Believer, Be Strong! #13 信ずる者、強くあれ

Joshua 1:1-9  ヨシュア　１：１〜９

Be strong and courageous  強く勇ましくあれ。 Be strong and very courageous  強く勇敢であれ 。Be strong and courageous  強く勇ましくあれ。 

NLT: ¹ After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, ² “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. ³ I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— ⁴ from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Seain the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. 

⁶ “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. ⁸ Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. ⁹ This is My command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”　

 New Living Translation(Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserve.

   Here we have Joshua who—40 years before—had been obedient to the Lord’s call to enter the Promised Land but 10 of the other spies gave a bad report and the people listened to the minority and did not listen to the Majority (God) and spent the rest of their lives dying in the sand.  Their shoes did not wear out but they all died.  Aged 20 and up.  Now, they are all gone except Joshua and Caleb.  (Deut 1:36b)

   The Lord speaks very directly to him.  Three times in this short passage with this command: 1. Be strong and courageous.  2. Be strong and very courageous. 3. Be strong and courageous.

   Think there is something in that? Why so many times?  What did Joshua need to enable him to lead? He had the blessing of Moses; He was there on the Mountain with Moses. He was the ‘other’ voice of reason when Israel was put to the test. Yet, even HE needed this kind of encouragement.  Do you think we are any different? Do you need encouragement?

   Many of us have NO IDEA what next year will be like.  In fact, ALL of us have no idea what next year will be like! Here in this passage, we have a group of 60 year olds and younger waiting to move on a promise their Great, great, great, grandparents were given.  They had been told the stories and now it was their turn to move on it.

   One thing was lacking.  They had to have their OWN experience with God.  To make it personal and to make it fresh, it had to happen to them as well.  What had to happen to them! They had to experience God first hand.  God does not have grandchildren. All those who come to Him are his first sons and daughters.  There are no half-brothers or stepsisters or second cousin on the father’s side.   

   The Christian Life was meant to be one generation at a time. We all need to surrender to His Love and admit that we need Him.  We all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  None of us would make it to Heaven on our own. We need to depend on the only way any man, woman, or child could attain entrance into Heaven. We have to put our trust in Jesus as He died for our sins.  He alone could pay the price to set us free from the guilt of sins’ hold and then, and only then, we are set free.  Our sins are forgiven and He gives us a new heart.  We are new creations. All old ways of thinking will now start to change as we allow His Spirit to control our desires and dreams and that will be OK because He not only died for us, He loves us and wants the best of His Kingdom for us—namely that our sins would be covered and that we could not go to Heaven to be where He is!  So, …

   Point One. 1. Be strong and courageous! 強く勇ましくあれ

   Life has a way of changing our point of view of how things should be.  We might have made certain plans and set our minds and hearts on things going this way or that way.  Has it always been the way you first envisioned things to be? As a child, I thought that I’d marry the girl next door—just like the TV shows I watched.  That didn’t happen.  J___ became a Lesbian. Many years later, I proposed to a young woman I had only known for four months! That was God’s Best for me!

   The Lord was giving Joshua His Word for the many days Joshua would be the military leader the Hebrew People.  God tells him: “for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors” God “will give them.” Would that encourage you? You're the leader.  God looks to you as the leader.  You saw how the people look to Moses as the leader---and that did not look so good!  They rebelled against Moses almost at every turn! They complained and they spread lies and discord among the community.  The people were stiff necked and stubborn.  They had rejected God’s DIRECT Words to them and now, God was giving these same kind of people to Joshua to lead.  What joy! He had seen how it effected his leader and mentor over the years. He was there all the time during the upheavals.  He saw the rebels die by fire, earthquake, the Hand of the Living God and he saw the wonders of many miracles as the Lord, HIS God cared for and supported and corrected, the Hebrew Nation.

   Do you think this new leader needed some encouragement?  You bet he did.  And so many of you who are leading your families, heading up work teams at work, becoming the spokesperson for your class project—You need to hear this same word from God that Joshua heard. 

   Be strong and courageous!

   Based on what?  Wishful thinking? Just because it is written in this passage, can we claim it?  Can we MAKE this verse ours? Is it a proper way to handle Scripture? Yes, on all counts.

   Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.   テモテへの手紙二 / 3章 :16-17節聖書はすべて神の霊の導きの下に書かれ、人を教え、戒め、誤りを正し、義に導く訓練をするうえに有益です。こうして、神に仕える人は、どのような善い業をも行うことができるように、十分に整えられるのです。

   That means ALL scripture.  And I would add, not just for men-as this was written to a young pastor named Timothy, but for women as well.  There are certain Biblical ‘rules’ you need to be aware of.  Ask yourself, What was in the mind of the author?  Who was he writing this to?  What kind of message was it? You need to see if the passage is part of a poem, a historical narrative, and pros.   

