Sermon Cloud

Striving to Enter God’s Rest 2

Hebrews 4:3-11

Grace Fellowship Church

September 9, 2007

Series 3 Sermon 13

 

³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” ⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” ⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰ for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Introduction

Like a very good attorney, the writer of Hebrews has been making his case about the superiority of Christ to angels, to prophets, and to priests.  He has in chapter three made his case that we all must be very careful to make sure that we do not have an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.  And so far in chapter four with great precision he has established some very important facts for us. 

 

The first fact that he has established is that as believers we must fear while a promise of entering God’s rest still remains lest we fail to reach it.  Look at verse 1. 

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

The second fact that he has established in chapter four is that the Good News can be received with no benefit if it is not received in faith that leads to obedience.  Look at verse 2.

² For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

That fact is the most frightening one because what the writer is saying is that it is possible for us to be under the Word of God, witness miracles and still not believe. 

 

Last week we saw another group of facts laid out in a series of questions. 

The next fact that we saw last week is that it is only the believing ones who will enter God’s rest and the unbelieving ones will be excluded.  Look at verse three.

³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ”

 

The second fact that we saw last week had to do with the sovereignty of God and we learned that God’s rest was not thwarted by the unbelieving Israelites.  This fact was based on God’s predetermined plan of redemption.  Remember the phrase, “from the foundation of the world?”  Look at the end of verse 3 through verse 5. 

 although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”

 

The question was also asked if there was even a rest that remained.  The answer to that is in verse 6 and 7.

⁶Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

 

And then the final fact that was established last week was that Joshua did not provide nor was the rest of God fulfilled when Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land.  Look at verse 8 and 9. 

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

 

PNP

Last week we saw three of four questions that are inferred and answered by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews about God’s rest.  Today we will cover the fourth.  Let me again remind you of the three questions that we saw last week. 

 

1.  Who gets to enter this rest?

2.  Was the rest of God thwarted by the unbelief and disobedience of the Israelites?

3.  Was the rest of God fulfilled when Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land?

And then for this week:

4.  Who is an example for us to look to in order to see how we enter God’s rest?

 

Purpose

My purpose in preaching this text is to show you that a rest indeed remains for the people of God and to show you an example of godly, faithful, obedient living that we should emulate on our journey to God’s rest.  

 

I told you last week that there is quite a bit of assumed biblical knowledge by the writer of Hebrews.  He expects us to be very familiar with the Old Testament to understand what he is saying to us. 

 

RPNP

So look with me at the final question that we need to answer. 

 

4.  Who is an example for us to look to in order to see how we enter God’s rest?

Look at verse 10. 

¹⁰ for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

I want you to notice the word “whoever” in the text.  The KJV and the NKJV translates this as “he.”  The NASB translates this as “the one.”  The NIV plays fast and loose with the translation and uses the word “anyone” to translate this.  So when we read this we should understand that the translation should probably be “for he who has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” 

 

Let me say with all humility that I don’t think we can be absolutely sure who the “he” is in the text.  There are some options.  Some have said that the “he” in the text is Christ.  A.W. Pink links the “he” to Christ who is mentioned in verse 14 and is mentioned in chapter three verse 1.  This is a real possibility for the interpretation of the pronoun “he” in verse 10.  By the way, pronouns are not always our friends.  Sometimes they can be confusing. 

 

For instance if one of the kids come in from playing outside and says, “He got stuck in a tree.”  Well if you have more than one “he” out in the yard playing you can’t be sure who the child is talking about.  You are going to say, “Who is stuck in the tree?”  Which is our problem here this morning in the text.  The way you find out the intended person in English that a pronoun, (he, she, it, they, them, ya’ll) represents is to match the gender and the number.  Is the pronoun a he, she, or it?  These are singular in number.  You don’t talk about two boys and refer to them both at the same time as “he.”  It would be they or them.  Pronoun confusion is a problem.  In Greek it is not much different.   You look at the gender and the number and match it with the context.  So now that that is as clear as mud lets answer our question.   

 

So is the “he” in verse 10 Christ?  It definitely could be.  Jesus in chapter 3:1 and in chapter 4:14 is masculine in gender and singular in number so it is a match for the pronoun.  But the case can’t be solved that easily because you have some explanation taking place in this verse.  Look at verse 10 again.

¹⁰ for whoever (he) has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Whoever this is has indeed entered God’s rest and has rested from his works as God did from his. 

