Have you ever wondered why Judah and Joseph receive all the land listed as conquered- -If you look at chapter 18, verse 3, Joshua asks the other seven tribes, -How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land...-----I used to wonder about that when I would pour over maps in my youth. But when you read more carefully, you discover that there was really no conquered land---The combined forces of the twelve tribes only operated under Joshua for a few years to overthrow the military power of Canaan. That initial operation succeeded in overthrowing 31 kings as we saw in chapters 10-12. But at the end of that campaign, the only place on the western side of the Jordan-where the people of Israel lived was the camp at Gilgal.--Most of the kings of Canaan are dead. A large number of the warriors were killed. But only a relatively small percentage of the Canaanites themselves were dead.--Cities that were captured were then left empty, while the army moved on to the next place. So, probably within a few days, those who had fled would return - hoping that Israel wouldn't come back---There is still a lot of hard fighting ahead in order for Israel to take possession of their inheritance. Whosoever wishes to take possession of their inheritance may do so-

-Sung Psalm- 47---Paul speaks of how Jews and Gentiles are brought together into one new man - as Jesus Christ reconciles both Jew and Gentile to God in one body through the cross.--And through him - we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.--And in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. God the Father has welcomed you into his household, because God the Son has brought you near by his own blood, and God the Spirit is the gift of uncreated grace - the presence of God himself - to be with us as the guarantee of the inheritance of Jesus-

This sermon may, at times, feel like a geography lesson- But that is as it should be - because the central chapters of the book of Joshua are a geography lesson---For many of us, geography was about memorizing the various states, and the capital cities of each state.--But geography is about so much more---When I was growing up in California, I learned all about the -water wars- between the various interests - the cities, the central valley, the -salad bowl- - all of which were fighting over a decreasing amount of water---Many of you have heard my prediction that the Great Lakes area will be the next region to experience an economic boom. Why- Because water always wins---We learn that in our text tonight- Without water, what is the use of land---But tonight's geography lesson is not just a matter of -secular- geography. When Joshua lays out the boundaries of the tribes of Israel, he wants us to see the importance of the land - the inheritance - that God is giving to his Son. The boundaries and cities named in our text were familiar to those who lived there. hTey would have walked these paths - they would have known people in these places.---I had a cousin who lived there----It's more remote for us - but it is important for us to remember that - like Rahab - we have been grafted in to Israel, so that this becomes our story as well.--The inheritance of Joshua's day, after all, prefigures the inheritance that we have received in Jesus-

-Sung Psalm- 143---The Spirit leads and the Spirit speaks. That's what he does- He guides the church into all truth. And he takes what belongs to the Son and declares it to us---He is the Spirit of truth.--In the Apostles' Creed we simply say, -I believe in the Holy Spirit.---But in the Nicene Creed we say a little more- -the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son- who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified- who spoke by the prophets.-

-All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.---You might wonder - how is Joshua 11-12 -profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness-- How do these chapters help equip me for -every good work----It is not as simple as -go and do likewise-- I am very confident that you should not burn South Bend with fire. You should not devote to destruction every resident of Granger---The lesson of the Conquest - in Psalm 44 - is that God is King- He is the one who gives victory. He is the one who goes before his people---You might think - then - that the key is Israel's faithfulness. If Israel obeys God, then God gives Israel victory - right----After the victory at Jericho, Achan took the devoted goods - and judgment fell upon God's people. Only when they disciplined Achan - and removed the evil from the camp - only then did God give them victory over Ai.--Psalm 44 wrestles with this - because according to the Psalmist - Israel had been faithful- Their defeat in battle could not be attributed to their sin. They had done what God said- They had been faithful to God's covenant---And yet their enemies had defeated them - humiliated them...--How do we make sense of this- If obedience is supposed to result in victory - then how do we make sense of the awful tragedies and sufferings of life-- -If we pay attention to the text of Joshua, we discover that this is not only a true historical account of what happened when Israel invaded the Land.--It is also profitable for you...

