one of the biggesttowers we've ever seen.
Don't worry, just walk aroundand blow some trumpets.
(28:15):
Like, this is the generosity ofGod.
You didn't build it, you didn'tmake it, you didn't plan it, you
didn't design it, you didn'teven think about it, and Abraham
knew it before Moses or Joshuaever stepped foot on the ground.
Abraham said, It will be greatfor me to have a nation of
descendants.
It will be great for God tobuild his family.
(28:35):
But do you know what I'm reallylooking forward to?
A city that man didn't build.
A city whose designer andbuilder is God.
Because these all died in faith.
Not having received the thingspromised.
Flag on the field number two.
Did God's people receive theinheritance God promised to
(28:58):
them?
Yes or no?
Yes.
Then what is this talking about?
How can it say they didn'treceive what was promised when
God was like, I made a promiseso you'd get it, so you'd get
it, so you'd get it, and you'dsee, I'm a promise-making,
promise-keeping God.
He's saying, Joshua is theprologue.
This is about more than land.
What's happening here is thatyou got to see them, you got to
(29:19):
greet them from afar.
Moses, you stood on the edge andyou looked in, but you knew
there was something even betterthan that.
You were strangers and strangersand exiles on the earth.
But as it is, even Abraham, evenuh Moses, even Joshua, when he
walked into the land and hepicked from a tree that he
(29:40):
didn't plant, they desiredsomething better than that.
They desired something heavenly.
So God is not ashamed to becalled their God, for he has
prepared for them a city.
Why do you think Jesus talksthis way?
In my father's house are manyrooms.
If it were not so, would I havetold you that I go and prepare a
(30:02):
place for you?
Christian in the room, do yourealize that in whatever
heavenly way it works, two byfours are being thrown up so
that when you get there youdon't have to swing a hammer?
You will walk into a land youhave never set foot on, in a
vacation that will never end,where it is nothing but good and
light and true rest, and youwill never swing a hammer, and
(30:26):
you will never pay a dimebecause somebody else has done,
is done, and continues to do thework for you.
Do you know what's crazy aboutChristianity?
That is crazy aboutChristianity.
Pick any other religion in theworld.
Work like this, you'll earn thisin heaven.
This you'll earn this in theafterlife.
(30:47):
Not Christianity.
Christianity is like work ashard as you can because this is
where we do the work.
We have a really long restcoming, a huge vacation coming,
an incredible place to livecoming.
Work, cry, bleed, sweat, hear,because you only get 80 years to
do it.
That's the way Christianity seesthe world.
(31:09):
You only get 30, 40, 60, 80, 90,maybe for some of us, a hundred
years.
And if you are in Christ'smillennia of rest and
inheritance, little flock, fearnot.
God's not begrudging about this.
It is his good pleasure to handyou a kingdom.
(31:31):
You see, God's people do getrest in Joshua, but the whole
story is so much better.
And they do get an inheritancein Joshua, but the whole story
is so much better.
This might be the closest thingto revelation in the entirety of
the old Bible I can imagine.
(31:52):
Why?
Imagine them walking into thatland.
Pick whichever one you looked atin Scripture, and imagine if
you're a Christian, you walkinginto heaven.
The tribe of Gan walks, Gadwalks in.
Hey, uh guys, uh, this land isours.
Who wants that field?
(32:12):
I'll take it.
Who wants this house?
I'll take it.
Does it have food in it?
It sure does.
They walk into a land and God'sjust like, here you go.
They pick it.
How does that even work?
How is all of Joshua notsquabbles over houses?
Well, I wanted the one that wasnext to the river.
I wanted one for the cows.
(32:33):
Like, how do we not even seethis?
Because they are so blown awayby the generosity of their God
that they walk in and they'relike, I'll take 320.
Okay, well, I'll take 318.
Which one do you want?
Well, we've got a couple ofkids, so we'll take the one with
the extra bedroom.
Sounds good.
Who wants this field?
Who wants this field?
Who wants this orchard?
(32:54):
They just walk in and God'slike, take it, take it, take it,
take it.
And then we walk into heaven.
And Jesus says, Well done.
Good and faithful servant.
You have bled like my son andsweat like my son.
You have cried tears like my sonfor 50, 60, 70, 80 years.
(33:15):
Well done.
Enter your capital R, rest.
I've been waiting on you.
Can I show you the house I builtjust for you?
I know you.
I designed you.
I made you.
I knew how you would want tospend eternity.
