Companionship with God is possible. Walk in all of His ways. He doesn't say, choose the ways you like, and then go that route.
Jeremiah tried to get the nation back on course. He says, look at the old paths. Find them. Walk them.
They are worth it. But they said no. Keep His commandments. Hold fast.
Well, whenever you hear that word, hold, you hear this muscle involved to hold on to something, especially when forces are pulling you to hold. 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, here's Pastor Rick in Joshua chapter 22 as he begins a new message called Confusion and Clarification. Joshua reminds them it is all about Yahweh, and it comes to us through His Word. When we say it's all about the Word of God, we mean the living Word, Jesus Christ.
The print is useless without Him. It is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus has given to us, who energizes our faith, inspires us, and passions us. As you serve a long time, you get tired. Things wear you down.
You think maybe you're going to get stronger as the years go by, but you're thinking you're getting weaker. God has other plans. He has a different view. And if you cleave to the Lord, it will surface, it will prevail, it will get things done. Joshua is the type of man that as he's speaking to them, they're listening to every word he's saying. He is saying the main things are the main things.
The minor things are minor. Let's keep it that way. Take heed to do the commandment. Don't be hearers of the Word only, be doers of the Word.
Well, what happens when you discover that there's a real devil and there's a real carnality in your own heart that is determined to stop you from taking careful heed? Well, struggle begins and struggle continues, but we prevail. He says, love Yahweh your God, to love the Lord. I think ministry can dim the flame of love, and you've got to be careful in serving God, because so many things won't turn out your way.
And when we think of love, we think of, you know, these good warm feelings, which belong to love. But in service, in ministry, in serving God, faith overrules all the feelings. And if you have strong faith, you will trust God no matter how you feel.
Otherwise, you have a happiness and not a joy, not much depth. Love Yahweh your God, because Joshua loved him. And then he says, walk in his ways. Well, God told Abraham, be blameless and walk with me. Companionship with God is possible. Walk in all of his ways. He doesn't say, choose the ways you like, and then go that route. Jeremiah tried to get the nation back on course. He says, look at the old paths, find them, walk them.
They are worth it. But they said, no, keep his commandments, hold fast. Well, whenever you hear that word, hold, you hear this muscle involved to hold on to something, especially when forces are pulling you to hold. Serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. It's so easy in the early days to serve God, because you're dumb.
You don't know. And then you start taking hits. And you find out that's how it is. And you serve him nonetheless, and hell hates you for it. God, God has a shield about you. The angels of the Lord encamp about the righteous, because we need them.
New Testament says it this way. Everything Joshua was saying here in verse 5, Paul says it like this, meditate on these things. He's speaking of that Timothy, who's a middle-aged man.
You know, he's in his 30s, maybe 40s even. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Fruit, Timothy, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing you will say both yourself and those who hear you. Take heed to yourself.
Check yourself. Verse 6 now of Joshua 22, so Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. Now, we haven't gotten to the confusion or the clarification. It's to set up the story for us. He's dismissing the trans-Jordan warriors. They are going home.
But on the way home, a funny thing happened. Verse 7, now to half the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan. But to the other half of it, Joshua gave possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them. So what the historian is saying at this point is that Moses gave land before this moment here years ago, 10 years or so or more at least.
You factor in the war is about seven years in the division of the land. That's just Joshua's leadership crossing into Jordan. So Moses gave these tribes the land on the east side of the Jordan. Joshua, of course, has given them possession through his leadership of the land west of the Jordan.
Of course, God has given both. Verse 28, and spoke to them saying, return with much riches into your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. Armies were paid by the loot.
There was no salary and pay grade. When you conquered the city, the stuff that you could grab was yours. And the cities that God allowed it, some cities he forbade it. So he dismisses them to their homes and he says, share the prize with the National Guard that was left behind to watch over your homes, your families, and your land, and your possessions. And so they're going home and this is the blessing he gives them to remind them that, you know, you fought here on the east side, but without your brothers standing guard on the west side, you'd have nothing to go back to.
That's a nice note to put in there. Verse 9, so the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possessions, which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. So keeping the Torah, the first five books of the law in front of them, verse 10 now, and when they came to the region of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great impressive altar. If we were watching this in a movie, this would be the point where you put in the drama music to alert the audience something is about to happen and it's not very good.
