Rest in the Land

Joshua 11, verse 23 states that Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses. He gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. The land then rested from war.

Now, these are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel smote and possessed their land on the other side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun. This territory extended from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and included all the plain on the east. Sihon, king of the Amorites, dwelt in Heshbon and ruled from Arior, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon, from the middle of the river and from half of Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon. The land stretched from the plain to the Sea of Kinnereth on the east side, and unto the Sea of the Plain, even the Salt Sea on the east, which is the way up to Bet-Jemash.

From the south under Ashdoth Pisgah, there was the coast of Og, king of Bashan, who was the remnant of the giants. He dwelt in Ashtoreth and Edrei, and reigned in Mount Hermon, in Salcah, and in Bashan, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half of Gilead at the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon. These kings were smitten by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel. Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave this land for a possession unto the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

These are the kings of the country whom Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side of the Jordan, on the west. The territory extended from Balgad in the valley of Lebanon, even unto Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir. Joshua gave this land to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions, in the mountains, in the valleys, in the plains, in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country.

The kings included the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Gider, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libna, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makeda, one; the king of Bethel, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; and the king of Madon, one.

And the king of Hazor, the king of Shimron, the king of Eksva, the king of Tanash, the king of Megiddo, the king of Kadesh, the king of Jokneim, the king of Carmel, the king of Dor and the coast of Dor, and the king of the nations of Gilgal, and the king of Tisra—these are all the kings, thirty-one in total.

Let's pray. Father, as we look into this passage, it is often easy for us to skip over such sections filled with hard names that many of us can't pronounce. I thank you, Father, for giving me the grace to be able to say most of them. But, Lord, it is often easier to move on to the next chapter and overlook these details, thinking, "Why is this even in here, Lord?" Yet, you placed it here for a purpose. All the things in your Word were written for our admonition and instruction, upon whom the end of the ages have come. I pray that you would help us to dig deep this evening and see what you want to speak to this church on this day, May 31st, 2003. Lord, I thank you for this time. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated.

Now that I've spoken to you, I'd like to ask you a question. The twelfth chapter of the book of Joshua states that at the end of the eleventh chapter, Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said unto Moses. Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes, and the land rested from war.

It was almost fifty years prior that the children of Israel were taken from the land of Israel. The people of Israel were in Egypt under severe and harsh oppression. Pharaoh ruled with a heavy hand over these slaves, whom the Egyptians regarded as wicked. The people in Egypt did not like shepherds, which was characteristic of the Hebrew people. They spoke with a different tongue, lived a different life, and served a different God. In fact, they only served one God, which bothered the people in Egypt, for they had many gods. They bowed down to alligators, frogs, the Nile, the sun, cats, and even fleas. You might wonder why anyone would bow down to a flea, but they did.

And lice. They bowed down to all the things of earth. Oftentimes, that is what man does. He creates for himself gods that are smaller than him because he doesn't like to think that there's anything that could be above him. Yet the children of Israel, these Hebrew people, bowed down to all the things of earth. There were a lot of them in Egypt, and they served a God who was over the earth, who was over all creation. The Egyptians didn't like that. They didn't like that these people, after 400 plus years, still spoke their own language and still served their own God. They hadn't adapted into the society.

Over time, the pharaohs in Egypt decided that they needed to get rid of these people. Every male child was to be cast into the Nile; every male child was to be killed. Why were they doing that? So they could eliminate all the male Hebrews and integrate the rest into Egyptian society. But God had a different plan. One of those children was spared. His name was Moses. They put him into an ark, a basket covered with pitch, and his mother placed him into the Nile. This basket drifted down, and one of the daughters of Pharaoh picked it up. When she opened it, the baby began to cry, and her heart was immediately knit to this child. She wanted to take him as her own.

Moses grew in the house of Pharaoh. In fact, Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that he was in line to be Pharaoh. The book of Acts, when Stephen declares to the people in Jerusalem about Moses, states that he was trained in all of the knowledge and wisdom of the Egyptians. He was very good-looking and had everything going for him.

There came a time when he was around 40 years old, and he understood that he was a child of the Hebrew people, those despised people that the Egyptians looked down upon. He saw that they were being beaten and oppressed, and he wanted to reach out to them. In his desire to save them, he killed an Egyptian soldier who was whipping a Hebrew. Because of that, he had to run. The Pharaoh, who had once viewed Moses as the next up-and-coming leader, was now after him.

Moses ran to the backside of the desert for another 40 years. Many have said that Moses spent 40 years making himself, while the Lord spent 40 years working on him so that He could spend another 40 years using him.

