THE SPIRITUAL PROMISED LAND OF BLESSINGS
November 10, 2002 am
MF Blume
Joshua 1:1-8
Now after the death of Moses the
servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son
of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, (2) Moses my servant is dead;
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto
the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
(3) Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have
I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. (4) From the wilderness
and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land
of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun,
shall be your coast. (5) There shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with
thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (6) Be strong
and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for
an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
(7) Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou
mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded
thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest
prosper whithersoever thou goest. (8) This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then
thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Ephesians 6:10-13
Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11)
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
(13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
These Old Testament stories are often taken by myself and preachers
and applied to us spiritually as Christians.
- -Now, please understand that this is not simply some neat idea we
get when we read these stories and force them to relate to something spiritual.
- -The Bible teaches that all these old events were actually engineered
in a certain way by God, who controls circumstances and events, to act as
foreshadows of the greatest work he'd ever do in earth.
- -He actually commanded things and said things and caused things to
happen that would best show in physical terms a work He was going to do in
the spiritual category of events with Jesus Christ.
- -Jesus Christ is the focus of the entire Bible.
- -God purposely told Joshua to do things a certain way because He
wanted everyone who would come to know Jesus and the work of the cross to
be able to read them and realize more perfectly what God did for them with
that work of the cross.
- -Jesus and the work of the cross are the most vital things you will
ever come into contact with.
- -If you miss what God is trying to do with mankind in these things,
you will actually miss going to heaven one day.
- -That's how important the truth of Jesus Christ is!
So as I preach about Joshua this morning, please realize the Holy Spirit
actually leads ministers called of Him to perceive lessons in them, that
He INTENDED us to perceive way back long ago when He did these things with
people like Joshua, so we could not only go to Heaven one day, but enjoy
in this life all the blessings God has provided for us through the work of
the cross.
By WORK OF THE CROSS I mean what God intended to accomplish and did accomplish
by having Christ crucified and then three days later rising from the dead.
The Bible tells us that God planned the cross from the beginning of time.
Revelation 13:8
And all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ: (4) According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love: (5) Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will,
The two books Joshua and Ephesians are parallel to one another.
- -Joshua shows the physical inheritance, the land of Canaan, that
Israel was given to enter and enjoy.
- -Ephesians speaks of the spiritual inheritance Christians are supposed
to enter into and enjoy.
God first spoke of the land of Canaan to Abraham.
Genesis 12:7
And the LORD appeared unto Abram,
and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar
unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
Genesis 13:14-17
And the LORD said unto Abram,
after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from
the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
(15) For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and
to thy seed for ever. (16) And I will make thy seed as the dust
of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall
thy seed also be numbered. (17) Arise, walk through the land in
the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Abram stood on the land and was told to see the length and breadth of it.
Too many have never gone in to enjoy all the promises of God.
- -But it's there for us.
- -He brought us out to bring us in.
Jesus is JOSHUA in Greek.
- -Joshua represents Jesus.
- -Not only are their names identical when translated from one language
to the other, but their roles are identical.
- -Joshua would take them into a physical land of promise they would
inherit.
- -Jesus takes us into spiritual blessings.
Someone asked me last week what I thought about hanging crosses on my wall
and venerating them.
- -I knew that this is a tradition taken from Paul's words saying he
would glory in the cross.
- -But its not an actual piece of wood or metal shaped like a cross
that Paul was saying he venerated.
- -It's what occurred on the cross and why it occurred that Paul spoke
of what He did.
Deuteronomy 11:31
For ye shall pass over Jordan
to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall
possess it, and dwell therein.
Possess the land and dwell in it.
Standing there watching Him die would not show you the significance of
why He died.
- -What went on in the spiritual realm, that is revealed to us in the
New Testament, is the real story.
- -A religious leader simply died in man's eyes.
- -But God actually had man carry out a sacrifice for all mankind's
sins that day.
- -The Bible unveils the spiritual plan of God since Adam and Eve first
sinned, to remedy sin.
A sacrifice was an offering for sin.
- -A lamb or other animal was slain because the person offering it
had committed a sin.
- -God told Adam that if he sinned, he would surely die.
- -So death was the penalty for sin.
- -All these animal sacrifices, we learn from the NT, were wondrous
foreshadows of THE GREAT SACRIFICE to come... Jesus Christ.
- -He died because of our sins.
- -There is a spiritual death that is far more terrible than any physical
death.
- -It is called the second death in the Bible.
- -It is being away from God forever because He cannot abide near sin.
Before man first sinned, not only was he not going to die, but he had power
over the earth.
- -Sin threw Adam out of that place of power in Eden.
- -For Jesus sacrifice to truly remedy sin, then it should not only
deal with death, but also with the issue of power.
- -Adam had power with God.
So Joshua's story of returning to Abraham's land and facing enemies greater
than Israel and defeating them, speaks spiritually of the truth of being
reconciled back to God and having restored to us the power of God upon our
lives as Adam originally had it.
Israel was a chosen people of God.
Deuteronomy 7:6
For thou art an holy people
unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people
unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
And the Church is also a chosen people of God.
Ephesians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ: (4) According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love:
And God gave Joshua power to give the land to each Israelite for an inheritance.
Joshua 1:6
Be strong and of a good courage:
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which
I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Joshua 14:12
Now therefore give me this mountain,
whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the
Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the
LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD
said. (13) And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son
of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.
Jesus is in heavenly places and all those places are given to US.
Ephesians 1:20
Which he wrought in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the
heavenly places,
Ephesians 2:5-6
Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus:
But when Israel first set out to enter that land, they spied the land out
and realized there were enemies in there.