 

In a sense, Christ is resting from His work of redemption on the cross.  I think AW Pink makes a valid point.  I would not go to the mat with him on this.  But I would show him that Christ is still at work.  Hebrews 7:25 tells us that as our High Priest Christ is still making intercession for His people.  His work of redemption is complete but He is still working in His intercession on behalf of His people. 

 

There is a second option.  That option is what some other commentators have said.  They believe the “he” is talking about Christians in general.  That it is believers who once they have entered salvation have entered that rest.  Last week I told you that I believed that the rest of God would not be fully realized until death.  It is partially enjoyed now in the confines of the church but even on the best day in church we simply get a taste.  What commentators will say here is that what we have rested from is the dead works by which we were trying to work our way to God.  With that I would agree.  However, unless you assume everybody the writer is writing to were Jews and that there were no heathens in the bunch then you can’t say this.  Everyone who is a believer did not grow up in Judaism.  Some of us were just heathens and had no desire to work our way to God at all.     

 

But we still have the problem of asking the question of whether or not believers are actually enjoying fully the rest of God right now.  I would have to answer that question this way.  This is assuming that all of us have entered that rest completely when the context of the passage has not allowed us to become comfortable.  Remember the context, this is very important in understanding this.  In chapter three the writer calls us to self examination.  We were called to “take care, exhort one another, and hold fast.”  Listen to Hebrews 3:12-14.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

In chapter four our command was to fear lest any of us fail to reach God’s rest and then if you look at verse 11 we have another command.  Notice it with me.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

 

I don’t want to oversimplify this but when I am striving, I can assure you I am not resting.  Have a bout of insomnia where you are striving for sleep and see how much rest you get. The fact is when we become believers we are not at rest, not yet anyway.  I think we have too many believers at rest and not enough at work living out their faith and engaged in ongoing sanctification. 

 

So I would have to disagree with those who hold that the “he” here in verse 10 is representative of all believers from verse 3.  I would disagree on theological and grammatical grounds.  In verse three those who have believed (past tense) are entering (present tense) God’s rest.  It does not say what verse 10 says.  Verse 10 says that whoever this is has entered (past tense) God’s rest. 

 

So let me provide you with a third option which I think is the most obvious yet most missed option.  Look at the immediate context of verse 10 specifically verse 8 and 9.

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,    

Did you notice Joshua in the text?  It just so happens that Joshua matches perfectly with the pronoun “he” in verse 10.  Both are nominative, masculine, and singular.  Plus Joshua is in the preceding context for verse 10. 

 

Remember the question that we need to answer?

Who is an example for us to look to in order to see how we enter God’s rest? A great example of a lifetime of faithfulness in the face of difficult and often overwhelming circumstances would be Joshua.  We know from Old Testament history that the only two people that walked out of Egypt and walked into the Promised Land was Joshua and Caleb.  Joshua was the leader.  We first see Joshua come onto the scene in Exodus 17 after the event that is mentioned in our text and Psalm 95.  Joshua is instructed by Moses to go and fight with Amelek.  He defeats them and that is when he comes into prominence as a leader with Moses.  Joshua pretty much became Moses’ shadow.  Where Moses went, Joshua went.  He was the heir apparent. It was Joshua who was with Moses on Sinai in Exodus 32 when the Israelites made and worshipped the Golden Calf. 

 

Joshua had obvious leadership qualities.  But what I want you to see about Joshua was his dedication to serving the Lord.  Turn to Exodus 33.  Start looking in verse 7.

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. ⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. ⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹ Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

 

Joshua was a man of God that desired to be in the presence of God and to give his life to the service of God.  I am personally praying and would love to see from this congregation some young Joshuas being brought up to not desire the things of the world but to desire to give their entire lives to the service and worship of the Lord.  One Joshua has far more value to the Kingdom of God than five thousand men whose only focus is to get ahead in the world. 

 

I want you to turn over to Joshua 1 and see what motivated this man to be a godly example.  Look with me at verses 5-9. 

⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

 

There are a lot of New Testament sounding provisions here in Joshua chapter 1.  First there is the promise of God never leaving Joshua.  Look at verse 5. 

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.

The Lord Jesus in John 14 promised us that He would not leave us as orphans but would remain with us.  In the context of the Epistle to the Hebrews the people were enduring difficulty and trials.  Yet the writer of Hebrews quotes Joshua 1:5 applying to us as believers who are seeking to live godly in a difficult world.  Listen to Hebrews 13:5 and 6.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

 

Joshua is our example as one who received the promise of God, just as we have in Christ, that God will never leave us.  Just like Paul who was confident of this very thing so eloquently expressed this truth in Romans 8:31-39.

