There Is Still Work to Do, Part 1.

Steve Gentry

[0:09] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:10] Welcome to Village Church. [0:11] This is your first time here. [0:12] My name is Steve. [0:13] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:14] And as always, I am thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you.

[0:18] If you have a Bible, we’ll go ahead and open it to Joshua chapter 13. [0:22] We’re going to be making our way through all of that chapter and the first few verses of

[0:30] We’ve come now to the second half of the book of Joshua. [0:34] The first half of Joshua was filled with battles against the wicked inhabitants of Canaan. [0:40] And at the end of chapter 11, it stated that Israel had taken all of the land. [0:45] Now given the second half of the narrative of the book, that obviously does not mean [0:50] that they had finished the conquest. [0:52] It simply means that everyone that stood against them had been defeated.

[0:57] And once you reach Joshua 13, no one is standing against Israel at this point. [1:02] God had guaranteed the victory and because he is sovereign, victory was sure. [1:07] God delivered on every single promise he’d given. [1:10] And from chapter 13 all the way through 24, we’re going to see a record of the distribution [1:15] of the land. [1:16] The second half of the book is faster.

[1:18] It’s very detailed in how the land was distributed, but it’s clear that the conquest was not [1:24] yet complete. [1:26] Israel still needed the faith to move throughout the promised land and take the land from [1:31] those that did not stand against them in that point, but were still wicked nations that [1:37] needed to be driven out. [1:39] So what you’re going to see in chapter 13 is that once the resistance that they had

[1:43] been encountering faded away, there was a temptation to settle into a life of stagnation [1:50] with no forward movement. [1:52] I got to say that is the sad reality that often happens in contemporary Christianity. [1:57] I see people all the time, they face resistance in life and they run to faith because resistance [2:02] is there and they need God to do something. [2:05] They’ll claim the promises of God against the fight that they have in front of them,

[2:08] the enemy that is standing in front of them. [2:11] And then as soon as the resistance fades, the battle is over. [2:17] You settle in. [2:19] Apathy ensues. [2:20] There’s no obvious fight for you right now at your life. [2:24] And so leisure is something that you focus on and forward movement where the gospel is

[2:28] concerned grinds to a halt. [2:31] We must realize though that when we are following Jesus Christ, there’s always got to be forward [2:37] movement in life. [2:39] Conquest must be the vision, even when there seems to be the favor of peace all around [2:45] us. [2:45] That is the time when you can take the most ground in front of you.

[2:50] And that must be the focus. [2:52] The issue though is that it is also the time when there is a temptation to rest from the [2:58] effort to the extent where the next resistance won’t be seen until it has completely overwhelmed [3:04] you, until it has completely overtaken you because your discernment has slowed. [3:09] Your fight against the resistance has completely dropped. [3:13] You’re not doing the things that you were to do to build strength for the battle that

[3:17] is ahead. [3:17] I don’t know if you know much about sports, but really it’s what you do in the off season [3:22] that prepares you for the hard parts of the season ahead of you. [3:25] And when you don’t prepare when there’s no resistance in front of you, how in the world [3:29] can you expect to be ready when you actually will face the fight? [3:34] I want to begin reading in Joshua 13, 1.

[3:37] It says, Now Joshua was old and advanced in years. [3:41] And the Lord said to him, You are old and advanced in years. [3:46] Thank you, thank you, Lord. [3:48] Obviously there’s a reality at play. [3:50] Joshua knows his age and the Lord comes in and gives him a reminder. [3:54] Hey, you’re not getting any younger, buddy.

[3:56] You’re old. [3:57] You’re advanced in years. [3:58] Now when I tell some of you you’re old and advanced in years, you don’t respond very [4:01] well. [4:02] And so hear the voice of God. [4:04] You are old and advanced in years.

[4:07] And God continues and he says there remains yet very much land to possess. [4:12] This is the land that yet remains all the regions of the Philistines, all those of the [4:17] Gesherites. [4:17] And I just want to stop there because basically what continues on from there is a kind of [4:21] a more specific statement as to what it is that they need to take, how it is that God [4:26] is going to give it into their hand.

[4:27] But God looks to Joshua and he makes a very clear statement. [4:32] He says, Joshua, you are old. [4:34] You have fought many battles. [4:37] You’ve seen me move in many ways. [4:39] You’ve experienced a move from God in ways that most people will never see in their [4:44] lives.

