Iron Chariots (Part C)

But I have to also add that as we minister to one another, it's that love and recognition. We become seasoned servants if we try to always keep grace up front and we learn how to minister to come up with solutions instead of just shooting everybody down. You did wrong and that's that. That's not Christianity.

Now if the person is impenitent, then that's different. But if the person is still trying to get this together, you who are spiritual restore such a one. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Joshua.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Joshua chapter 7. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in Joshua chapter 17 with his continuing study called Iron Chariots. In the workplace, we're supposed to be somewhat of a striking figure. People are reminded that there is God, there is a justice, there is an accountability, there is a love that is being offered to them. And this shows up, I think, at least in my experiences in the workplaces, when someone has something to do with a funeral, they go looking for the man of God.

If it strikes a chord with them and they want to ask for verses, they want to ask, you know, what happens and they ask not all, every single one of them, but there are those that do, because you are a striking figure. And anyway, Melchizedek and Aaron typify the priestly work of Christ. Well, Canaan, the wilderness and Canaan, they typify our experience in this life. The wilderness experience which gives us nothing, we get nothing from it.

You're lost or saved. If you're in the wilderness, there's really nothing there. Now, there are other types of wilderness experiences, such as David had, but I'm talking about the wilderness of the Exodus Jews. Together, the wilderness and Canaan portray our pilgrimage. Peter called us pilgrims, passing through. Pilgrims have a destination. They're traveling, but they have a destination and it involves worship.

That's the keenest idea of a pilgrimage. And when Israel crossed the Red Sea, it symbolized the death of the old life when they came out of Egypt, you know, the Egyptians in back, the deep blue sea in front, and they crossed that Red Sea, Yom Suph, the Sea of Reeds, and it symbolized the old life of slavery in Egypt was now gone behind them. But when Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered into Canaan, it meant the end of the wasted life, the wilderness life.

Now, there were possessions to lay hold on. There was a meaningfulness given to their life, and that's what Paul said. Your labor is not for nothing, because you'll feel like it is. You'll feel like you do, you know, you got to get to church, you do, you know, when Chris and I were praying, he prayed about, you know, that things wouldn't get old and routine. Routine does not have to become monotonous is the word he used. Routine and monotony are not necessarily the same thing. Monotony is beginning to mess with your head.

Routine is you have to have it, and you can make both of them work if you are aware of these things. If you say, okay, it's not just me, this is how it is, and so I'll, you know, I'll just plow through it. We talked about the four smarts that Joshua made from Gilgal to Gibeon, and if you've, most of you have not been on a force march. It's to, you know, a heavy gear and an endless walk, and it's one foot in front of the other, and if you don't do that, you will drop, and you don't want to drop. You don't want anybody to see you faint. I don't want to faint in public or anywhere else, and so life is very much that way. The Christian life at times, it's a force march.

It's the routine, but it's worth it. You've come out of the wilderness. You've crossed into the promised land. There's fighting there, but there are also possessions there.

In verse 14, then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit since we are a great people, and as much as Yahweh has blessed us until now. Well, they're really – it is a complaint, but they're not complaining. At least it doesn't come across that way when I read it. They have a need, a want. They don't agree with something, but it's not with a bad attitude.

You know, many times complainers want to make you feel small and they feel big. That's not how this reads, but this is both Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. Manasseh was the elder, but Ephraim, of course, got the greater blessing, and they considered themselves separate, but yet still one tribe.

One lot here means the combined territories between the two tribes on the west of Jordan and on the east side of Jordan. As I mentioned, Joseph, he received a double portion of his father's inheritance and his sons became the fathers of Jewish tribes, tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, and they received their separate tribal territory. Judah, she received the right to rule – the scepter shall not depart from Judah – according to the prophecies in Genesis 49.

And, of course, the Messiah would come, the King of Kings would come out of Judah. But here are these two tribes that have this huge inheritance, this double blessing, and they've got a problem with it. The problem is not with the blessing, with Joshua.

Other tribes had to fight for their territory, too. And so what we're getting here is a contrast, not intentionally, of Judah and Manasseh and Ephraim and Joshua. They're not intentionally making this contract, but the Holy Spirit is making this contrast, between Caleb. Caleb, who says, I'm an old man, but I can take that land. And he goes up and he takes it.

I'll be quoting him in a little bit. And so they come and they're dissatisfied. And the lesson, of course, that we need to get is dissatisfaction with God's arrangements can quickly get out of control, and it's up to us to check it and not let it tail wag the dog. We can quickly lust for what someone else has, covet, because we're not satisfied with what we have. And, again, the fight is on.

We go through these seasons in life. He says, since we are a great people and as much as Yahweh has blessed us until now, in the bottom of verse 14, so they consider themselves distinguished. They admit God had blessed them, that they were large and they needed a large amount of territory. Verse 15, the story continues, so Joshua answered them, if you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Pezerites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. So Joshua is magnificent. Oh, you're a great people.

