Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
We're going to be in Joshua chapter 21.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Joshua chapter 21.
We've been studying the book of Joshua for some time now, and
we've seen God working through the people of Israel.
We saw God's promise at the very beginning in Joshua chapter
one.
He promised Joshua that he would be with him the same as he
was with Moses, that he would be with Joshua.
And that promise was a strong promise all the way back in Joshua
chapter one.
But no doubt there were times in Joshua's life and the people of
Israel's life that they were tempted to doubt whether or not God
really was going to do what he said he would do.
And if you remember, back in Joshua chapter one, God reminded
Joshua of the promise, the promise of his protection, the promise
of his provisions, the promise of his presence.
And all those promises were so important for the people of Israel
because they would not have been able to cross over the Jordan
river and get into the promised land.
They would have not been able to defeat the enemies that they had
before them.
They would not be able to get into the land that God had promised
them without the guidance and the provision and the power of God
in their life.
And the lesson for us is that no matter what we might be facing
in our life, that we need to be reminded of the promises of God
and know that if God says something, if God declares something
to be true, he will keep his word.
If God makes a promise to us, whether it be the promise of provision
or the promise of his presence in our life, that he will stay true
to that promise.
And so throughout Joshua chapter one and all the way up to
this point, we have seen God being faithful.
Now, was Israel completely faithful?
No, they.
They weren't.
And we're not completely faithful in what we do in our lives.
And there were times when God allowed for them to go through trials.
There was even times when God brought them to places of discipline.
But we saw that when they yielded themselves to the Lord and
trusted in faith and believed in his plan, that they were able
to see the blessings of God working through them and see the
promised land come to pass and really ultimately see their salvation.
And so In Joshua, chapter 21, we see that God is continuing to
keep his word to the people of Israel, particularly with the people
of Levi.
And we saw even last chapter Joshua, chapter 20, that even in
the midst of all of this land acquisition for Israel, that they
were able to come up with these refuge cities that would allow
people to be fairly tried and not to be chased down by the avengers
of blood.
And so we see even God showing his grace and mercy in that regard.
But we come to chapter 21, and all of the tribes have received their
land, their provinces.
And now the tribe of Levi is asking some questions, because if
you remember, the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe.
They were the tribe that was not to be given land.
But now their question is basically, what are you giving us,
Lord?
And it's already been something that they've been told,
but they're reminded here of really, truly what the blessing is
for them.
And verse 21 it says that, or chapter 21, verse 1.
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar
the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads
of the fathers of the tribes, of the children of Israel.
And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying,
the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell
in with the suburbs thereof for our cattle.
So essentially what they're saying is this.
We know that we're not going to have our own province, but we
have to live somewhere.
We can't just live in the sky.
We can't just live in someone else's land.
So where are we supposed to live?
We know that God is our inheritance, which we're going to
talk about here in a few moments.
But they want to know where are they going to physically live.
And verse number three.
And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their
inheritance at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their
suburbs.
And so what we find in this chapter is that God doesn't forget
about the Levites.
He gives them an opportunity to be the priestly class.
He gives them the opportunity to have the worship go through them,
and, and the priests come from them.
But also we know that God gives them what they need by giving
them lands.
And so the Levites receive no land pro the province of the land,
the whole land itself.
But they were granted specific cities and specific suburbs that
they could live in.
And so the tribe of Levi had no province of land.
Why?
Because God had already declared what their inheritance was.
If you go back and you read Joshua, chapter 13, verses 14 and
33, we see that the tribe of Levi was not given a land inheritance,
but what were they given?
They were given the inheritance of verse 33.
It says there that their inheritance was the Lord God of Israel.
The Lord God of Israel was their inheritance.
And of all the tribes, I think that that would be the greatest blessing,
right?
Yes.
I get land if I'm in the tribe of Judah, or I get land if I'm in
the tribe of Dan or Naphtali.
But now we see that the Levites, they get to have the inheritance
of walking with the Lord.
That was their inheritance.
And I think obviously we can identify with various tribes, but
the tribe that I think the believer in the New Testament really
can identify with the most is the Levites.
Because why we get the inheritance of God, we know that
we're not promised particular land or material blessings.
We're promised a relationship with God.
And so the Levites had the greatest blessing of having a relationship
with God and walking with him as their inheritance.
But we do know that they have to live somewhere.
And so verses 4 through 42 are all about those cities that the other
tribes were willing to give to the Levites.
And so we see the.
