Joshua Chapter 12 & 13
Survey
As we come to Ch.12 – we come to the end of the section dealing w/ the Conquest of the Land
A)The
book of Joshua divides neatly into 3 sections:
Section 1.) 1-4 Entering the land
“ 2.) 5-12 Conquering the
land
“ 3.) 13-24 Possessing the
land
B) Ch.12 presents for us the last Chapter in that 2nd section dealing w/ the Conquest of
the land – Presents a list of the Conquered kingdoms
1)
Total of 33 kings are mentioned in this Chapter:
C) Why do we have such an exhaustive, and seemingly tedious list? It only seems tedious to us because we do not live in the land.
1) For those who really had their inheritance there, these were
essential matters that touched every day life, answering the question: “What
land belongs to Israel?” { Much
debate today}
D) Also the list served as
Standing stones – Memorials of what God had done for his people. Read
Ch.12:1-6
A)Sihon the king of the Ammorites & Og the King of Bashan – This territory was given to Rueben / Gad / ½ Tribe of Manasseh
B) 3 Tribes that Choose to live on the FRINGE of the Promise land –
1) Saved out of Egypt but choice to never enter in & live in the land of Promise – Never chose to experience land of blessing
C)
Choose instead to settle for 2nd best. – Yrs later - 1st
to be invaded and taken captive by the Assyrians
1)We have talked about how many Christians are the same way: Although saved they choose to live on the fringes of the world
Stay
close to the world – the things of the world – Lives marked by a complacency –
never experiencing the depths of the Lord
A)Not used / not growing / never learning what it
really means to live a Spirit filled & Spirit controlled life
B) They are saved but so much of their life is spent
still on trying to finds ways to gratify &
satisfy the flesh – Me oriented life
1) Often times those people are very susceptible to getting sucked backed into the bondage of the things of the world
C) But there is another application I want to make – You see not only did these 3 tribes live on the fringe – edge of the world – not quite in the land
1) But they also separated themselves from the life of the other tribes
D) They separated themselves from fellowship – they took little part in the national life of Israel & soon lost their inheritance
A lot of
believers do the same – they live on the fringe of the body
A)Come to Church on Sunday – never get involved in
anything else
Wed. / Men’s or Women’s – Home groups
B) They don’t really experience being a part of the life blood of the body: Listen part of are inheritance in Christ is what we are experiencing right here
1) We call it the Body: The Family – it is being a part of a living organism / it is being part of a Unit / A FAMILY
C) Being Part of a Team of people – that are connected by the fact that they are believers living in the same area –
1) A group of people who’s Hearts have been brought together by common bound – common goal – Draw near to Christ / Christ to us / touch Him
D) We want to Share Him – We
huddle together here like this tonight – then march out tomorrow into
the world again to Share Christ / Shine for Christ
1) You guys make us the CORE : Come together like this Minister to the Lord / Study / Minister to each other – using our gifts
But
there are those who attend Church who never allow themselves to experience that
Kind of Life – they stay distant – somewhat disconnected
Heb 10: 24 And let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
A)I want to encourage you guys who are here – make up the Core of CCV – all know people on the Fringe – Stir them up
1)
Encourage them in a loving way – go Further / go deeper / Make
themselves available for their gifts to be used –
B)
So these 3 tribes stayed on the Fringe – wasn’t as good thing
V.7And these are the
kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel conquered on this
side of the Jordan, on the west, from Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon as far
as Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, which Joshua gave to the tribes of
Israel as a possession according to their divisions,
C) The rest of the Chapter list the Kings that were conquered by Joshua in the Land of Promise – 31 Kings in all
1) V.9-16 list the names of 16 Kings that were defeated in the Southern Campaign / v. 17-24 list the names of 15 kings “”’’’’’ Northern campaign
D) It took 7 yrs of fighting & the Victories were Won – One battle at a time !
