The sermon 'Words That Cannot Fail' emphasizes the unchanging nature and faithfulness of God, highlighting that His promises cannot fail. Through an exploration of Joshua chapters 1 and 21, the sermon illustrates the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel, showing that God gave them the land He swore to their forefathers. It outlines the four-part division of the Book of Joshua: crossing into the land, conquering the land, dividing the land, and settling into the land. By referencing God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the sermon connects these covenants to the events in Joshua, underscoring that despite human unfaithfulness and improbability, God's word stands firm. The sermon calls believers to trust in God's unwavering faithfulness, as demonstrated in the past, and to understand that His promises to them will also come to pass.

We now have the privilege of reading the Word that has the power to do all the things that we just sing about and to hear these words of eternal life. I'll be reading from Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 through 9 and then we'll jump over to Joshua 21 verses 43 through 45 and both of these should be very familiar passages they both come from at least portions of them from memory texts that we've had so beginning in Joshua chapter 1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses's assistant, saying, Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses So I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you Be strong and of good courage For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 21, 43 through 45. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it and dwelt in it.

The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing, which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

The title of the sermon this morning is Words That Cannot Fail. It's really I think the point of the text, Not that God happened to keep His promise to the forefathers of the Israelites, but that there was no other outcome that was possible because of who God is. His words cannot fail because of who He is. Not a word failed because not a word could fail because of who God immutably is. When we talk about who God immutably is, we mean He's unchanging.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is incapable of being anything other than all that he is, not because he doesn't have the power to be something else, but because he's unchangeably good in every way. You should thank God that the God who is is unchangeably good in every way. And an implication that has to follow from that, it must follow from that, is that every promise that He makes will come to pass. Now where are we in the book of Joshua?

In the introductory sermon I suggested a four part division of the book. Part one being crossing into the land, encompassing chapters one through five. That gets the people across the Jordan. Then part two dividing the land, that's chapters, excuse me, part two is conquering the land. That's chapters 6 through 12 where you really find the warfare that happens in the book of Joshua in chapters 6 through 12.

Starting with Jericho, but then many battles are fought. Then the third part being dividing the land. We're just coming out of that now. We've been in that for several weeks, chapters 13 through 21. So we're ending chapter 21 today.

So going by the divisions that I've suggested, we're ending this third chapter, this third section of dividing the land today. And then the fourth and final section being settling into the land, which will be now to the end of the book and it will include Joshua's farewell address, this being chapters 22 through 24. So I do think it is a good division, four parts, and we're ending the third part now, which means we're almost done. Which means we're almost to Romans. After, I think, 11 weeks between Joshua and Romans, and we're looking forward to how we'll be filling up those weeks.

More on that soon. Let's ask God to help us. God, thank you for not staying silent. Thank you for being a God who speaks, a God who makes promises. And then from eternity past through eternity future, being so unchangeably good that every promise you've ever made has been kept or will be kept if the fulfillment is still future.

So thank you that we can build our lives on that, rest in that. It's so good to know that the God who has all power is so unchangeably good that everything you've said to us, all of it will come to pass. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, with just three verses this week, we're going to take them one at a time.

Hopefully your finger is still in Joshua chapter 21. Let me reread verse 43, then talk about it. Joshua chapter 21 Verse 43. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession of it and dwelt in it.

If you're taking notes on the handout, land fills in the blank. All the land. All is in italics on your handout because all is all over these three verses. You find it appearing six times in these three verses. Once here in verse 43, four times in verse 44, and then once in verse 45.

All, all, All, all, all, all. It's a summary of these three verses. Our verse, verse 43, begins with, so. It's connecting it to everything that went forth. This section about the dividing up of the land among the 12 tribes and then embedding the Levites within the 12 tribes ends here where we're concluding.

This verse is really a summary of that. God gave them the land that they just divided up. And it's all the land that God had promised them. Everything that was divided up, starting in chapter 13 through chapter 21, those nine chapters, all of that land comprises all of what God had sworn to give to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Where did God promise that?

