“The Allotment of the Promised Land”

Preached by Mike Underhill, 02/24/2013
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1-FAITH AND GRACE ELIMINATE FAILURE

Joshua 13 – the division of land east of the Jordan-but others had to go on to claim the promised land
Joshua 14:1
– Gilgal was central point of worship
two tribes – one in Manasseh and one in Ephraim

Joshua 15-17 – they divide the land and there’s tribes protecting all sides of the promised land

Q- Why was Judah the largest tribe?
A-Because God promised a blessing to Jacob’s sons
Gen 49:1-11 – the blessing falls to the son who reminded righteous

Gen 49:4–> (Gen 35:22 -wickedness committed towards god which transferred the role of firstborn-and the blessing falls to son Judah because the sin of his older brothers.)
Jesus comes from the line of Judah-and Judah is described as a lion

Joshua 18:1-2 Gilgal was the center, but now the center switched to the town of Shiloh-where the ark (God’s presence is there.)
v3- How long will you stop slacking and take promised land God told you is yours?
v4-7 discussion of the alotment of the land

Joshua 19:1-9 god says you will scatter, but you will be in the most cranking city. God’s grace and his discipline work together here!
-God will discipline us, but we must know that our failure is not final!

Joshua 15:63- Jerusalem could not be taken at this point!
Joshua 16:10- Many of the cities were hard to take over!
–The promised land was ONLY taken though faith!
– Because they didn’t have faith AND obey…they didn’t take the promise land!!
– They were sent back to the desert for 40 years because of their lack of faith!! They weren’t stuck in the desert…they had previously passed through the desert in 3 1/2 months! They were sent back!

Joshua 17:12-18 – Joshua tells the people who said they didn’t have enough room to go claim the hill country, BUT he also told them they needed to have faith to overcome the obstacles!

Joshua 19:49-51 – Faith and grace eliminate failure! Claiming the promised land is much like evangelizing the world in our generation! (Matt 28:18-20)

-You cross the Jordan to get to promised land –just as baptism to have relationship with God.)
– We need to trust God and obey him! –We lack faith and disobey God!!
– With God’s discipline came His grace-and He wants to make our life awesome!
– We need to have the faith and return to God!
– We are all in the battle to drive out the enemy! We have all blown it.
– When we receive more blessings on our return to God, we see God’s grace.

Hebrews 8:12- God doesn’t remember our sin anymore-His grace eliminates every failure in our life!

-Our failures not only paralyze us, but we need to forget our failure like God forgot our failures!
-The problem is we aren’t willing to suffer…for God’s Kingdom!
-We are too prideful to accept the grace of God! We won’t admit we are weak and we are a derelict.

2- A FAILSAFE PLACE

Joshua 20:1-6 (Deut 19-law laid down for His people) – God set up cities of refuge or protection when you need it from enemies!

-There were roads that led to city of refuge-and it’s great that you could find the way! The gates were never locked day or night!

-Spiritually speaking, God’s church is the city of refuge(Rev12-new city from heaven).

-But people confuse God’s church as a courthouse -where they will be judged! But we are wrong-this is our only refuge!

-We sacrifice where we live so we are sure to live in a city of refuge!! No matter where we are offered a job or where our family lives!

3-FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

Joshua 22:1-6-All the tribes gathered together as one…each man had risked their lives in battle or each other (all or one-one for all). There’s a bond that comes when you are fighting Gods battles together!

v9-12 – The same men that were so close in battles for 7 years together-and because of an altar built (idolatry), they go to civil war amongst each other.

– You have to do right before God and not worry about your relationships! -You need to make a decision where a church’s standard is being upheld!

– You never “graduate” from reading your Bible – you will never “get it right” so you need to read your Bible forever!

– We are too smart and complicated to figure it out – the reason why the bible is so complicated is because we don’t want to do what it says!

v13-20 – The people are upset, they’ve done wrong before God. They ask them to join them and come to the house of God.

v21-28 – Western tribes confront the eastern tribes on why they built the altar as a “replica” of God’s altar to not forget God.

– The Beatles are not always right-it’s not all you need to just love! Need to confront sin! It was a failure to communicate!

– Jesus wants us to deal with the sin amongst each of us (Matt 18:15)
– We confront the sin-not slander by talking to others about it.)

– We need to be sure to call out discipleship in each others’ lives in the church!

– When the sin comes out, you need to deal with the sin so that you can move on together and fight.

– God’s church isn’t a place for sin to be hidden! Just getting open about general sin is not enough when there’s so much more sin in your heart!

– There’s no “half-openness” in the church (1 John 1:9 – you’re a liar if you dont get it all out.) There’s no twilight zone in openness.

– We will not compromise on righteousness…we will ensure 100% Committed and openness of our sin so we can be united wholeheartedly!

–GO OUT WITH FAITH AND OVERCOME THESE OBSTACLES!