to direct your attention tonight
to Joshua chapter 17. Joshua chapter 17. In the 17th
chapter of Joshua, we have the dispersal of the property to
the respective tribes of Israel. And it was Joshua, as you know,
who carried out this act, but it was the Lord doing the distributing.
And he did so after the counsel of his own will as he does all
things. I think it'd be a great deal
of help to us in this life and in this world if we would understand
and realize that it's the sovereign will of God who does the dispersing
of all things. There's no area of our existence
in this world in which God does not set the boundaries. That's
what Moses said. He said, when the Most High divided
to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of
Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel. That's what Job said. He said, speaking of mankind,
Job said, seeing his days are determined, the number of his
months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he
cannot pass. And that's what Paul said. Paul
said, God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on the face of the earth and hath determined the times before
appointed and the bounds of their habitation, Acts 17, 26. And then Paul tells us why. And
I love this, that they should seek the Lord. If happily they
might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from
every one of us, for in Him we live, we move, and we have our
being. The point I endeavor to make
is this, to complain of our lot in life is to complain against
the Lord's sovereign purpose and providence. And I'm very
guilty of that. That's what all complaining is.
If everything happens according to the sovereign providence and
purpose of God, and it does, then to complain about anything
is to complain against God. In the wilderness, Israel charged
Moses saying, have you brought us out of Egypt so that we might
die in the wilderness? But their complaint wasn't against
Moses. It was against God. Have you
brought us out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place? Would
to God that we had died in Egypt. They were talking to God. They
may have thought they were talking to Moses. but they were talking
to God. Then they truly exposed themselves
and their murmuring against God when they said, hath the Lord
brought us into this land? They were right about that. He's
the one that brought them. He's the one that delivered them
out of Egypt with a mighty power. And he's the one that brought
them into this land. They said, hath the Lord brought
us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and
children should be a prey? Wouldn't it be better for us
to return to Egypt? Let's make a captain and return
to Egypt. And that was just the same as
saying, Lord, I don't like the way you're doing things. To hate
the will, the purpose, and the providence of God Almighty is
to hate God. Lord, please help me, help us
to stop complaining about things. Now, in our text, Joshua chapter
17, verse 14, We read, and the children of Joseph spake unto
Joshua saying, why hast thou given me but one lot and one
portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people? for as much as
the Lord hath blessed me hitherto. Now, as you know, Ephraim and
Manasseh were the two sons of Joseph, born to him by his Egyptian
wife. Joseph's father, the patriarch
Jacob, in one sense of the word, adopted them, and they were part
of the 12 tribes of Israel. The children of Israel in verse
14 is represented, as you know, by the half-tribe of Manasseh. The other half-tribe had taken
their portion of land on the other side of Jordan. And here
we have the half-tribe of Manasseh accompanied with the tribe of
Ephraim. And we find them complaining
and murmuring against God because they felt shortchanged. because the land that they were
given fell short of their expectations. They weren't satisfied. They
weren't content. They were discontent. And how
apt is the spirit of discontent to intrude when we compare our
lot with others. You know, I suppose if there
was no one to compare our lot in life with, we might well be
content enough. But naturally speaking, if we
see our brother has more, and I'm speaking naturally, from
the heart, by nature, we see that our brother has more, we're
more than likely to murmur and complain. We see that at the
dawn of history when we find Cain murdering his brother Abel
because he had the favor of God and Cain didn't. Cain felt shortchanged
and he was mad about it. After all, he brought the best
that he had and God didn't accept it because it wasn't a blood
sacrifice. And you know, I hear men and women say things today
like, well, if you just do the best you can do, and if you just
give God the best that you have, everything, you and God will
be all right. Well, I'm telling you, that's
a bold-faced lie. It's a bold-faced lie. God requires
and accepts only perfection. Anything less is not sufficient,
and God will not accept it. May we be careful not to complain
about our lot. Everything that we have is by
divine arrangement. Hebrews chapter 13, verse five
tells us, may we learn to be content with such things that
we have. And then we're given the reason
why. For he, Christ, hath said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake
thee. My, why wouldn't we be content
knowing that? You see, if we have Christ, we
have all that we need, and we have all that God requires, and
why shouldn't we be content in Him? So that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. And this gives some light to what James wrote, meant when
he said, you ask and you receive not, because you ask amiss, that
you may consume it upon your lust. The Lord did not say that
he would supply all our greed. He said, I'll supply all your
need. And that in Christ Jesus. Content,
that word is defined as a state of peaceful happiness. Willing
to accept a particular thing or person. It means to be satisfied. contentment, the state of happiness
and satisfaction. Why wouldn't we be in Christ?
