”It’s Time For a Praise Break” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua

And I know that we've been in here for a

while already, but I want to give you

just a thought today from Joshua 12. And

and I don't want to scare you with this,

but we're going to dip into chapter 13

as well. We're going to go through all

of chapter 12. And then, Lord willing,

we'll get into chapter 13 just a little

bit as we journey through the book of

Joshua. Father, I need your help now.

And I pray that you would help me to

speak clearly. Lord, clear my mind. Uh

help me to pastor your people. And I

pray that we would be encouraged through

this thought, through this passage, and

uh may you receive all of the glory, may

you receive all of the honor. Lord, if

there is one here today who does not

know for sure that they're on their way

to heaven, then Lord, I pray that today

would be that day where they would call

on the name of the Lord. And you've

promised that whosoever shall call on

the name of the Lord shall be saved. And

so, Father, today would that what a

wonderful day it would be if someone

were to ask Jesus into their heart. For

those of us who are saved today, I know

many of us carry battles and

discouragement and things into a church

service. And so today, I pray that just

for a few minutes as we look into the

word of God, that I would not be seen,

but that the peace that passes all

understanding that can only come through

the Holy Spirit would would just flow

through this place, that the word of God

would not return void, that you would

encourage your people, you would help

us, you draw us closer to you. We ask

these things in Jesus name. Amen.

I want to preach this morning for just a

few moments. And I will do my very best

to to be brief. I won't be long-winded

this morning, but I want to preach for

just a few moments on this thought. It's

time for a praise break. It's time for a

praise break. What is a praise break?

Some of you probably have some sort of

idea of what I mean by that, but let me

just I I let me just define it for us

this morning. A praise break is simply a

pause in the routine for a time of

onpurpose praise for who God is and what

God has done. It's a pause in the

routine so that we can onpurpose praise

God for who he is and what he's done. In

many ways, every Sunday morning is a

praise break. When you come to church on

Sunday morning, you pause the busyiness

of life. you pause all of the stuff

going on and and and we don't plan

anything and we don't get wrapped up in

in all of the to-do list, but we just

set it aside for a couple of hours and

we come to church for what? So that we

can on purpose praise God for who he is

and what he's done. That's really what

we do when we come to church. That's why

we sing. That's why we lift our hands.

That's that's why we say amen. That's

why we open the word of God. Everything

that we do on a Sunday uh has to do with

giving God the worship that only he

deserves, a praise break. But you don't

have to only do this at church. You can

do this anytime. You you can wake up in

the morning and you can say, "You know

what? Before I'm going to do anything

else, I'm going to pause and I'm going

to have a little praise break. I'm going

to talk to the Lord. I'm going to look

at what he's done. I'm going to observe

who he is and I'm going to give glory to

God before I do anything else on this

day. before I get caught up and all of

the stuff of life, I'm going to pause

the routine and I'm going to worship God

on purpose. In life, there are seasons,

we know this, there are seasons of

battle. There are seasons that are so

intense at times that all you can think

about is the struggle, the trial, the

thing that you're going through in life.

There are seasons of discouragement.

There are seasons uh where you get so

downtrodden and so discouraged with the

routine of life and the things that are

going on and the devil can really use

those to to weigh you down and beat you

down in your spirit and you can become

so discouraged. What do you need to do?

It's time take a little praise break by

preaching this morning on this thought.

I'm not diminishing the battles that we

we fight. I'm not diminishing the trials

that go on, but I do know this. I think

the most powerful praise in all of the

world is not what we do on the

mountaintop when life is good. Anybody

can come to church when life is good.

Anybody can show up when life is going

great and give God praise. And we ought

to do that. We should do that. But there

is something so powerful about that

individual or that family who is down in

the valley, who is going through the

trial, who is discouraged, who is

downtrodden, and yet they pick

themselves up. They get themselves

ready. They come into the house of God.

They pause all of the things of life

that are discouraging them, that have

them down, all the things that they're

thinking about, all the things that are

causing them to lose sleep. They put it

all aside for a little bit and they

focus on Jesus. And on purpose they

praise him for who he is and for what he

has done. That is powerful praise. There

is something that that is about that.

