If you would turn with me again
tonight to Joshua chapter 1, continuing our study in the book
of Joshua. Let me say while you're turning
the lesson that's found in the verses before us tonight, where
at first difficult for me to find a spiritual application
in. And when I did, I also found
it very difficult to find any real comfort in it. You know,
when we study the Old Testament, we're looking for the pipes and
pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a book, this is a book
about him. We say it all the time. It's
a hymn book. However, after a great deal of
prayer and seeking the Lord and the scriptures, the Lord has
given me great comfort in what I believe the Lord is teaching
in these verses. So let me begin by asking you
a question. Can a sinner not enter into the
land of promise and still have salvation? Think about that for
a moment. Can a sinner refuse to enter
the land that flows with milk and honey and still be saved?
That question cannot be answered without first understanding what
entering into the promised land actually means. Is entering the
land of promise actually salvation? Or does entering this promised
land mean something else? Is entering the promised land
a picture and type of redemption? I used to think that it was and
that it did. Or does entering the land of
promise represent the joy of the believer's salvation and
their entering into his rest? Now let me ask that question
another way. Can a man, can a woman, a believing
sinner, talking about believers here, Can they lose the joy of
their salvation without actually losing their salvation? David
did. In Psalm chapter 51 verse 12,
David sung unto the Lord these words. He said, restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Now you know David belonged to
God. He was a man after God's own
heart. Yet in a moment of unbelief,
The beauty of a woman caught his eye. You know, the beauty
of the things that this world has to offer often catch our
eye. And the so-called beauty of this
world things will do that. David saw the beauty of a woman
and it brought about adultery and eventually murder. But the
amazing thing is this, and this is what gives this sinner so
much comfort. David never ceased to be a child
of God. God loved him as much when he
was in the arms of Bathsheba as he did when he praised him
openly in the streets. Isn't that amazing? That gives
me comfort. He did lose the joy of God's
salvation for a time, but God restored the joy of his salvation. Now, not every believer enters
into rest. Every believer should, but not
every believer does. There are many believers who
come short of this rest. Some never truly rest in Christ
as they ought. And there are many, some we know,
who have lost the joy of their salvation, and that can be said
of every believer to some degree. None of us truly and completely
enjoy the joy of our salvation because of the sin that still
dwells in us. And every one of us, there's
still way too much worrying, too much fretting, too much unhappiness,
lack of joy, unbelief. Still way too much of us looking
within ourselves instead of looking to Christ alone. Would you agree?
Now in his letter to the Hebrew believers, the apostle tells
us that we should fear, that word there means be afraid and
concerned, that we might come short of the promise. But what
is the promise that he's talking about? Is it salvation? Or is the promise, is this God's
promise of rest? In Hebrews chapter four, he tells
us, he said, let us therefore fear lest or unless a promise
being left of us entering into his rest. Any of you should seem
to come short of, not come short of salvation, but come short
of entering into the rest that a believer has in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This fear is not coming short
of salvation, but coming short of rest. To do so, we cheat ourselves. We really do. Now let me give
you a New Testament example. We're told in John chapter 11,
verse five, that Jesus loved Martha, and he loved her sister
Mary, and he loved her brother Lazarus. Martha loved the Lord,
And she knew that the Lord loved her. But do you remember what
the Lord said to her? He said, Martha, Martha, thou
art careful, full of care, and troubled about many things. Now, was Martha resting? No,
she was being careful and troubled about many things, which is just
the opposite of rest. Her sister was resting. Mary
sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus and heard His word. You see,
that's where true rest is found, at the feet of Christ, hearing
His word. And the Lord told Martha, He
said, one thing's needful, Martha. One thing is needful. And Mary
had chosen the good part. sitting at the feet of Christ
and listening to his word. He said that she'll never be
taken away from her. So we see in the case of Martha
that a sinner can be saved and yet be careful and troubled about
so many things and never enter into that rest that the Lord
has promised. May we learn to cast our care
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why? Because he careth
for us. He doesn't just care about us,
He cares for us. He sees that we have everything
that we need and everything that God requires of us. You're a
child of God, He cares for you. God's out to do you good. And
I love to think about that. The God who created heaven and
earth, who spoke all things into existence, cares about me, the
worthless worm that I am by nature. God is out to do me good. Now
here in Joshua 1, in verse 10, we read, then Joshua commanded
the officers of the people saying, pass through the host and command
the people saying, prepare you vittles, for within three days
you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land