The answer is a bunch of places. You don't need one place. There are any number of places that you could go to get God's promise that He would give them this land. Our verse doesn't say, he swore to give to their father singular, but he swore to give to their fathers plural. There were multiple promises made to multiple of the patriarchs, all of which are being fulfilled before our very eyes in the book of Joshua.

Let's look at these promises and let's begin in Genesis chapter 12. So please turn to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis is the book of beginnings. Abraham is the first patriarch and the promises to give this land to begin with Father Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. I'll be reading Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 9.

Please follow along with me. Genesis chapter 12 starting in verse 1. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great.

And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, they departed to go to the land of Canaan.

So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the lands to the place of Shechem, as far as the Terebut tree of Morah. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants I will give this land. And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord." So Abram journeyed going on still toward the south. So this is God's promise to Abram. What did he promise to Abram, who would later be called Abraham? We know him as Abraham.

Verse 2, I will bless you. Verse 2, I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing. Verse 3, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Verse 7, to your descendants I will give this land.

And then We give some examples of locations in the land. Shechem, we've seen Shechem in Joshua. Bethel, we've seen Bethel in Joshua. Ai, we've seen Ai in Joshua. They're locations that we know from the fulfillment of these promises.

If we were to take the time, we'd move forward into one chapter into Genesis 13. In Genesis 13 verses 14 through 17, God repeats the land promise. The promise to give the land to Abraham and his descendants. And God says that your descendants will be as the dust of the earth. Abraham doesn't have any children at the time when God gave him the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth.

We could go on to Genesis 15 verse 18, where God repeats the land promise again. We should note at this point that Abraham only ever owned a grave, meaning he only ever actually legally possessed the cave of Machpelah where he was buried, and where Sarah was buried, Isaac would be buried there, Jacob would be buried there. And So the only fulfillment of this promise in Abraham's lifetime was that he owned a burial ground for himself and his descendants. Now turn to Genesis chapter 26. Genesis chapter 26 is about the son of Abraham, Isaac.

This is Abraham's one son by Sarah. God had promised Abraham that he would give him a son by Sarah, and he does in time give Abraham a son by Sarah. I'll be reading Genesis chapter 26 verses 1-5. Follow along. Genesis 26, 1-5.

There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt, live in the land of which I shall tell you, dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and to your descendants I give all these lands and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven.

I will give to your descendants all these lands. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. What did God promise to Isaac, the son of Abraham here, verse 3? I will be with you and bless you.

For to your descendants, to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands." Verse 4. I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give to your seed all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." Here's a question for you. Was this necessary? No, it wasn't necessary.

It didn't make God more committed to his promise to Abraham. It wasn't different than his promise to Abraham. It didn't make it more likely that it would be fulfilled. No, not at all. But God in His kindness to Isaac did not leave Isaac to take his father's word for it.

And he used, he came and gave the same promise to the son that he had given to the father in order to encourage Isaac to work in his life so that Isaac would stay in the land because he wanted him to stay in the land. But it didn't strengthen the promise that he had made to Abraham, or make it more likely that he would fulfill that promise. He was always going to fulfill that promise because he is unchangeably good and unchangeably faithful. Turn to Genesis 28. Genesis 28, let me read Genesis 28 verses 10 through 15.

This now is Jacob, Isaac's son. So we started with the grandfather, Abraham, then to his son, the same promise to Isaac. Now Isaac has two sons, twin sons, Jacob and Esau. And now in Genesis chapter 28, God appears to Jacob. Genesis 28, 10 through 15.

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. Now that's where Abraham started, toward Huron. So Jacob is heading out of Canaan, back to his grandfather's homeland. Continuing in verse 11. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set.

And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven. And there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your Father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And in you and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." What did God promise to Jacob? Verse 13, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants.

Verse 14, also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south, and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Verse 15, Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. Was this necessary? No. It didn't make God more committed to the promise that he made to Jacob's grandfather Abraham.

It didn't make it more likely that that promise would be fulfilled. That promise was always going to be fulfilled. But God, in his kindness to Jacob, did not leave Jacob to take his father or his grandfather's word for it, but he came and repeated the promise to him. Same promise. Same promise is.

