Settling Short of the Promised Land

Joshua 1, verse 10 reads: "Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 'Pass through the hosts and command the people, saying, Prepare your provisions, or prepare your victuals, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess it.' And to Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke Joshua, saying, 'Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you.'"

Let's pray. Lord, as we look into Your Word tonight, as we take time this evening just to worship You now in the reading of Your Word and through Your Word, I pray, Lord, that we would remember the word that You've spoken to us, the word that You've commanded to us, especially the greatest commandment: to love one another. Lord, I thank You so much that You gave us that example as You showed us Your love there on the cross at Calvary. May we follow in Your example to love You and to love those who are around us. God, speak to us, I pray, through Your Word. I thank You for the time of worship that we've had this evening, and I pray that it would only continue now as we look into these passages here in the first chapter of Joshua. We thank You and praise You. In Jesus' name, amen.

You can be seated. All week long, as I've been going through this passage and reading through the last eight verses of Joshua chapter 1, I have been praying that the Lord would help us to get through this chapter. It's taken us a few weeks, and normally I like to do a chapter a week, so this is a totally different experience. I guess Pastor Pat has rubbed off on me.

As I studied through this passage and looked through the verses of Joshua chapter 1, verses 10 through 18, it was a real battle this weekend. I tossed it around back and forth in my mind, and I didn't exactly know what the Lord would have me share tonight until I was here this afternoon. As I sat in my office, I believed that the Lord, again, has a word for us. Did you know that God is always speaking? God is always speaking to His people. He is always speaking to us; it's just that we need to quiet our hearts to be able to hear Him. Amen. This week, I was just praying.

Lord, help me to have a quiet heart. Just to be still to hear You, because I'm having a hard time. There was a lot of stuff going on this week, and a lot of the things that I had planned to do didn't exactly turn out. Pastor Pat has a little magnet in his office that says, "Man Plans and God Laughs." I planned my week, and then at the end of each day, when things didn't go the way I wanted them to, I'd drive home and think, "Man, I didn't get anything done today. I didn't do what I wanted to do today, Lord." I just had a rough week.

As I was sitting down here this afternoon, I kept reading through the portion of Scripture and reflecting on the last couple of weeks when we've looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Paul says that all these things were written for examples for us and were written down for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages have come. Knowing that we're living in the last days, I just know that God wants to speak to us. I was praying, "Lord, what is it that You want to speak to us?"

God desires that every single one of us would enter into that fullness of life that He promised to us. In John chapter 10, verse 10, Jesus said that He came to give us life and that more abundantly. However, in the very beginning of that verse, we read that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. The enemy has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. That is what he desires to do in your life and in mine. He wants to come in and take away the implanted word that God desires we put in our hearts. He seeks to separate us from the rest of the flock of God so that he can kill us spiritually and take away our joy. He desires to destroy every aspect of our life here and now.

Why? Because he cannot touch us after we die. He knows that for those who have followed the Lord and accepted Him, there is nothing he can do to us eternally. Therefore, he seeks to remove our joy here and now. We have a very real enemy who comes against us, but even stronger than our enemy is our flesh. I don't know about you, but many times I battle more with my flesh than I do against the enemy. In fact, I think a lot of times we blame the enemy for the battles of the flesh that we go through. Yet the Bible tells us over and over again...

We need to die to ourselves, to lay down the old life and put on the new life that's incorruptible in Christ. Paul wrote about putting on the new man throughout the epistles, but that's a hard thing to do. In our flesh, it wars against the spirit, the Spirit of God that has been imparted and implanted in each of us. The two are contrary, as we see in Galatians and Romans. We have been baptized with Christ into His death, and so we need to lay down that old life. But boy, is that hard.

In Romans chapter 7, Paul says that the things he wants to do, he doesn't do, and the things he doesn't want to do, he does. He finds that in his flesh dwells no good thing. There are some in the world who think that in their flesh, there are a lot of good things. They might say they have a good personality or that they look good. We often hold on to these different things and say, "Yeah, I have a lot of good things in my flesh" that we might count as gain, as Paul mentions in Philippians chapter 3. However, Paul says that what things were gained to us, we need to lay those down. We must lay down that old life and come into the new life that God has called us to.

Consider the children of Israel. They were in Egypt for over 400 years, under taskmasters who beat and whipped them to make bricks. They were under the heavy hand of Pharaoh. Pharaoh had issued a decree that any male child in Israel was to be put to death when born. Yet, there was a family—probably many families—who did not want to comply. They had a son and tried to hide him for three months. Eventually, they concluded that it was very hard to hide a baby.

So, they placed him in a little basket, an ark they had fashioned, and followed Pharaoh's command by putting him in the Nile River. They placed him in that ark, and he was taken up by one of Pharaoh's family, his daughter, I believe. He was raised in the household of Pharaoh, as many of you know from the story. God called this man, Moses, to lead His people out of bondage. Moses began to work and told Pharaoh, "Let my people go." However, Pharaoh would not heed him, and so through many mighty miracles, the story unfolds.