When someone can do that and other

people in this church family and this

church body, you look across the aisle

and you see that family who you were on

the phone with this week and they were

telling you, "Hey, I'm discouraged and

I'm struggling with this and I'm

struggling with that." And now you see

them in church on a Sunday morning and

you see their hands lifted up in worship

and you see them on purpose praising God

for who he is. That'll do your heart

good. It's doing their heart good. It'll

do your heart good. And soon the body of

Christ is joined together. Not thinking

about the busyiness of life, not

thinking about the schedules, not

thinking about the deadlines, but

thinking about Jesus and Jesus alone

because he is so good. It's time for a

praise break. We come to Joshua chapter

Joshua 12 · chapter mention

12 in our text. That's exactly what's

taking place.

The nation of Israel is going to have a

worship service praising God for what he

has already done in the conquering the

conquest of the land of Canaan. They're

going to name 31 kings. In verse 24, the

last verse says that there are 31 kings

who have been defeated by Joshua and the

nation of Israel already. God has given

Israel many, many, many victories.

Chapter 1-5 of the book of Joshua, we

studied those chapters a few months ago.

God is preparing the people to go into

the promised land. That's chapter 1-5.

More recently, we've studied and looked

at chapter 6 through chapter 12 and what

takes place in those chapters. Well,

we've talked about it and we've seen

this this almost repetitive narrative

where they go and they conquer some

city. They conquer some piece of land.

They take new ground and God gives them

victory. And now we come to chapter 13

through the end of the book and that's

the dividing of the land of Canaan. And

we'll talk about that in the coming

weeks. But the end of that conquering of

the land of Canaan, that that initial

battle, it took seven years of fighting

from the time they crossed over the

Jordan River and they take Jericho until

chapter 12. Seven years of fighting and

they're going to pause before they do

anything else. And they're going to

remember what God has done. They're

going to remember who he is and they're

going to worship him for who he is and

for what he's done. One purpose. I want

you to look at Joshua chapter 12. Look

Joshua 12 · chapter mention

at verse number one. I'm not going to

read all of these here. I want to give

you homework. Can I give you homework

real quick? There's a lot of names in

chapter 12 and chapter 13. So, instead

of me trying to read them all and

embarrass myself this morning, I want

you to go home and with your spouse or

your kids or your family, I want you to

read them. Y'all take turns. Just just

go you read a verse, they read a verse,

next person reads a verse, and you just

read these two chapters as a family. And

then you can embarrass yourself with

your family and y'all can laugh at each

other. It'll be a great homework

assignment. Okay, you just do your very

best to pronounce all these names and I

think you'll enjoy that. But this

morning, I'm only going to read a few

verses and then I'll I'll outline the

text for you so you know what's going

on. Chapter 12, verse one. Now these are

the kings of the land which the children

of Israel smoked. Past tense, this has

already happened. And possessed their

land on the other side of the Jordan

towards the rising of the sun from the

river Arnon unto Mount Hermone and all

the plain of the east. Sihon, king of

the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon and

ruled from this word right here is

really it it's not a big word but it is

an intimidating word to say. Okay, it's

really difficult. I think it's something

like aer I think you can tell me if if

you have a better pronunciation which is

upon the bank of the river Arnon and

from the middle of the river and from

half Gilead even under the river Jebach

which is the border of the children of

Ammon and from the plain to the sea of

Chinroth on the east and under the sea

of the plain even to the salt sea on the

east and the way of Bethamosh

and from the south under ash do pisgot.

Okay, I gave you a head start. You got a

few of them in there. We're going to

stop right there. We're going to jump

down now to verse number 24, the last

verse in the chapter.

And the king of Tzah won

all the kings 30 and one. So 31 kings

and they're named here with the cities

that they ruled in. 31 kings have been

defeated. Now look at chapter 13 verse

number one. Now Joshua, we'll get to

here right at the end of the sermon.

This is where we're going. Verse one.

Now Joshua was old and stricken in

years. And the Lord said unto him, "Thou

art old and stricken in years, and and

there remainth yet very much land to be

possessed. This is the land that yet

remainth all the borders of the

Philistines and all of Gishurai." And

then it continues to lay out the

boundaries of what remains to be

conquered. Okay,

they're going to pause in chapter 12 and

everything that they're going to talk

about in chapter 12 has already been

accomplished. God has already done it.

It's victories. It's kings. It's cities

that have already been conquered by

Joshua. And I just want to give you the

outline. Can I give you the outline in

verse one through verse number six?

Those are Moses's victories.

