um i invite you to turn tonight to the book of joshua after some time this has been a long time we're returning uh to this study we made it so far down the road i don't want to give up so we gotta we've got to finish this so we're in joshua chapter 21 uh tonight joshua chapter 21 and you will find that on page 230 in the bibles that are in front of you there are a lot of names in this passage i'm not going to put you through me trying to pronounce all those tonight so i'm going to read the first three verses and then come down to the end of the chapter at verse 41 and we'll conclude reading the end of chapter 21 so this is the holy word of the lord let's give our attention to the lord's word beginning at verse 1 of joshua chapter 21 then the heads of the father's houses of the levites came to eleazar the priest and to joshua the son of nun and to the heads of the father's houses of the tribes of the people of israel and they said to them at shiloh in the land of canaan the lord commanded through moses that we be given cities to dwell in along with their pasture lands for our livestock so the by command of the lord the people of israel gave to the levites the following cities and pasture lands out of their inheritance and then follows a long description of the different classes of the Levites and what was provided for them and we'll pick up at verse 41. The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all 48 cities with their pasture lands. These cities each had its pasture lands around it so it was with all these cities. Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers and they took possession of it and they settled there and the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers not one of all their enemies had withstood them for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed and listen clearly all came to pass may the Lord bless the hearing of his word tonight we return tonight to our study in the book of Joshua and I did wrestle with whether to to finish since we had lost continuity in this book but I thought it would be a great disservice to you to not and avoid to show you how this book ends this book is a wonderful book so important for our day as we have studied and worked through and we now sort of move toward the end of the book and there are wonderful things for us to consider we traveled through of course a lot of territory in this book we've seen a new generation rise up in faith and in trust of the lord being strong and courageous as was the call right from the beginning of the book to trust the lord that the lord made the promise i will be with you wheresoever you go go with boldness and take the land i'm going in front of you and remember the sword was drawn as the warrior king went out in front of them the one whom joshua bowed his face to the ground before well the previous generation you remember had exhibited no faith and cowered before the mighty nations of canaan the spirit had clearly in this new generation rested upon the people and they went forward by faith and they were they overcame insurmountable challenges that the people in and of themselves could not have done the lord was indeed with them that's why there was great success in this campaign through the book of joshua and the lord went through remember before them and he terrified the nations that were in front of them the lord rained down fire upon them the lord terrified them along the road remember it was powerful narratives to consider the lord delivering his people and fulfilling what he promised to do but there was one last issue to deal with here in joshua and the great issue that closes out the book is the giving of the land to israel a very important message in it that we need to spend a little bit of time on to close out this book and the question that permeates these last this last section of joshua for us to consider is immensely encouraging for the church today that's why i found joshua to be such a help it's it's a book for the church today god brought them through the wilderness journey and then to receive the land the whole way he was indeed faithful to do what he said he would do and thus the title of the sermon tonight all of god's promises are indeed yes and amen in christ they went through the battle they were called to go through they fought the nations and the question that lingered is whether god would be faithful to give them the land that he promised to give them that was the great issue this was the great promise to abraham and the beauty of the chapter before us tonight last time we saw that god gave all the appointed tribes their lands all the tribes have been settled the tribes have been given their lands and it was a beautiful picture that we studied remember it's sort of a mini picture a shadowy picture a type of our receiving of the new heavens and the new earth it's really an exciting thing to think about that after a long struggle in this life a battle and weariness and hostility of living as god's people and as we heard this morning here we have no enduring city the lord pictures for us something absolutely stunning and absolutely beautiful in these last chapters of joshua and the reason that is important is because the lord is pressing us on through this pressing us on in faith that he will indeed do what he promised he will indeed fulfill his good word to you and that's an encouragement to us because the messages were almost there i mean when the apostles would say we are indeed the people upon whom the ends of the ages have come you live at the end of history you live at the time of fulfillment we are at the end of the ages we are the generation late in history the moment of any moment when the heavens could break open and there will come our savior and give us the land christ will come in one last battle he will conquer every foe every knee first corinthians 15 as we looked at before will be bowed down and put under his feet and he will indeed give us what was promised how good a god we serve we were exiled from the beginning we were kicked out of the garden because of sin the flaming boys and girls swords went up and the whole history of the human race has been a people groping about in the earth trying to find a way in our day and