Gooding, David: 6 - The Captain of Our Salvation

Let us begin our study this evening by reading in the book of Joshua, first of all, a brief verse in chapter nine. A Brief verse in chapter nine, verse twenty seven. that comes at the beginning of the third major section of the book. Nine twenty seven. And Joshua made them, that is the Gibeonites, that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation. And for the altar of the Lord. Then shall we read some brief verses from the beginning of the last section of the book? They come in chapter twenty two and verse twenty eight. Here speak the two and a half tribes to their fellow Israelites. Therefore said we, it shall be when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, behold the pattern of the altar of the law. Servants to the altar. The pattern of the altar. And may God bless our reading of his word together here this evening. This is the last time that I shall have the opportunity publicly to be with you on this occasion. Therefore, let me very sincerely thank you publicly for the welcome you have given me, for the warmth of your Christian fellowship, for the grace and elegance and generosity of your hospitality. Thank you, all of you who have come and shown interest in the meetings. Thank you for not complaining to the elders of this church about the length of the meetings, nor yet about the hardness of the seats. Or if you did complain, I have to confess that your complaints were not dutifully brought to my notice. Thank you particularly who have come a long way some evenings in order to renew friendships that were founded long ago and will last throughout life, and we are persuaded throughout eternity too. If I might be allowed one small request, it is this, that in the multitudinous things for which you pray individually and as churches of the Lord's people. That you could perhaps now and again manage to squeeze a second or two. Remember me in my travels for the Lord in this and that and the other country, that the Lord will be pleased to use his feeble vessel to the upbuilding of his people and the salvation of the unconverted. Now we have had five nights together already, and we have spent them studying in some detail the first half of the book of Joshua. It is obvious that we shall not be able, this one remaining evening, to study the second half of the book in any detail whatsoever. And as I pondered what I might profitably do with this one remaining lecture, it seemed to me that perhaps the best thing I could do was to spend the first half of this meeting giving a bird's eye view of the second major part of the book of Joshua, and that in so doing, though I may have to trouble you and make you work hard, nonetheless, it might be a small contribution to your ongoing study of the book of Joshua, such that when you next come to study it in detail, you might conceivably remember just a thing or two that we have thought about here this evening and find it something, a carrot or two to add to your Irish stew. And then we shall take a break, and for our final session this evening, I suggest that we consider together those deep and practical lessons that Joshua taught his people, recorded in the final portion, the sixth major portion of this book. So then now, for a few, uh, for the first half of our meeting, let's look at a bird's eye view of the second half of Joshua. Why do we say that the book is divided into two parts? The answer to that question lies in the actual text of the book, and if you care to look at it now with me, look first at the end of chapter eleven, if you will. Chapter eleven tells us that when Joshua, having first defeated the southern confederacy of kings, then proceeded to defeat and break the power of the northern confederacy of kings. Then, according to eleven verse twenty three, Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord spake unto Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land had rest from war. It does not mean, of course, that never any more battles were fought. There were plenty of battles fought thereafter, but it is recording the end of the first major phase of the conquest, when Joshua and the united armies of Israel went throughout the length and breadth of the land and broke the back of the opposition. Then, in that sense, the land had rest from war. And the end of that first phase of the conquest is marked by chapter twelve, as it lists simply as a list the names of the kings, that is the cities in which they lived, the kings that were destroyed in this first phase of the conquest of the land. You will notice that then, when we come to chapter thirteen and verse one, there is explicitly a very clear temp difference in tempo and temperature. Thirteen verse one announces, now Joshua was old and well stricken in years. No longer the mighty captain of their armies, leading a vigorous campaign all round the country. Those years for Joshua now are past, and he's old and well stricken in years. Not but what he has plenty of spiritual advice left to give to the people. But now the rest of the chapters will be that matter of Joshua giving spiritual advice and direction to the people whom he has so successfully brought into the land. Chapter thirteen, therefore, onwards are the years when Joshua was old. Now, what he is about to do in the succeeding chapters is to supervise the distribution of the land to the twelve tribes and ensure that all the tribes receive their due portion of the inheritance that had thus been won for them. And then finally, before he deceases, three twice over, he addresses the nation and their leaders with words of solemn exhortation and encouragement. Next then, let us notice how this third section, uh, is divided. As we have been studying the first section of the book, the first major half of the book, we found that it fell into three parts very naturally. For each of those three parts described one great objective that Moses had put before Joshua, and which Joshua, in fact, achieved. The first great objective, you remember, was the crossing of Jordan and the bringing of Israel into their inheritance. It was such a tremendous achievement that when they had crossed the Jordan, they set up twelve stones on the western bank that no future generation might forget their achievement or forget its significance. Then in chapter five, we turn to the second objective and read of it throughout those chapters to the end of chapter eight. It was the establishment of the law in the land of Canaan, which objective was achieved when Jericho and Ai had been destroyed, and the nation were taken through the mountains to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, there to stand and solemnly acclaim the public