Ask: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How. 

   It is rather dangerous to just open the Bible and point to a passage and follow what the Bible says at that point.  One person tried that, as they were looking for direction in their life.  Opening the Bible, and placing their figure on one verse, it read, “And he went out and hung himself…” nervously, he closed the Bible, opened it and it fell open on John 13:27 “What you are about to do, do quickly.”  You need to use Godly wisdom. 

   Be strong IN the Lord.  Human wisdom can only deal with human level things.  Some of human wisdom is really silly stuff.  Turn to 1 Corinthians 2:13  “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” コリントの信徒への手紙一 / 2章 / 13節 そして、わたしたちがこれについて語るのも、人の知恵に教えられた言葉によるのではなく、“霊”に教えられた言葉によっています。つまり、霊的なものによって霊的なことを説明するのです。 This is a higher-level altogether!

   There is the source of the power of this strength. The power of God by His Spirit.

   2. Be strong and VERY courageous  強く勇敢であれ

   Again, when things are repeated in the Scriptures, it is not because the author forgot what he just wrote—it is for emphasis.  As we read along in this passage, we can see the WHY of this repeat. These instructions came from Moses to Joshua. He is NOT to deviate from them.  Stay straight.  Don’t try and bend the teaching to fit the situation. Don’t try to water the message down because of social pressure.  Don’t set the teaching aside because it is hard to follow.  Depend on this promise as it is from the very Hand of God through the Man of God. 

   A teaching of Paul comes to mind. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit. テサロニケの信徒への手紙一 / 4章 / 8節 ですから、これらの警告を拒む者は、人を拒むのではなく、御自分の聖霊をあなたがたの内に与えてくださる神を拒むことになるのです。

   Man is forever looking to the bottom line. Qantas Airline reported this week that they were 84% lower than they wanted to be.  They were only going to have a profit of 45 million.  They plan to lay off 1,000s of workers.  The story of Jack Welch at GE was a boss who did not allow things to stay the same.  His company grew from a $26 billion in revenues to $130 billion and from around $14 billion in market value to over $410 billion—making it the most valuable company in the world at that time.  One of his mantras was: Every year, GE would fire the bottom 10% of the work force.  On one side, we can see that his company became very successful but on the other side, over 100,000 people were laid off during his tenure.   Success, yes—for some but at what cost? Sure he wanted to make his company #1 and he did, so does that make him a successful businessman?  Yes, but the 100,000 workers out of job felt the cutting edge of his corporate knife and yet people call his work successful. That is the workforce. 

   I am not saying we need to fire 10% of our worshipers so we can grow and be successful BUT we all need to carry something—to aid in the development of the Body.  We all have Spiritual Gifts that MUST be used or we will be cut—not by the leadership here at ICCS but by the Lord Himself. One of Harold’s favorite (and I miss him!) verses was from John 15:6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ヨハネによる福音書 15:6 わたしのうちにとどまらないなら，その者は枝のように投げ出されて枯らされる。そして人々はそれらを集め，火の中に投げ込み，それらは燃やされる。We need to remain IN HIM and only then will we prosper and succeed.

  Here, the Lord points to another side of success. If you follow these instructions Moses gave you, you will be successful in everything you do.  To do that successfully, you NEED be in Him and to study this Book continually.  Meditate on it day and night SO that you will be sure to obey everything written in it.  ONLY THEN will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 

3. Be strong and courageous! 強く勇ましくあれ

   This is not a suggestion.  Like the Ten Commandments, they are not to be taken lightly.  You, Joshua, are going to battle.  You are going to war.  All sorts of killing and fighting will go on around you and you will be in the thick of it all.  You most remember Whom it is that has sent you to do God’s work.  Be strong—you are 80 years of age and you are as strong now as you have ever been!  Fight for Me, Joshua!  Be strong and be courageous! Don’t be afraid of the giants in the land.  There will be walled cities—they are nothing to Me. Don’t be discouraged as you lead these stubborn people. The Lord Himself-who is your God is with you all the way!

  So be strong and courageous!