Those are Moses's victories. Now, Moses

didn't actually go into the promised

land. You remember Moses sinned and he

wasn't allowed to enter. But prior to

his death, Moses as the leader of the

children of Israel did win some

victories. He he laid a great foundation

for the nation of Israel. And so verse

number one through verse number six,

Moses's victories. The rest of the

chapter is Joshua's victories. And then

we get to chapter 13 and we find future

victories. That's the outline this

morning. Okay. So, I want to show you uh

based on that outline, looking at

exactly what the text says, I want to

show you three facts that Israel praised

God for. And then I'm going to apply it

to you and I and and I'm going to say,

"Hey, this is stuff that you and I can

praise God for this morning, tomorrow,

this week." You ready? Number one, we

praise God for Moses's victories. Now,

I'm going to apply this to where we

live, but I want you to see it first in

the text.

The text is going to begin in verse

number one. And and he's going to begin

to recount the kings that were slain on

the other side of the Jordan River.

Before they got into the promised land,

there was already battles. Moses was in

charge at the time. It's taking us back

over seven years from where chapter 11

ends. Chapter 11 ends the seven years of

fighting. We know that from chap verse

number 18. Uh if you look at verse 18 of

chapter 11, Joshua made war a long time

with all of those kings. If you want to

put in the margin of your Bible, you can

write it out beside that. Seven years.

If you do the math of Caleb's age and

and all of the things that had happened,

they were fighting for seven years in

the promised land. That's where chapter

11 ends. Those seven years are now

concluded. So now we're going to go back

all the way to the other side of the

Jordan and we're going to remember what

God did through Moses.

Moses fell short. You remember?

Here's what happened. God's leading the

people along and and the people complain

and they're murmuring because they're

thirsty. And God tells Moses, "Hey, I

want you to go speak to the rock." Well,

Moses is fed up with these honory people

complaining all the time. And so instead

of speaking to the rock, he just beats

on the rock and he begins to hit the

rock and and water comes out. They get

water. God still does the miracle, but

Moses disobeyed. And so because of his

disobedience, God said, "Moses, you're

not going to get to enter the promised

land." Y'all awake this morning? Okay, I

promise this is going to come together.

And it is a powerful truth, but you've

got to stay with me. Okay, let's do the

let's do some foundation. Let's build

the foundation and then we'll we'll give

you the sermon here in just a moment. Mo

Moses hits the rock, disobys God. God

said, "Okay, Moses, you cannot go into

the promised land because you have hit

you've disobeyed what I said." Now, now

on the other side though, Moses was

still a good leader, right? In fact,

Moses, when you get to Joshua chapter 1,

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

God's Joshua 1, Moses has died and and

Joshua is is coming onto the scene and

God says some pretty great things about

Moses. Moses was a great man of God. He

was a great leader of God's people. And

so the nation of Israel, before they go

anywhere else, before they do anything

else, they're going to pause and they're

going to remember where they came from.

They're going to remember their

heritage. They're going to remember the

godly leader who came before. And I

think it's important for people today,

for churches like ours to remember those

who laid the foundation for us, those

who came before us, those who fought the

battles before I was even alive. There

are some great men of God in Baptist

history, in Bible history, that paved

the way for you and I so that today we

can enjoy what we enjoy. I think about

the leaders of the United States of

America when they founded this country.

This country was founded on Christian

principles. It was a Christian nation

founded by Christian men. Anyone who

says that the founding fathers were not

Christian have not read much of the

founding fathers literature. You read

what they're writing. You read what

they're saying. They're men of prayer.

They're men of Bible study. And they

founded a nation on God's word. And

sometimes, listen, it's a good idea for

you and I to say, "Thank you, God, that

we had some founding fathers who put put

Bible principles at such a high value

that we live in a country today that is

free. We get to meet in this place of

worship today. And we have the freedom

of worship this morning because somebody

valued the word of God. We ought to

praise God for our Moses. The victories

that came before, the victories that

came on the other side of the Jordan

River. I think about some great men of

God. You may want to write these down if

you enjoy Bible study and you're looking

for men to follow after, men to read

after. There's many I could say, but

I'll just give you a few statesmen of

the faith that are in more recent

history. I I love to listen to Adrien

Rogers preach. A fantastic statesman of

the word of God. He can get up and he

can take a passage of scripture and

expound it and it's so practical and

it's so helpful. I think about men like

Awtoer. I'm reading a book right now

written by Toer on on the concept of

worship. And Toer was a man of such deep

worship that the book says there are

times that he would come to the dinner

table and he would not speak a word to

his family because he was so consumed in

his mind with the thoughts of God. He

didn't want anyone to interrupt what he

was contemplating and the worship that

was going on in his heart. He he would

go for days and not speak to anyone. and

he would just be in his prayer closet

worshiping God. A man of amazing

devotion.