which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. Now here,
Joshua is speaking to all 12 tribes, all 12 of them. But in verse 12, through the
rest of this chapter, Joshua is speaking to the two and a
half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Verse
12, read a few verses here with me. And to the Reubenites, and
to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua,
saying, remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord,
commanded you, saying, the Lord your God hath given you rest
and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones,
and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave
you on this side of Jordan. They hadn't crossed over Jordan
yet into the land of promise. He said, Moses gave you this
land on this side of Jordan, but you shall pass before your
brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them until
the Lord hath given your brethren rest as he hath given you. as
he's given you. And they also have possessed
the land which the Lord your God giveth them. And then ye
shall return in the land of your possession and enjoy it, which
Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you on this side, Jordan, toward
the sun rising. And they answered Joshua saying,
all that thou commandest us, we will do. And whithersoever
thou sendest us, we will go. And according as we have hearkened
unto Moses in all things, so we hearken unto thee. Only the
Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. And whosoever
he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, these two and
a half tribes, whoever does rebel against this commandment and
will not hearken unto your words, Joshua, and all that thou commandest
him, he shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage. Now, if you remember the study
we had in Numbers chapter 32 concerning these two and a half
tribes, they appealed to Moses. You remember that? They came
to Moses. They desired to remain in the
area of Og and Bashan because it was ideal for raising their
cattle. Moses warned them that they were
doing the same thing that the 10 spies had done. Moses sent out 12 spies, and
all 10, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, came back with
a bad report. There's giants in the land. There's
walled cities. While they'll crush us, they'll
eat us alive. We don't stand a chance. Moses
warned them. that they were discouraging the
people of Israel from entering into the land of promise by themselves
becoming residents of the land of those who were the enemies
of Israel. If you stay on this side of Jordan and don't enter
into the land of promise, you're discouraging the people of Israel
to go on a crawl. So the two and a half tribes
Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of the Nassau came up with a plan,
and they made a promise to show their commitment and their dedication
to the other tribes. They promised that when the time
came to fight, that they would leave their wives and their children,
they would cross Jordan, and they would fight on the other
side, and then would return home back to the other side of Jordan.
when the battle was won, and they would not return until the
battle was won. And Moses allowed them to possess
the land that they desired, and they did not enter into the promised
land, and they did not enter into true rest. They saw with
their eyes the goodliness of the land outside of Canaan. They
said, oh, this is good land for raising our cattle. They had
their eyes and their hearts on the things of the world, making
a living, having the things that they desire. And they didn't
enter the promised land and they didn't enter into rest. So the
tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh settled
for land other than that which God gave them. Are you with me
so far? So now the time has come that
these men must keep the promise that they made. And they do.
They do keep the promise. In their refusal to enter Canaan,
were they lost? Some interesting distinctions
are made here in our text. According to verses 13 and 15,
both those who entered the promised land and those who didn't are
said to be given rest by the Lord God. In verse 15, Joshua
told the two and a half tribes, he said, the Lord has given your
brethren rest as he had given you. So this story is talking
about those who are in Christ. That's including the two and
a half tribe. But Joshua makes a distinction
in the same verse. He said, they have possessed
the land that the Lord gave you, and you shall return to the land
that Moses gave you. Big difference between the two.
Both of these groups fight for the possession of the promise,
including the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of
Manasseh. And they're gonna put their lives
on the line, these two and a half tribes, for what they will never
enjoy. And that's the rest found in
the Lord. Both will enjoy the land they've
been given. But the two and a half tribes
will find their enjoyment by the fruit of their own hands
and their own labor, which is no real enjoyment at all. They'll
earn their joy by the sweat of their own brow. And the other
nine and a half tribes will enjoy their land by the grace of God. One group will reside in the
land of works, the other will enjoy their land by the grace
of God. One will rest in their works
and the other will rest from their works. What a powerful
lesson and warning this is to you and I, even us who profess
to believe. And we shouldn't disdain these
two and a half tribes. We shouldn't find fault with
them, even though they opted for the joy of the world, even
though they chose the land outside of Canaan. Why should we not?
