Joshua chapter 19 now this is probably going to be a shorter sermon than what you're used
to and I know every time I say that it tends to be a long sermon but I really do think
I really honestly think tonight will be a little bit shorter what we see just as a real
brief overview last week we we saw that there was going that there were still seven tribes
that still did not go and inherit their land right and Joshua's Joshua just like well how
long you're going to be slack you know like just go and finish it just get your land and
get settled and be done right get through so what we're seeing in Joshua 19 it's you
know the second lot through the seventh lot so like all the rest of the lands basically
just being divvied up among the the rest of the tribes that didn't go and inherit their
land so we see Simeon and Asher and Napoli and Zebulun and Dan and you know all these
various tribes that didn't go and inherit their land and it's you know kind of splitting
them up here but there's a couple things still in this chapter that I want to cover and go
through and things I think we could learn from even within this chapter now some of
this is a little bit more broad but it's kind of touched on in these chapters so look at
verse number one here in Joshua 19 the Bible says and the in the second lot came forth
to Simeon even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families and
their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah now jump down to
verse number nine the Bible says out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance
of the children of Simeon for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them
therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them
now there's two times in this chapter where there's adjustments made to the inheritance
that's given in this case Judah basically had too much they had a really large portion
given to them and they just really didn't need that much and Simeon needed a place you
know so they were given the lot within Judah and then we see at the end of the chapter
Dan didn't have enough room they needed more space so they went and invaded another area
another territory and got that as their possession also but what's interesting here is that this
is the only tribe Simeon is literally surrounded completely by Judah so when it says their
inheritance was within the inheritance of Judah what it is is that their their whole
all their borders it's like I mean just this isn't the exact shape I mean just think of
like a donut right you got the hole in the middle that would be like where Simeon's lot
was was that hole well that hole will be and then Judah's surrounding that whole section
so they're literally found within the other tribe and that's very unique we don't see
that happening in other places turn if you would to Judges chapter 1 and we're going
to get in this a little bit more and what I want to kind of cover is just a biblical
concept here before I get into that though I just want to point out this story in Judges
chapter 1 verse number 1 the Bible reads now after the death of Joshua came to pass that
the children of Israel asked the Lord saying who shall go up for us against the Canaanites
first to fight against them and the reason why they're asking is because they still hadn't
gone and finished inheriting their land so Joshua died and they still needed to go and
you know because what we're reading in Joshua 19 is they're done with all their big battles
they're done with all the major warfare that they went around and they fought all these
various kings and they you know and they did this but there was still Canaanites around
there's still people of the land they were still there so they didn't have to necessarily
do these huge major wars and this big campaign like they had earlier in the book of Joshua
but there are still battles to be fought Joshua ended up dying and Joshua 19 we see this is
where they finally just finished just like look here is your land like here's the inheritance
go and do this and be done and don't be slack and get this through so Joshua dies before
they ever even fully finish their task so Joshua dies and the Judges 1 they're saying
well okay Lord you know who should we send up first to go and you know fight these battles
now because their leader is dead they have you know they're looking for guidance verse
number two says and the Lord said Judah shall go up behold I have delivered the land in
his hand so he's saying well send Judah in verse number three Judah said unto Simeon
his brother come up with me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites and I
likewise will go with thee into thy lot so Simeon went with them and when you understand
just the composition of what was given the inheritance was given him it makes sense that
Judah is saying you know because I often wonder like why did Judah want Simeon to go with
them but when you understand just the whole geography it makes perfect sense hey we're
basically you know they're essentially sharing the land together even though they had their
own borders so he's saying well hey why don't you come up with me you know help me fight
my battles and I'll help you fight your battles well let's get this whole thing knocked out
and that makes perfect sense for them to have done that because Judah still went up that
because when I first read that I'm thinking like it sounded like Judah's like maybe going
against God's word we're saying well Judah should go up first but I actually don't think
that's the case I think it's just a practical thing to do is just say hey come up with me
you know fight with me and we'll and we'll help fight you know your battles and we'll
look after each other in that sense now but what I really want to get into we go back
to Joshua 19 or actually turn if you would to Leviticus 19 because we're gonna head there
next and again this is just gonna be kind of a brief study of this but but what one
of the things that came to my mind is you know God gave them this inheritance within
a whole nother tribe and the Bible is very clear about borders there are borders established
within the whole nation of Israel and each you know we will just call them state for
each tribe right and God is outlining hey from from the river to the sea to this city
to this city and just and just giving you the details and saying these are the borders
now I'm gonna try not to get too political tonight but we derive what we believe politically