Everything we need is provided, everything God requires is provided,
and everything with us in God is all right, more than all right. Now the territory given to the
tribe of the half-tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim, best I can tell
and what I could read and see on a map, was about 55 miles
by 70 miles in dimensions, and it included some of the most
fertile soil in all the land of Canaan. But they weren't content. Their confession of themselves
before Joshua is dripping with pride. They showed forth a haughty
and an arrogant attitude. They said, we only get one lot
and one portion? We are great people. We are blessed
of the Lord. You remember our study in Genesis
and it was Genesis chapter 48, verse 19, the patriarch Jacob, Ephraim and Manasseh's grandfather,
Joseph's father, laid his right hand on the younger boy, Manasseh's
head. And if you remember, Joseph took
his hand and tried to remove it and Jacob wouldn't let him.
And Manasseh was the younger and Ephraim was the firstborn
and Joseph went to remove it and put it on Ephraim's head
and Jacob refused. And Jacob said of Ephraim, he
shall become a people and he shall also be great, but truly
his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed
shall become a multitude of nations. Now, obviously both of these
boys and their descendants never forgot that. And they believed
that they were special. Well, all God's people are special. And that's why they said, for
as much as the Lord hath blessed me, there are two there in verse
14. But if they had truly seen their
blessing being from the Lord, they would not have talked about
their greatness. God's people consider themselves
less than the least. You can tell a great deal about
men and women by listening to them talk. Me, myself, and I
is often the subject in all they say. Why haven't you given me
more? That's what they're saying. Don't
you see how the Lord has blessed me? Men and women can give mental assent
that it was the Lord who had blessed them, and in the same
breath, declare that God did not bless them as they should
have been blessed. That's as an air of evil in that. Verse 15, and Joshua answered
them, if thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood
country and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites
and of the giants, if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. I love
how Joshua here deals with them. He deals with them wisely and
fearlessly with their complaint. And I might add that the tribe
of Ephraim was his own tribe. Joshua says, if you're so great,
you must be capable of great things. There are great woodlands
in your lot, the lot given unto you that's not been cleared.
Just direct your energies and your greatnesses to them, and
that'll give you more room for settlements, more room for farmland,
and you'll have more if you're so great. Go do that. Also, the
Canaanites, they're still in possession of a large portion
of your lot. If you're so great, go up and
drive them out, and you'll have even more. He gives his own tribe
a practical term to their greatness. It's kind of like the story I
heard once of a dying father who told his sons that there
was a valuable treasure hidden in one of their fields. He owned
a great deal of land in which they were to inherit, and he
counseled them to set up to work to find it. With great care,
they turned up every morsel of soil, but no treasure appeared. Not until the fall when they
saw what a rich crop that covered their field, and it was then
that they understood that the fruit of their labor in cultivating
the soil, looking for the treasure, was the treasure itself that
their father spoke of. It was their work in searching
for the treasure that was the treasure. Kind of like the physician
who can who consulted with a rich man who was suffering greatly
from gout and seeking a cure for it. And he offered the physician
a great amount of money, if you can just heal me, but no amount
of money would be too much to get rid of the pain, but there
was no easy fix or cure. It just simply had to run its
course. Oftentimes in life, that's the
case. A physician with no cure and great wisdom said, good hard
labor in the end will bring the remedy for the cure couldn't
be bought. And that's pretty much what Joshua was saying here.
If you want something, work for it, work hard for it. No doubt
for many, there's a great gratification in getting a mass of wealth without
working for it. Young men and women who are born
to great fortunes seem to never learn the value of a dollar and
the great blessing of working, and they often squander what's
left of them. You've seen it, and so have I.
