Borderland Believers

Joshua 22. We read there, "And then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said unto them, 'You have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days and to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God has given rest unto your brethren as He promised them; therefore now return you and get you into your tents and unto the land of your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.' So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went unto their tents."

Let's pray. God, as we take a time this evening to look into this passage of Scripture, I know You want to speak to us. I pray that You'd open each of our hearts, Lord. Open my heart that I might hear from You tonight, and my brothers and sisters here as well, that we would be receptive to the words that You want to speak, Lord.

As Abraham was there on Mount Moriah, his ear was tuned to Your still small voice. If it hadn't been that day, it would have been a bloody mess on that mountaintop. There are times when we stand at the brink of bloody messes, and I pray that You'd just open our ears so that we would hear You clearly. Help us to hear that still small voice as You speak to us. You're speaking tonight, and we thank You for that. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, you can sit down, and as you do, let's look at what the Lord has to speak to us tonight. We've seen how the children of Israel have come out of bondage. They've come out of the wilderness and into the promised land. Through seven years of battles, the children of Israel toiled there in the promised land to take hold and to take possession of that land that God had given to them.

This land was promised to them back in the book of Genesis, chapter 12, when He called their father Abraham. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, an abundant land that was good. Our good God had promised this to His people, and now they've come into that place. They've taken possession of it.

But you remember the story from just a few weeks ago. There were two and a half tribes that had come to Moses in the Book of Numbers. In Numbers chapter 32, when they were on the east side of the Jordan River, they said to him, "We want to stay here in this portion of land." You see, they had cattle and herds, and they found that the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River was good for their herds. They looked around and saw that it had grass and water; it looked like the perfect place for them.

So they went to Moses and said, "Moses, we'd like to take this land. We'd like to have this as our inheritance instead of the land in the Promised Land." They hadn't even seen the Promised Land yet; they hadn't gone into it to see the good things that God had prepared for His people. Yet, they looked at this land outside of the Promised Land and said, "We want to stay here."

Well, you remember the story. Moses was a little bit angry with them. He said, "Why would you do this to your people, the children of Israel? Why would you do this? Why would you do this to your brothers and keep them from going into the land? Don't you remember what happened at Kadesh Barnea when the ten spies discouraged the armies of Israel from going into the land? Don't discourage your brothers and sisters from going in. Why would you do this?"

They replied, "No, we don't want to discourage them, but we like this land. So can we keep it?" Moses said, "Well, okay, but this is the condition for this land, this inheritance that you're going to receive. You are first going to send some of your men, some of your mighty men of battle, to go into the land with your brothers, the other nine and a half tribes. They are to go in and fight with the children of Israel until they obtain rest in the land."

Now, after seven years of battle, Joshua calls these men to himself—these two and a half tribes—after their brothers have found rest in the Promised Land. He says to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, "Come, I want to speak to you." In verse one, we see that Joshua called them to himself.

Then in verse two, we read that he said to them, "You have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brothers in these many days until this day and have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God."

In verses two and three, we see that Joshua first called them, but now he commends them. He comes to these men and commends them for what they did.

He says, "You held true to the words of Moses as Moses commanded you and said that you're to come into the promised land with your brothers and fight with them for this time until they obtain rest." Well, you've done that. Not only did you heed and listen to the words of Moses, but there at the end of verse two, he says, "You also have obeyed my voice as the leader."

Then he says in verse three, "You haven't left your brother in these many days. You've stuck through. You've stuck by with your brother. You've stuck with your brothers through the battles." He goes on to say, "And you've kept the charge and the commandment of the Lord, your God." So Joshua called these two and a half tribes, and now he commends them.

We continue reading in verse four, which says, "And now the Lord, your God has given rest unto your brethren as he promised them." What a beautiful portion of scripture! Joshua says that God has given rest to your brothers, the other nine and a half tribes, just as He promised them.

God is faithful to complete that which He began in you and me. Paul, the Apostle, in Philippians chapter one, verse six, says, "I am confident of this very thing." Confidence means faith. He says, "I have faith. I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus."

We can have that confidence today that God will complete what He promised. He is faithful to do that. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 says, "He who promised is faithful." The one who promised to you and me is faithful. The book of Corinthians, specifically the second book of Corinthians, tells us that all the promises of God are in Him, "Yes," and in Him, "Amen," to the glory of the Father.

You see, God's promises, however many there are in scripture—some people say upwards of 7,000 promises—will all come to pass. He will bring them to pass. He has promised it, and He who promised is faithful. His faithfulness is declared here in verse four, as Joshua says, "The Lord has given your brothers rest," and the Lord is going to give us rest as well.

When I think of that portion of scripture, I also think of what Jesus said when He invited us, "Come to me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Rest is only found in God; it's only found in Jesus. Yet there are people throughout the world today who are looking for peace and rest, trying to come up with some sort of manufactured rest. In America, we have created all kinds of luxurious places where people can go to get away from their problems.