reading of the law, its blessings and its curses. And last night we saw that after that had been achieved, there was a third objective that Moses had commanded the Israelites. It was the destruction of all the kings, principalities, and powers that held sway in the land of Canaan, so that they being destroyed, way should be made for Israel now to occupy the whole land, as distinct from merely destroying its king. Three major objectives, therefore, achieved in the first half of the book. It will hardly surprise you to discover that there are similarly three major objectives achieved in the second half of the book. Let's look at them now as we turn the pages and give ourselves a bird's eye view of their contents. In chapter thirteen, we are reminded that Moses had given two and a half tribes their inheritance on the east bank of the Jordan River. Then in chapter fourteen, we begin with the distribution of the land on the west bank of the river, and the distribution is made simply to two of the tribes, the two major tribes, Judah first, and then the Joseph tribes thereafter. So Judah's inheritance is given him, chapter fourteen and fifteen. And then in chapter sixteen, we're told the lot for the children of Joseph went out. And sixteen and seventeen describe that distribution to the tribes of Joseph. Two tribes, therefore, Judah and Joseph, get their inheritance given them by Joshua. Then notice how we come to a climax in chapter eighteen and verse one. An exceedingly significant and notable objective reached and achieved at this stage. For eighteen verse one tells us, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves themselves together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there, and the land was subdued before them. To see the historical significance of that, you should remember that hitherto the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, had followed the camp round about. The major camp was for a long time at Gilgal. The armies went out from the camp at Gilgal and frequently returned thither after their battles. The camp would be there, and the tabernacle guarded there at the military headquarters. But obviously, the tabernacle of the Lord was not forever to be there in the military camp. Here, for the first time since Israel entered into the land, was the tabernacle set up in its own proper site, such that now the army could disperse and the people go to their different parts of the inheritance and leave the tabernacle as the central focal point of the nation's worship and service of the Lord. Now, when it was set up at Shiloh, it remained at Shiloh a very long time, of course. It was there, as you may remember, in the days of Eli, whose story opens the first book of Samuel. First big objective achieved, therefore, in the second half of the book is the setting up of the tent of meeting at Shiloh. Then we're told in the rest of chapter eighteen how that Joshua summoned the remaining seven tribes to himself at Shiloh, and there he distributed the land to the remaining seven tribes, and you will notice the difference. Judah and Joseph were not given their land before the temple of the Lord at Shiloh, but now that the temple, the tabernacle had been set up, the seven tribes are given their inheritance by lot in front of the tent of meeting at Shiloh. It was done in a little different way from the earlier distribution. Representatives of the seven tribes were sent around the country that remained after Judah and Joseph had already settled in their inheritance. These representatives were to go round and map out the remaining countryside and write it all down in a surveyor's book, bring it to Joshua, and the land was there distributed by lot to the remaining seven tribes. The recount of it follows through chapter eighteen and verse nineteen, and the end of that distribution is marked in chapter nineteen, uh, verse fifty one. These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh, before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the land. But this second part, this second section of the second half of the book doesn't end with that verse. There ends the distribution of the inheritance. But now follow ch- chapters twenty and twenty one, two exceedingly important chapters. The first of them, chapter twenty, tells us that when the tribes had all been given their inheritance, then the tribes were all of them called upon to give back some of their inheritance. They all, for instance, had to contribute cities of refuge that should be appointed so that people who had committed homicide unintentionally might flee to those cities and find refuge there from the avenger of blood. And then in chapter twenty one, we are told at great length how all the tribes were called upon to surrender some more of their cities and give them to the Levites. For the Levites had no portion of territory. They were devoted to the service of the Lord. The Lord was their portion, the sacrifices were their part. They had no great inheritance as a tribe. They were scattered through Israel, and what they were now given was cities to live in. And every tribe had to contribute from their own inheritance so many cities to be given to the Levites. That is what is done, therefore, in chapter twenty one. And when that is done, notice the major climax, chapter twenty one, verses forty three to forty five. So the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass. And with those words, you have reached the climax of this, uh, second section of the second half of the book. And you say, pray tell us more clearly what the objective achieved was. Well, do you see how the picture is, uh, building up? First section of the second half, the objective to set up the tabernacle, the tent of the Lord at Shiloh. A tremendous achievement it was in a nation that had been run by idolatry and pervert religion, to set up the holy tabernacle of the Lord and to make a presence for the living God in the middle of that erstwhile iniquitous country. What a tremendous achievement it was. Then, uh, once that was achieved, you will see that they'll have to achieve another objective as well, won't they? What's the good of having a tabernacle if there are no Levites to put it up and no Levites to minister in it? If the services of the Lord are to proceed, uh, in that tabernacle, then there must be Levites to accomplish the serv- service. And if there are going to be Levites, because they're neither angels nor ghosts, they must eat and live, they must have wives and children, they must have a few fields for their chickens and pig, or not pigs, sheep, and uh... Therefore now, the second objective achieved. Land given to Israel, and don't you minimize the objective now, because you