I think about perhaps one of the

greatest preachers in American history.

A young man by the name of Jonathan

Edwards preached the greatest sermon

that has ever been preached on American

soil. God used it in a fascinating way.

I recently uh listened to uh the sermon

that Jonathan Edwards preached that

really spurred the great awakening in

America. sinners in the hands of an

angry God. If you've never read that or

listened to that sermon, go listen to it

this afternoon. It's a powerful sermon.

A man that was used by God. I'm I could

go on and on. We could think about other

I there's a a man in my life who has has

influenced my life so much. He's passed

on and went on with the Lord now and I

even hesitate to say his name, but but

man, he influenced my life when I was

first going to Bible college. Dr. Shane

Lewis, what a man of God. and what he

did uh in in Alabama with that ministry.

And and I I listen to his sermons often.

And I could go on and on and on about

men who have come before us who paved

the way, who fought the battles

so that you and I this morning

get to worship the Lord.

And how often do we take it for granted?

Church in our culture has become

optional.

Church in our culture has become

something we just have to get through.

Church in our culture has become more

about screens and technology than it is

about truth. It's more about the the

facade and the performance and and can

they give me what I'm looking for? Am I

going to be comfortable while I'm there?

Church has become so much of

consumerbased

ideology. And I wonder what would these

men of old have to have said if they

came into a church today and they saw it

mostly empty and they heard about the

people who who are just laying out of

church and they don't take it seriously

and they're they're not worshiping God

and and and they would have not even

understood the church culture of today.

I think it would have went right over

their head and they would have said,

"No, these people must be sick." Because

there was a day when men gave their life

100%

to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it

wasn't just a preacher thing, and it

wasn't just a pastor thing, but the

church was the life. Your family's life

was circled around the church. What is

the church doing? That's first on the

calendar. What is the church doing?

That's where we need to be. every time

the doors are open. I was raised in a

home where I went to church Sunday

morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night,

Wednesday night, Friday night, Saturday

morning visitation and then back to

church on Sunday morning. That my dad

wasn't the pastor. We were just a family

in the church and we went every single

time the doors are open.

And you don't see that. You people you

preach stuff like this now and and

people look at you like you're an alien.

Well, I could never do that. I would

never be able to do that with my family.

Yes, you can. And we wonder why the

family's falling apart.

Perhaps

if we took a pause and we on purpose

said, "God, thank you for the men who

took it serious enough to give

everything that they had. Perhaps it

would remind us just how important this

word is, just how important this place

is. Praise God for our Moses. The men

who stood in the gap, the men who made

it possible. I think of my grandpa. My

grandpa stood right here on this

platform for 20 years.

And he preached faithfully to a handful

of people in this church for 20 years.

Faithfully stood and preached in this

place. And he's going on to heaven now.

And he's worshiping like he never

worshiped before. And one of these days,

I'm going to get to go to heaven and I'm

going to see him. and I'm going to walk

up to him and I'm going to shake his

hand and I'm going to hug his neck and

I'm going to say, "Thank you for taking

it serious."

I believe that if my grandpa had not

stayed in this place, there is a chance

that we would not be in this place this

morning,

but he stayed. And this morning, we are

here. And we've watched God do an

amazing in the last month, we've seen

eight people come to know Christ through

the ministries of our church. God is

doing something because somebody said

it's serious enough to give it my life

and give it my all. And you've got

people in your life you can go back to

and you can say look at what they gave

up for the cause of Christ. We look at

missionaries like the Mojers, all of the

comforts of America. They're willing to

give it all up and go to Brazil and

raise their family in a foreign country.

Why? Because the truth is worth it. It's

worth it.

and we can't even wake up early enough

to come to small groups on a Sunday

morning.

Number two,

not only do we praise God for our Moses

and Moses's victories, but we see in the

text, we praise God for Joshua's

victories. The first six verses are all

about the kings that Moses defeated. And

then we cross over the Jordan River and

we begin to see all of the victories

that Joshua had.