To go and find rest, to find peace, to get away from the kids—whatever it may be. We built all these millions of dollars that we've thrown into resorts and similar places so people can try and find rest. And you know what we find when most people go to those places? They come back and what do they say? "I need another vacation." Why? Because we'll never find that rest that we're looking for, that our heart so desires and longs for, here on this earth. We'll never find it in the temporal things of this earth. It's only found in God.

Jesus would call out to you and call out to me and all throughout the world. He would say, "Come to me, all of you who are burdened and heavy laden, you who labor." There are a lot of people in America, in our nation, and in our families who are real workaholics. They are laboring and going and going until they are spent. The Lord would say, "Come to me, you who labor. I want to give you rest."

The Lord had done that for the night. Joshua tells these two and a half tribes that they have stuck through, and God has given their brothers rest. He reminds them of the promise of Moses, who told them that as long as they fight with their brothers and bring them into the land, and come with them when they have rest, then they can go back to the place they desire to have on the east side of the Jordan River. They can go back to their tents, back to their families.

Joshua says, "Your brothers have rest. Everything that God has said, He has done. He promised this to them and has brought them into the land. Now, therefore, return and get you to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side of the Jordan."

Joshua called these two and a half tribes to himself and commended them as they came to him. In verse five, we read, "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul."

So Joshua called them and commended them. Then, in verse five, he commanded them, saying, "This is what you're to do as you go. Take diligent heed to do the commandment of the law. Take diligent heed to follow what God has spoken to you there in Exodus chapter 20, where God gave His law, the Ten Commandments."

Take diligent heed to do that. The Lord has spoken to you and me as well in the New Testament, in the book of Second Timothy, chapter two, verse 15, where the Lord has called us to be diligent, to follow the Word, to look into the Word, and to rightly divide the Word of truth. We need to study diligently and take heed to the things that God has written down for us.

Just like God spoke to these two and a half tribes, Joshua reminds them that they are receiving this land because they have done what they said they would. As they go, they must take diligent heed to do what the commandment of the law is, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged them. He reminds them to love the Lord their God. As they return to their inheritance outside of the Promised Land, on the east side of the Jordan, they need to remember and take diligent heed to the Word of God, the commandment of God to love Him, to put their hearts completely upon Him, and to realize that He has given them everything. He loves them and has taken care of them.

Joshua says to remember to love the Lord their God and walk in His ways. They should follow the ways that God has set before them. Remember back in chapter one when God told Joshua that if he follows the Word of God, he will be successful, and his way shall be prosperous. God's ways are the ways that prosper. The Lord, through Joshua, tells these two and a half tribes to walk in the ways of the Lord, keep His commandments, and cleave unto Him. They must hang on to the Lord and never let Him go.

Paul also exhorts Timothy in the book of First Timothy to hold fast to these teachings, hold fast to the Lord, and hold fast to the Word of God. Here, Joshua tells these two and a half tribes to cleave, hang on to the Lord, and serve Him with all their heart and with all their soul. With everything they have, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh must hang on to the Lord and serve Him.

Joshua had called them to himself, commended them for a job well done, and now he commands them to hold on to the Lord. He goes on to commission them and send them out, saying in verse six, "So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents." In much the same way, Jesus has called you and me to Himself. He has commended us, given us commandments, and now He has commissioned us and sent us out into the world.

Remember the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19, where the Lord said to His disciples before He would ascend. He said, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Just like Joshua here in chapter 22 calls, commends, commands, and commissions this group, the Lord Jesus has done the very same thing with you and me.

As we go out, there are some pitfalls and things that we need to watch out for. Here with the children of Israel, as we observe these two and a half tribes, I believe the Lord has given us something to be cautious about. We continue in verse 7. To one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given the possession in Bashan, but to the other half, Joshua gave among their brethren on this side of the Jordan, westward. When Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them.

Joshua sends half of the tribe of Manasseh out, while the other half had received their inheritance in the Promised Land on the west side of the Jordan River. Now these two and a half tribes—Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh—go back over towards the east side to cross the Jordan River. We read in verse 8 that he spoke unto them, saying, "Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver and with gold, with brass and with iron, and with very much raiment. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren."

As the Lord has sent us into the world and commissioned us to go forth, He has also given us many riches. Remember in the book of John, chapters 14, 15, and 16, where the Lord said, "I'm not going to leave you orphans, but I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who will guide you into all truth." Later on, we find out that when that Spirit came, He gave gifts to men.

The Lord has given us many spiritual blessings, many spiritual gifts, and riches in Christ. We are to take those out and share them with our brothers and sisters. We are to bring those to the rest of the world. As Joshua tells this tribe, "Go out and take with you cattle, silver, gold, brass, iron, and very much raiment—a whole bunch of clothing—and divide that among your brothers and sisters on the east side of the Jordan."

