The sermon, 'Lines in Pleasant Places,' centers on Joshua 13, where God instructs an aging Joshua to divide the remaining unpossessed land among the tribes of Israel. Despite much land still to be claimed, Joshua is tasked with allotting it by faith, trusting in God's promise to drive out the remaining inhabitants. The sermon references Psalm 16, highlighting the abundance of the promised land as a foreshadowing of the new heavens and earth, urging believers to focus on the giver, God, rather than the gifts. The sermon acknowledges the difficulty of engaging with the detailed geographic descriptions but emphasizes the importance of understanding the spiritual significance behind the allotment of the land. It reflects on Joshua's leadership, his transition from military leader to administrator, and the importance of fulfilling one's God-given role with vigor. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to treasure their relationship with God above all earthly inheritances, drawing lessons from Joshua's obedience and the fulfillment of God's promises.

Okay, Joshua chapter 13. Now Joshua was old, advanced in years, And the Lord said to him, you are old and advanced in years. And there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is the land that yet remains, all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites from Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward which is counted as Canaanite, the five lords of the Philistines the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelanites, the Gittites, and the Ekranites, also the Avites. From the south all the land of Canaan, all the land of the Canaanites and Myra that belongs to the Sidonians as far as Afech to the border of the Amorites, the land of the Gabalites and all Lebanon toward the sunrise from Baal-Gad, below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance of Hamath, all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as the brook Mishrefah, and all the Sidonians.

Them I will drive out from before the children of Israel, only divide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh. With the other half tribe, the Rubinites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses had given them beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord had given them. From Eror, which is on the bank of the river Arnan, and the town that is in the midst of the ravine and all the plain of Medeba as far as Divan, all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites who reigned in Hezbon, as far as the border of the children of Amon, Gilead and the border of the Geshurites and the Macathites, all Mount Hermon and all of Bishan as far as Salchah, all the kingdom of Og and Bishan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrii, who remained of the remnant of the giants, for Moses had defeated and cast out these. Nevertheless, the children of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maccathites, but the Geshurites and the Maccathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

Only to the tribe of Levi, he had given no inheritance. The sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are Their inheritance as he said to them And Moses had given to the tribe of the children of Reuben an inheritance according to their families Their territory was from Erore which is on the bank of the river Arnan, and the city that is in the midst of the ravine in all the plain of Medeba. Heshbon, and all its cities, are in the plain. Dibon, Bethbeel, Bethbeel-Meon, Jehaza, Keremoth, Mefoth, Kiergethem, Baal, Beth Baal-Meon, Jehazah, Kedemoth, Mephoth, Kirjefim, Sibma, Zereth, Shehor, on the mountain of the valley, Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshamoth, all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses had struck with the princes of Midian, Evi, Rechim, Zor, Hur, and Reba, who were princes of Sihon, dwelling in the country. The children of Israel also killed with a sword, Balaam the son of Bior, the soothsayer, among those who were killed by them.

And The border of the children of Reuben was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben, according to their families, the cities, and their villages. Moses also had given an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the children of Gad, according to their families. Their territory was Jazar, and all the cities of Gilead, and half of the land of the Ammonites as far as Eror, which is before Rabah, and from Heshbon to Ramah-Mizpah, and Beth-Tanim, and from Mehenim, and the border of Dabir, and in the valley of Beth-Haram, Beth-Nimra, Sukkoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, king of Heshbon, with the Jordan and its border as far as the edge of the Sea of Chinereth on the other side of the Jordan eastward. This is the inheritance of the children of Gad according to their families, the cities, and their villages.

Moses also had given an inheritance to half the tribe of Manasseh. It was for half the tribe of the children of Manasseh, according to their families. Their territory was from Achanium, all Bishon, all the kingdom of Agh, king of Bishon, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bishon, sixty cities, half of Gilead, and Asheroth, and Edrii, cities of the kingdom of Og and Bishon, were for the children of Micur, the son of Manasseh. For half of the children of Macheir, according to their families, these are the areas which Moses had distributed as an inheritance in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jordan by Jericho eastward. But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance.

The Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as He had said to them. Amen. So you got all that? Ready for your Israeli geography test now. Me neither.

Dale Davis, as he starts his commentary on chapter 13, talks about how much more interesting it is to watch a war movie than it is to participate in a land survey. So we're ending the part of Joshua. We've actually exited the part of Joshua where we were watching a war movie. And it was very interesting and we're entering part of Joshua where we're entering, where we're participating in a land survey. And it's really hard not to glaze over at the reading of the names.

But all scripture is profitable. So it's just our job to extract the profit from this text. So welcome to Map in the Lap week one. You have your maps, hopefully, the other side of what we were just singing off of. The title for the sermon this morning is Lines in Pleasant Places.

It's actually borrowing a phrase from a Psalm of David, Psalm 16. Listen to Psalm 16 verses 5 and 6. David says, Oh Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes I have a good inheritance." I quote that psalm for three reasons. One, to highlight that the people of God are being given a land of great abundance. The Old Testament puts it this way, it's a land flowing with milk and honey. And so there are literal lines being drawn on on our map and allotment and they're being given a land of milk and honey only these chapters really don't talk about the abundance of the land so you can glaze over when we get to all the names that we can't pronounce anyway and lose sight of the fact that they're actually drawing up an allotment of places that are given to them free of charge with cities they didn't build, wells they didn't dig, vineyards they didn't plant, And a tremendous amount of abundance being just plopped in their lap. Just given to them because of the goodness of God.

So this is literally true. The lines have fallen to them in pleasant places. Literal lines on a literal map, a literal land of abundance just handed over to them because of the goodness of God. I quote that psalm secondly to remind us all that the physical promised land is a foreshadowing of the new heavens and the new earth. So as real as it was and as good as it was, it's no more real than what it's pointing to and it's less abundant than what it's pointing to and that is the future for all of us.

So when we see God keep His promises, bring His people into the Promised Land, it should make us think of where Jesus Christ as King is taking His people into the spiritual reality of which these things were only a faint shadow. All the goodness of the promised land is just a faint shadow, just a little down payment of what heaven will be. Thirdly, I quote David in Psalm 16, so that we never forget to treasure the giver far above any of the gifts. The gifts are so good, you can get focused on the gifts. David points you away from that.

David wages war against a hyper focus on the gifts, even as good as they are, and would have you thinking about the giver, praising the giver, enjoying the goodness of the giver. Listen to the verse again, Oh Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance. Not the land flowing with milk and honey, but the giver of the land flowing with milk and honey. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes, I have a good inheritance." It was only secondarily talking about the land that he shepherded on. He was primarily talking about God and that's what he says, you are the portion of my inheritance. You are my inheritance. You are my portion. Our text this week is chapter 13, all 33 verses of it, which reviews the tribal inheritance on the east side of the Jordan.

And this signals that we're beginning the second half. So congratulations, you made it through the first half of the book of Joshua. 1-12 is the first half, 13-24 is the second half. In the first half, the people cross the Jordan River, and then they conquer the peoples. In the second half, the land is divided up, and they begin to possess and settle that land.

And then at the very end, they'll renew the covenant, and Joshua will die at the end of the book of Joshua. So these two halves of the book of Joshua begin exactly the same way. How is that? God speaking to Joshua? At the beginning of chapter 1, God comes and speaks to Joshua, and what he speaks with Joshua frames the whole half of the book.

It's about being strong and courageous, and it's about God being the one who will come and give the victories to His people. And then 1-12 just plays that out. Now God shows up at the beginning of chapter 13 to speak to Joshua and to tell him exactly what to do to divide the land and then that's all going to play out before our eyes in the chapters to come. So as we come to chapter 13, let's ask God to help us. Oh God, for those who have turned their back on every other hope, that Jesus Christ has died for sinners, the lines have fallen to us in the most pleasant places.

