Open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 13. I want to read something from our confession in a moment, in a little bit. We're studying this book of Joshua, not a verse by verse exposition, but we're trying to see the major themes and the lessons that are that are there for us, but in doing that I trust that we don't lose sight of the fact that every word is important. We talked about that last week. I asked how many of you have read chapters 13 through 21, and then I asked for some evaluation in terms of what your thoughts were as you read that or looking back upon it. Some may have been a little reticent to say, and I understand that. to speak that way of the Word of God, but certainly it's a more tedious section of the Word of God, more given to a measure of detail as we have in those chapters, the account of the dividing up of a land, a land that we're not all that familiar with, far away and a long time ago. Even if we were familiar with it today, it's changed a bit from all of those years ago. and talking about tribes and families and their receiving of the land. So it can be a little difficult. And I ask you to remember a couple of things, though, that, as I've already mentioned, that all the Bibles, the Word of God, even those lists of genealogies and these tedious passages, have truth that is given for our edification. Paul said that all scripture is inspired or literally is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof. So we don't want to miss the lessons in this chapter. Not all scripture is equally clear, but all scripture is true and profitable. And then last week what we started to do was we started to look at some of the examples or the lessons of faith from this section of Joshua. You remember some time ago in our confession we talked on the subject of faith. Let me read to you what our confession says of faith. It's just three fairly short paragraphs. The grace of faith whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. We talked about that in a sermon a few weeks ago. For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. And faith is that gift of the Holy Spirit. And is ordinary wrought by the ministry of the Word. The Spirit of God uses the Word to create faith in the elect of God, by which also, and by the administration of baptism in the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened. And I trust last week as you came here with a measure of faith and the truth and the promises of God and as we observed the baptism of our sister and we sat around the Lord's Supper that your faith was strengthened. It's not something that happens automatically, does it? There's no automatic dispersal of grace or increase of faith, but it's as we come believing those promises of God and trusting that God who is good will do all that he has said he will do for us, that our faith is increased and strengthened in those things. By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word for the authority of God himself. We talked about that last week. One of the attributes of Caleb's faith was that it was anchored in the Word of God. It was anchored in what God had promised and that's always true. And also apprehends an excellency therein, a beauty, an excellency in the Word of God above all other writings. Faith doesn't look at the Bible as it does just any other worthy piece of writing or literature or textbooks or whatever it is, but values the writings in this book above all other writings in the world, our confession says, as it bears forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations. And so it was enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed, and also acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains, yielding obedience to the commands. trembling at the threatenings and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. This faith, although it be different in degrees, and it may be weak or strong, yet it is in the least degree of it Yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it as in all other saving grace from the faith and common grace of temporary believers. Therefore, though it be many times assailed, and weakened, yet it gets the victory. Remember the Apostle John, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ who is both the author and finisher of our faith. I like to use the confession that way. I would encourage you to use it when you're reading your Bible or you're doing a Bible study and you come across a particular truth or doctrine like faith, these examples of faith. Go to our confession and see what the confession has to say and compare it with the word of God. I think it's a good use of the confession. Let's also take just a minute as we talk about this subject of faith. to look at Hebrews chapter 11. I shouldn't have said that, but I know I shouldn't have given you the chapter, but I know if I were to ask you, what would be one of the key chapters in all the Bible that you would turn to if you wanted to learn about faith? And I'm sure almost everybody would say, well, it's Hebrews chapter 11. chapter 11. And that's true enough. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Faith is understanding. Faith is knowledge. Faith is not some groping in the dark as Neo Neo-evangelicals would want to teach over the last years, their teaching has been influential, that faith is sort of a blind leap in the dark. And that's just not the case. That's not what faith is. Faith is knowledge. Faith has to do with understanding. It has to do with confidence and assurance. Faith is also obedient. Our confession speaks about faith. that produces works in agreement with the word of God. And it's necessary to please God. There in Hebrews verse 6. Faith is also relevant. Verse 7 says, by faith Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. There's a reverence that accompanies faith. Noah was obedient, he believed God and he was motivated by the fear of disobeying God. It's righteous, it's discerning, it's in contrast to the unbelieving world. It's trusting of all of God's promises, verses 9 through 10 of Hebrews chapter 11. Faith is lasting. It's not hit and miss. It's not come and go. But it wavers, sure, in terms of its strength. And sometimes our faith can be strong, and sometimes our faith can be weak. But the Christian is one who perseveres in faith, and faith continues. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 13 speaks of that aspect of faith. Faith is often tried and tested. Hebrews 11, 17. Remember Peter talked about the preciousness of faith and he says it's more precious than gold that perishes. We'll have to look at that passage one of these days a little bit closer because I'm not certain exactly what Peter is saying there. I'm not sure if Peter is saying that the faith is precious or if the thing that tests the faith is precious. And probably there's a little bit of confusion there because they're both true. aren't they? Because all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purposes. David could say, in faithfulness, God has afflicted me. And faith is confident. It worships God. And in that confidence of who God is, then faith blesses others. Do you ever, when you're maybe sending an email to somebody, or a letter, or you're on the phone, or just talking to somebody, and you're going to leave, and you say to them, well may God bless you. If we really believe that, then that's a statement of faith. It's heavenly minded. It seeks the things of God first. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 23-29. And faith is victorious. That was one of the key issues we looked at last week, verses 29-35. It overcomes obstacles, it overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil. And it endures suffering, verses 36-39. And so last week we considered the example of Joshua's faith in dividing up the land, his belief that the land was not in their possession altogether, and yet by faith, Joshua, in obedience to what God had commanded him, divided the land up and distributed it to the various tribes and families in faith as if they already possessed it in its entirety. And it was. It was as good as theirs because of the promise And then we began to look at Caleb, you remember, and I've already mentioned the first aspect or illustration of faith we see in Caleb, and that's that we talked about the anchor of faith, true faith is always, true faith always rests upon the word of God, and that's where Caleb hung his hat of faith, as it were, on the promises of God. Now two additional illustrations of faith we want to try to speak to briefly this morning from Caleb from this section that is tedious but has these wonderful lessons hidden in them for us as it were. Chapter 14 verses 10 and 11. I think last week we just kind of got to this point I just mentioned. these things. Chapter 14 verses 10 and 11. And here is Caleb speaking before the people and we see a perspective of faith. And it says, And behold, the Lord has kept me alive Just as he said, these 45 years, since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel walked in the wilderness, and now behold, I am this day 85 years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. My strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and for coming. And I mentioned last week, faith sees God's goodness in the past. It looks to the faithfulness of God and how he is. He was with me back then and he was good to me and he was faithful. And faith brings that, as it were, into the present and that creates a hope. And remember, hope is that confidence. And so we see Caleb, an 85 year old man, able to speak of still being in his strength. And it's in the context of that the Lord is still good to me and the Lord is still with me. The Lord will help me do all that he's yet has for me to do. Lamentations chapter 3 and verses 22 and 23 teach, say, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Is that familiar? Somebody should write a hymn from that text. So we sing, God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee. What is that saying? How does he know there's no shadow of turning? Because he's looking in the past and has seen God's steadfast love and His mercy, that it's unchanging. And then he says, Thou changest not, like compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. That's the perspective of faith. Yes, Paul? and I'll cover verse 16, that for this reason it is my faith, nor that it may be in a course of grace, but that the promise will be guaranteed for all the descendants, not only to those who are in the law, but all those who are in the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, the father of many nations, I have named you. In the presence of Him, He believed, even God, to give life to the dead and thousands of beings, that which does not exist. In hope against foe, He believed, so that He might become the Father of many nations. According to that which has been spoken, so shall you ascend in speed. Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own life, now as good as dead, since it was about a hundred years old, and in the deadness of Sarah's crude womb. Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully certain of what God had promised, he was also able to perform." The whole Bible is full of promises like that. to encourage us as they relate to the faithfulness of God and to remind us that that's the perspective of faith. Faith looks back, not just in my own experience, but I look back in the experience of those around me. That's why it's good to testify to one another and tell others what Christ has done for me, and to share that with others. But then to look back into the history of the church and see God's faithfulness, and to look back into the history of the saints and to see God's faithfulness. I'll read in a moment, as Ellsworth says in his books, to drag that into the future. and to claim it. That's the perspective of biblical faith. And there at the beginning of verse 22 in Lamentations, chapter 3, it's not included in the ESV or some other versions, but the King James has it that says this, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. the faithfulness of God, the perspective of faith. And because God is merciful, we then are not consumed. So that's encouraging. Matthew Henry commenting upon that verse, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. And that's like Caleb, an 85-year-old man. And here he is before the people of God giving testimony to the faithfulness of God and his desire to believe yet all of those promises of God. He's not consumed. Matthew Henry wrote, but for hope the heart would break. Isn't that true? If you take away the hope of those things that our brother just read about, the heart would break. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, how in the world people, even just on a natural level, how they get from day to day. Because as Ephesians 2 says, they're in the world and the world is dark and perverse and full of pain and sorrow and affliction and everything else. And they're in that world and they're in there without God and they have no hope. They have no confident expectation of future good as we do. So Matthew Henry says, but for hope the heart would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind which gives ground for hope. What we have had in our hearts and have laid to our hearts is sometimes as if it were quite lost and forgotten. We're frail and sometimes we don't remember the faithfulness of God and we need to be reminded of it. And he says, faith remembers, and so Henry continues to say, forgotten until our God by his grace make it return to our hearts that it may be ready, profitable, appropriate to us when we have occasion to use it. So this is the perspective, this is the way of biblical faith that remembers God's faithfulness and gratitude in gratitude. Again, the passage there in Joshua chapter 14 and verse 10, and now behold the Lord has kept me alive just as he had these 45 years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now behold, I am this day 85 years old. He remembers God's goodness that God had kept him alive these 45 years. God, it is God that has brought me to this place. Turn to Psalm 33 verses 18 and 19. And think of those words that Caleb said, think of your own experience. your own experience of the goodness and the mercy of God. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Isn't that a wonderful That's the promise that Caleb was claiming. I wonder if David was thinking about Caleb when he penned those words. Let me reach you from the little commentary that I've recommended to you by Davis on this God keeping Caleb and this perspective of faith. He says, the Lord had kept him alive through the last 45 years. This was no small bounty, since it was through war and wilderness. And God was still blessing him with strength and stamina, old as he was. This is the way faith looks at things. Faith is always looking into the past, seeing God's goodness there, dragging it into the present, pondering it, praising for it, and so going on from strength to strength. The perspective of faith takes in God's goodness, responds in gratitude, and finds grace for God's next call. So we move on, don't we? Grace upon grace, victory onto victory. Thankful, humble, and thankful. Always giving glory to God. Perspective of faith. Then there's the energy of faith. Note Caleb's request there in verse 12. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day. Again, what the Lord had talked about. That's what I want. If you heard on that day how the Anakim were there with great fortified cities, it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said. Faith does not seek the path of least resistance, it seeks to glorify God by courageous trust. I think if you read that 11th chapter of Hebrews and that whole context of what faith is. And then you read those examples of faith. One thing I think that must come back over and over again, one of the chief characteristics of faith is a measure of courage. It's trust, it's obedience, but it's courageous. It's engaged, we're told in Hebrews, and rather often in difficult work. As a matter of fact, one thing I can say for certain, the Christian life is not an easy life. And we are to be engaged. And we are called to struggle. We are called to battle. We are called to experience these things, but we're to do it in faith. And faith is victorious. And faith doesn't say, look at me. That's certainly not Caleb's perspective here. Rather, he gives testimony to the greatness and faithfulness of God, to his promises that, humanly speaking, seem impossible. And faithful, courageous men, are often ridiculed. You know that? And they're often called names. They're often referred to as visionaries, Our Lord Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 3, you can read about the focus of his ministry and the busyness. And we read there in Mark 3 that he was tired in his human nature. And he hadn't eaten. And the crowds were still demanding. And he went back out to minister, tired and hungry. And his family came. And what did his family say to him? I'm sorry? You're crazy. Literally. What's wrong with you? You're acting like a madman. The Apostle Paul on numerous occasions had to say, you might think I'm crazy because of my faith and trust, but I'm not beside myself. Matter of fact, he said, but that's okay. If you think I'm a fool, he says, I'm a fool for Christ's sake. One of my favorite little books, I recommend it to you. A couple of you have read it. It's just a little book. It's an easy read. It's about a man by the name of Robert Flockhart. Has anybody else ever heard of Robert Flockhart? He's one of those heroes of the faith that don't get a lot of notice and attention. He was a contemporary to Charles Spurgeon, so it would have been in the 19th century and he was in Great Britain. Robert Flockhart was quite a character. And he lived a very adventurous type of life. He was a military man and he was wounded and almost killed. And when he was converted, he just gave himself to the Lord with incredible zeal. And he became a street preacher As a matter of fact, he's referred to as Robert Flockhart, the street preacher, is the subtitle of the book. Spurgeon used to speak of his boldness