The Lord desires that we would do the very same thing. He wants us to walk our walks in the world every single day, so that the people around us—whether in our workplaces, homes, schools, or wherever we are—would see God's good gifts and the riches He has given to us.

And it would spurn them to jealousy when they see the joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, and self-control—everything that God has given to us who believe. They would see these qualities and long for them, desiring to come to the Lord and enter the promised land. The Lord has given us gifts as well and sent us out into the world with those gifts.

The children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession whereof they were possessed. It's kind of an interesting verse. As I read that, it caught me off guard. It says that they returned to the land of their possession whereof they were possessed.

The first pitfall that I want us to notice tonight and remember is the things that God has given to us. As I look around this room, I see a lot of very rich people. Some of you may say, "I'm not very rich; I'm actually quite poor." However, when you consider what we have in respect to the rest of the world, we find that we in America, especially in Southern California, are among the top 5% of the wealthiest people in the world. Even those who sleep on the streets of America are richer than many people throughout the rest of the world. We have great riches in this land that God has given to us.

We must be careful that those riches, which we have been given as a possession from the Lord, do not end up possessing us. They returned to the land of their possession whereof they were possessed. Oh, I pray that the Lord would never allow me, in this land that God has given me to possess, to let those things that I have—things He has gifted to me—take over my life. They can.

Maybe you have seen this in real life or in your own life. The things you so wanted and worked so hard to get now seem to own you. It is a dangerous thing that we need to look out for. God has given us many riches and things to enjoy, yet those things can become the gods, with a small "g," of our lives. They can become the things we work to maintain once we have attained them.

We need to be careful. We need to walk circumspectly, as Paul would tell the Ephesians in the book of Ephesians. Walk circumspectly, understanding the times. I believe the Lord would speak the same message to you and me: we need to have our eyes wide open and our ears attentive, following the Lord and knowing what is going on around us. Be careful that those things God has given to you to possess do not end up possessing you.

I have found in my life that the best way to keep from becoming overly attached to things is to have a light grip on them and to be able to let them go at a moment's notice. Sometimes, it's very difficult to do. However, God always starts out small, as we see with Abraham in the book of Genesis. First, Abraham's father died. Then God said, "I want you to leave your whole family, leave everything, and go into this promised land." God was beginning to strip him of everything, one by one, thing by thing.

Abraham then went into the promised land and took his nephew Lot with him. But as we see just a few short pages later, Lot ends up leaving. Again, Abraham is stripped of another thing. As time goes on, we see that his first son, Ishmael, the son of the flesh, also has to leave. God is preparing him for something, one step at a time, until we reach Genesis chapter 22. There, we read where God says, "Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell you of."

The Lord wants us to have a loose grip on things, but He also teaches us painstakingly, one thing at a time. He shows us how to let go, just as Abraham let go of his father, his home, and then his son Ishmael. Finally, the Lord called him to sacrifice the son he loved, Isaac. Abraham was able to go into the land of Moriah, follow the Lord, and do what the Lord had said. Right when he was about to sacrifice his son, God called out to him, "Abraham!" He replied, "Yes, Lord." God then said, "Now I know that you will not withhold anything from me."

The Lord wants to do the same work in your life and in mine. He wants to know that we will give anything up to Him at a moment's notice. However, we must be careful not to allow those things to possess us, because they can very easily do so.

As we continue, we see that they went to the land of their possession, as was foretold by the word of the Lord through the hand of Moses. When they came to the border of Jordan, in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh went out to their land. Many of them went out themselves to see the land. They breathed in the land of the Lord and looked down, saying, "Look here at what the Lord has done!" They saw how people were drawing near to the Jordan River, getting ready to go back into their land, back to their tents and families whom they hadn't seen for probably seven years.

As they go through the land, they pass by the different memorials that God had them set up. There were seven different memorials that we looked at. God had the children of Israel set up these memorials, and we're not going to look at them all in depth tonight, but you can go back and look through the Book of Joshua to see those seven things that God had them establish as memorials to His people as they came into the Promised Land.

As these two and a half tribes were passing by the places where great battles occurred and where these memorials were set up, they began to be concerned about something. They were worried about the separation that was going to take place. When they came to the Jordan River and stood on the west side, looking into the east where their homes were, they decided to do something to ease their separation anxiety. They built a great altar by the Jordan for everyone to see.

The children of Israel heard about this and, as stated in verse 11, they said, "Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan in the borders of the Jordan at the passage of the children of Israel." When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation gathered together at Shiloh to go up to war against them.

These two and a half tribes were leaving and going back to their homes. As they reached the edge of the Promised Land at the Jordan River, they decided to build this great altar to the Lord as a witness right there on the border. After crossing over the Jordan River into their land, word spread quickly. The other nine and a half tribes began to hear about what had happened—that the children of Gad, the children of Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh had constructed this altar.

