 We're going to be looking at chapters 13 through 22 tonight. There you go. You're going to say, is that possible? I don't know. I surely hope that it is. And you'll see why in just a moment, because much of the material that we find in front of us really relates to the dividing of the land into geographic areas where the 12 tribes are going to be inhabiting and various cities that are allotted to the Levites as well as cities of refuge, you know. And so you're going to be seeing that quite a bit of the information found in these chapters in front of us from chapter 13 all the way to chapter 22 really contain things that we can just look at briefly, not even touch on some things, because they really aren't something that I really felt that we should just belabor. And so there are things that we'll be looking at and I'm going to be stopping in certain portions of those chapters up to chapter 22, and then chapter 22 will cover more closely when we arrive at chapter 22. So let's begin here in chapter 13 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 7, give a brief introduction and move into our study. Joshua chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. Now Joshua was old, advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, you're old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is the land that yet remains, all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshe-Rites from Sior, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron, northward, which is counted as Canaanite, the five Lords of the Philistines, the Gazites, Ashdodites, Ashkenalites, the Gittites, the Ekronites, and the Avites. From the south, all the land of the Canaanites and Mera, it belongs to the Sedonians, as far as effect to the border of the Amorites, the land of the Gebelites, and all Lebanon toward the sunrise from Baal, below Mount Hermon, as far as the entrance to Mahmoud. All the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon, as far as the Brook Mizrapah, and all the Sedonians, them I will drive out from before the children of Israel, only divided by a lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you, now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh. And so Joshua, as we begin here, is already declared, notice again verse one, to be old, advanced in years. Now we know that he began leading the nation of Israel when he was around 80 years old. So now he's around 95. So Joshua has been going through the land and he's divided that land up and he conquered it. As we've noted, he began by entering into the center, then he went down south, and then he began to go up to the north. He conquered the land. Now, to possess all the land, required them to continue fighting until they took all of it. So they needed to go further south. That's why the land that is referred to as the land of the Philistines is mentioned. So they have to go further south. They also have to go further to the east, to Egypt. They have to go up a little bit north to an area called Ekron, which was just west of the city of Jerusalem. And so what this is really giving to us is insight that they didn't take all of it in its entirety, but they took the majority of it. And so the Lord is making it very clear that they're to continue so that they might possess all the things. When it says in verse seven, divide this land as an inheritance, you need to remember that two and a half tribes had settled to the east of the Jordan River. And so chapter 14 is going to continue later to reveal that this land was going to be divided up and it would be divided up by lots. And so what's going to happen is the land is going to be divided and the Lord is going to begin to develop the geographic boundaries. So that's what happens in verse eight, following all the way through chapter 13. He begins to divide up the land. And if you wanted, we could see that there were boundaries for the Levite, there were boundaries for the tribe of Reuben, there were boundaries for the tribe of Gad, et cetera. You see that all in chapter 13. When you get to chapter 14, let's see how fast we went through chapter 13. That's pretty good, huh? When you get to chapter 14 verses one through five, it just tells us how they did it. They divided the land, they set the tribal boundaries through the lot, through the casting of lot. So they divided the land according to verse five. But as we get into verse six of chapter 14, we're going to spend a few moments. Because beginning at verse six, notice with me it says this, then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Japhana, the kenozite said to him, you know the word which the Lord said to Moses, the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh, Barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh, Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt. But I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day saying surely the land where your foot has trod and shall be your inheritance, and your children's forever. Because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said these 45 years. Ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am this day, 85 years old. And yet, I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua said, you go, oh man. Now Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephonah as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephonah, the kenozite, to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. The name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba. For Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war. Very briefly, but this is something that you really could spend a lot of time on if you wanted to. What you find here is that the Lord did a tremendous work here through a man by the name of Caleb. Caleb was one of the original 12 spies who entered to spy out the land. And he mentions because of the unbelief of the other spies, Israel had to remain in that wilderness and they did so wandering for 40 years. Now what is interesting and I think very insightful about this man Caleb is though he was also in the wilderness. There was something that sustained him as he went through that wilderness journey. And it's something that sustains every leader by the way. It was something that sustained him and the thing that sustained him is he went through the 40 