God brought His people out. In the book of Exodus, chapter 32, the Bible says that God brought His people out of Egypt. By a mighty hand, God brought them out. It wasn't Moses' work; he was just the instrument that God used. Moses, in Scripture, as we've looked at over the past few weeks, is a picture of the law. God uses the law in our lives, but it is by His mighty hand that He has taken us out of Egypt and out of the world. By His mighty hand, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross.

So, by His mighty hand, He has taken us out of Egypt and out of the world. As we've looked at, they wandered in the wilderness for a period of time. They went to Mount Sinai, and there at Mount Sinai, the Lord gave them the law. While they were in the wilderness, God performed incredible miracles. He showed them awesome sights as He led them, with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. He provided manna from heaven—food from heaven—every single morning that they were to gather and glean. He also provided water out of a rock, living water pouring out of the rock.

We are a bunch of rocks as well, and praise God that He can bring living water out of us. He wants to pour it into us first. They came to Sinai, and there the Lord gave them the law. It was a two-year trek as they wandered in the wilderness, and God continued to show them His miracles and His heart for them during that time. After two years, they came to the edge, the border of the land of Canaan, the promised land.

If you turn in your Bibles to Numbers, chapter 13, we will look a bit at the story as the children of Israel arrived at the border. After two years of wandering in the wilderness and God proving Himself, you see, God often does that with us as well. Before He calls us to take a step of faith, He proves Himself over and over again so that we can learn to trust Him.

As we come to chapter 13 of the book of Numbers, the children of Israel stand at the edge of the land of Canaan, the promised land, two years after they have come out of Egypt. Moses sent spies into the land to scout it out, to see the fruit of the land. He gave them a commission to bring back a report and to bring back some of the produce.

The fruit from the land is significant, and if you'll notice in verse 6, one of the spies was Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. Another spy mentioned in verse 8 was Oshea, or Joshua, the son of Nun. Joshua, the man leading the army of Israel in the Book of Joshua, and Caleb, his right-hand man, were two of the twelve men sent to spy out the land.

In verse 25, it states that they returned from searching out the land after forty days. They came back to the camp after exploring all of Canaan for those forty days, observing all the things that God had provided. Verse 26 tells us that they came to Moses and Aaron, along with the congregation of the children of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, showing them the fruit of the land. They brought back a large bunch of grapes, so big that it had to be carried on a pole between two men.

If you visit the Grape Day Park Museum in Escondido, you can see a picture of a large bunch of grapes from Escondido that resembles what they brought back. The children of Israel had entered this land, the land flowing with milk and honey that God had promised them, and now they returned with this fruit. For the past two years, they had been eating manna in the wilderness. While manna was likely very good, seeing this large bunch of grapes must have been a delightful experience, a sign of the fruitfulness of the land.

They showed the fruitfulness of the land to all the people of Israel. In verse 27, they reported, "We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." They affirmed that the land does indeed flow with milk and honey; it is a beautiful land, a good land that God has given to them.

Nevertheless, in verse 28, they expressed concerns about the inhabitants of the land. They noted that the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are walled and very great. Moreover, they saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, while the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the mountains. The Canaanites reside by the sea and along the coast of Jordan.

They say we went into the land and saw that the fruit is just awesome. The land is beautiful. God has given it to us. It's flowing with milk and honey, just as God had said. But the people of Anak live there, along with the Amalekites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites.

Caleb, in verse 30, stilled the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." Underline that in your Bibles: we are well able to overcome it. You see, every single day as we walk with the Lord, we're going to see giants. We're going to see the blessings and the promises that God has promised to us. But also, in this life, we're going to see the giants that stand in our way. However, in the Lord, we have the power. We are able to overcome it.

But what a sad story we see in verse 31. The very first word is "but." Caleb says we can overcome it. We can take this land; it's been given to us. But the men who went up with him said, "We're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." They brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, "The land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof." They claimed that all the people we saw in it are men of great stature. They're big guys.

There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, who come from the giants. They said, "We were in our own sight." Underline that in your Bibles: we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. And so we were in their sight. They looked at these giants in the land and then looked at themselves, thinking, "Oh, there's no way I can do this." It would be like Stephanie Benici in our youth group going up against Shaquille O'Neal. I don't know if you guys know Stephanie; she's very small.

They said, "We looked at these guys and we looked at ourselves, and in our own eyes, we were like grasshoppers." Then, in presumption, they said, "And so we were in their sight also." You see, oftentimes when we look at the things that are ahead of us, that stand in front of us, we say, "I can't do this. It's too big. I'm nothing in comparison to this great obstacle that God has set in front of me."

You know, I don't have it up here with me, but if you take a quarter and hold it up in front of you, it looks very small.