The entire congregation of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, at the tabernacle of the Lord, to prepare for war against the two and a half tribes. Why was this happening? It didn't make any sense until we look back a little further in the Old Testament. We see that God had commanded, as noted in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 8. You don't have to turn there; just note it down. Leviticus chapter 17, verse 8 says, "And thou shalt say unto them..."

Whatsoever man there be in the house of Israel, or strangers which sojourn among you, that offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and brings it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation to offer it unto the Lord, even the man shall be cut off from among his people.

You see, there in the book of Leviticus, God commanded that when an offering is to be brought, when a sacrifice is to be made anywhere in the borders of Israel, the only place for that to happen, the only place where that can happen, is at the tabernacle, at the temple. There was to be only one brazen altar throughout all of Israel. In these borders of the promised land, there was to be just one. This serves as a representation to you and me that there is only one way to God. There is only one way that you and I can come and offer worship to God, and that is through the man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, there was one tabernacle, and there was one brazen altar in the midst of the tabernacle. That was the only place that the children of Israel were to offer worship. If someone in that nation offered worship or sacrificed somewhere else, they were to be cut off, as Leviticus chapter 17, verses 18 and 19 tell us. Also, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 27, we read, "And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured upon the altar of the Lord, the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh of it."

So, the Lord there in Deuteronomy chapter 12 says there is only one place, there is only one altar that these sacrifices can be offered at—only one place.

The children of Israel heard what their brothers had done; they heard about these two and a half tribes. As they crossed over the Jordan River and got ready to go to their possession on the east side of the Jordan, they built themselves an altar. This was seen as turning from the Lord in the eyes of the other nine and a half tribes. They said, "What are these guys thinking? They've been so good so far. I mean, Joshua commended them for all that they did, and now they're leaving. What are they doing?"

So, these nine and a half tribes gathered together and said, "We're going to go out to war against them." The children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh back in Joshua chapter 22, verse 13.

They sent unto them, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten princes from each of the chief houses of the princes throughout all the tribes of Israel. Each one was a head of the house of their fathers among the thousands in Israel. Instead of immediately going out to war against these two and a half tribes, they decided to first send a delegation. They chose one man from each of the nine and a half tribes to represent them. This leader, one of the heads of the households, would accompany Phinehas, the son of the high priest, to investigate the situation. Their goal was to understand what was happening and to try to turn these men back from their sin.

In fact, the book of Ezekiel, chapter 3, tells us that this is what the righteous are to do. If we see someone sinning or going in the wrong direction, we are to approach them and seek to turn them back. In the book of Galatians, chapter 6, verse 1, Paul instructs us that if we see someone stumble, those who are spiritual should go and restore them in a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted.

So, these ten men, along with Phinehas—eleven in total—traveled to the land of Gilead, located on the east side of the Jordan. They sought to turn their brothers away from the sin they believed they were involved in. We read in verse 15 that they came unto the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and they spoke with them, saying, "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord: What trespass is this that you have committed against the Lord God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built an altar, that you might rebel this day against the Lord?"

Phinehas and his delegation approached the heads of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, asking, "What are you doing? Why have you built this altar? Why have you turned from the Lord? Why have you rebelled this day? What are you thinking?"

Now, just a little side note: this is probably not the best way to go about conflict management. Approaching someone with a pointed finger and accusing them of rebelling against the Lord may not be the most effective method. Phinehas says to them in verse 16...

Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed unto this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord? He says, "What are you guys doing? Don't you remember the iniquity of Peor?" Some of you might wonder, "Who's Peor? What's Peor? Is Peor Eeyore's grandfather?" No, it's not. But it was certainly a bad day, let me tell you that.

The day that this happened, that he is talking about here, Phinehas goes to these guys and says, "Don't you remember the iniquity of Peor? It was a bad day." Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to Numbers chapter 25, and we'll take a look at what he's talking about. As Phinehas comes to these guys, he asks, "Why are you turning away from the Lord? What are you doing?" The whole congregation of Israel, these nine and a half tribes, want to know why you have stopped following the Lord. Why have you committed this trespass in Israel? Why have you built an altar and rebelled against God? What do you think you're doing? Don't you remember the iniquity of Peor? Is it too little for you? The plague that came upon us that day? That bad day?

In the book of Numbers, right around chapters 23 and 24, we read a story about a man by the name of Balaam. Balaam was hired by the king of the Moabites at that time to come and curse the children of Israel. Three times, Balaam went to a mountaintop with the king of Moab, and they would look down on the children of Israel. He would have seven altars built and offer seven cattle on top of these altars, and then Balaam was to curse the children of Israel. This Moabite king did not want the Israelites in his nation, taking over.