In verse number seven, I'll just read a

couple of these verses. Verse 7. And

these are the kings of the country which

Joshua and the children of Israel

smoteed on this side Jordan on the west

from Baal Gad and the valley of Lebanon,

even under the Mount Halak that goeth up

to Seier, which Joshua gave unto the

tribes of Israel for a possession

according to their divisions. And you

can continue to read. Drop down to verse

number nine.

Actually, you know what? I don't want to

skip verse eight. Look at verse eight

specifically.

This is this is amazing. this verse last

night. I was reading through this

passage again and this verse jumped out

at me. Verse eight, in the mountains

and in the valleys and in the plains and

in the springs and in the wilderness and

in the south country, the Hittites and

the Amorites and the Canaanites and the

Perizzites and the Hivites and the

Jebusites and all of those other

mosquito bites, God took care of them.

Listen, listen, I joke about that, but

that's all they were to God.

>> That's all they were to God. And he took

care of every single one of them. Every

enemy to God's people, God took care of.

And for seven years, God gave them

victory after victory after victory

after victory after victory. They were

up on the mountain, they got a victory.

They were down in the valley, they got a

victory. They were over by the springs,

they got a victory. They were out in the

plains, they got a victory. They were

out in the wilderness, they got a

victory. For seven years, over and over

and over and over, God said, "I'm bigger

than your enemies. I'm bigger than your

problems. I'm bigger than what you're

facing. I'm bigger than the giants. Just

trust me. Keep following me and you will

have victory. And this morning, church,

I want to tell you that sometimes it's

good to look back, pause, and praise God

for all of the victories that he's given

us in our life. When you were up on the

mountain, you found that God can give

you victory. And when you were down in

the valley, you found that God can give

you victory. And when you were out in

the plains, you found that God can give

you victory. And when you were by the

well-watered springs, you found that God

can give you victory. And when you were

wandering out in the wilderness, you

found that God could give you victory.

God is faithful. He's bigger than any

problem you face. He's bigger than any

enemy that you find. He's bigger than

any person who may oppose you. God can

give victories to you this morning. He's

a big God. So the nation of Israel is

going to praise him for it. They say,

"Oh, thank you, God, that you gave us

victory on top the mountain. Thank you,

Lord, that you gave us victory when we

were in the valley. Thank you, Lord,

that you gave us victories when we were

by the springs and out in the wilderness

and out on the plains. All of the

enemies that opposed us, you gave us

victories. And God is still a God of

victory. Your home can still have

victory. Your marriage can still have

victory. Your grandchildren can still

have victory. Your church can still have

victory. God is still a God of victory.

When's the last time you just paused and

remembered where he brought you from?

remembered the times when he did what he

said he was going to do. Remembered how

he brought you through. Remember how he

provided. Remember how he protected and

you just begin to go back over your life

and you pause. You put all the busyiness

aside and you take a little praise break

and you say, "God, thank you that you

are a God of victory." That's what the

book of Joshua is all about.

So, we praise God for the victory. Now

look, I I got to I got to notice one

thing and then we'll move on to point

three and we'll be finished.

In verse number nine of chapter 12, they

begins to name these cities. Now, it's

interesting to me that they don't don't

name the kings

because they were nobody to God. Didn't

matter who they were. They conquered the

city. Now, there was a king in that

city. Verse 24 tells us there was 31

kings in total. But the kings aren't

named, just the cities. And he says in

verse 9, and I want you to picture, I

want you to get the scene here. I want

you to get the scene. We're we're

gathered here in the promised land. The

nation of Israel has seen victories.

They've been fighting for seven years.

They've paused for a worship service.

Can you imagine the crowd that that has

gathered down below some sort of

pullpit, a podium, a stage of some kind

and and a speaker, perhaps Joshua

himself has written down these things

and he is communicating them to the

people. And I want you to imagine their

faces as they begin to remember these

individual battles. Look at it. The

first one, Jericho. Verse 9, the king of

Jericho won.

Oh, can you imagine the people

remembering seven years ago when we

crossed across the Jordan River and we

came into the promised land and that

first city, that first fortress that we

saw, it was wrapped around with walls,

high walls and lower walls, and they

were so thick that that no, you couldn't

you couldn't get over them. You couldn't

knock them down. you could ride a

chariot on top of them. They were

massive walls. It was an impenetrable

fortress. And we began to look at it and

thank God, we don't know how you're what

you're doing. We don't know if we can

get through this. We don't know how this

is going to come down. And Joshua said,

"Hey guys, I've got a word from the

Lord. He wants us to go walk around

Jericho one time today. Don't say

anything. Don't talk to nobody. Just be

real quiet and go just walk around it

one time and then we're going to go

home." And I can imagine them

remembering in chapter 12, remembering

going back all the way to chapter 6 and

thinking, God,

what in the world are you doing?