from the truth of the Bible and from the truth of God's words and that's where it should
come from I mean when we know what's right that should reflect in what we believe about
everything right the scripture is our foundation of truth and when we see that God is putting
I mean there's definitely an importance given here on specific nations existing in the world
and those nations having borders and those nations being independent and sovereign from
other nations this is the way that God designed it and the reason one of the reason I bring
this up is because there's a lot of there's a lot of different philosophies out there
and philosophies of men that we need to be aware of and watch out for because some of
them sound good some of them line up with the truth for a while but then they kind of
depart from the truth and anyone who knows me you know a little bit or I don't know you
may or may not know some of my political leanings doesn't really matter I try not to
just you know I don't preach a whole lot about this stuff because politically I don't think
it's very important I mean politics is kind of dumb and I got into it for a long time
and I got out of it thank God because well we'll get into that if we have time later
but seriously I'm going to talk about that a little bit later I think but I'm not a Republican
or a Democrat I'm neither I don't like either of them they're both they're both two wings
of the same bird they both are you know wanting big government and everything else and that's
what they're all about and my political leanings are leaned more towards like a libertarian
just let's get the scope of the government in line with God's scope of the government
because the way that God the the laws that God gave for human government to perform the
duties of human government is supposed to punish evildoers and I think that's a very
good duty and it's something that needs to be done and but what's happening definitely
in United States of America and what tends to happen through all human governments is
that many of them not all of them many of them may start off kind of good but then they
get really bad and start overstepping bounds and accumulating more power and where we're
at today is there's kind of a reversal of what the government's even for because the
punishment of evildoers evildoers aren't really being punished the way they ought to
be they're becoming more and more lax and slack on the real criminals on the murderers
on the rapists on the pedophiles they're not getting their just sentence that needs to
be carried out by government than what God said and then you have people who aren't criminals
in the eyes of the Lord who may be sinners but they're not criminals they haven't committed
any crime you know people that may choose to do drugs okay or whatever they pull a plant
out of the ground and they want to get high from that plant and you know now our government
is just full steam ahead on cracking down and getting these people now look I know there
are bad effects from doing drugs I'm not for doing drugs so don't get the wrong idea I'm
not up here saying oh yeah we should all just do drugs what I'm saying is this shouldn't
be a crime let's punish the actual crimes because if someone just sits and gets high
they're they're hurting themselves they're gonna hurt their families you know their stability their
finances things like that but unless they actually commit a crime they're gonna transgress against
somebody they're gonna you know steal from somebody or you know fight like like injure
somebody or whatever they haven't really commit a crime they're a sinner they need to get right
with God they shouldn't be doing drugs but that's not something that the government should be
enforcing and you could take that that's just one kind of a major issue and now you can start to see
maybe a little bit why I'm not a Republican or Democrat because you know there's a lot of
different different sides that that that typically one party will will stay and you know it's just a
joke anyways because these parties they claim to stand on one thing Republicans oh yeah we're
against abortion okay well what happened when you had a Republican Senate House and president and
you had a supermajority what happened to all these issues that you stand so solid on and you
tell your voters that this is what we stand for this is what we believe in if you want to end this
stuff then you vote us in you had you had all the power that you could ask for and what happened I'll
tell you what happened more government happened more laws more legislation more more taxes yeah
under the Republican government more taxes just more stuff more military more bombing more Empire
building across the world no I'm not a Republican and I'm definitely not a Democrat either they're
all for the big government Democrats want to do all the all the social services and tax the people
tax the people who are making the money to give the people who who aren't making money and set up
all these different programs to become dependent on the government but you see that's not the way
God designed it either the government that God designed was for the punishment of evildoers and
guess who were that was there to have compassion and help the people who were truly in need the
church was there to help the people who are truly in need the widows the fatherless the people who
really needed help but see when you get the government involved they decide who needs the
help but they don't do it in the right way they would administer it properly see they're not using
the wisdom of Scripture to do it the wisdom of Scripture is going to say people need to get right
with God first they need to come to church if they're going to get that they need to do
something for themselves if they can right there's going to be first of all we went over this on
Sunday you know if a man shall not work neither should he eat that's going to be enforced in the
church so but but think about what that does you say oh man that sounds harsh but what's going to
help a person more helping them fix their character with some tough love and and learning
how to how to provide for themselves or just continuing to just feed them and feed them and
feed them like an adult child just just babying them for the rest of their lives that is not going
to do them any good and see people come at you with these bleeding hearts these politicians oh
no we need to help this way okay well how are you gonna do it you you want to help those people