[4:45] And there’s a temptation there. [4:48] God looks to Joshua and he says, don’t stop. [4:51] There is still a mission to live. [4:53] There are still battles in front of you. [4:55] Now is not the time to stop. [4:59] The enemy is defeated, as chapter 11 told us, but the conquest must continue.

[5:07] You know, the mission of God is filled with negative commands and positive commands. [5:13] And that’s why, number one, this morning, you need to understand that if you are alive, [5:16] God has a work for you to engage. [5:19] If you are alive, God has a work for you to engage. [5:22] Now, scripture obviously has things that we are to abstain from, but it also has things [5:28] that we are to focus on that are the positive commands in scripture.

[5:31] There’s a lot of trouble to be found in ignoring the negative commands of scripture. [5:36] Unfortunately, I’ve had a front row seat to see many people do that, which God said don’t [5:41] do. [5:42] God tells us, and he’s clear throughout all of scripture, there are simply things that [5:45] if you’re going to be a follower of Jesus, if you’re going to be the people of God, these [5:49] things cannot be true of you.

[5:51] God clearly said that to the nation of Israel from Joshua, chapter one through Joshua, [5:56] chapter 12. [5:57] He tells them you’re going to go in and you’re going to defeat those wicked nations because [6:01] Deuteronomy had made clear you are not to synergize with those nations and you’re not [6:07] to join in with those nations because they are wicked people. [6:10] And if you join in with them, you will start doing all of the things that they are doing,

[6:14] because whenever you synergize with an unbelieving culture that has false gods and all unbelieving [6:20] cultures do, you will ultimately turn to their gods. [6:25] And so it’s negative of that which Israel must not do. [6:30] But what you see God looking Joshua and saying to Joshua here, there is also a positive [6:35] command that you are to give your life towards. [6:38] So many abstain from things and they’re very proud of it.

[6:43] That’s good. [6:44] You’re religious. [6:45] It’s not a bad thing. [6:47] God has told you not to do things and you’ve not done those things, but it becomes a faulty [6:51] form of pharisaism. [6:54] When that is all that your life is made up of.

[6:57] God has said, don’t and good news, I’m not. [7:00] And that’s all that is seen in your life or all of the things of this world that you avoid [7:06] when you live your life like that. [7:08] You only have half of the mission of Jesus because God has not only told us what to abstain [7:15] from, he has told us what we are to engage in. [7:19] And when you only live your life abstaining from the things God has told you to avoid

[7:25] and not giving your life into submission of the conquest that God has called you towards [7:31] in the gospel, you will ultimately create a vacuum in your life. [7:37] If you realize this, but vacuums must be filled. [7:41] You were created to live out the design of God and the mission of God. [7:45] And when you don’t do that, the vacuum is constantly looking for that which it is to [7:52] fill that void that you’ve created with.

[7:55] When you neglect to engage the positive, you will ultimately find yourself filling the [8:01] vacuum at some point with the negative. [8:05] I’ve seen it so many times in my life. [8:08] Or someone who had the appearance of virtue. [8:13] Someone who had the external appearance of being a very religious individual.

[8:20] You find out all sorts of things that were hidden in the background. [8:23] I’ve heard so many people say, I would have never guessed that of him. [8:27] I would never guess that of her. [8:29] I would have never thought they were capable of that. [8:31] I’ve got news for all of you. [8:33] You are.

[8:35] You’re a dirtier sinner than you’ll ever know.

[8:38] But the key is, is so often we look at people and all that we see are the things that they [8:44] avoid righteously. [8:46] But the question then must be begged, what are they engaging righteously? [8:50] Because the reason that so many who seem so faithful in that which they avoid end up falling [8:58] into the very things that they would externally preach against is because they have formed [9:04] a vacuum of not submitting their lives to the mission that God has called them on,

[9:10] to the conquest that God has called them to commit themselves to. [9:14] And when you leave that void, quite frankly, you leave all of the opportunity in the world [9:20] for temptation to fill that vacuum. [9:22] And you end up just as immoral, you end up just as wicked as you have said you would [9:29] never be or as you have judged other people for. [9:33] Because the commands of God are not only an abstaining, the commands of God are in taking

[9:39] the world for his gospel. [9:43] God has created every single person with a mission to live. [9:47] And so understand you are living a mission. [9:50] The question is, what mission are you living? [9:52] Are you living the right one? [9:54] Because you will live for something, but will it be worthwhile?

[9:58] This is where we find Joshua. [10:01] The text is clear. [10:02] You don’t need to look into the Hebrew. [10:03] He’s old. [10:05] He’s not getting any younger. [10:07] His hair is probably gray.

