Division of the Land Pt 2

Good evening, y'all. We're going to do it a little different tonight. We won't stand until later, okay?

Change it up a little bit. I want to welcome all of you to Calvary Chapel this evening. And those online, we welcome you. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity again to gather, to worship in song, and to study your word, Lord. Lord, we lift up all the activities that are going on here this evening, the youth group, the children's church, nursery, all the activities.

Bless, we pray. And may we just now just relax and worship you as we prepare to study your word, Lord. We thank you for your word, that it's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. May we hide it in our hearts, Lord, that we won't sin against you. May we treasure it in our hearts.

Amen. Lord, we know that whatever we're going through, good, bad, ugly, whatever, we can come to you, Lord. We sing your Holy Spirit move tonight, Lord. Lord, we thank you for your word, sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, we depend on you.

Would you go ahead and stand if you're able to? If you would.

We do ask tonight, Lord, that you'd look upon our needs, that we would look to you and trust you with all of our needs. We would look to you, trusting you. And be available to be used by you, Lord, for your glory. To serve you and in turn then serve others and be that which, that kind of thing that would bring about fruit, Lord. And I know fruit is important, that we bear fruit.

We know the fruit of the Spirit is love and all those things that go after. And so, let your love reign in our hearts, we ask, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Amen.

Look at Joshua, chapter 15. Joshua, chapter 15. We got a lot to cover tonight because we're not going to read a whole lot. So, we're continuing on with the distribution of the land. As a matter of fact, it's distribution of the land part two because I'm overly creative like that is the title of the message. But remember, it was time to finish the job. The children of Israel had had some great victories.

God had done some amazing things through them. And by and large, the majority of the enemies had been defeated. But now, it was up to each tribe to go in and to possess their particular plot of land. That which was theirs to take responsibility for their own territory. So, we had first of all seen the tribes to the east, the east of the Jordan, that were given their territory.

We saw that last week. And then, of course, we saw that Caleb was given his territory. Caleb, of course, that great man of faith. And we spent a great deal of time talking about him. But now, it's time for the rest of the children of Israel to receive their property. And so, starting in chapter 15 all the way through 19, we will go through the rest of the tribes and what they're going to receive.

Now, I'm going to be really honest with you. We're not going to read a whole lot of things. I'm going to summarize and we're going to point some things out, which is why I'm able to cover this many chapters at one point in time. Because there's a lot of cities that are named. There's a lot of borders that are named. And I think, at some point in time, like myself, you should go back and read all of that.

It's a great idea. But did we get the map to work? Is the map going to be able to work? Sweet action. But do you have a map to put up so that hopefully you can kind of keep track of all of these things? Hopefully, you can see that, okay? If not, you should make sure that you have a Bible map at some point in time that you can take a look at some of these things.

So, we pick up in chapter 15, verse 1. It says, We're not going to read any more of that, okay? It's just going to go through the rest of the borders and the cities and all those kinds of things that you really need to pay attention to. And it's really cool. And lots of commentators have said, Why did God list all of these cities? Why did God see fit to list all of these borders?

Well, because it was really important. If that was your land, if that was the land you'd been given, you'd want to know exactly what belonged to you. And so, it was important to these individuals that were given. But chapter 15 is going to give to us all of the division of the land that belongs to the tribe of Judah. There's two really big things that I want to point out to you.

The first starts in verse 13. Notice what it says. Now, he gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. A portion among the sons of Judah, according to the command of the Lord, to Joshua, namely Kiriath Arba, Arba being the father of Anak, that is Hebron. Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Shishai, Ahimon, and Talmai, the children of Anak. Then he went from there against the inhabitants of Debir.

Now, the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath Sefer. And Caleb said, So, he gave him Aksa, his daughter, as wife. It came about when she came to him, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So, she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said, And she said, Since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water. So, he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Now, there's just a handful of things I want to point out to you about Caleb here. Again, not to belabor the point, but I think we learned some interesting things about Caleb. First of all, remember, Caleb had said, I want the land with the giants. I want to take that hill. I want to take that place. Well, it turns out Caleb was successful. He himself drove out three of the sons of Anak.

