If you would turn with me again
to Joshua chapter 10, our text tonight will be in chapter 11,
but I want us to look at a few verses in chapter 10. Let me
tell you while you're turning that Joshua chapters 10 and 11
tell us of all the victories of Joshua over the kings of Canaan. And that no doubt pictures the
victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over all the enemies, which all
our enemies, which are also his. In chapter 10, we saw the victory
of Joshua over the five kings who came against Gibeon. In verse
40 here in chapter 10, we're told, so Joshua smoked all the
country of the hills and of the south and of the vale and of
the springs and all their kings. He left none remaining, but utterly
destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua smoked them from Kadesh
Barnea and to Gaza all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. And all these kings and their
land did Joshua take at one time because, because the Lord God
of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned and all Israel
with him into the camp to Gilgal. How many times do we read that
in the scriptures? Again, we see not one of the
people of God was lost. All Israel was saved, none slain,
none wounded, none missing, no occasion to lament, not one was
lost. All were spared and saved. They'd
been kept by the power of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a comfort, what a comfort that is. All the reason for these
victories and these mercies to the people of God, according
to verse 42, very plain and simple. You know, the gospel is very
plain and simple. All of these kings and their
land did Joshua take at one time because the Lord God of Israel
fought for Israel. We had no battle to fight. The
battle's been fought, the battle's been won, the war's over. God
in the Old Testament did whatever it took to save his people, whether
it was destroying Joshua's enemies with great stones from heaven,
or causing the sun to stand still in order for Joshua to finish
the work that the Lord God of Israel did for them, fought for
them. And this is why we as believers
can be completely assured that all God's elect will be saved,
every single one of them, not one of those that God gave to
Christ before the foundation of the world will be lost, not
a single one. Our Joshua, God the Son, finished
the work successfully and completely and we can rest. And again, that's
what this study is about. Resting, resting. I never grow
tired of thinking about that. I don't. That's what I woke up
this morning thinking about, resting in Christ. The work's
finished, nothing for me to do but to rest and believe, trust
Him. Brother Fortner tells a story,
or told the story, about a young man, a group of young men, renting
a gym to play basketball. That's something that we used
to do when we were younger. We'd rent a gym, bunch of us
get together, throw in five or six dollars, and the janitor
of the school would come out and oversee it, lock up when
we were finished. And I'm sure the school paid
him a little something. Brother Fortner was telling a
story about a group of young men that did that. And the janitor
would sit over in the corner as the boys played and read his
Bible. And one of the young men asked
him one time, he said, what are you reading there? And he said,
I'm reading the Bible, I'm reading the book of Revelation. And the
young man said, do you understand it? And the old janitor replied,
I sure do, I sure do. He said, the Lord Jesus is going
to win. And that's what these chapters,
and that's what every chapter in the scriptures is talking
about. Joshua, Jesus is going to win. Look at chapter 11, verse 21. And at that time came Joshua
and he cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from
Dabir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah and from
all the mountains of Israel. Joshua destroyed them utterly
with their cities. And there was none of the Anakims
left in the land of the children of Israel, only in Gaza and in
Gath and in Ashdod there remained. So Joshua took the whole land
according to all that the Lord said unto Moses and Joshua gave
it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions
by their tribes. And look at these last words
of the verse, and the land rested from war. I suppose I'll take
that as my title, and the land rested from war. Do you know what that means?
That means the Lord Jesus Christ's gonna win. There's no true salvation, deliverance,
and rest apart from that. There's just not. Our Lord has
accomplished the work of salvation for his people. And there's nothing
left for them to do but to rest. Oh, don't you wish we could learn
that? Lord, help me to learn that. Show me that, teach me
that. Let's rest and Christ finish
work. From the cross, our Lord said,
it is finished. Completed, accomplished, fulfilled.
The word means made perfect. And I ask you this question very
frequently. When can a sinner rest? only
when their work's finished. So we have no excuse but to rest. Genesis chapter two, we're told,
thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day, God ended
his work, which he had made. And he rested on the seventh
day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it because of that. In it, he
had rested from all his work, which God created and made. Now,
did God rest because he was tired? Of course not. He rested because
his work was finished. In the book of Ruth, you remember
Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, he said to Ruth these words, right
before he redeemed her, he said, sit still, my daughter. Sit still,
you rest, you rest. Until thou know how the matter
will fall for the man, and he's speaking of himself, the picture
in Christ, will not be in rest until he has finished the thing
this day. Our redemption by our kinsman
redeemer is finished. Jesus Christ is gonna win. The
Lord Jesus himself said in John 17 verse four, he said, Lord,
I've glorified thee on earth. I've finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Finished it. Nothing left to
be done. What work did God the Father
give him? Well, it's a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. How did he save them? Well, God
the Father made him sin. Who? Christ, who knew no sin. And he did so that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. And from the cross with
all the sins of all the elect throughout all time upon him,
our heavenly Joshua said, it's finished. And he bowed his head
and he gave up the ghost. Do you know what that means?