There are so many pleasures in this life for us to enjoy with a clear conscience, good gifts, and then heaven, which will dwarf all of it in its goodness and in its extent, and in its duration, an everlasting duration. So we praise you for all that Christ has purchased with His blood. As we consider the land flowing with milk and honey, I pray that our eyes would be turned heavenward. You would help us to Treasure you even above your good gifts. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, rather than subdivide and go line by line through things that I don't understand all that well, which is Israelite geography, I've done a lot of reading, I'm not sure how much it has helped me. What I'm going to do is try to draw out seven themes from the text. So you can track with me that way. There will be number one, number two, number three, through number seven, drawing out themes of the chapter. Number one, a basic tour of the map.

You remember last time I came with a map of Israel. It was just a blank sheet of paper, and I folded it down the middle and called the crease the River Jordan. You can see I wasn't, I really wasn't lying. There it is. It sort of starts in the middle at the top and goes to the bottom through the middle.

It comes from north to south. It goes through the Sea of Galilee. You can see there, I don't think it's ever called the Sea of Galilee. It's called that on our map here. I don't think it's ever called that in the Old Testament.

In our text today, it's called the Sea of Chynarath. It's often called that in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it's sometimes called the Sea of Galilee, sometimes called the Sea of Tiberias, sometimes called the Lake of Gennesaret. So it goes by different names, but it's that body of water, the Jordan River flowing into it at the north end and flowing back out of it at the south end, continuing down into what's marked as the Dead Sea at the bottom here. And it's often also called the Salt Sea.

It's the Dead Sea because it's an intensely salty body of water and nothing can really live in it. Fish don't live in it, but plant life doesn't live in it because of the really high salt content. So the salt sea is the Dead Sea. And then the Jordan River continues. I should have thought of this, I should have known this, but the modern nation of Jordan is named because there's the Jordan.

And you can see, where is it? South, you see Ammon there over here on the right side of your page. Ammon, if you go south of that, you see Ammon. You're familiar with the modern day capital of Jordan, Ammon, Jordan. It's because it's the Ammonites.

Have you ever thought of that? I never thought of that a day in my life. Oh, of course it is. It's the Jordan because of the Jordan River, and it's Amman, Jordan because this is the homeland of the Ammonites. Then you can see we've got colors.

So I'm staying on the right hand side of the page, everything east or to the right of the Jordan River. That's where we'll be all week in Chapter 13. And then Next week we'll be looking at everything to the left hand side of the page to the west of the Jordan all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. That will be chapters 14 through 19. We're going to do all of that next week.

And so we're going through the land survey pretty fast. You honestly could go very slow because everywhere spoken of has a lot of history that happens after it. So you could say, here's what has happened historically and in the future in those places from this time marker that we are in the book of Joshua. We're not doing that, we're going fast. Let me look at my notes and see if I'm missing anything on number one.

Okay, so you can see on the east side of the Jordan, so the right hand side of your page, working from the bottom to the top, so south to north, you can see we have these three tribes, it's actually two and a half tribes, Reuben at the bottom, which is this kind of orangish color, and then purple is Gad, that's a territory that has horns sort of, up on both sides, and then half of the tribe of Manasseh. Look at that huge land mass for just half a tribe. You can sneak peek to the next time we're talking about this. There's a huge land mass on the other side of the Jordan for Manasseh too, So they get a disproportionate amount of land. They were a large tribe, but they get a lot of land.

Also, so going back south and working north again, there were two kings that we studied last time that were conquered on this side of the Jordan. It wasn't, it actually isn't in the book of Joshua, except to reference it, it was when Moses was still alive. So it's in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy. In the south was Sihon king of Heshbon, and in the north was our giant who had a 16 foot iron bed. Og, king of Bashan, was the north of this country.

So that's who they took the land from. God gave them victories over those people. So That's number one, a basic tour of the map. Take a blank sheet of paper, fold it down the middle, the crease is the River Jordan. This week we're talking about everything to the right or east of that next time.