Now, remember, those are giants. Those are the ones that kept them from entering the land to begin with. And he said, He drove them out. But now it was time to take one particular portion of the land, Kiriathsephir. And so, rather than Caleb do it himself, he felt like it was time to delegate. And so, he offered up his daughter. He said, Now, I don't know anything about Caleb as far as how good of a looking guy he was,

or how good of a looking daughter he had. But apparently, she must not have been too bad to look at because Othniel was on it, right? He's like, Send me in, coach. And so, this guy jumps up and he says, Give me the land. I'm willing to take it. And so, Othniel goes and he takes the land and he's able to have Aksa, his wife. Now, why is that important? Well, because Caleb shows us what it means to be a leader and what it means to be a man of faith.

Because as a good spiritual leader, he wasn't just willing to do the job himself. He was a man who empowered others to do what God had called for them to do. He wasn't just willing to be the only guy that did everything. He was willing to see other people use their God-given talents. If you will, he delegated to the people that were around him. And so, that's kind of an interesting thing.

The other thing that I want to point out is that Othniel is going to be an important name. Because Othniel, when we get into the book of Judges, we're going to find is the first of the judges that God will use to deliver the nation of Israel after they have fallen into sin. So, this Othniel guy is quite a character. Someone who was really bold. But the other person that's really bold, the last thing I'll point out to you is this.

That's Caleb's daughter. Because you can imagine the little marriage takes place, however that would have worked. And she said, we need to ask dad for a little bit more land. She says, dad, you've given me the Negev. Give me springs of water too. Now, I think when Caleb heard his daughter, all he could think was, boy, there's a girl after my own heart. She's not willing to just take the little bit.

She wants as much. Of the promised land as she could possibly have. And as a father of two daughters who are both very bold little girls, I got to tell you, it just does your heart good. When your girls start to grow up and start to really become those bold individuals, it's just a lot of fun to see. And I think it did Caleb's heart good to see his daughter react in that way.

Well, starting in verse 20, all the way down to verse 62 is a continuation of all of the territories that the children, the children of Judah, the tribe of Judah would take. All of their cities, the extent of their territory. And really, as you can see, I don't know how well you can see this map or not. You can see right down here, the camera people hate me right now, by the way, because they can't see me.

Right down here, this is where Judah is down in the southern area, right? You can see where they came in at Jericho right there. Can anybody see that? Can you see anything on this screen? Okay, great. So this area down here, there's Bethlehem and Jerusalem is going to be down here somewhere. That general region. And so that's going to be the area where Judah is.

Now, everything's going really great for Judah. After all, with a guy like Caleb as your hero, you would think the entire tribe has to just be stud of warriors, right? But notice what it says in verse 63. Now, as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out. So the Jebusites live. With the sons of Judah at Jerusalem till this day.

That's sort of a sad commentary on what you would think would be considered one of the great tribes of the nation of Israel. Is that there was this group of people, this group of people known as the Jebusites, who apparently must have been very fierce warriors. Because the people of Judah were unable, it says they could not drive out the Jebusites. Now, I'll point out a couple of things to you about Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was a walled city. And Jerusalem sits up on a mountain. And it sits at the top of a hill. And so anytime you go to Jerusalem, you're always going up to Jerusalem, no matter where you are in Israel, because of its situation and height. So it's a perfectly set city to defend against enemies. Therefore, the children of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites.

But I want you to think about something. What promise had God made to the nation of Israel? God had promised, I will send my angel before you. And he will drive. Drive out the inhabitants of the land. So I have a question for you. Was it that they could not drive out the Jebusites? Or was it that they would not drive out the Jebusites? Let's not pretend that this wasn't a difficult enemy to take.