[10:09] He’s probably got plenty of wrinkles.

[10:13] Age is one thing that our culture has a real problem with. [10:18] I mean, some of you are fighting tooth and nail. [10:22] I got news for you. [10:23] Nobody’s ever won. [10:26] Age is 100% successful in killing everyone. [10:28] This is just the reality of life.

[10:31] But some of you fight. [10:33] I once very recently saw someone who had so much Botox in her face, it had ceased to [10:41] move. [10:42] And I don’t just mean the forehead. [10:44] All right. [10:45] When you laugh and all that you can hear is the audio and there’s no visual in front

[10:51] of you. [10:52] And if you had muted that person, you wouldn’t know what emotion that person was feeling [10:57] at that point. [10:58] All I’m saying is you may have gone too far. [11:00] I’ve got no chapter and verse. [11:02] I just have natural law where I’m starting to ask some questions.

[11:06] Vanity may have crept in. [11:08] All right. [11:09] That’s all I’m saying. [11:10] Be careful. [11:11] You can get the injections. [11:13] I won’t judge you.

[11:14] I will. [11:16] I lied and I had to rectify it. [11:18] I repent. [11:19] I’m judging. [11:19] I’m telling you, when your upper lip ceases to move, we need to talk. [11:26] You might want to schedule an appointment with Pastor James.

[11:28] All right. [11:29] There are certain things on your face. [11:30] Not me. [11:31] But there are certain things on your face. [11:33] Because you won’t like what I have to say. [11:35] But there are certain things on your face that were meant to move until the day that

[11:39] you die. [11:39] And I’ve just chosen all of it. [11:41] I want everything moving until the day that I pass. [11:46] But we fight a battle with age that I think is unhealthy because we’re more committed [11:51] to trying to have the appearance of youth than we are of having the wisdom that is [11:57] supposed to be there in old age.

[11:59] There’s a reason that God looks to Joshua and he says, I’m not done with you yet. [12:04] Don’t retire from my call. [12:06] Move forward and take the land. [12:08] Proverbs 16, 31 makes the statement, gray hair is a crown of glory. [12:12] It is gained in a righteous life. [12:14] Job 12, 12 proclaims that age is designed to show wisdom.

[12:18] Wisdom is with the age and understanding and length of days. [12:23] And in both of these, even though Joe is a poetic book, both of these are wisdom statements. [12:28] That means that you don’t look at this and just accept 100% of people with gray hair [12:34] are righteous. [12:36] Because one of the things about being a pastor is that I’ve met a lot of people over my [12:41] life and there’s a natural revelation that comes along with that.

[12:45] Not everybody ages equally. [12:47] There are some people that they’re your hair may be full of gray, but you’ve made every [12:51] bad decision and you’ve learned nothing from any of them. [12:55] And so I would not say just because someone is elderly, that’s a great mentor for you [13:00] to have in your life because it isn’t. [13:03] But there are some elderly people you shouldn’t learn anything from, but it can be a sign

[13:09] of wisdom is God’s point. [13:12] Joshua had engaged the commands of God, both negative and positive. [13:18] Joshua had seen God move in amazing ways. [13:23] According to Proverbs, Joshua had earned his gray hair. [13:28] Joshua had grown in wisdom. [13:30] And so God looks to Joshua and he gives him this amazing revelation.

[13:35] I’m not done with you yet, even if you are done.

[13:42] It’s as if God is telling Joshua, the younger generation still needs your leadership. [13:49] Don’t quit. [13:50] Don’t quit. [13:51] Don’t quit. [13:52] Keep moving forward. [13:54] God looks to Joshua as if to say, instead of spending all of your time counting pills

[13:58] and hitting the early bird special, I have a mission for you to engage in. [14:03] Live it from the more years that you spend following Jesus, the more disciples you should [14:10] be making, the more experience and repentance you should be forming, the more knowledge [14:16] you should be gaining as well as passing on to those younger, the more righteousness you [14:22] should possess, the more wisdom you should have to offer. [14:26] When you don’t grow in those areas, though, you should ask why.

[14:33] When you don’t engage in those things, you will fill the vacuum with something. [14:39] And that something is the tragedy of a wasted life.

[14:47] I’ve seen so many people believe. [14:51] It’s simply because you don’t do.

[14:56] You’re living a good life and you’re avoiding all of these things, yet you’re giving your [15:01] life over to just what the material world has to offer.