The work of redemption is finished. It's complete, it's accomplished,
it's fulfilled. Our salvation is made perfect
and you know what? So are we. Isn't that good news? In 2 Timothy chapter four, verse
seven, the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, I fought
a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing. Oh, don't you love the thought
of his appearing and his coming again? Paul said, I fought a
good fight. How could Paul say that when
it was Christ that fought all his battles for him? Paul said,
I have finished my course. How could Paul say that, that
he had finished what only Christ could finish? Paul tells us when
he says, I've kept the faith, that's how. That's how he fought
a good fight. That's how he finished his course.
Only because Paul's fight and Paul's course, like ours, is
found in keeping the faith. And our keeping the faith is
just another victory that Christ has accomplished for us. How
are we kept? For we are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation to be revealed in the last time,
Peter said. That's how we're saved. It's
the work of Christ. Faith is believing that Christ
finished the work. We're fighting a war that's already
finished. The victory's won, the conflict
is over. Our battles in this life are
for the glory of God. And we battle over that finished
work. We fight as defenders of what
we already possess. The conflict with sin is over.
The conflict with God over sin is over. And we have in Christ
been reconciled to God. How? By the accomplished work
of God. completed work of Christ himself. Who has this work of salvation
been finished and accomplished and completed for? Well, turn
with me to Hebrews chapter four, if you would. You can stick your
marker in Joshua, but look at Hebrews chapter four, verse two. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 2. Here the writer says, for unto
us was the gospel preached. Who's the us? Those who believe,
those who keep the faith. as well as unto them, those who
have heard the gospel and believe not, us and them. There's only
two types of people in this world, us and them, believers, unbelievers,
lost sinners and saved sinners. Look at verse three. For we,
which have believed, do enter into what? Rest. As he said,
as I have sworn in my wrath that they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
And we, the children of God, we believe and rest." Those two
things go hand in hand together. Believe and rest, believe and
rest. What do we believe and rest in? In the work of Christ that was
finished from the foundation of the world. What else is there
to believe and rest in? What was that work? Christ, the
Lamb slain before or from the foundation of the world. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Who Jesus Christ is, what Jesus
Christ did. Look at verse four. For He spake
in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. We just read it there
in Genesis 2. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of what? Unbelief. Again, he limiteth
a certain day, saying, and David, today, after so long a time,
as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day? Would
he have not afterward spoken of another day? There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, he hath also ceased, what? From his own works, as
God did from his. You know, folks don't rest for
one reason and one reason only, unbelief. They really don't believe that
Christ finished the work. But there remains a rest for
the people of God. Notice closely the words of verse
10 there. For he, they, us, believers,
have entered into his rest. They've ceased from their own
works as God did from His. Have you ceased from your own
work? Lord, help me to cease from my own works. Have you begun to rest? God rested
from His work on the seventh day and Christ is our Sabbath
day rest. Have you ceased from your work?