years in the wilderness. So he was faithful. He did not doubt God's promises when God had stated it first when he was a younger man and said you're going to possess this land. He did not doubt it. He went in with full anticipation for both. And when the other spies had come back and had stated there's no way we can take this land. This land is too great for us. Though it produces tremendous crops and though it would be a wonderful place for us to live, the bottom line is it's filled with giants. And we remember the story. We've looked at it more than once. We've spoken of it often. They said that we are as grasshoppers in the sight of these inhabitants. There are giants there and not only are we as grasshoppers in their sight. We are grasshoppers in our own sight. And that report even as we just read had brought fear into the hearts of the children of Israel. And they were afraid to go in. They said if we go in, they were going to be slaughtered. We should have remained in Egypt with our children. It would have been better to remain there and live than to go into this land and die. And the result of that because of their unbelief is that they were left to wander in that wilderness there for 40 years. Caleb didn't say that. He said that those who had spoken poorly concerning the promises of God, he held fast to them. He said that God is able, God is able to take us through. We can do it. We can take this place. God gave it to us. But he along with Joshua who remained faithful were still there in that wilderness wandering with those who failed to enter in because of unbelief. But he didn't sour on the promises of God. He knew that that promise God had given those years before was still applicable to him then. And even though he didn't receive him the moment it was given that promise was given he knew that ultimately he would receive it and so that's something to learn from this man Caleb. Because of the unbelief of the others Israel remained wandering for 40 years. But he though he was still in that wilderness with them remained, had his mind remaining on one thing and that was the promise. And even though it was unfair and he had to pay a price for something he did not do he remained true to God. In verse 8 it makes very clear and it's repeated several times as we just read. How is it that he remained faithful to God? How is it that he remained so strong in his belief in that promise? Well he said in verse 8 I wholly followed the Lord my God. And so one we know that he remembered the promise that had been given him and that remembrance of that promise is what sustained him for all of those years. God had made a promise and he was holding fast to it. In verse 9 he said Moses swore on that day saying surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. So one if I'm going to remain strong in the things of God then I need to have my mind settled for Moses. God has said it then it's true then I'm going to hold fast to it even if it takes a while for that to come to pass in my life. A second thing that kept him alive we see it in verse 10 is that he stayed alive for all those years because he knew that there was something awaiting him. His destiny if you will was awaiting him. He said behold verse 10 the Lord has kept me alive as he said these 45 years Israel wandered in the wilderness and now here I am this day 85 years old. So he stayed alive all those years and battles that he went through revealed that his destiny was awaiting him and the fact that he went through successfully all the things that he went through reminded him that God was going to be faithful to his promise that he gave to him. There's a third thing that we see is found in verse 11 he says yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me just as my strength was then so now is my strength for war both for going out and for coming in. Though he was aged yet he retained a warrior spirit and a willingness to fight just because you get old doesn't mean that you shouldn't be ready to fight a spiritual war. I spoke to my pastor Chuck a while back now you know pastor Chuck's 85 he'll be 86 years old in June and I've mentioned this to you before but 20 years ago I was at a pastor's conference and pastor Chuck was sharing at a pastor's conference up north and at breakfast I was sitting across from pastor Chuck and Chuck had mentioned about a year before when he was a young man of 64 Chuck had mentioned he was considering retirement and now he's 65 and he's seated across from me and he thought he was going to retire at the age of 65 so I said to him Chuck you mentioned that you're going to retire at 65 and I began to ask him some questions concerning that and then several years passed and so maybe 5-10 years ago now I was talking to him and I said Chuck you had said you were going to retire or think of retirement at 65 but you're still with us it's not like I'm hastening a retirement but I'm interested why you didn't retire and he looked at me and he said something he said every day that you walk with Jesus is a day more of experience with him that you can give to somebody else every day you walk with the Lord you know him better and you have more to give of him to somebody else so I said so then Chuck when are you going to retire so what is what is it and he said I will retire when I stop enjoying walking with Jesus which means he's not going to retire my 5-year-old granddaughter was giving me advice the other day she tells me things that I don't know how human that really is isn't it somebody who is 5 years old already knows more than grandpa how human that is and yet how typical it is for many today who perhaps fail to realize that growing old has an advantage especially in your walk with the Lord there are men like Caleb even amongst us to this day men who are filled with faith with the Spirit who have been completely true to the Lord that God can continue to use and it's of great importance for people like me and us to learn from their experience from what God has taught them so that we might not make the mistakes that we are prone to mistake to make when we don't listen to counsel and so as I was looking at this man Caleb I'm thinking that in today's society there are those who perhaps would think that he was a useless old man what do you have to offer us now you're an old man get