language trying to find an identity trying to find a place trying to find a home trying to find happiness and how wonderful it is that the lord has promised to do this for us the gospel has gone out in a remarkable program to the ends of the earth and he has here pictured for us in these last chapters of joshua the brand new heavens and earth that he will give his people so the question then here tonight is considering how to finish our race well and what the lord desires of us as as we close out this book this passage helps us with some of these things tonight and that's what we're looking at i want to look at the request here of the levites the provision of the lord and the promise that was realized so that's how we're looking at this particular passage tonight notice this great request as we begin last time the cities of refuge were set up god had set up a city for out cities for outcasts unintentional murder that they could run and that they could be protected and we spent some time on that looking at the importance of that the powerful message in that this chapter now is singularly focused on the Levites the Levites chapter 22 begins you'll notice here that the heads of the father's houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the father's houses and to the tribes of the people of Israel. And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, the Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in along with their pasture lands for our livestock. The Levites are singled out last here in this book as an important lesson for us, something important to consider about the Lord's promises and the Lord's provisions. remember the Levites they have a sort of checkered history um you remember the sons of one of the sons of Leah and who was Simeon brutally uh slaughtered the Shechemites but their great moment their great sort of claim to fame if you will was a shocking moment and had to do with the golden calf event remember Israel had fallen into idolatry and Israel was worshiping the golden calf and they had a completely apostatized into false worship and moses drew a line in the sand and you remember the great call that moses gave whoever is on the lord's side come to me and the next thing we read is that the levites came the levites crossed over levites were interesting here were a clan in israel who deeply feared the lord at that moment and they were commanded remember in an awful scene of judgment to go through the camp and they were to draw the sword against their brothers and three thousand fell that day according to the levites their judgment that the lord had commanded them to give right then and there the lord set them apart right then and there the lord did something with this this tribe this is what moses said moses said today you have been ordained for service of the lord each one at the cost of his son and of his brother so that he might bestow blessing upon you to this day this day they were greatly honored by the lord as his priests they serve the tabernacle which is a really um powerful message to israel those who feared the lord and those who cared about his holiness and those who reverence the lord and feared the lord their god the lord greatly honored moses never forgot this so that when moses would later give instructions about the land he said command the children of israel that they give unto the levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in and you shall also give unto the levite suburbs for the cities around about them which would be places of course where their livestock could grow and they could care for their homes and their families well this point in joshua everyone had received their portion of the land except the levites so the chapter begins with the levites coming to mo coming to joshua and it's interesting how they approach the lord commanded this so it should be honored we have no place to dwell we have no cities for us to dwell in we have no place for our livestock our families no provisions and the lord commanded that we should be cared for there's something special about the request isn't there the author is prompting us to ask and think about i think up front here the boldness of the levites in coming and requesting this land we come to these verses i think in scripture and it's really an encouragement here to think about asking of the Lord. Had the Lord forgotten the Levites? We have these verses, especially from Christ, bold statements about asking God for things. Jesus would openly say things like, ask and you shall receive. Keep on asking. Keep on asking. And you will receive what you have asked for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking. the door will be open clearly he was speaking here of endurance in coming to the lord and asking of the lord for what he promised this is a really important point where jesus would follow it up often by saying you do not have because you do not ask the asking of he's speaking of here is the approach to the lord in prayer of coming to the lord and boldly asking him for what he promised for what he promised that invites all kinds of boldness in prayer that invites all kinds of of coming to the lord and asking him for his care this is what lewis said so many years ago we're too interested in the wrong things that's why we always think about getting things well what he's talking about here is we do not ask him for what he promised in prayer what are we struggling with what are the besetting sins in life has he not promised by his spirit to put to death sin in life think of all the struggles of discouragement and fret and worry that the lord has commanded and saying i don't want that for you commanded you i've commanded that you not be anxious whatever you ask of him he will give according to what he has promised and this is recorded in the scriptures this is meant to encourage us in the scriptures that prayer is that expressed dependency to ask him for what he promised in scripture and one of those promises one of the absolute promises to you in God's fatherly care is that he will supply all your needs he will care for you he is intensely interested in providing for his sheep do you think of the Lord this way worry and fret in this life about provisions and things