Let's not pretend that this was not a difficult group of people to try to defeat. And not a difficult city to try to take. Because after all, the city of Jerusalem sat in the hands of the Jebusites. Not only at this point in time, not only at the time of the writing of the book of Joshua, but it would not be captured until David, King David, comes and captures Jerusalem and makes it the capital of the nation.

And there establishes the tabernacle, later the temple. So let's not pretend it wasn't a difficult enemy to take. But let's also not forget that God's promises are greater than any enemy that we face. And it's easy for us, on this side of history, to look at the children of Israel and say, it's too bad that they could not, or maybe worse yet, would not drive out the inhabitants of the land.

Forgetting that sometimes we end up in the exact same boat. Because perhaps we still have those inhabitants of the land that we cannot drive out. Well, as I was thinking about this, today I thought about some of the promises that God has made to us, because God had made amazing promises to the children of Israel. And we think, why wouldn't they just believe that God would keep His promises?

But I have a question for you. Why don't we believe that God will keep His promises in our lives? And so I want to point out a handful of things to you that Jesus has said to us, either through the writers of the New Testament, or even He Himself. The first one that I'll point out to you of the promise that God has made to us is that greater is He who is in us, in you, than he who is in the world.

Greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world. And I point that out because sometimes when we look at what's going on in the world, it feels like it's a little bit too much for us. And we forget that the one who dwells inside of us, who has made His home in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, is greater than the evil one that roams about seeking whom He may devour. The second promise that I was thinking of is what Jesus said to His disciples.

He said, In this world, you will have tribulation, or you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. You know what part of that phrase we usually listen to? In this world, you will have trouble.

Right? That's what we hear on the next part. We forget that He said, Be of good cheer, because I've overcome the world. And so as we look at the things in our lives, that are really difficult, we say, Lord, you don't understand the tribulation that I'm going through. And He says, You don't understand, I've overcome the world. What are you so worried about? The third promise,

I could do this all evening, I won't. The third promise is another one that Jesus said when He said, Nothing is impossible for God. There's actually at least two times that that's mentioned in the gospel accounts. The first one's given in Luke, when it comes to the fact that, Elizabeth, Zacharias' wife, who would eventually go on to have John the Baptist, when she became pregnant, because nothing will be impossible for God.

And then we come to the place where Jesus talks about how difficult it is for a rich man to be saved. And they say, Lord, if it's difficult for a rich man to be saved, then is it possible for anybody to be saved? He says, with men, this is impossible, but with God, nothing. It's impossible. Nothing is impossible with the Lord. I don't know what you're facing today.

I don't know what impossibility you're facing in your life. I don't know what enemy you feel like you cannot drive out, whether it be a temptation that you keep dealing with, whether it be depression that you can't get past, whether it be fears that you can't overcome. Whatever it is, I promise you, nothing is impossible with God. And then the last one that I'll give you, is this.

It's given to us by Paul in the book of Philippians, when it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, I always like to point out the direct context of that, because I feel like that's the weightlifter verse, right? Like, I can lift this because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I like to point out the direct context.

Because the direct context of that verse is when Paul says, I have found that in whatever state I'm in, to be content. I can do all things. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. But may I say, contentment is one of the greatest mountains that we have to face in the world we live in today. And I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

So, brothers and sisters, we may face the Jebusites, kind of like the people of Judah did. They found themselves saying, I cannot drive out the Jebusites from the city of Jerusalem. But I would say, it's that they would not drive out the inhabitants of the land. Just like for us. Let's not pretend the enemy isn't great. But let's also not pretend that our God isn't greater.

Amen. And so, that's the territory of Judah. Now, as we come to chapter 16, we come to the territory of Ephraim. Then the lot for the sons of Joseph went from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho, on the east, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho, through the hill country, to Bethel. Okay, now remember, Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Part of Manasseh's territory had already been given to him over on the east side of the Jordan. The other half is going to be given over here. And we'll get to that in just a moment. But we're dealing now with Ephraim, that other son of Manasseh. Now, this is a very fertile area that Ephraim is in right here. Okay? Beautiful. Beautiful place that they're in.