The tribe of Judah, and that goes on on the tribe of Simeon, the
tribe of Benjamin, and that goes on and on.
And we see them give cities to different families within the tribe
of Levi.
So we see cities given to the tribe of Aaron that starts there
in verse number nine.
We see cities given to the family of Kohath and family of Gershon.
And all the way down, we see cities given to Merari in verse 34.
And so for the sake of redundancy, we're not going to just
go and read all the different cities given to these tribe, given
from these tribes to the Levites.
But if you'd like to do that, you can read verses 4 through 42,
and that would give you all the different cities that were given
particularly to the Levites to live in.
And, and it, it could be an interesting read if you're into that
kind of stuff.
But what I do want to do is I want to come to the end of the chapter,
because the last three verses of the chapter, I do believe, give
us some very clear lessons of trusting in the Lord and trusting
in his faithfulness in our lives.
Says in verse 43, and the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which
he swear to give unto their fathers, and they possessed it and
dwelt therein.
Now, that could be a Passover verse, but I do believe that it's
important for us to note that in verse 43, we're reminded, and
the people of Israel are reminded, that God kept His word.
All of the land that he swear to give unto their fathers, they
possessed it.
So all the way back at the time of Moses, all the way back at
the time when they first were coming into the land of Canaan, God
promised them land.
And probably, like we said before, there were people that were
probably doubting that when it came to the battles, when it came
to the struggles, when it came to the issues that they faced in
front of them, whether it be the.
The different pagan people or whatever it might be.
But ultimately we see that God kept His word to them.
And just as God kept His word to the people of Israel as they came
into the promised land, so God keeps His word to us.
A little bit later on here in our study, we're going to look at
various New Testament passages of scripture that God gives us promises
in that we can help and, and that we can come to in time of need
and find that help that God has promised us in those times of
doubt, in those times of confusion.
So we see really three things there.
God kept his word, the people possessed it and dwelled therein.
So they actually personalized these gifts.
Okay, it was something not just for somebody else, but it was
something that they were able to take for themselves and to be
blessed with, to benefit from.
And so I think that that's important for us to note that all
these tribes at this point in time had their lands.
They still needed to go and reach out and get every corner of
those lands that were given to them.
But God had provided everything that they needed for victory,
everything that they needed to possess the lands that he had promised
them.
And then we get to verse 44, and it says the Lord gave them rest
roundabout.
And there's times in our life where God is having us work and he's
having us hustle for the things that he's promised us.
But there is a point in time when God's promises are fulfilled
and we're able to find that rest that we can only find in Him.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the comforter.
And sometimes in our life we don't feel full of comfort.
But when we understand the promises of God, when we rest in
the promises of God, and when we see those promises of God coming
to pass in our lives, we're able to find rest we're able to find
comfort.
And it doesn't always mean that when we find rest, that all
the circumstances around us are going to be nice.
It might be that we have problems around us.
It might be that we still have trials before us, that we still have
giants in the land that we need to conquer.
But what the Bible says is that we can find that peace and that
passeth all understanding when we're resting in the faithfulness
of God.
I know that within our house, there's not a lot of peace and quiet.
There's not a lot of time in which I can find rest.
But you know what?
I've.
I used to be a pretty light sleeper, but I think now with kids
and as loud as they are, I'm able to sleep through a lot more
than I used to.
And the reality is, is that sometimes in our life as Christians,
it's not about taking down the noise that's around us, because as
believers, we know we live in a noisy world and we can't avoid
sometimes all the struggles that are around us.
But what we can do is that we can rest in the promises of God and
we can find that rest that only he can bring us, that no one
else can bring us.
I know that there's times in my life that I. I clearly want and
I clearly need some rest, and I need to find that.
But the reality is, is that sometimes that type of rest that
God gives us is the type of rest that is.
Is.
Is substantial.
It might not be a long time.
We might have seasons in our life where we're busy.
It might be seasons in our life where we're going through a
trial.
But God can give us that rest, and he will give us that rest if
we stay faithful.
Why?
Because he is faithful.
So the Bible says that he gave rest round about.
And so this is the point where Israel stops traveling and fighting,
even though the fight's not over, but fighting to get what God
had promised them, that we saw all the way back in the book of Exodus,
and we've even seen here in the book of Joshua.
Now it's time where they can rest in what God has promised.
And so it says here that they can find rest roundabout according
to all that he swear unto their fathers.
So this is a generational thing.
This is something that has been passed down.
And.