And Moses wasn't left to take anyone's word for it 430 years later. And Joshua wasn't left to take anyone's word for it. God appeared to Moses. God appeared to Joshua. God made the promise.

And yes, 500 years passed. Five hundred years passed. But the promise was never in doubt. So 500 years of nanoseconds. How many nanoseconds is that?

I don't know. Not for a nanosecond was the promise ever endowed. Why? Because Abraham was faithful. No, sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't.

Because Isaac was faithful? No, Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't. Because Jacob was faithful? No, usually he wasn't. Because the Israelites were faithful?

They've just wandered in the desert for 40 years because they would not obey God to go into the land. Did God forsake his promise? Did God forsake his people? No. He's unable to forsake his promise and his people because he's unwilling to forsake his promise and his people.

His inability to forsake his promise is rooted and grounded and is only so, he's almighty, His inability to do it is rooted in his inability to be anyone other than he is. It's just his unwillingness to be unfaithful even a single time from eternity past. God is unwilling to be unfaithful, to not follow through on his promise a single time from eternity past through eternity future. So know this, it was never the faithfulness of the recipients. Abraham received the promise, Isaac received the promise, Jacob received the promise, Moses did, Joshua did.

It was never the faithfulness of the recipients of these promises or the likelihood of the outcome. The odds makers in Las Vegas would say there's a really low probability of that happening. This is not a people who are going to overtake these mighty nations in the land. In fact, just the opposite. These promises were fulfilled despite the unfaithfulness of the characters in the story, despite the unlikelihood that the oddsmakers would assign to this small people overtaking mighty nations in the land.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it and dwelt in it. Back to Joshua chapter 20, let's move to the next verse. Joshua 21 verse 44, The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them.

The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. If you're taking notes on the handout, filling in the blanks, our rest fills in the blank. Rest all around. We have the four alls in this verse. Rest all around.

All that He had sworn. All their enemies. And again, all their enemies. This actually summarizes the first chapters of Joshua, the conquest of the land, the defeat of all their enemies. So chapter 43 summarized what we were just coming out of, chapters 13-21, being given the land, dividing up the land, and now verse 41 summarized the beginning.

So it really brings us current to where we are in the book of Joshua. Listen to Exodus chapter 23. I'm just going to select phrases from Exodus 23 verses 20 through 33. If you want to read the whole section you can go back and do that later. Exodus 23, 20 through 33, select phrases.

Behold I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For my angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and I will cut them off and I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest The land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and you inherit the land.

I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out from before you." Listen to Numbers chapter 33 verse 53. Numbers 33, 53. You shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess." God swore this to their fathers and he also promised it directly to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1. Josh read that as part of our sermon text today. Jericho sought to be a refuge behind a great wall, but that great wall didn't save them.

The captain of the Lord of Hosts came and told Joshua how to take down that wall. It's just simple obedience. The people would march around the wall for seven days and then shout on the seventh. And the wall came down and they put this city to the sword. In five plus years of military operation, Israel only suffered one defeat, and it was simply that Achan had taken of the things that were to be devoted to God, and then once the people dealt with that sin and the way God told them to deal with it, they defeated AI and they had military victory after military victory after military victory over nations that were more numerous and greater and stronger than they were.

Remember Adonai-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, he rallied four other kings of central and southern Canaan to oppose Israel, but Israel was not to be opposed and those five kings were defeated and executed. Then Israel conquered all of the southern region, west of the Jordan, city by city by city. We had a listing of the cities. Then Jabin, king of Hazor, rallied kings of the north. We don't know how many but a few are named and then it just lumps the rest in.

There were other kings that he rallied together and they raised an army with quote, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. That was chapter 11, verse 4. Imagine facing an army with as many soldiers as the sand on the seashore and multitude. In other words, don't bother counting. Don't bother counting.

It's a fool's errand to try to count that kind of a multitude. But God gave Israel the victory. And then we got to chapter 12, and we had a listing of 31 kings of 31 kingdoms many of which had banded together in large groups to try to oppose Israel. This homeless people who were coming out of the desert This was not a mighty military power on earth, but God gave them the victory over their enemies. None of their enemies could stand against them.