But if you hold it close enough to your eye, it will cover everything that you see. It's always amazing to me that the sun, being so big—I mean, the sun is millions of times bigger than our Earth. And yet the moon, which is a lot smaller than our Earth, can cover the light of the sun when we have a solar eclipse. Why? Because it's closer to us.

You see, the little trials that we come up against in our lives, these little rocks, when we begin to examine them, become so big that they overshadow everything. We can no longer see the sun, Jesus Christ. These trials, which are so minute in comparison to how big God is, overshadow everything when we begin to examine them in the light of ourselves. Everything else becomes but a shadow in comparison to this little itty-bitty trial.

That's exactly what happened with these ten spies. These ten men went in and saw the land, and oh, it's so beautiful. It's wonderful. God has given us this great land. But the men that dwell there, the sons of Anak, these great men of great stature, dwell there as well. And we were, in our own sight, as grasshoppers. When you begin to use that kind of logic, looking at things from your perspective, you will get scared.

However, when you see things from God's perspective and what God had promised to the children of Israel, you begin to have faith that God can do a great work through this. You look at the things in your life, and yes, there are hurdles, but in light of who God is, they are so small. In light of who God is, they are nothing. They will burn up as we begin to trust in Him and walk with Him.

In Chapter 14 of Numbers, verse 1, it says, "And all the congregation lifted up their voices." Instead of saying, "But God is for us, let's go," they cried. The people wept all night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Would to God that we had just died down there in Egypt."

Isn't it amazing how when we stumble into trials in our lives, we immediately think about going back to the things of this world? I think of Abraham.

In Genesis chapter 12, we've looked at it before. God had called Abraham out of the land of Ur, and he began to follow the Lord. Immediately when he came into the land, he saw that it was a good land. He put his tent there at Bethel, the house of God. However, he began to move south towards Ai, towards that heap of ruins. From Ai, he began to go to where? To Egypt. Why? Because there was a famine in the land.

You see, in our lives, when we begin to experience a lack, some sort of famine, spiritually or physically, immediately what we think of is that we have to go to Egypt. Our minds are so set upon the idea that all our desires were fulfilled when we were in Egypt before. Our hearts begin to long for the things of the world again. The children of Israel expressed this sentiment, saying, "Oh, would that we had just died in Egypt, or would that God had killed us in the wilderness."

Down in verse 3, when they woke up the next morning, they realized that it would be better for them to return to Egypt. They said to one another, "Let us make a captain," and in verse 4, they decided to return to Egypt. They thought they needed someone to lead them back down to Egypt because they knew Moses wasn't going to take them there. So, they planned to raise up somebody else to lead them.

Moses and Aaron, in verse 5, fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who searched the land, tore their clothes. They spoke to the company of the children of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to search it is exceedingly good. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Their defense has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not."

These four men—the minority report: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb—urged the people not to go back to Egypt. They proclaimed that God had set this land before them and wanted to give it to them. They were brokenhearted and said, "God's given it to us. Let's go in. If He delights in us, then we're going to take it. No problem. Don't rebel against the Lord. Fear not the people."

Remember, as we looked at a couple of weeks ago in Joshua chapter 1, verse 5, the promise was that not one person would be able to stand before them all the days of their lives.

God had given the commandments to Moses and to the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness. He promised them that no one would be able to stand before them all the days of their lives. Joshua, Caleb, Aaron, and Moses encouraged the people, saying, "Don't fear. These people are not going to be able to stand before us. The Lord has given it to us."

Then, in verse 11, after the people continued to cry against the Lord, God spoke to Moses. He asked, "How long will this people provoke me? How long will it be before they believe me?" He expressed His frustration, saying, "I've poured out my blessings upon them. I've given them incredible miracles." Yet, despite all this, they still said, "We can't do this. It's too great for us."

Can you imagine? These are the very same people who, just two years before, walked through the middle of the Red Sea on dry ground. They witnessed God provide food every single morning; it just appeared on the ground when they woke up—bread, manna. These are the people who, when they complained against the Lord about not having water, saw Moses strike the rock, and water gushed out.

For a long time, I pictured that when he struck the rock, it was like a little fountain pouring out. But if you think about it, there were two million people. There must have been a great river flowing from that rock, and God provided everything for them. Yet, these same people said, "We can't go in. These people are too great for us."

Oh, how I do that so often too. I've seen God do incredible things in my life. He's torn down great strongholds and provided for my needs time and time again. I'm sure if we began to share testimonies of what God has done in our lives, every single one of us could come up with at least one thing, and probably a hundred things, that God has done even in the last year as He has poured out His blessings upon us.

If you've been walking with the Lord for any period of time, you've seen the wonderful and magnificent works of God. If you haven't, maybe it's because you haven't really come out of Egypt. But if you've come out of the world and begun to follow the Lord, then you've seen these great and awesome things. However, how quickly the things of this world can overshadow those experiences. I remember several years ago, one of the people...

