THROUGH THE BIBLE - Joshua 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brethren, as I said to you, I want to speak about the sovereign purpose of the Lord for the people of God, the sovereign purpose of God for His people. When I say that His purpose is sovereign, I mean that He's in absolute control of all things for His people.

There is absolutely nothing for the people of God, and of course, for the world and everything that has been created, that is outside of the sovereign decree of the Lord. And in that truth, the people of God is to find rest, assurance and empowerment to look ahead and to look up and to continue to walk in this life. Having arised, Satan, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has accomplished already all things, he is finished upon the cross and has given us the assurance with a holy spirit that this salvation that he has already started, he will bring it to completion, that this work better that he has already started in us, he will bring it to completion. And brethren, it is... always a joy to go through the Scriptures and to see that every single line of the book, every single line of the Scriptures either speak prophetically about the Lord Jesus Christ that is to come and the New Testament that is going to be established upon His blood, or every single line speak about the character of who God is and what He does for His people in the Old Covenant and also in the New Testament.

And we find ourselves now here in Joshua chapter 16. As you know, my dear brother, my dear sister, the people of Israel have already crossed the Jordan River. They're settling in the land. They have defeated many of the kings. And now the Lord has instructed Joshua that he is to distribute the land among the different tribes of the people of Israel.

This is the promise of the Lord given to the people of Israel, that I'm going to drive out the inhabitants that remain in the land of Israel, in the land of the Canaanites. And I'm going to give you this land so you are to distribute and to allocate to the different tribes, the Persians of the land of the Canaanites, now the land of the people of God. And as we have seen in the last couple of weeks, my dear brother and sister, the first tribe that came to Joshua to receive a portion of the land was the tribe of? Brethren, what was the first tribe that our brother explained to us last week? The first tribe that came to receive a portion of the land from Joshua was the tribe of?

Judah, the tribe of Judah was the first tribe that came to receive a portion of the land. And you remember, of course, the example of Caleb, the example of faith. Now we have here in chapter 16, the second tribe or allocation of land, and that is going to be the tribe of Ephraim. We are told in verse one that Ephraim together with Manasseh are the children of Joseph. You remember Joseph, right?

From the book of Genesis, the beloved son of Jacob, who was rejected by his brothers and sold into slavery into Egypt. Now the two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, are going to receive a portion of the land. Here we have in chapter 16, the distribution for the people of Ephraim. But bear with me, brethren, we're going to read the 10 verses. Let me just point you to something.

Very important. That is crucial for us to have in our mind, not only as we read this chapter 16, but as we go through the book of Joshua. Of course, the main point of this section, as we started in chapter 14, is the distribution of the land. That is the main point that is going to go for many chapters. We're going to see that the tribes are going to receive a portion of the land that Joshua has given them.

That is the main point. That's why we see all of those names and words are at times are difficult to pronounce. That is kind of like the map of the portion of the land that is given to each one of the tribes of the people of Israel. However, there are a couple of things also that the author is designed to show us as we're moving into the book of Judges that are super important for us to have in mind, not only as we read chapter 16, but as we go through this section of many different names and all of these distribution of the land. The second important thing, the first one being the allocation of the land.

The second important thing here is that the author is trying to present to us a pattern of faithfulness and unfaithfulness or faithfulness and faithlessness. Faithfulness in the example of Caleb. Caleb is the man of faith that upon the promise 40 years ago given to him, now comes to receive the portion of the land. But not only that, he's going to drive out the inhabitants of the land. You remember the big ones, the Anakites.

He's going to drive them out. That is the example of faith. That is what was expected of the people of Israel. But from that point onwards, not only the tribe of Judah, but as we're going to see here, also the tribe of Ephraim and all the tribes, my dear brother and sister, are going to fail. Even if you quickly come with me to Judges chapter 2.