might have thought that once the Israelites got hold of their three acres and a cow, they'd say, no, we've got it now, we're not giving up any of this. No, no, no, no, we're carry- keeping hold of every blade of grass we've got. But miracle of miracles, called upon, they did it willingly, and out of their inheritance they gave cities for refuge, and then a whole host of cities for the Levites to live in, that the service of the Lord might be maintained. And if we have seen that, and it's true what we have seen, you'll begin to, uh, taste the flavor, don't you, of the second half of the book of Joshua. We have been thinking how Joshua brought the people into their inheritance, and these past five nights our thoughts have been very much on our blessed Lord Jesus, on the great victories he has won for us, and how he has brought us into our inheritance. A practical question arises. What would you be sup- what would you suppose to be one of the major objectives in bringing you and me into our inheritance? Say, so that we might eat our spiritual grass and enjoy our honey and, uh, bees and cows and milk, uh, you know, all our spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Absolutely right, except for this. And beyond all that, or even before it, the purpose of our being brought into our inheritance is that we might form God a dwelling place by his spirit. Oh, my friend, think a moment, you who are hoping to go home one day and enter that inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Pray, tell me off the cuff now, without thinking too much, you know, so it's a spontaneous reaction. What are you looking forward to in heaven most? Oh, you'll say to get rid of my rheumatism, you'll say. Really? No, no, you say, not that merely, but to be able to drive along golden streets instead of this tarmac down here in Gateshead. Really? And nothing more? What shall be the central focus of that eternal state when we enter upon that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled? John described it well, didn't he? He said, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband, and the voice which said, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. And as sure as victorious Israel set up that tabernacle at Shiloh, wonderful achievement in a land where the name of God had been so traduced and rival gods had been served and worshipped, to have the tabernacle of God set up at Shiloh. What a tremendous victory, but as sure as it was set up at Shiloh, so sure shall it be that one day the very new heavens of God shall open and the tabernacle of God come down. I do admire the direction of its motion, don't you? That holy city, the New Jerusalem, was not pictured by the apostle as leaving earth as fast as it could and disappearing up into heaven, was it? No, the motion was the other direction. It was coming out of heaven, down towards earth, that for the new earth and the new universe, it might prove the tent of meeting, the great tabernacle in which God shall dwell eternally. All to have part, to be part, and to have part in the erection and in the preparation and erection of that great tabernacle of God. Surely it's the chief objective of the great inheritance to be. What good would be having a tabernacle with the presence of God in it if there was nobody to serve him? Hey, what is objective number two in the second half of the book? It is providing cities for Levites that they might constantly minister in their sacred service for God. What do you count your greatest honor shall be in the day to come in that eternal city? Why, it is written, they shall be priests to God and to the land. Count it, my brother, my sister, not some arduous duty to which you come reluctantly, like Shakespeare's schoolboy to school. Count it one of the glories of the inheritance that God has given you, that you in turn might take of your inheritance even now and use it to minister to the satisfaction of God. Wouldn't you, in the end, count it the highest honor and the most stupendous wonder to be allowed to put your hand to that sacred service? Now, if they then were the two big objectives in this second half of the book, what shall the third objective be? The third section of the second half, of course, begins in chapter twenty two. And, uh, there it is the case of the two and a half tribes that built an altar to the Lord on the west bank of Jordan. They did it, so they told the people that, uh, verses twenty five to twenty seven, in case in times to come the other tribes should say that the two and a half tribes and their children had no part in the service of the Lord. So, verse twenty six: therefore we said, let us now prepare to build an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but shall- shall be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, that your children may not say to our children in time to come, you have no portion in the Lord. So chapter twenty two then is a question of the two and a half tribes ensuring as best they can the continuance of the service of the Lord in all succeeding. And if that is what chapter twenty two is about, pray, what is chapter twenty three about? Well, chapter twenty three is a- an address given by Joshua to the elders of the people, and he is warning them not to make marriages, you'll see, with the Canaanite nations that are left. Verse seven: that you cannot among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause them to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves unto them, but cleave unto the Lord. Verse eleven: take good heed therefore unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God. So once more, the theme is service, isn't it? And now a warning, lest the nation as a whole in future generations be enticed and trapped and yield to the temptation of intermarriage with Canaanites and be drawn away from serving the Lord and go and serve the gods of their foreign wives and husbands. Service again, how to maintain the service of God. And finally, in chapter twenty four, Joshua's so-called farewell address to the nation, and the thrust of it is in those famous verses. Verse, uh, fifty uh, verse fourteen. now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Verse fifteen. and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Uh, verse nineteen: and Joshua said unto the people, you cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgression nor your sin. The people said, verse twenty one, no, but we will serve the Lord. As a result of all that Joshua had done, and not least as a result of this stirring exaltation, verse thirty one can inform us, and Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua. So a tremendous objective was achieved. Joshua led the whole nation in