Who went to the church here? They were going on vacation and asked me if I could take care of their house while they were gone. They had three dogs at their house. Maybe you guys remember Mike Pridemore; he was on the San Diego Police Department. He lived on a street with two other cops.

One night, after a Saturday night service, after I had taught, I had just finished one book and was getting ready to go into the book of James. I knew that the next week I would be teaching on James chapter 1, which talks about counting it all joy when you fall into various trials. One of the greatest trials for the testing of your faith produces patience, and patience will add this perfect work that you'll be complete, lacking nothing. I just knew that I was probably going to have some sort of a trial.

So, I pulled up to his house, walked in the door, and locked it behind me. As I often do, I took all the stuff out of my pockets. When I get home at night, I like to just get rid of the things I've been carrying around all day. I threw everything on the couch and walked out the sliding glass door to get their dog bowls to feed their dogs. As I closed the door behind me, it latched. I turned around and thought, "Oh no." I grabbed the handle, and it was definitely locked. I pulled on it and thought, "Well, that's not good." Then I considered locking the front door, but I could see the keys sitting on the couch. I was just going, "Oh Lord, no."

Immediately, my mind started racing. This guy's on vacation; he's a cop. He has two Rottweilers and a German Shepherd. There are two other cops living on his street, and here I am trying to break into his house. The things of this world can so quickly overshadow the wonderful things that God is doing. For about 15 minutes, I was just fuming and angry. I tried every door and every window in that house. The whole time, I could hear the Lord saying in my ear, "Just pray."

I thought, "Lord, this is a real problem. What do you mean, pray?" He just kept saying, "Pray, just pray. You teach the kids and the juniors, just pray." Finally, after about 15 minutes, I figured I couldn't get the door open. I had tried many times; everything was locked up. I sat down and thought, "Oh man." My car keys were in there, and everything was locked in the house. I was just thinking, "Lord, what are you doing?"

How quickly that situation overshadowed everything that was going on—the great things that God had done on that Wednesday night here at church were all overshadowed by this little thing. I finally said, "All right, Lord, you want me to pray?" So I prayed, "Lord, if you can open that door, just open the door." Then I walked over to the door.

It just opened effortlessly. There was no problem. I walked in, sat down on the couch, and started laughing. You see, so quickly those little things that are really no big deal get in the way, and we lose our peace. Every one of us has a story about a miracle that God has done in our lives. We all have stories about how little things catch us, bum us out, and freak us out instantly.

But that flesh is so wicked. It needs to die, and the only way to kill it is to crucify it with Christ. This is something that needs to be done every single day. I don't know about you, but my flesh seems to come back to life every morning. It flatlines for a little while, and then it comes back again. That flesh just needs to go.

Here, the children of Israel, governed by their flesh, say, "We can't go into this." The Lord responds, "I've shown you over and over again that I am faithful," yet they still say, "We can't do it." Their own estimation was correct; they couldn't do it. They couldn't have parted the Red Sea on their own. They couldn't have provided manna for themselves. They couldn't have done any of the things God did for the last two years in the wilderness. They couldn't have gotten themselves out of Egypt. We couldn't have saved ourselves either.

Thinking about trying to get yourself out of Egypt, I recall the children of Israel when they were with Elijah on Mount Carmel, facing the prophets of Baal. There they were, trying to get their god to call down fire from heaven. They were cutting themselves and jumping up and down all day long. Meanwhile, Elijah sat there, wondering if maybe their god was on vacation or had gone to the bathroom. We often try to do the same thing. We jump up and down, thinking, "Maybe if I do this, then that will happen." We try to figure out in our own strength how we can fix these problems, but it's God who is able to do that.

In the next verses of Numbers chapter 14, God tells Moses that He will just get rid of Israel and build a new nation with him. He is testing Moses, and Moses responds in verse 18, "The Lord is long-suffering."

He is great in mercy. He forgives iniquity and transgression, and by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Moses says, "Lord, if you kill these people, then it's going to tarnish your name throughout the world." He reminds God that He is long-suffering, great, merciful, and forgiving in iniquity, transgression, and sin. This refers to Exodus chapter 34, when the Lord revealed Himself and His glory to Moses as He passed by, while Moses was in the cleft of the rock.

In verse 19, Moses intercedes on behalf of the people. He has interceded for them several times and pleads, "Pardon, pardon them, I beg you. Pardon the iniquity of this people according to your greatness and your mercy. Forgive them as you have until now." I thank God that He forgives us when we lose faith. When we're faithless, He remains faithful still. That's such a wonderful promise. Throughout the day, as I go through various challenges, I may stumble and fall, thinking, "Oh Lord, how is this going to happen? I have to figure out how to fix this." The Lord says, "Don't worry about it; I'll take care of it. Come to me, seek me, and I'll take care of it."

In verse 20, the Lord says, "I have pardoned according to thy word." But in verse 21, there is an awesome verse that you should underline in your Bible. It states, "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." Isn't that awesome? There is coming a day when all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. I look forward to that time. Unfortunately, this was not that time.