Numbers 13:26-29
And they went and came to
Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel,
unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them,
and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
(27) And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou
sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit
of it. (28) Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the
land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the
children of Anak there. (29) The Amalekites dwell in the land
of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell
in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of
Jordan.
Numbers 13:31-32
But the men that went up with
him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger
than we. (32) And they brought up an evil report of the land which
they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which
we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof;
and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which
come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we
were in their sight.
God admitted these nations were stronger than Israel.
- -However, although they would face enemies far greater in power than
themselves, God was with Israel, and Israel was not alone.
Deuteronomy 4:37-38
And because he loved thy
fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in
his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; (38) To drive out
nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee
in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
Deuteronomy 7:1
When the LORD thy God shall
bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out
many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites,
and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deuteronomy 9:1
Hear, O Israel: Thou art to
pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier
than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
The enemies that stand in our way are as impossible for us to defeat on
our own, as the nations in Canaan were before Israel alone.
- -In fact, the reason the ten spies doubted they could take Canaan
was because the nations there were impossible to defeat by Israel alone.
Deuteronomy 7:21-24
Thou shalt not be affrighted
at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
(22) And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by
little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of
the field increase upon thee. (23) But the LORD thy God shall
deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction,
until they be destroyed. (24) And he shall deliver their kings
into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there
shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
Deuteronomy 9:1-2
Hear, O Israel: Thou art
to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier
than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, (2) A people
great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom
thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
I noted Anak in Numbers 13, the very tribe of people the Israelites noted
as being more powerful than themselves.
- -Moses names them out and tells Israel they will win, nevertheless.
- -They were greater than Israel, but God was with Israel.
We need to realize that our enemies are greater than us.
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The HIGH PLACES where these wicked spirits are are where we have our inheritance!
- -"High Places" is synonymous with "HEAVENLY PLACES" in the Greek
language.
Ephesians 2:5-6
Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus:
But Heavenly places are where our spiritual blessings are!
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ:
We are up against enemies that are greater in themselves than we are in
ourselves.
- -But God said that we can actually overcome these otherwise impossible
enemies because He is with us.
- -THAT TAKES FAITH.
But Christ is with us and we shall win!
Joshua 1:3
Every place that the sole of your
foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
God told Joshua he was going to have to be strong and courageous.
- -And the courage He required was the courage one gets only one way.
- -From FAITH that God's word is true.
- -And that because God said he is with us, then we are going to overcome
obstacles that are naturally impossible and unreasonable to think to overcome.
Joshua 1:5-6
There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will
be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (6) Be
strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an
inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Paul said the same thing in Ephesians!
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
This is all done in the power of his might.
- -We have got to stop looking at things and circumstances with the
eyes of the world.
- -We must stop thinking like the world who does not have God on their
side.
- -God has given us promises.
- -And, yes, the enemies are greater than us.
- -But we are not told to go in the power of our own might, which is
all the power that the world has going for it.
- -We must go in the power of HIS MIGHT.
- -HE IS WITH US.
Hebrews 13:5-6
Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Why is God with us?
- -Your sins separated you from God's supernatural power.
- -They separated you from a power that God would exert on your behalf.
- -But your faith in the necessity of Jesus' death whose death according
to the Bible was required for us as a sacrifice, and your humility in accepting
that as truth, caused God to bless you with forgiveness of sins.
- -And you were restored to Him and the power He had for Adam.
- -And He is now with you.
- -When you understand all of that, and understand that means there
is actually supernatural power on your behalf to bless you, because He loves
you so much, YOU WILL MARCH HEADLONG INTO SITUATIONS.
- -You will claim as your territory a peace of God that is impossible
to have naturally in the midst of hard times.
- -And you will be fully convinced and believe in the power of God
that doubters cannot ever accept.
You hear those words of God, and like Joshua, you declare three days and
I can go on in.
- -In other words, you know that all this will be possible and you
will indeed have the courage you need to believe God for these kinds of things
by going through the truths of what God did for mankind who believes in those
three days between Jesus' death and resurrection!
Imagine a peace of God that passes understanding and comprehension.
- -A peace psychologists cannot understand nor figure out.
- -Something beyond reason!
- -WHAT GLORIOUS BLESSINGS FROM GOD!
I've laid hands on terminally ill patients dying with cancer, with blood
clots in the brain, blinding them and paralyzing their bodies, and God healed
them!
I was in the hospital with doctors and nurses running all around a woman
whose organs were shutting down, after she was struck with Toxemia, lost
her baby in her giving of birth, and who was not showing any neurological
activity in her brain.
- -And with the nurses and doctors right there, I commanded her to
be restored and healed and to show movement and neurological activity and
for her organs to revive again, in Jesus name, and suddenly her hand moved
and the nurse rushed over to ask her to move her fingers if she could hear
her, and she moved them.
Beyond what we can ask or think!
Beyond understanding!
Beyond reason!
Stop living in the life of looking at troubles that keep you with out peace
and restless and in fear, and thinking they're impossible for you to every
defeat.
- -Start believing the word of God.
- -Yes, they are greater than you.
- -But God told Joshua that he would bring down nations greater than
himself because GOD WAS WITH HIM!
God said He'd be made known to the world when Israel would enter the land
and be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28:10
And all people of the earth
shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be
afraid of thee.
Paul said:
Ephesians 2:6-10
And hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (7)
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in
his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (10)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 3:8-11
Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (9) And to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
(10) To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (11)
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: