Resting in God's Promises: A Call to Obedience

The land is meant to be a place of rest does anybody need any rest this week okay rest is kind of an interesting concept at times right okay you know has anybody figured out uh parking lot naps I'm just going to tell you I'm an advocate of parking lot naps okay um you know it was one of those things I used to be some downtime and Jesus Took naps it's in the Bible so it's biblical but there would be times where you're just kind of dragging anybody drag in the middle of the day and what you do is you find a nice spot in the parking lot that it it depends on the weather if it's a little bit cool you find a Sunny Spot and if it's warmer out you find the Shaded spot and then you take about a 22 minute nap okay anything more than that you're in trouble because anybody ever rested too long anybody ever took that nap and you woke up and it's like you're groggy and you took that nap and it was light but then it's dark because it's winter and at 5:30 but you feel like you slept to one right and so there's there's art to rest isn't there [00:00:56]

God gave us rest and we see that in creation that when God made all of creation he he worked for six days and then he rested when all the work was done he rested even God and and did God rest because he needed rest was he worn out was he depleted of his power no God rested because he he wanted to set the example to us that we should operate out of rest like God rests so as we I want that to kind of be set in your mind this morning as we get into chapter finish chapter 10 and go into chapter 11 this morning into Joshua this idea of rest [00:02:42]

Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments and the land had rest from war that's the Pinnacle of what we're seeing here this this is the point they've been working towards but before that how they got to this point okay we want we need to understand is is is that they have been War ing they have been going through and they have been taking the land as we talked about last week if you remember we see that God's sovereignty was on display when five Kings unite together in the central part of Israel to attack gibian because of the alliance they made with Israel they made an alliance out of fear and if you remember that was a deceptive Alliance it wasn't supposed to happen and yet God had them honor that so Israel had to come to the aid of the gibian ites in order to protect them because of the the Covenant they made with these people and in that God used that Covenant that wasn't supposed to happen that was causing inconvenience that brought War to the people he used it to give them Victory [00:04:33]

Out of obedience Joshua takes all the northern kingdoms I'm sorry all the southern kingdoms and then the northern kingdoms unite as it says all those kings okay they unite against them once again and he it says that in that passage it actually says that they are more numerous than the sands on the seashore and they attack and they are able to capture and it says here that he devoted all of them to destruction because of their wickedness now what we need to see here is after all the cities are taken we begin to hear that the plunder you remember in the first in Jericho they were not allowed to take the plunder but God has given them plunder we also hear that they did not burn the cities there were only three cities that were destroyed in this Conquering the reason was is because God wanted to give the people the land to dwell in they did not want burned out cities they did not that's part of the problem of of if you invade a place often times the the Damage Done in order to do that makes it in uninhabitable afterwards this is not the case God miraculously in many ways gives the people into into their hands and they now occupy and they are given cities they are given towns they are given uh livestock they are given plunder and riches in order to live [00:09:20]

Obedience is the beginning of rest obedience is the beginning of rest in order us to us to find rest the rest that God has for us it needs to start with obedience see often times what happens is as we spend our lives and and when we look at sin in our lives often times what is happening is we are taking a situation and we see what God tells us about that situation and we are deciding for ourselves that what we think is better that is like the root of sin is that I believe I know what is right for me and even though God says that this is not right for me me I believe this is right for me and when that happens we see Brokenness entering idea of being obedient okay you almost have to look at Disobedience first right okay Disobedience and there's two ways that we can be disobedient okay and maybe you've heard this before there are both sins of commission that would be things that we do that we ought not to do but there's also sins of omission things that we are called to do that we do not do okay and I'll be honest with you I don't know what it is as a parent as much as when my kids do something stupid I get upset with them it's almost like I get more upset when I tell them to do something and they don't do it any other parents like that out there see the frustration in that particularly when when you tell them maybe numerous times and so what we see here is is this idea where we see Israel really struggling to find rest was even back in numbers as we talked about it was not necessarily a sin of commission that caused them to have to continue to wander in the wilderness and not receive the rest it was actually a sin of omission God had called them to do something and they did not do it and so that thing that they were to do was going to bring them rest so often times when God calls us to things when God puts something on our hearts he has something for us in that and there is a rest that is meant to be there when God calls us to to uh give forgiveness to somebody that we are in conflict with he does that to bring us rest and when we don't do that we do not enter that rest when God calls us to be in further commitment to him uh maybe that's getting involved in a small group maybe that's serving in the church maybe that's beginning to give of your resources to help the mission of the church and and missions worldwide and he calls to us to do those things and when we don't do those things we miss out on the rest that is the opportunity for us we need to be more like Joshua we need to make sure that there's nothing undone that God has called us to do that nothing would be undone that God calls us to do and we can have that opportunity to begin to enter into God's rest [00:11:11]