Are you resting in Christ? Oh, that's my encouragement to
you tonight. rest in Christ. Our Lord Jesus
said in Mark chapter two, verse 27 and 28, that he said, the
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore,
the son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath because he is our
rest. The word Sabbath means repose
and the word repose means rest. So the definition for Sabbath
is repose, rest. The definition is from secular
doing. It means tranquility. Christ
is our rest from doing anything to be saved. Christ has already
finished the work of salvation. This is a very sensitive subject
to me. You know, I was raised in works
religion. And I was constantly made to
feel that I must do more. And I was constantly made to
feel that I must do better. And I was constantly made to
feel that I must be better. And that was such bondage to
me. Such bondage. Because no matter
how hard I tried, no matter what I did, I continued to come up
short. I couldn't do enough, I couldn't
do enough, couldn't do good enough, I couldn't be good enough. And
that's why I repeatedly, along with a lot of other folks, rededicated
my life. You know, you come down front,
you make a profession, you think everything's gonna be all right
now, and then nothing changed. Still battling
with this sin within me, that wretched man. And if you were raised in the
religion of works, you know what I mean. Rededicated my life,
it was my promise to try harder. It was my pledge to do more and
to do better. And it was my vow to be more
and to be better. But every single time in the
end, I fell short of the glory of God. But when God showed me
that everything that He required of me, Christ performed and finished
for me, I could finally rest. And I'm still resting. Jesus,
I am resting, resting in the joy of who thou art. He's God
and He finished the work of redemption for me. And those who don't see
the beauty of Christ's finished work are those who have yet to
rest in Christ's finished work. That's just the truth. Oh, I
pray that God enable you to rest. You know, if someone gave you
a work to do in order to be saved, how horrific, how horrible would
it be to be unable to perform that work? How helpless you would
be to be saved. And that unfinished work would
become a curse to you, wouldn't it? Oh, if I could just do this,
I could be saved, but I can't do that. If I could just be this
way, the Lord would save me, but I can't be that way. That unfinished work would become
a curse, but that's exactly what God did. God gave us the work
of perfectly keeping the law, the whole law in every aspect,
in every condition in order to be saved. And James said this,
he said, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend
in one point, He's guilty of all. If you're going to trust
in a work that you do in order to be saved, then to be saved,
that work's not only got to be perfect, and not only that particular
work, but every single commandment in the law must be kept, and
it must be kept perfectly. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter
five, he said, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised
that he's a debtor to do the whole law. Now, if you're gonna
trust in circumcision to be saved, if you're going to trust in tithing,
if you're gonna trust in church attendance, if you're gonna trust
in any work that you do, then you are a debtor to do the whole
law. If you don't keep all the law,
then you don't keep the law at all. And that is such a curse. Why? Because it's impossible for us
to do. The only way to keep the whole law, the only way not to
offend, even in one point, is in and by and through the substitution
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the finished work that he
himself did. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. And that's what Christ did. John
wrote, and this is the record. That word record there means
evidence. This is the witness. This is
the testimony that God hath given to us eternal life. How did we get it? How did we
get it in the eternal life? How did we get it? It's given
to us. How was it given? In the Lord
Jesus Christ. John said life is in his son. How important is this? Well,
it's a matter of life and death. You know that word given is a
Hebrew word called didomi. My salvation was given to me
in Christ. My redemption is in what Christ
did for me. Did on me means Christ did for
me. Our Lord speaking of himself in John 17, verse two said, as
thou has given him, speaking of himself, the Lord Jesus, power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life. To the whole
world? No. No, to as many as thou has
given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. And the Lord said, I've glorified
thee on the earth and I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. And that's the theme of the book
of Joshua. And that's the theme of the whole
Bible. Everything that God requires
of us, Christ finished and accomplished for us. Well, you say that all
the time, Brother David. It's the gospel. Christ made
it perfect for us and He made us perfect in Him. God gave me
to Christ and God gave Christ to me. Okay, back in Joshua chapter
11. First, I want you to notice the
wording here, verse 21. It says, at that time came Joshua
and cut off the Anicams and utterly destroyed them. And down in verse
23, it says, so Joshua took the whole land and Joshua gave it
for an inheritance unto Israel. and the land rested from war,
and it was all because of Joshua. Did you notice the singularity
of these things? There's no doubt that Joshua,
along with the army of Israel, won these battles, but the Holy
Spirit here is inspired to credit no one but Joshua. Why? Because of who he pictures and
what it shows us. The reason's simple. It's answered
in Acts chapter four, verse 12. Neither is there any salvation
in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. God's people are represented
in being in Christ. The elect of God are in Christ.
He lived and he died and he rose and he ascended. And the glory
belongs to the one who by himself put away our sin. All the glory
goes to the one who perfected forever them that are sanctified. And secondly, the enemy mentioned
here, destroyed by Joshua, is the same enemy that the 10 spies
feared when Moses sent them out to spy the land. You remember
that in our study in Numbers, Numbers chapter 13? Let's look
at it. Again, stick your marker in Joshua
and turn with me to Numbers chapter 13, verse 31. Joshua, excuse me, Numbers 13. Here Moses writes in verse 31,
but the men that went up with him, speaking of Caleb and also
Joshua, the two of the 12 that believed God, only two out of
12. And they said, we be not able
to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And
they brought an evil report of the land which they had searched
unto the children of Israel, saying, the land through which
we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great
stature. And there we saw the giants,
the son of Anak, Anakims. which come of the giants. And
we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight."
Look at verse one of chapter 14. And all the congregation,
all of Israel lifted up their voice and cried, and the people
wept that night. But here in Joshua chapter 11,
Joshua destroyed this very enemy. The very one that the other spies
had said, we don't stand a chance against them. They're giants.