I'm sorry, but this is not the way that we usually do things. But if you come to Judges chapter 1 and Judges chapter 2, You will see, my dear brother and sister, that in order for us to understand the section of the book of Joshua that started in chapter 14 all the way to chapter 21, we need to understand chapter 1 and chapter 2 of the book of Judges. As you're going to read the Book of Judges, and if the Lord extends our days and gives us the grace, we're going to see that the first two chapters of the Book of Judges are a little bit interesting, because they seem to be speaking about those things that happened after the death of Joshua. But at the same time, they speak about the things that took place before the death of Joshua. This is just a different perspective of how the land was allocated.

And one of the things that we see, if you pay attention in chapter 1, verse 21, is that what we studied last week, that the people of Judah, and particularly with the tribe of Benjamin, they were unable to remove the Jebusites from Jerusalem. Verse 21, it says that the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who live in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. From there, we see the failure of the tribes to drive out the inhabitants of the land. In verse 27, if you pay attention, it says, Manasseh did not drive the inhabitants of the land.

Then in verse 29 of the same chapter of Judges, it says, And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who live in Gezer. And in verse 30, you see Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Ketron. And in verse 31, Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko. And in verse 33, you have Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh. All of this is the crescendo that is moving to the point in which the people of Israel break the covenant with the Lord God of Israel.

And then the promise that the Lord God of Israel had given of, I'm going to drive the inhabitants out of the land, is going to be taken. And now the Lord says, I will not drive the inhabitants out of the land. they are going to remain in the land and they're going to be a thorn for you. The first thing that we see in that section is, yes, the allocation of the land. Second, brethren, is the failure of the tribes.

And we're going to see those wordings or those words repetitively through the book of Joshua. And third, and very importantly, if you pay attention, dear brethren, third is the change of covenantal identity of the people of Israel. Up to this point, the people of Israel had related to God as a whole through an intermediary, and that was either Moses first, and after that, Joshua, I don't know if it happened to you when you first read this book, but I was under the expectation that Caliph was going to be the successor of Joshua and that he was going to take now the people of Israel into the Promised Land and finish the conquest. But the identity of Israel is going to change. That identity is going to change now to tribes.

and the tribe that is going to be the leader of the people of Israel is going to be, first of all, as a brother said last week, Judah. If you quickly read the first two or three verses of Judges, it says, After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them? They are asking, who is going to command us? And then Judah is now commanded by the Lord. It says, verse 2, The Lord said, Judah shall go up.

Behold, I have given the land into his hand. Then we have the story of Caleb. They're giving the land to his daughter. Now, brother and sister, this is very important because the covenantal identity of Israel is going to change. Now it's going to be tribes and Judah is going to be the one that is going to be the leader.

But together with Judah, Ephraim is going to be also an important tribe in the life of the people of Israel, to the point that Judah is going to represent now, in the future, the southern part of the kingdom of Israel. And Ephraim is going to represent the northern part of the kingdom of Israel. And what we're going to see is that this is related to the sovereign purpose of the Lord. Thank you so much for bearing with me. You're very patient.

Please come to Joshua chapter 16. Let us quickly read those 16 verses. And having in our minds, brethren, the story of Joshua, the story of Joseph, And now what we're going to read in chapter 16, let us meditate together upon the sovereign purpose of the Lord for His people, Joshua chapter 16. Let us read this together, these 10 verses. Let us pay attention and let us see here these three things, land that has been allocated, the pattern of faith failure, Ephraim is going to fail also.

And also we see the identity of Ephraim now as a tribe. Those three things, we're going to see them in these 10 verses. This is the word of the Lord. The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. Then going from Bethel to Luz, or Luz, he passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archaids.

Then he goes down westward to the territory of the Japhethites, as far as the territory of lower Beth-horon, then to Geser, and it ends at the sea. The people of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim received their inheritance. Verse 5, the territory of the people of Ephraim by their clans was as follows. The boundary of the inheritance of the East was Ataroth Adar, as far as upper Beth Choran, and the boundary goes from here, or from there, to the sea. On the North is Mikmetath.

Then on the East, the boundary turns around toward Tanath Shiloh, and passes along beyond it, on the East, to Janoah. Then it goes down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Narah, and touches Jericho, ending at the Jordan. From Tapua the boundary goes westward to the brook Kana and ends at the sea. Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Ephraim by their clans, together with the towns that were set apart for the people of Ephraim within the inheritance of the Manassites. All those towns with their villages."