Won't be next week, by the way. Next week I'll be re-preaching a conference message. So we'll either be talking about Jesus and Paul on singleness or we'll be talking about how God revealed himself to Moses through words and through the experiences of his life. So we might flip a coin and see which one of those we are going to do next week. Number two.

Number two is God focusing Joshua on his remaining role. Joshua is an old man he doesn't have a lot of life to live. God tells him how to spend the little bit of remaining life that he's going to give him. Look at chapter 13 verse 1. Now Joshua was old, advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, you are old and advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed." Now fast forward to the second part of verse 6.

So look at verse 6 and everything after the dash there in verse 6. Then I will drive out before the children of Israel, only divided by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you." Joshua, according to the MacArthur Study Bible notes, Joshua was about 95 years old at this time and Caleb was about 85 years old. No one can pinpoint it exactly. You have a couple of time markers that would put their ages around that. Joshua at 95 and Caleb at 85.

No one else in the whole nation was more than their mid-60s. There are two old men in Israel. Mid-60s doesn't count as old men anymore. It used to when I was younger, but now that I'm in my 50s, the mid-60s is not old anymore. So there are only two old men in Israel and it's Joshua and Caleb and the reason that there's a gap is that they were the two faithful men who wanted the people to go into the land 40 years earlier and When the people wouldn't, God condemned everyone 20 years and older to die during that 40 years in the wilderness.

They wouldn't come into the promised land. Only two people survived who were older than 20 years old at the time when they refused to go in. Joshua and Caleb. So you have these two old men, 95 years old, 85 years old, and then everyone else at oldest is in their mid-60s. To this point in the book of Joshua, and actually for many many years Joshua has literally been leading the charge.

Meaning, charge! Like literally he is leading the military actions that the people of Israel are taking. Now God tells Joshua that there is still much land to be possessed, but that Joshua's job is no longer that. So that's how you should understand the start of the second half. It is a transition between Joshua leading the charge, literally leading the military activities, to Joshua being set aside to divide the land and allot it to the people and to send them to their inheritances.

There is more land to be possessed, but that's not his job. God actually says that God himself would do that. We should also understand that Joshua is the administrator of this work. In other words, God has told Joshua to divide up the land, but Joshua isn't going to say who goes into which allotment. He's not in control of that.

How are they going to decide that? It is going to be done by lot. Oh, so you mean by chance? No, that's not what the Bible says about doing things by casting lots at all. Listen to Proverbs 16.33.

Proverbs 16.33 says, the lot is cast into the lap, But it's every decision is from the Lord. So you think, well, a fair way to do it is just to leave it to chance. No, that's not what Joshua chapter 13 is teaching at all. They're not leaving it to chance. They're leaving it to God.

God says, leave it to me. Make divisions and I'll put a tribe where I want that tribe to be by directing the lot. A comment about what God says to Joshua and about Joshua. It's a beautiful thing to know exactly what you're supposed to be doing, and then to engage those things with vigor. It is such a blessing to have a strong conviction in your heart to know there are a million things I could do but that's what I should do.

Not what I might do but I should do. I have a compulsion to know exactly, God would have me do this. Now, God is speaking to Joshua in ways that I've never been spoken to in my life. I know that's true. But I have had, throughout much of my life, an internal compulsion about what I thought I should do.

Not all the time. And I'm sorry that I haven't always given myself vigorously to that. But one thing I'm seeing in the book of Joshua and the life of Joshua is that he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing and he engaged it with vigor. The first half of the book he engages it with vigor, the second half of the book he engages it with vigor. God tells him what to do and then he's after it.

I love that about Joshua. Listen to Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10. This is Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

You are going to die. You only have so many days allotted to you, so use them. Engage your work with vigor. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Do all you can to get a clear understanding of what you ought to do.

Not what you could do. Not what the universe of possibilities are, but what you think God would have you do, and then do it with all your might because you're going to the grave and there's not going to be any working in the grave. So do it now. Why God has given you life. What did Jesus say?

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. Jesus said, I'm sent. He sent me to do this work. And so while it's day, I must work to do what He gave me to do.