their decision to serve the Lord, and Israel served throughout succeeding generations after Joshua until the elders that outlived. You'll say, Mr. Preacher, that's a sorry note to end on, though, isn't it? Because, you know, when the elders that outlived Joshua died, then the nation went to the dogs. Well, I'm afraid it is so. And I take comfort in this, that I have a different Joshua to follow, and his name is Jesus, and no elder is going to outlive him. I'll thank the Lord, because he isn't going to die. It is written of the great company of redeemed in glory, his servants shall serve him. It seems to me, therefore, simple and lying on the surface of things, that the three major sections of the second half of the book present three great objectives: tabernacle, Levites, and the perpetuation of the service. And they carry their own message, uh, clear for us to read. But I must resist the temptation to sermonize, you'll see, because, um, we're just getting a bird's eye view, and I'm conscious that I have preachers enough and Sunday school teachers and women's meeting preachers and all sorts of people here who will be doing their own study of Joshua. I just, in brotherly fashion, report what I have found so that they may develop it, if they can. Let's notice now one other delightful theme to be found in the book of Joshua. It is to be found, of course, in this second half of the book, but it merely repeats a theme that ran through the first half of the book, and that is that wonderful story that in the midst of the catastrophic judgments that fell on the land of Canaan, nevertheless, in every one of the six major sections of the book, there is a record how God saved certain people alive. Oh, for the sheer joy of re- reading it, let's turn the pages. In the first section of the book, of course, it's a question of Rahab, isn't it? Look at chapter two and, uh, you'll see verses twelve, thirteen. Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a true token, that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death. And the promise was given, and the oath of God confirmed it, that God, when the time came, would save her alive and all her family and deliver their lives from death. In the second section of the book, therefore, chapter six it is, amid all the description of the ruin of Jericho, we read verse twenty five but Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all that she had did Joshua save alive. Glorious now, because this is the actual fulfillment of the promise, and is told us, as I say, amidst the gloom of the falling walls and the shrieks and the cries of the perishing in the city of Jericho. Now look at the third big section of the book, and at its beginning too. In chapter nine this time, and verse fifteen, and there the Gibeonites become more popular recently, but there they are, chapter nine and verse fifteen: And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. This book is well named, isn't it? It's the book of Joshua, you see, that Jehovah is Savior. Three sterling examples of God in the midst of judgment, letting people live. What is a major, uh, theme in the first half continues to be a theme in the second half, doesn't it? We come now, if you will, please, to chapter fourteen. This is towards the beginning of the fourth major section of the book, and here comes Caleb. You'll all recognize Caleb, of course. You'll see him in glory one day, surely. And, uh, he says, you'll see, verse nine. and Moses sware on that day, saying, surely the land wherein thy foot hath trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy children forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, says Caleb, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive. Oh, praise the Lord. Again, it's against the background of a very solemn judgment that overtook apostate Israel in the wilderness. But against the background of all those corpses that were strewn along the wilderness way, forty years of corpses. Against the sad results of that apostasy, listen to the sterling statement of Caleb. God has kept me alive. Look, if you will, at the fifth major section of the book, and I call your attention to chapter twenty. Let's read verse nine. It's the provision of cities of refuge, and their purpose is this, uh, that they might keep accidental homicides alive, of course. These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person unwittingly might flee thither and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation of Israel. And as all five sections have been, so is the sixth, for its first story tells us of God's grace to his people. It is now chapter uh twenty two, mhm And we read verse thirty one. Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the priest, said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we know that the Lord is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against the Lord. Now have you delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. They mean that instead of judgment coming upon them, as they feared, now the two and a half tribes have delivered their fellows out of the hand of the Lord, and no judgment will fall upon them. What a delightful book it is, isn't it? And you say, what do you make of that, Mr. Preacher? I'm not telling you, but, uh, I'm just pointing it out because, my good brothers and sisters, when you preach or teach this book, you will, of course, be faithful to its message. It is an exceedingly solemn book of God's judgment, and yet in every section of the book, without exception, a beautiful ray of light, this heavenly sunshine of God's mercy and his determination to save and to keep alive all he can possibly keep. But, uh, when we said that, let's take just ten minutes more and consider, uh, some of the stories in sections four and five. Sections four and five, you will remember, they begin in chapter uh thirteen. It's a question of the distribution of the land. Chapter, uh, section four, the distribution to the two and a half tribes, to the tribe of Judah, and to the tribes of Joseph. That's section four. And section five is the distribution of the land to the seven remaining tribes. It is clear what their objectives are, as I have said. But many folks, perhaps not you, but many folks, I included, find these chapters of Joshua not altogether their favorite reading. It's bad enough for a foreigner having to remember all the names, isn't it, Anik and uh Newcastle and uh Gateshead and uh uh Warden Law and Leamside and such like places, you'll see. But then they're easily pronounced. To be presented with long lists of names of towns and villages in the ancient Middle East that no one ever heard of before and may never hear of again is a little difficult, isn't