I've only seen pictures. I haven't been there. I'm praying one day I'll be able to. But the pictures that I've seen, just a beautiful area. Now, we, of course, in verses 2 through 9, we are given all of their borders, all of the cities, all of the area that they are to inhabit. And I would encourage you to go back and read that. But I want to point out one thing to you

out of verse 10. But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day. And they became forced laborers. Now, you may have noticed that the language was just a little bit different this time. In chapter 15, it says they could not drive out the inhabitants of the land. In chapter 16, it says they,

did not drive out the inhabitants of the land. You notice the change in language there? It's nothing to say that the enemy wasn't just as difficult. But it is interesting that this time it seemed to be more of a settled decision on their part that they did not drive out the inhabitants of the land. Again, we take note of the fact that it wasn't that they could not.

It was that they did not. But I want to point out what they did with the inhabitants of the land. It says that the inhabitants of the land became forced laborers. Now, that's an interesting thing to think about because if they became forced laborers, that means that ultimately, what did they do with them? Ultimately, they overpowered them. That means that this enemy was not too difficult

for them to drive out because they could enslave them, but they wouldn't get rid of them. You see, if you will, they chose to compensate and they chose to compromise. They chose to compromise God's command because I think we would almost run out of ink in a pen writing down all of the different verses where God said, do not let any inhabitants of the land remain. Do not make a treaty with them.

Do not allow them to stay. Otherwise, you will worship their gods and they will become a thorn in your flesh. And yet in this instance, it wasn't that they couldn't overpower them. It was that they couldn't overpower them. It wasn't that they couldn't overpower them because they could enslave them. It's that they did not drive them out. So why'd they keep them around?

Well, because it benefited them financially. It benefited their bottom line. You see, they could make a little bit more money if they could force these people to be laborers for them. It's interesting what we do with our flesh, isn't it? It's interesting how we compromise. And in our compromise, we can tell ourselves that really, it's okay, it's not that big of a deal.

After all, it's not like they couldn't drive them out. We've still imposed our will upon them. It's just that in imposing our will upon them, we've allowed the compromise to stay. And all too often as believers in Jesus Christ, we're content to allow the compromise to stay because after all, I can keep it under control. How many people have allowed sin to stay in their life

where they have told them, it's okay, I can keep it under control. It's okay, I don't have a problem with this. And when that happens, the same thing results every time. Sin ends up taking control. Because you see, either you will put it to death or it will put you to death. Because that's what sin does. And they did not, they did not drive them out. Instead, they became forced laborers.

And we'll find in the book of Judges that those forced laborers will become a source of temptation to the children of Israel. Now, as we move into chapter 17, we see the territory of Manasseh. Once again, verses one through about, or verses one and two start to tell us, matter of fact, let's read those. Let's read those real quick. It says, Now this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh,

for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Mityr, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan because he was a man of war. So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh, according to their families, for the sons of Abiezer, and for the sons of Helik, and for the sons of Asriel, and the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hefer, and for the sons of Shemitah. These were the male, the male descendants of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, according to their families.

However, verse three, Zelophehad, the son of Hefer, had the son of Gilead, the son of Mitchir, the son of Manasseh, he had no sons, only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters, Mala, and Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terza. And clearly when he named them, he didn't know those were bad names. Anyway, but again, if we know anybody having some daughters right now, you might just throw those out there.