(33:36):
Come walk down this road thatyou didn't pave, to this
neighborhood with people you'regonna love, to this house that I
made for you that is stockedwith food.
Welcome to a rest.
You see, Joshua is simply theprologue of the entirety of the
Christian life, and it has beenforeshadowing that grace from
(33:58):
the beginning.
But grace looks really differentbefore Jesus steps on the
picture.
This is the second thing thatall people should see about God.
This is gonna sound a littleweird, so just track with me for
a minute.
Say to the people of Israel,appoint cities of refuge, of
which I spoke to you throughMoses, that the manslayer who
(34:21):
strikes any person withoutintent or unknowingly may flee
there, that they shall shall befor you a refuge from the
avenger of blood.
Let me explain.
God recognizes that even in thisnew world, sin is going to creep
in.
And in this particular case,he's saying, There are going to
be six cities.
(34:43):
And there's this really cool mapthat I put together for you.
If anybody wants to see it,catch me for coffee, and I
promise not to be bitter aboutit.
There are these six cities, andthey were called cities of
refuge.
So that if somebody committed acrime of accident, not intent,
you gotta follow with me on thisbecause there's about to be a
theological concept.
By accident, not intent, God istucking in to this new kingdom,
(35:08):
pointing to the future kingdom,that grace exists even before
Jesus' arms are spread andthorns are crushed on his head.
There are going to be these sixcities so that if somebody dies
accidentally, that person canflee to the city.
And so long as they are in thecity walls, they are safe from
whoever would come and avengethe blood of their family.
(35:30):
This is God saying, Justice isreal and grace is coming.
It's coming, guys.
Just you watch.
But notice this he shall remainin that city, stay there, and
not leave, until he has stoodbefore the congregation for
judgment and until the death ofhim who is high priest.
(35:51):
At that time, then the manslayermay return to his own town, to
his rest, to his promise, andhis own home, the town in which
he fled.
This is one of the mostbeautifully hidden tucked
pointers to Jesus you will findin the book of Joshua.
Six cities in the event thatsomebody is killed on an
accident and their family wantsjustice.
(36:13):
You go to these six cities andyou live there, you stay there.
So long as you are under theprotection of the high priest,
you are safe.
And when that high priest dies,your debt has been covered.
Now, who does this sound like toyou?
(36:35):
This is Christ foreshadowed.
This is people running, andthey're not hiding their sin.
They're not lying about theirsin.
They're not saying the thingdidn't happen.
What they're saying is, I needgrace.
I deserve potential judgment,wrath.
Something horrible has happened.
Eye for an eye, tooth for atooth.
(36:55):
So I am gonna flee temporarilythis rest, and I'm gonna live in
this city.
And that high priest would havemade sacrifices, and that high
priest would have madeatonement.
And when that high priest dies,all of those that he was
covering are considered pasttense.
Turning of the chapter, it hasbeen dealt with.
When Christ dies on the cross,your sins become past tense,
(37:21):
even tomorrow's.
Christian, your tomorrow sin isseen as past tense in the eyes
of God because of the fullnessof the sacrifice of the high
priest Jesus.
Now, let me step on a toe,partially for fun, but also
because the moment I read citiesof refuge, it sounds like
(37:45):
something to me in our currentpolitical climate.
Is anybody brave enough to saywhat this sounds like?
Sanctuary cities.
Let me give you the different ina city of refuge and a sanctuary
city.
In these cities of refuge, guiltis admitted.
In a sanctuary city, in themodern sense, guilt is being
(38:08):
denied.
That shouldn't be a law.
That shouldn't be wrong.
So we're not gonna hold itagainst you.
Here, God's word is not sayingdeath is it's okay.
It's just an accident.
It's fine.
What he's saying is this is abig deal and it's a heavy deal.
But I can handle big deals, Ican handle heavy deals.
(38:28):
To put it differently, scripturenever rescues by redefinition,
it rescues by redemption.
What do I mean?
Our modern culture tries to findpeace apart from Christ by
relabeling their reality.
The world calls envy ambition,and it's good to be ambitious.
(38:50):
How else are you going toprogress in life?
We call lust and sensualityself-expression.
All we do is clean it upverbally so that there seems to
be no need.
You see, we're just going toredefine it.
Scripture never redefines sin,but it does redeem it.
We call greed stewardship.
(39:12):
I need to hold on to thisforever so that I can be at rest
here.
Your capital R rest was nevermeant to be here.
We call pride confidence.
We redefine sin so we can feelbetter about ourselves.
The Bible does not.
It calls sin, and it doesn'targue that it isn't.
