Okay, let's open our Bibles to the book of Joshua. I want to actually go to the last three verses in chapter 21. When I told you last week that my intention was to cover chapters 22 and 23 tonight, chapter 24, in the following lesson I said that we might not be able to cover that much. And part of that was because we have to deal with this last It's a very short paragraph at the end of chapter 21. And then as I was preparing even for tonight, I just abandoned any thought of getting into chapter 23. So I think that we'll have at least one extra week that I hadn't originally intended. Chapter 21 verses 43 to 45 really is the heart of the book of Joshua. This is the centerpiece of the entire story. And so even though it's kind of tucked here where it would seem to be maybe not particularly significant, it's only three verses, and we would say, how much can we really, you know, have God communicating to us in that space? If we understand this properly, I think we'll recognize that this is what the entire book of Joshua is about. And that really everything else in the book is written so that we might come and read these three verses. So we're not going to spend our entire time on this, but I want you to make sure that whatever time we spend on it, you recognize the significance of it. In verse 43 of Joshua chapter 21, the Bible says, Thus Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And Yahweh gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for Yahweh had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that Yahweh had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. That almost doesn't even need commentary. I mean, that's just so explicit that you almost have to just say, well, there it is. I mean, either you believe that or you don't. Either you accept that or you don't. What is said here is that God has fulfilled His promises. And one of the things that I think these verses kind of do to us is create some tension in our minds because we say, but wait a second, didn't we see that earlier in the book there were people that they didn't fully drive out? Even at the end of the book, isn't there still a lot of land to be settled? And when we come forward into the next generation in the book of Judges, don't we see that in many ways they fail? And that their enemies prevail, at least in certain parts of the region? And all of that is true. Recognize that whoever is writing the book of Joshua, they are writing at the close of this generation or at an even later period. I don't think that the book of Joshua is written far after Joshua's lifetime. But clearly there's some editing that happens after his death. Clearly there are some comments that are made as scribes are copying this book. And I think this is one of those summary statements. to say that as they look back over the last several decades, perhaps, what they recognize is God's faithfulness. This would be particularly poignant if, in fact, Joshua is being written during the period of the Judges, which would be my assumption, that Joshua is being written in the early years of the Judges, and that the entire book is standing, in certain ways, as a witness against Israel's unfaithfulness in that generation. Because in contrast to the failure of Israel in the book of Judges, what we see in the book of Joshua is God's faithfulness. God giving rest to His people. God keeping His promises. He always fulfills His promises. All of His promises. And He does so perfectly. And this is what I want to say. I recognize that there are varieties of thought about the promises made to Israel, and that even within the context of dispensationalism, there are a variety of thoughts. So I don't want to assume that any particular person is in a particular point of view. But what I want to say is, if you take the land promise to Israel as being unfulfilled, then you have to say that this passage is not true. Because look at what the text says. It says the promise that God made to Abraham was fulfilled. It says it more than once. He gave the promise to Abraham, and repeats it to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to the patriarchs, and to Moses, and to Israel, and then he fulfills it. And now we are looking at that past tense. In fact, there is this summary, verse 45, not one word of all the good promises that Yahweh had made to the house of Israel failed. All came to pass. I don't know how much more explicitly they can say it. Now, what you have to recognize is that the land promise given to Abraham was always typological. That doesn't mean that God did not intend to give a land to Abraham's descendants. He did intend to do that, and he did it. He didn't do that in 1948. He did that in Joshua's lifetime. He did that in the 15th and 14th centuries BC. That's when he did it, according to the Bible. The 20th century was not the fulfillment of that. Joshua's conquest of Canaan was the fulfillment of that. But the promise of the land was always typological. In other words, it's always pointing to something greater. It's always pointing to something more. What is difficult for me in thinking about the way that these promises are often interpreted is to say, why would we have in view so small a promise? give you an idea of what I mean. If our view is that God promised the land of Canaan, Palestine, now to Israel, and therefore it's always theirs, and it ought to be theirs, and it always will be theirs, and even though there are years intervening where they don't possess it, nevertheless, these promises are all about that plot of ground, I would say, why are we thinking so small? Because Jesus has in view the promise of the land being applied to the Israel of God, the church, and it's not Palestine, it's the whole world. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit, not Palestine, but the earth. The whole land. Paul will say to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, all things are yours. All things. It's not that thing. It's all things. Why are we still thinking about the type and the shadow when it was only pointing ahead to the greater inheritance that God ordained for the people of God? And why would we assign that typological blessing solely to its fulfillment in the experience of ethnic Israel? when very clearly, in the prophets of the Old Testament, and in the writings of the New Testament, God defines Israel not by biology, but by faith. The Israel of God, in Galatians chapter 6, are those who believe in Christ. Does that mean God's rejected the Jews? No. Romans chapter 9. What did we study Sunday night? Paul says, I'm a Jew. God has not rejected His people. But he has never accepted Jewish people because they're descended from Abraham. What does Jesus say in John chapter 8? Do not say, do not begin to say to yourselves, we are sons of Abraham. God can raise up stones from these stones, children for Abraham. Biology's got nothing to do with this. Faith has everything to do with it. And those who are Christ's are Abraham's seed, heirs according to what? The promise. Galatians chapter 3 verse 29. Palestine doesn't belong to Israel. Palestine belongs to the church. So does the Gaza Strip. So does Jordan. So does Syria. So does Egypt. So does Iran and Iraq and this country too and everything else. Everything that God has made is ultimately made for His glory and for the good of His people. Do you understand that? Not one word of God's promise fell to the ground. All of it was fulfilled. But that promise was always pointing us ahead to the greater fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And if you doubt that, spend some time in Romans 9, 10, and 11. Spend some time in Galatians 3 and 4. Now, people will say, well, what does that mean? Does that mean then that the church has replaced Israel? No. No. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what Reformed commentators have ever said, right? What we're saying is that Israel has always been defined spiritually by faith. Those who walk in the faith of Abraham are the Israel of God. Is there a broader, external, ethnic administration of that covenant? Of course there is. Of course there is. Is that typological of the church in the present age, where we see wheat and tares, and righteous and unrighteous, and believers? Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. But do you understand that when we say a Jew, because he's a Jew, has a covenant relationship with God, and covenant blessings from God, and therefore covenant promises from God, and he will inherit all of those blessings because he is biologically descended from Abraham, we're making the kind of argument that would say a person is going to be saved because he attends church. Do you realize that? I mean, you've heard the old illustration before of if you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? And somebody says five. And I say no, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. He only has four. You can call an Israelite an Israelite, but if he doesn't have Abraham's faith, he is not an heir of the promise. He is under wrath. Ahab is under wrath. Nadab and Abihu are under wrath. I thank God that we have so many Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ. One of them is going to be here at the end of May, by the way. Beirut Meos is a Reformed pastor, an Israeli who's lived in Israel his whole life. He's coming to the States. I got to meet him last year or the year before. He's going to come teach at our church. Praise God. That's going to be fun, right? We've got all kinds of brothers and sisters who are Jewish. They're brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank God for that. Romans chapter 11 may indicate that God's going to save a whole lot more before the end. I would pray for that. I would desire that. But let me tell you something. There's only one way they're going to be saved. And it's the same way that Gentiles are saved. It's the same way that you are saved. It's the same way that I am saved. It's through the work of Jesus Christ as they receive the benefits of His redemption by faith alone. And that's it. That's it. The land promise is not about what's going on in the Middle East right now. The land promise is about what happens in this book that we've been studying for the last several months. The land promise is about pointing ahead to what God's going to do, a greater work in Christ, in the experience of the church. That's what's in store for you. And when we divide the people of God and say, there's Israel and there's the church, just show me in the Bible where you find that. And I'll show you a dozen passages where Paul says the church is Israel. It's not replaced Israel. It's always been Israel. Because guess how Stephen talks about Israel in the Old Testament. He says it's the church, Acts chapter 7. The church in the Old Testament is Israel, and Israel in the New Testament is the church. There's not been any replacement here. What there has been, according to Romans chapter 11, is the engrafting of Gentiles into the house of Israel. You and I didn't replace Israel. We got to become part of Israel. And when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, those who were once afar off have been brought near and brought in. But guess what happens to Jews who are born Jews but don't believe in Jesus? Same thing that happens to Christian kids that are born into a believing home and don't appropriate the promises by faith. You know what happens? They go to hell. They're lost. They're cut off. That's what happens. We pray that that doesn't happen with our children. But you better know that's what happens. Because you're not saved by biology. You're not saved by being in the room. You're not saved by belonging to the external community. You're saved through faith in Jesus Christ. meeting with Pastor Babcock yesterday for a little bit, and he was going to a conference at the end of this week, and I said, oh, that's great, you know, what's the conference about? And he said, it's the question, is the Reformation still necessary in the 21st century? I said, man, that's going to be a really short conference. Stand up, you say, yes, now let's go to dinner, you know, right? But do you recognize that's what we're