However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, as we read in Judges. So the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day. They have been made to do forced labor. Amen, that is the reading of the Word. My dear brother, my dear sister, as the Apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesians in his first letter, in chapter 1, in verse 11, he gives us a very strong and deep doctrine and truth.

He says that the people of God had been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. The Lord says through his spirit and through the apostle Paul writing to the Ephesians that the people of God have been chosen. They have been predestined before the foundation of the world and that choosing that predestination of the Children of God is according to the Purpose of Him. Who is that Him? That Him is God.

And that Him works all things according to the counsel of His will. So many books that have been written about that verse, brethren. So many sermons that have been preached about that powerful truth that is found in Ephesians chapter 1. And there's a couple of things that I want you to see from that short verse, deep in truth and powerful in doctrine. The first one is, my dear brother and sister, that the purpose of the people of God goes beyond our time.

We are feeble beings that are bound to the time in which we live. And our perception of reality only goes to the point of our existence, to the point in which we end, or the moment in which we're born, to the moment in which comes to an end. But the purpose that God has for His people goes beyond our time. He has been working his purpose for the people of God before the foundation of the world, predestined and chosen in Christ. According to his decree, he knew it all and he determined all.

He's sovereign above all things. The purpose for the people of God goes beyond time, goes beyond your years, goes beyond your days, goes beyond your ability to control. Because it's not only that goes beyond your time, my dear brother and sister, but He works all things according to the counsel of His will. That is the purpose for the people of God. It's not the purpose that the people of God think that is best for them.

That is that the purpose of the people of God is not the purpose that in their will they want to achieve or obtain. That the purpose for the people of God is not something that they work out in their minds and with their strength and with their power they achieve. But rather, it's a purpose that is worked according to the counsel of His will. He is the one that is sovereign above all. Your days, my days, the lack of time, having time, it is everything under the sovereign hand of the Lord.

History, as we see it, so great and so extensive and so many years and so many things that have happened in the many days of history. All of them are just like a little dot. in the eyes of the Lord, because He's the one who controls absolutely all things. And my dear brother and my dear sister, in Joshua chapter 16, we have a man who is now receiving an inheritance of a portion of land, or better, his descendants and his offspring is receiving a portion of the land of that promise of the Lord that he gave to Abraham. who was not only not a full Jew, but also who was born to a woman that was a Gentile.

Brethren, Ephraim never made it into the Promised Land. Ephraim never had a mother that was a Jew. Ephraim was never raised with traditions and with customs that were Jew, Hebrew, Israelite. He never knew of all of these things yet. The purpose of the Lord worked in such a way that it's in him and through him and his brother that they will receive a portion of land in the land that was given to the people of God.

You may remember that story if you quickly come with me to Genesis chapter 48. Let me please show you the greatness of the sovereign purpose of the Lord for his people. Genesis chapter 48, you will remember. how Ephraim and how Manasseh were not supposed to receive anything from the God Lord of Israel. Yet, in the sovereign purpose of the Lord, they are going to end up not only being receiving a portion of the land.

But Ephraim is going to end up being one of the most important tribes, especially in the northern kingdom of the people of Israel. Think about the many things that took place just for these two kids to be born. All of the things that happened just for these two kids, I'm speaking of Ephraim and Manasseh to be born. That is that the beloved son of Jacob, Joseph, had to be found in hate from his brothers. That is that the brothers will hate him so much, despise him so much, that they will sell him in slavery and that he will come all the way down to Egypt and he will go through all the tribulations and all the difficulties and all the adversities.

in Egypt to become, by the providential hand of the Lord, to be the second in power after Pharaoh. And being the second in power after Pharaoh, he will just go and marry the daughter of one of the Egyptians priests, and he will have two sons. From a Gentile, hopeless, They will never be able to receive any promise from the Lord. Yet the Lord in His sovereign hand works not only all of that situation, but also a famine so that the people of the land will say, what are we going to do? And all of those people from Canaan will come down to Egypt where the Lord had provided abundance of food and storage through the interpretation of the dream, remember, of Joseph.