Why? Because God was keeping their promise. There is no other reason. It's simply and only because God was keeping his promise. The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that He had sworn to their fathers.

Not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Listen to what we read in Joshua chapter 11 verse 23. It's just really stating the same in a different way. Joshua 11 verse 23.

It's the end of that chapter after they've just defeated this army that's more numerous than the sand on the seashore. Then that chapter closes out this way, Joshua 11, 23. So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, then the land rested from war. And we have chapters ahead of us still, and we're going to find that that's true.

There's no more war. The land is resting from war. Finally, verse 45. Joshua 21 verse 45. Follow along as I reread that final verse of the chapter.

Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Here's our final of six alls in these three verses. All came to pass. God made great and precious promises to Abraham and to his descendants.

Not because he foresaw that they would be a faithful people, he actually knew They would be a stiff-necked people. He didn't make these great and precious promises to Abraham and his descendants because it was a likely outcome. If you looked at this people enslaved in Egypt, you would never say that they would go and conquer the promised land. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 7. You can turn there if you like or you can just listen.

This is Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 6 through 8. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure, above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people. For you were the least of all the peoples.

But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath of which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt." God claimed these people as His own, as an act of His sovereign grace. He didn't foresee faithfulness in these people. He knew exactly the opposite would be true as history played out. He didn't do it because it was the likely outcome. They were the least of all the peoples.

He claimed them for his own because he loved them and he was determined to keep the promises that he made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and then Moses and then Joshua. Here's what Dale Davis, the commentator Dale Davis says, by emphatic repetition he pummels Yahweh's fidelity into our senses. He's beating The faithfulness of God, the thought of God's unwavering faithfulness, He's just beating it into us, is what Dale Davis is saying. By emphatic repetition, he pummels Yahweh's fidelity into our senses. Note the references to quote, what he had sworn, verse 43.

Quote, according to all that he had sworn verse 44. Quote the good promise that Yahweh had spoken verse 45. In every case Yahweh gave what He swore, not a word fell, everything came about. There were no falling words. Friends, this is no academic study.

God forbid that we should go away thinking, that's interesting. Why not? Because Peter says that all who believe in Jesus have also been given exceedingly great and precious promises. So do we have a promise-keeping God or don't we have a promise-keeping God? This is more than just a study to arouse our interests.

We have a direct connection to us by virtue of having been given great and exceedingly great and precious promises. It's what Peter says in 2 Peter 1 verse 4. Not a word will fail of the promises that have been made to you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. They are words that cannot fail, not because God is unable to do anything, but because God is unwaveringly faithful. All will come to pass.

Every single thing promised to us in Christ Jesus will come to pass, must come to pass. There is no other outcome that is possible. Why? Because we're faithful? No!

We know in our hearts that we're not faithful. We know from our history that we aren't faithful. Because He is faithful. Period. Hebrews 4.18 says that It is impossible for God to lie.

He has surely made the promises, meaning we have them in black and white. He can never say that He never made them. We have them. He gave them to us in black and white. He wanted us to have the assurance of having them in a form etched in stone as it were.

They will all surely come They will all surely come to pass. A believer in Jesus, it really is finished. The debt for my sins really have been paid with nothing for me to add, nothing for me to contribute. The verdict on them has been passed 2, 000 years ago at the cross. Not because there was anything special about me, but because God determined to love me and keep His promises.

God really will keep those who trust in his son. He'll keep them. He began the good work and he'll continue it until Jesus comes back. This is Philippians 1 verse 6. God's spirit really indwells his people as a source of minute by minute help and encouragement.

God really will never leave Nor forsake any who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ This is the book of Joshua and the fulfillment of those promises has everything to do with it all came to pass There was no other outcome that was possible because of who God is as a faithful promise keeper. Let me give you four applications. Number one, we'll give Matthew Henry the first word. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. God's word and his works mutually illustrate each other.

