Joshua Chapter 12:1-13:13

There's lots of promises in this work. Do you realize God will bring them to pass? Well, I don't know, Pastor David. I've been waiting a long time for some of the promises to come to pass. Praise God.

You may wait a little while longer, but if God promised you, it's a done deal. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. In the Bible, we see God has a track record of doing what God said he would do. Pastor David talks about trusting the promises of God today as he continues in the book of Joshua chapter 12. But first, when you're in trouble, where do you turn most often?

Do you look to yourself or the advice of your friends, or do you go straight to God? We want to help you experience the hope that comes from looking to the Lord when your life turns upside down by sending you Pastor David McGee's CD series titled Lessons from the Wilderness. In this encouraging resource, Pastor David looks at one of the most difficult periods of King David's life to show you how you can wait confidently on God no matter what you're facing. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, Go God. Let's open the treasure of God's word to Joshua chapter 12. Now we're going to do something that's kind of different tonight, and honestly I don't ever remember doing this, but I'm actually going to read the whole chapter without stopping, and then we're going to look back on what this chapter has, I promise. I'm locked in now.

I'm locked in now. And then we're going to look back because I think this chapter is kind of singular in its message, and its message, well it just might surprise you. Joshua chapter 12 verse 1. These are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel defeated and whose land they possessed on the other side of the Jordan towards the rising of the sun. From the river Arnon to Mount Hermon to all the eastern Jordan plain. One king was Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon and ruled half of Gilead from Aror, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, as far as the river Jabach, which is the border of the Ammonites. And the eastern Jordan plain from the Sea of Chenaroth, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, the Dead Sea, the road to Beth-Jashimoth and southward toward below the slopes of Pisgah.

The other king was Og, king of Bashan in his territory, who was of the remnants of the giants, who dwelt to Ashteroth and Ediria, and reigned over Mount Hermon, over Salcha, over Bashan, as far as the border of the Gesherites and the Mekathites, and over half of Gilead to the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon. These Moses, the servant of the Lord and the children of Israel, had conquered. And Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given it as a possession to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

Verse 7. And these are the kings of the country, which Joshua and the children of Israel conquered on this side of the Jordan on the west from Baal-God in the valley of Lebanon, as far as Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions. In the mountain country, in the lowlands and the Jordan plain, in the slopes and the wilderness and in the south, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, and the Jebusites. The king of Jericho won. The king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, won. The king of Jerusalem won. The king of Hebron, won. The king of Jormuth, won. The king of Lachish, won.

The king of Eglon, won. The king of Gadir, won. The king of Deir, won. The king of Geder, won. The king of Hormae, won. The king respawner, won. The king of Manas, won. The king of Adullam, won. The king of manager, won. The king of Bethel, won.

The king of Courtin Now, the amazing thing is it lists these kings that had been defeated. And you have to kind of ask yourself, any time you see something like this, you can kind of look at it and go, eh, okay, whatever. You know, a lot of times, early on as a young Christian, I looked at the genealogies and I thought, okay, well, whatever, you know. But you know what I've found over the years? There's always something in there. There is always something in here. And the key to this chapter is not some hidden secret, but it's actually in the amount.

I mean, look at this. Joshua went into the land and these kings, 31 of them lost to the children of Israel. 31 kings, 31 armies, could not stand up against the children of Israel.

These names make a long list of those who had been defeated by the people of God. How in the world did this happen? It shouldn't have happened. Here is a bunch of renegade ex-slaves coming out of Egypt who really had no military training, going against armies that they were, the numbers were far superior that were against them.

They were better trained, they were more equipped, they were more experienced. How could this have happened? One word, God. All these victories were accomplished through the power of the living God, through these people that trusted in him. We're given this whole chapter as kind of a reminder of this but I want you to remember that before this happened, God told them what he was going to do. If you remember in other places, but Joshua chapter one, verse eight, it says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Do you understand that promise extends to you tonight right here, right now, God's with you.

And you know what, the life lesson here? God did what God said he would do. God did what God said he would do. He tells us in the book of Jude in the New Testament, the last book right before Revelation, he says that he will present us faultless before his throne.

Guess what? He's going to do what he said he's going to do. He's going to present us faultless before the throne of his glory. See, there's lots of promises in this word, lots of promises to you, lots of promises to me. Do you realize God will bring them to pass? Well, I don't know, Pastor Dave, I've been waiting a long time for some of the promises to come to pass. Praise God, you may wait a little while longer and that's okay, but if God promised you, it's a done deal. It's not if, we don't hope in this as, well, hope it works out.

No, we hope as in we know it's going to work out. God's not going to do these things in your life if he can get around to it. Well, I don't know, I'm just real busy right now. God's not up there too busy to be involved in your life and God never gets bored at working in your life.

How cool is that? Now, at times, I'll be honest, my ability to teach is a totally supernatural thing because at times, and my wife and my friends and the staff and other leaders will attest to this, I have the attention span of a gnat. I mean, that's just being honest.

Some of you have suffered under that attention span. I apologize, I just, I'm working on it. God, I'm a work in progress, okay? But God has been faithful to say, you know what? Whatever you need, whatever gift you need, I'm going to give it to you right at that right time, right at that right moment. I'm going to be there, I'm going to strengthen you as only I, creator God, can do.

He's made that promise to each and every one of us. Yeah, go God, go God. Think about that next time you invite somebody.

When you invite somebody here and they end up coming. Yeah, go God, go God. When you see them at the end of the service on Sunday morning, making their way down front, kneeling at the altar and accepting Jesus as their savior. Yeah, go God, go God. You know, when you see somebody, they get saved here and then they start serving and they realize it's not all about them, it's about Jesus and about serving others. Yeah, go God, go God. As you see people that get, you can see their face light up and their heart light up with the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And all God's children said, yeah, go God, go God. We have to think about these things, you know why?

Because we tend to get used to the supernatural. Is that possible? Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Chapter 13, verse one. Now Joshua was old, advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, you were old, advanced in years.

A little repetitive, but anyway. And there remains very much land yet to be possessed. You know, learning what we have about Joshua, I don't think when he heard that phrase, I don't think he felt failure. I don't think he sat there and went, oh bummer, we're not done. You know, kind of like when your kids clean up their room. You know?

And then you go in there and there's stuff poking out from under the bed and you're like, you didn't actually clean your room, you're not finished. Oh bummer, you know. I don't think Joshua felt that.

I think Joshua, even though he was old, when the Lord said, well, there's still some land that needs to be possessed, part of Joshua, yeah. There's still something to be done. You realize we should share that excitement? Do you realize when we talk about the fact of that there is actually still people that don't know Jesus Christ? Do you realize what that means for us? There's still land yet to be possessed.

Let me make it a little more personal. Because you have friends and you have family that don't yet know Jesus Christ as their savior and as their Messiah means there is land that's yet to be possessed. Cool thing is, you know, God wants to use, to possess that land, you and I, you and I.

He wants to use us to possess the land. So don't get discouraged when you see unbelievers think, oh, you know what, you don't know. But maybe you're gonna. Maybe you're one of the ones that has not yet come to the Lord. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's word in just a moment. But first, no matter how wise you are, listening to your own advice when you should be trusting God is dangerous. That's why we want to send you Pastor David McGee's CD series called Lessons from the Wilderness. Journey through one of the darkest times in King David's life and discover how you can wait confidently on God no matter what struggles you're facing because his plans are perfect and he always comes through for you. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please, visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

Now, back to today's message. Verse two, this is the land that yet remains, all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Gesherites from Cehor, which is east of Egypt as far as the border of Ekron northward, which is counted as Canaanite. The five lords of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Ashtodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and Ekronites, also the Avites. From the south, all the land of the Canaanites and the Merah that belongs to the Sidonians as long as Aphek to the border of the Amorites. The land of the Gebelites and all of Lebanon towards the sunrise from Baal, Gad, below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. All the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as the brook Mishrifaf and all the Sidonians. Them I will drive out from before the children of Israel, only divide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance as I have commanded you.

Your attention, please. Notice what God says. He wants to use them, but he will be the one that drives them out. He will be the one to conquer the land.

God is going to do it. Who's he gonna use in this instance? He's gonna use the children of God. He's gonna use the people of God. Guess what? God wants us to possess this land, spiritual land, spiritual territory.

Guess who he wants to use? He wants to use us to reach others. There's so many people that don't know. There's so many people that aren't going to church. There's so many people that are going to church that don't know.

Now understand, when I keep saying land, I'm talking about, I'm not talking about a land grab. I'm talking about spiritual land, souls, that are weighing in the balance that don't know Jesus yet. And he wants to use us to reach him. Pastor David, isn't that like your job? No, that's our job.

That's our job. Like I pointed out the other day, you know that baptism the other day? I didn't invite any of those folks to church that I remember.

I don't think I did. I didn't invite any of those people. You know who invited them? You guys. And guess what happened? They came. They actually listened to you guys when you said, you gotta go check this out.

Why? Because the people that you interact with, God has given you the opportunity to impact them eternally. So God is going, okay, well you just go on over there and I'll think about you every now and again. No, God is saying, you know what? You go and I'm gonna be with you. You go and I'll give you the words to speak. You go and I'll give you the power to maintain your witness in front of them.

You go and I'll be with you. What an amazing thing. God has given us a free will. And we've done, we've done a lot of things with a free will, right?

We've done some things that weren't so good. The whole Garden of Eden thing kind of fell apart because of our free will. God gave us a choice. But understand, that free will can be used as a glorious thing for the Lord when we make the decision to follow, to serve, to choose God. It can be a very powerful thing.

It can be redeemed, if you will. How are you using that free will in your life? How are you using that free will in your life? There were people, let's be honest, there were people that tonight used their free will to stay home and not to come to Thursday night Bible stay. But you guys used your free will to make the decision to come here and to glorify God, to worship God and be fed the word of God.

Awesome decision. You used your free will to glorify God. And many of you are using your free will to serve God, to bless God, to be a blessing to God and be a blessing to other people, to serve here at the fellowship.