is entirely unnecessary it's entirely wrong for it's our god who holds and owns the cattle on a thousand hills it's all his he owns everything notice how beautiful it is he promised them cities he promised them a city he promised them pasture land and this is how we must think of our lord that the lord is never slow in giving us his promises his purposes are being worked out but he will indeed do what he's promised and when it comes to the land the new heavens and the new earth he has promised that to us does god lie he has promised this to us and there's this sort of intimate connection that's here between the fulfilling of what he promised and the prayers of his people the dependency of his people expressed as they come to him jesus told us to pray about many things think about the wonderful prayer that we pray and maybe we forgot to pray lord jesus come quickly will he not come will he not come have we stopped asking so we read by command of the lord the people of israel gave to the levites the following cities and pasture lands out of their inheritance now this is moving us to consider the provisions of the lord you have a long record here that follows in chapter 21 of the lord providing for the levites all of these cities and all this pasture land and all of this goodness and all of this abundance for them but there's an interesting thing to note here the levites were different than the other tribes peculiarly because they were set apart for the priestly service of the lord notice what happened isn't it interesting that the lord didn't just give them cities he gave everyone else cities but he didn't just give the levite cities they were not theirs they did not own them they had no title to them they were given out of the inheritance of the people all the other people had permanence in the land not the Levites now I think we could stand back that's not really the best arrangement is it it's not really the most exciting arrangement for the levites and i think in the long history of the the church the idea has been that because of this sort of arrangement with the levites those who serve the lord are intended to be poor and not own anything and not have anything that's not what's being communicated here in fact the mindset has been greatly detrimental to ministry it was william perkins the great father of elizabethan puritanism who wrote in his works and just lamented this problem in his day that he said our best men don't go into ministry. Our best men don't want to go into ministry because they're treated as peasants. And they go and they become doctors and lawyers because that's a much more promising financial and lucrative career for them. So we can hardly find anyone in our day to go into the ministry. Well, it was actually the opposite of what we think. The Lord provided abundantly for them. But how so? Through the generous hearts of His people. They were to reflect the Lord's generous heart. No one really owns anything in this life, do they? What are titles? What are ownership titles? Boys and girls, we've used it before, but you know. Game of Monopoly, I hated playing it because I never really owned it. And it all went back in the box. They didn't say, oh, this is my inheritance. They don't get anything. From their own, notice this, appointments from the Lord, they provided for the Levites. Why was the Lord doing this? What was the Lord teaching in this? There's a powerful message in the arrangement. The Lord himself is demonstrating to all the people how he cares for them. In providing a ministry of reconciliation, remember, they serve the sacrificial system and the sacrifices and services of the temple so that he would demonstrate how he cares for his people both spiritually and physically. It demonstrates how thankful the people were to be for the Lord continuing to provide a ministry. God provided for the people all their physical needs. What good was that without a ministry? What good is that without the gospel? He wanted the people to see his great provision in providing for their spiritual needs through the service of the Levites. And God wanted the presence of the Levites to be a witness before them that he constantly cares to provide for his people in all your needs. But this just isn't about ministry. There's something embedded in this that's absolutely beautiful here about our God. That God blesses his people with abundance for a reason. Look at how abundant we are. Look at how much he's provided for us. the message here is that we then would indeed care for those in need, that we would demonstrate the heart of the Lord for those in need. Look at how much attention is given to this in the Psalms, how the Lord lifts up the poor out of the ash heap, how the Lord cares for the afflicted, how the Lord provides and provides and provides. This is the heart of Christian discipleship. How much attention does the New Testament give to this? Nothing that we have has not been received from the Lord. There's nothing that we have he has not given to you. And he blesses abundantly so that we would imitate him in providing for those who lack. Think of James. Who so has the world's goods and sees his brother having need and shuts up his bowels of compassion for him? How dwells the love of God in him? There was a pastor telling a story not so long ago about a poor man out on the road and he walked up and said, I need, I'm hungry. And of course our immediate thought is, yeah, right. Yeah, right. And the pastor said, well, come over here, I'll buy you a meal. And the man followed and the pastor was so heartbroken because the man really was starving. This is a beautiful thing that's communicated here. The beautiful reciprocal thing happening in those who have need. When we care for those in need, we're being like our Lord. How much has he given? One pastor said, giving with a cheerful heart doesn't happen if you give money and all the time are thinking about the things you could have bought with it. Giving with a cheerful heart happens when you fill your mind with Christ and the gospel, understanding all that's been provided for you so that he said so much for me that this money is nothing in comparison i will gladly give it for him that's the spirit of chapter 21 that's what's