The same is
true in the Christian life – No short cuts to growth –
A)Our victories in Christ – come one battle at a time –
One area of the flesh at a time conqueror & surrendered to the Rule of
Christ
B) God the Father is seeking to make each one of us more like his son Jesus 1) Each one of us has areas in our lives that are under Construction areas that the Lord is working on: Anyone Arrived? Process called Sanctification
C)Now it will take a while for the Lord to finish that
work that He is doing on us – But the result will be
sweet
Speaking
of Sweet – did you know Did you know
that to make ONE POUND of honey, a bee must cover 356,000 heads of clover
A)To do that he must make 3,360,000 visits to those heads of clover/ that is Equivalent to flying around the world 3 times
B)NOW We all enjoy the sweetness of honey- BUT That sweetness comes because someone was very hard at work
1) APP : Jesus is yet working on others around us / Be patient with them as Jesus is working in their hearts
C)We get so frustrated when an area
of weakness in somebody else’s life bugs us
1) But Jesus is probably using their weakness to address an area of our own weakness in our own lives that is similar – { That is You Rob
Now
Before we move into Ch.13 / section on Possessing the land I want to point out
7 qualities that we see in Joshua that made him a great leader / Why He was
successful in Conquering the land{ leaders notes
A)#1 Joshua did not let short term gains distract him
from long range objectives
B) Ch. 10 They trapped the 5 Canaanite Kings in the Cave – He could have stopped – we got the leaders – that is good enough –
1) Instead – He covered the cave & Pursued the armies –
C) It is important that when we have received instruction from the Lord / personally or in a ministry – & we have had some victories
1) Important that we don’t stop short of the goal – Press forward
#2 Joshua
understood the need for others to have Visible encouragement
A)In that same Battle Joshua came back to deal w/ those
Kings & did so publicly foot on their necks – Illustration
God has given the land
B) That is why I like to share Publicly what God is
doing – property
#3
Joshua took no Shortcuts, but Pursued the Campaign in logical, step by step
Progression
A)He was Consistent: The Problem with many today – they
don’t see growth in Ministry / they don’t see victory personally no consistency
B) They are always looking for a Shortcut { Ministry seminars – Fast track to growth – Bigger Church or Bigger people
C) There are no short cuts to Christian growth personally or in ministry
1) Consistent Plodding – step by step one day at a time in JESUS
#4 Joshua
didn’t allow his earlier errors to unsettle or Defeat him
A)Satan wants to cripple us or Paralyze us in our
defeats – { talking w/ a guy recently – blew it in ministry – didn’t handle
situation right:
B) He felt defeated & Disqualified – I told him I can’t count the # of times that I have had to say: I am sorry – I blew that one
1) I was short / I was crabby / I was wimpy – whatever – Can’t count
C) Righteous man …..SEVEN times …. He gets up – He learns from those failures [Blood that Cleanses] – He grows – not make same mistake
1)
Paul Phil 3 Forgetting what lies behind – reaching
forward to what lies ahead
#5 Joshua
believed God Completely:
A)Some people believe in God – believe a lot of what the Bible says about God – But they don’t believe God fully
B) Joshua had his moments of fear – but each time God met Joshua w/ a Promise & He believed in the Promise completely – acted in Faith
#6 Joshua
Obey completely
A)Read on Sunday in Ch. 11 – He did all that God had told him to do
He left nothing undone – that God had commanded Moses
1) Have you left anything undone? – God’s Last command to you?
#7 Although
Joshua grew old He never quit going Ch.13:1
Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said
to him: "You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.
A)Even while acknowledging Joshua’s advanced years, God still tells him about a job that needs to be done.
1) No matter how much we have done in our Christian lives, there still remains much to do.
B) Never too old to do something
Significant for God: Pastor Chuck didn’t start Calvary Chapel until he
was in his 40’s
C)Well
all The Major Battles were over – all the Kings were defeated – but now the
land needed to be possessed/
1) Although the Armies defeated but still people to drive out and the land had to be claimed
D) Joshua’s role now was to encourage the People to Possess their Possessions – Go forward w/ God & Be Victorious
Now
V.2-6 gives us a description of the
land that remained to be occupied{ Which we are not going to read
A)But I do want you to notice the end of v. 6 which
describes for us God’s method of Possessing the land
them I will drive out
from before the children of Israel; only divide it by lot to Israel as an
inheritance, as I have commanded you.