I once had a small business that was somewhat successful. I say
successful in the sense that me and my family were able to
make, it was able to provide us with a living. And someone
asked me one time what I attributed the success of my business to. Of course, it goes without saying,
it is the blessing of the Lord. Anything that we have that prospers,
it's the Lord that prospers it. But this person, I think believed
that there was some easy formula or magical formula to success. And I told him that I attributed
the success of the business to what I had done since the company's
inception. And that was working hard day
in and day out. And that the success was the
fruit of the labor. You know, it's kind of the same
putting out a crop or a garden, no effort, no fruit. Other than
the blessing of God, hard work is the only formula. Hard work
guards us from numberless temptations. It promotes a healthy lifestyle,
mind and body. It makes rest and recreation
sweeter when it comes, doesn't it? And it gives gratitude to
the heavenly worker by whom and through whom and for whom are
all things. Joshua turned Manasseh and Ephraim's
plea of greatness back on them who claimed they had it. He said,
if you'd be such a great people, then you work and you fight.
These tribes didn't use the power that God gave them for the driving
out of the Canaanites. They misapplied God's favor to
their own covetousness. Instead, in a boastful spirit
of self-adulation, they said, well, we're a great people. We need a larger portion for
ourselves. We're so great. We're so blessed.
In order to be enriched thereby. But Joshua lets them know that
there was plenty of room for expansion if they possessed the
necessary motivation and courage to work and fight for it. And that's what makes our inheritance
in Christ so beautiful. The work's accomplished and the
war's finished. Nothing for us to do but rest. I never grow tired of saying
that. I never grow tired of thinking about it. Christ finished for
me that that I could not do for myself. And I simply rest in
his finished work. We don't proclaim how great we
are. We declare how great He is. That's what the gospel is. That's
what gospel preaching is, declaring how great our Savior is, who
loved us and gave Himself for us. True greatness should show
itself not in demanding favors or privileges, but in achieving
great things. And that's what our Lord, as
our great Savior, did for us. The way a true commander shows
greatness is not by assigning himself some easy post away from
the danger. True greatness is that commander
taking himself the most difficult duty where the heaviest burden
of responsibility lies. And that's true greatness. And
no commander or captain has ever had it like our Lord Jesus did.
My, my. Verse 16, and the children of
Joseph said, the hill is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites
that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron,
both they who are at Bethshean and her towns, and they who are
in the valley of Jezreel. Now, I found that almost humorous,
because, you know, One breath, they're saying how great we are.
And then in the same breath, they prove their lack of greatness
by the profession that they make, insinuating that because of the
Canaanites chariot's arm, they can't drive them out. They're
great, we're great, but they're greater. That's what they're
saying. What a picture we have here of our sin. Our sin is like
a chariot of iron. I was thinking about that. You
know, in order for us to be reconciled to God and in order to inherit
everlasting life, every sin has to be slaughtered and put away.
It has to be. They all got to be driven out,
every sin, every enemy. For every sin in and of itself
is our enemy. The believer will hate the sin
as much as their heavenly father does. You know God hates sin.
I hear folks say, you know, God hates sin but loves the sinner.
Well, our sin is such a part of us that the scriptures are
very clear about the Lord is angry with the wicked every day. Now, would any true son or daughter
dare to put on display as a treasure or a trophy, a knife which had
murdered their father? No, no. Our sins were the daggers
that slew our Savior. That's what many do with crosses
today. The very instrument that we use
to crucify our Lord because of our sin is what they display
on their walls and around their necks. Yeah, we won't go into
that. You know how I feel about that.
But remember that a man or a woman cannot be free from sin if he's
the servant of even one sin. They've all got to be put away.
One sin will send a man to hell forever. Perfection is what God
requires. And as long as we have one sin,
we still bear that arm ring on our person of which the chain
of sin is bound. And although we're not great
enough to drive out our sin, our sin can be driven out by
the great one, the Lord Jesus. Dear sinner, that's why Christ
died. He didn't die to save sinners
from some of their sin. He died to save them from all
of their sin. For the child of God, all sins
will be conquered. There won't be one single sin
left to occupy the love of our hearts because our hearts is
a place reserved for Christ's love alone. So again, for us,
Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself doing for us what
we can never do. The excuse Israel used as a reason
why they couldn't possess the lamb was the chariots of iron.
You know, there are many who believe that they cannot be saved
because they're still chained to their sin. Over the years,
I've heard many people say things like, well, I gotta get some
things straightened out in my life. Meaning that they must
rid themselves of some plaguing sin. But that's only an excuse. Just like this was only an excuse
for these two tribes. The glorious good news is this,
only Christ can remove the sin that keeps us at bay. And he's
promised to do just that, and he's done that for his people.
He's promised to put all our sin away, and that's exactly
what he's done, because he is the great I Am. That's what we're
gonna talk about from now on till he comes again is his greatness.