being captured here i never really like preaching on these things because there's been so much chicanery throughout christian ministry and you know you've seen these guys on tv but you have to address it you have to address it this is the heart that he wants for his from his people because this is the kind of care he gives to us we are never more like our lord and what strikes me here is the character of our god the god who owns the cattle on a thousand hills who we being given everything in christ and lack nothing that he wants us to share and to give to those in need his power has granted to all things that pertain to life and godliness he has given us everything well think then that the heart of chapter 22 is but this chapter ends on a remarkable note tonight that i don't want to miss and this is such a beautiful ending to this section everyone look at verse 43 thus the lord gave to israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers and they took possession of it and they settled there. That would be enough, right? I mean, what a glorious, glorious passage, which you have to stop and say. You often hear from dispensationalists in our day, you know, the land still has to be given back to Israel and the temple needs to be constructed. We saw this morning, we don't want to build another altar like that. We do not want to do that. We have an altar at Golgotha. but we also are not looking for the land in this world to be restored and given. Notice here, the assumption is God didn't fulfill His word to Israel. That's not what's said here, is it? God fulfilled His word to Israel. You can't miss it. All the land was given to them. He fulfilled all that He promised to them. Right here. And to Joshua 21, it was done. God fulfilled his word. The promise was given. He gave them the earthly land. Well, that would be enough. He keeps going. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them. For the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. That is a remarkable passage. That's the driving thesis of Joshua. God made good on his promise for Israel. God did it for them. He gave them the land. And what was it all based on? well years ago god made a covenant didn't he he cut a covenant genesis 15 remember the night abraham was justified god said look at the stars in the heavens look at the sand on the seashore so will your inheritance be so will your people be and that night abraham fell into a deep sleep and god remember he had told abraham to split the the rows of the animals and the ancient cutting of a covenant ceremony and that night god passed between those pieces remember as a smoking torch and fire pot remember those that fire theophany in genesis 15 god promised right then and there for abraham's descendants that he would fulfill his word and give them the land goes on in Genesis 15 to describe that and the note that Joshua 21 ends on is this really good sweet note God never breaks his promises God never breaks his promises he gave them land and he gave them rest now think of how wonderful that is what is that all a picture of tonight that is all as we've been considering from hebrews is a mini picture for us what the theologians call shadowy sketch of what's coming very soon think of all that god's promised god has promised heidelberg catechism the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life there's all the kind of summary of the promises of god if you were to categorize that classify all the promises that god has made it's the forgiveness of all your sins and it's everlasting life and everlasting life means the rest that is held out for us. God sealed those covenant promises in the blood of His Son, who today you learned in one Sabbath, He's your altar, He's your land, He's your everything. And here's what is soon to come, beloved. Jesus the Christ is going to come again, and God has promised us that when he comes he has promised his favor upon you he has not promised and he has not said he is going to pour out wrath upon you he has promised favor he has promised and already has given the forgiveness of your sins and he's promised when he comes again that you are going to receive the everlasting inheritance of the land that this typifies. That's coming. And He will come and do it with great joy for you. Bringing us back home. That's what we lost. That's what we did because of sin. This is what we threw away. And we've provoked Him the whole way because of sin. And instead of giving us our just desserts and punishing us and sending us to an everlasting punishment in a place of outer darkness, instead, He gave us His Son. And at Golgotha, there are our altar. The wrath was poured out upon Him. And He has sealed a promise in the blood of His Son. I promise all of you who look to Me in faith, Land and rest and my favor for eternity. This is the gospel. This is the good news that we celebrate. This is the city that Abraham looked for. And you can pray in your prayers this week. Lord, you have promised me a city. You've promised me a city. Here we have no enduring city, Hebrews 13. But you've promised me the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And what has God told you tonight? I will fulfill that. I will do that for you. I will give you that. That's coming. So live by faith. And along the way, and all these gracious provisions that He's given, care for those in need. Remember what the Gospel's about. You have a much better inheritance than anything of this world. So look to Christ. This day, most certainly beloved, is soon to come. Let's pray to him. Heavenly Father, thank you for so rich promises that all of them are indeed yes and amen. Thank you for being faithful and encouraging us all along the way. Thank you for covering our sins. Thank you for giving us an altar at Golgotha. Thank you for telling us that we can come to our Heavenly Father and pray your promises knowing that you will answer them and answer us in our cries and that this kind of future is held out for us. This is the hope of the gospel. Thank you for giving us hope. Encourage our hearts in these promises this week and let us be about our weeks in prayer, considering others, remembering, O Lord, that all your promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.