Because we often do the same, very often. We often find ourselves
crippled with the enticing things of the world. and the pleasures
that our own selfish ways allow. Now what was the difference between
the ones who refused to enter the promised land here and the
ones that refused it back before when the spies came back with
the report? Have you ever thought about that?
The only difference was the manner in which their unbelief was manifested. The ones who trusted, or the
ones who refused, excuse me, to enter into numbers or to enter
in the account of Numbers chapter 14, did so, as I said a moment
ago, for the fear of the giants and the walled cities and being
crushed by their enemies. And the ones here did so for
the desire of earthly gain. Both desired the wilderness.
Both did not enter the land of promise, but both were of God's
chosen nation. But not all those of Israel are
true Israel. We've talked about that so many
times in our study of Exodus and Numbers. Just because you're
a physical child of Abraham doesn't make you a child of God. And this is true for both sides,
the ones that entered the land of promise and those that didn't.
Not all who entered the land of promise were the children,
they were all the children of Abraham, but they were not all
the children of God. And not all who didn't, though
they were the children of Abraham, some weren't the children of
God. Now, Paul in 1 Corinthians 10,
verse 11 tells us that all these things that we're talking about
now, the things that we looked at in both Exodus and Numbers,
all these things happened to Israel for in samples or examples,
or maybe even more clearly said, types. That simply means that
these 12 tribes, those who entered and those who didn't, are pictures
of Christ's church in this world. And here we find a very disturbing
truth. And here we find a very sobering
warning. May we never think that we as
believers are exempt from such unbelief. All of us, every single
one of us, even as believers, are not exempt from unbelief. We too, apart from God's grace,
are capable of giving up the enjoyment, the joy of our divine
heritage and the rest that we have in it for the glitter and
the glamour of this world. We're all capable of it, and
we all very often do it. And it's important to understand
that the promised land was not merely a location. It was the
fruit, it was the rest that was to be enjoyed. And that could only be obtained
by living there, by entering. to taste the land that flowed
with milk and honey, to feast on the fat things that God had
provided, to dine of the wine of the leaves well refined. You had to be where these things
were provided. Sadly, this land was given to
Reuben and Gad and Manasseh, but they would never enjoy what
was theirs. because they chose what their
eyes saw instead of what God had promised. There are many
believers today who do the same thing. I'm guilty of it. Like Martha, we look at too many
things instead of the one thing needful. Salvation is not only
the joy of being saved, but the joy of the position that is ours
in Christ. It's the tasting of God's promise
of grace. That's the milk and honey that
is said to be in this land of promise. And on one side of Jordan,
the songs of Zion are sung, the worship of the Lord, the high
priest, the temple, the altar, the Holy of Holies, and the Ark
of the Covenant are found. But on the other side is filthy
lucre. There are no songs of Zion's
beauty, only the disharmonies of man's work. After all, the
psalmist did say in Psalm 137.4, how shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? How sad that Reuben and Gad and
the half tribe of Manasseh were just a stone throw away from
the promised land, but their hearts might as well have been
a million miles away. As the old saying goes, so close
and yet so far. So close. And yet so far. Those words ring in my mind. I don't want to be close and
yet be so far. Now you can let your place go
here in Joshua, but I want you to turn with me to 1st Corinthians.