This isn't the plan. This isn't a good

plan. Have you ever been there in your

life? Think about it this morning. That

time where God was leading you to do

something and you're thinking, "This

doesn't make no sense at all in my mind.

This isn't how I would have done it.

This isn't how I would have dreamed it

up."

But now looking back, you remember

Jericho. We walked around it one day. We

walked around it once the second day. We

walked around it once the third day. We

walked around it once the fourth day. We

walked around it once the fifth day. We

walked around it once the sixth day. And

then Joshua changed the game plan. He

said, "Hey, on day seven, we're going to

walk around it seven times." And on the

seventh time around, you're finally

allowed to talk. Listen, there would be

some church people who had a real

problem with walking around for six days

without saying anything.

But on the seventh day, on the seventh

time around, it's time to shout. Can you

imagine the crowd of people as they have

paused to just worship God and Joshua

says, "The king of Jericho won." Do you

remember that, folks? You remember when

the walls came crumbling down? You

remember when we shouted, we climbed up

into the city, that impenetrable

fortress, God gave us a victory. It was

a fantastic victory. And perhaps out in

the crowd, they had more lively. They

weren't Baptists. Maybe they just

weren't Baptist at all. They had some

people out there who DIDN'T MIND GOING,

"WOO! THANK YOU, JESUS. Thank you for

the victory that you gave us." And they

took a little a little bit of time and

they just praised God. And then Joshua

said, "Oh, but there's more. That's just

Jericho. Do you remember the king of Ai

won?

You remember the king of Ai? You

remember what happened after Jericho?

You remember God gave us the great

victory and we thought everything was

going well and and then we went to fight

Ai, a much smaller city. It didn't have

near as much military might. It didn't

have walls going around it and we

thought, "Oh, this will be easy. We'll

just go right in and we'll take it." And

we sent some men down and 30 of our men

died. And men of AI came out and they

chased us back home. And perhaps down in

that crowd, the people already

recognizing what had happened and

remembering what had happened, tears

began to stream down their face as they

remembered their mistake. They

remembered the sin of Achen and how he

had stolen the stuff and put it under

his tent. And because of sin that had

entered the nation, because of the sin

that had entered God's people, they did

not win a victory the first time at AI.

But they lost the first time at AI. And

perhaps they remember how they had

broken the heart of God. And now they're

not shouting and rejoicing, but now in

this worship service, they're weeping.

They say, "Oh God, I remember the time

when I broke your heart.

I remember the time when our nation

broke your heart. Listen, worship is not

all about shouting and dancing and

singing. There are moments of worship

where it is repentance and prayer,

remembering, oh God, I'm sorry.

The second time, Ai, they they get the

victory and then it continues. And I'm

not going to we don't have time today.

I'm out of time already. I don't have

time to go all the way through these.

But every city that they name, there's a

memory that comes to the mind of these

people.

And maybe they shout and maybe they clap

and maybe they weep, but they look back

and they say, "God, thank you for the

last seven years of victory." And we're

standing now in a land that is mostly

conquered. We're standing now in a land

that belongs to us because we serve a

God of victory. Let me give you point

number three. We get to chapter 13. Now,

we've seen the praise God for Moses's

victories and praise God for Joshua's

victories, but chapter 13 tells us we

ought to praise God for future

victories.

Chapter 13, verse number one, Joshua is

recommissioned. Joshua was old and

stricken in years. The Lord said unto

him, "Thou art old and stricken in

years." God can be very blunt sometimes,

right? He just tells him, "Hey, you're

you're an old guy." Joshua was probably

around 90 years old, maybe a little

older than that.

We don't know exactly how old he was,

but around 90 years old at this time.

And God comes to him and says, Joshua,

hey, look, I know you're old, and I know

you want to go sit in the easy chair,

and I know you want to kick your feet

up, and I know you want to take a break,

and I know you want to check out, but

I'm not quite done with you yet, Joshua.

There is still much land to be

conquered. And I know the people that I

pastor, I would never dare call anyone

in this building right now old. I I

would not do that. But I know that some

of you are more experienced Christians

than others of us.