In verse 27 of chapter 14, the Lord says, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmurs against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me." When you murmur against the leader that God has chosen, remember that in chapter 14, verse 1, the children of Israel were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. When you murmur against the leader that God has set over you, or even the leaders of our nation, know that God sees it as murmuring against Him. In verse 30, He states that they will not...

The children of Israel were not going to come into the land this generation, except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. What a sad thing. The children of Israel, because of their flesh, their worry, their concern, and their fear, did not trust in God. Because of their unbelief, the Lord said, "You're not going to come into the land, except for Joshua and Caleb, because they were faithful." In fact, Caleb means faithful. He was faithful.

It's incredible to remember that these ten spies said, "We can't go in because the sons of Anak, these giants, are in the land." However, as we go through the book of Joshua, we will see that Caleb, when he is 85 years old, goes and drives out all of these giants from the land. One man. Yet, the children of Israel said, "We can't do that. There are giants in the land. We were as grasshoppers in our own sight, and I'm sure we were in their sight as well." They had lost faith, and because of that, they didn't enter into the fullness of the promise that God had given to them.

The same is true for us. The promises that God has given to us are apprehended by faith. By throwing everything that we have upon the Lord and trusting completely in Him, that's how we lay hold of those things that He has given to us. We need to cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. When we cast our cares upon Him, that's when He is able to fully take care of us.

If in our hearts we say, "Well, I just don't think that God can take care of this," James chapter 1 says that we are double-minded men, unstable in all our ways, and we shouldn't think that we will receive anything from the Lord. There are times when I pray and say, "Lord, I'd like you to do this, but your will be done. I don't know if you want to." The Lord desires that we pray in faith, saying, "Lord, do this, move this mountain."

Then the Lord shows us that the mountain we think is so big is, in fact, a little pebble. We need to get our eyes off of it and focus our eyes upon Him. The Lord desires this from us.

Turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 6, in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 6 is a very interesting story. In this chapter, Jesus comes to His hometown, the city of Nazareth. He speaks to the people there, and they are astonished at what He has to say. They are blown away, asking, "Isn't this the carpenter's son? His mother is Mary, and she's with us. His brothers are James, Joseph, Judah, and Simeon, and His sisters, aren't they with us?"

So they look at Him, and there is Jesus speaking to them. He says, "Hey, I'm fulfilling this prophecy here in the book." They look at Him and think, "Man, this guy's an amazing speaker, but isn't this Mary's son? Wasn't His dad the carpenter? His brothers and sisters are here with us." If you notice at the end of verse 3, it says they were offended with Him.

Here is Jesus, who was going throughout the region at this time, casting devils out of people and healing those who are sick. He is performing awesome miracles, and now He comes to His hometown, and they say, "Isn't that the carpenter's son?" They were offended with Him. Look at verse 5; it says He could not do many mighty works there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. Why? He marveled because of their unbelief, and He went round about the villages teaching.

You see, our unbelief will hinder the hand of God from doing many marvelous and mighty works in our lives. When we fail to trust in Him, we might say, "Lord, You can't open this door. Come on, this is a real problem." And He says, "Well, just pray; I'll take care of it."

I love what it says in Exodus chapter 14, verse 15, when the children of Israel are getting ready to cross the Red Sea. Before Moses lifts the staff and the waters part, God says to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward." The same thing applies to us. God often speaks to us and says, "Why do you cry to me? Go forward. I'm going to take you through this." And we respond, "Lord, but there's an ocean in front of us." Oh, that's nothing.

I walk on water for a living. Come on, let's go. And the Lord says, "What do you have to worry about? Why do you cry to me? Go forward. Let's go." Thank God that He's so long-suffering with us. When we fall down and say, "I can't do this," He comes alongside and gently restores us. He desires that we would do the same thing.

In Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, He tells us to restore the fallen brother or sister in a spirit of meekness because that's the way that the Lord works with us. I just thank God that He does. However, He could not do very many mighty works there in Nazareth because of their unbelief. He marveled at their unbelief, and I know that the Lord sometimes probably marvels at my unbelief as well.

In Numbers chapter 14, He marveled at the unbelief of the children of Israel. He had provided for them, helped them to get into the land, given them water, and poured out upon them. Yet, they said, "Those guys of Anak, they're big. I don't know if we can take those guys. We're like grasshoppers in their sight. They're just going to step on us and squish us." Surely, they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers. Neither shall any of them that provoked me see it, except for Joshua and Caleb. Why? Because they were faithful. They believed, saying, "Lord, You're going to do this. You will do this."

They could see the promise of God right in front of them, standing at the very border of the promised land. There were men standing there with a huge bunch of grapes, saying, "Look at the fruit of the land. It truly is a land flowing with milk and honey." I always kind of wondered what it means to be flowing with milk and honey. Then we were over in Israel, and they actually have little mini-marts that say "Milk and Honey Mini-Mart." It's kind of funny.