(39:36):
It just argues that there is away for sin to be paid for.
This is grace tucked in from thebeginning.
Now, if you go to Mitri, thereare two things for you
specifically.
Success is going to invite twothings in this text.
It's going to invite complacencyand it's going to invite
(39:57):
conflict.
Here's what we see in Joshua 18.
The whole congregation of thepeople of Israel assembled at
Shiloh and they set up a tent ofmeeting there.
The land laid subdued beforethem.
I had this really cool map, andI wish I could have showed you.
But on this really cool map, Ican show you all of the land
(40:18):
that they were promised and havetheir boots on the ground in.
And then all of the land, likethe kings have been handled, all
the difficulties done.
All they need to do is walk inand pick the house, pick the
neighborhood, pick the vineyard,which is going to be theirs.
And so Joshua turns around andhe says this there remained
among the people of Israel seventribes whose inheritance had not
(40:39):
yet been apportioned.
So Joshua said to the people ofIsrael, This to me sounds so
much like dad.
It sounds like dad when therewas a chore that was supposed to
be done four days ago and itdidn't get done.
All right?
There's a little bit of angst inyour tone, but you also realize
if you would just get yourchores done, you'd be a happier
(41:00):
person because this burdenwouldn't be hanging over your
head.
How long will you put off goingin to take possession of the
land?
Joshua dealt withprocrastination as much as any
of us, okay?
And I don't know how you dealwith that word.
Some of you hate it because ofyourself.
Some of you hate it because ofothers.
But Joshua looks and he's like,guys, God has done it.
(41:21):
Go pick the house, walk into theland, stop being lazy because
these three tribes on the eastside of the Jordan are waiting
for you to finish so that theycan fully go home.
You are making your brotherswait because you are
procrastinating.
I don't know if anybody canrelate to this.
When everybody's in the carexcept for one kid, and you're
(41:43):
like, just come.
All of us, all of us are waitingaround for you.
And Joshua says, How long areyou gonna put off?
How long are you gonna wait onthis, which the Lord, the God of
your fathers, has given you?
Mitch, let me give you a headsup.
You can walk into a buildingthat you did not build, on land
(42:04):
that you did not buy, droppingyour kids off in rooms with toys
provided, and you do not knowwhere it came from.
We all now sit in vineyards thatwere planted by others.
We stand on land that waspurchased by others.
We hear testimony aftertestimony, month after month,
(42:26):
because of ministry that wasdone by others.
We're a young church.
When I get a phone call for thehospital, 95% of the time, it is
life coming into the world.
We will move into a season wherewe are celebrating lives well
(42:46):
lived.
People hearing, well done, goodand faithful servant, enter into
your rest.
Joshua looks at his people and Iwould look at mine and I would
say this.
Don't grow complacent.
Don't assume that just becausewe we walk into a building and
(43:08):
there's an air conditioning,some of us remember when we
didn't have that.
Some of us remember animalsmaking all kinds of noise at
this part, usually in theservice, when I'm trying to
point most to Jesus.
Some of us remember going tochurch at 5:30 and 6 o'clock at
night.
You are all sitting on pews froma myriad number of churches who
(43:29):
have had saints who are nowsitting in their homes in
heaven.
The nature of the Christian iswe bleed and we sweat and we cry
because I've only got 80 yearsto do it.
Now, I I don't have anything topush you toward right now in
this moment.
But but I will just tell you,it's easy to walk past that MCG
(43:52):
wall and think, we're good.
No, we need more MCG leaders.
Bleed, sweat, cry.
We need more people on theworship team.
I'd love to pay off thisbuilding.
I'm literally looking at alittle building that was built
by someone who will remainnameless.
In fact, a bunch of them, justbecause they don't want to
become complacent.
Church is not a sport that wewatch on TV.
(44:14):
It is something that we getinto, and when we do, we truly
find life.
There's a tendency to sit back,there's a tendency to enjoy and
forget all the groundwork, thelabor, and the pain that gets us
here.
It is better to cry and to sweatand to bleed, Christian.
I promise you that.
(44:34):
Because the one who had 33 yearsfilled them with it.
So that a symbol of his workwould be what we put our eyes
to.
The second thing that I wouldtell you is watch for conflict.
This makes me laugh.
I know we're at a heavy part andBennett's playing minor chords.
(44:55):
But this does make me, am Iright?
Alright.
Not one word of all the goodpromises that the Lord had made
to the house of Israel hadfailed.
All came to pass.
That's chapter 21.