Joshua made War for a long time with all the kings there was not a city that was that made peace with the people of Israel except for the hivites uh the inhabitants of gibian and they took them all in battle for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts and they that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy and be destroyed just as the Lord commanded Moses so what we see here an interesting thing we want to look at there after all this time Joshua and the people have been entering into the land we've seen God act on their behalf in miraculous ways not only from Egypt we saw the 10 plagues out of Egypt we saw them be sustained in the wilderness we saw them give um these nations over into Joshua and the Israelites hands and Moses as well and yet the people continue to it says their hearts are hardened none of them sought peace even though God's judgment was coming and they continued to see what God was doing none of them feared and turned and asked for Mercy except for gibian who we've already talked about it says there that they all wanted to fight they all fought back that is the reason why all the people were judged because their hearts were so hard their hearts were so hard the condition of their heart was so hard that they would not even seek Mercy see one of the things I want us to understand here is a hard heart is what brings War a hard heart is what brings War see there's a there's a lot of uh examples that we see actually in the scriptures in fact one of them is actually in the understanding of divorce in divorce uh Jesus talks about this and he says don't let um something that God has uh brought together to be divided and the only reason that there was provision because what happens is in the Old Testament there was Provisions made for divorce now those Provisions were actually made to protect the woman in the relationship but what was happening in the time of Jesus is the religious leaders were using that as an instrument to actually oppress them okay and Jesus goes against that and Jesus does not desire that marriages would be divided and it says the only reason that there's a provision for this is because of the hardness of heart the hardness of heart and God doesn't desire that and and I know maybe some of you have experienced that in your family and you know how difficult that is and so you know God's heart for why he would not want that comes in a relationship comes from a Hardness of Heart and that's the kind of heart we're talking about here that's that's the kind of heart we're we're not talking about divorce at the moment we're talking about the condition of a heart see a hard heart in the scriptures is one that will not believe not cannot but will not believe will not uh repent you know I I enjoy at times watching apologists um the uh they they will have debates at times or when they're evangelizing they will have conversations with people and often times if somebody is hostile to the conversation uh one of my favorite things that I'll see apologists or evangelist do is they will ask let me ask you this if I could show you unequivocally with all sorts of evidence no doubt with everything that you could want that Christianity is true and that what Jesus did in the actually died on the cross and rose again would you become a Christian it is interesting how many of those people say well I still don't know if I would okay and and that the evidence that this is true and it is they would actually say I don't know that I would believe I don't know that I'd become a Christian I'd have to think about it and that's the condition of the hearts that was the condition of the Canaanite Hearts as we talked about many times over and over and I understand we we we don't want to look away from the the the understanding that this is somewhat a difficult text right that God brought judgment on whole groups of people but it was because of the 600 years of wickedness we're talking about sacrificing children sexual immorality that's beyond what we would see today even uh on a mass level there was violence they did not turn their face away from the destruction they continued to walk into these things and they fought the whole way even those last few cities you you would think if like you know if there was 30 cities and you were City 28 you might have figured it out right like I mean come on okay that's what we're talking about this was a progressive thing and yet their hearts were so hard see a hard heart hears God and still doesn't believe hears from God and still doesn't believe we actually see warning of this chapter three time that the Israelites hardened their heart therefore as the holy spirit says today if you hear his voice do not Harden your heart as in the Rebellion on the day of the testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years therefore I provoked I was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their hearts they have not known my ways as I swore in my wrath W they shall not enter my rest because they had hardened their hearts they heard from God they saw God's