actually talking about right now? See, we don't think about this kind of a conversation. We think this is a conversation about covenant theology versus dispensationalism. Or it's a conversation about our eschatology, our view of the end times. But you know, we're talking right now about our understanding of the whole fabric of God's plan of salvation. That's why this is important. How are the people of God defined? How are the promises of God received? Who is the object of God's future promises and blessing? It's the Church. It's Christ and all of those who are comprehended in Him, Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. You are all one. There are not two. There is only one. Let me say just a couple of other things about this real quickly and then we've got to get into chapter 22. God gives His people rest, verse 44, when their enemies are defeated. We need a stronger theology of suffering, we've said before. A theology of joining with Christ in persecution and in suffering for the Kingdom of God. We need a stronger theology of judgment. We've talked about this with regard to imprecatory language in the Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture. You know, the language in the Bible that offends people in the church today. Events like the Canaanite conquest that offend the unbeliever. How could God do that? Let me tell you something, God's going to do that again. In fact, God's going to do a lot more than that. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. It is a righteous thing for God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is not preaching angry. Paul is preaching comfort to that church. You realize that? He is writing to a church that was under such heavy persecution that after just a few weeks of having planted the church, Paul has to flee the city. You can read the story in Acts chapter 17. He's not been there long. At most, a few months. But in the text, there's only a mention of a few Sabbaths. Perhaps just a few weeks. And Paul has to flee the city because the persecution is so severe, they're after him, and they turn their attention on the church. And these new converts are being pounded by unbelievers in their community. And Paul writes back to them, and he says, you know, this is hard, but judgment is coming. And we think that, oh, we don't want this hellfire and brimstone preaching. Let me tell you, I understand. I mean, we need some of that. We really do. We need more of that in a lot of churches today. But I understand how that has been oftentimes administered in an abusive way by the pulpit. And I don't want you to feel like we've got to just come every Sunday and get beat up by the pastor, go home licking our wounds. But do you recognize that the reason that so much of the New Testament and so much of the Psalms talk about God's judgment is to comfort the church? is to say right now, Christians are the most persecuted group on the face of the planet. We have brothers and sisters who are losing their lives in grotesque ways all over the globe. But don't worry, judgment's coming. And that's good news. We have 55 million babies that have been butchered in the womb and some of their body parts have been sold. Right? But don't worry. Judgment is coming. That's good news. God gives His people rest when their enemies are vanquished. Now, I don't have a lot of time to do this, so I'm going to just mention this and then move on. Some of you, I think, probably, are doing the Bible reading schedule that we've been putting on the bulletin the last two weeks, right? This is the Robert Murray McShane's Bible reading plan. And so last week you read Genesis chapter 5 as part of that. It's one of the genealogies, right? Hopefully we're able to stay awake, it's not a very long chapter. In verses 28 and 29 of Genesis chapter 5, when Lamed has a son, he names him Noah, for this one will bring us rest or comfort because of the curse that God has spoken. Rest, comfort, yeah. You know exactly how that works? Flood. You know how God brought rest to His people? By destroying everybody else. Destroying the ungodly. Now, understand, we pray first and foremost that God grants repentance to our enemies. You know, we are not to be cherishing thoughts of malice toward those who are our foes. But we need to grab hold of the promises of God that are embedded within the promise that He will judge the world. He will judge the ungodly. I don't want to live forever in the kind of world where babies in the womb get cut up and sucked out. Right? I don't want to live in that kind of world. I don't want to live in the kind of world where holocausts happen, where genocide happens, where nuclear war is always a possibility. I don't want to live in that kind of world forever. Right? And I won't. And you won't. Praise God. God gives rest to His people. Colossians chapter 2 talks about Christ triumphing over all of His enemies, disarming His adversaries, manifesting His glory at the cross. And that picture, that moment, is interpreted in multiple texts in the New Testament as Christ defeating the devil. John says, 1 John 3, you know that Christ appeared to destroy the works of the devil. That's good news. And finally, there is an eschatological hope. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But Paul says, brothers and sisters, we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible. And he says, O death, where is your sting? Where is your victory? He has put the last enemy under his feet. He has vanquished death itself. God's people are comforted when God vanquishes their enemies. Last point about these verses. These verses are about doxology, worship. Say, this is the heartbeat of Joshua. This is the center. Everything that goes before it, all of the battles, all of the strategic planning, all of the allotments for each tribe and the territory that they're going to settle, all of that is so that we can say, thus, Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give to their fathers. God kept His word. That's why we read those first 21 chapters. It's so that we could say, God kept His word, blessed be His name. And you and I have to recognize that God's mighty acts of redemption are for this purpose, right? To bring Him praise. I don't remember when we mentioned this, I've said this recently in some church thing, so it may have been a sermon, it may have been a class, I don't know. But I think one of the mistakes that we sometimes make, especially in the modern evangelical world, is that we think about Sunday as being primarily intended to recharge our batteries so that we can get back out and do the real work that God calls us to do. And I'm telling you, God does call you to do work. Every one of us are to glorify God in our particular places and vocations. And that is not the primary work that you and I are called to do. God has called us out of darkness, 1 Peter chapter 2 says, into His marvelous light that we may proclaim His praises. And what I want you to recognize is that the worship that we enter into on the Lord's day, as the church is called into God's presence, receives His blessing, hears His word, feels assurance of His grace, that is why you and I were made. That's, I mean, what is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And we look at worship and Sunday as if that's kind of secondary. You know, that's for me, that's to get me pepped back up so that I can get back out there and do God's work. Well, I mean, I hope it has that effect, yes. I hope that you do feel spiritually recharged and that you are on fire to live for God, right, during the week. But don't diminish the significance of worship. See, I fall into this all the time. And as a pastor, I mean, I'm ashamed to admit this, but I fall into this all the time. I think I'm so busy that I don't have time to spend time in prayer. I'm so busy that I don't have time to just sit down and worship God in reading Scripture, because I've got this person I've got to meet with, and this thing that I've got to do, and this lesson I've got to prepare. What is my primary work? Not as a pastor, as a person made in the image of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ. I'm made to worship. And I recognize that we can get that out of balance, too, where we're spending all our time reading our Bible, saying our prayers, and never getting anything else done. That's not what I'm advocating. But let's be honest. I don't think that we're even close to being in danger. of that, right? I'm not. I'm not. I could stand to do a whole lot more praying and worshiping. Because that's what we're made for. And that's this section, is to say God has done His work and He is worthy to be praised. Does that make sense? Okay, so, see, that's why I said I'm not even going to look at chapter 23 tonight. Alright, chapter 22. This is a great, great text. I'm going to read the entirety of it, and then we'll talk about it. At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. You have not forsaken your brothers these many days down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of Yahweh your God. And now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers as He promised to them. Therefore, turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to you on the other side of the Jordan. Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cling to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan. But to the other half, Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, he said to them, Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.' So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land by which they had possessed themselves, of which they had possessed themselves by command of Yahweh through Moses. And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. And the people of Israel heard it. I'm struggling tonight, brothers. I'm sorry. And the people of Israel heard it and said, Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan in the region about the Jordan on the side that belongs to the people of Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them. Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben, and the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phineas the son of Eliezer the priest, and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, Thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following Yahweh by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against Yahweh? Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor, from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of Yahweh, that you too must turn away this day from following Yahweh? And if you too rebel against Yahweh today, then tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into Yahweh's land, where Yahweh's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against Yahweh, or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things? And wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel. And he did not perish alone for his iniquity. Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, He knows, and let Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against Yahweh, do not spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following Yahweh. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may Yahweh Himself take vengeance. No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, what have you to do with Yahweh the God of Israel? For Yahweh has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in Yahweh. So your children might make our children cease to worship Yahweh. Therefore we said, let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of Yahweh in His presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, you have no portion in Yahweh. And we thought, if this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, Behold the copy of the altar of Yahweh which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you. Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh and turn away this day from following Yahweh by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice other than the altar of Yahweh our God that stands before this tabernacle. When Phineas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes. And Phineas, the son of Eliezer the priest, said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, Today we know that Yahweh is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Yahweh. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of Yahweh. Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the chiefs returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan to the people of Israel and brought back word to them. And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar witness, for they said, it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God." Okay. This is a great chapter. Really helpful. Really important in terms of the final structure of the book. I'll just mention this. You'll see this over the next week or two. Chapter 22, chapter 23, chapter 24, all are assembly chapters. In chapter 22, it's the assembly of the eastern tribes. Reuben, Gad, half of the tribe of Manasseh, have territory allotted to them on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Joshua calls them to assemble at the beginning of the chapter. He gives them the benediction, blesses them, sends them on their way, exhorts them to keep the word of the Lord, and then this controversy of the altar ensues. Then in chapter 23 and chapter 24, we're going to see two additional assemblies. So what you have is the main body of the book, takes up chapters 1-21. These last three chapters are kind of appendices, right, where Joshua is exhorting the people in various venues. And we'll see that again, as I said, over the next couple of weeks. One of the things that's fascinating to me at the beginning of this section in verses 1-6 is how Joshua begins with the blessing. and then lays upon them the obligation of being faithful to the Lord. He does not assume at the outset that they will not be faithful. Instead, he praises them, he gives thanks for the goodness of God in their lives. He says, verse 3, you have not forsaken your brothers these many days down to this day, but you have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. That's the right way to do this, right? This needs to be a happy parting, and yet there needs to be some clear exhortation. There needs to be some admonition to say, now as you go your way, that Jordan River is a bigger boundary than any of us recognize. We live in a world where there are bridges, right? And we build bridges over waterways all the time. This is a much larger geographic separation between these two parts of the nation than we probably have imagined clearly. And so there needs to be this warning to say, don't turn back. Be careful to keep the word of the Lord. And Joshua is just echoing there in verse 5. He is just echoing Deuteronomy chapter 10 and other passages like that. And so, these two and a half tribes, they go on their way, and as they are going, they cross the Jordan River, and they build this massive replica of the altar at the tabernacle. It's the altar of burnt offerings, so you remember this is a large cube, basically. It's got a bronze plating over it, a grate in the middle of it, and horns on the sides. And this is where they would burn the sacrifices in the courtyard of the tabernacle. They built this massive replica, apparently very visible, quite a landmark. And when the western tribes, those in Canaan proper, hear about this, their immediate response is dismay and anger. And they actually muster the army and say, we're going to go and have a civil war because of this. This is going to be a religious war because the eastern tribe is departing from the Lord. Now, I want you to see why this is so significant. So hold your place here, go back to the book of Deuteronomy to chapter 12 for a minute. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 12. Remember we said that there are many things in Deuteronomy and the Mosaic Law that couldn't really be applied until they got into the land? This is one of them. Deuteronomy chapter 12, beginning at verse 1. These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods. On the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green hill, you shall tear down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship Yahweh your God in that way, but you shall seek the place that Yahweh your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name and make His habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you." Goes on to say, you are not to offer a sacrifice anywhere except the place that God designates. Now, the place that God designates has not been specified in Joshua chapter 22. And so it basically is wherever the tabernacle and the priests are, okay? Eventually it will be Jerusalem. But that hasn't been specified in Joshua chapter 22. And so in one way you could say, well, God didn't say not to build an altar on the side of the Jordan River. But that's not how God's law works, is it? It's not about whatever God has not forbidden, He permits. No, no. God tells us how He wants to be worshipped. And we are to abide by that. We don't have the liberty to add rites or traditions or objects of worship other than those things that God Himself has specified in His Word. And erecting other places of worship is expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy chapter 12. And if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 13, if you're still there, There is a description of apostasy. And what is said is, if there is a person or a city in the land, even if it is a close family member who commits apostasy, who begins to worship another god, who begins to reject the law of the Lord, the entire nation is to exact judgment upon them, is to take action to discipline them, even to the point of putting them to death. That's why this is such a big deal. Now, a number of commentators miss this. And they will come to Joshua chapter 22, and they will say, look at how awful human depravity really is. Because as soon as they hear about the construction of this altar, they just fly off the handle. They fly into a rage. They're ready to go to war. Isn't that just like these terrible human beings? They're always ready to go to war. Let me tell you