out of the way let the youth prevail let the young lead what do we need you when Caleb is simply saying you know what I was 40 years old I was in battles I'm 85 now I'm just as strong now as I was at the age of 40 he's got more experience than ever before and he still has the courage and he still has the faith and he's saying just give me a mountain give me something to go out I want a battle I want to take something that's easy I want to take something that has a challenge involved in it and that's what he says in verse 12 give me a tough battle not something that an ordinary person can do give me something that's going to test me give me something that's going to require faith and strength give me something that's going to require stamina give me something that's going to be worth me taking the time to go out and do and I can't help but admire somebody like Caleb an older man that in many societies today would be looked at as being kind of useless why don't you just go and do something else why don't you go lawn bowling or go play bingo at church but this is a man who say no I want to be used by God I want to be used until I'm used up by God and I really believe that that's what the Lord has called every believer to is to have a spirit like Caleb to have this heart this willingness this desire to be used by God so that's what he asked for I want a challenge in verse 12 give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there and that the cities were great and fortified it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said so give me a challenge Joshua blessed him and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jefune as an inheritance and Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jefune they can exact to this day because here's that phrase again he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel so the Lord has never anywhere and I encourage you to remember this know where does the Bible ever teach me to be a part-time or half-hearted believer God has called us to be fully committed to him and when you have a full commitment to the Lord and by the way you can be fully committed today and tomorrow even more committed than you were today because when you're fully committed to the Lord today you grow the next day as you yield yourself wholly over to the Lord you've got more to offer him it's kind of like in your marriage when you got married those of you who are married let's see how many sad faces yeah those of you who are married when you first got married you know you made those promises before the minister and before the witnesses before God and everybody else that you would love and care for and all of that and everybody knows that the day of your marriage and the newlywed portion of your marital life is usually you know usually pretty good but I'll tell you and every person in this room who's been married for a while can tell you this at least it's true for me and I'm certain it's true for most that the day I got married I believed that I was fully committed to my wife Marie but all the years later I am more fully committed to our marriage today than even on the day I got married because every day of my marriage I've renewed that vow in my heart that I would be committed and love be committed and love stay and love and over the years every day that I've made that renewed vow before the Lord I'm going to love this woman my love has increased my faithfulness is stronger our relationship is deeper that's how it works with the Lord guys when you commit yourself to the Lord there's so many people who are afraid oh what happens if I fully commit myself to God he's going to send me some place I don't want to go he's going to make me leave my happy home and go some place I don't want to be he's going to send me to Chino to do something when you're in the center of the will of God fully committed to him every place you go is the most blessed place you could possibly be and God meets you in very special ways there guys don't be so afraid of yielding yourself to the Lord don't be so afraid God has wonderful surprises for you when I first got into ministry one of the first ministries that I did was back in 75 or 76 it was with Biola University Biola College then a friend of mine named Jimmy was a leader over urban ministry and Jimmy said to me Dave I'd like you to do some ministry in some projects in Ramona Gardens East LA I was born and raised in California born and raised in Norwalk and I was aware of how rough some areas were and Ramona Gardens was not my vacation choice and so when he said I'd like you to do that it kind of was to me ironic because when I had gotten saved and started saying to the Lord God I want to be used by you but Lord you know I wasn't raised in a gang life I don't understand the culture so I'm going to ask you send me anywhere but I don't think I'm cut out to go into gang ministry and I found it deeply ironic that the first opportunity that I was ever given to go out and do ministry was in Ramona Gardens and so my friend asks me will you take that and I said let me pray about it so I went to the Lord and said I know you're saying no but I'm going to ask you but he said yes and I went into Ramona Gardens and we went from September until June and I would roll in there and the first day we were there one of the guys who was one of the gang members who was there when we walked in we came off of our bus and we were walking down the street he came walking up and he said who's in charge here and so they pointed me out as they went running and hit into some bushes and they pointed me out they said he is and he walks up to me and I said what are you doing here and I remember my first conversation with this fellow there and I told him who we were and what we were doing there we're college students from Biola University Biola College we're here to minister to the children and bring the love of Jesus Christ to a community that needs it desperately we're here to serve this community and these people who are with me are volunteers who will love these children and we want to care for them and we're here to slice my own and he says my name is and he gave me his name and he says if anybody asks you just tell him that I said it's okay and that's kind of the Lord just opened the door from the beginning you know we