The Praise For Victory! Series

"The PRAISE for Victory!"

Joshua 21:43-45, “So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. [44] And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. [45] Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

PRAYER…

INTRODUCTION:

I know that this series has been a blessing to us, and that we have followed Joshua on this course of VICTORY because many of you are in it right now.

We have seen the course for VICTORY, even as Joshua and the Israelites set out on it.

-And, they have blazed the trail for each and every one of us to follow…

So, as we focus in on Joshua 21 this morning…Joshua, and the Israelites, have come to their PEAK of victory.

-And all their struggles and battling has finally paid off!

We have seen them come from…

• being on the wrong side of the river, and being challenged to go on to something greater…

• then, them taking up the courage to cross it…

• they invaded their first city…Jericho…and won with God’s help…

• which lead to them going after Ai…dealing with their set back…and then going forward in a win again…

• then there is a land-slide of victory, after victory; as the Lord Almighty makes the way for them…

• once, all this land is won, then they can begin to possess the land…

And…I don’t know about you, but that is definitely cause for some THANKSGIVING!!!

For some PRAISE to go to God for all that He has done!

The PRAISE for Victory!!!

-But, we are not too good at this, are we?

-Why? Because if there is something that we Americans fail at often, it is BEING THANKFUL!

-Instead, we tend to be discontent, and always forgetful of what good we do have in our lives…

ILLUSTRATION:

As I have been saying, it is true that…thankfulness seems to be a lost art today.

Warren Wiersbe illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians.

He told about a ministerial student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. When in 1860, a ship went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.

What a shame, that none would thank him…

But, how much more do we disregard God after ALL that He has done for us?

-May we be mindful today of the fact that we have got to be grateful once again.

-We have got to PRAISE Him for the Victory!

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God had done MUCH for Israel too.

The VICTORIES are won now, and it is time for the People of God to actually begin to possess and occupy their land that was promised to them long ago through Father Abraham!

This is where we come into the situation today…

Joshua, Caleb, and Israel had TONS to be thankful for!

God had fulfilled His word in them, and they are now LIVING their destiny!

In several chapters previous this passage, Joshua was doing, what must have been, an exciting/thrilling thing.

Joshua 13-21, Joshua is divvying up the land for the children of Israel.

In Gilgal…

-Joshua assigns the land EAST of the Jordan to 2 ½ tribes…

-Then, he assigns the land WEST of the Jordan to another 2 ½ tribes…

Then, in Shiloh…

-Joshua assigns more land to the remaining 7 tribes…

Cities of Refuge are assigned.

Finally, Joshua appoints the Levitical Cities.

They get their land. AWESOME!

But…what was actually going on was the Joshua was divvying up their inheritance.

INHERITANCE!

That is quite a word…inheritance.

The Jews inherited their land!

-They didn’t WIN the land in these battles…so that they could revel in their “spoils”. No.

-Neither did they BUY it with any amount of money, like some regular business transaction. No, no.

-The Lord was the landlord, and He GAVE this land to them.

*Better yet, leased it to them.

It was God’s ultimately, but it was given to them as their inheritance.

We have an inheritance for ourselves too…HEAVEN!

We know Heaven through our salvation.

And, Israel’s inheritance is very similar in workings, just as our SALVATION does.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”