Iron Chariots (Part C)

Also add that as we minister to one another that love and recognition. We become season service if try to always keep grace upfront 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 of the persons impenitent that's different person, still trying to get this together.

You 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 here. 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. You were supposed to be somewhat of a striking figure.

People are reminded that it is God there is justice there is an accountability there is a love that is being offered to them and this shows up.

I think release and my experiences in the workplace is when someone has something to do with the funeral to go looking for the man of God. If it's if it strikes a chord with them and they when asked for versus the one asking her what happens and they asked not all every single one of them puts but there are those that do, because you are a striking figure in any way Melchizedek can Aron typify the priestly work of Christ or Canaan in the wilderness and Canaan.

They typify our experience in this life. The wilderness experience with gives which gives us nothing we can. Nothing from it. You lost or saved.

If you're in the wilderness.

There's really nothing there. Now there other types of wilderness experiences such as David Abbott I'm talking about the wilderness of the Exodus Jews together the wilderness and Canaan portray our pilgrimage here called us pilgrims passing through. Pilgrims have a destination you're traveling but they have a destination and it involves worship.

That's the keenest idea of the pilgrimage, and when Israel crossed the Red Sea symbolize the death of the old life when they came out of Egypt. You know the Egyptians and back deep blue sea in front and the cross that that Red Sea jumps off the Sea of Reeds and is symbolize the old life of slavery in Egypt was now gone behind them, but when Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered into Canaan meant the end of the wasted life wilderness life. Now there were possessions to lay hold on. It was the meaning of meaningfulness given to their life and that's what Paul said your labor is not for nothing, as you feel like it is you feel like you do. You know you got to get the church.

Did you know Chris and I were praying he prayed about, you know that things wouldn't get old and the routine and routine does not have to become monotonous, as were used routine and monotony are not necessarily the same thing.

Monotony is beginning a message ahead. Routine is you have to have it and you can make both of them work if you're aware of these things if you say okay it's not just me. This is how it is. And so all of you know all this plow through it. We talked about the four smarts that Joshua made from Gill gal to Gibeon, and if you most of you have not been on a forced march this to you know heavy gear and an endless walk and is he is 1 foot in front of the other and if you do if you don't do that you will drop and you don't want to drop home on a pricier fan order fame public or anywhere else. And so life is very much's.

That way the Christian life.

At times it's a forced march is the routine, but it's worth it. You've come out of the wilderness. You've crossed into the promised land. This fighting there but there 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 is much as Yahweh has blessed us until now. Will they really it is a complaint but they're not complaining. I did good.

Lisa doesn't come across that way when I read it I said they have a need or want. They don't agree with something but it's is not with a bad attitude you know many time complainers want to make you feel small and they feel big. That's not how this reads but this is both E from an Manas of the sons of Joseph. Manasseh was the elder but the from of course got the greater blessing and they consider 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, Manasseh and Ephraim and they receive their separate tribal territory of 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 is double blessing and they got a problem with the problem is not with the blessing to Joshua tribes had to fight for their territory to so will be getting is a contrast. Not intentionally. Judah and Manasseh need from in Joshua that intentionally making his contract with the Holy Spirit is making this contrast between Caleb Caleb who says I am an old man but I can take that land and he goes up and he takes it up will be quoting him in a little bit and so they, their dissatisfied in the lesson. Of course, that we need to get his dissatisfaction with God's arrangements can quickly get out of control and it was it's up to us to check it and not let it. The tail wag the dog, we can quickly lusts for what someone else has covet because we're not satisfied with what we have and again the fight is on it. Go through the seasons in life. He says since we are great people and is much as Yahweh has blessed us until now in 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 of territory. Verse 15 the story continues. So Joshua answered them.

If you are great people then go up to the forest country and clear place for yourself there in the land of the peasant rice and the Giants since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. So Joshua's magnificent oak your great people.

Okay, I'll take that if he turns it on them but not against them. He's not trying to be facetious and hurt them is 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 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 supposed to say that you said you were great then you should expect to prevail because that accompanies greatness 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's discontent so as Manasseh with their portion. Dan could've stand up and said you know what we don't have anything because we got our backyard here compared to the Simeon got even last Simeon got up circle oval within Judah and eventually that was absorbed by Judah to so what did it matter to the individual not at all. Didn't matter one bit to each individual. They had their land to work and they think they could've just been happy with that. Joshua's answer reveals his his greatness is his compassion, his statesmanship unit statesmen properly administered statesmanship is some trying to achieve the best answer without bias. Maintaining your interest at the same time as opposed to one upmanship, always trying to take advantage of the other person in Joshua. Of course he is to ease the consummate leader in this he has any for my incidentally and it unless 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 supplied themselves or you know you you meet somebody and with you know they have fancy names on how fantasies about underachiever that means there's potential to do better. What is not being achieved and we all have some of that takes a lot of energy to keep running the full steam. Gotta learn how to pace yourself not save yourself. Pace yourself, you save yourself you get used to just you be a minimalist you get read as little as possible for you to get away with it instead of being gallant and that's what Joshua's trying to extract from them is like a father to them.

He said you can do better. I know it's in you. You admitted it yourself, you will recognize it but you want me to give you a pass and that that would undermine your greatness.

You not be great anymore it be okay, so again, not denying the declaration I charge them to demonstrate their confession by taking possession of the land that they were given by God will get to one of the promises in and in a minute but he instructed them to go to the mountains and cut wood not because you board anything but you can make tools and weapons out of that these are resources that have fallen to you to drive the falls out a principal that is handed to the church if we're going to be more powerful as individuals is a body of believers and we too are going to have to drive out the peasant rights in the Giants since the mountains are too confining for us in verse 16 he continues it continues for the children of Joseph said Nancy from Manasseh, and this is on the this group is mainly on the east side. The promised land side, the side of the Shannon Gilead on the west side of Jordan there not to complain of it there on the east side of Emma mixing that up LOL I figure some weird maps anyway. I on behalf of the management will extend my most sincere apologies. Verse 16 he says, the mountain country is not enough for us for the children grosses of the mountain country is not enough for us and all the Canaanites to dwell in the land of the Valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Sheehan and its towns, and those who are in the Valley of Jezreel. They expected Joshua to see it to side with them was like a child. Come on, but doesn't really tell it's all in it, but they have all the Bubba Bubba Bubba Butts stacked up to the moon and they feel like you know you going to cave your experience. Your wisdom does not count at that moment the only thing that matters is what they want. Parents have to learn to hang tough or the cave. When my dad would hang tough. I didn't like it but I knew somehow I knew he was. It was right that in cave a lot. I was a good kid like they never caught me doing the stuff I did was good and if they did, they didn't guided know about it anyway.

My brother, on the other hand busted for everything.

I mean you come out the bathroom and cover the cigarette smoke. How do you do that okay I guess and you can you know you just all the pristine lives and just never had any of these things going on anyhow or where are we here okay so that the chariots that there fussing about the chariots because it didn't give the opposition. This military advantages superiority and do anything again that is fierce against us is that I am chariot and if all you have are spears and maybe a calor horse with this guys coming at you with the chariot lances and arrows. It is a great disadvantage, especially of the formation of them. They just plow you down and is tribes scratching their heads, how we going to dislodge these people.

Deuteronomy 20 verse one 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 more numerous and 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 is exciting going to face chariots were going to take him 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. In trying to get from point A to point B as a believer as a servant and you find out the chariot system. Get out the way so easily. So then you come to a situation like this in Scripture and you listening to the tribes 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 is everything starts falling apart and how do we know that will the book of Judges lays it out for us. But I have to also add that as we minister to one another, instead love and recognition.

We become season servants. If we try to always keep grace upfront 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 of the persons impenitent then that's different, but the person 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 a strong this day is 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 was there. Are we Christians supposed to say that isn't ancient philosophy that belongs in the Old Testament and has no use for me in the New Testament within Paul's words when he says God wrote these things preserve them for our admonition, but I like ammunition so we can be stronger these stories exist were supposed to extract Jesus said then you hear what David did with the shewbread and you want to come up in my face about the Sabbath and you can heal someone the lessons that we have in Scripture are to be applied to life going to need them.

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, which always spoken that day you heard in that day how the Anna Kim the Giants with their and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that Yahweh will give it will be with me and I should be able to drive them out as the Lord said he wasn't presumptuous. Caleb was not presumptuous that I got the promise of what to do it and when a naming claimant says maybe God will bless me. Maybe this will turn out right for me in my lifetime. Maybe I will see the victory may be mass in E from should a hired Caleb a carols chariots verse 17, and Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph three from and Manasseh saying you are a great people and have great power. You shall not have only one lot only holds them again to their words in verse 14. I love it that he says you, he's not.

Again, this is not topping them down making them feel small. How do you even ask that agency would Caleb did you open my face with the doesn't do any of this verse 17. But the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is worded, you shall cut it down in his father's extent, shall be yours. You should drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and our strong, so he's not delusional. Now, get the promises of God's goal will be blessed and be filled to say this to someone to be blessed and be filled one that's not going to help them is not living in reality he saying it requires work and war to win. We talked about Paul saying that I may win this is that the active Christian life is what we have portrayed here and in this last paragraph of Joshua 17 work award-winning Joshua says you you'll drive them out so he tells a story of the Jews entering the promised land. Here in this book of Joshua tells the story of the Jews entering the land and then judges will tell us of this settling in the land. They not only settled to their own gardens and fields in 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 motive just said we pay to migrate meat or not. My agreement to leave and finer land. We just can't keep fighting these Jews like this but what happened is they began to 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 there blacksmith because the Philistines didn't want them to make weapons of the Jews needed there is acts sharply and go to the Philistine, a 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 that.

Anyway, we come back to Joshua chapter 17, we asked what did they ever drive them out. The answer is no. Judges chapter 1 verse 27. However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth CN and its villages, or 10 in its villages or the inhabitants of door in its villages of the inhabitants of IBM and its villages, or the inhabitants of the ghetto and its villages for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land so I read that is Christmas okay within Christianity, there are failures, but there also victories I don't know where they are but I know what my assignment is when I carry out my assignment. The victories emerge so to the failures for the failures. Don't give me excuse of saying I can drive other chariots upside. That's it. I'll just live with them with you. Do then I'm going to pack up and go away.

They can come at you. So after Ephraim and Manasseh had received their land to the west and east of Jordan. They were satisfied with it. They went to Joshua.

Joshua tells them they're going to have to work they want to expand their territory and the 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 would begin the judge will you tell me you guys the new valve control we begin to doodles of those things going God's word says it will literally what can we say we have received the lesson or not. Always when they fought back they did well 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 a 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 my truck anymore. I'm always talking because about life all the time and have quiet time.

Sometime additional savings and I'm exhausted, but I wouldn't give that up to go back into the world for anything I rather have unanswered prayer, no prayer, I should say on granted 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 will have much tribulation would be of good cheer. I've overcome have been written by verses like that are not of good cheer knowledges that I'm not happy but yet the dust settles in his understanding still believe Satan can do anything about.

Thanks for tuning into cross reference radio for this study in the book of Joshua cross reference is the teaching ministry pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you're interested in more information about this ministry, please visit our website cross reference radio.com find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast by doing so you will 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. You could also follow the links and cross reference radio.com.

Glad we were able to spend time with you today due to next time to continue learning from the book of Joshua right here on cross reference radio