As Balaam looked down on this nation of Israel, all their tents in the valley, instead of cursing them, blessings came out of his mouth. The first time he looked down on the nation of Israel, he started to bless them. "Look at the tents of these people. These tents are great. This is a great nation, and God is with them." The king of Moab said, "No, no, no, wait a minute. What are you doing? I'm hiring you to curse them." Balaam replied, "I don't know. I already told your guys that I'll go with you. I'll do what you want me to do."

But I'm only going to speak what God wants me to speak. The king of Moab takes Balaam to another mountain as the children of Israel are traveling through. He says, "All right, Balaam, let's get it right this time." Balaam responds, "Okay, set up seven altars here, and we'll kill seven cattle." He stands up to curse the nation of Israel, and again, blessings come out. The king of Moab exclaims, "Man, you don't get it, do you? I'm going to kill you if you don't figure this out. I'm paying you good money to curse these people, and you keep blessing them."

Balaam replies, "I can only say what the Lord has told me to say." They go to another mountaintop, where he offers seven more cattle. He stands up to curse them, and blessings come out again. The king of Moab is angry. In chapter 24, Balaam tells the king of Moab what is going to happen with the nation of Israel. He basically informs the king, "You know what, buddy? God has told me that this nation is going to destroy you and all your neighbors too." At this point, the king of Moab is not too happy.

He devises a very interesting scheme, which we read about in Numbers chapter 25. It says, "And Israel abode in Shittim, in the valley of Shittim. And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab." The king of Moab decides, "We have some really beautiful Moab mamas here. Let's send these ladies into the tribe, into this nation of Israel." As these attractive Moabite women enter, they will turn the heads of the children of Israel.

As the men in Israel start to engage with these Moabite women, they will bring them into their tents. When they do, and as they are about to commit sexual immorality, the Moabite women will say, "This is the way we do this in Moab. Now bring out the little gods. Set them before the children of Israel." The king of Moab concludes that the best way to curse these people, since he cannot do it through Balaam and God will not curse them, is to get them to curse themselves by committing sin with their false gods.

So he sends these Moabite women into the nation of Israel. They walk around, and sure enough, the men of Israel look around and say, "Whoa. Look at her. Oh, she's kind of pretty."

And so they began to take these ladies into their tents. Sure enough, they started to bring out their false gods, and the children of Israel were stumbled. As Israel abode in this place in the valley of Shittim, they committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab. They called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

What happened in Israel at this point in time? As these beautiful young ladies started walking through the nation, through their camp, the men of Israel began to grab onto them. They were led down the path toward their false gods, and they began to sacrifice to these gods. They ate and bowed down to their false gods. Sure enough, the king of Moab's plan worked, and Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, the name of the god they were bowing down to. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

The Lord said unto Moses, "Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel." Moses said unto the judges of Israel, "Slay every one his men that were joined to Baal Peor." God instructed Moses to rid the nation of the plague caused by people bowing down to these false gods. He said, "What you need to do is find all of the people who are committing this sin. Take them out and string them up. Those who are hanging out with these Moabite women are to be hung outside the nation. Get rid of them."

Moses called the judges to himself and said, "You go and slay every man who is joined to Baal Peor, everyone who is worshiping these false gods." Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the people. One of the congregation of the children of Israel was weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. It turns out that one of the men didn't get the memo. He didn't hear about what was going on and how Moses had commanded that anyone hanging out with these women and anyone bowing down to Baal Peor was to be hung and cut off.

This man came strolling into the camp of Israel, a Hebrew man, and there on his arm was a Midianitish woman, one of these wicked women from the area. He walked right past the tabernacle.

He walks right past Moses and the entire congregation of Israel, who are bowing down before the Lord and crying out, saying, "Lord, we repent." This man boldly and brashly walks right through the nation and right through the midst of all these people.

When Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the people. In Joshua chapter 22, Phineas stands up and says, "Don't you guys remember what happened there in the valley of Shittim? Don't you remember when we bowed down foolishly and falsely to Peor? I was there. You remember when that man walked through the camp and he was the last remaining sin in the camp?"

The Lord stirred the heart of Phineas to step up, grab a javelin, and chase after this couple. They ran into the tent to try and hide, but he came in and thrust them through, killing them. As a result, the plague was stayed from Israel; it was lifted from Israel. Those who died, as noted in verse 9 of chapter 25 of Numbers, were 24,000 people. They died because they joined themselves foolishly to this false god.

During that period, the nation of Israel was cursed. They had turned away from the Lord because of the sin that was in their midst. The Lord couldn't do any mighty works with them. Now, in Joshua chapter 22, after these individuals have built an altar on the west side of the Jordan and crossed over, Phineas and these ten men come in and say, "Don't you remember what happened? A little bit of sin, a little bit of leaven, will leaven the whole lump."

He urges them to remember what they are doing and why they are doing it. Back in Joshua chapter 22, he asks them, "Don't you guys remember what happened at Peor and the plague that came on the congregation of Israel?" They must turn away this day from following the Lord.

