I am the Lord who is...faithful

Good morning church. The last few days it has really started to feel like fall, which I am enjoying. And you know, whenever fall comes around you know what every guy is thinking about? Football season starts! The beginning of a football season is always a great time to be a football fan because there is always hope. You have a healthy team, you feel good about your coaches and players. “I heard they had a great off-season!” There is the excitement of what is to come in the season “I think this year will be different!”

All of us, as humans, know that humans will let us down. People will make promises to us that they can’t keep. Whether it is a sports team, a politician, a family member. If we were to make a list of the things we said we would do with what we actually have done there would probably be a large disparity. But all that really tells us is that we are humans. We have bad memories, we overestimate the amount of time and resources we have, we get caught up with other tasks that we must accomplish. Every husband in here can probably give you his list of “projects” that have never gotten off the ground .

What Joshua tells us in chapter 12 is that God is not like us in that way. In chapter 11 we ended with the Israelites conquering all of the lands and it says “Joshua then gave it as an inheritance…the land had rest from war.” And as you read that you might say “wow…that seems like a fitting conclusion. They had rest from war. But yet before we get to the allotment given to the people we have chapter 12. At first glance it may seem unnecessary, you might even read over it but it serves to remind us of an important truth. It is saying “here is the evidence of God’s faithfulness”. Like a list that we can checkoff one by one. And as we look at this list we start to see how God’s faithfulness leads His people to rest. His faithfulness leads them to rest because it is like no other, it endures, and it brings delight to our hearts.

God’s faithfulness stands alone

There are two sections to this chapter. The first covers the victories that Moses had as leader of Israel. The second covers the victories that Joshua had has leader of Israel.

In the first section it mentions two nations that Moses and the Israelites had victory over. King Sihon and King Og. Both of these stories are told in Numbers 21. King Sihon of the Amorites was asked by Moses if the Israelites could travel safely through their land and even offered to pay them to travel through. Yet Sihon decided to attempt to conquer Israel instead. But that didn’t turn out the way he hoped.

Then after Israel destroyed the Amorites, King Og thought that his army stood a better chance against Israel. But God told Moses to not fear them and they swiftly destroyed them as well.

God’s power and name stand alone, there is no one like Him.

We see further when we read of kings that Joshua and Israel overcame. It goes through the nations from the south all the way to the north. There are a few things that stand out in this list. First, even as it just seems like a list there is actually a poetic cadence to it, and as you read each king there is the ONE that comes right after it. And as you read each ONE, it comes with this power behind it. ONE…ONE…ONE. Reflecting further just how great God is and how many enemies He has allowed Israel to defeat.

You may also notice that not a single name of one of the kings is mentioned. The names aren’t important, in fact, in the grand scheme of history they are forgotten. Each of these kings, rulers of a group of people, who felt their “gods” were on their side and they had power now get no recognition. As I read in one commentary, “these men. could not have imagined a more grievous fate than to be referred to but left unnamed, as they are here.” They don’t even get the respect of having their names mentioned.

See, our name means something to us. Have you ever had your name left of something very minor? Like someone tags a group of people on a picture on Facebook but they leave you out? Or someone tells us a story and mentions the people who were there when it happens and they forget you were with them? That really annoys us, doesn’t it? We take it personally! Why? Because we want to be remembered, we want our name to endure! That isn’t a bad desire, we want to be the type of person that others believe has an impact on their lives. It doesn’t mean we want to be famous, but we want some recognition! What we ultimately know, though, is that our name will be forgotten. But God’s name and power continues to stand.

But here are these kings, these rulers of a nation. And they are just left out. Why?

Read what Psalm 135:10-14 says “He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings: Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. He gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. Lord, your name endures forever, your reputation, Lord, through all generations. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.”

“Lord, your name endures forever”. All these other nations, they will fall, they will lose the “mighty” reputation they one had, the wealth they once possessed will eventually be given to another. But God, HE continues to stand.

God shows His people that no nation can stand against Him. It shows that God is the one who deserves the praise. No other nation or person. Something that they will have to remember in the future. Because we next see that it isn’t just just God’s name that endures but also His faithfulness

God’s faithfulness endures

This list was a reminder to Israel that everything God said He would do for them is being fulfilled.

We read this list and it seems boring. Just nation after nation, blah blah blah. But it is a list of accomplishments! It would be something read joyfully to the people as they remembered God’s saving work in His people. The stories that went behind each victory, the way that God saved them in miraculous ways time after time. It leads them to worship as they remember the goodness of God throughout their journey.

“Hey, remember when God did this?” “Yeah, that was incredible! I also remember this story and when God did that” “Wow…I forgot about that story, that was also so incredible!”

The mistake they might have made is to start seeing these victories as their own accomplishments. “Look what we have done. Look at all the nations we have conquered.” But this list leaves no doubt that it has been God’s faithfulness that has led them through all these battles, that has brought them to this promised land. God is the one who gets the glory. This list is now a celebration of God’s blessings and how God has worked through their obedience (and disobedience). They celebrate it because they have learned to trust in His character, that His faithfulness endures.

When I was in college my friends started to learn something when they were around me. Don’t leave your phone unattended.

Past experiences change our future actions when we trust in someones character. We know their behaviors and our future actions go along with what we know about that person.