They came near before Eliezer the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the leader, saying, The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. So according to the command of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father's brothers. Thus there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, because the daughters of Manasseh received the daughters of Gilead, and they received an inheritance among the sons, and the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh. Now again, you can see that big territory of Manasseh there, lots and lots of land, and we'll deal with that in just a moment, because there's another thing we'll point out

about the sons of Manasseh. But it's interesting to note that in the book of Numbers is when this promise to the daughters was originally made. They said, hey, listen, it's not our fault that our father didn't have any sons. Can we have an inheritance just like the sons would? And so Moses consulted the Lord, and the Lord said, that's a great idea. I think you should do that,

which is a great reminder that anywhere that the Bible takes precedence, you will see women being treated with more equality than anywhere else in the world, because God has the distinct understanding, because he created them male and female, that women are precious in his sight. And so God takes care of the ladies there, and so they remind him, and he says, hey, that's a great idea. And so then we jump, down to verse 12. It says, but the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

It came about when the sons of Israel became strong that the Canaanites, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely. Now this time I notice another word that's used. It's kind of interesting. The first time they could not, the second time they did not, this time the inhabitants, the inhabitants of the land persisted.

In the New King James, it translates it, the inhabitants of the land were determined. They were determined to live there. And again, I would like to point out a spiritual truth in our lives. We need to understand something about our flesh. It's determined to live there. And it will be persistent, because the battle will not be done until we go home to be with the Lord.

In the meantime, we must on a daily basis put to death the flesh. Because as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to understand something. The world, the flesh, and the devil will every day be determined to take over my life. I have to be as determined to follow the Lord as the world, the flesh, and the devil are determined to destroy me. Because whichever one,

is the most determined, is going to win. You see, I'll have a choice to make every day. Will I determine that today I will obey? Will I determine that today I will be who God has called for me to be? I believe it was Max Lucado that wrote a great poem, a great prose, I guess, if you will, about determination. When he said, Today I am determined. Today I am determined to follow the Lord.

Today I am determined to follow the Lord. I am determined to know him, to seek him through his word, to seek him through prayer, to obey his rules, to follow his commands, to be the man that he has called me to be. And if victorious, I will praise him for his grace that empowered me to do so. And if I fail, I will fall upon that same grace, knowing that his mercies are new every morning. Either way, today I am determined.

And brothers and sisters, we need to be more determined than the inhabitants of the land, because I promise you they're determined to stay. And so Manasseh was unable to drive them out. But then there's one other thing that I would like to point out to you. It starts in verse 14 about the sons of Manasseh. Then the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, why have you given

me only one lot and only one portion for an inheritance, since I am a man of God? And they said, I am a numerous, since I am a numerous people who the Lord has thus far blessed. Joshua said to them, if you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you. The sons of Joseph said, the hill country is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who

live in the valley land have chariots of iron, both those who are in Bethshean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh saying, you are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one lot only, but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it to its farthest borders. It shall be yours for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have

chariots of iron and though they are strong. Now there's an interesting scene that comes up. The children of Manasseh or the people of Manasseh come and say, Hey, we need more land. We didn't get enough for us. We need more. And Joshua was going, we'll then go take all of your land. See the two things he told him to do, clear the forest, drive out the people. But did you notice how Manasseh responded? It's full of forest and

they have chariots of iron. Joshua says, you've been given an amazing plot of land. Now you need to go in and take the land. And what did the people of Manasseh say? It's, it's too hard. It's too hard. We need more land. Something that won't be as hard to clear out. And Joshua says, you've got the plots of land. You need to go in and do the work, even though there's forests. And even though they have iron chariots, and it's a great reminder for

us. God has provided us. Everything we need and more promises than we can ever imagine. But sometimes it's, it's hard. And sometimes the thing that keeps us from possessing that which God has given to us is because it's hard. Sometimes the ministry that God has laid out for us, we say, but Lord, that's too hard. Sometimes the path that God has laid out for us, we say, but Lord, that's too hard. Sometimes

the methodology by which we are to seek the Lord, we find ourselves saying, but Lord, that's, that's too hard. And he says, but if you want to see the blessing, if you want to possess everything that's belongs to you, it's going to be hard. I was thinking about this today. I was thinking about some of the things that sometimes are too hard. And if I step on your toes,