something. This chapter, I'm persuaded, is here to show us the importance of strict fidelity to the Word of God. And if you think about this book addressing the next generation during the period of the judges, what do they need to hear? Because in the period of the judges, guess what they're doing? Whatever is right in their own eyes. There is no king in Israel. Everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes. And so as soon as the western tribes hear about this, what do they automatically assume? Well, they assume that if you build an altar, that's for the purpose of sacrifice, after all. That's how the Israelites worship. That's what you do with an altar. You go there and you offer sacrifices. And the Canaanites had altars like this all over the place. They are under the ban. They are under the curse. And no sooner have they left Canaan proper, the eastern tribes are already setting up high places. And so the Western tribes are ready to go to war. Now, I want to say a couple of things just by way of application about potential apostasy, and then kind of we're going to nail down the most important point and go home. We need to recognize in this passage and many, many others like it, that we have to be willing to confront error when we see it within the church. I realized that this is not fun. I realized it would be easier if we just kind of looked the other way and kept moving. Jude writes a little letter at the end of the New Testament, and he says, "'Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write and exhort you that you would contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.'" And why is that, Jude? Verse 4, he says, "'For certain persons have crept in secretly who were marked out for destruction long ago.'" And they are perverting the gospel, they are perverting the way of the Lord, and he says, I wanted to write kind of a positive message about the gospel, about our salvation in Christ, about how much God loves us. But he said, I have to write you instead and tell you, you must contend. for the faith, fight for the truth. We are called to contend without being contentious. And I realize that that's hard. I realize that we often get that wrong. But let me tell you something. It is as wrong not to contend for the truth as it is to be contentious. It is just as wrong. It is deadly to the church. to look the other way when potential apostasy arises. We are to love our brethren, and we are to love the purity of God's church enough to discipline offenders when it's necessary. Secondly, when we begin to approach a situation of potential sin and apostasy like this, we need to approach with a lot of humility. and ask honest questions and be willing to listen to the answers. You see, commentators that run past this, they see that Israel is mustering and preparing for war, they don't notice that the first thing they do is not send out the troops, they send out the priest. They send Phineas and ten of the elders, and they send this delegation representing the leadership of the nation, and they say, what are you doing? Do you not know what we have been through? Do you not understand the seriousness of something like this? And in fact, the Eastern tribes do understand. They say, if this is what we've done, then judge us. Punish us. Let God punish us. But they say, as it turns out, that's not at all what we're doing. It was a misunderstanding. It was a failure of communication. Praise God. That doesn't mean that the West was hasty in preparing to deal out judgment to those who were committing apostasy, because what they say is right. If the Eastern tribes rebel and the Western tribes don't do anything about it, guess where God's judgment falls? Not only on the East, but on the West. Do you remember Akin's family? We had this conversation. This is the way that God's judgment works. I am not only responsible for myself and my behavior, I'm responsible for my family. And I'm not only responsible for my household, I'm responsible for, as much as I have opportunity, God's family, over whom I'm a pastor, and among whom we are brothers and sisters. We have responsibilities to each other. There's accountability. And therefore, there is responsibility. We need to be able to dialogue with one another without making assumptions, without maligning people, be willing to listen and to answer without defensiveness. I am convinced that defensiveness is one of our worst characteristics as human beings. It just shuts down communication. It makes it impossible for us to hear anything that someone else is saying. And every one of us struggles with that, or at least I do. I'm hoping that you do. I know that I counsel a lot of people who do. Defensiveness is awful for any kind of productive dialogue. And then third, we need to be willing to relent repent, be reconciled, enjoy the peace of restoration in the aftermath of an incident like this. In this case, there was no sin. There was simply a failure to communicate. I mean, next time you want to go back to the eastern side of the Jordan and build an altar, why don't you give us a heads up, right? I mean, let us know that you're about to do something that is going to look like an act of national apostasy, right? There was just a failure of communication. Praise God. What if there was actual sin and discipline led to repentance by the offender? Well, that's the situation we have in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And Paul says, I wrote to you to discipline this brother, and now that he's repented, I'm writing to you to urge you to reaffirm your love for him. Restore such a one, lest he be swallowed up by too much sorrow. Are we willing to do that? Am I willing if someone has to come and confront me in my sin and I'm hurt? And I'm offended that they would believe that I would turn away from the Lord, and now I just can't get past that conversation. Don't be that person. You know, at the end of this, this is a beautiful scene. The East says, no, no, we understand the concern, and if that were what it was, it would be right for God to judge us, but that's not what's going