This is where it would go. Evidently, already fresh off the battlefield, still on the east side of the Jordan, they have this sense of isolation for being these trans-Jordan side, trans-Jordan brothers of those in the east. So they're crossing Jordan, going home, two and a half tribes, and they say, you know, we feel like we're leaving something behind. This is going to create a great misunderstanding and where there are great misunderstandings, there are great opportunities for Satan. And Satan is not going to get his chance on this one, but the lessons that we are going to get out of this, I think are very beneficial to us all. It says a great and impressive altar. The imposing side meant that it was visible, it was unmistakable. That's significant.
Well, let's just take verse 11 and develop it as we go. Now the children of Israel heard someone say, behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier, the land of Canaan, the region of Jordan, the children of Israel's side. So someone saw it and they said, this is not right. They're not supposed to do this.
And they blow the whistle. I like that word, frontier. I guess there are really no frontiers land-wise, but all of us, the future is a frontier. Verse 12, and when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them. There's even more drama music now. This is war.
War drums. All the heads of the tribes, except for the two and a half, they're still on their way home. Well, they might be there by now. By the time word gets to Joshua and they rally all the tribes to go to war. That means to kill them. Deuteronomy 12, take heed to yourself, and that is throughout the Bible. Even Jesus said, watch how you hear, watch what you hear.
Take heed. Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes. There you shall offer your burnt offerings and there you shall do all that I command you. Incidentally, while we're on this, the fact that there is a central altar for atonement in the nation meant that they were to assemble. That home worship was not to be taken as a substitute for public assembly. We as believers are commanded to gather together. We are not to be separatists.
We are not to be isolationists. What do you do if the other churches are all wrong? Well, watch it first, because Elijah had that problem. The complex of Elijah was, I'm the only righteous one left. I'm struggling for you and everybody else is sinning. And of course, God confronts Elijah. First, he starts picking, you know, what are you doing in the cave? I thought you were Elijah.
Where are you running from? You even left Elijah, the student, you left him behind. And then God says, oh, by the way, cough, cough, I have 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to bow. What are you talking about?
You're the only one. We can do this just like that. Granted, you may not find another church as wonderful as this one.
Okay, I'm cross-kidding. But, I mean, you may, if you're just away and you don't have anywhere else to go, God will provide. And maybe there are also the extreme cases where you can't. But in this country, at this time, although it's increasingly becoming difficult, we are not without some place to gather. So let's just be careful about being separatists.
It's too easy. But back to what we have in front of us, being careful about judging others too comes up all of a sudden, because they've been told, hey, they're building an altar. That, of course, violates the law of Moses, which we'll cover that as we move down the verses. But, again, while we're on the subject, be careful that we don't judge the motives of other people. What's really in their heart?
Sometimes it's on the surface, we know what's going on, they've made it clear. But not always. And so John's Gospel, Chapter 7, Jesus says, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Well, what belongs to righteous judgment are the fruits of the Spirit. This long suffering, this love, this kindness, this faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness. I said faithfulness. Matthew Chapter 7, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.
And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Isn't that fair? I mean, if you can dish it out, you should be able to take it. If the heart is right, but the actions are wrong, you're still wrong, but your heart could be right.
And that's what we're getting, we're digging into this in a minute. The writer of the Hebrews says this about the Scripture. He says the Scripture discerns the thoughts from the intent. In Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 12, is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So as we read the Bible, how many times are we forced to say, I was wrong.
I did that. I've got to fix it. Over the years, you may get tired of doing that, because we keep goofing, but God keeps encouraging. As much goof as we can bring to the picnic, he can bring encouragement to counteract the goofs. You know, goof is in gallant, remember? Some of you might remember goof is in gallant.
Those of you who don't, well, I'm sure you have internet abilities, or else you wouldn't be conscious right now. So look it up. Anyway, Verse 13, then the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead. And with him, ten rulers, one ruler, each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel. And each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel. Verse 15, then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead.
And they spoke with them saying, we'll get to that in a minute. When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask who wrote this 22nd chapter. And I'm going to ask, did you really have to say Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh 32 times? We got it the first time.
That's how it is. Well, the name that flies off the page, if you know anything about the man, is Phinehas, the priest. This one man's loyalty, to God that is, of course, stood against the flagrant sin in Israel.
He stood up, he grabbed himself a javelin, and he began to deal with the problem. He halted God's, or the God-sent plague, in response to the corruption of worship by the people of God. So there was Balak, the king, and he says, I need you, I want you, he hired the prophet Balaam, I need you to curse the people. Balaam tried, he failed, he tried, he failed. He ended up blessing them, actually. At some point, the false prophet, the mad prophet, as Peter calls him, said to Balak, the king, you can't beat them with your armies, but you can beat them with the women.