B) God promises I will drive [them] out from before the children of Israel, Inheritance – Not earned in war or purchased – given by God
1)but He intends that each tribe trust God for their portion of land divided to them by lot.
C)And Each tribe was responsible
to possess their own land completely.
God is high on the concept of personal responsibility and initiative.
The sad thing is that they never
did fully possess the land & they didn’t totally drive out the inhabitants
v.13 – see that phrase over & over
A)Why didn’t
they? Two reasons They grew lazy – an attitude settled in of we have done
enough
B) 2nd they grew comfortable w/ their enemies
– They didn’t really see them as a threat – armies were gone – no longer
battling
C) Both are
DANGERS for the Christian life –
It is easy for us to get comfortable w/ the world around us
1) No persecution pressing in upon us- We drop
our guard – allow things into our lives that are just Chaff
D) Frog slowly be
boiled in the kettle – Getting fried & he doesn’t even know it !!!!
It is
also easy for us to grow lazy – not pressing in to all that God has for us
A)Listen what the
land represented to Israel – Christ represents to us
B) Mapped out in
the pages of scripture is all we are to possess / This book is a treasure Chest
of wealth in Christ – Knowledge of God
1) It is our
passage way into intimacy – communion / insight & fellowship
C) Question: How much of your Bible has been left – unpossessed ? How many pages are there no markings / nothing underlined
1) How often do you read the same things over & over again
D) What about in your walk – what areas are there that
are still left unsurrendered – Content w/ Mediocrity –
status quo
1) Complacent Church { Not here
So
the rest of Chapter 13 describes the division of the land that was given to the
tribes of Rueben / Gad & ½ tribe of Manasseh
A)Except for v.14 & v.33
14 Only to the tribe of Levi he
had given no inheritance; the sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire
are their inheritance, as He said to them.
33 But to the tribe of Levi Moses had given
no inheritance; the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as He had said to
them.
A) Levi, the priestly tribe, was to receive no “province”
such as the other tribes received; they would be given certain cities (Joshua
20-21).
B)Instead, the Levites had as their inheritance the offerings that Israel would bring to the Lord.
1)These were their “financial
security” in Israel.
C) They were given four cities in each tribe, forty-eight in all, in which to live and serve the Lord.
1) They were given certain portions of the meat that was brought for sacrifices.
D)There were tithes and offerings that helped support the priestly work of the Levites.
1) They also received a greater inheritance than that: God
Himself.
For
us today who are Christians following Christ as our Inheritance the reality is that we are sons and
daughters of Levi.
A)In Peter's words, we are a royal priesthood collectively, and priests individually. We are owned completely by our Lord Jesus Christ.
B)We are bought with the price of his shed blood. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
1) And that was an Incredible price, the death of Jesus on the cross.
C) God is our Inheritance – He has given us the wonderful Privilege of Serving Him
Now
there were more important issues involved in scattering this tribe of Levi
throughout the nation.
A)For one thing, God didn't want tribal responsibilities to be a distraction from the work that he called them to.
1)He wanted them to devote themselves completely to his service.
B)We are so distracted in this day & age – So much on our plates – so many things to juggle – I wonder if God ever intended our lives to be this way
1)I think if we are going to be faithful to that Priestly calling – we need to be careful that we don’t become so distracted lose sight of why we are here
b) Paul’s words to Timothy as he faced ministry & responsibility is appropriate to our study in Joshua. Paul said to Timothy, and to each one of us, "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer" (2 Timothy 2:3-
C)Also, God wanted them to be salt and light among the tribes.
1)They were the teachers of the Law, the ones who reminded the people what their place was in the land.
D)They were to keep teaching covenant relationship to God and reminding Israel not to get too earth-bound, but to stay focused on the Lord.
1) They were teachers of truth and righteousness.
So
too We're called to be salt and light in this world as well, just as the
Levites were.
A)We're to speak truth wherever we go, to live out truth before the folks with whom we come in contact.
B) Many are dissatisfied with our
place before God. We wish He
would have given us something different, and we can even get bitter towards God
about this. The primary answer to this
is to see ourselves as priests, and to understand that our real inheritance is
God Himself.
.