But you must turn away from this day from following the Lord. It will be seen as rebellion against the Lord, and tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. Phineas says to these two and a half tribes, "Listen, you have turned away from the Lord. When God sees this tomorrow, He will be angry with us, with the whole congregation, not just with you two and a half tribes."

He continues, "If the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord's tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God."

Phineas emphasizes, "If this place you are dwelling in over here on the east side is unguarded, unclean, and if there are still false gods here, then come with us into the promised land. Cross over the Jordan River; don't stay there."

This serves as a good exhortation for us as well. We need to be careful about who we associate with, where we sit around, and where we lay down. If it's an unclean place, it's not a place for us. We need to stay away from those things.

Phineas urges them again, "If this is an unclean place, then come over into the promised land. Come into the possession where the tabernacle of the Lord is. Don't build this false altar; come live with us."

He reminds them of Achan, the son of Zerah, who committed a trespass with the accursed thing. The wrath of God fell on all the congregation of Israel, and that man perished, not alone in his iniquity, but also in his iniquity.

Phineas stands up and says, "Let me give you another example. Don't you remember not too long ago, Achan took that Babylonian garment, the chunk of gold, and the chunk of silver from the city of Jericho, the very first battle of Israel? He hid it in the midst of his tent, as recorded in Joshua chapter 7. He wanted to hang on to these things.

Then the children of Israel went up to Ai to battle against a small city, and they were beaten back. Thirty-six men in Israel were killed that day. Phineas concludes, "Don't you remember the sin of Achan and how it wreaked havoc in the entire nation of Israel?"

And he wasn't the only one who died because of his iniquity. His whole family died, along with the thirty-six men who died at Ai. Don't you remember? What are you doing? Don't do this wickedness, Phineas says.

In verse 21, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, "The Lord God, the Lord God of gods, He knows, and Israel shall know if it be in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord. Save us not this day." The two and a half tribes' heads stood up and said, "Hold on, wait a minute. The Lord God of gods, He knows our heart. He knows what's going on. We didn't mean this for bad. We didn't mean this for evil. If we did, if we're rebelling against the Lord, then don't save us. Get rid of us. But we didn't mean it like you think."

They insisted, "It's not what you think." We too often have a tendency, when we've messed up or done something wrong, to say, "It's not what you think." But isn't it interesting that every single person in the nine and a half tribes didn't understand what was going on here? Obviously, the two and a half tribes did something wrong, but they said, "Listen, the Lord God of gods, He knows what's going on. We didn't mean this for evil."

A lot of times, that's our explanation as well. When we get caught doing something we maybe shouldn't have, we often find ourselves in a similar situation. I was talking with a group of ladies last night about this very thing. A lot of times, when we do something or say something to someone, and they come back to us later and say, "What you said really hurt me and offended me," what do we always say? "Oh, you didn't understand what I was saying. You just didn't get it. I didn't mean it like what you were saying."

However, when someone says something to us or offends us, our initial reaction is often that the person is out to get us. We think, "Look what they're doing." If someone doesn't say hi to you here at church one day, you might wonder, "Is that person mad at me? They must not like me. Pastor Pat doesn't like me; he didn't say hi to me. He walked right by me." And you begin to build this whole thing up in your mind.

By the time you're halfway home, you might think, "Boy, that pastor, I can't stand him either. He doesn't like me, and I don't like him." We often tend to ascribe the best-case scenario to ourselves, thinking, "Oh, you misunderstood me. I didn't mean it like that." Meanwhile, we apply the worst-case motives to everybody else. We might say, "Ooh, that wicked pastor, I can't stand him. He didn't say hi to me." Who knows what the reason may have been?

The nine and a half tribes ascribed the worst possible motives to the two and a half tribes on the other side. These two and a half tribes responded, "Oh, come on, you misunderstood us. It really wasn't what you thought. You don't understand." They added, "But hey, if we have messed up and if we've done wrong, then don't save us this day. Get rid of us." They referred to the altar they had built, stating that it was not meant to turn from following the Lord. They said, "If we built this altar to offer burnt offerings, meat offerings, or peace offerings, let the Lord Himself require it."

They were clear: "If we've built this altar to offer sacrifices on top of it, then whatever the Lord requires, you do it." They continued, "But if we have not done it for fear of this thing, let me tell you our true motive. You guys took it the wrong way; we were afraid. We were fearful."

If you're in a place today where you're fearful about something, concerned that maybe you're not doing the right thing, or worried about whether you are pleasing to God, you may be outside of the promised land. These two and a half tribes were fearful because they were outside of the covering, outside of what God had built to protect them. They expressed their fear, saying, "In time to come, your children might speak unto our children, saying, 'What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?'" They were worried that in the future, their children would look at the children of the nine and a half tribes and ask, "Who are you guys? What are you doing coming to our temple, coming to our tabernacle? What do you think you're doing coming to offer sacrifices?"

