The Long Road into Canaan part 2

Amen. Sunday morning bless me as well. I tell brother Chris all the time I'm thankful for every opportunity to preach. I'm thankful for you guys. I can see being here since 2011 all that he's done in this fellowship not just growing us numerically but he is certainly growing us deeper. The river seems to be growing wider but also it's growing deeper and giving us more fellowship with each other getting us more fellowship with the Spirit. Tonight is a review it's sort of a follow-up. Last week we preached a long road into Canaan part one. Tonight we're going to look at the long road into Canaan part two.

Go ahead and put the truths on the board. And what I'd like you to see tonight is five main truths. What we have here is we have the descendants of Joseph. So when you see Joseph in the outline okay this is actually the descendants of Joseph. If you're not familiar who Joseph was I will give us some lengthy Old Testament history but this is Joseph and the coast of many colors. He had two sons. His sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. And so if you look you see Joseph we see Joseph is blessed the first main tree Roman numeral number one. Later we will see Joseph lacked proper theology. The descendants of Joseph lacked proper theology.

We're going to see Joseph lacked humility. We'll see that Joseph persisted in pride. And we'll see Joshua rebuking Joseph. The actual body of the message may not be as long as the the review. In order to really appreciate the richness of this text we do need to go back and we need to look at some Old Testament history. But last week I want to give you some review from last week. Last Sunday night we talked about God's path to the promised land. You know the promised land of our sanctification is not always a quick and easy path. In fact when God saves you He is on the road to bringing you to heaven.

And I remember reading a quote by Charles Spurgeon who said you know God could very easily and this is paraphrase but God could very easily have taken you to heaven just as just as soon as you were saved. And sometimes we might wonder why was that not the case. But there is something unfolded in the long path of our sanctification which God desires. We see the New Testament. We see in the Old Testament. The analogy here are these Hebrews who are entering the promised land. By the time we get to Joshua you see Joshua and this people they are in the promised land and they're spreading out. The land has been given to them.

But we still see a lot of hard work. Last week what we learned was that the path to this promised land is not always easy like we would like to think. God has promised to lead us down a narrow road. But this narrow road is hard. The narrow road of our sanctification is not the broad path. In fact scripture says that few find this narrow road. Now if you weren't here last week we covered a few main truths but we said that the promised land is yours of your sanctification will require persistence.

So you can go ahead and jot this down from last week if you weren't here but the promised land of your of your sanctification will require persistence. It will require protection. You see God God told his people that he could not let them into the promised land quickly or else the wild animals would overtake the land. So God would actually have to protect them from things that they didn't even know were a threat to them. And also we saw last week the promised land required patience. God said he would not drive out these enemies overnight. God said that he would drive them out over several generations.

We also saw the promised land required trust in a deliverer because this was God's battle. But tonight in Joshua chapter 17 we're fast forwarding about 30 years from last week's text in Exodus. So if you fast forward just to give you sort of some historical context. You know moving on from last week we see that this passage in Joshua I feel best typifies what happens when God's people enter the land and require God's movement upon them. So Joshua is the first of what the Bible in Old Testament calls the historical books. Now in Bible drills we learn facts and I'm sure our kids have already learned the historical books of the Bible.

As Joshua judges Ruth first and second Samuel first and second Kings first and second Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah and Esther. And scholars agree that in these Old Testament books of history there's a theme of God's sovereignty. We see God being sovereign over nations. God being in control of rulers. We see God being in control of the elements. And God his greatness is on display. But if we if we back up past the books of history past Joshua into the first five books of the Bible or the Pentateuch we see that the Pentateuch begins with creation. It reaches an apex at the Exodus and it concludes when Moses dies. So Joshua begins part two.

This part two begins the Hebrew conquest of the promised land. Now biblical scholars to sort of give you a date or timeline. Reputable biblical scholars date the Hebrew Exodus around 1447. Now that would be good if you're jotting notes. So the Exodus takes place about 1447 BC. Moses died 40 years after that. So that meant working from this date that Moses died. Joshua took over around 1406. So Joshua assumes command in 1406 BC. Now that's important for tonight because we need to see that Joshua is sort of a second Moses. Joshua is the successor to Moses. He is considered the writer of this book and he pictures the Lord as a divine warrior.