Alan Redpath, a great man of God, said that before a man could be greatly used of God, he was to be greatly broken of God. This was the story of Moses. For 40 years in the desert, he was being broken by the Lord. This man, who was trained in all the knowledge and wisdom of the Egyptians and who knew all the Egyptian customs, was now a shepherd, looking after sheep—something he probably despised for a great part of his life. He likely thought, "Those shepherds, I can't stand them."

But you see, God wanted to train him. God trained him with sheep so that he could shepherd God's people, who numbered well over two million. There came a day when the Lord said, "Moses, I want you to go down." The Lord spoke through a burning bush, catching his attention. God said, "Moses, I'm sending you down to Egypt, and I want you to tell Pharaoh to let my people go."

Moses tried and tried to get out of that task in the early chapters of Exodus. He said, "Lord, but I can't speak, and they won't listen to me." Here was the man who was trained in all the knowledge and wisdom of the Egyptians, saying, "I can't speak. I can't do this." But the Lord had His way, as the Lord often does.

We see in Philippians 1:6 that He will complete the work that He began in each one of us. We can do it kicking and screaming, like Moses did, or we can go compliantly and say, "Lord, have with me as you will," as Ruth did when she spoke to Naomi. "I'm going to go wherever you go. Your God will be my God."

So, Moses did go down to Egypt, but Pharaoh didn't listen to him. Ten times he hardened his heart, and the Lord brought plagues until that final plague. But why did God do this? Why was God bringing these plagues upon the nation of Egypt? Because His people were crying out to Him, and their voices echoed.

It says that the Lord, in His mercy and compassion, sent a deliverer to bring them out of Egypt. After they had cried out to the Lord, He said, as the tenth plague was nearing, "And then I'm going to deliver you." We see very beautifully a picture for every single one of us today: we were trapped in Egypt, slaves in the world, in bondage to the world and all of its sin. We cried out to the Lord, "Lord, come save me."

He said, "I'm going to put this blood, the blood of my Son, upon the doorpost of your heart to deliver you." And so, the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of Egypt.

And they came to the Red Sea. The Lord delivered them through the Red Sea, which in Scripture is a picture of baptism. They went down into the water and came up. They were delivered from the world and had been baptized into God's family. They were brought out of Egypt through the Red Sea by the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord.

Yet, they still struggled. Many Christians today have been delivered from Egypt. They've been baptized with water, and yet they still struggle. They wander in the wilderness. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness and experienced bitterness at Marah. They faced hunger in the Valley of Sin and encountered desolation throughout the wilderness.

The Lord provided water from rocks and food from the air. He provided for His people to teach them that He, their God, is faithful. The Lord carried them through the wilderness for forty years. Their shoes never wore out, and there were never holes in their garments for forty years. Every single day, the Lord fed them with manna and gave them water when they needed it. The Lord poured it out upon His people.

But there came a day when Moses, the servant of the Lord, died, as we have seen. God raised up Joshua to bring the children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land with huge grapes and fruitfulness. Many Christians today are wandering in the wilderness but desire to enter that promised land—the fruitful life.

First, they have to take the step of faith and walk through the Jordan River, which is a picture and type of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At the Red Sea, the Lord parted the waters before they walked through. The Lord said, "Redemption is yours. Just walk through." But here at the Jordan River, the Lord said, "You need to stick your feet in the water first. You need to step out in faith."

Some people may say, "Oh, you're all wet," and wonder what's wrong with that guy who claims to be baptized with the Spirit. But the Lord calls us to, by faith, take that step into the Jordan River, into that baptism of the Holy Spirit, and experience the fruitful life. They came into the promised land and faced seven years of battles. Over the last five months, we have been studying and looking at those battles that the children of Israel went through and all the hard things they encountered.

You see, the promised land, the life of the Spirit, is not a life of just rest from your work, where you kick back and think, "Oh, all right, cool, great, we're in the promised land." It is a land of rest and victory, where we know that we have the victory. However, there are still battles. In every single battle, we saw that the Lord fought for Israel and took care of them. Through all those hard days, the Lord took care of His people.

Now, after seven years of battle, after they have come out of Egypt, after they have wandered in the wilderness, and after they have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, they now have rest in the land. Joshua gave them the land as an inheritance. We read about all the different kings that the Lord got rid of before the children of Israel, with all those long names in chapter 12. The Lord was recounting for His people, giving them a remembrance of the victory they had just experienced.