And so they said, "We're fearful of this. For the Lord has made, notice this, verse 25, the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part, no part in the Lord. So shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord."

These two and a half tribes demonstrate something we often do when we are called on the spot. What do they say? "The Lord God has made this border between us." We often shift the blame. Adam did this in the Garden of Eden when he said, "It was the woman you gave me, Lord. She came and tempted me, and I ate." Then he looks at God and is asked, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Adam responds, "It was the serpent, Lord."

Notice what these two and a half tribes do. They say, "The Lord is the one that made this problem. God is the one who put this river here. If this river wasn't here, we wouldn't have a problem. But God put it there. So what are we going to do? There's a river there, right? It's the Lord's problem."

What else did they say? Down at the end of verse 24 or verse 25, they claim, "So shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord." They assert that not only is it God's fault, but it's also your fault. They say, "Your children are bad. They're going to turn our kids away from the Lord."

These two and a half tribes argue, "We had to do this because God put this river here, and your children are bad." They are shifting blame. I would have to admit that the nine and a half tribes weren't exactly right in coming down there and pointing the finger right off the bat, guns blazing. But what are these two and a half tribes doing? They are trying to back out of it. "Oh no, you didn't understand. Plus, it's God's fault, and your kids are bad. So you guys need to do something here. It's not our fault."

They suggest, "Maybe you guys should have a war and fight against each other because you are wicked." They say, "The Lord put this Jordan River here as a border between us and your children. They're going to turn our kids away from fearing the Lord." Therefore, they conclude, "Let us now prepare to build an altar, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us."

That we might do the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, our sacrifices, and our peace offerings, along with your children. We may not say to our children in that time to come that they have no part with us or with the Lord. Therefore, we said that it shall be when they should say to us and to our generations in time to come that we may say again, "Behold, the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifices, but it is a witness between us and you."

These two and a half tribes said, "Listen, you guys were wrong. God's put this river here; He's to blame. And you know what? Your kids are bad. Just to make sure that your bad kids don't corrupt our good kids, we've put this little temple here, this little altar here so that in time to come, when your kids say, 'Hey, who do you think you are coming into our tabernacle and worshiping the Lord?' we can say, 'Hey, you see that little altar over there by the river? That says that's our little green card. That's our passport that says we can come in.'"

So really, it's not idol worship. We're not rebelling against the Lord. We just put this up there as a witness between your kids and our kids that we're with you. God forbid, verse 29, that we should rebel against the Lord and turn this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, meat offerings, or sacrifices beside the altar of the Lord, our God that is before His tabernacle. They said, "God forbid that we'd ever do this. We didn't mean anything bad by it. We just needed the little ID card to say we're believers too."

Anytime that we need to put a front up to prove that we're believers, that we're Christians, you're outside the promised land. Anytime you have to wear a Christian t-shirt to say, "I'm a Christian," or have a fish on your car, or a bumper sticker, anytime we've got to put something up to prove to people, "See, ID card says right there, signed by Jesus, I get in," we're outside the promised land. We're not where God wants us.

You see, God has told us that by our fruits, they will know us. People should be able to look at our lives and see, and just go, "Man, there's something different about that person," and know right off the bat that person is definitely different. There's something majorly different in their life. I think maybe they're a Christian, instead of us living like the world and putting on the shirt that says, "Oh, I'm a Christian."

Can't you tell? We got this altar. It makes it our identification card. It's our green card. It's our passport. The scripture does say that our citizenship is in heaven, but do we need a little identification card to say, "I'm a citizen of heaven"? Signed, sealed, and delivered. Here we go. It's been stamped by the Lord.

Now, when we need to put up a facade, when we need to put up a front to our faith, there's a problem. These two and a half tribes make it seem like they're so concerned about their children. Reading this passage of scripture, you might feel bad for these guys. Their kids want to serve the Lord too. If they were truly concerned about their kids, maybe they would come into the promised land.

What we see is that they were more concerned about their cattle than their kids. Why did they stay on the other side of the Jordan in the first place? They thought, "Hey, this is a good place for us to raise our sheep and our flocks." They were more concerned about their financial accounts than their family. This is the place that I need to be so that I can do well.

Who cares if it's right in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah? Lot lifted his eyes in Genesis chapter 13 and saw for himself the plain of the Jordan down there in the south. "Wow, that looks good," he thought, and he put his family right in the middle of wickedness. In the end, he lost everything that he worked so hard to get.

Tonight, if you're doing that—if you're trying to get everything that this world has and laying your family on the altar to get it—you'll lose it all in the end. Because he who seeks his own life shall lose it. Jesus told us that in the book of Luke. He who seeks his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, the same shall find it.