and courage. On a regular basis, he would go out on the corners of London and he would gather a crowd and he would begin to preach. He had a regular congregation of people that would come. So he wasn't just yelling to people as they were walking by, but there was an actual gathering of people and then there would be a proclamation, a sermon delivered on the streets. Well, Robert Flockhart, his wife even, was very supportive of him, but others thought he was crazy. As a matter of fact, on more than one occasion he was locked up so that he couldn't be so crazy. And on one occasion in the book it tells a story about him and his wife assisting him to climb out, remember this, climb out the second window of this insane asylum so he could take up his post on the street corner and preach the gospel. Now not all of us are called to do that, are we? But we are called in whatever station and wherever God has called us to have a measure of courage and faith in God. And sometimes, brethren, faith will be ridiculed and it won't be appreciated, not only by the world, but even sometimes by those that might be around us. Again, I'd like to read the comments by Davis. It says, it's as if Caleb says to Joshua, Do you remember the sneers you and I heard that day when the other ten spies brought the majority report? Caleb, Flockhart could have had Caleb as a middle name because people would sneer at him as he believed the promises of God. So Caleb is, it's as Davis is saying, do you remember Joshua when we came back and we gave that good report? because of faith and how the people sneered and thought it was foolish. Remember all that whimpering about large, fortified cities and large, swaggering Anakim and how all they could say for days was, we're not able. Well, that's exactly why I want this inheritance. There are fortified cities and real, live Anakim. Precisely what caused Israel to shrink from this task in Numbers 13 gave Caleb the passion to assume it. I remember, the story goes on, I remember reading, listen to this, this is a wonderful illustration. I remember reading a story, Kennedy Smart related in the Presbyterian Journal a few years ago. An American shoe company sent a salesman to a foreign country. He had hardly arrived before he cabled for money to come home. His reason, no one over here wears shoes. The company brought him back and sent another salesman over. Soon he cabled, send me all the shoes you can manufacture. The market is absolutely unlimited. No one here has shoes. Often faith is a glass half full or half empty. So the sheer difficulty of the task stimulated Caleb's request. But we must remember, if we believe Numbers 13, this is not because Caleb was an optimist, whereas the Israelites had been realists, but because Caleb was a believer, whereas the Israelites had refused to be. How might we apply that? And that's wonderful for Caleb. And I think we get the story of the shoe salesman. I've got to go home. I'm here to sell shoes and no one wears shoes, so I'm going to go home. And the other guy says, I'm going to sell all the shoes I can. We get that. What spiritual application might we make to that? Yeah. Sometimes I go back to Monthly. We can all be weak and waver in our faith and miss it. and miss the opportunity of our calling. Sometimes I'll talk to a brother back there, I'll say, oh, yeah, Portland, it's really rough. Portland, there's a lot of paganism in Portland. There's not a whole lot of belief in Portland, real faith. Not like in the Bible Belt, and some brother will slap me or shake me and say, oh, what an opportunity. What are you doing to take the gospel to all those people that need to hear the good news? Another factor that illustrates the energy of faith is Caleb's certainty. And look there in chapter 14, verse 12, the second half of that verse, it says, Caleb says, it may be that the Lord will be with me. Now, anybody have the King James in problem? Anybody? What does the King James say? Well, I'll tell you what it says. It says, if so be it. Anybody have a New American Standard Bible? What does that say? Yeah. Second half. What's the word that says? Perhaps. That's good. Right there. Perhaps. It may be, if so be, perhaps. What does this indicate about Caleb's faith? Yes. Some may say, well, it indicates the shadow of doubt in the promises of God. But I don't think that at all, especially in the context. We'll talk about that in a minute. Yeah, there's a sense of that's the whole issue of not being presumptuous. He does not presume upon the goodness of God or he doesn't take his promises for granted. The word perhaps indicates that Caleb is also not taken by a sense of foolish pride, which sometimes can happen. He's not overconfident in himself, but trusting God for a victory by his help. And when he says perhaps, brethren, it's not an example of misplaced doubt on his part as if he had questions concerning the outcome of the fight ahead. But he's humble and he knows his own weakness. I agree with Kelvin. who wrote, he said, and this is really good, he said, this perhaps refers to the common feelings which men would entertain on taking a view of the actual state of matters. In other words, Caleb is condescending to those around him in order to communicate so that he might be helpful. Those around him don't have his strength of faith. They don't live in the same hope in which he does. So he's speaking to men of little faith. He's speaking to men, we might say, of small vision. He wants to communicate. He wants to help if he can. And the only thing that these men around him who would be listening to him, the only thing that they can say to him, the only advice they could give to him is that, yeah, that's right, it's going to be hard. It's going to be a difficult task. Also, you realize as well, if you keep folding sin on the way, then God may temporarily come back just like that. It's not after he died. Actually, it's not after, at least it's not a bad thing. But because somebody's sinned, God wants to lift up a man. I don't know if I would go exactly that far, but I think I would go to the point of the humility that it is of the Lord. But he's confident that God's going to win the day. So I think it's more like, think about, just for example, most of you are familiar with the story of William Carey and how he made it to India. What do you suppose those small-minded Baptists were saying to him when he went down to meet with them and he laid out before them the whole area of India, and the challenge, and then the commission to go into all the world, and the challenge to do that. And he says, and I want to go. And how do you think he would, I mean, those men would say, oh, that's impossible. That's a real hard chore. Maybe you should stay here, and if God wants that to happen, he'll open it up and pave a way, then you can go over when it would be much easier. Now it would have been presumptuous for Cary to speak to those men and say, look, I am certain that this is exactly the way this is going to turn out. And so he would condescend to them, even though he would not lose faith. He would condescend and he would say, well, perhaps the Lord will give us the victory. Sure, it'll be hard and difficult, but I'm ready to go. Perhaps the Lord will give victory to us. Come along and help. David Livingstone and the opening up of that continent of Africa and just think of what others may have been saying to him. Thompson Chung. Thompson, why in the world would you give up your job in Manhattan and this six bedroom home over here in Montfleur. And you're going to go to Hong Kong with your family and you're going to live in a one room, a little place where nobody is believing In talking to Thompson, on many occasions I heard Thompson say to me, this will be a challenge. It will be hard. It's going to be hard for the children to adjust. It will be hard. There will be hardships, but perhaps the Lord will really bless us. I believe he had no doubts of the blessing. And even now it's hard. There are trials that he's going through, as all of you know. Calvin says, he continues, he says, therefore, knowing then that the children of Israel trembled and were in terror at the very name of the giants, he speaks according to their opinion as a matter attended without doubt and uncertainty. But for himself, he's certain, he's not wavering or waffling. Note he says, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said. That's where he goes. Calvin again comments, shall we say that when he uttered the declaration of God, he is in doubt whether or not God will do what he promised? It is quite plain that he only reminded them how dangerous the business was in order that he might the more easily obtain their assent. true faith delights to venture out and to trust in a faithful God. Not everything in this section, these chapters 14 through 21, is a positive illustration of faith. We also see examples of weak faith. I'm not going to spend a lot of time belaboring those. I'll just point those out to you. For example, in chapter 15 and verse 63, but the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah, could not drive out. So the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day, to the day of the writing of this book. What eventually happened to the Jebusites? David and his mighty men trusting in the promises of God all those years ago that were given to Abraham that we're going to possess this land. That's God's promise. These Jebusites though, David, they've been here all this time. They weren't able to drive them out all those years ago under mighty Joshua and Caleb and all of those mighty men. It's just something we're going to have to live with. Not David. And of course, we know how then Jerusalem was settled and taken for God. And so again, the faithfulness of God, but there's an example of weaker, wavering faith. Chapter 16, verses 9 and 10. together with the towns that were set apart for the people of Ephraim within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages. However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Giza. So the Canaanites had lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day, but have been made to do forced labor. What was the result of not driving out the Canaanites? How'd that work out? I'm sorry, became a snare to the children of Israel. Chapter 16, verses 16 through 18. The people of Joseph said, the hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron. both those in Beth Shean and its villages and those in the valley of Jezreel. And then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, you are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment. only. But the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong." Ellsworth comments in his little commentary that some of you have, he makes note of these lapses, these three in particular, these lapses of faith. caused Joshua to rebuke some of the people in Joshua chapter 18 and verse 3. So Joshua said to the people of Israel, how long will you put off going in to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers has given to you? I want to mention another important lesson or another important aspect or thing that is brought out in chapters 13 through 21 besides these lessons illustrating the nature of faith, in particular the examples of Joshua and Caleb, and then these negative examples we have as well. We also see a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The very possession of the land points to the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll talk about that in a little more depth next week. But I want you to look to chapter 20. The shortest of the chapters in this quote-unquote tedious section of the book of Joshua. Then the Lord said to Joshua, say to the people of Israel, appoint the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses that the man slayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. It shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. One thing we see that Right from the very beginning of the Bible, all throughout the Bible, God's people are instructed to have this sanctity towards life, that it indeed is God's gift, and to take life is not something to take