Chapter 3 if you would please. 1st Corinthians chapter 3. And I want to begin reading in
verse 10. First Corinthians three and verse
10. Let me ask you before we read,
who's Paul speaking to here? Well, you go back to where this
letter begins, where he begins the letter. It's addressed to
the church. It's addressed to God's saints. It's addressed
to those that are sanctified in Christ. This letter was written
to the believers in Corinth, those who called upon the name
of the Lord Jesus. It's talking to believers. This
letter was written to the believers, the saints of God in the church
of Corinth. And there's no doubt that these
verses, that Paul's words here are directed for the most part
to the ministers of the gospel. However, they're also written
to every believer. You know, not everyone in Corinth
was a preacher, but preachers preach what they believe to be
true. And men and women believe what they discern is truth. A
true believer sees Christ as everything they need. Do you
see Christ that way? Do you see Him as everything
that you need? And everything that God requires
is found in Him. Do you see Christ alone as your
only righteousness before God? He is. He was made to be sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God requires perfect righteousness
in order for the sinner to be reconciled to Him. Anything less
than perfect righteousness, perfection. It's got to be perfect for God
to accept it. will not be to anything less
than perfection. Christ alone is the believer's
redemption. He's the believer's sanctification.
He's the believer's wisdom. He's the believer's satisfaction. God is satisfied with him and
I'm satisfied with him as my savior and my substitute, my
one mediator between God and me and myself. And Christ alone is the believer's
rest. All other ground, every other
foundation is as we sing, sinking sand. All other ground, nothing
but sinking sand. Now here in verse 10, Paul writes,
according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise
master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth
thereon. but let every man take heed how
he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is what? Jesus Christ. He's the
foundation. He's the solid rock. He's that
firm foundation. Now, if any man build upon this
foundation gold and silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble,
Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare
it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is." Now what does Paul mean
in these verses? Paul's a gospel preacher, he's
a wise master builder, he said so himself. And along with the
other apostles, they laid the foundation of Christ and Him
crucified. That's the message we preach.
Paul said in another place, I determined not to know anything among you
save or accept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see, when
it all comes down to it, that's all that matters. What do you
think of Jesus Christ? Whose son is He? Is He God the
Son? Or is He just another prophet?
What do you think of Christ? Christ is the foundation upon
which we build. But Paul is talking here about
how we build upon that foundation, which is Christ, that foundation
that he and the others had laid. And according to verse 12, some
are said to build lasting and permanent fruits, such as gold
and silver and precious stones. These will stand the test of
time and the fire of judgment. Others, however, build upon the
foundation they laid with wood, hay, and stubble, which will
not survive neither time or fire, according to verse 13, but it'll
be burned up. Yet here in verse 14, Paul writes
this. He said, if any man's work abide,
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward, and
that reward is a reward of joy and rest and peace in this world. That reward is found only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You won't find peace and rest
and comfort anywhere else. Then in verse 15, Paul added
this. He said, if any man's work shall
be burned, he shall suffer loss. Now look at this. But he himself
shall be saved, yet so as by fire. One of the old commentators
wrote, it's like a man burned out of his house and home. His
house burns down, nothing left, just charred wood and ashes. He himself escapes with his own
life, but the rest and the peace and the comfort of his home are
gone. That's what happened to the two
and a half tribes. They resided in a home that Moses
gave them. Do you hear me? They resided
in a home given by the law of works. Now, it's a good thing
to fight for what you want, but to fight for what is right, to
possess that which is wrong, should be to us a solemn warning. These tribes didn't fight for
the promised land because they loved it or because they wished
to reside there. They proved that by their own
actions. They fought for the promised land in order to have
what they wanted on the other side of Jordan, which represents
this wilderness of a world in which we live. And how alarming
is it that a man can forfeit the fellowship of the church
and yet defend the doctrines of God's grace. And people do
it all the time. How sad is it to have a brother
and sister in Christ, one with whom we have no fellowship, because
they're on the other side of Jordan. Oh, for the opportunity
to tell them, cross on over Jordan. Die to the world in which you
live. and come and dine, this, too,
is your land. What testimony does one have
who, by choice, comes short of the promise? Nicodemus is another
example, New Testament example of what I'm trying to say. In
John chapter 7, he defended the Lord Jesus. In John chapter 19,
if you remember, he anointed Christ for burial after His death. And this indicates, I don't care
how you look at it, but it indicates that Nicodemus had love for the
Lord Jesus. He wouldn't have defended him
or prepared the ointment for his body. His dead body. But Nicodemus never openly confessed
Christ for fear of the Jews. But by all indication, Nicodemus
was a disciple of Christ. But he made his camp on the wrong
side of Jordan. Being close to the promise is
not entering the promise. It's not realizing the promise.