[15:08] You think that because your sheets are clean, you’ve got a life worth living. [15:12] That’s not what God tells Joshua. [15:15] Joshua says the life worth living is not only found in the negative, it is found in the [15:20] positive of giving your life over to taking one more hill for the conquest of God. [15:28] I was talking to my wife just a few years ago, somebody that we had both known years [15:34] and years earlier had been unfaithful to his spouse.

[15:39] It was a fascinating conversation because we’re just talking about fidelity. [15:42] We’re talking about the commitments. [15:44] We’re talking about the accountability. [15:45] We’re talking, having this whole conversation just between the two of us about all of the [15:49] ways in which we want to prevent, to make sure that we have a healthy marriage moving [15:53] forward.

[15:54] If you never have those conversations, it’s probably a good idea to have them.

[15:58] I looked at my wife and I’m rarely like this, but I was very sarcastic and dry in my humor [16:04] in that moment. [16:04] It’s a rare moment for me. [16:06] All right. [16:08] I looked at my wife and she loves me. [16:10] She understands my communication style.

[16:12] I just looked at her and I said, honey, I am never surprised when men sin. [16:17] It’s because I’m a sinner. [16:19] I’m never surprised when people give into temptation because I’m a sinner, but not only [16:23] in my center, but I’ve seen so many people that I respected that I can’t respect anymore [16:28] because they didn’t finish the race well. [16:31] I hate it, but it’s true.

[16:32] And I just looked at her and I said, I think I tell you what boggles my mind. [16:37] Where do they find the time? [16:40] It’s a time management issue for me. [16:43] Say, I don’t know when you’re doing these things because I don’t have time for that. [16:47] And I’ll tell you, there’s a strategy there. [16:50] When you spend your life accountable for every moment, when you spend your life saying,

[16:58] I will give more and more of my life to God, I will give more and more of my time to his [17:03] mission, I want every moment of my day to count. [17:07] You simply look at sin and you will say, I just don’t have time for you. [17:14] And my wife told me, she said, oh, I would know if you were cheating on me immediately. [17:19] And I was there and then surprise issues like, well, I feel like I’m pretty crafty. [17:25] It’s like Mr. Deeds, don’t underestimate the sneakiness.

[17:28] All right. [17:29] And she says, you never go anywhere alone. [17:34] I said, well, it’s true. [17:35] If there was ever a moment where I’m just starting to step out and I’m spending two, [17:39] three, four or five hours away from my house, I’m not with my wife, I’m not with my kids, [17:44] I’m not with a ministry partner, I’m not with anybody else, here’s the deal.

[17:47] She would obviously see his patterns have changed.

[17:52] Because he’s living his life accountable. [17:55] Why all of a sudden is he unaccountable? [17:57] And my question is, why do you think your unaccountability is acceptable to the Lord? [18:02] If you’ve got so much free time that you are not giving to the positive commands of [18:07] scripture, here’s the key, and don’t miss it, then you are leaving a vacuum that temptation [18:13] will ultimately seek to fill.

[18:17] You want to stay faithful over the long haul, fill your life with things worth doing. [18:22] You want to stay faithful over the rest of your life to Jesus Christ, fill every square [18:29] inch with as much of him as you can possibly fit in. [18:35] Because, number two this morning, obedience reveals faith and disobedience reveals a lack [18:39] of faith. [18:41] That’s not a profound statement, it’s a simple statement.

[18:43] The most difficult statement you can ever reckon with in your life, but it’s true. [18:49] Conquest is a command. [18:52] God looks to Israel in Joshua 13 and he basically says, the obstacles are gone, take the land. [18:58] Here’s what he says, look at verse six.

[19:02] He says, and the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them for tomorrow, that’s the [19:07] wrong verse. [19:09] I got lost. [19:11] All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misr Fath Maim, even all the Sidonians, [19:17] I myself will drive them out before all the people of Israel, only allot the land for [19:23] an inheritance.

[19:24] You know what he says there? [19:24] He says, just move into the land, they’ll rent you halls. [19:28] He says, you’re not even going to have to fight these people. [19:31] He says, as soon as you step foot on the land, they’re just going to leave. [19:34] God says, the battles are over. [19:37] It’s an amazing reality.

[19:40] He says, for an inheritance, as I have what? [19:42] Commanded you, you have to take it. [19:45] Your salvation is a monogistic reality and people struggle with the tension here. [19:51] That monogistic reality means you didn’t take part in it. [19:54] God saved you 100% himself. [19:59] You didn’t deserve it.

