Old Testament Reading – Joshua 18:1-10
New Testament Reading – 2 Peter 1:1-11
Victorious Christian Living
“Claiming Our Inheritance by Faith”
Joshua 18:1 – 19:51
Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor
The theme of the Book of Joshua is how God kept His promise to give Abraham and his descendants the land of Israel.
- In His sovereignty, God chose to remove the Canaanites from the land as an act of His judgment upon their wickedness, and to give it to the Israelites as evidence of His grace.
- In 1 Corinthians 10:11, the Apostle Paul states that the events of the Israelite’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery and into the Promised Land were “written for our instruction,” and should serve as moral and spiritual lessons for Christians of every age.
- The deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt into the Promised Land is a parallel to the Christian journey of redemption from the slavery of sin to salvation and the kingdom of God.
- While Canaan was a real place that the Israelites conquered under Joshua’s leadership, Canaan also represents the abundant life God promises to those who receive His Son as their Savior and submit unto Him as their Lord.
- Canaan describes a relationship with God that is so personal and so intimate that it can be described as God dwelling within us, giving us the hope of glory, which is precisely what it means to be saved. (Colossians 2:6-7)
- Just as the Israelites had to conquer Canaan by removing those who had inhabited the land, the Victorious Christian Life is to live each day in the spiritual warfare over sin, self, and Satan’s influence – but not through our efforts alone, but rather through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has won the victory for us.
Joshua went to great lengths to assure that the division of the land was conducted with maximum transparency and integrity, so that no one could question the process.
- Joshua was there as a political and military leader.
- Eleazar was there as a spiritual leader.
- The heads of the tribes and the heads of the families within the tribes were present to ensure that it was done correctly, and then Joshua finally got what he wanted.
1. Some things are given to us as our “lot” in life.
- Every facet of our physical lives, from our appearance to our predispositions regarding specific health conditions, was encoded within the genetic material of that initial fertilized egg.
- Therefore, we had no choice to whom, when, or where we were born; the color of our skin, the color of our eyes, or the structure of our physical body.
- We had no choice in the house we grew up in, the neighborhood we lived in, the schools we attended as children.
- We had no choice in the food we ate or the clothes we wore.
- We went where our parents took us, and we played with what they provided.
- While some aspects of our lives can be changed as we get old enough to make our own life choices, we need to realize that God created us just as He wanted us to be.
- Isaiah 45:9 – “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Shall the clay argue with the potter?
- Psalm 119:73 – “Your hands have made me and fashioned me.”
- In Psalm 139:13 – “You formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- Those 12 tribes recognized that, while Joshua’s hand was in that sack, God was the One who chose where their land would be; that was the land they were given: God had spoken, and there was no way to change that.
- Success in life is not measured by what we are or what we have done, but rather by what we are and what we have done compared to what we could have been and could have done.
- The first step of success in life is to accept ourselves as we are.
2. To be received, the Promises of God must be achieved.
- The promises of God are not sedatives, “let go and let God.”
- The promises of God are stimulants, “Yes, I know there are giants in the land, but with God’s help I can take that hill.”
- Throughout the Book of Joshua, God told His people: “I have given you the land, but you must take it. You must face the enemy and take down the giants.”
- At the Judgement Seat of Christ, we will be called to give an account of what we did with all that God gave to us.
3. God sees us when we do the right thing, and He will never forget it.
- Joshua 19:49-50 – “When they had made an end of dividing the land as an inheritance according to their borders, the children of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. According to the word of the Lord, they gave him the city which he asked for, Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim; and he built the city and dwelt in it.”
- While Christians are called to wait until God is finished with this ‘age,” God sees, and God knows. God will never forget those who trust in Him.
The New Testament contains many references to the inheritance we have in Jesus Christ, including Colossians 3:24, and Hebrews 9:15.
- Ephesians 1:11 where the Apostle Paul said: “In [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
- In 1 Peter 1:4, the Apostle described this inheritance as:
- Imperishable – everything on earth is decaying, but since we were born of imperishable seed, our inheritance in Christ is imperishable.
- Unspoiled – nothing on this earth is perfect, but what we have in Christ is free from anything that would degrade it.
- Unfading – in this life, everything fades very quickly, but our inheritance is not of this world, which means it cannot diminish.
- Reserved – our crowns have our names written on them, and the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells within us today is God’s personal guarantee of our future inheritance.