it? What do you say when you meet these long, long lists and geographical descriptions? Of course, they are important to the archaeologists and the historians, of course, and still important for us to investigate them at that level. We believe we are dealing with history and not with myth, and therefore these names and these geographical descriptions are of immense importance. But when it comes to their moral and spiritual lesson, what shall we make of them? Shall we, do you suggest, leave them in their glass case in the museum and say, well, ho ho and ha ha. Yes, ah, I suppose it all happened because the Bible said it did, but now let's move on to more profitable things. Or what do you say to these long geographical lists? I tell you what I do. I treat them like I treat cherry cake. While people are looking, I eat the cake. When people aren't looking, I steal out the cherries and leave the cake, you see. And, uh, that at least is a poor man's way and a poor scholar's way of doing, and I, I commend it to you. In section four, do you see, there are four cherries in the cake, aren't there? Ah, yes. The one of them surely you've read many times, it comes in chapter fourteen, verses six to the end of the chapter, is the lovely story of our dear friend Caleb. What a man he was. He's the man, you remember, that fully followed the law. And then, uh, after some more names in chapter fifteen, verses thirteen to nineteen, comes another cherry cake. And there's the story of Othniel and, uh, Axar. Lovely pair, weren't they? That young married couple who could be sorry if he had a son and daughter-in-law of that kind, so keen to explore all the potentials of their God-given inheritance. And then after a lot of more names, look at chapter seventeen. Here comes another cherry. Well, some people might think it's not quite so bright red, but it is a cherry. Verse three of chapter seventeen: But Zelophe had, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Naka, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but daughters, and they came near to Eleazar to claim the inheritance that had been promised them. And finally, there is that fourth cherry in this slice of the cake, chapter seventeen, verses fourteen to eighteen, the story about the tribes of Joseph as they came near and claimed and asked to be given a bigger bit of the inheritance. Four stories then in the fourth section of the, uh, book. And they're interesting, aren't they? Because you'll see, uh, there's Caleb, and what he did was to come and claim the inheritance that had been promised, yes? And then there was Osniel and Axar, and they came and asked, like Oliver Twist, for more. Said Axar to her father, uh, to her father, you've given us an inheritance in the south end and the Geb, but it's pretty dry, if I don't, if you don't mind my saying so. Wouldn't you give us some more? And Papa gave her the Upper and nether springs. So, yes. So Caleb claimed what was promised, and Othniel and Exar asked for more. And Zelophehad's daughters, they came and they, ah, they claimed what was promised, didn't they? They reminded Joshua of Moses' promise to them in the wilderness, so they claimed what was promised. And then there were the tribes of Joseph. They came to Jo- to Joshua and said, look here, we're a big tribe. Oh yes, I know you're a big tribe, said Joshua. Well, we want more, they said. Do you really? They asked for more. And surely thereby hangs a tale. These four cherries in the cake. How would you have me expound? Caleb, who followed the Lord. Yes, we've long since been used to take him, haven't we, as an archetype upon which to base our exhortations as we exhort each other now we're saved. Don't just remain there. Follow the Lord wholly into your inheritance, be you eighty years or ninety six years old, be a Caleb and still be chasing giants off your inheritance when you're nearly hundred and ten. You know, fully follow the Lord and don't settle down. That's of course perfectly true. Might I just point out the historical fact that when Caleb says, I fully followed the Lord, he's not actually talking of what he did when he got into Canaan, is he? If you read the text. He's coming to Joshua. He hasn't got his inheritance yet. He is claiming what was promised. You will see, he says, Joshua, you remember, don't you, when you and I went with the spies and we two alone brought back the happy report, and Moses swore an oath to us that the ground upon which our foot- feet had trodden would be given us for an inheritance. And why did Moses do that? Ah, says Caleb, Joshua, my boy, you remember why Moses made that promise? Because I had wholly followed the Lord. Long before he got into Canaan, he wholly followed the Lord. And what does he mean? Well, he's comparing himself with the rest of Israel. And what did they do? Well, they did not follow the Lord. Instead of following the Lord, they apostatized, didn't they? Our nation came to the borders of the Promised Land, sent the spies in, had a look at what the land was like. No, no, they said to Moses. No, no, Moses, oh, what a letdown this is. I mean, Moses, if we'd have known that the promised land, this inheritance you talked of, was going to turn out like this, we wouldn't have come, Moses, we wouldn't really. I mean, now we see it. Egypt is a thousand times preferable, Moses. Moses, you have let us down. We don't want this. And they made a cap on the proposal to go back to Egypt. Just you imagine. And God said, well, if they don't want my promised land, they don't have to have it. Indeed, says God, I tell you now, they won't have it. And he swore in his wrath that they should never enter Israel. Israel aposted even before the time of Joshua. Against the dark background of Israel's apostasy stands Caleb bright and clear, doesn't he? Says he, but the Lord kept me alive because I wholly follow the Lord. Meaning? Well, that he did believe the gospel. Whereas the others apostatized, he showed himself a true believer, and God kept him alive till the time when Joshua was appointed captain of salvation and took Caleb with all the rest into the promised land. What lesson shall we draw from it? Well, the first lesson that we shall draw by extension is this, is it not? Like we did the other night. Joshua gave the people rest in the land, says Hebrews chapter three and four. But it wasn't the final rest, was it? The final rest would be introduced by the Savior, and God had promised the coming of the great Messiah, Jesus. When he came, he brings his people into rest. Alas, before he came, many generations of Israel had committed apostasy, hadn't they? One great generation had all to be driven out of Jerusalem and taken into exile. When our Lord himself came, his