You've been at this a long time. And

sometimes you can feel like, God,

it's time. It's time to check out. I've

done all that I can do. I've prayed all

that I can pray. I've I've ministered

and I've invited everybody that I can

invite and I've I've shared the gospel

over and over and and I've served in my

church for years and years and and maybe

now is a good time for me just to let

the younger people take charge. Maybe

now is time to just let the younger

people do it. God is saying this

morning, hey, there is much land yet to

be conquered. Just because you are older

in your Christian life does not mean

that it is time to not be a Christian

anymore.

>> I'm so thankful for Christian men and

women who are faithful to the end and

they stay with it all the way to the

end. They don't give up and they don't

give in. It wasn't time for Joshua to

retire. Hasn't he done enough already?

God said, "No, Joshua, there's much land

yet to remain. There's much land to be

possessed."

And this morning as a church, I look

over the last four years that we've been

here. And we took some time last Sunday

and we thanked God for all that he has

done in these last four years. But this

morning, let me remind you, there's

still much land to be possessed. There's

still much victories to be won. There's

still more souls that need to be saved.

There's more marriages that need help.

There's more addictions that need to be

broken. There's more pews that need to

be filled up. There's more baptisms that

need to take place. There's more

children that need to be reached.

There's more teenagers who need to be

saved and called to ministry. There's

much more land to be possessed. Don't

give up now. If God has given you breath

in your lungs, then you have a purpose.

Fight. Keep going. Possess the land.

Share the gospel. Be a witness. Be a

prayer warrior. Don't quit. Now, Joshua

was recommissioned in verse number one.

But then verse number two, God promised

him something.

God said, "This is the land that yet

remainth." And he says, "The borders of

the Philistines down to Gishurai, from

Sihore, even into Egypt, under the

borders of Echron northward, which is

counted to the Canaanite, five lords of

the Philistines, the the Gazathites, and

the Astites, and the Escalonites, and

the Gites, and the Echronites, and the

Avites. From the south, all the land of

the Canaanites, the Sidonians, from Aph

to the border of the Amorites, all the

land of the Gionites, and Lebanon toward

the sunrising, from Baalgad under Mount

Hermmon, under the entering of Hamoth."

Watch this. Verse six. And all the

inhabitants of the hill country from

Lebanon and all the Sidonians.

I want you to underline these next words

in your Bible. Them will I

drive out from before the children of

Israel. But God, I'm old. Can you hear

Joshua say it? But Lord, I'm old. I'm 90

years old. I'm tired. And God said,

here's the region. Here's the land.

Don't worry about your age. I'm gonna

drive them out for you.

I'm the one who's gonna give the

victory. I just need you to keep going,

Joshua. I just need you to keep

fighting, Joshua. I just need you to not

give up, Joshua. And I'll be the one who

drives them out. I'm finished. You can

come to the piano. I want you to notice

one more word in verse number six.

He said, 'Only divide thou it by lot

unto the Israelites for a, underline

this word, inheritance

as I have commanded thee.

I thought my sermon was done last night

and uh I came to these verses and I read

verse six. [music]

I saw that word inheritance

and I began to think about that word

inheritance.

And you know what an inheritance is,

right? It's it's a promised possession.

It's something that has been given to

someone by someone else. And that's fine

and we understand that. But you

understand what has to happen in order

for someone to gain an inheritance.

Somebody has to die.

According to the law, according to the

legal, if somebody wants to access the

inheritance, then somebody has to die.

There's some great pictures in the Old

Testament. Moses is a picture of the law

and and Moses could only go so far as

the law can only go so far.

The law is our school master. The law

tells us what's right and wrong and it

shows us that we need a savior. But but

the law can't save you. The law cannot

give you access to the promised land.

And so the picture is that Moses could

not enter a picture of the law, unable

to take us into the rest that only comes

through Jesus. But then Joshua is a

picture of Jesus. And where the law

falls short, Jesus becomes our leader

and leads us into the victorious

Christian life. And as long as the

people of Israel were following Joshua,

they had victory. But when Achen decided

to do his own thing and not obey what

Joshua had commanded them, then the

nation of Israel lost. You understand

the picture? As long as you and I follow

Jesus, our Joshua, then victory is

certain. But when we decide to do our

own thing and we disobey what he has

commanded us, then we fall short and and

we wonder why we don't have spiritual

victory. Most of the time, it's because

we've stopped following Jesus. It's

really that simple. That's why our

mission statement here at the church is

is really simple. It's just follow

Jesus. If you want to boil it down,

that's what it is. Because as long as

we're following him, we'll have

spiritual victory.