[20:00] You didn’t work for it. [20:01] You didn’t attain it. [20:03] Grace means God gave it to you, but your growth in the commands of God, we’re growing in [20:09] your faith is a synergistic reality. [20:12] In other words, the sovereignty of God joins in with the decisions that you make and the [20:18] effort you put forward to define the growth that you will experience in life.

[20:23] And so what God is saying, I have commanded you to move into the land, but if you don’t [20:28] move in, they won’t move out.

[20:32] And so Israel had a conquest, even though God said in my sovereignty, I’m just going [20:37] to make it happen. [20:38] But he also said, you still have to advance forward. [20:40] Now therefore divide this land, verse seven, for an inheritance to the nine tribes and [20:46] half the tribe of Manasseh. [20:48] Move down to verse 13.

[20:52] Yet as one of the worst words you’re going to see in this chapter, verse 13 is the hinge [20:57] upon which chapter 13 turns. [21:00] Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maakathites, but Geshur [21:08] and Maakath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

[21:16] Verse six and seven, make it clear. [21:19] Take the hill country. [21:20] I’m going to drive them out. [21:21] Just divide it up. [21:23] It’s yours. [21:25] Paint by numbers.

[21:27] Yet verse 13 sets the stage for failure. [21:32] Yet the people of Israel did not drive out. [21:34] That’s the unfaithfulness. [21:36] And you might be saying, but what if they were avoiding all of the idol worship? [21:43] What if they were avoiding all the things that God told them not to do? [21:49] Yeah, but there’s still disobedience when you refuse to do that, which God has said

[21:54] this you must do.

[21:57] God makes promises to Israel yet.

[22:02] That term is the epitaph of so many wasted lives. [22:09] God called you to conquest through the gospel. [22:12] Yet you chose stagnancy. [22:16] Yet you chose complacency. [22:20] Yet you chose apathy. [22:23] Yet you chose leisure.

[22:25] And on and on and on those sins, though, never sit alone. [22:32] They create a vacuum that ends up filled with synergizing with the culture around you [22:38] to convince yourself that everything is OK.

[22:43] But that begs a question. [22:45] It’s a vital question for my life and for your life. [22:49] Israel had seen God do amazing things. [22:53] Keep in mind, they’re one generation removed from the parting of the Red Sea. [22:58] Not only that, but they are the generation [23:00] that saw the parting of the Jordan.

[23:02] They are the generation that saw the fall of Jericho. [23:05] They are the generation that saw what disobedience did at AI [23:09] and what obedience did to defeat AI. [23:12] They are the generation that had seen God do amazing things on their behalf. [23:18] So the question that is begged is how does this happen? [23:21] How does verse 13 happen?

[23:24] Because enduring and the calling of God on your life over the long haul is difficult. [23:31] If you have one of our Joshua copies, just write down endurance equals difficult. [23:37] It’s difficult. [23:39] It’s hard. [23:41] James, Chapter one starts with the concept of enduring and following Jesus. [23:45] I love the Book of James.

[23:46] James 1, 4 states that the only way to grow into the promise of righteousness [23:51] that God has for you is one thing, steadfastness. [23:56] That is an endurance that the spirit will give you. [24:00] If you live your life depending on excitement to endure you in the faith, [24:05] you’re never going to make it. [24:07] Not every moment is exciting.

[24:10] Not every Bible verse feels like chicken soup for the soul. [24:14] If you live your life thinking that every emotional high is that which endures me in [24:19] the faith, and here’s the deal, there are emotional highs, but there are also emotional lows. [24:25] There are days in following Jesus that are profoundly encouraging, but guess what? [24:31] There are days that are profoundly discouraging. [24:33] One of my mentors used to tell me there are more bad days than good when you’re following

[24:39] Jesus Christ. [24:41] It’s not the gospel you got, huh?

[24:45] The reality is, friends, that emotional highs fail. [24:50] Feelings change.

[24:53] I, on Sundays, I love preaching. [24:56] That’s why I do it so much. [24:57] It’s hard to sideline me. [24:59] I love preaching. [24:59] I’ve always loved preaching. [25:01] I’ve been doing it for so many years.

[25:02] First sermon I ever gave in front of a church, I’m talking big church, not kids church. [25:06] I was too good for that. [25:08] I was 12 years old. [25:09] So I love this. [25:11] I live for this. [25:12] And can I tell you, I wake up every Sunday morning excited.

