It Ain't Over Til It's Over!

May 4, 2014
Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 13:  It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over!                 NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS – Christian obedience requires a consistent, persistent progress toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom and our task is not finished until we depart this earth. 

Old age is a significant issue, especially for those who have lived a long time.  Our text this morning blasts off like a rocket from the launching pad of old age.  Right from the start God declares, and I’ll paraphrase for affect:

“Joshua, you’re and old man!” (verse 1)

Whatever we discuss in the chapter must be understood in the context of that declaration.  Old age is a significant issue.  I know that some of you young folk don’t think about old age much—I know I didn’t when I was your age.  The fact is, nobody who lives long enough escapes the clutches of Father Time.  In fact, even Solomon, the wisest and richest king in Israel’s history, who had all that life could offer and then some could not escape the grip of “advancing years.”  Solomon in his old age gave this solemn admonition to young men:

Eccl. 12:1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:

Before the days of adversity come

Perhaps some of you younger folk are wondering:  “How will I know when I am getting old?”  Well, here’s just a short list that might help:

1. You and your teeth don't sleep together.
2. Your try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover  you aren't wearing any.
3. At the breakfast table you hear snap, crackle, pop and you're not eating cereal.
4. Your back goes out more often than you do.
5. Your naps are longer than your memory.
6. It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.
7. The gleam in your eye is merely a reflection on your bifocals.
8. For women especially: it takes twice as long-to look half as good.

9. Especially for men:  Your knees buckle and your belt won't.

10. You wonder how you could be over the hill when you don't even remember being on top of it.

11. You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there.

Old age could be quite challenging, even discouraging if you do not understand that God does not measure your life according to the quantity of your years but by the quality of your sacrifice.  As long as you are breathing, you have a purpose regardless of how old or even how decrepit you might be.  God declared to Joshua in verse one of chapter 13, “you are old and getting on in years,” but let me paraphrase the last half of that verse:  “but, I’ve still got work for you to do!”

As long as we are breathing we have a place and purpose in God’s Kingdom.  Christian obedience requires a consistent, persistent progress toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom and our task is not finished until we depart this earth.  As Yogi so aptly stated it:  “It ain’t over til it’s over!”

I want to say that I really need to hear this message.  I guess I need to hear all of my messages, but his one really struck home.  I sometimes deal with great depression because I realize I have more “yesterdays in my past than tomorrows in my future, here on this earth.”  I cannot run as fast as I used to run.  I never planned on ever getting old, but I guess I just waited to long to do anything about it. 

Yet, this verse is one of great encouragement.  Though I may not be able to run as fast as I once did, at least now I am more likely to be running in the right direction!  This passage demonstrates that accomplishing God’s mission for our life doesn’t end when we are old enough to get a Senior Discount at McDonald’s.  Our text this morning reminds us that Christian obedience obedience requires a consistent, persistent progress toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom and our task is not finished until we depart this earth.  That is:  It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over!  Let’s read our text together:

JOSHUA 13:1-2, and then the rest as we come to it.

Three Important Lessons emerge in regard to obedience.

1.  Obedience is FUELED by SUFFICIENT PROMISES. (1-7)

Joshua was now old, getting on in years,  and the Lord said to him, “You have become old, getting on in years, but a great deal of the land remains to be possessed.  ² This is the land that remains:

All the districts of the Philistines and the Geshurites: ³ from the Shihor east of Egypt to the border of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as the Avvites ⁴ in the south; all the land of the Canaanites: from Arah of the Sidonians to Aphek and as far as the border of the Amorites; ⁵ the land of the Gebalites;  and all Lebanon east from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath  ^y— ⁶ all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim,  all the Sidonians. I will drive them out before the Israelites, only distribute the land as an inheritance for Israel, as I have commanded you. ⁷ Therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

Now, I’m going to go way out on a limb and say that I doubt if any of you really recognize all of that territory just mentioned.  Any of you ever been on a vacation to Misrephoth-maim?  I didn’t think so.  Those these lands sound foreign, because they are, there is a very interesting fact that all these lands share.  All of these lands lie at the compass borders (north, south, east, west) of the territory that Israel has already conquered.  Though they are “unconquered lands,” they represent the “edges of what has already been conquered.”  One writer describes this area in this manner:  “The land that remained unconquered implies that Israel had achieved a significant measure of dominance in the main part of Canaan.  That dominance was not total, but it was substantial.”

Those words, “not total but substantial” reflect the fact that no matter how much God does for you, He has done everything He can or will do for you.  God is eternal and His supply is eternal.  No matter how much God gives, He is never diminished and has an abundance from which to give more.

That’s the issue with the statement in verse 1:  “a great deal of the land remains to be possessed.”  Far from being a discouraging statement it is an eternally encouraging statement.   You could state the matter like this:  Joshua you are an old man and I have been blessing you for over 80 years and I am not anywhere near done giving you stuff!

