Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel calls to mind God's active and intentional provision for them. Deuteronomy 3 recounts the mighty victory he gave Israel over the king of Bashan, and the way that God provided for his people.
Oh land. This is part two of a message titled Your Eyes Have Seen All That The Lord Has Done. It was first preached on april twenty eighth.
So that's the record that we have in the first 11 verses. And then we come to verses 12 to 17, and we talk about boundaries.
Now, God is starting to allot the land for the tribes of Israel in verses 12 to 17. Verse 12, and we took possession of this land at that time. I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites. The territory beginning at Eror, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities.
So again, this is the east side of the Jordan. They have not crossed over the Jordan yet. That was going to be a very significant event when that happened. It's coming soon, but it has not happened yet. But God is establishing boundaries.
And there are three, there are two and a half tribes of Israel that will stay. On the east side of the Jordan. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. He was also creator of a sandwich. I'm just kidding.
It does happen to be my favorite. But anyway, I just had to get that in there. But Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. Gad was the seventhborn. His name means good.
His name sounds like the Hebrew word for good fortune. Gad was the seventh born, so he was the middle child. You know those people. I can say that because I'm the youngest. How many of you are the middle child in your family?
See, you're just problem kids. Uh anyway, uh this and then half of the tribe of Manasseh Manasseh, you remember who Manasseh was? Ephraim and Manasseh? Manasseh was actually Joseph's firstborn. But we all know them as Ephraim and Manasseh because when Jacob blessed Joseph's children, he gave the greater blessing to Ephraim, the younger one.
Manasseh is the firstborn.
So half of the tribe of Manasseh is going to stay Transjordan. And so these are the allotments. And we find, you know, the boundaries here. God is giving boundaries. Of the land to the children of Israel.
We see them, verse 12, for example, territory beginning at. The edge of the valley, verse 14, as far as the border, verse 16, as far as the valley, and then in the middle of the valley, the border of the Ammonites.
So he's giving specific border boundaries to these allotments of land. These boundaries are identified. Why is that important? Why is that a good thing? Because the people are going to remember this is a gift from God.
It's a specific gift from God also. It was the boundaries prevented strife. If you go back all the way to Genesis chapter 13, you see the. the uh the livestock of Abraham and the herdsmen of Lot. We're Battling each other.
And that's why Abraham said to Lot: choose some land, go there. And And so Lot went, and so they had to separate from each other.
So, those boundaries are important, and I think that's a good precedent that's set in the Word of God. Continue on from there. We looked in verses 18 now. Let's look at verses 18 to 20. And you see what I call the solidarity of the elect.
The solidarity of the elect. God's people, God's chosen people, Israel. And the men from, the men from, look at verse 18. And I command you that this time, saying, the Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel.
Only your wives, your little children, and your livestock, I know that you have much livestock, shall remain in the cities that I have given to you until the Lord gives rest to your brothers. As to you, and they also occupy the land that the Lord your God has given them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession, which I have given you.
So the men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh will, the men of valor, the men of war, will cross over the Jordan, and they will go and help the rest of the tribes gain possession of the land that God has given them until the Lord your God gives rest to your brothers. Mm-hmm. Here's an important point I think we can learn from this. God's purpose is accomplished in God's power, but But it still requires our stewardship and obedience. We don't just sit back.
I mean, you heard Nate say it in the, you know, doing the leg work that the Lord wants us to do. There's a stewardship there. There are things that I have to do. I can't just sit back and expect God to do it all. I can expect God to do the things that only God can do, but the things that He has called me to do, the legwork, the stewardship, that's.
That's my responsibility as a matter of obedience to him and following him.
So we see the unity of God's people here, the solidarity of God's people, and I see that as. truly a good example for us as the church. that we should in this see the unity of God's people, the church. That's what we do together, we walk, listen, we walk together in a Godward direction. When new members come in to join the church, to be vitally connected with the church, we commit to each other to walk with each other in a Godward direction.
I hope that's not just platitude for you. But that you, as a vitally connected member of this church, as the company of the Redeemed, we purpose, we commit to walk with each other. In fact, sometimes we need to fight for each other. For the glory of God. Because we are family.
And so we walk with each other and we fight for each other oftentimes. Hopefully, not fight with each other, right?
So, anyway, the band of brothers fighting together. toward God's glory. And then Moses passes on, he begins to pass on the baton of trust. The baton, you know think of a relay race, all right? Moses is he's about done with his laps.
He's about to pass on this baton. All right, look at verse 21. And I commanded Joshua at that time, your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings.
So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you. I want you to notice something here. Moses is speaking to Joshua, and he begins with: I commanded Joshua. What is the command?
of this statement. The command is this. You shall not fear. It's stated in the negative, you shall not fear. You have good reason not to fear.
Right? You shall not fear. You have why? Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done. God is like what God has done.
We must never forget that. And if you ever get to the point where you Think you need to wonder about God's love and care and power. There's only one place you need to look. Where is that? You need to look to the cross.
Does God care? He cared with all he had. and still does. And this is he's teaching Joshua here, who's going to lead the people. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done.
You've been an eyewitness of who God is. by virtue of what he has done. You don't need to fear. You don't need to fear, and that's the command: Psalm 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Whom Shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I hope we can say that. Because you know fearing people It's a big thing today.
Hmm. There's a lot of people who would want to threaten us. There's a lot of people who would want to point at us and say ugly things, call us bad names. Are we willing to follow the Lord, march to his drumbeat, regardless of what the crowds around us might say? And Moses said to Joshua, My command to you is do not fear.
You have seen Your eyes have seen all that the Lord has done. Should give us great courage.
So persevere, confident. confident of God's Promise. and his power. confident of them. We see as we come towards the end of chapter 3.
Three, then, and this, by the way, this kind of ends the first section because. This is Pretty much a history lesson that he's given them so far. After this, he's speaking directly to the new generation, saying, Yeah. Here's who you are as God's people. Here's what you are called to.
I think it's interesting that chapter three ends with. a record of personal communion between Moses and God. Personal communion between Moses and God. Moses communes. With God.
And from this, here's what I want us to do this morning. From this. We need to learn about prayer. And we need to learn about Our relation to God.
So let's do that. Verse 23, and I pleaded with the Lord at that time. That's interesting, isn't it? I pleaded. How does he begin?
What does the next verse lead us into? What is that? Praise, adoration, worship. Notice he says, I pleaded with God, but the very first thing he does is what? He worships.
He adores God. Oh Lord. God. You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
What God is there? He begins with worship. What is he? Why is he worshiping? Because, first of all, he's acknowledging the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God.
You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out. www.delightandgrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