We don't stand a chance. We're like grasshoppers in our
own sight, and we're like grasshoppers in their sight. What a picture,
the Anacoms picture of man's greatest enemy and greatest fear. You know what man's greatest
fear is? When it all comes down to it, it's the giant called
death. It really is. Death is man's
greatest fear and enemy. But our Joshua came and he cut
off death. Christ utterly destroyed death.
That word utterly means slayed. Death being sin's wages, Christ
utterly put sin away. Christ slayed death and its wages. Joshua took the whole land and
the land rested for more. The response of the people here
in Numbers chapter 13 is nothing but unbelief. We've talked about
it so many times. That's what we read a moment
ago. They entered not in, why? Because of unbelief. Unbelief
is the mother of all sin. Unbelief is the reason Adam sinned. Adam partook of what God prohibited
because he didn't really believe God. And it's still the same
today. Even professing believers continue
to fear death because they really don't believe, at least as they
should, that Christ delivered them from this great enemy. What did we have to fear death?
Death is put away. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Unbelief is simply not the absence
of belief. Unbelief is a refusal to believe
God. When you peel back the banana
of this thing, that's exactly what it is. It's refusal to believe
God. Unbelievers believe in themselves. Unbelief does not believe the
truth. Unbelief believes a lie. And therefore all unbelief refers
to Christ and His accomplished work. You know, if men and women
really believed that Christ put away spiritual death by the sacrifice
of Himself, they would not fear death. because outside of Christ,
there's still enough belief in all of us to send us to hell.
That's just a fact. But here in Numbers chapter 13,
the people of Israel were afraid and they refused to go into the
promised land because they did not believe that God had already
finished and that God had already given them the land. He'd said
he had, I've given you the land. I'm gonna destroy every enemy
that's there. And yet they were afraid to go. Why? Because they didn't believe
God. And it just comes right down
to that. The reason sinners do not flee
to Christ alone for salvation is because they really don't
believe that He has really finished the work. They believe that there's
work left to do. And our unbelief is manifested
by believing that we ourselves can really accomplish that work
for ourselves. How many times have you heard
men and women say things like, well, I'll come to the Lord to
be saved after I clean up my act or after I get some things
straightened out in my life. You know, I think I used to say
that. And it's nothing but false humility. And it's born in unbelief,
and it's to believe that we can somehow make ourselves suitable
to be accepted by God. Nothing but believing in yourself.
It's self-deception. Israel said, we're not ready
to take the land now, but we can make ourselves better and
capable if we work on it. Look at Numbers 14, verse 40. And they, speaking of unbelieving
Israel, rose up early in the morning and get them up into
the top of the mountain. And here's what they said. Lo,
we be here and we will go up unto the place which the Lord
hath promised, for we have sinned. Now they claim here that they
would possess the land for the same reason that God said they
wouldn't. God said, you sin, therefore you cannot have the
land. And they said, we've sinned,
therefore we will possess the land. Now they're not saying
that sin gives them the right to the land. That's not what
they're saying at all. They're saying that by going up and possessing
the land, they can and they will undo and overcome the effect
of their sin. They will, by obedience, undo
their disobedience. And that's exactly what sinners
do by going to the law for salvation rather than obeying and believing
the gospel. Well, you know, we live in a
world where men and women presume that they're saved by going and
doing for themselves. However, salvation is only accomplished
by Christ who alone finished the work that God required. You
ask somebody if they're saved, oh yeah, I made a decision for
Christ. I gave my heart to Jesus. I did
this, I did that. And never once do they talk about
what God in Christ has done for them. It all comes back to salvation
by works. Sinners believing that salvation
is dependent upon man and not on the accomplished and finished
work of the Lord Jesus. And folks are in for a rude awakening.
Joshua destroyed the last enemy. Joshua gave the people the inheritance. The whole land is their inheritance. And that is God's, all that is
God's, my friends, is ours by inheritance. Now, was it theirs
by the law? No, it was theirs by promise.
It's the same with us. In the last great battle, Joshua
destroyed the Anacoms, he removed the fear of death, and he removed
the source of it. Unbelief, and he divided the
inheritance to those to whom God had promised it. And the
land of promise rested from war. The gospel message is just that.
It's finished. Rest. Rest. Writing to believers,
Paul said, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. He said there's neither Jew nor
Greek, there's neither bond or free, there's neither male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ,
then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. that inheritance that we have,
not because of something we've done, but because of something
that Christ has done for us, and it's His promise to us. Salvation
is by grace, not by works of righteousness that we've done.
Salvation is of the Lord, not by man who can do nothing to
save himself. Salvation is in and by and through
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, not something that
man adds in order to finish it. Oh, may God be pleased to show
you this. And may he enable us to truly
believe it as we ought. For his glory and our good and
for Christ's sake. Amen.