These two and a half tribes were guilty of trying to seek their own lives, trying to get what they could. They built up this little facade, this little front to their faith to say, "Hey, you know what? This is our stamp. This is our approval that we can get in when we want to." But other than that, they wanted to stay on the other side of the Jordan. The nine and a half tribes may have come in the wrong way, pointing fingers and saying a whole bunch of rash things.

But the two and a half tribes were content to dwell outside the Promised Land. They were willing to sacrifice their kids for their cattle, and they were satisfied with superficial spirituality. They were satisfied with just a superficial religion—very surfacy, very shallow. They had no problem with that. They were willing to give up their kids for their cattle and their finances for their family. They were content to dwell outside of the land that God had prepared for them.

The nine and a half tribes, on the other hand, jumped to conclusions and judged hastily and quickly. However, their hearts were right when they said to their brothers, "If this land, if this possession is unclean," as stated in verse 19, "then pass over and come into the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the tabernacle is. Come be within our possession. We're not going to kick you out. Come live with us. But don't do this thing—turning away."

The two and a half tribes responded, explaining their reasoning. In verse 30, we see that when Phineas the priest and the princes of the congregation, the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words of the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of the half tribe of Manasseh, it pleased them. Phineas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, "This day we perceive that the Lord is among us because you have not committed this trespass against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord."

Notice Phineas' selfish remark. He didn't continue with what he first said about coming back into the Promised Land. Now he says, "Hey, great, that's good. At least we know that we in Israel, the nine and a half tribes, aren't going to be beaten up by God tomorrow." It was fine with him. This pleased them; they were no longer in trouble with God. So, he thought, "You just stay over there, and we'll stay over here, as long as we know that God’s not going to wake up tomorrow and be angry, getting on the wrong side of bed up there in heaven and say, 'Israel, you're bad.'"

They said, "Oh, you know, Phineas, well, he says, 'Yeah, this pleases us. Now we know that you've delivered us out of the hand of the Lord.'" Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the priest, and the princes...

Returned to the children of Reuben and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, the children of Israel brought them word again. The thing pleased the children of Israel, and they blessed God. Oh, doesn't that sound nice? The children of Israel said, "Oh, great. Thank you, Lord. You're not going to kill us." They blessed the Lord, praising Him, saying, "Oh, praise the Lord. You're not going to come after us now. Everything's okay. It's been stayed. The Lord's not angry anymore." Phineas, you did it again. That last time you thrust that guy through with the javelin, that was a neat trick. You've done it again, and the children of Israel were pleased.

But I want to ask you this one thing: Do you think God was pleased? Phineas was pleased. The children of Israel were pleased. But do you think God was? I submit to you that God is never pleased when we go outside of the promised land that He has given to us, that He longs for us to live in and walk in. The children of Israel said, "Yeah, that's good. We're pleased." They blessed God and did not intend to go up against them in battle to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed, for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God. They called this place Ed, which basically means witness. I said it's a witness to us that the Lord God is God. When I first read through this passage, I thought, "Well, that's kind of a neat story. It all ends up happily ever after. The Lord God is God."

But then I started to consider the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. As you continue to read on through the Old Testament, you find in the book of 1 Chronicles, chapter 5, that they were taken into captivity by the Lord God. They were taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and they never really returned. They got caught up in the worship of idols very shortly after this period of time. The tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were carried away by the Assyrians.

As we come to the Gospels, we see that Jesus is there ministering in Galilee, and He comes to a place called Gadara. There is a man coming out of the tombs; he is demon-possessed and filled with a legion of demons.

And Jesus casts these demons out. But before He does, they say, "Can you cast us into that herd of swine over there?" So Jesus says, "Go."

What did the children of Gad resort to in their later years? They were pig farmers, something that God hated. It was something that God had said wasn't to be in all of Israel. You see, something broke down here in the nation of Israel. I believe, sadly, that this is the beginning of the downward spiral that we'll look at when we get to the Book of Judges. This is one of the very roots of that downward spiral for the nation of Israel.

Nowhere in chapter 22 do we see that the children of Israel consulted the Lord. Nowhere did they turn to Him and say, "Lord, what do You think?" As you look back in the Book of Numbers, chapter 32, when the two and a half tribes came to Moses and said, "Moses, what do you think about this?" Nowhere in chapter 32 does it say Moses consulted of the Lord. This is what happens when the communication between us and the Father breaks down.

It's a sad story, but it's something that I think we can glean from.

Let's pray. Father, I do thank You so much for Your Word. It is applicable to us. We can take it into our hearts tonight, walking away knowing that You want to speak to us and You want to do a work in us. God, I pray for my brothers and sisters here that You would draw us in close, Lord. That we wouldn't get used to kind of hanging out on the border and being borderland believers. But Lord, that we draw in close to You, that we'd be right there at Shiloh, worshiping You in the place of peace and rest. God, draw us in this night, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.