For as much as there's none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great
and thy name is great in might. Jeremiah 10, six. For great is
the Lord and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above
all gods. First Chronicles 16, 25. Nehemiah
said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and
terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love
him and observe his commandments. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great name's sake, because it pleased the
Lord to make you his people. You know, when Mary became expecting
or pregnant with child, speaking of God, she said, for he that
is mighty hath done to me great things and holy is his name. Oh, it's the name God and great
is synonymous. Just like, The name God and sovereign
are synonymous. Looking for that blessed hope
in the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. And the believing sinner does
not claim any greatness for themselves. They give all the glory to the
Lord Jesus for the greatness in all that he's done for them.
And he hath done great things for us. Every child of God who's
in Christ should take these words of Joshua for themselves. Look
at verse 17. And Joshua spake unto the house
of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, thou art
a great people and hast great power. Thou shalt not have one
lot only, but the mountain shall be thine for it is a wood, and
thou shalt cut it down, and the outgoings of it shall be thine,
for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have
iron chariots, and though they be strong." Now his encouragement,
Joshua's encouragement to the house of Joseph, by telling them
to go out and take the wooded area, clear it and make it suitable
for farming or whatever, to not be complacent and drive out their
enemies, He said, if you'll do these things, you'll have more.
Now we're not told here in this chapter whether or not the tribes
of Joseph took Joseph's advice or not. But God helped us to. And again, the wonderful thing
about our working and about our fighting and about our taking
is that the Lord Jesus has done it for us. We have more than
one lot, don't we? We have the Lord Himself and
it all belongs to Him. So it all belongs to us, all
of it. When the Apostle Paul had lack
of financial support from the churches and had great need himself,
he told the church at Philippi, he said, not that I speak in
respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith
to be content. You know how he was able to say
that? Because he had Christ. And that's how we can say it.
We're content with the things that we have because of who we
have. He told Timothy, he said, having
food and rain that let us there with be content. How was he able
to say that? Because he had Christ. He had
everything. He had he who owns the cattle
on a thousand hills. It was all his. He may not have,
Paul may not have had a mansion on a hill or a fancy gold chariot
to carry him around in, but God provided all his needs, Christ
being the one thing needful. And friends, God provided him
with food and clothing and made him content to have the things
that he had. And we ought to be. Again, let your
conversation be without covetousness. and be content with such things
as you have. For he that said, I'll never
leave thee nor forsake thee. You know, covetousness is an
evil thing. But covet earnestly the best
gifts, Paul said, and yet I show unto you a more excellent way.
Now, if you and I have Christ, we have the greatest of all things. We have the promise from the
one who supplies all our needs. and he'll never leave us nor
forsake us. So we shall always have what we need. Contentment,
I suppose that's a good gift to covet. So I covet contentment. How about you? I covet contentment. I've told this story before,
it's a good story. There was once a wealthy, retired
man who was an avid fisherman. He was a real go-getter in all
that he did. Being a highly motivated and
financially successful businessman, one day he went fishing and he
saw an older fisherman, a commercial fisherman, resting lazily by
his commercial fishing boat. Kind of ragged and wasn't a very
nice boat. And he asked the fisherman, he
said, why aren't you out fishing? And the older fisherman said,
because I've caught enough fish for today. And immediately the
wealthy, motivated man inquired, well, why don't you go catch
more than you need? He said, what would I do with
them? He said, well, you could earn more money and buy you a
better boat and buy more boats and hire help and you could go
deeper and catch more fish. And soon you'd have a fleet of
boats and be rich like me. And the old fisherman said, then
what would I do? And the rich man answered, well,
you could sit down and rest and enjoy life. And the old fisherman
replied, that's what I'm doing now. Friends, when it comes to our
redemption, that's what all who are in Christ are doing now. We're resting. We're resting. Resting in Him. And we have so
much to be thankful for, regardless of the material things we possess.
I remember reading the words of someone who once said, I had
no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet.
The best thing we can do for ourselves as believers is endeavor
to be content with the portion that God has given us. And keep
our hand to the plow and don't look back. Keep plowing right
a straight line right to Christ. being content with what God has
been pleased to give us. You know, living in contentment
is a wonderful place to dwell. Knowing that our God does all
things well, giving us exactly what we need, whether great or
small. For godliness with contentment
is great gain. May God be pleased to make it
so for His glory, our good. For Christ's sake.