[25:16] I get to share God’s word. [25:18] Through the 830 hour, I’m filled with energy. [25:20] Through the 10 o’clock hour, I’m filled with energy. [25:23] Through the 1130 hour, I am filled with energy. [25:26] There, my hormones are producing so much adrenaline. [25:29] I mean, I could run through a plate glass window right now, all right?

[25:34] But every Sunday I wake up with the reality, three o’clock’s coming.

[25:39] It comes every Sunday, whether I like it or not. [25:41] God hasn’t stopped it yet. [25:42] Because at about three o’clock, I’ve taken my shoes off. [25:46] About three o’clock, I’ve eaten lunch. [25:48] And by three o’clock, I’m sitting in a chair. [25:51] And I get sleepy.

[25:56] That adrenaline, that excitement, that hilltop, let’s take it. [26:01] It’s not enough to endure me. [26:03] Because three o’clock is always going to be coming. [26:07] There are always lows that are going to follow the highs of your life. [26:11] And the question is, what are you giving yourself over towards [26:15] to endure those hard points?

[26:18] And I will tell you, it is by filling every square inch as much as possible [26:24] with the gospel of Jesus Christ, with the word of God, with a mission worth living. [26:30] Because on my hard days, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:33] On my good days, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:36] When I’m happy, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:38] When I’m sad, I’ve got a mission to live.

[26:41] When I’m angry, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:43] When I’m grieving, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:46] When I receive bad news, I’ve got a mission to live. [26:51] When another teammate falls into a life of sin, I’ve still got a mission to live. [26:57] Do you?

[27:00] Do you?

[27:04] James 1, 4, and that steadfastness is what I believe is explained in James 1, 22. [27:11] Here’s how you endure. [27:13] But be doers of the word. [27:16] Not hearers only. [27:17] And here’s the part most of you ignore and you need to underline, deceiving yourselves.

[27:24] Hearers don’t know there are only hearers. [27:27] Do you know that? [27:29] I don’t think any of you are sitting out there and you’re like, [27:31] well, I’m never gonna do. [27:32] I just really like hearing. [27:34] Now, you wouldn’t be here if that was you.

[27:37] You deceive yourself. [27:40] When you just hear and you don’t do, [27:44] here’s how you end up deceiving yourself. [27:46] Because in one of those lows that you weren’t prepared for, [27:50] a little voice comes in the back of your head. [27:51] You know what the little voice says?

[27:53] You deserve better.

[27:57] Little voices, you deserve instant gratification.

[28:01] A little voice to say, you just defeated an enemy. [28:04] You just saw resistance go by the wayside. [28:08] God can’t possibly expect you to take more land right now. [28:14] And that is where that term from verse 13, yet comes into play. [28:21] Because when you aren’t striving forward in the call of God, [28:25] the vacuum will be filled with something else

[28:29] because Satan and his demons know exactly what to tempt you with to, [28:34] if possible, kill your very faith. [28:40] And friend, do you need to live for God so much [28:43] that the alternative is foreign and unthinkable?

[28:49] You’re ill equipped to live a life of sin. [28:52] Here’s the thing, it’s controversial. [28:54] I don’t really care, but I raised my kids as Christians.

[29:00] No alternative for them. [29:02] I’m not raising them to not be Christians. [29:05] If my kids ever choose to walk away from Jesus, [29:08] they’re going to walk into a world that they’re completely ill equipped to encounter. [29:13] They’re going to have no tools for that ballgame, [29:16] to which people always retort, and I don’t mind it because I like arguing.

[29:20] You don’t pick a fight with me. [29:21] I hope you brought a lunch.

[29:24] People were talking a little bit about the real world.

[29:29] What real world are you talking about? [29:31] Hell? [29:32] You want me to prepare them for hell? [29:35] No! [29:36] I’m going to prepare them for heaven so that hell is unthinkable. [29:42] I’m going to prepare them to follow Jesus so that not following Jesus is unthinkable.

[29:47] I don’t have a plan B. [29:49] I’ve never had a plan B. [29:51] Jesus is plan A, and the other accounts have been emptied and put into my account for Jesus Christ. [29:58] But for so many of you, the reason that that kind of bristles against the way that the flow of your [30:05] life goes is because you’ve been conditioned to think that Christianity is keeping one foot in the [30:11] kingdom, one foot in paganism, because the one foot is over here because you want just enough security

[30:17] so that you can deceive yourself into thinking, I’m not going to go to hell, but also enough foot [30:24] over here to where you have all of the things that this world has to offer and you think you’re going [30:29] to get the best of both worlds, but the reality is you’re only going to get the best of one, [30:33] and that’s the wrath of God in hell forever.