And so oftentimes we think about the blessings that God gave
to our forefathers, and we think, yeah, that was for them, but
not for me now, or that's for somebody else, but not for Me, the
Bible says that those promises that God promised in the times past
are the same promises but for today.
And so those promises that these people's fathers and and grandfathers
heard about, now they can stand in that, and they can rest
in that.
And it says there, there stood not a man of all their enemies before
them.
And the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.
This speaks of God's complete victory that he brought to them in
this time.
Though we know that it doesn't stay this way.
And we know that even in our lives when trials come, it doesn't
always stay that way.
But one thing that we can know for sure is that the victory is already
won through our Savior.
As a Christian, we can sing victory in Jesus and not have to
worry about all the other battles that are coming.
Because yes, we might be fighting battles, but we know that
Jesus has won the war.
And we know that when he's on our side, we can rest in that and
we can know that his promises will be true.
And that's what they're experiencing at this very point.
They're experiencing those blessings now.
I wish I could tell you that they stayed true to that.
I wish I could tell you that there was no confusion.
But we're.
We're going to see in the next chapter is that there is confusion
and that there's accusations, and that's going to come with the
struggles of humanity.
But nonetheless, we see that God is the one who is faithful.
Verse 45.
There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken
unto the house of all Israel, all came to pass.
And so what we see here is that not one word that God had given
had failed.
And I'm going to tell you that just as God was completely faithful
to the people of Israel all these thousands of years ago, God
is completely faithful to us.
Not one word of God will fail.
Sometimes we were even talking tonight in the testimony time, Brother
Dan mentioned about the faithfulness of a pastor who planted
a church 20 years ago.
And to see that come to pass.
And Andrea mentioned that there are times where we doubt whether
or not we're doing anything.
Are we really accomplishing something?
But let me tell you, if it's a word done in the name of the Lord,
it will not fail because God will not fail us.
The word of God, God will not return void.
We might feel like we're not fruitful.
I've had people say, well, you're doing that, the church, well,
what blessings have you seen from that?
What fruit have you seen from that and oftentimes we may not might
not be able to quantify fruit.
But what I can say is that there are things that we're doing
now, things that we're sowing now that we might not see the fruit
of right here and now.
It might be the next generation, it might be two generations
away.
It might not even be till when we get to heaven that we see the
blessings of what we're doing now.
But the Bible says to stay faithful in it.
Now, even if you don't feel like you're seeing something coming
to pass, the Bible will be the truth of everything that we do.
And what the Bible says here is that not a word of God fails.
God was completely faithful in regards to promising them the land,
even though Israel was not completely faithful.
I think that there's a lot of of truth to the fact that yes, we're
called to be faithful to God, and if we're faithful to God, God
will be faithful to us.
But let me tell you something here this evening.
Scripturally speaking, that yes, we are called to be faithful
to God, but even when we're not faithful, God is faithful.
Even when Israel was not faithful, God was faithful.
Let me take you to a passage of Scripture that talks about that
in the New Testament, second Timothy, chapter two, verse 13.
Folks, I'm going to tell you that if it was a requirement for
us to be completely faithful at all points, and then God will
be faithful to us.
Let me tell you something.
God would never be faithful to us because none of us can be completely
faithful.
None of us are perfect.
And so in second Timothy, chapter two, verse 13, we are reminded
of God's eternal faithfulness.
And we're also reminded of our failures as humans, our inadequacies
as humans.
And so 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13, it says, if we believe
not yet, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny Himself.
Now, that doesn't mean that we're just saved, even if we don't
believe.
What that means is, is that when we go into a situation and we
struggle in faith and maybe even stumble in our faith, when it
comes to our faithfulness, he still is faithful.
So even if the whole world turned their backs against the Lord,
it doesn't mean that God's not faithful.
It means that God is still faithful and we're struggling.
And so the Bible tells us clearly that he cannot deny himself.
God is faithful.
So when we struggle with things, I don't know about you, but
sometimes I will look at certain situations and I will see
an incongruence in that situation.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I'll see a contradiction.
Well, if God is so loving, then fill in the blank.
You've heard people say that before.
How could he allow this or this or this to happen?
This confuses me.
This doesn't add up.
And I'm going to tell you something that doesn't seem to be
something that is very nice.
But let me tell you this because it's a biblical truth.
When we come to a situation that we don't understand, we can't
blame God.
It's our inadequacies that cannot understand the grandeur of
the power of God.
So sometimes if I come to a situation and I see a seeming contradiction
or I see something that doesn't add up, my first reaction
is not, well, God's wrong or the Bible's wrong.