never had any problems and so one day I had to go in I had a friend of my named Rick who had to go with me well actually I said I've got to go some place we want to go with me and he said yeah so I went into Ramona Gardens hiding under the dashboard this is a true story he was hiding under the dashboard and I said what are you doing down there and he said why didn't you tell me you were coming into Ramona Gardens I said does it matter he said yeah they want to kill me here I said really well I'll be back in a minute stay down there and I went in and I did some work what I had to do I came back out and the Lord was telling me where I've sent you you are safe where I have you it's the best place for you to be so don't be afraid just do what I call you to do and trust me to be able to produce the fruit and I started learning that in a very practical way back in 1976 and what was true then is true now but it isn't true just in 76 it was true back in the time of Caleb and Caleb said I want a challenge send me where you would have me to go something that's going to really require me to trust God send me to a mountain I want to take the mountain and I want to take the place that the giants dwell and that's what he did he went in he was successful and the Lord blessed and that's how the Lord works in our lives by the way he gives to us opportunities now moving into chapter 15 verses 1 through 12 basically give the boundaries of the inheritance of the tribe of Judah but in verse 13 now Caleb the son of Jefune he gave a portion among the children of Judah according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua namely Kurgath Arba which is Hebron Arba who was the father of Anak Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there Sheshai Ahaman and Talmai the children of Anak then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Dibir the name of Dibir was Kurgath Montclair Kurgath Sefer and Caleb said he who attacks Kurgath Sefer and takes it to him I will give Dolores my daughter as wife so Othniel the son of Canaz the brother of Caleb took it and he gave him Aqsa his daughter as wife so when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field so she dismounted from her donkey and Caleb said to her would you wish she answered give me a blessing since you have given me land in the south give me also springs of water so he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs and so basically what you have here is you have distribution of some property again just a couple of things this place Kurgath Sefer is literally the city of books it may have been a learning center it could have been a place where records were kept and some believe that it was a university city but what I wanted to point out very briefly is Othniel, Othniel takes the city and he also wins a bride you will later see Othniel though in the book of judges in chapter 3 verses 9 through 11 because Othniel later on becomes one of the judges of Israel now the daughter wisely asked for a water supply because it was so dry there but this gives to us some more insight now just touch this briefly into the kind of courage that Othniel had this is an individual who had tremendous courage and was willing to do something that he might gain this beautiful young woman as his bride now chapters 16 through 20 continue giving the boundaries of the land per tribe and the cities allotted to the Levites but in chapter 18 I'm just going to mention this briefly we're going to deal with this in a little while but in chapter 18 verse 1 it speaks of Shiloh it says the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of meeting there and the land was subdued before them just keep that in your mind for a moment we'll see this in a few minutes here Shiloh Shiloh was a center of worship it's around 20 miles to the west of the city of Jerusalem and this city is going to come into play in later chapters now as we continue as I mentioned in chapter 16 through 20 basically give the boundaries of the land and all of that but we get to chapter 20 and I want to point something out and this is something that has some spiritual significance so I want to spend a moment looking at this chapter 20 beginning at verse 1 the Lord also spoke to Joshua saying speak to the children of Israel saying a point for yourself cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses that the slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood and when he flees to one of those cities and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city and declares this case in the hearing of the elders of that city they shall take him into the city as one of them and give him a place they may dwell among them then if the avenger of blood pursues him they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand because he struck his neighbor unintentionally but did not hate him beforehand he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house to the city from which he fled so they appointed Kadesh and Galilee in the mountains of Naftali check him in the mountains of Ephraim Gurdjath Arba which is Hebron in the mountains of Judah and on the other side of the Jordan by Jericho eastward the assigned in the wilderness on the plane from the tribe of Reuben Ramat and Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh these were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who so adjourned among them that whoever killed any person accidentally might flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation these are called cities of refuge cities of refuge they're called sanctuary cities they were established to protect against retaliation or what are called vengeance killings when you look in the Old Testament the Old Testament differentiates between manslaughter and murder premeditated murder required capital punishment but manslaughter would be treated differently now the cities of refuge actually provide a spiritual lesson for us because these people who would flee to the city of refuge did so because they did not intend to it wasn't something that they necessarily chose to do they didn't intend to harm someone to the point of their death as a matter of fact one of the examples is used concerning this would be if a man was with his companion in a forest and he was cutting down a tree with an axe and the axe