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God Gives to All His People

God Gives to All His People

Apr 09, 2017

Passage: Joshua 21:43-45

Preacher: Jared Longshore

Category: Sunday Morning

Keywords: godwardness, promises, providence, provision

Detail:

Pastor Jared Longshore opens God’s Word to Joshua 21:43 – 45 with a message entitled “God Gives All to His People.” Though God promises to provide for His people, Satan counters what should be our joy in God with two ploys. The devil seeks to convince people both that God is holding out on you, not giving you what you want or need, and that God’s Word is not true. Today’s passage, however, once again provides assurance of God’s faithfulness in three stages.

The first stage teaches who it is that gives. Each of the three verses in our passage are clear, “the Lord gave.” Throughout their history up until this point in Joshua, God’s provision had been clear. He had protected Israel, disciplined Israel, fought for Israel, and provided for Israel. God had given what was good, what Israel needed. Israel’s perception, much as the perception of modern man, had been corrupted by self-centeredness. Neither Israel nor we, however, live in a man-centered world; God is at the center of everything. A realistic appraisal of our standing leaves us wondering, “What do we have that has not been given to us?” Not only has the Giver given us what is good but He also provides what is right. His giving is purposeful, wise, and orderly. What he gives is not always that for which we might have wished but it always right for us.

The second stage in understanding God’s giving is that He has a people to whom He gives. This passage in Joshua has eleven references to a His specific people. The distinction between the people of God, the Old Testament Israelites and the New Testament church, and the world is a theme running throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. While God gives often and much to all, God’s people are a specially loved people. This does not mean that those who are not God’s chosen people get less than they deserve. Rather, God’s chosen ones get more than they deserve. Since God takes care for His own, His own ought also to care for others in the household of faith. Being in God’s chosen family comes with benefits and responsibilities.

Finally, the third stage, we see God gives all He has promised. In the Joshua passage, God fulfills His promise, originally given to Abraham, of the Promised Land. God delivers His people to rest, far from the slavery they had known in Egypt. God destroyed the enemies of His people. As we see God having fulfilled His promises to Israel we can be sure of the coming fulfillment of His promises to His believers. Though not physical land, we look to a city whose builder and maker is God. We look to complete freedom, greater than that with which we daily struggle, from slavery to sin and tribulation. We look forward to the completion of the destruction of evil and Satan as God’s victory is finished in Judgment.

The existence of these promises should cause nonbelievers to reevaluate their standing before God. Only as they come to Christ in repentance and faith can they claim the promises and gifts from God.