   In closing, turn to 1 Timothy 6:11-14 ¹¹ But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. ¹³ And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

テモテへの手紙一 / 6章 11節-14 しかし、神の人よ、あなたはこれらのことを避けなさい。正義、信心、信仰、愛、忍耐、柔和を追い求めなさい。信仰の戦いを立派に戦い抜き、永遠の命を手に入れなさい。命を得るために、あなたは神から召され、多くの証人の前で立派に信仰を表明したのです。万物に命をお与えになる神の御前で、そして、ポンティオ・ピラトの面前で立派な宣言によって証しをなさったキリスト・イエスの御前で、あなたに命じます。わたしたちの主イエス・キリストが再び来られるときまで、おちどなく、非難されないように、この掟を守りなさい。

   It seems to me that Paul is bookending this teaching—end of Chapter one and here at the end of six.  Timothy-Joshua-or put your name in there-, you are in a war! You’re in a fight that requires vigilance in order to hold onto your faith.  And that is what I want us to realize this morning, to realize this global reality.  You and I are involved in a spiritual war.  We together are involved in a spiritual war, and it involves every single one of us in this room.  Be strong in the Lord and be courageous!

-Thanks goes to David Platt of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama for the closing portion.

#12 Tell Your Children 子供たちへ伝えなさい

Foot Prints of God in YOUR LIFE 

Preaching the Gospel to us every day.

  A good report  良い報告 is always good to hear. Forgiveness and accepting forgiveness is very important to a marriage and ever so important to any relationship. It is the Gospel.

  The Gospel is the soul basis of our acceptance by God and it is a forever experience. We learn that this is to be a growing understanding of His Gospel in us.  When we do not have a solid grasp of what the Gospel is in us, not a clear awareness with the union we have in Christ, then those people will seek to find the assurance of the salvation in other areas. They will look to ‘what I have done’ rather than what Christ has done. We might depend on Church attendance or taking certain rites of passage or being covered with different amounts of water (sprinkling, or immersion).

  Think back to the time where you would say The Gospel made the difference of life and death in your life.  In other words, your point of conversion. 

Telling the story  あなたの物語を語る

  How do we tell the story? In Deuteronomy 1 starts with Moses rehearsing the story 詳細に物語るor history of Israel’s rescue from Egypt.  Verse 3; "In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.”

  He then told of the part of their history あなたの歴史の一部 of having them send out the 12 spies and how the majority of the people rejected God’s instruction, command, really, to enter the Promised Land because of the bad report.  And because of their disobedience, the older members of the tribe-all over 20 years of age would die in the desert. (Numbers 14:29)  They would not go into the Promised Land.  Deut.1:39  “your children who do not yet know good from bad—--they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.” And yet the people still did not understand how serious the Lord was.  They said, “OK, we’ll go and we will take those people on… as the Lord our God commanded us. So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.”

  God told them, “NO!  I will not go up with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.”  They still did not listen.  They rebelled once again and in their arrogance, they marched up into the hill country and they were quickly beaten.

  The story goes on about certain battles they fought in. Then in chapter four, once again, idolatry was forbidden.  They were prone to do that, so the Lord reminded them.  Deut. 4:15 You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

29-31, 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey Him. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which He confirmed to them by oath.  

We can see The Gospel once again.  ~You are lost, あなたはさまよい, I am the one who found you あなたを見つけたのはわたしである, turn to Me and live わたしに立ち返れ, I will restore your heart. あなたの心を回復せしめる~ 

Please read Ps 145

Preaching the Gospel to ourselves every day. 日々福音を語り継げる

  The speaking of the Gospel to ourselves and to the ones that mean the most to us is so important AND the Lord would want that kind of interfamily conversation going on anyway. It needs to be spoken of, many times and in many different ways so that the meaning is understood and finally having a shared belief system.

  A little later on, in chapter 11, we find this, and this is the key for our understanding today.  11:1-7 1 Love the LORD your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: His majesty, His mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs He performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 4 what He did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how He overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them. 5 It was not your children あなたがたの子供たちは見た者ではない who saw what He did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place, 6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done. IT IS PERSONAL!

  We, who are older in the Faith, maybe the adults but certainly the children who have already placed their trust in Him, need to remember that this happened to us.  It is in the first person. The change happened to us personally. God touched us. It is not something that could be passed on to us like Grandma’s watch. It can only be experienced in each person’s life.  One life at a time.

  Sure, we pray for the moving of God in Japan. And as we see His Hand move in other areas of the world, large groups--sometimes whole villages--turn to God and placed their trust in the Lord as their Savior, we wonder why not here?  We need to remember that while it might have been a mass conversion there, each heart needed to be convinced that their lives needed Jesus. One soul at a time.