head flies off the handle and strikes his companion and the companion dies due to the wound well that was an accidental death but the brother may be thinking well they didn't get along very well and I believe it was intentional so the individual who was guilty of the accidental manslaughter would have been put to death by the it's called the Avenger of Blood but he had to have a place to flee that's why God gave them it's found in Numbers 35 that's why God gave them 6 cities of refuge because that was for the person to flee to so that they were not put to death because of their unintentional killing now when you look at this and you begin to apply some of that to New Testament principles it's interesting how it works because the whole world is guilty before God according to the New Testament for the death of Jesus Christ the whole world even those who have not even considered what it means for the death of Jesus Christ would still stand guilty before God for that how do we know that well Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 2 verses 6 through 8 listen to what he said he said yet when I am among mature believers I do speak with words of wisdom but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world who are soon forgotten no the wisdom we speak we speak of is the mystery of God his plan that was previously hidden even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began listen but the rulers of this world have not understood it if they had not have crucified our glorious Lord the world stands guilty of the crime of manslaughter even if it was unintentional Jesus still died on their behalf so to escape vengeance meaning God's judgment we are permitted to seek a place of refuge Hebrews 6 18 speaks of us who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before us so this speaks of those who being aware of their own guilt before God have fled have fled for refuge Jesus being our city of refuge and so all who find refuge in Jesus Christ are saved from the judgment of a holy God and so these cities of refuge actually have a a picture of our fleeing to be safe because one is going to judge us for the death of somebody we are going to we would stand before God guilty even though we didn't even understand it because Jesus died for all of us but God has given us a place of refuge in him and so we seek refuge for Jesus and we seek refuge in him which saves us from the judgment of God so the cities of refuge not only were very practical but they had a spiritual kind of lesson for us to learn from them now moving on I'm going to give you a couple things and then we're going to look at chapter 22 chapter 21 give cities a sign to Levites now the Levites were scattered so they could minister to the people and so that's what this particular chapter deals with now according to let's see chapter 21 verse 43 the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers and they took possession of it and dwelt in it the Lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers not a man of their enemies stood against him the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand verse 45 not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all came to pass now that's something to look at for a moment this sums up God's fulfillment of his promise they possessed the land of Canaan there are still areas to be taken but they possessed that land this sums up God's fulfillment of his promise Genesis 12 7 said the Lord appeared to Abraham said to your descendants I'll give this land there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him and so after so many years and so many battles God gave them rest verse 12 10 and 11 it says when you cross over the Jordan to dwell in the land which Lord your God is giving you to inherit and it gives you rest from all your enemies round about so that you dwell in safety then there will be a place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide there you shall bring all that I command you your burnt offerings, your sacrifices your ties, the heave offerings of your hand and all your choice offerings which you vowed to the Lord so God has given them rest and they will remain but they don't pose an immediate threat they're still there but they have rest but they don't have a permanent rest because the only permanent rest one ever has is through Jesus Christ when he says not a word failed of any good thing here's something for you and I wish I could make this as clear as possible and I don't know if I can not a word failed of any good thing but the promise of Israel came to pass I marked that in my scriptures I have that in yellow pen when our church first began we are going through a variety of things I won't give you a full story but it is story time we're going through a variety of things and I I was very discouraged I remembered the discouragement very well and I was driving home for property, things weren't happening the way that I had hoped they would. And I began to feel that perhaps maybe I'm just not doing the job properly. Maybe the Lord isn't going to come through the way that I've trusted that He would. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew. Maybe I wasn't cut out for this. And then I was driving home. And I remember this so well. Because as I was driving home, there was such an impression in my heart that I know is the Lord. And He said something to me in my heart within myself that I heard that I've never forgotten. And this is what the Lord spoke to my heart. He said, I did not raise you up to let you fall. I did not raise you up to let you fall. Because I was saying, Lord, look at all that that needs to be done. We don't have a place to meet. We don't have so many things. There's so many things that are lacking, so many things. And it just isn't falling into place. And the Lord said to me, I did not raise you up to let you fall. I believe that with all of my heart. I believe that when God begins a work, He continues it until He completes it. I believe that God's Word is true and His promises are for sure. And when He makes a promise, you can take it to the bank that God will not turn back on what He has said. And I have a strong confidence in that, not simply because one day I heard in my heart, but the Word of God says it. Numbers 2319, God is not a man that He should lie nor a son of man that He should repent. Has He said and will He not do? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good? 1 Thessalonians 524, He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 1 Peter 125, the Word of the Lord endures forever. This is the Word which by the gospel was preached to you. God's Word is a sure Word. His Word does not fail. If God said, you're going to make it to the end, you're going to make it to the end. God will be with you. He'll never leave you. He won't forsake you. He'll lift you up. He's going to work through you. If God has stated, and His Word says He has, that He will be with you, He will be with you. And, you know, for me, that was, I needed to hear. And that is something that has motivated my walk with the Lord in ministry here in this church for around 30 years. That one memory that God said, I did not raise you up to let you fail. You're not going to fall because God is invested in our lives. He wants us to succeed at what He has called us to do. He doesn't want me to succeed in that which He's not in. He's not going to bless a mess. But what He will do is if He puts it in your heart to do something, He will make sure that it is done. And what happens is you will be put in a position where you know it's God who is doing that. So you don't take any of His glory. God has a tendency of delighting to build on the foundation of human impossibility. He loves to get the credit for the work that is done. And all He's looking for is somebody who is willing to say, you get all the glory when we desire to get the attention, when we desire to be known, when we desire for all of those things that really belong to Him. Well, the Lord said, I am the Lord. That is my name. And my praise will not give to graven images. My glory I'll give to no one else. So God has made it very clear that His word doesn't fail. God wants to do a work through you. And I'm telling you, not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. And if that is true with the house of Israel, that is true for God's children today. God wants to do a work in you. Don't be afraid to let Him do it. Don't be afraid to just yield and say, God, what is it that you want to do? When I got saved, what was part of the fear that I had was to stand up in front of people. And when Arthur Blessed said, if you need the Lord, stand up, I prayed and said, God, I'm shy. I can't do that. There were 4,000 kids in this auditorium. I can't stand in front of people. I'm embarrassed. I can't. But if somebody would stand with me, I would. And that's what my friend George said. Well, after actually Arthur Blessed said, if you're afraid to stand, then perhaps if someone asked you to stand, would you stand with them? And that's when George tapped me on the shoulder and said, if you want to stand, I'll stand with you. And so from a young man who was afraid to stand in front of people, God made that my life for the last 40 plus years to stand up and speak in His name. Because when He says you can do it, you can do it. When He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you, it's a promise you can take to the bank. He will be with you. He says, open your mouth and I will fill it. And God will give you things to say. All you need to do is trust Him. His word is true. And there are some in this room right now that are running from what God has told you to do. And I'm here to encourage you to obey Him and watch what God will do in your life. You will step back to give Him praise and say, God, you are too much. Look how good you are. Look how good you have been. And so God's word doesn't fail. Trust Him and watch what He'll do. In one of these days, David Rosales will not come to this pulpit. I will have passed into glory to be with the Lord or you'll have driven me out of the church and I'll find some other place to go. But there's somebody perhaps in our children's ministry being raised right now who may one day come and stand in this pulpit here to take this church on until Jesus comes. That's what I'm praying for. That we may be right now ministering to some little boy who's just kind of messing around perhaps in whatever grade he's in. Just messing around but God's going to grab ahold of him and one day that little guy's going to be introduced as the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley. And I'm looking forward to that day. May he have the faith to step in the way this pastor had the faith to step in to see God move. God will move. God will move. We need to understand that. Moving on and now I'm going to give you chapter 22. You see, you do believe in miracles, don't you? I know you do. In chapter 22 beginning at verse one, Joshua called the Rubinites. As I've mentioned, that was the one Hispanic tribe in Israel. Rubinites, the Gaddites and half the tribe of Manasseh and said to them, you have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice and all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God is given, given rest to your brethren as he promised them. Now therefore return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went to their tents. Now to half the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half of it, Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan westward. And indeed when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them and spoke to them saying return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they possessed according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. Now you have the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. In Numbers 32 these tribes had requested Moses to remain on the east side of the Jordan. The requirement was for them to fight alongside of the other tribes until the land was completely taken and at that point they would be free to return to their families. Now that command was repeated in Joshua chapter 1 verses 12 through 18, but now the promise is fulfilled and they're going to return to their land. As they're about to return I want to point out one thing, verse 5, notice what is said. He's saying, what I am concerned about is that you remain faithful to God. You're about to go to the eastern side of the Jordan. And so I'm going to exhort you because I'm greatly concerned for the unity of the nation of Israel. And so I want to give to