What an awesome, awesome thing. You are using your free will to be a blessing to God and to bless others. And God wants to use your life to bless others in this community, even bless others around the world.

Now, remind me of what your reason might be for not serving. Well, I don't exactly agree with everything that goes on around here. Well, praise God, I don't agree with everything that goes on around here. So let's all agree that we're kind of stuck in this thing we call the human race and seek to glorify God by making decisions with our will to bless God and to bless others. Because look, if the enemy can get you or your flesh or whatever can get you so caught up that if you disagree enough, long enough, then you won't be troubled by blessing God or blessing others.

You may not be troubled by that at all. But I think what we can do is use our free will to say, you know what, I may not agree with everything, but I sure agree with those people that I see coming forward on a Sunday morning. I sure agree with those people who are being baptized. I can agree with these people coming up out of the water, new people, I can agree with that.

I know that I can agree with that. God was trusting these tribes to complete this thing. So verse seven, now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh. And remember, two and a half tribes stayed on the other side of the Jordan, they were afraid. They never really committed, they never really went into the land, and you know what happened to them?

Not a lot. As a matter of fact, it gets to a point where you really don't hear about them anymore. You know why? Because they kind of assimilated into the culture. And those people that were around them ended up overcoming them. And because they didn't commit their lives, they lost out. They lost out. Verse eight, with the other half tribe, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses had given them beyond the Jordan Eastward, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given them.

For Morar, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, and the town that is in the midst of the ravine, and all the plain of Mediba, as far as Debon, all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the children of Ammon, Gilead, and the borders of the Gesherites and Machthites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan, as far as Selchah, all the kingdom of Og and Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edriah, who remained of the remnant of the giants, for Moses had defeated and cast out these. How would you like to have that name, Og? That's just not, that's just, what was his mother thinking? I'm sorry, okay, anyway. Totally, I'll rein it in. We're back on track here. Verse 13, nevertheless, the children of Israel did not drive out the Gesherites or the Machthites, but the Gesherites and the Machthites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

Check this out, guys, please check this out. It wasn't in this chapter, and in the Hebrew scripture, in the whole Bible, it wasn't what people did for God that they regret, it's what they didn't do for God. You know, I've never heard of somebody on their, and it may have happened, but I've never heard of somebody on their deathbed recanting their faith. I've never heard somebody on their deathbed saying, I am so sorry that I gave so much to missions.

I am so sorry that I supported the church, I really should have gone to Walmart or Target more. Amen, or old me? Or somebody on their deathbed going, ah, you know, I shouldn't have served God so much, I just, I worked too much for God and gave too much of my time for the Lord.

None, never, never heard of it. What's my point? We know that day is coming. We know that day is coming when we will be on our deathbed, and what will we be thinking? Will we be thinking, like two and a half tribes of the children of Israel, eh, should have gone over that river.

Should have gone, should have gone. Or will we be thinking, I went over the river, I trusted God, I stepped out in faith, and you know what, God was there, and God gave me the victory, and my life made a difference. What do you want to say on that day? Then friend, beloved, you need to be able to say it today. You need to be serving God today. You need to be walking with the Lord today.

You know why? Because none of us knows when that day's coming. We're not told all the promises that are in this book, and there's some awesome promises in there. You realize tomorrow's not one of them? Serve God today, because if we want that day when we're on our deathbed, hopefully many years from now, to look back and go, yeah, then we've got to live like that now. The life lesson here, live for God, serve God, and give to God today. No retreat, no reserves, no regrets.

No retreat, no reserves, no regrets. Some of you were here, I guess a couple months ago when we were in Joshua, and we talked about William Borden, who was the heir to the Borden financial fortune, and he was very, very well-to-do. He went to Yale, and at Yale, he actually started a soup kitchen to see people who didn't have enough to eat and the homeless be one to the Lord. He started Bible studies there at Yale, and when he decided to pursue a life of ministry, much, much to the disappointment of his parents and the people in his family, because he had gotten radically saved, and he decided he was going to be a missionary in Asia. And as he went to Asia, he got sick, and he died. That's a sad story, pastor. No, it's not a sad story, because when they went into his tent after his death, they found a little piece of paper underneath his pillow, and on that piece of paper were those six words.

No retreat, no reserves, no regrets. He died at 23. He could have pursued a life of leisure.

He would be a billionaire by today's standards, but he said, you know what? I'm going to serve God, because that day is coming when I will lay my head down in my earthly body, and I won't pick it up again, and I want to live for God today, not tomorrow, not next week, not when I get my problems solved or these things worked out. I want to live for God today. That's what he did, and his life made a radical difference. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven, and I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life, and I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him, and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

So many people look to their friends or within their own thoughts when faced with a problem. Even King David struggled with listening to his heart and not trusting in God's promises. Pastor David McGee wants to encourage you to wait confidently on God through whatever trial you're facing by sending you his CD series, Lessons From the Wilderness. Lessons From the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please visit crossthebridge.com now for your copy of Lessons From the Wilderness.

You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge as we continue in the book of Joshua. We'll see you then.