  And our story needs to be told, one person to another. How will they know unless they hear and how will they hear unless someone tells them. The old line-use words if necessary---is so false. IT IS EVER SO NECESSARY! Use Words! 言葉を用いなさい!  Actions alone are not enough. The air is so confused with all sorts of mixed messages and the message is misunderstood in so many areas of the questions of what is meant. Words are used to proclaim the Gospel. The Word became flesh…and the Word lives among us …

  Remember that your kids were not the ones who saw God’s Hand in your life. They will only know of that WHEN and IF you tell them. A while ago, while visiting a family over New Year’s Holiday, the parents took out their wedding albums to show us. We loved looking them over but the thing that shocked us the most was that their adult children had never seen them before! Never had they even shared that part of their own family history. I didn’t understand why--most likely never will, but there were some interesting stories around that wedding that their kids needed to hear about as some of them were looking at marriage in a few years. How did they meet? The kids did not know that part of the family history. What were their dreams? Unknown. We shared about our engagement to the delight of all their family. Our own family had heard it SO many times over the years—they could tell it with 99.9% accurately.

  How you met the ONE who changed your very life needs to be shared with those who are closest to you. It is not a culture issue; it is for the sake of the Gospel! An eternal issue. Between life and death.

  Moses reminded the Nation that because THEY experienced the Glory Days of Moses, the rest of the people who would follow would need to hear of the wonders of His might Hand themselves! It wasn’t the kids who saw this! The parents did! And they need to tell the next generation those stories! Not in a bragging, self-centered way but a bragging God-way. THIS IS WHAT HE DID IN MY LIFE! This is why I am the way I am today! These stories of God’s Mercy and action in our lives are not only for our kids, they are for our grandchildren.

  They need to know. 彼らは知る必要がある

  A sad fact for the tribe of Israel, the generation after Joshua did not know these stories. Why? They were never told! Even sadder to know that the pagan peoples of the land around them knew of them and they were afraid BECAUSE THEY WERE aware of what this God of Israel could do!

  As we are in our 21st year of ICCS, it is the role, the task, the responsibility to pass on what we saw the Lord do among us to the new people who come and join us in the Walk of Faith. If we don’t, it will be lost--forever! Verse 7: “But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.”

  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! 主が仰せになるように贖われなさい

  With some help a while ago, we had put together a REMEMBER sheet of verses for our families: How to pray for the Families.  In our Church Family, we have only 9 couples. There are 56 people who come on a regular basis. A large number of our people are the only Jesus Followers in their families. (We need to pray for them--in a deep and real way, as we pray for the country that rejects the Gospel and makes it hard for the Gospel to be preached within their borders, there are families RIGHT among us that are having problems like that on a day-to-day basis. We need to pray for them.)

  So, if we do this reporting to our families, what will happen? Some will get saved. I believe that. Some will reject the message. But ALL will have heard. This is our Jerusalem.  This is where it begins. The message of God’s Grace will be heard. The Word of God will not return void. Someday, in the lives of those who might have rejected your Word to them, will open their hearts to the Lord.

  But if we do not tell them, they may never hear. If they never hear, they will never know. If they never know, they will be lost for ever. Vs 13 “So if you faithfully obey もし従うなら the commands I am giving you today--to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with al your heart and with all your soul--then I will send 私は送ろう rain on your land--I will bring blessings to you. I will provide 私は与えようgrass and you will eat and be satisfied. あなたは食し満足するであろう。” Sounds good to me! We need to be faithful.

  Vs 16 “Be careful, 注意しなさい! or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.” You might not see yourselves, in truth and practice-- bowing down to idols, but our hearts will allow all sorts of stuff in there--to corrode and confuse our hearts to do evil or to non-practice. When we neglect His ways, we are not doing what the Lord says, therefore it is sin and that sin needs to be taken to the Lord and confessed and forgiveness being sought after, looking to the finished work of Christ on the Cross for that very salvation--which He will give willingly BUT it needs to be confessed and turned from.

 Vs 18 Fix these words of Mine in your hearts and minds; 私のことばを直しなさいtie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children教えなさい, talking 話しなさい about them when you sit 座り at home and when you walk歩き along the road, when you lie down 横になり and when you get up起き上がる. 20 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land あなたの日々は多い that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

  Our role and responsibility to our families is clearly explained in the passage. We are to be active in the telling.  Even if they reject the message, they still need to be told. And then, once they know and have heard the message of life and of promise, they are to open their own hearts and believe.  It is God’s will that all should come to know Him. But, He has also given our children and our spouces the will to make a choice.  We pray they make the right choice.  Deut 30:19~20  19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Ways of God 神の方法

Numbers 13-14/民数記 13-14

   Last week, we visited the story of getting the Ten Commandments from God. Moving on in the narrative in Deuteronomy (as it also follows Number’s accounts) we come to the stories of the wanderings.  Moses writes about the need to worship the Lord in one place and not in the ways the other people did in that land. God had instructed them NOT to worship other gods, the need to eat clean food, how to deal with canceling debts (15:1, 4-6). Dealing with the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, Feast of Tabernacles. 