My first reaction should be because of my human inadequacies,
well, I must be wrong.
God, teach me how to fix this.
God, teach me where I'm seeing this wrong.
And we see that in the Old Testament, we see different prophets
calling out to God, saying, lord, I don't understand why you're
doing this.
I don't understand how you're going to do this.
But Lord, teach me, show me how I can fall into your plan and
understand your way and your will in my life.
And so 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13 tells us that it's not because
we're faithful that God is faithful to us.
It tells us that the only reason that we have any hope is because
of God's faithfulness to us.
Another passage of scripture that I think is important for us
to know when it comes to this idea of being faithful is Hebrews,
chapter 10, verse 23.
I. I know that if we preach that in a way of saying, well, you
know what?
It doesn't matter if you're faithful or not.
God's always going to be faithful.
The fleshly mind will say, well, then why does it matter if
I'm faithful?
How could I be faithful?
If I'm going to fall short, why don't I just fall short really
bad?
You ever heard someone say, well, if I'm, you know, if I'm guilty
of this sin, I might as well get my money's worth and I'm just
going to keep sinning.
No, that's not what the Bible teaches.
Paul addresses that in Romans 6.
He says, you shouldn't want to sin just because God's grace is abundant.
You should hate sin.
And, and so if I tell you tonight, it's impossible for you
to be completely faithful.
Don't fall into the trap of saying, well, I'll never be completely
faithful, so I shouldn't strive to be faithful.
I should strive to be faithful in every way.
But how can I be faithful when I'm an adequate human?
Where can I look to to find faithfulness?
Where can I go to find a substantial hope in the Lord?
Well, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 says, Let us hold fast.
Let us hold on to the profession of our faith without wavering.
So the challenge for all of us is to hold on to our faith without
wavering.
We're not called to be wavering Christians.
We're not called to be doubting Christians, even though
we will waver, even though we will doubt.
God says here, no, you should be faithful.
But then he says, the source of our faithfulness.
This is crazy.
He says, for he is faithful.
That promise, meaning the only way that we can be faithful is when
we trust in the one who is faithful.
It's really the object of our faith.
If the object of my faithfulness is my skill, I will
fall short.
If the object of my faithfulness is.
Is my wisdom or my talent, it will always fall short.
But if the object of my faithfulness is putting my faith
in the one who is completely faithful, though I will personally
stumble, God will hold me fast because of this passage here.
For he is faithful.
That promised, meaning this.
The way that I hold on to the faith that I have is not just trying
to keep my salvation by doing all these good things, but it's by
clinging to the Lord and trusting in his word and being able
to live a life of faith, trusting that he is who he says he
is, what he will do, what he says he will do.
So the point would be that we as Christians are called to have
faith.
To call, be being called to have faith means that we have to
trust.
I can't say that I have faith and not trust God's plan for my life.
So let's say, for example, we looked at Israel and they're crossing
the River Jordan, and they're coming in, and all of a sudden there's
this pagan army in front of them.
And they say, lord, we believe.
Lord, we have faith, but we're not going to fight this battle.
Lord, we believe, but we can't do this.
We would look at the Bible and we would say, well, obviously they
say they have faith, but they don't have faith.
Why?
Because they're not trusting.
So.
So to say that we have faith means to believe in our hearts.
That's where faith begins, and that's where faith is.
But faith, true faith in our hearts and believing that God is
who he says he is will manifest itself by trust.
It'll manifest itself by obedience.
It will manifest itself by saying this, Lord, I don't understand.
But Lord, I trust.
And there's the man.
And.
And I believe.
It's in the book of Mark that says, lord, I believe, but help my
unbelief.
I think that's where many of us have been and possibly could be
in the future.
There's times in my life where I. I do believe that the Lord is
good, but I struggle to see it.
I struggle to see the bigger picture.
I struggle to understand the why.
But at the end of the day, the people of Israel had to believe that
God is good, that he's going to say this, and we believe it and
he's going to do it.
And we either were in the book of Hebrews, we could.
We could go ahead a few verses and see Hebrews, chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 5.
An amazing promise to all of us as believers.
I think that as Christians, we struggle with a lot of things.
One of those things would be covetousness.
Covetousness, I want what that person has, or I don't think that
that person even deserves what they have.
And we can see Christians living in a very materialistic way
that are never satisfied with what God has given them.
