"Jumping The Gun" Series

“Jumping the Gun”

Joshua 22

Pastor Ryan Welsh

3/26/06

• Intro.

o “Cookie Thief” by Valerie Cox

 Have we ever done something stupid like this?

 I know I have

o Today we are going to take a look at a wrong assumption that Israel made about their own people in Joshua 22.

 Before we do this, “you might be wondering why Frank preached on Joshua 10 last week, and this week I am preaching on Joshua 22, well the reason is… we just don’t like chapters 11-21, so we skipped them.” Just kidding… explain the chapters/ the power point will explain the chapters.

o Pray

• Body

o Read v. 1-9

 At first glance it seems to be sad that the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to go to their home on the other side of the Jordan.

 Wasn’t the Jordan what separated the promise land from the rest of the land?

 But… wait a minute… we have to look back earlier in the journey of Israel.

 Explain Numbers 32

• Like the land

• Build homes

• Leave woman and children

• Cross over with Israel

• Fight

• Return home

 We cannot feel sorry for these 2 and a half tribes of Israel whose inheritance was not in the promised land, this was their choice.

 Let’s take a look at how all this looked on a map.

• Map slides (follow my lead)

 So lets review

• Israel entered into the promise land, fought for it, and conquered it.

• Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh start heading back to their land on the other side of the Jordan.

o Read v. 10-12

 Let’s take a look at the map again.

 Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh head back to their own land, but on the way stop and build a huge alter on the border of Canaan and the Jordan.

 Why is Israel so mad?

• They remember the command that they heard way back in Deut. 13:12-15.

 Read Deut. 13:12-15

• “If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”, then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.”

• Seems to me…, referring back to this commandment, Israel was doing the right thing.

o Right?

o Well… let’s read on.

o Read v. 13- 21

 It seems to me that Israel was extremely zealous for obeying the command of Moses, but it also sounds like they forgot part of the commandment.

• Read Deut. 13:12-15 again.

• “If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”, then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.”

• Israel seems to have forgotten the middle part of the command, and just jumped to the fun stuff.

• “Then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly and if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done… then…

• Hear are a couple true stories of people jumping the gun.

o “Benjamin Franklin’s mother in law hesitated at letting her daughter marry a printer. There were already two printing offices in the United States, and she feared that the country might not be able to support a 3rd.”

o “Here’s how the Chicago Times in 1865 evaluated the Gettysburg Address in commenting on it the day after its delivery: ‘ The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dish-watery utterances of a man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as President of the United States.’”

o One last thing… is something disturbing that I saw on T.V. this last week. “Unanimous”.

 I’m sure that a lot of people are going to jump the gun on judging Christianity as a whole because of one stupid “minister”.

• Lets see what happens when Israel jumps the gun on their Eastern brothers and sister.