What is communion? Communion is like chapter 12. It is a time for us to remember the victory that we have in Christ, the victory that our Joshua, Jesus, has delivered to you and to me. Joshua is the same name as Jesus in Greek. It means "the Lord is our salvation." Truly, the Lord has saved many. He has become the salvation of millions of people throughout the ages. He has delivered us from Egypt and from the world. He has taken care of us through those wilderness wanderings, but He desires that everyone would come into that abundant life.

For He said in John chapter 10 to His disciples, "I have come that you might have life, and that more abundantly." What a beautiful thing that God desires for every single one of us—that we would have life and life more abundantly in the promised land. Yes, there are battles, but there is also fruitfulness, and the Lord fights for His people.

This chapter looks back at all that has just happened, all that occurred in the last seven years, but even further back when Moses was still the leader. The children of Israel took time out to remember what God had done, to remember how God had brought them through every battle they ever faced, as the Lord had promised them. Just a couple of chapters before, when Joshua brought those kings out of the cave and put their feet upon their necks, Joshua said, "So shall the Lord do to all of you, your enemies against whom you fight." So now, the children of Israel take pause.

And they remember that God has brought a victory. He has brought us into the land and dispossessed our enemies. Tonight, we take pause to remember that Christ Jesus has brought us into the promised land. He has taken us out of Egypt. For those of you who have come to Him and given Him your life, He has pulled you out of Egypt. He has redeemed you. With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, 2,000 years ago, He won, and He is still the winner today.

He has poured out upon us. The book of Ephesians tells us that He has given us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We have been adopted. In verse 4 of Ephesians chapter 1, it says, "According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." Do you realize that before the foundation of the world, before God ever said, "Let there be," He knew your name and had chosen you to follow Him? Chosen before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He has predestined us unto adoption as children of Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.

Do you know that it brought God good pleasure? It brought Him joy to die on that cross to redeem us because we were the joy that was set before Him, as it says in Hebrews chapter 12. For us, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and now He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Tonight, we take pause because Joshua, Jesus, has given us rest in the land. It's not a rest of inactivity where we just kick back and put our feet up. It's not a rest because we're really tired from fighting hard. No, it's a rest because we have victory in Christ. It's a rest because we know we've already won.

If you work really hard to play some game, like a softball game, but before you even step foot on the field, they tell you that you're going to win the game, then as you're playing, you can have rest. We have victory already. We've won. Hopefully, you wouldn't just kick back and say, "Yeah, we've won," taking the win for granted. Instead, you should fight even harder and play even harder. The Lord has given us victory.

Paul the Apostle tells us throughout the epistles that he would run hard so that he might apprehend that for which God has apprehended him. You see, the life of rest...

The life of victory that Jesus has proclaimed and won for every single one of us is a life of battles, but they have already been won in Christ. We stand in victory—His victory. Not anything that we did; He did it.

As I read to you before the service began, Paul the Apostle, in Philippians chapter 3, explains all the things he had as a Jew. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; he was blameless according to the law. Yet, he says, "I count those all as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things." All that stuff, I throw it away. I count them but dung that I may win Christ and that I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Paul continues, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead." He clarifies that he does not claim to have already attained or to be already perfect, but he follows after that he may apprehend that for which he also is apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brethren, he does not count himself to have apprehended, but this one thing he does: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, he presses toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This one thing he does, said Paul. The only thing of his past he wants to remember is Christ crucified. That became his only proclamation.

As Paul followed the Lord early on in his ministry, when he went to Athens, he tried to go up to the Areopagus and prove the philosophers wrong. They said, "Oh, we'll hear you again on these matters." Right after that, he went to Corinth. In the very first chapters of the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, "When I came to you, I didn't come to you with excellency of speech. All I came to you with was Christ crucified."

You see, he got rid of all that fluff, all the stuff about proving these guys wrong. He focused on one thing—one thing only. Billy Crystal knew it back in that movie a few years ago.

One thing. Tonight, we remember that one thing. We take pause to look back 2,000 years ago to a blood-stained cross and an empty tomb. We remember one thing: only one thing is needed. It's Jesus Christ. For Christ has given us rest in the land.

I'm going to ask the guys to come forward at this time and the band to come back up. We are going to take time this evening to remember that one thing. As the children of Israel did in chapter 12 of Joshua, they took pause to look back at all that God had done.

I think it's such a wonderful thing for us to take time just to stop everything. We do it once a month here at Calvary, where we stop everything else and look at what Christ has done for us. We remember so that we don't lose sight of it. We don't lose sight of that old rugged cross. May we never lose sight of it.