This was a land that was flowing with milk and honey that God had given to them. There was just awesome fruitfulness in the land. Even today, the land of Israel is incredibly fruitful, just like we have the breadbasket of our nation here in California. The central valley of California, the Jezreel Valley, or the valley that we often call the Valley of Megiddo, is so incredibly fruitful. This was the land.

God had just said, "Here, this is yours." They could see it. They were standing there, looking at it, yet there were ten guys in front of them who said, "There are giants in the land." I don't like to hang around with people who give that kind of report. Those who have such a negative outlook on everything can be discouraging.

Some people believe that if they spill their milk in the morning, the day is going to be really bad. Why? Because they spilled some milk? There's a saying: don't cry over spilled milk. It's not a big deal. Yet, these ten guys stood in front of them and said, "Yes, it's a beautiful land. Look at these grapes! They're incredible. We ate them; they're wonderful." But then they added, "There are giants in there, and we're like itty-bitty in front of them. They're just going to kill us."

As a result, everybody wept and cried. Because they rebelled against the Lord, He said, "You're not going to enter into the land this generation." There are those who see the promises and yet say, "We can't do it because the obstacles are too big."

However, there's another group who sees the promises of God and is content to dwell outside the land that God has given them. They see the promised land right in front of them; they see what God has given them, yet they'd rather stay where they are.

Turn your Bibles to Numbers chapter 32. There are those who say, like the church at Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3, verse 17, "I am rich, and I am increased with goods, and I have need of nothing." They don't need that promised land; they have all they want right here.

In Numbers chapter 32, we see a group that lets their desires and fears get in the way of what God has for them. This is the group that is too busy making a living to make a life with Christ.

Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. When they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, they realized it was a place for cattle. The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eliezer the priest, and to the princes of the congregation. They said, "Adaroth, Dibion, Jazer, Nimra, Heshbon, Elilah, Shibam, Nebo, and Beon, even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle. Wherefore, if we have found grace in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession, and bring us not over the Jordan."

There is a group, as we spoke of in chapters 13 and 14, who see the land but focus on the obstacles, which seem too great for them. Then there is another group who sees the land and recognizes that God has given it into their hands, yet they say, "I'd rather just stay right here. I don't know that I want to go in there. This land looks plenty good for me. I have cattle, and this land has grass. I have livestock, and there's water here, so I just don't know if I want to go into that promised land that God has given to me." They are just like that. They resemble Lot in Genesis chapter 13. Remember why Lot went down to the area of the plain of Jordan, near Sodom and Gomorrah? He lifted his eyes and said, "Wow, it looks like a well-watered land. It's perfect for my work. That's the perfect place for me to be because I have cattle, I have livestock, and I have lots of sheep. I think I'm going to take that place."

So, Reuben and Gad, along with the half-tribe of Manasseh here in Numbers chapter 32, expressed their preference for this place. They said, "We really like this place. We have livestock, we have sheep and cattle, and this is a good place for that, so we'd just rather stay here. We don't really want to go over the Jordan."

Moses responded to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, "Shall your brethren go to war, and you sit here? Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given to them? Your fathers did the very same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. Remember what we just looked at in Numbers chapters 13 and 14? Your fathers did the very same thing when they went up into the valley of Eshkol and saw the land; they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel."

Go into the land which the Lord had given them. The Lord's anger was kindled at the same time, and He swore, saying, "Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from twenty years and upward shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kinezite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord."

The Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years until all that generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. Behold, you are risen in your father's stead, an increase of sinful men to augment or to increase the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. He says, "Why are you doing this? You saw your fathers did this forty years ago. They rose up, and the children of Israel didn't enter the land. Now you say you want to stay over here; you're just going to discourage the heart of the people."

For if you turn away after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness, and you shall destroy all this people. They came near unto him and said, "We will build sheepfolds for our cattle and cities for our little ones." They said, "Hey, we already got a plan, Moses. We're going to build sheepfolds for our cattle and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will go over ready and armed for the children of Israel. We're going to go before them until we have brought them into their place, and our little ones shall dwell in their fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land."

So they said, "Hey, Moses, we already got it all worked out. We got a plan. We're going to send our army in with you. We're going to build cities and sheepfolds here. We'll stay over here; you guys go in there. We'll help you get in there, and when you get rest, we'll come back here. We got it all figured out."

Moses said, "Well, you know, okay." He said, "You can do that, but you have to go into the land with us. Your army needs to go armed before us into battle. If you don't do that, then you can't have this land." Moses continued, "You know what? You can stay here, and you don't have to wholly follow the Lord and press into the promises that He's given to you. But I assure you, you'll have a miserable life, and you'll be the first to be in bondage. These people who stayed outside of the land were the very first tribes in Israel who were taken by the Syrians into bondage, and we still call them to this day the lost tribes of Israel."