Send the women in, make them have relationships with the men, corrupt the men, lead them away from Yahweh, and you'll be able to destroy them. Yahweh is their covering. As Phinehas is there, he is a walking and living reminder of what happens when true worship is threatened, that God dispatches his people to deal with it, which many, many of course dislike.
They don't want to be corrected. There will be another Phinehas, years later, who is the anti-Phinehas. He stands against loyalty to God, and he was the personification of flagrant sin. That was the son of Eli, the priest, the man of God.
It's terrible how that shows up in life. Here's this one Phinehas standing against sin. Here's this other one that reeks of sin, and his father is such a godly man, and well, his father was dealt with by God for letting his son Phinehas get away with that.
But this Phinehas here is a righteous man. He's one of the heroes of the Bible, and we are going to come to him again as we move through this story because he speaks again. Verse 16, thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, what treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel to turn away this day from following Yahweh in that you have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel this day against Yahweh. The name Yahweh, it's of course in print Lord, but it's the covenant name. It's a personal thing between God and his people.
It's supposed to mean something. It's more than just Lord. It's deeper than just Lord. You can have many Lords. There are many Lords throughout history, but there's only one Yahweh, one God Almighty, one I am that I am. And that's why I try to use what we believe is the pronunciation or close to it of the Lord. Scholars used to believe Jehovah was the proper pronunciation, but modern scholarship with more research, collective research, have come to the conclusion it's probably going to be Yahweh. You won't be wrong either way, but I don't want to give the Jehovah's Witness satisfaction because they can't even get the pronunciation right.
You got the wrong name, kid. But anyway, that's why I take the time to do that. But here in verse 16, they confront them now. What treachery is this? Here's the confusion. Here's the great misunderstanding. You built an altar.
You're not supposed to do this. This is a capital crime. When we say a capital crime, it means it's punishable by death. And if it's all of you, Gad, Reuben, Halfa, Bonassa, then you're all going to die, and so are your cattle, your livestock, your sheep. This is a judgment from God.
Well, Proverbs 18, 13, at this point, serves us. He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. How many parents have answered a matter before hearing it and then kicking themselves later on? I have not.
I have. You're just, man, I should have asked first and just flew off the handle. And the kids are so resilient, they're off playing again.
They don't even know what happened, but you're in there struggling. What treachery is this? Again, if they were offering on an auxiliary altar, which is prohibited, just like we have no auxiliary cross of Christ, there's no auxiliary Christianity. The one we have is fine just the way it is. And here, if they are making these offerings, it's punishable. No debate.
Well, let's look at it. Leviticus chapter 17, also you shall say to them, whatever man of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell among you who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, to offer it to Yahweh, that man shall be cut off from among his people. Cut off can mean banished or it can mean executed. Deuteronomy 12, take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings and there you shall do all that I command you. Well, Jerusalem will be the place, but until then, wherever the altar of Moses is, that is the place to sacrifice and there's no other. And that's why I'm reading these verses. As far as the punishment, Deuteronomy 13, if you hear of in one of your cities which Yahweh your God gives to you to dwell in saying corrupt men have gone out from among you and entice the inhabitants of their city saying let us go and serve other gods which you have not known, then you shall inquire, search out and ask diligently, which is what they're doing, and if it indeed is true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of the city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it that is in it and its livestock with the edge of the sword. So he's saying here in Deuteronomy, if you find a corruption to the faith in one of our cities, this is how you have to deal with it. Well, this is a corruption of the faith. It doesn't have to be the altar.
It could be a lot of things. The false altar would be one, unauthorized. An unauthorized deal is just worse than that. It is an unpardonable sin in Israel to have had such a thing. It would suggest that God's commandments were meaningless and would undermine the entire faith. And those who would do such a thing of course would be guilty of homemade religion. New Testament theology answers this also says there are those that use the language of Christianity. They even may use the Bible. They may love religion. They have this disappearance. Paul says it like this, having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away. They act like it but they don't mean it. It's just a form.
It's not genuine. And of course the New Testament writers deal with false faith throughout their writings. And we look at this other section of verse 16, in that you have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel this day against Yahweh.
Again, no need for supplements. They didn't need it and we don't either. For the Jews there was one place for the blood sacrifices, one place for atonement. For the Christian it's the same.
It's the cross of Christ. There's no other way to heaven. Of course there are I believe unborn children automatically go to heaven and not just the unborn children.
There are exceptions and they are laid out for us in scripture. David said the child shall not come to me but I shall go to the child. 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.
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