you what is going to keep us unified. So I'm giving you commands, I'm repeating things you've already heard and I'm telling you, I'm commanding you in the name of God, to love God, to love God with everything within you. And if you love God I'm also telling you to walk in His ways. And as you walk in His ways I command you keep His commandments, hold fast to Him and serve Him. These are the things that are required of you so that God will dwell in your midst, to love God with everything, to live the life before people by walking in His ways, but making sure that His commandments are things that you don't look at as just suggestions, but are actual commands from God and cling tightly to Him as you serve Him. You see the battles are over and now you're going to enter into a time of rest and you're going to now enter into prosperity. And it's in the times of rest and prosperity that you have the most danger. Because when you're always aware that the enemy may be upon you, you're on the alert. But when you take your leisure, when you begin to relax, is when he has a tendency of coming against you. It's like what it says in Ecclesiastes 7-3, sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. When we're going through happy times, we're not developing depth. When we go through trying times, our faith is refined. And sometimes some of you may say, when Lord, are you going to allow me to discover the times of joy? Those times of joy are seasons that do come, but much of our life is a refining process so that we can endure the things that we go through and actually discover the joy that comes through God working in our life through those seasons. So many times we want to have just jolly times all the time, happy all the time, but the fact is, the deeper you are, well, it's because you went through deeper things. Because the deeper things you go through, you become deeper in your faith and you trust the Lord in a deeper way. Those who have shallow faith are those who refuse to go deeper with God. And so, Josh was concerned and he's saying, listen, I want you to realize that you're going to now take your ease and you're going to have times of blessing and pleasure, but cling to the Lord and hold fast to him because you need to be prepared. In 1 Peter 5-8, it says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And so he says, I want you to hold fast to what God has said. Well, in verse 10, when they came to the region of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, children of Gad, half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great impressive altar. Now the children of Israel heard someone say, behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan in the region of the Jordan on the side occupied by the children of Israel. When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them. What are you so uptight about? Why are you so mad? You see, what they did is they were about to cross over the Jordan, they're crossing east to go to where their land was, and they decided to build an altar. They did it with a pure heart, but it didn't set well with the rest of the tribes. And so they got ready for war. Verse 13, the children of Israel sent Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the priest to the children of Reuben, children of Gad, half tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead, and with him 10 rulers, one ruler each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel, and each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions in Israel. Then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, the tribe of Manasseh, the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them saying, thus says the whole congregation of the Lord. What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel to turn away this day from following the Lord, and that you have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel this day against the Lord? Is the iniquity of pair not enough for us, from which we were not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, but that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it shall be if you rebel today against the Lord that tomorrow he'll be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us by building yourselves an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God. He did not ache in the Son of Zarah, commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel, and that man did not perish alone in his iniquity. So they're very, very upset. They thought they were building a competing altar in which they were going to offer blood sacrifice, and that act would bring division into the nation of Israel. You see, if that was an altar to offer sacrifice to Baal, it would even be worse because it would bring judgment from the Lord. They remind them of what had happened when Baalem had caused Israel to sin. Baalem had seduced, had actually given counsel to have the children of Israel seduced into following the gods of the Moabites. And when they married the women of Moab, they were introduced into spiritual adultery. Numbers 25, 1 and 2 says, Israel remained in acacia grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. When that took place, a man by the name of Phineas was used to stop a plague that was destroying Israel. Numbers 25, 9 says, those who died in the plague were 24,000. They didn't want to repeat this. They greatly feared God's wrath, and because this had happened before, they said, we don't want this to happen again. There's no way that we're going to allow this to take place. And also, they hadn't forgotten, even as it says in verse 20, about Achan, and how he had taken the forbidden garments in silver and gold and all, and they said, we're not about to allow this to take place because God's wrath is going to fall upon us. And one of the things that we'll note very briefly, and then move on and conclude, is in verse 20, how it says, that man did not perish alone in his iniquity. And I mentioned to you then, as I remind you now, that when somebody fails, they don't fail alone. When Achan fell, his family was judged with him, and others were. My sin affects other people, and Israel was going to be affected because they thought that these tribes were actually building a competing altar. But now, verse 21, the children of Reuben, Gad, half