verdict upon his contemporaries was this: this is an evil generation. Oh, alas. So many of Israelites apostatized even before the Savior came. But there were the calebs about, weren't there? Well, thank God for them, all the calebs, all down Jewish history. It wasn't just old Caleb himself, but all that long army of delightful saints that wholly followed the Lord all the way down through Old Testament history. And when the blessed Lord came, there they were, their contemporaries. There was Martha, and there was Mary, there was Philip, and there was Nathaniel, who God be praised for that great band of Israelites that welcomed the Savior, and he brought them into their rest, didn't they? Oh, they had not entered into it fully before. As the writer to the Hebrews explains, God had kept them waiting, God having provided some better thing for us, that they, the Old Testament saints, should without us not be made perfect. But with the coming of the Savior, those who had followed the Lord down the centuries with their whole heart and had not apostatized when the nation went into unbelief. The blessed Lord brought them in, didn't he? Oh, what a lovely thing. I think of David tonight. Where do you suppose he is? He wholly followed the Lord, didn't he, in spite of all his mistakes. Yet if you'd have gone to him in his lifetime and suggested that you went together into the holiest of all, into the temple, and brought his harp and sang a hymn of praise to God for the forgiveness of his sins, David would have said, no, no, no, you can't go into the holiest of all. Why can't you? Well, his conscience was not yet made perfect, was it? And you see that from the fact that the next day he would have gone out and offered another sacrifice for sin on the altar. David not yet made perfect. Ah, but if he didn't know then that he could enter the holy door, ha, he knows now, doesn't he? Good old David. Yes, he knows now. The spirits of just men made perfect and entered into their. But if we're right to apply the lesson thus historically, we ought to also apply a lesson to ourselves morally and spiritually, didn't we? The writer to the Hebrews reminds his reader that their fathers came out of Egypt professing to believe, but when they got to Canaan, they showed that they had never believed the gospel. For, says the writer, we have had the gospel preached to us as they had the gospel preached to them, but the word of the gospel didn't, uh, profit them. They were not, uh, it was not mixed by faith in them that heard. And what the wilderness experience discovered was that, after all, they hadn't believed the gospel. And that ought to set us asking a question, doesn't it? Going to heaven? Yes. Yes. Are we genuine believers? Or are we like those who receive the word and for a time believe, but in time of trial fall away because they have no root and never did have? Say, how could you know whether you're a true believer or not? Well, you fully follow the law. Yeah. And if we would want some check that we will be in heaven and we'd like to be in heaven, you do want to go to heaven, don't you? You sure? Absolutely sure? You say, how would I know if I enjoyed heaven when I got there? Well, you want to make sure before you go, so it's going to last a long while. Be absolutely sure you want to go. Um, well, I'll give you a check. The Israelites in the wilderness, you know, when God sent down the manna from heaven, in the end didn't like it, they said. No wonder they've never got into the promised land. You know, one check is this. Do you like the manna nowadays that God has sent down from heaven, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ? Do you say to hear it me, he's my food, you know. He's more necessary to me than my daily bread, the blessed manna that has come down from heaven. Oh, how I love him. Feeds my very soul. Ah, good sign that, isn't it? Because he's going to be the eternal bread of life and the joy of all who dwell above as those who dwell below. But if it should be you say, I don't find much interesting in Jesus and his word. Oh dear. And you'd better just check, for if you don't enjoy him now, how do you suppose you would enjoy him if you got to him? Ah, the Lord blessed that part of his word to us, that we might demonstrate ourselves that we are Caleb by fully following the Lord, entering our inheritance now, ever seeking to expand it, that we might enter at last into the eternal rest of God. Now the clock says I must cease, leaving all those cherries behind, not to speak of all the other cherries that are be found in the fifth section of the book. But then that might be an excuse for me one day, mightn't it, to come again. Shall we take a break then and sing a hymn of praise to the Lord? Now I give warning that I propose to talk till about ten past nine o'clock, the recorder permitting. If you feel you must go because you have bus or duty to catch, then do feel free to go even while I am speaking. You will not upset me, and I'm sure you will not upset anybody else. Tempting as it would be to continue talking about the intervening chapters of this book, I feel it would be right nonetheless to resist that temptation and to concentrate our thoughts and our hearts for a brief moment on the final three chapters. As we noticed in our preliminary survey, chapters twenty two, twenty three, and twenty four are given over to this same major topic of the service of the Lord. But now their particular burden is this, that the service of the Lord shall be maintained. Each of these three chapters raise difficulty that Joshua and others in their wisdom see will face the Israelites and tend to stop them continuing to serve the Lord. They are to serve him and to continue to serve him. First, in chapter twenty two, against all tendency to unscriptural division and exclusivism. And in chapter twenty three, they are to serve the Lord and to continue to serve him against all temptation to worldliness and compromise. And in chapter twenty four, they are to serve the Lord and to continue to serve the Lord in spite of the stringent demand of God's holy jealousy. And if it is true, as we have suggested, one of the chief objectives in our entering into our inheritance is that we might thus serve the Lord. And it will be also clear why these stories and exhortations should form the bulk of the message in the final section of the book. So then chapter twenty two and its provision for the continuing service of the Lord against unscriptural division and exclusivism. The two and a half tribes, so we're told, had been given their inheritance by Moses, no less, with the approval of the Lord on the east side of the River Jordan. If you find it in your heart to follow many commentators in blaming