Because the night is coming when no one can work. He's actually saying the same thing as Ecclesiastes 9 verses 10. Our life on earth ends, and so we have a defined period of time to do what we're supposed to be doing. I love that about Joshua. I love that about Jesus.

He always had this intense understanding of what he was supposed to be doing. And he was always about it. And I want to be like that. As much as I can. I want to know exactly what I ought to be doing, and then I want to engage it with vigor, because I only have a defined period of time to do it.

It seems like, oh, life's so long. And now I'm 52. And it was yesterday I was 18. I swear to you it was yesterday. It feels like it.

It wasn't yesterday. God has given us a short period of time to serve Him and to honor Him and we should engage it with all of our hearts. Number three. And we repeat number two for you note takers. Number two was God focusing Joshua on his remaining role.

So he was leading the charge, literally. Now his remaining years are going to be given to administrating this process of dividing the land and then giving it to tribes by the casting of lots. Number three. Think about this phrase from verse 1. There remains very much land to be possessed.

Joshua chapter 13 verse 1, this phrase is there. There remains very much land yet to be possessed. It's from verse 1 and then it's followed by a description in verses 2 through 6 of these districts of land that have yet to be possessed. If you want to pick up the map on your lap. It actually is describing, starting at the south, here on the west side of the Jordan, on the Mediterranean coast, starts with all the territory of the Philistines, which is part of this green tribe, that's Judah.

Down there, the tribe of Judah will be a lot of that land. And you see Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod. If you go inland, you'll see Gath, where Goliath was from, that's Philistine territory. You see, where was it? Oh, Ekron, that's another city that's mentioned there.

So the five lords of the Philistines are over five great cities of Philistia. They name those cities. And then it comes up north along the Mediterranean and talks about Sidon, talks about Aethic. Aethic is here, so it's kind of north on the edges here. And then later in the chapter it's going to talk about the territory of the Geshurites and the Mayakathites.

It's actually up here northeast of the Sea of Galilee. That's more land that has yet to be possessed. So much of this land can be located from the description. Some of it can't. Some of what's described here, the modern-day scholars don't know from the description exactly what is intended.

But what you'll notice is, everything that you can identify is on the edges of the promised land. It's not in the meat, it's out here on the edges of the promised land. So the text is correct. I mean, that is a lot of land where the Philistines are. This is a lot of land from side and down to Atheic up here.

There's a fair amount of land that the Geshurites and the Meacothites were still occupying. But the majority of the territory has been conquered and will much more easily be settled. So, is there a lot of land left to be possessed? Yes. Is it a majority of the land?

Not even close. It is on the edges. The victories of chapters 6 through 11, beginning with Jericho and Ai and going through the central part, and then going south and conquering the coalition of kings in the south and then going north and conquering the coalition of kings in the north has broken the back of a majority of the military resistance in the land. So don't take this phrase, very much land remains to be possessed, and think that it's a majority of the land. It's an overwhelming minority of the land on the edges of the land.

God kept the tribes together, all the tribes together, all warring together to accomplish these major military victories. Now the land will be divided and it will be the duty of each tribe to dispossess the remaining Canaanites in order to possess their territory and settle it. So the major necessary military victories were done with all the tribes together. Now they'll split the land and they'll each go to their inheritance and it will be the duty of each individual tribe to continue to dispossess the remaining inhabitants of the land. And that comes with commands to obey God in doing that.

They're not at liberty to dispossess the remaining Canaanites, or not at their pleasure. God commands them to do that, and also a corresponding promise that God will do it. Look again at that second half of verse 6 in our chapter. Them I will drive out before the children of Israel. So you have a command in other places, drive them all out, and then you have a promise that God will be with them and God will do it.

Joshua is to divide the land by faith. What do I mean by that? Well, there's land that hasn't yet been possessed, like all the land of the Philistines, does that mean you shouldn't allot that land? No, you should allot it. You should allot it by faith, trusting God that He'll keep His promise to drive these inhabitants out before you.

So give the tribe of Judah that land as