you know, I know very many people go into children's ministry because it's too hard. It's just too hard. They say, no, you understand those kids are hard. Yeah, they are. But man, the blessing, the blessing. I'm here to tell you right now, I got kids that come up to me after working with youth for a really long time. And man, when they're walking with Jesus, there's just

nothing better than it. You know, you go, man, yeah, that was hard, but look at the blessing that came from it. You know, I, you know, a lot of people don't like to help out with like, although we do pretty good here. I'm just going to be honest about this. And you know, you know why a lot of people don't like to help out the cleaning ministry because it's too hard. You don't understand those toilets are gross.

I know it's too hard. You know why a lot of people don't persist in prayer because it's too hard. They see, you understand it's so hard to focus. It's so hard to really get into prayer because sometimes they just don't feel like it because it's, it's too hard. It is, but there's a blessing that comes with it. You know why a lot of people never really study the

word while they're just content with what Xavier Reese always calls sermonettes for Christians. It's because it's too hard. It's too hard to really wait on the Lord. It's too hard to really dig into what God's word has to say. It's, it's, it's too hard. And God has a message for us. I know it's hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it. But you see at the top of the mountain,

that's where God's pouring out his blessings. They say, we need more land. He says, well, take what you've got. They say, but it's too hard. He goes, take it anyway. There's plenty there for you. And so he gives out the, uh, gives to Manasseh their inheritance. And now we come to chapter 18, which is the rest of the land divided. That's actually what my Bible titles chapter 18. Notice what it says. Then the whole congregation

of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh. And they set up the tent of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. Now, before we get into what he has to say, I want you to take note of where Shiloh is. Let me see if I can point it out to you here. Shiloh is right in the middle. And I'm not going to be able to see it right now. Cause this is not the same map I had pulled up

earlier, but it's, it's kind of right here in, in the middle of this area. And at Shiloh is where they're going to set up the tabernacle. Now it's kind of interesting because up to this point in time, they've not been really with the tabernacle set up, perhaps a Gilgal, but, but the tabernacle hasn't really been set up because they've been in war mode. They've been in going after the, the victory sort of mode. But now that they're there, it's time for them to set up the tabernacle

because in the middle of the distribution of the land, which I found to be kind of interesting. And in the middle of the land, the tabernacle would be established because in the midst of the work is the worship. Because in the midst of the work of taking the land, the tabernacle is set up. And in the middle of the land, the tabernacle is set up. And in the middle of the land is always the worship of God, because in the middle of everything that we're

supposed to do is always to be the worship of God. And so they established the tabernacle, they set that up. And then in verse two, it says, and there remained among the sons of Israel, seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, how long will you put off entering to take possession of the land, which the Lord the God of your fathers has given you? Now, I find that to be a great question

because up to this point in time, the tribes have been presenting themselves to Joshua saying, what's our land, right? Caleb, Caleb was the first one. He's like, give me that. That's what I want. Then Judah was there to present himself, which makes sense because Judah's a pretty important tribe and all these other tribes are presenting themselves, but you've got these

other tribes. And Joshua finally looks at him and says, how long are you going to wait around? How long are you going to put off entering to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers has given you? You see, these other tribes had found themselves in a dangerous position. They had found themselves in the dangerous position of having enough of

the promised land to be content, but not enough of the promised land to be blessed, not enough of the promised land to really be established. They had found them in that place we call status quo. So I'm not really moving forward, but I'm not really moving backwards. I'm just going to hang out right here. You know what the problem with status quo is? There's another word for it. We

call it apathy. You know what apathy means? I don't care either. It's just, it's exactly what it means, right? Apathy is I just don't care. I'm pretty content right here. I'm pretty content right where I am. I don't really need to do a whole lot more. After all, I'm saved. That's good enough. I'm going to do a whole lot more. I'm going to do a whole lot more. I'm going to do a whole lot

right? I own a Bible. That's good enough. I attend church. That's good enough, right? No, listen, God is always wanting us to move forward. And sometimes I think we need that swift kick in the rear end. I need it sometimes to say, how long are you going to live off of the victories of yesterday? How long are you going to live off what God did for you last month, last week, last year,