Defending the promise is not enjoying the fruit of the promise.
Now, if the life of one appears to have no interest in the things
of God, and yet they're willing to defend the truth, I can assure
you of this, sooner or later, their profession of faith in
the Lord Jesus is gonna be suspect, and it's gonna be called into
question. And what happens, and what will one such as this do? They'll endeavor to prove their
profession of faith in Christ. They sure will. They'll do so
in a very highly visible way. Matter of fact, in the 22nd chapter
of Joshua, when the two and a half tribes helped the other tribes
win the victory over their enemies, they returned back to the other
side of Jordan, and they built an altar right next to the Jordan
for all the other tribes to see. They built an altar, and they
built a big altar. You remember that? We studied
through this before. And it was if they were saying,
see how big our altar is? Why, we may not worship God with
you, but we still worship God. We're still believers. We still worship the same God.
We still meet and pray. We still teach the truth. Yes, we refuse to enjoy the promise
with the children of God, but we still teach and preach and
defend the gospel of God's grace. But it's in the land of promise
where God is worshiped. That's where the sacrifices are
made. That's where the high priest is. That's where the tabernacle is.
That's where the altar is. That's where the mercy seat,
the mercy seat's there. The Ark of the Covenant is there
in the land of promise. Christ is in the midst of His
church. Where are His people? They're in the land of promise.
And they're resting. They're resting in all that God
has done for them. And those outside the promised
land with their great altars, oh, they've come short of the
promise. And that's not the promise of
salvation, but the promise of true rest. You know, I used to
be pretty dogmatic. I'd say, you know, people that
don't come and worship and people, you know, they don't know the
Lord. Well, I don't. Who am I to judge anyone? How
do I know anyone's heart? God knows men and women's heart. That's God's business, not mine. But I do know this. to reside
outside of the camp of God's love, mercy, and grace, you'll
find no real true rest. You just won't. In the end, their
labor and their work will be exposed for what it is, just
wood, hay, and stubble, though they themselves will be saved.
They have no rest, comfort, in a home that's theirs, that they
did not possess. They missed out on the rest that
God gave. They missed out on the peace
and the comfort that comes from being in communion with Christ
and his people. They missed out on the milk and
the honey. They come short of the promise. Now there are many
believers today who are doing the same. And there's a joy in
the salvation that Christ provides. God's people are the happiest
people on earth. There's a rest for us to enter
into. And this joy and this rest is promised in Christ. Why would
we not take what is ours by inheritance? Often, natural men and women,
they fight over getting their share of their parents' estate.
You hear about it all the time. Families split up, don't speak
to each other. because they didn't feel as they
got their fair share. But why is it that the believer
would not desire all that their heavenly father has left them? Why would they come short of
what belongs to them? And we've said this before, and
it's so true. You know, a man and woman leaves
their estate to their children. Maybe they have five children.
And that pie, that estate, is divided in equal parts in most
cases. But in the inheritance of God,
we all get the whole pie. Why wouldn't we take it? It's ours. God's given it to
us. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, where your treasure is, where's your treasure? Where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. Has God enabled you to
enter into the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you built
your foundation on the solid rock? Enter on in. Enter into that
rest. Oh, may God enable us to search
our own hearts to see that Christ is truly our treasure. And if he is, we will not come
short of what he's promised because true rest is found by those who
come to Him who is faithful that promise. And I hope that you
can see why this study and these particular verses are such a
comfort to me. Why? Because I so often worry,
and I so often fret, and I'm so often full of unbelief. But God, who is rich in mercy,
wherewith He left me, drew me by the cords of love and saved
me by His grace. And He says, come unto me, ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you what? I'll
give you rest. Only the rest that God can give. May God make it so for His glory
and our good and for Christ's sake. Amen.