Okay, I'll take that. He turns it on them, but not against them. He's not trying to be facetious and hurt them. He's just saying, you said it, and I'm going to hold you accountable to your own words because they are right. You spoke the truth. God has blessed you.

You are a great people. So He accepts their observation of themselves. Sometimes you do that with someone and they get very upset with you.

You accept their own observation and you hold them to it and they don't want to hear it after that. You're not supposed to say that. You said you were great.

Then you should expect to prevail because that accompanies greatness. He said there's plenty of unoccupied territory within the limits of your borders. You want more land? I'm telling you, take the land you have. Ephraim was discontent and so was Manasseh with their portion.

Dan could have stand up and said, you know what, I don't want, look, we don't have anything. We've got a backyard here compared to, Simeon got even less. Simeon got a circle, an oval within Judah and eventually that was absorbed by Judah too. So what did it matter to the individual?

Not at all. It didn't matter one bit to each individual. They had their land to work and they could have just been happy with that. Joshua's answer, it reveals his greatness, his compassion, his statesmanship. You know, statesmen properly administered, statesmanship is trying to achieve the best answer without bias, maintaining your interests at the same time as opposed to one-upmanship, always trying to take advantage of the other person. And Joshua, of course, he is, he's a consummate leader in this. He is an Ephraimite, incidentally. And it shows that he understood the weaknesses of the tribes but he also understood their strengths. He also understood how they might become strong if they just applied themselves.

You know, you meet somebody and they have fancy names, I don't know how fancy it is, but underachiever. That means there's potential to do better but it's not being achieved. And we all have some of that.

It takes a lot of energy to keep running at full steam. You've got to learn how to pace yourself, not save yourself, pace yourself. You save yourself, you get used to just, you'll be a minimalist. You try to do as little as possible to get away with it instead of being gallant. And that's what Joshua is trying to extract from them.

He's like a father to them. He said, you can do better. I know it's in you. You admitted it yourself. You recognize it but you want me to give you a pass and that would undermine your greatness. You'd not be great anymore.

You'd be okay. So again, not denying their declaration, he charged them to demonstrate their confession by taking possession of the land that they were given by God. We'll get to one of the promises in a minute. But he instructed them to go to the mountains and cut wood, not because you're bored or anything but you can make tools and weapons out of that. These are resources that have fallen to you to drive the foes out.

A principle that is handed to the church. If we're going to be more powerful as individuals, as a body of believers, then we too are going to have to drive out the Pesarites and the giants since the mountains are too confining for us. Verse 16, it continues, but the children of Joseph said, and that's from Manasseh, and this group is mainly on the east side, the promised land side. The side on Bashan and Gilead on the west side of Jordan, they're not complaining. They're on the east side. They haven't been mixing that up. Oh well. You got maps.

Anyway, on behalf of the management, I extend my most sincere apologies. Verse 16, he says the mountain country is not enough for us, but the children of Joseph said the mountain country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Bathsheon and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. They expected Joshua to see it, to side with them. It's like a child. Come on. But this would be, you know, you tell the child and they have all the buts stacked up to the moon, and they feel like, you know, you're going to cave. Your experience and your wisdom does not count at that moment.

The only thing that matters is what they want. The parents have to learn to hang tough or they cave. When my dad would hang tough, I didn't like it, but I knew somehow, I knew it was right. They didn't cave a lot. I was a good kid. They never caught me doing the stuff I did. Not really. I was good.

And if they did, I didn't know about it. Anyway, my brother on the other hand, you get busted for everything. I mean, how do you come out the bathroom and cover the cigarette smoke?

How do you do that? Okay, I guess some of you can, you know, you just all live pristine lives and just never had any of these things going on. Anyhow, where are we here? Okay, so the chariots, they're fussing about the chariots because it did give the opposition this military advantage, superiority, and anything again that is fierce against us is an iron chariot. And if all you have are spears and maybe a camel or a horse, but this guy's coming at you with a chariot, lances and arrows, it is a great disadvantage, especially if there's a formation of them.

They just plow you down. And these tribes are scratching their heads. How are we going to dislodge these people? Deuteronomy 20 verse 1, and this is the platform that Joshua is speaking from. When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people who are numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Okay, I look at that verse 15 years ago, and it's exciting.

We're going to face chariots, but we're going to take them out. And as the years go by and you realize just how difficult it is to dislodge the enemy, not only in just the flesh, but just opposition, period, in trying to get from point A to point B as a believer, as a servant, and you find out those chariots just don't get out of the way so easily. So then you come to a situation like this in Scripture, and you're listening to the tribe's complaint, and you begin to understand, but you can't cave to it.

You cannot side against Joshua and with them. The standard has to be maintained, or else everything starts falling apart, and how do we know that? Well, the book of Judges lays it out for us. But I have to also add that as we minister to one another, it's that love and recognition. We become seasoned servants if we try to always keep grace up front, and we learn how to minister to come up with solutions instead of just shooting everybody down.

You did wrong, and that's that. That's not Christianity. If the person is impenitent, then that's different.