Just like Moses said, "You guys can stay out here," but why would you want to? I just don't understand it. They were too busy making a living rather than making a life with Christ. Are you too busy making a living to make your life with Christ?

I remember when I was in high school. I thought I had a plan. I told the Lord, "When I graduate from high school, I think the best thing for me to do is to be a professional golfer." Nothing against Pip, but I figured, could there be a better job in the world than playing a game like golf? I mean, it's really not like you're running wind sprints or anything. You play golf, you make money. Four days a week, you go and play; that would be the best thing to do.

The other plan I had in my mind was to become a pyrotechnician because I wanted to blow stuff up. You can ask my parents; I blew stuff up at home too. I had these plans about how I was going to make a living. The best way for me to make a living without worrying about bills was my goal. I figured I didn't need to be a billionaire; I just didn't want to have to worry about my bills.

That's exactly what Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh were saying. They wanted to stay there because it seemed like the easiest way. They had it all planned out, telling Moses, "This seems like a good way of doing things." It is amazing to me that God will allow you to not take hold of the best that He has for you, although it breaks His heart. It breaks the heart of God that we don't lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of us.

Yes, you're not in Egypt, but you'll be in bondage to sin your whole life. And that's not a way to live. That's not a way to live. Yet these two and a half tribes said, "Well, we'd just like to stay out here."

As we come to Joshua chapter 1 to lay the groundwork of this portion of Scripture, we see that Moses comes and speaks to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. He says to them...

In verse 13 of Joshua chapter 1, remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, "The Lord your God has given you rest and has given you this land." Your wives and your children, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but you shall pass over before your brethren, armed, all the mighty men of valor, to help them.

In chapter 4, verse 13, we see that it was 40,000 men prepared for war. About 40,000 men passed over before the Lord unto battle in the plains of Jericho. That's the two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh—40,000 men. In Numbers chapter 1, we find out that their armed men were actually over 130,000, but they only sent 40,000 into the land. Why? Well, because they needed the other 90,000 men to protect their men and women who were back home. So, only 40,000 of them crossed over.

But Joshua says, "Remember the word that Moses spoke to you. You're going to pass over; your wives, your kids, your cattle—all that stuff is going to remain back here. You'll pass over before your brethren to fight for them until the Lord, as stated in verse 15, has given your brethren rest that He has given you. They also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them. Then you shall return unto your land as a possession and enjoy it, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you on this side of the Jordan to the sunrise."

What I want you to note here is that if you decide to stay outside of the possession that God has given to you, it may look like, "Well, I don't really know if I want to do all that stuff." You are still going to go through the battles. You can stay out of the blessing, but you'll still go through the battles. You and I can choose not to receive the full blessing that God has given to us, but we will continually go through the battles.

Now, if we decide to follow the Lord and press into Christ, when we go through the battles, He is our strong tower. We can run to Him as our shield. As He told David in Psalm 3, He said, "You’re my shield, Lord." He told Abraham the very same thing in Genesis chapter 15, saying, "I’m your shield, your exceeding great reward."

Following after the Lord, Psalm 63 verse 8 says, "My heart followeth hard after the Lord." It is when your heart is following hard after the Lord that His right hand will uphold you. The last part of that verse states, "My heart follow hard after You, Lord, and Your right hand upholdeth me."

However, you can choose not to push into the blessings that God has given you, but you will still go through the battles. As I look at this portion of Scripture, I think it is great that they sent their men in to do battle. It is good that they helped out and that they got rest there. Yet, it is a really sad story to me that this group of people—Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh—didn't press in completely to all that God had promised them.

As I reflect on this passage of Scripture and continue reading, verse 16 states, "And they answered Joshua and said, 'All that you have commanded us we will do, and wheresoever thou sendest us we will go.'" They expressed their commitment, saying, "Whatever you command us, we're going to do. Wherever you send us, we'll go." They pledged to listen to Moses, and now they would hearken unto Joshua, provided that the Lord their God would be with Joshua as He was with Moses.

Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh seem like pretty good guys. They are willing to go in there and fight with their brothers. However, they also mention that whoever rebels against the commandment of the Lord and does not hearken unto Joshua's words will be put to death. They encourage Joshua to be strong and of good courage.

Yet, at the end of the day, it feels like they are saying, "We're out of here." They resemble Sunday Christians. They say, "Yeah, I'll go to church, I'll do all that, I'll raise my hands, I'll sit and stand—all that stuff. Okay, that's great. But after that 70 minutes, 90 minutes, or even 180 minutes, I'm just going to go and be content to dwell back on the east side of Jordan." They agree to listen to the Word taught, and that's great. They will encourage their brothers and sisters, but they seem to imply, "Just don't call me after like noon on Sunday. I don't want to hear from you until 8 o'clock next week."