the tribe of NASA, answered and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel, the Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knows, and let Israel itself know, if it is in rebellion or in treachery against the Lord, do not save us this day. If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer on it, burn offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the Lord himself require an account. But in fact, we have done it for fear, for a reason saying, in time to come, your descendants may speak to our descendants saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? For the Lord has made Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad, you have no part in the Lord. So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord. Therefore, we said, let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generation after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, with our peace offerings, that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, you have no part in the Lord. Therefore, we said that it will be when they say this to us or our generation in time to come, that we may say, here's the replica of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, as a witness between you and us. Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn from following the Lord this day to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God, which is before his tabernacle. So they said, no, we're united with Israel, we don't want to be outsiders, our intention is to keep the unity, not destroy it. We're concerned that the Jews on the West will not regard our children, our descendants, and that's all. Well, when Phineas, the priest, the rulers of the congregation, the heads, the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, children of Gad, children of Anasas, spoke it, pleased him. Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the priest said to the children of Reuben, children of Gad, children of Manasseh, this day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you've delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the priest, the rulers returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought back word to them. So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God. They spoke no more of going against them in battle to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt. The children of Reuben, children of Gad, called the altar witness, for it's a witness between us that the Lord is God. They had jumped into a hasty conclusion. They called into question their motives. We'll close with a couple of thoughts. One, on one hand, truth is to be held fast to, it's never to be compromised, and that's what was motivating them. They were concerned. But on the other hand, we have to be careful not to think that we're the only ones who have all of it at any given time. You see, they built an altar and their explanation was accepted. But there has to be one more thing considered. Though they built an altar, their hearts never truly settled in the land of promise. Their families did not cross over, and over time the Jordan actually did become their border. And ultimately, Gad and NASA, Reuben, those tribes over there, ultimately, their hearts were not as fully committed as they could have been. They never fully crossed over. You guys remember the story of the man of the Gadarenes? The Gadarenes is a territory that is just east of the Jordan River. We've been there many times. And in the Gospels, you see that there were actually two men, the one is pointed out in Scripture normally, but there were two men, and they were demonized. And when Jesus and his men came and settled on that side, they had crossed over the Sea of Galilee, the welcoming committee was a demonized man from the Gadarenes who dwelt in the tombs, who was in torment daily, who cut himself with stones. People would actually put chains on him, but he would break the chains and he terrorized all the occupants in that region. So no one would dare pass that way. Jesus and his men came and this man came rushing out of the tombs and frightened Jesus's men. But as Jesus was there ministering, Jesus spoke to this man of the Gadarenes and he said to him, what is your name? And the answer came Legion, for there were many. And they asked the question of him, are you going to send us now to the Abuso to be tormented and requested, pleaded that Jesus would give them permission to enter into a herd of swine that were there. And so Jesus said go. And the demons fled from the men because Jesus cast them out. They entered into a herd of 2,000 swine and they went rushing off towards the Sea of Galilee, went over a cliff and drowned in that area, which is where we got the term the Bay of Pigs. But anyway, as they did that, I'm just, I'll wait for you. Okay. And they drowned. The question has to be asked, what were pigs doing amongst Jews? There are conservative scholars who will state, well, the Jewish people were not raising the pigs. They would have been Gentiles who raised the pigs. But there are others who are equally schooled who will say, no, this is a reflection of the fact that because the people of Gad, the Gadarenes is in Gad, because the people of Gad had ceased having that loyalty to God, that when they ceased having that kind of loyalty to the Lord by not really fully entering into where God had intended them to go to take possession in the first place, they ended up failing to follow the commands of the Lord and ended up on the wrong side of the Jordan. And so on the one hand they say, we want to build an altar here as a symbol of our unity with the nation of Israel. But on the other hand, though that might have been pleasing to those who heard it, the reality is the further away they were from the promise that God had actually given, which was to take that portion, the other side of the Jordan. Well, later in their history it demonstrates that they didn't remain as fully committed to the commands of God as Joshua was so greatly desirous for the children of Israel to do. Love the Lord, fear him, keep his commandments, cling to him, serve him. Over time was forgotten, and Gad became a place of the Gadarenes. And I do hope that we follow the Lord, serve and hold fast to him because I don't want my life to go in that direction.