But if the person is still trying to get this together, you who are spiritual restore such a one. So how different from Caleb's willingness to engage giants. Joshua 14 again, we read his words, here I am this day 85 years old, and yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.

Pause there. Are we Christians supposed to say that is an ancient philosophy that belongs in the Old Testament and has no use for me in the New Testament? Well then Paul's words when he says God wrote these things to preserve them for our, now it's admonition, but I like ammunition, so we can be stronger.

These stories exist. We're supposed to extract. Jesus said, didn't you hear what David did with the shewbread? And you want to come up in my face about the Sabbath and you can't heal someone? The lessons that we have in scripture are to be applied to life because we're going to need them. And then Caleb continues, he says, now therefore, because I'm still strong, my strength for war is still there. Now therefore give me this mountain of which Yahweh spoke in that day, for you heard in that day how the Anakim, the giants, were there and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that Yahweh will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. See, he wasn't presumptuous.

Caleb was not presumptuous. I got the promise, I'm going to do it. I'm going to name it and claim it. He says maybe God will bless me. Maybe this will turn out right for me in my lifetime.

Maybe I will see the victory. Maybe Manasseh and Ephraim should have hired Caleb to come take care of those chariots. Verse 17, and Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, you are a great people and have great power.

You shall not have only one lot. Now he holds them again to their words in verse 14. I love it that he says he's not, again, he's not chopping them down, making them feel small. How dare you even ask that? Did you see what Caleb did? Why are you up in my face with this?

He doesn't do any of this. Verse 17, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down and its farthest extent shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. So he's not delusional. He's not saying, oh, come on, you've got the promises of God.

Just go, you know, be blessed and be filled. To say to someone to be blessed and be filled when that's not going to help them is not living in reality. He's saying it requires work and war to win.

We talked about Paul saying that I may win. This is the act of Christian life. This is what we have portrayed here in this last paragraph of Joshua 17, work of war and winning.

Joshua says, you will drive them out. So he tells the story of the Jews entering the promised land here in this book of Joshua. It tells the story of the Jews entering the land. And then judges will tell us of their settling in the land. They not only settled to their own gardens and fields and homes, but they settled to the paganism that they were supposed to cast out.

Probably if they waged war long enough, the other peoples, even if they held strong, would have just said we need to migrate, or not migrate, but to leave and find a land. We just can't keep fighting these Jews like this. But what happened is they began to strip from the Jews everything they could. When by the time we get to Samuel, the Jews couldn't even, they couldn't even have a blacksmith. The Philistines were their blacksmiths because the Philistines didn't want them to make weapons. So if the Jews needed their, his axe sharpened, he had to go to a Philistine blacksmith to get it.

They knew how to subdue the Jews and suppress them. And of course, Samuel, the last judge of Israel, had something to say about all of that. Anyway, we come back to Joshua chapter 17. We asked, did they ever drive them out? And the answer is no.

Judges chapter 1 verse 27, however, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shien and its villages, or Tanakh and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Iblim and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. So I read that as a Christian. I say, okay, within Christianity there are failures, but there are also victories.

And I don't know where they are, but I know what my assignment is. And when I carry out my assignment, the victories emerge, and so do the failures. But the failures don't give me excuse of saying, I can't drive out the inhabitants.

That's it. I'll just live with them. Well, if you do, they're not going to pack up and go away.

They're going to come at you. And so after Ephraim and Manasseh had received their land to the west and east of Jordan, they weren't satisfied with it. They went to Joshua. Joshua tells them they're going to have to work. They want to expand their territory.

Then they need to clear territory, but don't expect to receive a pass. And this is good. Who else can tell us this without offending us but the Word of God? You know, someone else tells you that, and then we begin to judge.

Who are you to tell me? I've seen you fail. We do those things. But when God's Word says it, what can we say? We have to receive the lesson.

Or not. So always when they fought back, they did well. And when they did not fight back, the evil influence just got larger. And this is New Testament theology. I like this passage in Luke's Gospel, chapter 16, verse 16. The law and the prophets were until John.

John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. Since that time, Jesus said, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. He's saying the law and the prophets, when the people get what God's Word has to offer, it creates a reaction in the righteous. And they press, they resist resistance of the enemy.

They go at it. That's the effect of the scripture on a people. It causes us to press back. Weary, tired. I get fed up.

I don't even know how to turn on my radio in my truck anymore. I'm always talking with God about life all the time. I mean, I have quiet time sometimes. I just don't say anything because I'm exhausted.

But I wouldn't give that up to go back into the world for anything. I'd rather have unanswered prayer than no prayer. Or I should say ungranted prayer. Since they have been receiving the revelations of God through the prophets, the righteous act on the Word, they resist, and Jesus said, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way.

He doesn't lie to us. If you're foolish, you'll read, in the world you'll have much tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Have you ever been bitten by verses like that? I'm not of good cheer. I know what you said, but I'm not happy. But yet, the dust settles and you're still standing. You're still believing.

Satan can't do anything about that. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Joshua. Cross Reference is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you're interested in more information about this ministry, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Joshua right here on Cross Reference Radio.