And so the Bible says here, if you are struggling with covetousness,
and folks, I. I wish I could tell you that I've never struggled
with covetousness, but the reality is, is that I have.
And I think if we're all honest to some degree, we've seen
someone get something and maybe we don't want harm against
them, but we think, well, I want that too.
I wish I had that too.
That's a very selfish, materialistic desire.
But what we see here is, he says, what's the remedy to that?
He says, Verse 5, Let your conversation or your lifestyle be
without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.
And how in the world can we do that?
We don't live in a society that says, be content.
We live in a society that says, get more.
Get as much as you can.
You know, the one who has the most toys at the end wins.
Get, get, get.
Grab, grab, grab.
Step on whoever you can to get there.
But then he says, what's the remedy to that type of lifestyle?
But by the way, that never Satisfies, because once we get what
we thought we wanted, we want more, we want to double it, we want
to triple it.
And so he says here, what's the remedy to that covetous, covetous
spirit?
He says, remember, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor
forsake thee.
Really meaning this?
All we need is the Lord to remedy ourselves from that lifestyle
of wanting more, never being satisfied.
We go back to saying, lord, I know you're never going to leave
me.
I don't need that over there.
I don't need what that person has.
If you gave it to me, thank goodness, that's an amazing thing.
Or maybe you didn't give it to me because you knew I couldn't handle
that.
But nonetheless, at the end of the day, all we need as a Christian
is to know that he will never leave me nor forsake me.
Think about that.
Think about that promise.
There's a lot of people that I know love me and they would never
willingly leave me or forsake me.
But at the same time, we're all humans and we're all inadequate,
and we all are limited.
The only person who can truly say, I will never leave you nor forsake
you and mean it and keep that promise is our Lord and Savior.
Why?
Because there's nothing that can limit him.
He cannot lie, as the Bible says.
He cannot deny himself.
And so if I told you here I want to be a pastor that cares about
you and loves you and be in your life and help you in every way,
that would be something that I would truly mean.
I want to be that.
But the reality is, let's say I'm that for this person over here
24 7.
How could I be that person's guide for everything and be this
person's guide at the same time?
It's impossible.
Why?
Because I'm limited.
I can only be in one place at once.
Pastor Carl says I'm everywhere.
I feel like I'm not because I feel like I need to be in, like,
five places at once, and I can't do that.
But you know who can be at all places at once is our Lord.
You know who can hear every single prayer you ever had?
You ever had someone, like, call you on the phone and you have
someone else call you on the phone and someone else texts you
and someone else email you, and you're like, I can't keep up
with all this.
I can only talk to one person at a time.
You know, all of us in this room could call out to God at the
very same time.
And he can hear us and he can deal with it.
And as brother Dan says, we're not the only church meeting on Sunday
mornings.
There's thousands, there's millions of all over the world with
different languages and different needs and different times
and he will always hear us.
That's the type of faithfulness that our Lord has.
So why would we need something else?
We don't need something else.
We've got everything right there.
We've got all that we need in knowing that he will never leave
us nor forsake us.
Just all the way back in Joshua, chapter one, remember what
he said.
He says, I'm going to be there with you through it.
You're going to be prosperous.
If you follow my word, you're going to have these blessings.
And so as a believer, yes, there is a call to be faithful.
But when we stumble, God is faithful and he wants us to come
back first.
John, chapter one, verse nine.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Think about God's faithfulness in that we don't just sin and go,
well, God's faithful.
So I just keep doing what I want to do.
No, the Bible tells us to come back to him in repentance and he's
faithful every time.
And just to receive us back in.
It doesn't mean that we get resaved.
It doesn't mean that we have to start all over again.
All it means is that we're restoring that relationship.
We see that over and over again with the nation of Israel.
In the Old Testament, they would fall, study the book of Judges,
right?
There would be the judgment, they would be, they would be in a
trial.
They would call out to God in humble repentance.
God will restore them.
And that cycle would go over and over again.
God is faithful and there's verse after verse.
There's a plethora of verses throughout all the scriptures that
speak to God's faithfulness.
And so what would that mean for us?
What does that mean for us?
That means this.
When we understand that God is completely faithful, we can say,
you know what?
I don't care what's going on around me.
I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring.
Remember, Joshua is on the battlefield and there's the sun stands
still.
I mean, who was thinking that was going to happen that day?
But what an amazing thing that was.
Think about story after story, the.
The marching around Jericho with The trumpets blowing and God
tears down those walls.
We never know what God is going to do tomorrow.
It might not be in the way that we expect.