-Sung Psalm- 104---Every week we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit - the -Lord and giver of life.- Why do we call the Holy Spirit the -Lord and giver of life----At the Creation - we are told that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters - brooding over the deep. And then all that God brings forth came from this -deep- over which the Spirit hovered.--But the Holy Spirit is not just the Lord and giver of life -in the beginning.- The Holy Spirit is the -life-giver- of all life.--Job reflects on this in Job 33-4 - -The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.---All life - human life as well as animal life - is given by the Spirit of God.--He is the Lord and giver of life---So it should not surprise us that the Holy Spirit is also the Lord and giver of eternal life- Because when God called Israel -my firstborn-, and called Israel out of Egypt, he led him by his Spirit through the wilderness.--The glory cloud - the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day - that led Israel through the wilderness was none other than the Holy Spirit himself---That's what Isaiah says --Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit-- -when the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle-. -who led them through the depths... Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name----The same Spirit who gave life at the Creation - and who gives life to all living things - is the same Spirit who brings the life of the New Creation-

What we saw last week in the story of Achan was the need for holiness in spiritual warfare. If Israel is not holy - then they will not inherit the land.--If Israel is not faithful to God - if they pursue their own wealth and glory then they will become just like the Canaanites.--We have seen that in the conquest - in Joshua's day - Israel was supposed to be the angel of death bringing judgment upon the wicked, as a picture of the final judgment.--If you are going to serve as a stand-in for Jesus, then you had better be holy-- -Tonight we see a curious example of the mercy of God. Curious because the Gibeonites were supposed to die. They are among the condemned tribes. They are supposed to be exterminated. And - as we'll see - there is a strong hint in our text that if Israel had consulted with the LORD, the LORD would have ordered the death of the Gibeonites---But they didn't- And in his great mercy, God used that in order to bring salvation to the Gibeonites...

-Sung Psalm- 110---What does the Bible teach about vengeance- -Vengeance is mine, I will repay- - says the LORD.--I think sometimes we hear that as -vengeance is bad----But if vengeance belongs to the LORD - then vengeance is not bad- Rather, we are very bad at vengeance---The story is told of a monk in the Egyptian desert who was furious at how he had been treated. He visited an older monk and explained that he had been wronged and could not rest until he had vengeance. So the older monk said to him, -My brother, let us pray.- Raising up his hands, he prayed, -God, we don't need you. We can avenge ourselves.- The younger man fell on his face and begged forgiveness, realizing that -vengeance presupposes a godless world.- -Harmless, 236---Our problem is that when we take vengeance we overdo it. And sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we convict the innocent. And sometimes we let the guilty get away with murder.- -When you ask God to take care of vengeance - you may be certain that he will do it properly---That's why we need Jesus to come with glory to judge both the living and the dead- Certainly we should do justice as far as we can in this life. After all, Psalm 94 condemns wicked rulers for their failure to do justice----But Psalm 94 recognizes that only the God of vengeance is able to make right all wrongs-

Today we are looking at the need for holiness in spiritual warfare. In Joshua's day, Israel was supposed to be the angel of death bringing judgment upon the wicked, as a picture of the final judgment.--If you are going to serve as a stand-in for Jesus, then you had better be holy---And that's not just the case for the OT people of God- After all, we are called to bring the message of salvation to the nations---And so we are called to be holy as he is holy---What does it mean to be holy- In our text for tonight we see how it means to be faithful to God. That his ways would be more important to us than our own desires.--Because when we seek first our own kingdoms, the result is invariably that we harm others.--And we see this with Achan...

As we are working our way through the Creed, we have talked about how we confess our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.--The Creed follows a Trinitarian structure, because our God has revealed himself to us as one God in three persons.--For the last several weeks we have been talking about how our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was dead and buried, he descended into hell, and the third day he rose again from the dead.--And today we come to the phrase, -he ascended into heaven.-