I must admit that I am simply dumbfounded by Christians who are not hungry for the things of God.  So many Christians get all they need from God by just spending an hour or so in worship on Sunday mornings—and some don’t even do it EVERY Sunday morning!  It seems to take so little to satisfy most Christians.  As a result, most Christians have little or no motivation to practice a daily, persistent obedience to God.

Obedience thrives on a promise.  God’s more than sufficient promises motivate us to want to serve Him even more.  His promises always have ever-expanding edges.  The more land we conquer in this life, the more there is to conquer.  Success breeds more success.  Blessing breeds more blessing.  Obedience is fueled by God’s sufficient promises.

So much of our lives are driven by promises.  Our marriages are driven by the promises we make at our wedding ceremony.  We elect our officials on promises they make.  We serve 8 to 10 hours a day for 5 to 6 days based on an employer’s promise of a paycheck.  All these promises in marriage, in work, and especially politics rest on an insufficient, untrustworthy foundation.  But, the promises of God rest firmly on the foundation of His own Person and Performance.  God never lies—God cannot lie.  His promises are ever faithful.

The greatest promise God has ever made is the promise of eternal life for those who put their full trust in Him as Lord and Savior.  Judging by the fact that the vast majority of people care nothing about living an obedient life of service to God indicates they care nothing about God’s great promise of eternal life.  Obedience to God—and the blessings it brings—is fueled by the Sufficient Promises of God.  God says:  “Serve me and even when you are old and advanced in years, I still have blessings for you.”

God’s promises are like the surface of a balloon.  The more air you put in the balloon, the larger the surface of the balloon.  Likewise, the more obedience we practice with God the more God enlarges the boundaries of our blessing.  Jabez, a godly man in the O.T. understood this principle of “expanding boundaries of blessings.”  An important part of Jabez’s prayer is (1Chron. 4:10):

Jabez called out to the God of Israel:

“If only You would bless me, extend my border.

Heaven is a lot like a carrot hanging before a donkey.  The donkey dutifully treads out the grain ever in pursuit of that “carrot.”  In a like manner, we live lives of obedience, not to gain heaven, but because heaven is our goal, obedience is the only road that leads to it.  If salvation and heaven don’t fuel your fire for obedience, I don’t think anything else will.

This is the meaning of the outlining of the land yet to be conquered.  God was simply pointing out that He had much, much more to give Israel if they would continue to live in obedience to His Word.

As we seek to obey God and continue to see God expand the boundaries of our blessings we must keep in mind that not only is obedience fueled by Sufficient Promises, it can also be

2.  FOILED by WANING VIGILANCE (8-13, esp. 13).

But the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites and Maacathites.  So Geshur and Maacath live in Israel to this day.

Know this:  any blessing, short of salvation, that we gain by obedience can be lost by a lack of vigilance.  Geshur and Maacath were both listed in chapter 12 as having once been defeated by Moses as the Israelites made their way toward the Promised Land.  Yet, what Moses gained by obedience, the Israelites lost by negligence. 

Again, I’m not referencing “losing your salvation.”  You cannot lose what you did not find and salvation is not “yours” in the first place.  I’m talking about losing blessings you gained by obedience because you allow them to slip away through negligence.  Paul said

^{1Cor. 3:14} If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved;  yet it will be like an escape through fire.

Paul states clearly that believers can lose blessings and enter into glory with nothing standing but the foundation of salvation in Jesus Christ.  Now, I can hear the crowd say, “Well, what more can we want than simply to get to heaven?”  If you are one that is asking such a question, then it is not likely the answer will weigh very heavily on you, however, there is something more than just getting to heaven.  That something is to hear the Lord, Himself say,

“Well done my good and faithful servant!”(Mat. 25:21)

A lack of spiritual vigilance will diminish the possibility you will hear the Lord say, “Well done.”  Also, the lack of spiritual vigilance will most likely show up in your life in various and assundry failures, sicknesses, and sadness.  We must never leave our vigilance wane.  The price of blessing is constant vigilance.  Jesus said several times:

Luke 21:36:  Be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape  all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Neglect is an insidious enemy to faith because its affect is gradual, but substantial.  What seems like just a little sin has a way of compounding and soon the consequences of neglect are catastrophic.  I read this week about a lady who lived in St. Louis.  Her story of neglect is almost unbelievable, but it is true.  As summer approached, an unemployed cleaning lady noticed a few bees buzzing around in her attic.  Since there were only a few bees, she did nothing about it.  She took my granddaughter’s approach to bees:  “I don’t bother them, and they don’t bother me!”  Pretty wise for a three years old.  Over the course of the summer the bees would continue to fly in through a vent in the attic.  Bees are little things and to this lady they were a little thing that didn’t matter.  By the end of the summer, after several months of hot weather and a “few bees” the second floor of the lady’s house collapsed under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey.  Her attic had become a giant beehive through neglect.  The lady escaped without serious injury but her house was a near total loss.