It might not be in the time that we expect.
But all we need to do is say, lord, I don't understand.
But Lord, I'm trusting.
I don't understand my workplace environment.
I don't understand why these people are this way.
I don't understand why the world is going the way that it's
going.
I don't understand why I got that news from the doctor.
I don't understand why this person is the way they are to me.
But at the end of the day, I'm trusting that you still have me.
I'm trusting that you'll never leave me nor forsake me.
And even in that Hebrews chapter 13 passage, if you just go
a few verses later on, it says, jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
He doesn't change.
I. I change.
If people.
If you.
None of you knew me 20 years ago, except for Alicia, but I think
so, yeah, you knew me 20 years ago.
So the, the idea would be this, and she would attest to this.
I'm not the same person I was 20 years ago.
By looks, by belief, by action, by everything.
I'm different than I was before.
And that's a good thing.
And, and.
But at the end of the day, sometimes we change for the better,
and sometimes we change for the worse.
But the reality is, is that we change.
But the thing about the Lord is that he does not change.
He stays consistent.
He doesn't change with the whims of this world.
He doesn't get pulled to one side or the other.
He is consistently there for us and consistently faithful.
So we go back to Joshua, chapter 21.
I know that was a little detour in the New Testament, but
I thought it was important for us to see that.
But here In Joshua, chapter 21, verse 45, it says, There, there
failed not ought.
And of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house
of Israel, meaning he didn't pull anything back.
He kept his word in every promise.
All of it came to pass.
And so we could look at the nation of Israel and we could say,
yeah, they got their land, but I don't.
I don't have my land.
Well, God doesn't promise us a physical land, at least not here
and now.
One day we will have an eternity with him and we'll be able
to walk with him on streets of gold.
But at the time, right now, God doesn't Promise us a physical
land.
He doesn't even promise us particular material blessings, even
though he does bless us materially.
The only promise that we're given in scripture when it comes
to having a relationship with the Lord is what the book of Ephesians
says of all the spiritual blessings that we have.
And folks, I. I remember growing up and asking, because I
was an only child, still, I'm an only child, I guess you could
say.
And my parents, they, I guess by most definitions, spoiled me,
right?
I got a lot of things that probably I wouldn't have gotten if
I had multiple siblings.
Because I one time asked my parents, I said, dad, are we rich?
And I remember my dad looking at me and going, no, son, we're not
rich.
He says, at least not with money.
He said, we're rich in love, and we're rich in the truth of the
word of God.
He said, son, there's a lot of things that you get in your life
that you know you're blessed with because of the situation that
we're in, but we're not rich.
And I thought about that for a second.
But then he.
I remember vividly him clearly teaching me that, yeah, we're not
materially rich, but we have a lot of things that people don't have
in the world.
And that meant so much to me as a child.
I didn't completely understand it until when I got children and
my kids asked me, dad, are we rich?
And I was like, yes, I can use the line that my dad used.
I'm like, we're not rich, at least not in money.
But we're rich in the love of God.
We're rich in the blessings.
And so as a Christian, we hear a lot of times a word thrown around
prosperity, right?
We even see the word prosperity in Joshua, chapter one.
Joshua, chapter one tells us a way to be prosperous.
And so a lot of times people will look at that and they will equate
that if I follow God, he must give me everything that I want.
He must give me all the material prosperity that everybody
else has or what I want.
It's the word of faith movement.
Now, can God bless us if we pray?
Of course.
He's blessed many people materially.
So.
So get me straight.
I. I'm not saying that God won't bless us with material things
or physical things.
But what I am saying is this.
That's not the end.
All be all to the blessings that God has given us.
God has given us greater blessings, deeper blessings, that
even if everything was taken away from us, the Bible says that
there are things that people can take away from us.
Jesus even teaches this.
He says there's things that moth and rust can corrupt.
You know, every.
And I struggle with this.
Everything physically that I have that I think is precious is
one day eventually going to rot away.
It's going to rust away.
Or someone could break into my house and steal it.
I don't know if any of you have ever had something stolen from
you.
It's just such a.
Like, I don't know.
I just feel violated when someone steals something from me.
I tell the story all the time.
When we were in Florida, someone broke into our vehicle and
they stole a bunch of stuff, but they stole my golf clubs.
And I was very bitter about that.
I was like, just bought those.
I was excited to have them and they were stolen.
I was just so upset and I felt violated.
But if I put everything in my life, all my attention, all my love
towards something that can be stolen away, guess what?
That can be taken away and I can lose that love.
But you know what the Bible says that nobody can steal away.
Moth and rust can't corrupt.
A thief can't come in and steal.
That's our relationship with the Lord.
And so that's what we're seeing in the book of Joshua, that
he says, there's something greater.
Yes, you've got this land, but there's something greater in the
fact that you have me.
You have a Lord who loves you, you have a God who protects you.
And we see what happens is the nation of Israel begins to see the
blessings that they materially have and think that that's the culmination
of God's love for them.
But really they miss that God wanted their heart.
God.
God wanted to walk with them.
That was the.
From the very beginning, God wanted to walk with Adam and Eve
in the garden.
And Adam and Eve wanted more.
They.
They wanted.
They wanted those things that were told to them that would bring
them something better.
Well, God's just trying to hold you back from having something
that you really need in your life.
And so we see from the very beginning, the lie has always been
to replace God with something else.
And so here God says, I've kept my word to you.
I've been faithful in every way.
God is true.
The Word of God is true.
The Word of God is sustaining.
The Word of God shows us his faithfulness.
I know that there's a lot of passages of scripture that you could
go to when we're talking about faithfulness.
I. I could sit here and read A bunch to you.
One that came to my mind when I was studying this passage is one
that, you know, many times we.
We think of when it comes to being just a Christian cliche.
It's one that gets quoted on a regular basis.
Even people that don't go to church know Psalm 23.
But if you read Psalm 23 and really read it for what it says,
it speaks of God's faithfulness to be there with us.
The Lord is my shepherd.
What does a shepherd do?
Well, you know, I didn't grow up in an agrarian society.
I didn't see a lot of shepherds where I was.
But when I went to Israel, one of the cool things is I got to see
shepherds out there, and they're walking with their sheep
just like they would have years and years ago.
One of the things that a shepherd does, among many things,
is a shepherd protects his sheep.
A shepherd feeds his sheep.
A shepherd is.
Is there.
All the.
All the sheep can do is to look to their shepherd, right?
A sheep trust their shepherd.
A shepherd, a good shepherd, must be trustworthy to his sheep.
And so the Bible says, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
Okay, we could just stop there.
That's what we were talking about in Hebrews chapter 13.
I don't need anything else other than my shepherd.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
That speaks to that rest that we were talking about in Joshua 21.
He brings us that type of rest.
He restoreth my soul.
That's that revival.
That's that.
That's that newness of life.
If you remember, even the psalmist, he.
He.
He said, lord, renew in me the joy of my salvation.
I don't know if any of you.
I've.
I've been here that because of certain instances in my life, I have
at least lost or had my joy of my salvation lowered.
One of the prayers that we should have as a believer is that
the joy of our salvation be restored, our soul be restored.
He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, that's
a scary place to be.
He says, I will fear no evil.
Why?
For thou art with me.
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
It's the presence of God in our life.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine
enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Again, that's the psalmist talking about God's presence and
provision and protection in his life.
And that the fact is, is that God will keep his word.
He will be true to us, no matter what might be going on around
us.
And so we could go to passage after passage.
But my challenge for you here this evening is not necessarily,
you know, how good are you, how faithful are you?
But how much are you trusting in the one who is faithful, who is
the one who kept his word to Joshua, the one who kept his word
to Moses, the one who kept his word to Abraham?
Think about all the things that Abraham tried to do.
When God said, abraham, I'm going to give you a son, Abraham
said, lord, I trust you, but maybe you're not going to do it in
the way that I thought you would do it.
That's too much, right?
My wife is too old.
I'm too old.
So we're going to try to find another way.
That's when Abraham got in trouble, when he didn't trust God
for what he said.
What has God said to us that we've said?
Lord, that makes sense to some degree, but I don't know for sure
if I can do that.
So let me just come up with my own scheme, my own plan to make this
work, folks.
Just as God was faithful to Abraham, and even though Abraham
wasn't perfectly faithful, guess what?
Isaac still came.
We understand that just as God was faithful to Israel as a nation,
to say, I'm going to send a Messiah, were they perfectly faithful?
No.
But Jesus still came.
The reality is, is that God, if he says something will come to
pass, it will come to pass.
And by the way, the promise is this.
If we trust in him, we don't have to fear anything.
But when we trust in him, we have hope for eternity.
And if we believe in that, we have to trust in that.
And we have to say, lord, you are the one that's going to keep
your word.
So to you, is God the one who is the promise keeper, or is God
the one who says things that stretch us too far?
And we say, that's too much God, that's, that's asking too much.
I know for me, I'm.
I'm comfortable with being an active Christian, a believing Christian,
until it goes against my plans.
And that's where I'm like, well, Lord, I don't know about that.
You're asking a little Bit too much of me.
I know there's been trials in my life that have opened my eyes
to the fact that God doesn't owe me anything.
God.
And hear me out when I say, let me say the whole statement.
God does not need us for his plan to come to pass.
God's not sitting up in heaven saying, well, you know what?
If I just had a few people in Middletown, then I could finally
do what I wanted to do.
God is ultimately sovereignly in control and will do what he will
do.
At the same time, we get to be privileged to be a part of it.
We.
We get to join in the whole process of being used by God.
And so God is not limited by us, but at the same time, we get
to be blessed and be a part of the work of God in this world today.
And the only way that we can do that is by being people of faith.
You would say, what do you mean by that?
I can please God and not have faith.
That's impossible.
Hebrews 11, verse 6 says, for it is impossible to please God without
faith if I want to please the Lord if I want to make him proud
of me, so to speak.
We know that.
That is an interesting statement, but you know what I mean.
You know, for me as a kid, I, I wanted, I wanted my dad to, to
be proud of me.
I still to this day struggle with that.
My dad never gave me any reason to doubt that he was proud
of me.
But I remember in baseball games when I'd be up to bat, I'm
like, I'm gonna hit a home run for my dad today.
And I would hit the, I would hit the ball and I would look.
My first person I looked is my dad.
I said, did my dad see it?
And of course he did see it.
And I was like, yes, he's happy.
Dad, were you happy?
He was like, of course I'm happy.
I'm happy.
If you strike out, I'm happy.
And I'm like, but, dad, I want him.
I want it because I loved him.
I still love him.
He came out to watch one of my softball games a couple of years
ago, and I hit one out.
I looked at the first source I looked is my dad.
I'm, you know, in my 30s, and I'm looking to see if my dad noticed
it's because of that love.
I, I, I don't have to do that, but I want to do that because of
my love for the Father.
It's the same thing as a Christian.
It doesn't.
If we don't do Everything that God calls us do, it doesn't mean
he pulls away our salvation and condemns us and throws us out.
But what it does mean is that the reason why I want to serve him,
the reason why I want to live in faith, the reason why I want to
please him, according to Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 6, is
because of what he's done for me and because of who he is.
And my love for him should drive that desire to please him,
not in a selfish manner, but in a manner of giving him honor and
glory for what he has done.
So, just as Joshua and the people of Israel could say that God
was faithful in every way and gave them rest and allow them to
possess the land, so we can say that God has been faithful to
us, he's given us rest, and we can possess all the promises that
he has laid out for us in Scripture.
And so I would encourage you to think about that as a believer.
It might even be a great study for you to go through and look at
all the promises of God to the believer.
One of the passages I tell you to start with is Romans 8.
Read through Romans 8 and just soak it in.
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, read through Romans 8 from
verse 1 all the way to the end of the chapter.
It is so rich in knowing those blessings of being a child of God
that we can cry, abba, Father.
That's right there in that passage, we've been given the spirit
of adoption.
The beginning of the chapter starts with, therefore there is no
condemnation them who are in Christ Jesus.
It ends with the fact that nothing can separate us from the
love of God.
And so I encourage you to think about that and pray about that
and know that God is faithful.
So what does it mean for you?
It's a fact across the board that God is faithful.
But what does it mean to you that God is faithful?
What is.
What has it changed in your life?
What has it changed in your prayer?
What does it change in your action?
What does it change in the way that you love?
It's kind of like saying, well, I don't believe that.
You know, I don't believe that the sky is.
Is blue.
I believe the sky is purple.
Well, that sky is blue no matter what I believe about it, okay?
I can say all day that my truth is that the sky is this color,
okay?
My truth doesn't matter in the grand scheme of what the fact is.
And the fact of the matter according to Scripture is that God
is faithful.
So whether or not I question him, whether or not, I doubt Him.
God is still faithful.
And so what I need to do is I need to say what does God's faithfulness
mean to me today?
What kind of comfort does God's faithfulness bring to me?
What kind of questions does God's faithfulness bring to me?
What kind of service does God's faithfulness bring?
What kind of love does does God's faithfulness bring?
And I hope that as we continue on in the Book of Joshua, we continue
to see the power of God working in the people of Israel.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot org if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
along for future podcast and updates.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.