actions on display and they disobeyed they disobeyed that's that's the root of a hard heart and when we look at these things we need to understand there's also a portion about this scripture okay that is interesting do you notice that it actually says God hardened their hearts God hardened their hearts see there's a situation remember we talked about last week that God is actually Sovereign there's nothing that happens that that he doesn't either allow or cause and what happens here is God saw the hearts of these people and he knew that they would never believe that they would not and they rebelled continuously and so it's actually one of the ways and in and what God does is if we continue to disobey if we continue to not do the things that he says he finally says is in this world you understand often times the things that we very much want are not the things that are good for us and when we get exactly what we want it's actually the worst thing that can happen to us God's greatest judgment against us is actually that he would give us exactly what he wants that he would turn us over to our desires and it's meant to be a mercy because it's kind of one of those things like if if you ever just had conflict with somebody over and over and over and over and sometimes it's just easier to not be in their presence do you know what I'm talking about now now we obviously as Christians are called to be at peace with everybody we're called to forgive people 70 time 7 okay but that doesn't mean we don't put boundaries up right that we don't make sure that if somebody is going to continuously uh make trouble for us that we don't separate ourselves okay and in that same way if there's continued to be that conflict among those people and the he he continuously called can ites back he continuously calls the Israelites back and if they're going to continue to walk away eventually God says okay you can have exactly what you want and hard Hearts cause War they cause us to go into conflict they cause us to remain in conflict and what we need to do is we need to be obedient we need to let our hearts be softened and we see now that the Israelites have taken all the cities now that the the the cities are there for them to be taken we go to back to our verse that we started with in verse 23 it says so Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments and the land had rest from war so we see here as they take the land okay and they defeat the people in the land it is now available it says that go g I'm sorry it went from God to Jesus to now it's Joshua okay Joshua gave the inheritance according to the tribal allotments so we see there is ultimately what's supposed to happen here is God had promised the land to Abraham and his descendants and we see actually that that that there's a promise that happens and and there's actually promises and allotments already planned ahead of time that certain uh when you look at the blessing of Jacob's sons the tribes of Israel there are certain blessings there are certain things that they're going to receive and over the next couple weeks we're actually going to talk about the inheritances and and we actually that word inheritance should be something really important to us because we as Believers and as Christians have been also offered an inheritance when we believe in Jesus we understand that I am a sinner okay I do at times make selfish choices I do at times do do the things God tells me not to do or I don't do the things that he tells me to and that makes place in today and yet what we need to make sure that we do in order to take a hold of that allotment is we need to obey we need to remain we need to trust we need to abide in Christ so we see the inheritances are allotted to the tri from war now people left in the land not all the people are driven out that is not how it works okay because remains uh work for the people to do and in fact when they inherit the place Jericho and they're encamped there okay they are going to have to go and they're going to have to take the lands that are allotted to them and though the Canaanites are defeated per se they still there are still people that remain okay and so the war is over the rest the rest from war conflict anymore over the land the land is now available to them God brings rest from war and there are seasons that we get this and we know this you if you've uh walked as a Christian you know that there are seasons of War there are seasons where you feel like you're being attacked there are seasons where you feel like there is conflict and often times that can happen because of the hardness of our hearts and our disobedience yes but often times it can also be because of the hardness of Hearts of others but there are also Seasons where God gives us rest from that conflict where we are no longer in that struggle we are no longer in that maybe this isn't a fair analogy but like we're kind of in a similar place with that for uh about 6 and a half years we W with a trailer and carts and stacking chairs and setting up uh uh church and tearing it down we also did not have a place to call our own we rented an office but we had to be a mobile church and how many of you today are thankful for receiving a place of rest okay that War is Over okay but guess what we have rest from the war but there is not rest from the mission we may have rest from war but that does not mean we rest from the mission see once Israel enters into the land there's still work to be done they are still to first of all they're going to have to drive out the inhabitants that still occupy some of the ways they're supposed to do that they're going to have to take hold of that though the cities are defeated and the kings are destroyed there's still work to do not only that but the whole reason for God giving Israel the the nation okay Not only was it meant to be a place of