So in the book of Joshua and this is important as we look at this text. God is a divine almighty warrior. This is his land, the land of Canaan and he's bringing his people in and through Joshua he is telling them that they are going to conquer this land although will not be overnight. Now Joshua's death is thought to have occurred around 1375 BC. So that means for 30 years the growing Hebrew population conquered nations and spread out into the land. And so after the conquest where we pick up in this text tonight, Israel is filling the land. So they actually are winning battles.

Now if we can just pause the background here and I know that this historical background could be lengthy but it's really necessary. So let's go back to the text and let's look at verse 13 in Joshua chapter 17. Now when the people of Israel grew strong they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out. So what's happening in the context of this text is that God's people are in the promised land and Joshua is telling them where they're going to live. You can think of our country, we only have 50 states. Well the land of Israel had tribes and your Bible might have a map.

It tells you where the tribe of Manasseh was or where the tribe of Judah was. And every single one of these tribes had an allotment except for the Levites. The Levites did not have a state so to speak. They had certain places that they were to dwell and primarily because they did not own land right the church figuratively supported them. But all of these Canaanites for the most part were driven out except for in certain areas and that's where we pick up tonight. There are some lingering enemies of God in the land and there are some lingering territories that have not been captured. So in this process a certain areas were settled.

There were certain places that had never been settled before in human history. These biblical scholars say that it was the Hebrews who brought terracing into this area. So there were some kind of desert lands where no one had inhabited and because the Israelites grew and started to populate the Lord through Joshua said take this land and from time to time people would say we can't live there. It's desert land and Joshua with the direction of the Lord would lead them to how and tell them how to subdue that land. And where we see Israel in this text people are struggling with their sanctification if I can speak figuratively.

They're saying something must be wrong because there is a problem that has come up and because there's no easy solution there must be something wrong with the leader or there must be something wrong with what God has commanded. And our text tonight gives us an exchange between the leaders of one tribe or two combined tribes. Now the half tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim were exceedingly blessed. They had grown more than other nations and there is a good history for this. You guys remember the code of many colors? The patriarch of the Israelites, Israel, was Jacob. Jacob waited for years to actually marry his beloved wife.

He worked for her for her 14 years and after their marriage she was barren. He could not have children with her and that was the woman that he loved. And so his wife, his other wife was sort of a rival and she had children quite easily and so these women sort of were competing with each other and they would say well I need to be my rival so I will give Jacob my handmaid. So all these other, in fact there was a there was ten children born to Jacob before Joseph came around. When Joseph came around Jacob loved him. That was his favorite favorite son. Now parents it's not a good idea.

In fact I believe it's sinful to love one child more than the other but Jacob loved one child more than the other. You might know this story because he loved his son more than the others he made him a coat of many colors. Now you couple this with the fact that Joseph was getting prophetic dreams and he would go to his brothers and he would go to his father and his mother and said I have this dream and yeah and the dream they all are bound down to me. And so this would make them incense. Now this was God giving him dreams but perhaps it wasn't the best idea for him to tell people that but nevertheless he did and his brothers hated them.

This was all in the providential will of God. So you remember the story his brothers threw him into a well. They took this precious coat of many colors they ripped it up they covered it with blood. They sold him into Egyptian slavery and then they told their father that he had been killed. He goes into Egypt Egyptian slavery in the house of Potiphar. He eventually is thrown into jail for things he did not do. He lives in jail he's actually in jail and in captivity for 17 years. Then he begins to find favor from the Lord finds himself into Potiphar's house where excuse me into Pharaoh's house where he becomes second to command.

He marries an Egyptian wife and he has two children Ephraim and Manasseh. Now eventually he reconciles with his brother he is reunited with his father and on his father Jacob of Israel on his deathbed he brings in Joseph's sons and basically what he does is he treats them as if they were his own. So when you see the half tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim they often referred to as Joseph but this is long story is necessary for you see the significance of this. This was a blessed people they were respected among all the other tribes. They seemingly had it all together.