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

It is in the light of this truth that we have our next command in Hebrews 4:11. 

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The command here is to strive to enter that rest.  Its not that we have already entered it as believers but we are as we live our lives for the Lord entering that rest.  So much of modern Christianity is centered on a one time decision for Christ which in many people’s minds eliminates the need for discipleship.  If they can get people to sign a card or raise a hand or recite a prayer then they feel like they are carrying out the great commission.  When in fact they are doing a great injustice to the words of the Lord to go out and make disciples.  Disciples must be taught and in the context of Hebrews 4 they are to be taught to persevere.  There is no choice in the matter.  Either you persevere to the end proving the legitimacy of your faith or you fall away proving your illegitimacy.

 

We can not make a major mistake here.  The mistake that most people make is to fall off into this mode of thinking that it does not matter how I live my life because Jesus is my Savior.  Or they make the mistake and think they have to work for their salvation. 

 

But the truth is that we as believers must live for the Lord. We should be involved in constant sanctification.  In Ezekiel 36:26-27 we have the promise of a new covenant.  That New Covenant will not be like the old.  It will involve a heart transplant.  Listen as I read.

²⁶ "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

 

The proof of salvation, of being in the New Covenant is obedience.  Hold your place in Joshua 1 but turn back over to Hebrews 4.  Look again at verse 11.  

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Obedience proves the inward work of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration.  Disobedience proves the lack of a work and a counterfeit Christianity.  Those who are disobedient to the Word of God have no leg of assurance to stand on.  They should be in constant spiritual turmoil until the Lord changes their heart so that they can walk in His ways.  Those of us who are sure of our salvation should also be busy as well.    

 

The word “strive” in verse 11 means to do your best.  It means to make every effort.  In other words this is your ultimate goal.  Your focus and desire is on persevering in order to enter God’s rest.  This is the same word that Peter used in 2 Peter 1:10 when he commanded us “to be diligent to make our calling and election sure.”  Paul used it in 2 Timothy 2:15 when he told Timothy to be diligent in his study to rightly handle the Word of Truth. 

 

Look, entering God’s rest is no matter of small importance.  It is the goal of everyone who names the name of Christ.  It is our new birthright but like Esau many will sell that birthright for a mess of pottage. So we need an example of covenant faithfulness to emulate as we strive to enter God’s rest.  

 

And as Joshua as our example we are to emulate what he did in order to enter God’s rest as he has entered it.  Go back to Joshua chapter 1.  There are some important lessons for us here for our own journey.

 

We have already been told that the promise of God is to never leave us no matter what situations arise for our sanctification.  Now look at verse 6. 

⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

No matter the consequences or the trouble we are called by God to be courageous.  Again in Romans 8 the Apostle Paul reiterates this for us.  Listen to verses 15-17.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

Where do we find this strength?  How do we have this confidence in order to walk through life’s trials and troubles with courage and strength?  How is it possible for us who are now accustomed to air conditioning and supermarkets with all the food we could possibly want and electricity to endure a time when all those things are gone?  How can we who are not accustomed to persecution endure that trial?  Does the strength come from within us or is it just intestinal fortitude?

 

The strength comes from the Lord.  In our own strength we will not be able to stand strong and courageous.  We won’t face the challenges of the enemy without the strength the Lord supplies.  So where does this strength come from?  Look at verses 7and 8. 

⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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.

 

Our strength comes from knowing the Lord of the Word by knowing the Word of the Lord.  Look at what the Lord told Joshua to do.  Notice verse 7 and notice that God requires complete obedience. 

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

I want you to notice that there is no compromise in the Word of God.  When God’s people are commanded to obey the Word there is no wiggle room.  Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

 

God blesses those who tremble at His Word and keeps it. 

 

So how do you come to know the Word of God in this way?  Look at verse 8. 

⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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.

 

Folks, nothing has changed.  The one that will enter God’s rest will be a person of the Word of God.  Otherwise worldly wisdom will creep in.  As believers we must have Biblically soaked minds.  Our minds should be sponges for the Word.  The Word conforms us to the image of Christ.  The Word tells us that we must persevere when worldly wisdom tells us it is okay to compromise.  The Word of God tells us to obey in all things when the world says there are gray areas.  The list can go on and on.  We need to be narrow minded folks on the narrow way.  We must be biblically literate to know all that God has commanded us to do in order to enter His rest. 