And what's the promised land? What's the

land of Canaan? Well, there's a lot of

debate about it. I believe that the land

of Canaan is not so much a picture of

heaven, though there are some

correlations. But I believe the land of

Canaan is a picture of the Christian

life.

And what the law could not do, what

Moses could not do, Moses could not

enter into the Christian life, the

victorious Christian life. But Joshua

brought the nation into a life of

victory. Now, it didn't mean there were

no battles. The whole book of Joshua is

about battles. There's giants and

there's enemies and there's defeats and

there's sin. And guess what? That sounds

a lot like my life. There's battles and

there's enemies and there's oppositions

and there's struggles and there's

trials.

But as long as I'm following Jesus,

I have an inheritance. The book of

Hebrews, chapter 9, I don't have time to

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

go to it. Write it down or look it up.

Hebrews chapter nine talks about a

testament cannot be fulfilled until the

testator dies. There has to be a death

in order to reap the inheritance.

And this morning you and I have not only

an eternal inheritance but we have the

abundant life on earth. The inheritance

that God has for us now the victorious

Christian life. How do we access it? It

is only through the death of Jesus

Christ.

We want peace and we want joy and we

want we want to live a a life of

happiness and we want to see God do

miracles. You cannot experience the

Christian life unless you go through

Christ.

You see, there are great and precious

promises. Peter tells us there is an

inheritance laid up for you and I. The

only way that we access the inheritance

is through the finished work of Jesus on

the cross. Here's how it goes. You got

an inheritance either way.

The wages of sin is

death, right? That's the word. And when

you die in your sin, you will inherit

something. You will inter inherit a

life, eternal life in a place called the

lake of fire. Place called hell. Hell

will then be cast into the lake of fire.

You'll you'll spend eternity suffering

separated from God. But whosoever shall

call on the name of the Lord shall be

saved. Same from saved from what? Saved

from the wrath of God. Saved from that

place. And when you place your faith and

trust in the finished work of Jesus and

what he did on Calvary,

your inheritance changes.

And now your inheritance is not an

eternal place in the lake of fire, but

now your inheritance is a place at the

feet of King Jesus for all of eternity

worshiping him. And if you're saved this

morning, then you have called on the

name of Jesus Christ. You've placed your

faith and trust in the finished work of

Christ and you know 100% this morning

your sins are forgiven and you're on

your way to heaven. Friend, can I tell

you I do not understand somebody who is

saved and on their way to heaven who

cannot get excited about the fact that

their inheritance has been changed. That

Jesus has taken their place. That they

are no longer going to hell but now they

are going to heaven. They're no longer

on their way to eternal punishment. But

now they're on their way to the eternal

presence of God. Not because of what

they have done, but because somebody

died in their place. Somebody took their

sin, put it on his shoulders, bled and

died on Calvar's tree for your place so

that you can enjoy two things. One, the

victorious Christian life now and the

eternal presence of God there. And it is

a wonderful thing. It would be a good

idea for some of us to just pause

and not worry about all of the stuff

going on and not worry about all of the

the cares of life and the battles that

we're fighting and the the trials and

the things that we're going through, but

just pause and on purpose

say, "God,

thank you for my inheritance.

Thank you that I'm not going to hell

anymore.

Thank you that my sins have been

forgiven.

Thank you that one of these days I'm

going home. Thank you that this world is

not the end. Because guess what? Though

we can live the the abundant, victorious

Christian life, in the Christian life,

there are still battles and there are

still trials and there are still

difficulties

and there are still sin

and we still battle all of these things.

[music]

But while we're here walking through our

Canaan, possessing the ground that God

gives us, may we do our very best to

stick close and follow Jesus. And every

once in a while in the midst of the

battle and in the midst of the chaos,

may we pause and take a little praise

break.

Say, "God, thank you.

Thank you for the victories, but also

thank you for the defeats.

Thank you for the winds, but also thank

you for the times when you got my

attention

and you brought me back. Thank you for

being a good father who always takes

care of me.

It would help a lot of churches, I

think, if we would learn. Just take a

praise break

on purpose.

Tell him, "Thank you, Lord, for who you

are, for what you've done." Would you

stand this morning? I want to give you

an