10 years ago? I actually think that has been one of the most dangerous things for the Calvary Chapel movement period. Is that we can live off what God did 50, 60 years ago now. And we can go, but remember what God did. And I'm going, I don't care what God did. Let's see what God's going to do. Because we can't live off the victories of yesterday. How long are we going to wait to continue to take the promised

land? How long will we live in apathy? How long will we live in status quo? Because brothers and sisters, I don't know if we see this or not, but revival is taking place throughout the land. We can either get involved or we can just watch. I don't know about you. I don't want to just watch. I want to get involved. And that's what he's telling these tribes. It's time to do. It's time to not just be content to be a part of a

Bible study. It's time to start moving forward and taking the land. It's time to start moving forward in maturity. Time to start moving forward to do what God has called for you to do. So what do they need to do? Well, first of all, they knew I need to identify what's next. Notice what he says in verse four, provide for yourselves three men from each tribe.

That I may send them that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance. Then they shall return to me. They shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall stay in its territory on the south. The house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north. And you shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description

here to me. And I will cast lots for you before the Lord, our God, for the Levites have no portion among you because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. Gad and Reuben, the half tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which the Lord gave them. And then the men arose and went and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land saying, go and walk through the land and describe it and return to me. Then I will cast lots for you

here before the Lord in Shiloh. So the men went and passed through the land and described it by cities in seven divisions in a book. They came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. And there Joshua divided the Israel or to the sons of Israel, according to their divisions. I love this because Joshua says, how much longer are you going to live in status quo? It's time to figure out what else there is

to take. You go out, you explore the land and we'll divide it from there. You take an account of the direction you feel like you're supposed to go and we'll move. From there. And brothers and sisters, just like last week, I'm going to tell you the same thing again. Sometimes I think one of the best things we can do is take an account, allow God to give you a little bit of vision, allow God to give you a little bit of a dream and then move forward with

it. Lord, where do you want me to go? Lord, what do you want me to do? You don't understand Ryan. I've always lived in our city. That's great. Maybe this isn't where God wants you anymore. You don't understand Ryan. I've always been a part of this church. I've always had this, this particular ministry. That may be, maybe God wants you to do something else. Maybe God wants you to do something else.

I don't think we should ever be so married to the position that we're in in life right now that we can never move forward, that we can never go on and do something different. I always think about the fact that Chuck was somewhere in his early forties when he started Calvary Chapel. And that was when God used him to the greatest ability that he possibly could. And again, I point out last week, what J. Vernon McGee had to say,

that in all of the time that he served as a pastor, the greatest thing that he did was after he retired from the church, he retired from the church. He retired from the church. He retired when he started becoming the first podcaster ever. I listened to another guy say the exact same thing. I started taking a course through the Blue Letter Bible Online Institute. It's called

How to Counsel God's Way with Bob Hoekstra. Bob Hoekstra taught a bunch of my Bible classes in college. I affectionately referred to him as Bobbio. But he taught a bunch of my classes in Bible college. And he said the same thing. He said, I pastored for 21 years and then God laid on my heart something different. And I had to take a step of faith to start teaching other people.