lightly. But what happens if it's an act that's inadvertent, not out of rage, but by accident, so to say, a life is taken. Provision is given here with this establishing of these cities of refuge. He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate to the city and explain his case to the elders of that city." So there's a trial that takes place. It was common for these sorts of things to take place in the gate of the city and in these cities of refuge, that's where this trial would happen. And then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past. And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him. who was high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled. So they set apart Kadish in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah. And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the table land from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood till he stood before the congregation. Let me, let me, yes. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, if you hate your brother without a cause, you are guilty of murder. and that unjustified hatred towards a brother in the eyes of the Lord is the same thing as murder. Well here, there is no premeditation, there is no anger on the part that was it happened. I can remember when I was working at Boeing, we were talking earlier about the joke of me being a machinist, which is odd with my mechanical aptitude, but nonetheless I was. One day I was setting up my machine at work and it was an internal grinder and the lever was on a real strong spring that operates the jaws that hold the workpiece in place. In the setting of it up, I had it pulled forward to release the tension. A friend of mine had come over to help me, and he was standing by my side giving me some assistance. I distracted him for a moment, and when I distracted him, he bumped the lever and the handle came back and, boom, hit him right on the head. It could have killed him. It could have killed him. The blood just gushed right out of his, just flowed. I didn't have any hatred or bitterness towards it. There was no premeditation on my part. It was an accident. In the Old Testament, there was provision that was made for that sort of thing in these cities of refuge. If a man was guilty of unintentional homicide, and these cities came under the authority of the tribe of Levi, As a matter of fact, you can read that this is really another example of the faithfulness of Joshua. in obedience to the word of God. Because if you go back in Exodus and Deuteronomy and Numbers, Moses had previously given instruction, detailed instruction for this very thing to take place. And Joshua is being faithful and establishing it. So there were these six cities of refuge and there were six of them in order that they could be easily accessible from all parts of the land. And there was three on either side of the Jordan and they almost were opposite. of each other. As Ellsworth writes in his book, the cities of refuge point us to the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The major difference between, he adds, between any Israelite and ourselves is that anyone pursued had only the right of entry, therefore refuge, if his act had been inadvertent. But we have the right to hide ourselves in Christ. We who are at enmity with God, not accidentally on the outs with God, but we who have real enmity in our heart. we have the right to flee to refuge to Christ, who is our strong city. In fact, Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18 emphasizes that fact, even in the light of our willful sin. We are sinners by nature and birth, but brothers and sisters, we're also sinners by choice, by premeditation. and we are called to flee to Christ for refuge. Now I'm going to stop there and I'm going to come back next week and I want to look at that and talk about some of the ways those cities of refuge demonstrate the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. I think of that one hymn that we sing, it says, O safe to the rock that is higher than I, my soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly, so sinful, so weary, thine, thine would I be, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. Hiding in thee, hiding in thee, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. So again, if we just look at chapters 13 through 21 and we say, oh, this is all about the dividing of the land. We'll miss these lessons of faith. We'll miss this wonderful illustration. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to give you a homework assignment this week. I would like for you to read chapter 20 a couple of times and then come prepared to discuss maybe a little bit as to how it is that these cities of refuge illustrate the Lord Jesus Christ as he is our refuge. And then we're going to try over the next two weeks to complete our study in Joshua and then in three weeks time we'll turn back to our confession and we're going to take up the chapter entitled of lawful oaths and vows. That's chapter 23 in our confession. Any questions? Does anybody have any comments? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Father, that you have preserved these truths for us, Father, for our instruction, our edification, our growth in grace, instruction in righteousness. We just praise you, Father. We thank you for faith, Lord. And Lord, we do confess that we would all want to have the faith of Joshua, the faith of Caleb, Father. and that you would help us, Father, to not simply claim the promises of God, but Father, claim them and then act upon them and be courageous and trust in you, Father. And so, Father, we pray that you would increase our faith and help us to grow in wisdom and knowledge of who you are. Help us, Father, to see the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his glory in your word. And we pray, Father, that even now as we come before you in the hour ahead to worship you, that you would be with us Father, you instruct our hearts from your word to the end that Christ would be glorified and we'd be helped and we'll praise you in Jesus name. Amen.