The performance makes the promise appear very true. And the promise makes the performance appear very kind. Matthew Henry is essentially saying that the promises of God and the fulfillment of those promises are commentary on each other. The promises are a commentary on God and his faithfulness. God's word and works mutually illustrate each other.

The performance makes the promise appear very true. Because they are very true. And the promises makes the performance appear very kind. And God is very kind. Number two.

Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10 explains how it is that God can make a promise and then 500 years later keep that promise. How many generations is that? I don't know. There's probably an answer to that question that can be called out of the Old Testament. I haven't come here with that answer.

Many, many, many generations. How is it that God can make a promise and then bring it to fulfillment 500 years later through so many different events, so many different personalities, through people that we can study in the historical accounts are so fickle, are so given to change. Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10 tells us how this can be so. Listen to what God says of himself in Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10. God says, Remember the former things of old, For I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, things that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." So God can declare things from the beginning and bring them to pass at the end. That's actually a summary of world history. He has declared from before the foundations of the earth exactly how this all will end.

How is he able to do that? Because there's no one like him. Because he is the king of kings. All kings, each of their hearts is like a water course and he directs it wherever he is. He fashions every human heart individually.

He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the King of all the circumstances that happened in those 500 years. He was the King of all those personalities, so fickle. Every one of them so fickle. And yet none of them unable to undo his faithfulness to his promises, and so his promises must come to pass.

Isaiah 46, there's no one like him. His counsel always stands, must stands. He always does. Everything that pleases him, all of his pleasure gets done. Doesn't matter the circumstances, doesn't matter the personalities, doesn't matter the thickness of the personalities.

It's all rooted in His unchangeable goodness. Number three. The book of Joshua and the fulfillment of the land promises is only a partial fulfillment. We didn't talk about this as we were in the promises in Genesis to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. Part of the promises, yes, were land promises, yes are fulfilled before our eyes in the book of Joshua.

Part of the promises is that his seed would be a blessing to all the families of the earth, to all the nations of the earth. In Galatians chapter 3 verse 16, Paul says, it's not and to seeds plural, it's and to their seed singular, and that is Christ. The fulfillment of the promise that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob would be a blessing to all the families of the earth, to all the nations of the earth, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Our biggest problem isn't that we don't have enough land. Our biggest problem is that our sins have set us at odds with a perfectly holy God.

God determines to enter into this family line, though they were stiff-necked, and to send a Savior in and through this family line to deal with our greatest problem, and that is our sins. Jesus Christ would come in the fullness of time, and shed his blood on the cross, that anyone who would trust in him would be parted from their sins. As far as the east is from the west, that it really would be finished. That work would be a complete work. Jesus is the completion of the promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, because in him all the nations of the earth are blessed.

All the families of the earth are blessed. Fourth and finally, Most of these chapters fit well in any history book. You could just, you could copy and paste whole chapters into a history book, and they wouldn't be out of place at all. They are an accurate recounting of the people, places, and things that happened in time and space. Put them in a high school history book.

Today's verses don't fit at all. Somebody would be calling the school board if you found these verses in today's history book. This is Praise. This isn't simply an accurate recounting of people, places, and things in time and space. This is about the God who did these things.

About the God who is so unchangeably good and faithful to his promises that they all come to pass and there's no other possible outcome. We should praise. So we say frequently theology must lead to doxology. This is just another case where the Bible teaching has to bring us to praise God. These are not classroom studies.

They're designed to bring God into view. I hope this is happening for you in the book of Joshua. God is coming into view in all of His glory, in all of His promise making and promise keeping glory. God, we praise You. You are worthy of all praise when we think about a God who could declare the end from the beginning before anything has happened at all.

For any of the personalities who are so given to change have come on the scene and started doing things you said how it would all end? What a comfort to our hearts to know that there is such a God to be trusted in, to be rested in, that we don't have to strive, but we can rest in you because you secure the outcome that pleases you. God, help us to trust you more than we've ever trusted you before, to rest in you. Help us to be satisfied with you. And for all these things to result in our praises to you.

A God, as you reveal yourself in Scripture, ought to be praised. He must be praised. We gladly render it to you today. In Jesus' name, Amen.