[30:37] You should seek faithfulness to the extent that not following Jesus is an unthinkable reality for [30:45] your life. Israel would not engage in the work that God had for them. Now I’ll tell you the text, [30:51] the context of chapter 13, it doesn’t tell us what they were doing instead. It doesn’t tell us why [30:57] they wouldn’t do it, but it tells us the most important thing about them. They were faithless. [31:02] Faith is revealed by the momentum of your life. What are you moving towards? [31:09] That’s what defines faith. What are you striving for is the question. What are you striving towards?

[31:16] You may very well be avoiding all of the wrong things, but are you moving toward all of the [31:24] right things? In second Timothy, now bear with me for a moment, in second Timothy, the apostle [31:30] Paul writes to a young pastor, Timothy, and I’ve found the first five verses of second [31:36] Timothy three fascinating for man, since I was a teenager, he says, but understand this, [31:43] that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, lows. People will be lovers of self, [31:50] lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

[31:56] heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, [32:02] reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance [32:07] of godliness, but denying its power. But that’s not the part that fascinates me. You might say [32:13] that’s a pretty big list. I know it’s the next thing. Three words, avoid such people. [32:21] That’s part of the fascinates me because it’s so negative.

[32:27] Yet there’s a positive reality involved in it that so many people miss. When is the apostle [32:35] Paul talking about? Well, these things have been around since sin. He isn’t writing to Timothy [32:43] about something that Timothy himself isn’t going to encounter. He’s writing it to Timothy to let [32:48] him know, hey, Timothy, this is what you’re going to encounter. So we know that Timothy was going [32:52] to encounter these difficult times with these difficult people. Then what it says at the end [32:57] of verse five, avoid such people fascinates me because the struggle that most have with the

[33:03] tension of this text is they look at others and think, but I need to take the gospel to these [33:10] people, which is absolutely true. That is the conquest. But what Paul is writing about here [33:17] is something else. He is writing about that vacuum that you can create and cultivate in your life. [33:25] If you are not living to seek the mission that God has for you in the gospel, because yes, [33:32] you absolutely need to take the gospel to these people. But the problem is that in your living [33:37] for the conquest of the gospel, these people must never become your home base. Because when they

[33:45] become your home base, it reveals that you did not have a mission. Therefore you created a vacuum. [33:53] Therefore you became that which God hates. These people are not your community. They are not the [34:01] ones that you are relating to as you follow Jesus Christ. They are actually the people you are [34:07] exhibiting the righteousness that you are growing into as you live for the conquest of the gospel. [34:14] In front of all these peoples. So then you may say, what does that have to do with Joshua? [34:20] Here is what it has to do with Joshua. Israel would not take the land. So what you see throughout

[34:26] the rest of the Old Testament, the land eventually took Israel. And their refusal to take the land [34:35] may have been obeying all of the negative things of the don’t-do’s, but they refused to obey the [34:44] all of these wicked nations surrounded them. They didn’t do what God said. And so if you read into [34:51] the book of Judges, the theme becomes everyone did that which was right, not in God’s eyes, [34:57] but in their own eyes. Israel started worshiping false gods. Israel started partaking in sexual [35:04] sin. Israel started partaking in absolute wickedness. Friends, if you will not fill your life with the

[35:14] calling that God has given you and you don’t take seriously the life that he has for you, [35:20] you will eventually be taken captive by wickedness. Because of what the rest of the New Testament [35:27] says, he doesn’t give us this list so that we will go, ew, gross, icky people. No, he gives us this as [35:33] a warning. This is what’s going to happen for you if you cease to live for the gospel. You cease to [35:38] hope for these people and you just become one of them, involved in all types of sin. [35:45] Friend, you should take the commands both negative and positive in Scripture so seriously

[35:51] that you relate to the lives of the wicked less and less every day to the point where [35:59] sinful lifestyles become unthankable because you are so overcome and overwhelmed by a mindset [36:06] of living for Jesus every single day. So you avoid such people by obeying Jesus Christ. [36:16] Therefore, if you have everything in your life in common with those that won’t follow Jesus, [36:24] here’s the reality. You aren’t living for the mission that God has called you towards [36:30] because God always, number three, supplies grace that transforms us. Here’s the good news of the

[36:36] passage. I love this. Look in verse 14 and verse 33, some interesting things about the inheritance [36:44] of the land. It says in verse 14, to the tribe of Levi alone, Moses gave no inheritance. The [36:57] inheritance as he said to them and skip down to verse 33, but to the tribe of Levi, Moses gave [37:05] no inheritance. The Lord God of Israel is their inheritance. Just as he said to them,

[37:14] God always reveals his holiness and that’s gracious. One of the favorite parts for me of [37:23] the distribution of the land of Israel is what I just read about the issue of these Levi’s. They [37:27] were the priests of God. They did not get an inheritance of land. In other words, every other [37:34] tribe got acreage. Every other tribe got a physical location as an inheritance for them, [37:40] not the Levi’s though. For the Levi’s at this point, they were in cities, not their own, [37:49] as representatives of the righteousness of God. You saw in the first text that they were the people

[37:55] that were conducting the worship of God. All of the sacrificial system of the book of Leviticus [38:01] was what they were in charge of. They were maintaining and in charge of the right worship [38:07] of God. Then in verse 33, it says the Lord God is their inheritance. They are the instruments of [38:15] God’s intercession between man and God. This was a grace of God because it was a revelation, [38:24] a constant reminder of Israel. This is why you are here to worship God with your life.

[38:36] Now, we are not Levitical priests by any stretch. Jesus is, according to the book of Hebrews, [38:43] the better and greater high priest. Jesus is now the intermediary between God and man. [38:51] That system is unnecessary because God has done that. But the conquest of the gospel is meant to [38:59] spread the presence of God over the whole earth, just as Israel through the Levitical priest [39:06] spread the holiness of God throughout all of the promised land. Habakkuk put it that God’s [39:11] holiness would one day spread over the earth like the waters cover the sea. That is our calling.

[39:17] That is our mission. The holiness of God will always be a judgment to the wicked and a grace [39:24] to the faithful. The way the priesthood was set up was a grace to Israel that kept the revelation [39:33] of God’s holiness in front of them as a reminder of who it was that redeemed them [39:40] from Egypt and who it was that called them to take conquest over the promised land. And that reminder [39:49] needed to be in front of them all of the time, just as the presence of the Holy Spirit and the [39:56] ability to saturate your life with God’s word now serves as an ever present reminder of the God that

[40:04] redeemed us from our slavery in sin and the God that has called us through the gospel to take [40:11] conquest not over one land, but over the face of the entire world. Therefore, his holiness is a [40:20] grace to the faithful. And that grace has never changed. He’s still the one who redeems. [40:28] God has given us a picture of his holiness in Jesus Christ. First Timothy chapter 1, [40:35] starting in verse 14 says, as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former [40:40] ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct. Since it is

[40:48] written, you shall be holy for I am holy. This text is a reminder to never move backwards [40:56] because that would be wickedness. We are to move forward into holiness because the one who called [41:03] us is holy in the conquest for the gospel in this life. And sometimes I think we forget that [41:12] we are tempted to use grace as more of an excuse for our failures [41:18] than as a reason for our growth into a life of holiness. We are tempted to use the gospel’s [41:25] victory as a reason for stagnation and apathy more than we use it as a catalyst to take one more

[41:33] kill in this world for the reign of God, to the victory of Jesus Christ.

[41:41] Israel failed in ways that we do not have to. Joshua 13, 33 states that God was the inheritance [41:50] of Levi. And what’s amazing is that God is the inheritance for all who believe in Jesus now. [41:57] This world belongs to that God, and he wants us to live for him over every square inch of it. [42:08] A few application points this morning. First, endure in living the mission of Jesus through [42:13] every season of life. Endure in living the mission of Jesus through every season of life. [42:20] You can retire from a vocation, but you can never retire from the calling that God has for your life.

[42:27] Never. Secondly, engage the calling of God every day. God has gifted every single one of you [42:34] in some way for the sake of his gospel. And a huge important aspect of your discipleship [42:41] is growing first in understanding how God has gifted you, and secondly in understanding [42:45] how God wants to use it for his glory for the rest of your days in this earth.

[42:52] Thirdly, grow in obeying all of God’s commands. Not just the negative and not just the positive, [42:59] all of them. There’s something to abstain from, but there’s also a mission to engage in. Obey [43:06] all of his commands. And then finally, spread the holiness of God everywhere you go. [43:12] There’s only one way to do that. Obedience to his call.