And all of these things put together will bring Jacob and his household down to Israel or down to Egypt. And it's in that visit, in the coming together of Jacob and Joseph, that these two kids born to a Gentile woman, not only a Gentile woman, an Egyptian woman, Two kids that were born and raised in Egypt, and you know what? That did not make it into the promised land. It's just two kids that will receive the promise of receiving the land and being part of the kingdom of God upon the earth, namely the people of Israel. Let us read together and let me just show you something more important here in chapter 48 from verse 8.

You remember that once, now Jacob is very old. You remember that he was blind? Joseph is going to bring his two kids Ephraim and Manasseh to him to receive the blessing from Jacob as it was the custom. Now they were going to be blessed as it was supposed to be. He's going to die and we have something very important that happens here.

Let us read from verse 13 to make it shorter, perhaps. Verse 13 of chapter 48 we have, And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. And Israel, that is Jacob, stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger." and his left hand on the head of Manasseh." Of course, he was the older.

"...crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn." Verse 15, "...and he blessed Joseph, and said, Blessing upon both of them in Joseph, the God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Bless the boys, and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

When Joseph saw that his father, that is, Jacob, laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the younger, it displeased him. And he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son.

I know. He also shall become my people. and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother, Ephraim, shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, God make us Ephraim and Manasseh.

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh." A kid that was without hope, brother, born in Egypt, born to an Egyptian woman who will never see the promised land. Perhaps not even his kids would see the promised land yet. The Lord was working before the foundation of the world. through the whole history of Egypt and Israel, through all the circumstances of his father, through all the circumstances of his grandfather, that even was born second, and according to the custom, he was supposed not to receive the blessing of the firstborn, but The Lord and His purpose, sovereign purpose, already determined, already established, already accomplished in the mind of the Lord, will bring the hand of Jacob upon him to receive the blessing of the firstborn.

And my dear brethren, Ephraim will not only receive an inheritance in the portion of the land, But as I said before, Ephraim is going to become one of the mighty tribes of the Northern Kingdom. You remember Jerusalem, how important Jerusalem as the city in Israel? Well, before Jerusalem, there was a very important city that was playing the same role that Jerusalem will work with the Kingdom of David, and that was Shiloh. And that city is going to be the place in which the tabernacle of the Lord is going to rest. That is going to be the capital, in a sense, of all the kingdom of Israel, until the point that David changes that to Jerusalem.

It's going to be from Ephraim that many powerful men are going to come. Many kings will come. And it's in Ephraim, brethren, that we can see the fulfillment of the sovereign purpose of the Lord. I don't know if that causes you just to think about your life, brethren. Because your father, your mother, coming together, all in the sovereign purpose of the Lord.

The things that you have done, the things that you have not done, everything in the sovereign purpose of the Lord. The place that you went and the place that you did not go, everything in the sovereign purpose of the Lord. And that day, when you heard the gospel being preached, and that day in which the Holy Spirit opened your eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified upon the cross, that day or that night or that afternoon in which the gospel was preached to you and you received the good news, not as a sinner who's blind to the good news, but rather one who has been touched and visited by the Holy Spirit, all of it in the sovereign purpose of the Lord. And that sovereign purpose of the Lord, my dear brethren, being worked out before the foundation of the world, and not according to your counsel or your will, but according to the counsel of the will who loved you and gave his Son Jesus Christ to die upon the cross for your soul. Now, what is the rest then for the people of God?

How are we going to consider the future? How are we going to understand the times? How are we going to understand darkness and tribulations and difficulties? Brethren, just simply looking back through the Scriptures and seeing what the Lord has done and has accomplished, and having certainty that this sovereign God has a purpose for His people. And then when He speaks by virtue of the one who died upon the cross, that purpose is accomplished in sinners like us.

so that we can be certain that our souls are in His hands, that our being are in His hands, and we can proclaim this message of salvation with certainty, that He is going to bring the last of His chosen people to Him, and that the kingdom will be established. And we will not only enter a land, but we will inherit the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilling the sovereign purpose of the Lord. Amen? Amen.