 

Why do you think we have so much Bible in our worship services? Is it because we can’t think of anything else to do?  Couldn’t we have a choir or do some skits or dramas to fill in the time?  And furthermore, why is this preacher allowed to preach so long on Sunday?  And why doesn’t he tell more stories and talk less about the Bible?  If he did then our church may grow.  So why are we so committed to the Word of God in our worship services?

 

It is because the Word of God changes us.  It conforms and transforms us by renewing our sin depraved minds from thinking like the world to thinking like the Lord desires for us to think. 

 

If Joshua would not have been in the Word of the Lord what would he have done at Jericho to try and siege those huge walls?  What about the other battles that he fought and the Lord gave him victory?  How could he possibly have faced so many enemies without the Lord’s help if he did not know the Word? 

 

This is the way that we face the struggles and trials of this life also.  We must have minds that have been renewed by the Word. 

 

We have to know to count it all joy when various trials come our way because we know because we have read James 1:2-4 “that the testing of your faith produces endurance . ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result , so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

 

We know from reading Scripture that it has not only been granted to us for us to believe in Christ but it has also been granted for us to suffer because of Him. 

 

So because our sin filled, depraved minds are being transformed and renewed by the Word of God we can face the trials of this life knowing that the Lord is our strength and shield, a very present help in time of trouble. 

 

Joshua had been preparing his whole life to serve the Lord.  You boys need to take notice here and begin spiritual preparation as well.  You boys need to get serious about the things of God.  God will call you to a life of service to Him as pastors or elders or deacons or missionaries and today is the day to begin those spiritual preparations. If you can read you need to be reading the Bible daily.  If you can’t read well enough yet to read it yourself then you listen when Mom or Dad reads it and you listen in church when it is read.  You young men are in spiritual boot camp awaiting your assignment from the Lord and His desire for you is to prepare for service just as Joshua did.  You need to read good theologically sound books also.  When Charles Spurgeon was just a boy of about seven or eight he began reading the Puritans.    

 

You young ladies and girls need to be doing the same.  You should be growing into women of the Word so that you are not fooled by worldy minded men.  Women of the Word marry godly men of the Word and have godly families that produce men of God like Joshua or Charles Spurgeon, or Jonathan Edwards, or William Tyndale, or countless other men and women of God who were spiritually prepared to do what God called them to do.  You should be just as busy in spiritual preparation as these boys ought to be. 

 

Adults, the same goes for you and I trust that you are in spiritual preparation already.  God has something for each of His people to do that He has specifically equipped you to do.  You must stand ready when that time comes.  Moses was eighty years old before he was spiritually prepared for what God called him to do.  Joshua was close to eighty when he began the conquest of Canaan.  So everything that you go through in the Christian life on your way to entering God’s rest is preparing you for Heaven and preparing you to do what God has called you to do sometime in the future.    

 

Verse 10 of Hebrews 4 tells us that Joshua has entered God’s rest and is now resting from his works.  So how did this life end for Joshua?  Turn to Joshua 24. 

Joshua lived a life of humble covenant obedience to God.  In Joshua 24 just before the time of his death, Joshua summoned the people to one final exhortation.  Start reading with me in verse 14. 

¹⁴ “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. (Even at the end of his life he calls the people to covenant obedience.)¹⁵ And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Here he sets the tone for the coming generations of his family.  His house will serve the Lord.  This will be his legacy. Which says a lot for the tone the father sets in his household.)  ¹⁶ Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, ¹⁷ for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. ¹⁸ And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” ¹⁹ But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰ If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” (Joshua knew the character of the Lord because he knew the Word of the Lord.)²¹ And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” ²² Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³ He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” ²⁵ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. ²⁶ And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” ²⁸ So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

²⁹ After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. ³⁰ And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

 

Understand that our example Joshua was not a flash in the pan.  He had 110 years of service to the Lord.  He was faithful throughout his life.  Was he perfect?  No.  But he is held up as a biblical example of covenant faithfulness.  He is our example.  We must endure to the end following the example of Joshua. 

 

He knew the Lord was with Him.  He was strong and courageous to fight the battles the Lord set before him because He knew the character of the Lord.  He knew the character of the Lord because he knew the Word of the Lord. 

 

Will that be said of you?  Will you be a man or woman of the Word? 

 

In closing, look at verse 31 to see the effects that Joshua had on the nation of Israel and the warning that occurs there.

³¹ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

 

When men and women know the Lord and the Word of the Lord you have heroes of the faith like Joshua.  But when they don’t, you have the book of Judges.

 

Let’s pray.