on. And the West says, praise God. And there is peace, and there is unity, and in fact, the entire concern about this altar of witness is unity. Are we that desirous of seeing unity among God's people and unity that is based upon purity? James says, James chapter 3, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable. First, then. That's in the text. That's not my addition to it. That's not my commentary. He says, it's first pure, then peaceable. You're not going to have true peace as the people of God, as the church of God, when there's not purity, when there's not a concern for purity. Dale Ralph Davis is a PCA pastor who's written several Old Testament commentaries. In his work on this particular passage, he says, the Western tribes argued that unity cannot exist with apostasy. while the eastern tribes feared that fidelity cannot exist without unity. And Davis is arguing that that is the paradox that has to be embraced. That you cannot have true unity without purity, but you also will never have true purity and faithfulness to the covenant without a concern for the unity of God's people as well. And so they're mutually supporting. We need to be willing to yield. We need to be willing to say, I was wrong. We need to be teachable. We need to be able to admit error. That's what we see here on both sides, right? On both sides, there is a willingness to dialogue and an openness to say, I understand why it looked that way. I get that complaint. The Eastern tribes are not defensive and say, of course we would never do that. They say, oh, we get that. We remember the situation with Achan. We remember the judgment of God at Belpior. We don't want to go there, right? But the West is also willing to say, you know what? We were hasty. This was not at all what we thought it was. Praise God. We're thankful for that. Let's live in peace. And sometimes you see the people of God unable to get past those moments. I think this church does this really well, by the way. I mean, I think you are to be commended, and I think the elders would say as well, you're to be commended for how well we've seen this happen within our congregation. But that's got to be a priority for us. It's got to be something we're aware of, right? Randy. A little bit off track, but not completely. Okay, yeah. How many years Yeah, so that would be that would be just around 1000 AD about 1010 or so if I remember correctly and Here we are 1447 coming out, 1437-ish coming in, seven or eight years past that to this point, so we're probably 425 years or so, give or take five or 10 years, yeah. And the split over the calves and the alters and yeah, yeah, it's a great question. Two minutes, this is the primary reason this chapter's here. We have to see the necessity of complete loyalty to God in everything. I don't think this chapter is here so that we have just an example of how to confront one another and be reconciled. Okay, I think it helps us there. That's what I've just been suggesting, but I don't think that's the primary purpose of this passage. I don't think that this passage is here so that we can kind of judge the western tribes for being hasty, or judge the eastern tribes for being foolish. The passage is here so that we can see here at the close of the conquest, God's people understand, they have learned this lesson, that God demands loyalty in all respects. How big a deal is worship? How big a deal are God's commandments? See, a lot of people think today, hey, kind of live and let live, and we just want to be affirming of everything and anything, even within the church, even within the boundaries of the church. And brothers and sisters, what I want you to see is that Israel is learning the hard way that God cares about these things. God reveals His will for a reason. And it's not because He's indifferent. It's because He cares about these issues. Now, where is the failure of this generation? The failure of this generation is not in the conquest. It's not in covenant fidelity. It's in child-rearing. And we'll get there in Judges 2 and verse 10. Child-rearing. They don't teach their children the lessons that they learn. And the next generation pays a heavy price for that. But one of the things we need to see is that even something like worship is a really big deal. That we are to abide by what God has said, and we are to take the possibility of apostasy seriously, because in doing so, we are showing our love for God, we're showing our love for our brethren, and we're showing our love for Christ's bride. Does that make sense? Okay, any questions before we finish up? Alright, let's close in prayer. Our God and Father, thank you so much for the blessing of this text that we've looked at this evening, for the way in which it sets forth before our very eyes, the fulfillment of your promises, that not one word that you spoke to the patriarchs fell to the ground or passed unfulfilled. We see, O Lord, in Your faithfulness to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the way in which You exercise power on behalf of Your people. And we see in Christ the perfecting of those promises, the full fulfillment. We see, O God, the glory of what You intended and decreed even before the foundation of the world. Lord, we see in the chapter that we've just read how close Israel was to complete division, and even perhaps to annihilating certain tribes. And yet we see it because of their mutual concern for Your law and for Your worship. That the East would build this altar of witness so that they would never be separated from the worship of Yahweh at the place You had appointed. and that the West would be concerned about that very altar because they feared that was the intention behind it. And God, we thank You for that Spirit. We pray that You would awaken within Your church, even in this present age, a concern for Your worship, a concern for Your truth, a concern for fidelity to Your Word, and a concern for unity within and among Your people. We thank You and praise You, O God, for Your mercy, and ask Your continued blessing that You would watch over us and keep us. In Jesus' holy name, Amen.