In fact they had the largest population in a very narrow land or territory and God had blessed these two young people and their descendants. So the first point tonight we're moving past background and introduction into the body of the text. The first thing that I want you to see is that Joseph is blessed. Let's look at verse 14. So the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance. Although I am a numerous people since all along the Lord has blessed me. So you can see that Ephraim and Manasseh were right in saying they were blessed.

They literally were living right on top of each other. Internationally if you go to poor countries overpopulation crowding is a legitimate problem. I don't think anybody's arguing that the fact that there was some overpopulation the land was not supporting that that was a legitimate issue. In fact if you look at Abram and Lot and their servants this is very similar to what happened in Abram and Lot. There was conflict that was coming about these two very large people. This is what we see in scripture time and time again when God blesses God's people there are problems.

I believe that God providentially works and churches grow and churches we see people getting saved and there can be problems that come about because of God's divine blessing. So the overpopulation itself is not the main problem but what we see with Joseph the descendants of Joseph is the result of what happens when they become blessed. What we see develop here to the second point Joseph lacked proper theology. Let's read verse 14. "Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, 'Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance?

Although I am a numerous people since all along the Lord has blessed me." Ephraim and Manasseh believed in the sovereignty of God. They believe that God providentially led them into the land. God has blessed them, supernaturally blessed them. The problem is not that they doubted the sovereignty of God but the problem comes in is that they were making too little of the responsibility of man. These are two theological concepts that are sometimes seen as a paradox. I see them as two sides of one coin.

I believe God providentially does work through human effort and responsibility and choice but it becomes apparent as we read this text that these people had the solution right in front of their eyes and they couldn't see it. What they did because of a poor theology they ended up blaming God and ended up blaming God's man. Look at what it says in verse 14. "Why have you given me only one lot and one portion as an inheritance?" See the problem here is they're laying the blame for their overpopulation and they're crowding on God.

As God begins to bless a church it's one thing for us to say, "Yes there's some conflict that comes about in the life of the church." It's another thing to say it's God's fault. Now perhaps when God blesses a church and we see maybe some growing things the blame should be levied on us. We should say the blessing is God's. What can we do differently? Is there anything that God has called us to do that we are not doing? The third point Joseph lacked humility. Verse 15 let's read this together.

"And Joshua said to them, 'If you are numerous people go up by yourself to the forest.'" Now notice he says, "by yourself." I'm going to pause there just for a second. "When there were cases of emergency other tribes would come into help." For instance if there was a huge army that was coming to invade one of the tribes that was an emergency and you would see tribes coming together. You would see teamwork among tribes perhaps the tribe of Judah or Benjamin would come into the aid of the NASA. This is not the case. Joshua says, "Go up by yourself." What he's saying is the problem is you.

The problem is there's something that you need to be doing that you are not doing. And the root I believe was that they lacked humility. And in so doing they were blaming God's man. They were saying, "You've only given me one territory." They just assumed that Joshua had done something wrong. A.W. Tozer says this, "Don't pray for something that God has told you to do." And this is the root of the problem is pride. Now if we see something wrong in our life spiritually we can automatically assume that God or perhaps our pastor is not doing their job.

Undoubtedly we have seen some spiritual need in our life and blamed pastor or Sunday school teacher or perhaps other people in the church. But what we see in the fourth main truth is that Joseph persisted in pride. Joseph persisted in pride. Let's look at in verse 16. The people of Joseph said, "The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron. Both these in Veth-Shian and its villages and those in the valley of Jezreel." So Joseph says to Joshua, "No, but wait Joshua. You just don't understand. See the problem is not us. The problem is you.

The problem is you've not given us enough land because if you're expecting us to dwell in this land it's just not enough land. Apparently they were slow learners and they lacked vision to see a solution for the problem. Now I don't think we should villainize them too bad because you think of Peter. Peter was right wanting to walk on the water because he was trying to find Jesus. But where did Peter make a mistake? He started looking at the waves and I think that's a pretty good analogy for Ephraim and Manasseh. It's good that they were blessed but they were looking at the wrong place. What were they looking at?