out go ahead and any of you you want to take your money and help people out and give it to them
because you think you're helping them you know if they don't want to get a job you go ahead and do
that I'm all for you to have that freedom to spend your money however you want to do God gives you
that freedom with your money to do it what you want to do but he doesn't give people the freedom
to take the money from everyone else in order just to give it to other people who aren't doing work
that's not found in Scripture it's not there now why am I even getting off into this whole tangent
because it's not really a tangent so we started with like what I know I was studying this I kind
of thinking on this how would that work with a you know Simeon being inside of Judah and they
have all these borders and they have established time and God's kind of important saying look these
are this is your inheritance and there's a lot of rules he put in the the passing down of the
inheritance from from you know the fathers to the children and that it can't change from one tribe
to another at least not for an extended period that's why the year of Jubilee was there every
50 years if land was sold to someone else that has to go back it goes back to the family goes
back to the tribe where it belongs so obviously there's importance to that land and that borders
and in that structure remaining that way and part of it has to do with a power structure
God's making sure that nobody is going to get too powerful now there's some laws that we have today
on the books that are that use that same mentality it's a good mentality you know the the anti
monopoly type of laws to restrict people from just accumulating just so much wealth that everyone's
going to be dependent and become serfs you know I mean it's it's kind of an extreme but but that's
kind of the the the reasoning here because over time you can have a family just continue to
accumulate wealth and accumulate substance and accumulate land and you know just given using
this the the nation of Israel's example if you had a family kind of going and just buying up
land buying up land well what are you gonna do the people are gonna end up paying rent to the
person who's the landowner of all of that whole area God didn't want that to happen and one of
the ways he prevented that was by having no the land is is gonna continue and stay within the
family so you can't do that you can buy it up again but see then you have to keep paying that
money out right to equal out the the balance there and that never happened where anyone was able to
just take over that whole area and that's just one that's just one reason one example and one reason
I bring this up is because a lot of Christians who love God and love the you know God's ways
might be get really involved with say like libertarianism now like I said I lean libertarian
because I'm all for freedom I'm all for a little government and and a lot of freedom to the
individual to do what do you want to do and I think that lines up with the Bible those there's
many aspects that yeah they line up perfectly but then we're you know some of this goes too far you
you take these things to their philosophical ends and you listen to these people who you know maybe
they're they're anarcho capitalists or whatever you want to call them right libertarians you have
capital L and small L libertarians and the whole thing and it just turns into kind of almost a
bunch of nonsense but he's not listening to people and they'll tell you all about you know there
should be no borders people should just be able to just come and go and everything well no there
should be borders God has borders you guys borders established for a reason now that being said
there's borders of inheritance and there's borders of land however there was still free travel between
these states at least within that nation so you should be able to go across any work any of the
tribes would be pretty and Simeon is a perfect example of that how would you how would you be
able to ever leave if you have Judas of Judas said nope no we're imposing a toll on you or we're
gonna build the wall around you and if you want to get out you've got to pay it that's that that
obviously wasn't wasn't God's intention and again they didn't do that but but these are the things
that you know need to be considered when we're thinking well hey what is right well how should
we have government said how what what is right for us to have as far as these setups go and
especially when you think when you really drill into like private property think about this who
actually owns the land and this is this is one of my you know the libertarian or anarchist
philosophy it's first of all it's just that it's philosophy it's based on a few axioms or
principles and one of the number one things is self-ownership that you own yourself and part of
that sounds good but another part of it and this is this is where they get it completely wrong is
that the Bible says what no you not that you are the Lord that you're bought with a price that
there is a higher governing power than yourself over yourself so on one hand yes we should have
liberty to do what we want to a degree with ourselves with our bodies with you know without
someone infringing upon us but at the same time there is a governing higher power that's going
to dictate first of all what's right and wrong and second what's a crime and what's not a crime of
what we do with our bodies because we're the libertarians fail one of the major areas they
fail they say oh because of this you know this philosophy that you own your body you do you
they have no problem with sodomites they have no problem with that at all and their whole
philosophy just falls flat on its face and it's gonna end up going nowhere when you don't have
institute laws for a government to do a proper punishment against that crime committed of sodomy
because yes it is a crime because the Bible says so because God put the death penalty judgment on
it just because people want to say oh you should have the right to marry who you want to marry and
love who you want to love you you have the right to do that but then the government has the right
to enforce laws and if there's a godly nation there would be a law against sodomy and there
be a law that follows God's judgment of what's right and what's wrong and what's appropriate
who are we to decide what's appropriate over God if God says one thing and a man says another I'm