All of the counseling truths in the word of God. And I just think sometimes brothers and sisters, we get too content where we are. And we say, I'm just going to coast out the rest of life here. But man, God has something so much more for you. If you will just allow him to give you the vision and take that step of faith. And that's what he does. And so the first thing that we see now is

where we're going to really start moving. Okay. So in verses, in chapter 18, verses 11, through 28, we have the territory of Benjamin. Now remember Benjamin was, was the youngest of them. And it's going to be one of the smallest of the allotments that's given. As a matter of fact, when there is the divided kingdom, the 10 tribes to the North and the two to the South,

Benjamin and Judah will be right there together. Jerusalem is actually in the tribe of Benjamin's territory. And then in chapter 19, verses one through nine, we have the territory of Benjamin. And it's going to be one of the smallest of the allotments that's given. The territory of Simeon. Now, again, if you look on the map, there's two different shades of yellow

down here, but right in the middle of Judah is where Simeon is. Now that's important to know because in Genesis chapter 49, there's a prophecy given by, by Jacob over all of his sons. Now, two sons, Levi and Simeon did something really horrific in the book of Genesis. Do you remember that story? A pretty horrific story. They basically destroyed Shechem. It was a, it was an awful thing. And so because of that,

Jacob announced, Jacob prophesied that they would be scattered throughout the promised land. And interestingly enough, they're scattered in the midst of Judah. And of course, Levi will be scattered all over the promised land through those cities. So it's interesting that their plot of land is in the midst of Judah because it's a fulfillment of Genesis chapter 49, verse seven.

Now, verses 10 through 16 of this same chapter is the allotment to the tribe of Zebulun. And again, this is literally just the cities. There's nothing interesting to point out here. Otherwise I would absolutely be doing it. Verses 17 through 23 is the allotment to Issachar. Verses 24 through 31 is the allotment of Asher. The territory of Naphtali comes next.

And then of course, the territory of Dan. And so all of those things are, are laid out. And again, you can kind of see on the map here. I would encourage you to, if you have maps in the back of your Bible to go through and take a look at those, because it is kind of interesting to pay attention to and to read it again on your own, because that was important enough that God wanted to write it down. But the last thing that we come to starts in verse 48, excuse me, verse 49 of

chapter 19. It says chapter 19, verse 49, when they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua, the son of Nun. In accordance with the command of the Lord, they gave him the city for which he asked, Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and he settled in it.

And these are the inheritances, which Eliezer, the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun and the heads of the households of the tribes of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land. Now I find it to be kind of interesting because again, I think Joshua was a great man. I think he was a great man of God. And I think

that he was a great leader. And one of the last things that we see him do is take his own inheritance. Do you notice when Joshua took his inheritance? It was after everybody else had already had their land divided out because he truly had the heart of a shepherd. It's one of those little indications that God knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Joshua. And not

only did Joshua get his inheritance last, but from everything that I've read about Joshua's inheritance, it was about the least enjoyable plot of land in all of the nation. And I think that's one of the things that Joshua took the worst for himself. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that what a leader oftentimes does? They kind of make sure everybody else is taken care of and they

sort of take what's left over. But you know, I don't think Joshua ever complained. I think he was content. You know why? Because Joshua was in the promised land. You see, the leader that he'd followed all of his life, the leader that he knew so well, he wasn't able to come into the promised land. And now there was Joshua and the place where Moses had always wanted to be.

And now he was there. It may not have been the best looking plot of land to anybody else, but to him, it was the promise because it's really all about that perspective. Amen. And so look at that. We're done before eight o'clock even. And so that wraps up the distribution of the land next week. No, not next week. We will not have service next Wednesday. The next time

that we're together. In two weeks, we will talk about the cities of refuge and the cities for the Levites. Would you bow with me? Lord, we come to you now and we praise you that your word is always so good. And Lord, that the historical record is always so accurate. Lord, I thank you that we can depend on it. Lord, I thank you that we can know and understand that that land is your people's land.

And Lord, what a great thing for us to know right now. And so, Lord, I just pray that you would give us eyes to see, give us hearts to perceive and a mind that can understand. And Lord, may we be determined. May we be determined to be the men and women that you've called for us to be. Lord, may we be determined that by your grace, we will follow you. And when we fail, we will fall on that same grace. And Lord, we just thank you and praise you for who you are.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.