them for settling into an inheritance that is on the east side of Jordan, well, so be it, except surely you do remember that it was Moses who gave them the inheritance, and it was the Lord who helped them to conquer it. As by Joshua's own command, they were returning to enter their special inheritance. When they arrived at Jordan, they erected an altar on its west bank, before proceeding to cross the river to enter and settle down in their God-given inheritance. They did it on purpose, so that, as they said, in times to come, it could be that the other tribes who live in the west would say to our children who live in the east, you have no part in the service of the Lord. You don't really belong to us. You must be excluded from the service of the Lord in the tabernacle and tent of meeting. The motive then, in building this altar, was that if ever that, uh, charge should be brought against them, they might appeal to the pattern of the altar that they had built and show it was exactly like the altar in the Lord's house, and thus prove their connection with the rest of God's people. Their action, so we are told, was grievously misunderstood by the tribes who lived in the West. So much so that without consulting or asking any questions, the Western tribes jumped to the conclusion that here was abominable heresy of terrible danger to the people of God. And they armed themselves to war, to go and destroy the tribes that dwelled on the eastern side of the river. Of course, you may well understand, I hope you bring them your sympathy as you read the story. You may well understand the concern of the western tribes, as they said themselves when they confronted their eastern brothers. They reminded them how, in earlier days in the wilderness, Israel had really apostatized and gone after Baal Peor and provoked the Lord to jealousy, and his wrath fell not only upon the apostates, but upon the whole nation. They remembered more recently how Achan had taken of the spoil of Jericho that was under the very curse of God and brought upon Israel the anathema of God's judgment too. We who have seen the people of God troubled, as Paul talks in his letter to the Galatians, by people who pervert the name of the gospel, though they do it in the name of Christ himself, and deserve the apostolic anathema. We can understand perhaps the worry and concern and the strong feeling of the Western tribe. And so keen were they to save God's people from apostasy or false doctrine or behavior, but alas, they didn't first inquire why these Eastern tribes had built this altar. So they came to fight and mercifully gave the easterners a chance to explain themselves. And said the easterners, my dear brethren, our dear brethren, it isn't as you suppose. We are not heretics, we are not schismatics, we are certainly not apostles. We'll tell you now why we built this altar. Please understand, we have not built it as a rival house of God or a rival to rival the altar in the tabernacle of the Lord. We own only one altar of sacrifice, and that is in the tabernacle. Secondly, we want you to know we haven't built this altar that we should offer other sacrifices on it. We don't propose to offer any sacrifices on it. And we are certainly not, uh, apostles, nor yet schismatics. The very opposite has been our motive. Our motive is this, just in case in future generations your children should come to our children and say, look at that Jordan, you know, God has put that barrier between us and you, and you have no right to the altar of the Lord in the tabernacle. We've put it there as a safeguard in order to be able to prove to the people of the coming day that we are one with the people of God and believe exactly as they believe. And when the Westerners heard that, they were very glad. And all thought of fighting was over, and I expect they fell upon each other's necks and kissed each other. What lesson does it have for us? Well, that we too should be very key to protest against all apostasy and heresy and schism. Of course we should. But suppose the shoe were on the other foot tonight and somebody accused you of being a schismatic, or a heretic, or an apostate. What would you say? And how would you prove to them that you are a sincere believer and not an apostate nor heretic, and that your doctrine too is correct? How would you do it? Oh, I think I would do it like the, uh, two and a half tribes did it. I should say to you or to anybody else, as they said to the Westerners, behold the pattern of the altar. Doesn't your service for the Lord begin there, my brother? Do we not remember the Gibeonites who once were afar off and were made nigh? And as a result of God's mercy upon them, they became servants to the altar. All you know how I speak the parable. We do have an altar of which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, of course. I refer to the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's son, the basis of all our service now and our service for eternity. Tell me, my brother, do you have the same pattern of the altar as I have? Do you? You say, what is your pattern of the altar? Well, I can only re- uh, remind you of three things from the New Testament. First, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the altar as I see it, if you'll excuse the parabolic language, has this pattern, that as distinct from Judaism even, where they offered many sacrifices for sins, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down. The Holy Ghost bearing testimony that because God has promised that he will not remember our sins nor iniquities anymore, there is no need for any further process of offering. To suggest that people shall continually offer, be it the supposed blood and body of Christ. Suppose it be anything at all. To suggest that people should continually offer sacrifice in order to get forgiveness. That is to break the pattern of the altar now, isn't it? Seriously to break it. Where do you stand, my brothers, my sisters, on the fundamental matter of the pattern of the altar? Surely you and I stand together, and we believe in him who offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down. There is no need to offer any further offering to obtain forgiveness of sin. The pattern of the altar is not merely a question of his atonement, is it? But the pattern of his sacrifice to be a pattern for our devotion. How if I quote you Philippians two? let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and was found in the form of a servant, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross. Isn't that the pattern that lies behind your service too? By God's mercy, it's the pattern I try to aim at. I don't fulfill it too well. Ah, shame on me. But my brothers, that's