You turn the page to 22.
I love this.
I love the Bible.
I just think it's wonderful.
And then chapter 22.
(45:17):
I'll read this and I'll brieflyexplain it.
When they came to the region ofthe Jordan that's in the land of
Canaan, the people of Reuben,the people of Gad, the half
tribe of Manasseh, built therean altar by the Jordan.
I had this really cool map, itwould have made more sense, but
don't sweat it.
An altar of imposing size.
The Bible points to that.
They build this massive altar.
And when the people of Israelheard of it, the whole assembly
(45:40):
gathered at Shiloh to make waragainst them.
They just got in their house.
Their wives are hanging theirfamily picture above the mantle
or whatever it is that you as awife would do.
You're like chopping the pillow,whatever the final like touch
is.
I don't know.
Laying it, they're like, andthen all of a sudden they catch
(46:02):
a quick text message.
Hey, bad news.
These guys just built an altarto an unknown God.
We need to go and kill all ofour brothers.
And so all the tribes get readyfor war.
They all go out, and within afew verses, here is what
happens.
Therefore, we said, let us nowbuild an altar.
Hey guys, guys, don't kill us.
We weren't building this for aburnt offering.
(46:23):
We weren't building this for asacrifice.
We were building this as awitness.
And here's what had happened.
They were afraid that all thesenations, which they helped move
into their new homes, becausethey were separated by a river,
would forget about them.
They were afraid service onewould forget about service
number two, or Midry wouldforget about Cross Point, the
(46:44):
church that planted them, orwhatever else it is.
And so they build this altar.
Well, the other nations getupset because they're like,
there's one altar and it's atthe temple.
And you do not need to run afteranother God.
You need to remain with us.
And they say, guys, guys, guys,here's what we were worried
about.
We didn't want your children tothink that we were separate from
you.
So we built this altar.
We're not burning uh sacrificesto it.
(47:07):
We are actually building this totry to show you we are with you
when there are generations yetto come.
Why do I point to this?
Because when everything is goingwell, that is when
miscommunication andmisunderstanding is most likely
to happen.
At the height of peace, theyalmost lose everything.
(47:27):
Because God's people are notonly vulnerable to enemies on
the outside, but the assumptionson the inside.
And when things are going well,pause.
Praise God, things are goingwell at our church.
They are.
We can talk about, I will go tolunch with you and celebrate the
incredible things that God isdoing.
And I'm not even talking aboutbuildings, I'm even talking
(47:48):
about money, talking aboutlives.
I'm talking about, I keep havingcoffee with people who keep
saying, I'm just like growing inmy relationship with the Lord,
and I'm feeling comfortablebeing stretched, and I'm doing
new things.
I was never like a share myfaith person, and now I am.
We never read our Bible as afamily, and that's what you
celebrate.
(48:08):
When things are going well,that's when communication
becomes the most fragile becausewe assume we understand each
other.
And we stop talking.
We just assume, hey, we allthink the same thing, believe
the same thing, see the world inthe exact same way.
And this attempt at unity almostcompletely destroyed them.
(48:31):
Just one little encouragement.
In any relationship you have inthis room, whether it's with a
leader, whether it's withsomebody in your small group,
whether it's with somebodyacross the room, whether it's
something from 15 or 20 yearsago, and maybe you've been
coming to church for a year anda half and they showed up two
(48:51):
weeks ago and you're like,awkward.
By the way, it happens everySunday.
I'm not single.
If you're like, he heard aboutit, he's talking to me, happens
every single Sunday.
God has built a ministry ofreconciliation.
He loves watching broken things,he loves seeing things break so
that he can make it morebeautiful for the brokenness.
If there is anything sideways inthis room, sideways with others,
(49:15):
sideways with you and the Lord,the Bible instructs us not to
take communion until we haverestored that thing.
And when things are going well,we just kind of paint over it
with a bunch of kills and wepretend there was never any mold
underneath it.
Christian, do not.
And if you will not, you willhave all of these good promises
(49:39):
that the Lord has made.
None of them will fail so thatyou can serve the Lord with all
your heart, with all your mind,and with all your soul.
It was never about land.
It was always about rest.
It was always about inheritance.
Grace was always tucked in fromthe beginning.
And when it would be easy for usto lean back, we lean in and we
(50:04):
cry and we sweat and we bleedbecause our Savior dead.
And he says, follow me.
So let's follow him as weprepare to close this book
together in the days ahead.
Take a few moments, thinkthrough a few of the questions,
and we'll get ready to respondwith communion.
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