I was looking at these two and a half tribes, and I thought, "Lord, I'm going to go." It's a really sad story. I wondered where I fit in this story. I would love to be a Levite, carrying the Ark of the Lord and worshiping God as a priest. I would be overjoyed to be with Judah and Joseph, the tribes that represent Christ. What a joyful experience that would be! Oh Lord, I would love to be like Benjamin, the son of my right hand—that's what his name means.

Yet, the more I examined this passage this week, I had to admit that there are many times in my life when I identify with Manasseh. Why Manasseh? Well, Reuben and Gad, those two tribes, decided they were going to completely be out of the land. Why? They were completely cold. Remember Revelation chapter 3? It says, "I would that you be hot or cold." They were completely cold.

However, the half tribe of Manasseh had a different situation. Only half of them dwelt outside the land, while the other half dwelt in the land. As we see in Revelation chapter 3, it states, "Because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." Why? Because you say, "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

As I looked through this passage this week, I would like to be identified with the other tribes that pressed in. However, so many times, as I examine my life, I find myself saying, "Lord, I'm in that multitude with Manasseh." So many times in my life, I allow myself to dwell a little bit in the world and a little bit in the promised land. Now, I actually do want to step on toes. Lord, don't take away my cable. The Super Bowl is tomorrow, and Monday Night Football is coming up.

But yeah, I'll go to that school of ministry, but it's on Monday nights, Lord. Dun dun dun dun. I've got to watch Monday Night Football. Oh, Monday nights. I don't know about that. I don't see that in Your Bible. Hmm. No, I don't know where that's at.

Sixty-five miles an hour? That's slow. I don't know about that either. Everybody else is going 70, 80. Gosh, that guy must have been going 90. I can go 70. Okay, 72. Oh, oh, oh, oh, slow down. Oh, that's not a cop. Speed up. I realized just a couple of weeks ago that I got a truck with big tires on it, and I didn't realize that it changes your speedometer. I have to go have it fixed because I was driving behind Eric. Eric was doing like 75, and my speedometer said 65. I thought, well, that's not good because I'm going to get pulled over. I'm going to say, "But my speedometer said 65," and he's going to go, "I've heard that before."

But see, there are those times when we just kind of justify it. Well, you know, it's a good land. It's right next to the promised land. I was reading in a book by Henry Ironside, and he said, "I often have people come to me and ask me, 'Do you think it's okay for me as a Christian to do this? Go to this movie? Date this person? Do you think it's okay for me as a Christian to do that?'" And he said, "I always reply to them, 'Do you think it's okay for you to go to that prayer meeting tomorrow night?'" They said, "Well, of course it's okay to go to a prayer meeting. Everybody knows it's okay to go to a prayer meeting." And he goes, "Well, that's your answer. If you have doubts about it, well, you're unstable. Unstable in all your ways."

Reuben. The tribe of Reuben. His own father's report of him when his father was on his deathbed. Jacob was about to die, and he said to my firstborn, "You know you're my great and magnificent son, but you're unstable as water. You will not excel." Boy, that would be a sad thing to hear on Dad's deathbed. There he is, and he goes, "You're the strength of me. You know you're my first son, but you're unstable as water. You're not going to excel." But that's the same with us.

If we've got to ask someone, "Do you think it's okay for me to watch this? Do you think it's okay for me to do this?" then no, it's not okay. You already know inside your heart that you shouldn't be doing this. I am the same way. There are times when I identify with Manasseh, and I go, "Lord, I want to dwell right in the middle of your land, to be there at the tabernacle constantly. Lord, to be a Levite, to carry the ark and to worship you continually."

But if I really take the Bible and look at my life, examining myself in the light of God's Word, I realize that a lot of times I'm like Manasseh. But, Lord, I don't want to be.

Turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 3, and we'll finish here. Revelation, the last book in the Bible, is fairly easy to find. Revelation chapter 3, verse 16. Jesus is speaking there to the church at Laodicea. Actually, let's start in verse 15. He says, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." Ouch.

Because you say, "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing," and you don't know that in reality you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. But He says in verse 18, "I counsel you to buy from me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment, white clothing, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear. Anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see."

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent." If tonight you're sitting in your seat and thinking, "Well, that was kind of hard. Last week was kind of hard too, and I don't really know if I like that," know for sure that if you feel like you've just been chastened, it's because God loves you. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.

That means to turn. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, or eat with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.

Tonight, he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit would say to this church, Calvary Chapel of Escondido, on January 25th, 2003. He that has an ear, let him hear what God's Spirit is speaking to us.

Let's pray. Lord, I confess that there are times that I'm numbered with the tribe of Manasseh. There are times when I don't fully enter into what You've provided and what You've given. I pray, Lord, that You would help me to cast that away, to turn to You, and follow hard after You. Thank You that You are good and that You desire for us to come in and to buy from You gold and white garments.

You say there in the end of Revelation that we'll come and buy without money. Lord, You've given it all to us freely. All we need to do is take it up. Help us to lay down the things that we're holding on to, to let go of that stuff that we've been trying so hard to hold on to, and to lay hold of You. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.