Obedience brings blessing.  That’s the lesson of Joshua, and in fact the whole Bible.  Negligence, or disobedience, brings problems.  That too is the lesson of the whole Bible.  Moses led the Israelites to conquer Geshur and Maacath on the eastern side of the Jordan years ago.  But, the waning vigilance of the Israelites over the years had allowed these former enemies to once again regain a foothold and become an on-going problem for Israel.

Obedience is fueled by the Sufficient Promises of God, but blessings can be foiled by a waning vigilance.  Obedience must be both consistent and persistent.

Christian obedience requires a consistent, persistent progress toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom and our task is not finished until we depart this earth.  When it comes to serving God:  “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over!”

3. Obedience is FORTIFIED by REPEATED ENCOURAGEMENTS (8-33)

Let’s look at the flip-side of waning vigilance in regard to a consistent, persistent obedience  toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom on earth.

God’s Sufficient Promises FUEL obedience.  That is certainly true.  We will not even pursue the kind of sacrifice obedience requires if we do not have before us the awesome promises of God’s Word.  The promises of God’s Word, particularly the promise of eternal salvation should continually motivate us to serve God sacrificially.  But, as strong as that motivation may be, God shows us how it can be even stronger—not only a fueled faith, but a FORTIFIED FAITH. 

Verses 8-14 summarize the inheritance of the two and a half tribes that settled on the east side of Jordan.  We’ve studied these tribes before, as they have been mentioned several times.  Chapter 12:1-6 detailed the land that would be the inheritance of Reuben, Gad, and half of Mannasseh.  Then verses 15-23 goes into great detail about Reuben’s inheritance; verses 24-28 detail Gad’s inheritance; and, verses 29-31 detail the inheritance of the eastern half of Manasseh, with verses 32-33 being yet another summary. 

Why all this repetition in regard to the tribes east of the Jordan; or, the entire detail of the rest of the inheritance of the eastern tribes we will encounter in subsequent chapters?  Why the repetition?  The answer God placed upon my heart after studying through all these names of rivers, valleys, plains, hills, and towns is that “repeating what God has done brings great encouragement to our faith.”  Repetition brings encouragement and confidence.  Paul said the same thing (Phil. 3:1):

Finally, my brothers, rejoice  in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you.

One of the big differences between the writings of other world religions and Christianity is that Christianity is much simpler and contains a much more unified message.  I’ve tried reading through the Upanishads of the Hindus and it seems very burdensome and inconsistent.  There seems like a new truth in every line.  You will notice that the Bible, however, repeats a few truths many times.  There is only one story—God’s story of redemption through Jesus Christ.  This theme weaves in and out of every Scripture in both testaments.  It is through repetition that we more readily internalize the message of the Bible.

I preach the same message every Sunday only in a different form with perhaps a different emphasis depending on the text.  But basically, it is still the same message:  obey God and be blessed, disobey Him and suffer.  With all the different allusions and reminders of God’s grace in giving victory after victory, the faith of the Israelites was greatly fortified.  Each time they would meet a new enemy, the national conscience would recall how God had overcome previous enemies.  Nothing breeds confidence and obedience like recounting the glorious victories of the past.

So, we have throughout Joshua 13, a repetition of God’s grace and glory.  This fortified Israel’s faith—that is, it made it stronger.  This is why you need to be in church every Sunday.  You will hear the glorious stories of how God performed in the life of saints past so that it will strengthen your walk as a saint, today.  A consistent diet of the preaching of God’s Word “fortifies” your faith. 

I lifted this line from one of the Bible teachers I admire.  In regard to the repeating of the details of the inheritance of the three eastern tribes, Dr. Dale Davis said, “Faith finds both steadfastness and expectancy by rehearsing and reveling in Yahweh’s past acts of faithfulness.”  In short:  obedience is fortified by repeated encouragements.

Jackie Robinson was the first black person to play major league baseball. He wore #42 as a Brooklyn Dodger including six World Series contests.  So great was his contribution to baseball that #42 was officially retired across all major league teams.  However, breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. Players would stomp on his feet and kick him.

While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he made an error. The fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then, shortstop Pee Wee Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career. 

Encouragement saved one of the greatest baseball careers and human legacies of all time.  In church, we are somebody’s Pee Wee Reese, and somebody is a Pee Wee Reese to us.  Church gives us the repeated encouragement we need to have a fortified faith that sustains a consistent and persistent obedience.  Christian obedience requires a consistent, persistent progress toward the goal of establishing God’s Kingdom and our task is not finished until we depart this earth. 

Chapter 13 of Joshua begins by pointing out two things to Joshua:  one, you’re an old man; and two, it ain’t over yet!  Perhaps old Yogi Berra was reading Joshua when he came up with his immortal line:

“It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over!”

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