rest but they were meant to be God's uh uh ambassadors to the world God did not pick Israel because he thought they were the best God did not pick Israel because he thought they were Superior to everybody else no God picked Israel to be have a special place as a priesthood and what they were meant to do is they were meant to be mediators between God and the rest of the world as God had a people that he was setting apart they were meant to demonstrate what it meant for God's kingdom to be on this Earth and they were meant to advocate for that it was always from day one if you go back to the promises of Abraham it says I will make your family a nation as uh as many stars in the sky and of that all the world all the nations of the world will be blessed so Israel wasn't just supposed to be taking the land but what they were supposed to do is they were supposed to occupy that land and show people what it meant to follow after God and to guide people towards it it was meant to be a beacon for the rest of the world in order to see and know Christ and what we know because of their Disobedience and even Beyond to this they take the land but they continue to have struggle they continue to have struggle because though the war was over the mission was not completed though the conflict was done and they had defeated the king there were still things that God had called them to do that they needed to continue to do and just like that with us we've got a building but that's just the the start there's still a mission there's still things that we are supposed to do we're supposed to still share our faith with our neighbors we're supposed to still send missionaries to the ends of the Earth we're still supposed to uh live our lives in obedience uh denying ourselves daily and taking up our cross and following after Jesus though we have rest from conflict though at times God gives us rest that doesn't mean it's an inactive rest that doesn't mean that it's a parking lot nap you might need a power nap okay but it's not a park it's not a you know all day long nap okay God has called us to more and when we enter the land and and and maybe you you're experiencing some of those things in your life I I think the way that I I I I kind of envisioned people maybe experiencing this would be there's often like landmarks that we're we're trying to hit in our lives maybe it's that promotion maybe it's a relationship maybe it's a paying off your debts maybe it's a get uh a new job maybe it's have a family maybe it's that wayward child returns to you okay there's all these milestones and and often times what we do is we spend time longing for that day when that circumstance changes we we long for a day when we enter into the land of rest but often times that's just the beginning we talk about this whenever I perform a wedding is the wedding is one thing but your marriage is a whole another right the wedding is just the beginning of it and and the work has just gotten started when you have kids you're excited to have the baby but as the mcfiles know they're just getting started they grow up and they eat your grocery bill and so what we need to know is yes we want to seek the rest we want to look towards those things but we need to rest even in the now we need to rest even in the battle we need to rest even when we come to the place where we're waiting for we need to know that the job's not done yet that God has still called us towards more now I do need to give credit here this last point I did steal from my pastor in Lake Mills see one of the cool stories that that he shared um when they were preaching this was that uh uh real hope in Lake m is the church that we are from uh that's my hometown my wife and I uh grew up there um we were high school sweethearts say a yep she's been my Valentine since we were 15 years old yeah right okay and uh when we went off to college and came back real Hope was planted and so we were a mobile church for oh my goodness might have been 15 or yeah 15 years we were Mobile in Lake Mills and uh about 10 well it was exactly 10 years ago we built a building and so for the 10year anniversary um for the 10year anniversary they had uh uh you know Craig did a look back at the building because they got into the building uh and we were there for that and and they right before uh the the we started building the building we actually had a ceremony where we dug we we a groundbreaking ceremony we put uh seeds of um mustard seeds right underneath where the the podium for preaching was going to be so it would be like right there right okay and Craigs told the story that actually um there's kind of a cool connection with that church and and my family that church in Lake Mills is actually in the in the Brookstone property the Brookstone property is just off of Highway be and Harvey Road that just happens to me what it be my great great grandfather's something like that okay that's their farmland and uh my mother's uncle and her parents went to a church in Fort ainson and got Ming back and forth to Fort ainson and when her uncle took over the farm he began to pray that someday there would be a church in that land but his family Grand nephew was actually there and sent out by that church to start another church okay so he used this story as an example that yeah when we got to that church when we got the building God had given us an inheritance and a promise but the work has just begun the work has just started and so I have to give credit for to Craig for that last one the rest from the war does not mean rest from the mission because that was the call that he had given to us 10 years ago when we got into that building and he reminded US 10 years later and this morning I remind us of that that God may give us rest and he may give us rest from the war but it doesn't mean we have rest from the mission let's pray [00:28:20]