In Joshua 1 God told Joshua to “Cross over” and they will conquer the land and that He will be with them. God showed His faithfulness to Joshua and the people of Israel by help them to conquer all of the nations. Their mission was clear, and their obedience led to the result God had promised. As they moved forward there would be more God will call them to conquer. Israel moving forward had to continue to trust God. God’s promises weren’t stopping here. There were more promises that had yet to be fulfilled. That Abraham’s descendents would be as numerous as the starts. That all nations would know the Lord through Israel. That they would receive an even better peace then the one in the Promised land but that they would be in His eternal presence.

As Jesus ascends into heaven He also makes the disciples mission clear. “Go” and “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them.” If we trust in God’s mission and live in obedience God can do the same in us. In Christ we know we can remove our worries and focus on His mission. In our spiritual battles, in our fight against sin, in the obstacles we face we have confidence in our victory in Christ.

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 “This saying is trustworthy: For if we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”

I love this passage. Because as you read it you think you know where that last phrase is going and then you realize “Wait…He can’t be unfaithful. Not even in my unfaithfulness!”

Israel faced challenges, at times (many times) because they were disobedient. God’s faithfulness shined even in their disobedience. Because God sent His perfect sign of faithfulness in His Son Jesus.

We are now sent out as those who know God has been faithful, who know God has redeemed us, and who know God will continue to work.

How has God shown His faithfulness to you? Has there been a time when God has answered your prayers? How often do you consider God’s faithfulness in your life?

Sometimes God takes longer than we would like, sometimes we are so busy thinking about ourselves we don’t take a moment to recognize how God has been faithful. But God’s past faithfulness brings us to trust that He will continue to be who He says He is. Because He can’t deny Himself.

Knowing Gods faithfulness also brings us delight

God’s faithfulness brings delight to our hearts

There is a sense of peace that Israel comes to at this moment. Hundreds of years of slavery, of wandering from place to place, and now they can cherish this salvation they have received. No more wandering, just rest. That is what it tells us at the end of chapter 11!

In Psalm 135, in light of this chapter, it also tells us “The Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for it is delightful.” Continuing later as it speaks to the victories Israel had over Sihon, Og, and all the kings of Canaan it points to the “idols of the nations” that are made by human hands. That “have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear; indeed, there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.” So we have those who follow God. They have delighted in God, they see that He is good, they enjoy His presence and faithfulness. Now they are at peace. They can cherish this salvation they have received, this redemption from their slavery and wandering.

Then we see the gods of these other nations. They don’t even exist, they worship them but with no response, they seek to be rescued from their troubles but only the Lord’s name endures. They are unsatisfied by this relationship to their gods because it is one-sided, there is no salvation that is received. False gods always leave us unsatisfied.

Many have been mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth. A figure who has stood for most of, if not all, of every one of our lives as the only Queen of England. And certainly we should mourn the loss of all people since they are made in the image of God. But what I have always found incredibly perplexing about the monarchs of England is that they serve almost no governing role within England other than appointing and approving things that have already been agreed upon. Everything they do is purely symbolic. And yet, the Queen’s estate has an estimated value of over $400 million dollars. The people of Great Britain bring their “offerings” to the queen who is a symbol to them but serves no real purpose in their life other than symbolically. Or we can look at athletes or actors, who will in no way affect our lives yet we follow their relationships and their lives. We invest in these one-sided relationships with little return. As if their success will in some way satisfy us.

If we keep searching for satisfaction and delight in the wrong places we won’t find it. But we live for God because He has already satisfied our needs. We aren't satisfied by what we achieve in our job but that the Lord has been faithful to give us a job. We aren't satisfied with our kids accomplishments but that we have been blessed with kids. We aren't satisfied by a vacation, we are satisfied that the Lord gives us rest from our weariness when we need it. We put our time into social media, and the news but all we get back is anxiety and stress. It doesn’t give back to us.

There is a great quote by Jen Wilkin “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” In essence, we don’t find delight in God unless we first learn to know Him. There are a lot of things we can know and each of us have things that we “enjoy” learning about. Things that we go to when we need to “get away” when we want to shut off our brain. But if we don’t know God first and foremost then our heart will learn to love those other things instead of God. The problem is that all those other things will not bring us to delight. They won’t bring us to rest. Only one person can give us rest.

We rest in Christ’s faithfulness towards us.

Christ’s faithfulness on the cross is like no other faithfulness we could experience.

Romans 5:6–8 CSB

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We rest in the fact that we are never called to be perfect, in fact our salvation through Christ is because we are not perfect yet He loved us anyways. We rest in a faithfulness that no one else can give us.

Christ’s faithfulness endures our trials with us.

Hebrews 12 tells us that we run with endures by keeping our eyes on Jesus who “endured the cross” and “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. That means as we deal with the many challenges we face each day. As we struggle to live in obedience, as we feel the weight of a sinful world on us that we know Christ has already endured and endures with us in our trials. So we keep our eyes on Him knowing the joy that lay before us.

Christ’s faithfulness leads us to delight in His work for us.

See, unlike in a celebrity, in Jesus as we live and die through Him we receive ALL of His benefits. I originally had something I was going to say myself but then I thought the Bible says it so much better then I can in Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:3–14 CSB

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

See, God has been faithful to us before we were even born. He created us to delight in our salvation in His Son and to enjoy ALL of the benefits through Christ that have been LAVISHED on us. We receive a king (or queens) inheritance through Christ! If you know this is the inheritance you have and will receive then it frees us to live our lives to the praise of His glory. See Christ is our perfect example of God’s faithfulness. That is why we rest in Christ’s faithfulness towards us.