They were looking at the impossibilities. We can't go to the direction where the forest is because there's trees there. We can't go down in the valley because there are enemies with chariots of iron. They're making excuses. So the final point tonight, Joshua rebukes Joseph. Verse 17, "And Joshua said to the house of Joseph to Ephraim and Manasseh, 'You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders.

For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.'" So Joshua tells Joseph he needs to repent. There's two things he needed to repent. Number one, he lacked vision. This might sound familiar in the AEM message. Last Sunday I used the same thing to describe Israelites in front of the Red Sea. But in terms of lacking vision, here we see that there's an exceedingly blessed people. They got a small territory and there is an entire forest. I think a forest is something that we have a lot of here, overgrowth. You guys have seen Cribbit.

I think they have a big hardwood pine forest with Cribbit everywhere. Someone looks and says, "I don't see house sites there." And they're sitting with that they lacked vision and they needed a man of God to say, "That's your land. There's nothing wrong with that land." See they had said, "God's not given us enough land." Joshua says, "No, that's the land God's given. The problem is not with God. The problem is with your desire to clear the trees." So I'm going to just ask you in your sanctification process, is there any trees? Are there any trees that are your responsibility to clear, that you've not been clearing?

Sometimes we say we have this sinful habit and God's got to just take it from me. If you were to go to your pastor, perhaps your pastor would say, "That is your tree to clear." When we see things in our lives that seem to be persisting, usually that habit, that sin, it's not God's problem. We can never blame God. It has something to do with us. Is there anything in terms of personal responsibility? Now I do listen to a lot of Christian radio and sometimes I listen to Christian financial talk radio. When people call on air and they talk about financial problems that couples have, the response is usually always the same.

When I counsel a couple, it's usually always the same. Are you praying with your spouse? Are you reading the Bible with your spouse? Do you personally have a quiet time? Now these fall under the heading of personal responsibility. Sometimes we might say, "Lord, I don't have victory in this area because my church is not right." Or, "Because the pastor hasn't been preaching on that." Or something outside of us. But if we were to be honest with ourselves, I think all of us can find times in our lives when we have not been taking care of responsibility that God's given us.

There is deforestation that has to happen in our lives and usually comes down to spiritual disciplines such as reading the word and praying and fasting and witnessing. No spiritual disciplines are our responsibility as Christian. And that's clearing the trees that are in front of us. But they also had another problem. Joseph had to repent the lack of faith. It says here at the end that there were Canaanite enemies who had chariots of iron. Let's read Joshua 17 and verse 16 in conclusion. "The people of Joshua said, 'The hill country is not enough for us, yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plains have chariots of iron.

Both those in Vepshean and its villages and those in the valley of Jezreel.'" Let's read. "And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Iphraim, and Manasseh, 'You are numerous people. You have great power. You shall not have won a lot men only. It goes on to say, 'The hill country shall be yours, though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.'" We actually have to read this entire passage and get to the very end to find out. This was the problem. The problem was they were afraid.

They were afraid that God, although he conquered Pharaoh and although he brought them through the Red Sea and although he destroyed Jericho and although he has laid to waste whole hosts of nations, that these Canaanites with chariots of iron were going to beat them. So the application for us is God will always be faithful to accomplish what he has said he would do. We have to trust the Lord. Usually when there is persisting problems in our life, God is trying to work. The promised land of our sanctification is not a slow, quick process. It's long.

And when we get in there, we have to realize that this was something that was going to be multi-generational. It was going to be an all-inclusive battle. It would require tenacity and diligence and perseverance and would even require their leader coming to them and say, "The problem is not what God has given you. The problem is lack of vision and lack of faith." The invitation tonight is quite simple. I want to just take a moment, be silent. I'm going to ask you to seek the Lord right now and ask him if there would be any persistent trees that you must clear. Is there any relationship that you need to make right?

Anyone you need to ask for forgiveness? Is there any resentment that you've been harboring? Is there any sin habit that lingers? Is there anything you know you should be doing that you're not? Just give you a second to pray about that. Father, tonight as we include this message, I pray that your spirit would deal with each and every one of us or for those that are lost who are still in Egypt.