the pattern I do acknowledge as God's given pattern. Yes, and as I read one Corinthians ten, it says like this, that those old pagan priests and then the Jewish priests who offer the sacrifices, they have fellowship with the altar, don't they? Pattern of our blessed Lord's sacrifice is this, his body and blood given, and all who partake of that one body, that one load, form one load. Pattern of the altar. And I try to sing it and mean it. We would remember we are one with everyone that loves thy name. The perpetuation of the service of God against all tendencies to unscriptural exclusivism. The perpetuation of the service of God against all temptations to worldliness. In chapter twenty three, Joshua summons the heads of the people and warns them. There is much land yet to be possessed. There are enemies that still haven't been approached, let alone conquered, and you must learn to fight them. And he warns them straightly, your temptation will be to compromise. And instead of overcoming them by battle, you will be tempted to try the technique of intermarriage, and so, uh, overcoming them by intermarriage. Beware of it, says Joshua. Or if you adopt that tactic, instead of you overcoming them, they will overcome you, and they'll draw your heart away to serve their gods instead of serving the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. You know, from the sorry history that followed, how true Joshua's warnings were for when Israel did compromise and lost their hearts to the Canaanite women and married them. And the girls in Israel lost their hearts to the Canaanite men and married them. In the end, Israel ended up in the same idolatry as the Canaanites. And do we not need the warning? It's a warning to our hearts, isn't it? It's lovely to hear Rahab's conversion. She was, if you remember, a harlot. All the mercies of God that saved that dear woman, and what better were we than she? But my brothers, if we had been redeemed. It's not for us to indulge now and again in a little spiritual adultery, is it? Nor yet fornication. You adulteresses, says James, know you not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? How shall I take my redeemed heart and allow it to love the world. Not the bad things, of course, but the beautiful things. But allow those beautiful things, instead of leading me to the Lord, to lead me away from the Lord and take from God the affections that rightly should be reserved for him and him only. Oh God, speak to my heart, lest I come with verbal praise and protestations of love of a Lord's Day, when during the week I've let my love be taken from him, and I've set it on worldly things. Service of the Lord to be continued against all temptation to loving and serving the world. And finally, the service of the Lord to be engaged in. In spite of the stringent demand of the holy jealousy of God. God is jealous. When Joshua put the choice to the people of Israel and said, now choose you this day whom you will serve. It wasn't said, was it, without first a recital of all the great things that God had done for them. And now the question is put. Choose you this day whom you will serve. We will serve the Lord, says the people. Joshua in his realism. But you, you cannot serve the Lord. Why not? Because the Lord is jealous. And he's a right to be, hasn't he? As a man who really loves his wife will be jealous if she is unfaithful, and if he isn't, he never did love her. So God, who has won our hearts, is jealous of us if rivals take our love and affection. Listen to Paul admonishing the Corinthians in one Corinthians ten. Cannot, says he, have fellowship in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Listen to that same holy apostle exhort the believers in two Corinthians eleven: I have espoused you to Christ as a chaste virgin to one single husband, and I'm jealous over you, lest the tempter come at your affections and your intellect and cause you to commit intellectual disloyalty to the Savior. Say, what will the Lord do to me if I'm disloyal? Why, in his love and his jealousy, he will discipline us, will he not? His hand can be heavy, though it be the hand of love, when it is moved by love's jealousy, it will stay at nothing to win back wayward affections of his people. What shall we say to it? Choose you this day whom you will serve. You say, what right has he to claim my service so stringently, so loyally? Will you not think of his glory, such as he showed to Abraham and has showed to you? Will you not think of his power by which he redeemed Israel and the power by which he has redeemed you. Will you not think of his faithfulness, such as he showed to Israel in Balaam's day, and will show to you for all eternity? Will you not think of the glorious inheritance that he has given you freely? Oh, come, my brethren, let us put the question to ourselves today again, choose you this day whom you will serve. When Israel made their reply, full well knowing the condition and the jealousy of God, then Joshua erected the last stone in the book under the oak by the tabernacle to witness the decision of God. We will serve the Lord. How stands the stone in your life, my brother, my sister? Oh, you say, young man, I put that stone up years ago, and my name is on it for all to see. Oh, happy day it was when I trusted and began to serve the Lord. Yes, and I suspect if I came to look, I should find it carefully tended, shouldn't I? The stone of your resolution that witnessed to your original confession, still easily legible and standing upright and bold. Afraid if you came to my stone, you might find it here and there a little bit covered with moss, you know. Not quite a hundred percent standing upright, a little bit wobbly and moving with the wind a bit, and a few brambles around it. Anybody got a stone like that here? And my brothers, my sisters, why not repeat what we said those years ago, and say once more before God, angels, men, and hell itself, as for me, I will serve the Lord. Thus may the Lord bless our meditations for his name's sake. Amen. We shall sing now before we go. Follow God, come to confess the voice divine. Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He took me out to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy day, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. Now, Lord, we thank thee for thy holy word. Recall how when Israel made their profession of serving the Lord, the stone heard what they said and remained a testimony to it. We tonight have renewed our affirmation, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the walls of this place and the ears and hearts of our fellow Christians have heard it. And the voice has gone to thy throne. O Lord, we pray, give us grace to keep the stone.