gonna go with what God said and people don't like that I don't want to hear it okay well I'll tell
you what the Bible hasn't changed God's Word hasn't changed and for a long time people actually
followed and obeyed this and a lot of people believe this just because today there may be
only a few people believing this doesn't make it any less true it just means that more and more
people have been brainwashed into accepting into these a lot of times brainwashed with philosophies
of men and spend more time see the problem is that you have you have Christians spending more
time in politics than they're spending in their Bible and they're getting all screwed up and
they're listening to all their political talking heads and they're getting all their morality from
these from these Republicans instead of from God's Word where it belongs you need you need God's Word
to dictate your politics not the other way around God gives borders God gives land to the children
of Israel that was their inheritance he's giving it to them but who actually owns the land because
again ownership where I'm getting into this concept of ownership right and we're dealing a
lot with ownership through the entire book of Joshua because they're receiving inheritance
they're receiving the land that belongs to them and they can't sell it to other people you know
but who owns the land well Deuteronomy chapter number 10 verse number 14 says behold the heaven
in the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God the earth also and with all that therein is who
owns the land God owns the land at the end of the day who owns everything well the Creator does
God owns all of it God made it all and God God owns it all Psalm 24 also says something very
similar and I just have to turn there real quick as I don't have it in my printed in my notes here
Psalm 24 verse number one says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they
that dwell therein yeah the world and the people so you talk about your self ownership and your
property and you're gonna you're gonna base everything you believe politically off of those
two axioms without recognizing well you know what actually God owns the earth and God owns all that
dwell therein all the people they belong to him because he bought and paid for everybody's souls
when with with the the sacrifice of his own son when Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross and
died and rose again from the dead that bought purchased everybody everyone alive and besides
the fact that God's the creator of everybody so no I'm not gonna hinge everything I believe on
some tradition of man or some philosophy of man we're gonna go to the Bible now so who actually
owns the land God does now he's given it to people right to use and for a specific function what was
the purpose of God giving this land Israel for them to work the land for them to be able to
survive is for them to continue and and to work and to cultivate it and to grow food and to do
what they need to do to survive so God's given that land for that purpose but there were still
limitations with what you could even do with it so just because the children of Israel owned land
I'll turn to Leviticus 19 and we'll see this very clearly just because they owned land doesn't mean
they could literally just do anything they wanted with it there were some restrictions one they had
to allow people access to their land even though there were borders for where the inheritance is
were there was still in in in some aspects you know limitations on public use for the land so
that you couldn't just completely block everything and everyone off and we see this very clearly in
Leviticus 19 look at verse number 9 the Bible says and when you reap the harvest of your land
thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings
of thy harvest and thou shalt not glean thy vineyard neither shalt thou gather every grape
of thy vineyard thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger I am the Lord your God now
obviously this is talking about areas of land that are being cultivated and harvested and stuff like
that so I'm not talking about it you can never put a fence up around like your personal house
right or like your little yard area this is referring to harvesting the land if you have
a vineyard if you're growing stuff that he gives them this this part of God's law saying you you
cannot go and gleaning means you are just taking every last bit right so if you have an orchard
right you can't go out and just and just take every last piece of fruit from those trees you
can't just go now harvest right go through harvest your stuff you harvest your crops but do a good
once over don't go back the second time and make sure you pick up every single last bit of food
that's there and the reason why is because God is all still providing a way for the poor and for
the stranger of the land to be able to feed themselves and again this is God's method he
didn't say gather glean everything and then hand deliver it to the people who are in need of food
and just drop it off for them and you do all the work and just give it to them no he says leave it
up there for them you know what that does that's gonna make them still have to do some work for
their food they're still gonna have to go out they're still gonna have to get it down hey if
you're hungry you go do it I'm not gonna go and bring it off to you you go do it now as I
mentioned last week it's the same thing you know just so people don't take me the wrong way yes
there are some people that we ought to take care of and give alms to that are unable to work that
cannot go out and and go glean from these fields because they physically can't because they've
lost their legs they've lost their arms they're unable to do you know for whatever the reason is
they're just uncable of doing this stuff yes those people are to be cared for and you know what the
church cares for those people and just people should be able to give alms for those people but
also what you see in the Bible is when the people were asking alms oftentimes you'll find that
sometimes at least not all the time but sometimes you'll see them asking by the church they go to
the house of God to be cared for and you know I'm we're all for helping people when they're in need
and they actually need it you know but when someone's fully functional capable of working
go out and work but I don't want to get too far into that Leviticus 23 22 if you had to
Deuteronomy 24 I'll read you from Leviticus 23 22 Bible says and when you reap the harvest of
your land thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest
neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest thou shalt leave them unto the poor and
to the stranger I am the Lord your God we see this reiterated multiple times of God deciding
what you can and can't do with the land he's putting limitations on what people are able to
do now it's not a lot of limitations not dictating you know what size soda you could drink you know
you can't you can't have that that supersized soda because we're the government and that's
not good for you and we're gonna tell you what to do he's allowing for for the poor to not have
to always be poor is what God's doing in a very wise way Deuteronomy 24 look at verse number 17
the Bible says thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a
widow's raiment to pledge you'll find throughout the Bible God does have compassion and a soft spot
for people who truly are in need and what we see here who's the people truly in need the fatherless
it's not their fault that their fatherless the widow who's been left behind her husband's been
doing all the work and taking care of her as he ought to be but now she has no one yeah these
people they need that the stranger people who are foreigners that you know came to that land
seeking a better life they're not the enemy let me repeat that the people who came to this land
seeking a better life are not the enemy that there ought to be ways for them to be cared
for also and not pervert judgment against the stranger just because they're a foreigner and
just and just rule against them and just not do justice yeah but when you listen to the Republican
Party what do they focus on all the time to silly of immigration all these immigrants all these
people you know look they're they're not the enemy you wouldn't have this problem if we had
a proper government in the scope that God has given the immigration wouldn't even be an issue
the only reason why people get so upset about is because they're worried about them coming and
taking the funding from the government through the benefits and all the social programs and
everything else and say no but that you know they haven't paid it yeah I know they shouldn't get it
but no one should know we shouldn't have this money stolen from us and just given out to a
bunch of people and if you didn't have those free handouts then what would be the problem with people
coming here to work and to better themselves why would you not want to have more people just come
in today that that's what it used to be America used to be the symbol of freedom and a place where
big government wasn't keeping you down where they didn't have the class structure and nope sorry
you're a serf you're always going to be a serf we have nobility over here and you're never going to
be one of us in America that's why so many immigrants came to this country is because hey
here's a place where you could just work if you're willing to work if you're willing to put in your
hard time you could earn a living you can do something good for yourself and the government's
not going to get involved in all of your businesses but now that's changed that's the
way things were 100 years ago 200 years ago now it's it's it's completely flip-flopped now you
have to get a light you have to get permission your licenses when you hear license think about
licensing from the government it's permission that's what license means so if you need to get
a license you have to get a license to cut someone's hair and get paid for it you have to
get permission from the government to get paid to cut somebody's hair you have to get permission
from the government to give somebody a ride somewhere and to get paid for that you have to
get permission from the government to do almost anything these days and get paid for it it's
licensing yeah that's what they call business licenses to do business is that the government's
job shouldn't be but they've taken it on themselves see that's not the job that God gave human
government that's the job that man has given themselves in the human government if you know
anything about the foundation of this country it's one of the things that they were fighting
against it was all the taxes but let's keep reading here that wasn't even in my notes that
one was for free verse number 18 but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt and
the Lord thy God redeemed the events therefore I command thee to do this thing when thou cutest
down thine harvest in thy field and as for God a sheaf in the field thou shalt not go again to
fetch it it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the widow that the Lord thy
God may bless thee and all the work of thine hands when thou beatest thine olive tree thou
shalt not go over the bowels again it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the
widow when thou gathers the grapes of thy vineyard thou shalt not glean it afterward it shall be for
the stranger for the fatherless excuse me and for the widow verse 22 and now shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt therefore I command thee to do this thing so before and
after he tells them about not gleaning not going back not getting all of it he reminds them twice
you used to be a slave you used to be in bondage don't ever forget that don't become so
incompassionate don't become so full of pride and so judgmental over everyone else just because
you've been blessed for a while don't forget where you came from don't forget that you were once a
slave don't forget those things when you have wealth and prosperity and then just choose to
not let anyone have anything you know that that needs to feed themselves that's in the same
situation maybe that you used to be in you know people want to come into the land the strangers
there maybe they're coming out of bondage themselves and they're just looking for somewhere
to go to do good and willing to work and feed themselves but they need a start well here's
your start and God saying don't forget that have compassion on people compassion and humility this
is a great way for poor people who are struggling to be fed and he doesn't say again you know just
to do all the work and just hand it out to him don't let them do the work if the land was blessed
think about this if the land was best blessed there would be abundance and to be able to support
even more people there's nothing wrong with that but there's always a limit to what will be
available so when it comes to you'll be worried what about what if all these images all just come
here well if they're coming here looking for a better life they're only going to come as long
as there's something to be gained right so that stream of people wanting to come to any country
and it doesn't matter who it is if they're being blessed and they think that they can improve their
life to go there great but there's going to be a limit to that so where it's not going to be worth
it to go anymore because you're not gonna be able to find any work and I can be able to you know to
make your way so why why journey and even make that that type of adventure it would work for itself
but if you have a government that's constantly just giving out money then you know you're gonna
you're gonna perpetuate that you're enabling the bad behavior but if you didn't have that going on
and people actually had to work well who cares if there's opportunity be had why do you care
if someone else wants to do good for themselves there's nothing there there's nothing that says
there's not even any statistical data this to show that you know competition is a bad thing or that
having more people working and working hard is a bad thing you could accomplish a lot more with
more people willing to work I say hey let's get as many workers as we can people are willing to
do the work you do an honest job let's do it I don't care where you came from but anyway that's
a turn if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 19 we go a little bit into the borders now go back
a little bit to the borders because we're reading a book that is full of clearly defined borders
that belong to the particular tribes and one of the things they use to determine property lines
with the landmarks they would have a specific point you know whether that point be a city or
a natural landmark or even literally like a stone being set as a landmark that is also the case in
you know many times where they'll set up you know something to be this is a landmark that's dividing
you know this this territory these boundaries Deuteronomy 19 that's why there's a law regarding
this also new Deuteronomy 19 verse 14 the Bible says thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark
which they of old time have set in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit in the land
that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it so he's like you can't go moving the landmarks
like they've been established they've been said why would someone want to move a landmark to get
more land for themselves right just to take this and go oh yeah this is actually way over here now
all of this belongs to me and what's the Bible saying in Deuteronomy is saying you can't you
can't do that you know like there's already been established and set and that's what you get don't
go trying to steal more land by moving the landmark over so hey well yeah I'm using this
land look there's a landmark right there you know it's that's wicked it's a it's a form of theft
Deuteronomy 27 we'll see another another law regarding this Deuteronomy 27 verse number 17
the Bible says cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark and all the people shall say
amen else is you're cursed you do something like that you're cursed and it's a wicked sin we also
find I might get too much into this we find throughout Scripture you know there's there's
walls built there's walls built around cities there's walls built for protection and it's not
a bad thing to keep people safe there's there's no problem with with determining who's going to
come in and out of the country either only there's anything wrong with determining you know who's
allowed to to to enter into into a sovereign nation because God has established those nations
but like I said I don't think there should be a whole bunch of extra laws you know making it
impossible for people to come in that are just trying to be a part of the to actually join and
be a part of that country but see with with the children of Israel God allowed you know it wasn't
just the tribes weren't just given to physical genealogical lines you know for that inheritance
because the Bible says that strangers could come and join themselves to a tribe and that all the
laws and they would be treated just like someone who was born in the land and so they join
themselves to the tribe of Judah guess what they're gonna get inheritance in the tribe of
you know they're gonna be put the whole point was to be part of that people they're coming
to the reason why they should be coming to Israel would be because they want the Lord is their God
and they want to serve the Lord so they're going to join themselves under that nation and they're
going to assimilate and become like that people because they're the people of God so they decided
I'm gonna move and I'm gonna join him and God had no problem with that he encouraged that yeah but I
mean people come be a part of the land you know and don't treat them any different is what God's
law said to the people who were physically born into that land then you don't treat the stranger
different they still have you know rights and I think if people want to come and be a part of you
this nation especially if it's a nation that serves God which is really not anymore but people
that want to come and and and be a part there should be no problem with that it should be great
now let's see here Joshua 19 let's jump here to the very end verse number 49 the Bible says when
they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts the children of
Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them according the word of the Lord they
gave him the city which he asked even Timnath Sirah and Mount Ephraim and he built the city
and dwelt therein these are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of
Nun and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel divided for an inheritance
by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation so they made
an end of dividing the country now what we see with Joshua and his inerrancy I don't think it
was quite as interesting as Caleb's inheritance was Caleb went and he's like he wanted to fight
the Giants and he got the best of the land you know and he had all that deal when we're closing
up we're kind of wrapping up everything and the whole dividing of the land and it's all finally
finished we don't see Joshua just just getting the you know this this really glorious place
necessarily we don't really know a lot about it this story is played out different but what we
see is that Joshua was the last one to receive the inheritance and as a sign of a really good
leader he made sure that all of his people everyone under his command received their
inheritance like a good general right a good a good army general good military general is
gonna make sure you know if you go in to fight a war we're not leaving until we all come out you
know and they're look they're they're worried about they're gonna be the first one to step
their foot on the ground and the last one to leave the battlefield if they're a good leader
and leading the people and that's what Joshua was he'd led the people into the land and when
it's time you know everybody finally like you know go inhabit your nerves they divide it all
up they're finally done and then he takes his portion and he takes what's coming in and by the
way yes he still takes what's coming to him and I'm not going to go too far in depth in this either
because I covered this already just like a week ago as far as you know man of God getting paid
the great leader actually receiving for what he's done he deserved it he fought great battles he
if this was the most glorious place he deserves it we don't know if it is or isn't but but even
if it isn't I mean we know that you know Mount Ephraim was still a desirable place from from
where they came from I don't think this is too far off from where where Caleb ended up inheriting
but we see that this is you know he deserves that think about the leadership Joshua was a good
leader he made sure his people were taken care of first and this is the example that Jesus gave us
Jesus came to this earth to minister and to care for other people he endured the shame of the cross
and the suffering in hell before his victory of his resurrection and even before receiving his
kingdom because now he's seated on the right hand of God the Father but in the future he still hasn't
even been given you know as it were his inheritance from all the good work that he did but he came to
make sure that everyone else gets theirs first because he cares about us he care about other
people and that's the mindset that Christ had this is the mind that Joshua had and this is
the mind that we ought to have to we're not worried about making sure we get our own make
sure you help everybody else out to get their own and then you get your own and that's the mind and
in this lifetime the way we live our lives that never ends because you never get your own you at
least you shouldn't have that mindset because you're not focused on the things that you could
receive physically monetarily here we're waiting to get our own so we live our whole lives trying
to help other people to achieve the prize help other people to get those spiritual rewards help
other people to succeed in their walk with God and help them to get as much as they can and in so
doing in doing all that and in having that mindset God will honor you and bless you in the end and
you don't have to even be focused about yourself and you shouldn't you don't have to be because
once you are focused on everybody else and man trying to help them out as much as you can help
their walk that in itself is what God wants you to do and you will be honored and glorified at
the at the judgment seat of Christ that's when you can enter into into Christ rest finally
turn if you would to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 it's the last place we'll have you turn 2nd
Timothy chapter 4 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse number 5 the Bible reads but watch thou in all
things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry
for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good
fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me
only but unto all them also that love is appearing the apostle Paul is someone who spent his time
concerned with the needs of others and going around and ministering unto other people
but the whole time he was still aware of the fact that if he does all these things willingly
there is going to be a prize there is going to be a crown he is running to win that prize
but he didn't do so in in trying to accumulate any attention to himself or accolades himself
it was all focused on serving others administering others and getting churches started and getting
people you know winning people the Lord and doing all these things that's what he focused on
and at the end of his life he's able to say look I did I did fight a good fight
I did keep the faith and now I know that there is a crown laid up for me
and that's the attitude that we need to keep now um you know Joshua 19 like I said there's
a lot of divvying up the land and there's all these references even more so than probably
any of the other chapters of just the borders and everything else which is why I tried to
decided to cover some of these principles tonight and you know I finished the material
that I have for Joshua 19 but I said I would probably get into this at the end I'm only
going to spend about a minute or two on it but uh since we just had you know election day yesterday
and there's all this voting going on um I'll just give you a little bit of insight myself I didn't
vote and I don't think it's a sin to not vote by the way because I don't I also don't I still
don't get all my principles by the uh you know by the the ruling class in the Republican or
Democrat party but when I the way I look at voting just so you all understand this
when you vote that's what they call an election right elect is something that we also see in the
bible something we understand we should understand the word of what we do when we
go to an election you're choosing you're choosing you're making a choice you're saying this is what
this is who I want to be my leader you're electing someone to represent you
in our form of government that's what you're supposed to be doing
what the society has turned into is no no no you're not choosing someone to represent you
you're just choosing to not have this other person and that's what they try to sell you on
I'm not buying it because if I'm going to choose somebody and people say oh well you can't have
someone there's never going to be anybody that you just agree with 100% and you just they just
will represent everything you want yeah I know but I'm not even looking for that how about let's
start with 20% how about let's start with someone who's not a crook let's start with someone who's
not just full of themselves and proud and arrogant and wants to actually serve the people
and is not just looking to make more wealth for themselves how about that how about someone who
actually has principles and believes what they believe because God said so and not because they
just want to go play this game and get a job as a politician how about that show me where that
candidate is and maybe I'll elect that person but until I find someone like that I'm not going to go
and oh it's your civic duty you got to do this no I don't
what I see is the problem with participating in this is you continue if you continue to accept
wicked people and support them and elect them and vote for them whether they win or not
if that's the choice you have I say no
let's bring on the most fascist or leftist or whatever socialist person
and just go ahead and let them in charge because that's what we deserve if people
don't have any integrity anymore to put up somebody who has principles to actually do
the right thing instead of just pandering to what you think people want to hear and you know what I
I've only been in Georgia for a couple months and I've only listened to the radio for a very
short period of time out of the few months that I've been here and oh there's no there's nothing
different from anywhere else I'm listening to these governors potential governors speak
they're politicians and I'm not saying that in a nice way it's not a good word to be used
because they're just saying they're not really saying much of anything
they're arguing about a lot of stupid things without actually getting into any substance now
you might say yeah this guy's right on this and and and he's wrong on this or whatever on a bigger
issue but even the arguments they use they're not using any real any any real values any anything
that's just concrete they're just saying things that they think the most people on their side is
going to vote for because they don't have integrity and I can't vote for somebody like that
no they don't have to be perfect
but I'm not going to continue to vote for evil so we could continue to get
evil people as an option now this is just my little rant at the end of the sermon
you don't agree with me on any of this I don't care I really don't it doesn't matter to me you
want to go ahead and go ahead and vote I'm not gonna I'm not gonna berate you or belittle you
for not I'm just explaining a little bit about my reasoning and where I stand on that and
you know the one of the reasons I even came to that kind of a conclusion is because long ago
before I was even interested in becoming a pastor I actually was into the politics and and and I
wanted to make a change and to make a difference and I thought the way to do that was by pursuing
politics by by getting involved in government and trying to really make a good change
but it didn't take long to realize the extent of corruption for one and it's just a big game and
people just have to pay their dues and then they get rewarded with favors and it's and it's this
little it's this club I mean it really is like the GOP it's the grand old part is a club and
and they have their people that they that they want to let in and whatever and yeah okay you
could go ahead and join but when you really start to get involved with it you'll realize
where the power lies and if they don't want people to come in and and make changes you know there's
ways of of making that not happen and it starts even down at the at the lower levels there's a
lot of corruption I'm not saying every single place it's corrupt but and then the higher up
you go the more and more corrupt things are but what I realized is that even if you were
let's say let's say you did all the work you could politically all the grassroots work to to get out
the word and talk to people and convince people and persuade people this is the person that you
need to have ruling over you even if you could accomplish that what is that really going to do
if you have a ruler that's going to try to make these these right choices even yay godly choices
but the people are still all wicked
what good is that going to do anybody because God's judgment is still going to come
look at what happened with King Josiah
King Josiah was a godly man and did a lot of righteous things a lot of right things
but read the book of Jeremiah side by side with when you read about King Josiah because
King Jeremiah was still dealing with the people of the land and they were still extremely wicked
and they still were burning incense you know Josiah was out there trying to make laws against
this stuff and yeah he was blessed of God but the people guess what they still ended up going
into captivity the judgment still came they didn't repent they didn't get their heart right with God
even with a strong political leader
that's why I chose to focus all of my energy my efforts not on politics but on reaching hearts
and minds of people with the word of God because if you can reach people with the gospel of Christ
and if you could get them hooked on this book I don't have to worry about the politics
not for one second I don't have to I won't even have to tell people how to vote or who
to vote for or anything like that if you are into this book I'm not worried about it at all
you'll have enough wisdom for me to just say yep go ahead you know do what you want you
don't you shouldn't have to rely on someone to tell you who to vote for anyways and that's why
you won't hear me telling you you need to vote for this person I want to tell you this is what
the word of God says and use this making all of your decisions in life whether it's to vote not
to vote whether it's who you're going to vote for whatever this is what's going to change and this
and this is when we get people on this then that really can have the potential to stay off
you know God's destruction you know God's judgment on a nation when people do turn their
hearts to the Lord so that was probably going to be one of the most political sermons that I
preached for a long time so there you go you got the benefit of a political what if you're a
political person you got that tonight let's bow our heads have a word of prayer dear heavenly
Father Lord we thank you so much for your words God and for giving us these instructions from
the Bible and and these great teachings that we could learn through every single chapter every
single line that you've given us Lord we thank you for it God help us to make wise choices Lord
teach us and guide us and in Jesus name we pray amen