   Moses covers what they are to expect from the king and their duties in serving him. In Chapter 18, Moses writes how God forbids the detestable practices of killing the sons and daughters in worship (9-13). Cities of Refuge in 19 and the reasons for them.  Chapter 20 deals with their feelings about going to war and how to face the enemy. From 21 on until 26, more details of conduct and practice are covered. Chapter 27 deals with a list of curses that God forbids His people to do.  Practical every day living issue is also covered.  Then ends in Deuteronomy 28 which deals with blessings, instructions and Moses’ farewell. 

   But in Numbers 13, the spies were sent to Canaan. The Lord calls on the Jews to send out spies into the Land. 12 men, one from each tribe, were chosen to go into the New Land and spy it out.

   The story goes on but I’d like us to consider these points this morning as we look at these events.

   When God sets something before us…as the Lord did to Israel... 1. How do we understand God’s Way? わたしたちに関する主の方法を理解するには？ 2. How can we grow closer to Him as we accepting His way?  どのように近づくために成長できるのか。

     As we walk through the Old Testament, we have seen God’s footprints and His fingerprints ALL over the story—HIS Story. We have seen people believe almost impossible things—like a 90 year old woman having a child, like a slave becoming Prime Minister of Egypt, like a righteous man and his family be the only ones who’d survive a world wide flood.  Yes, God does give us many things to consider.  Sometimes, we don’t see things the way He sees them.  He has the advantage of looking at things and events from eternity.   

   But, along the way, He gives us His vision for our future—as we look to Him to bring these things to pass. A point to keep in mind, even as we wish all things to go well in our life, life has a way of bringing pain and darkness along with it.  And along with the pain and darkness—a joy of knowing the One who has it all under His Control and in His Will.

   So, what was promised the Hebrew Nation?  In short, ALL the land that their forefathers had been promised way back in Genesis. All the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.^"the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,  Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,  Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” And that all the peoples of that area would be destroyed—not because He is a bad God but because their time of wrath was full.  They had rejected the message of God for so long, it was to be the end of their people.  They were everything negative to His people.  They would, if they could and were allowed to, corrupt the Israelites and bring the wrath of God on themselves as well. God, who knows the future, knew that the people of the land were no good for His people.  “Don’t join work with them, don’t intermarry them, don’t make treaties with them, and don’t let them live among your people.”  Completely rid these people off the face of the earth.  Not a peaceful co-existence.  No compromise.  No toleration. A complete Genocide of a major people group.

   Some would say that was unfair and that the God of the Old Testament was mean and vengeful.  I would say, that is not a problem.  These people had been rejecting God’s message for generations.  Even when they lived next to Abraham, they did not change. When Jacob’s family lived there, their vision was to over power these Israelites & gain all their possessions by having them marry into their own tribes—thus diluting this new nation.  It was to win by osmoses.  (To undergo diffusion by osmosis.) Much like the historical Han’s did in China. They had the time and they had the people.  Blend them into our culture and they—as a people group—with their teachings & customs will disappear.

   God did not want that of His People.  He would be ready for any to repent and He would give them life. But they refused. Even in the family line of Jesus, we can find non-Jews—pagan people-brought in.  The offer is there for anyone who wishes salvation, will find it. The Israelites were to be unique people, set aside for His Glory and purposes.

   But to understand His ways, what would be in store for us, when we realize that His thoughts are not our thoughts? 主の思い　私たちの思い: Isa 55:8-9. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."　 イザヤ 55:8-9 わたしの思いは、あなたたちの思いと異なり／わたしの道はあなたたちの道と異なると／主は言われる。天が地を高く超えているように／わたしの道は、あなたたちの道を／わたしの思いは／あなたたちの思いを、高く超えている。 AND YET, He makes the way of salvation easy enough to understand, that a child could believe.

   God is really for us: 私たちにとっての神 Romans 8:31  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ローマ 8:31 では、これらのことについて何と言ったらよいだろうか。もし神がわたしたちの味方であるならば、だれがわたしたちに敵対できますか。　He is watching our back. Ready to support us because He is for us.

   We are not tempted beyond: それ以上の誘惑はない　1 Cor 10:13  No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 第１コリント 10:13 あなたがたを襲った試練で、人間として耐えられないようなものはなかったはずです。神は真実な方です。あなたがたを耐えられないような試練に遭わせることはなさらず、試練と共に、それに耐えられるよう、逃れる道をも備えていてくださいます。　HE WILL ALWAYS OFFER YOU A WAY OUT!

   He will sustain you: 私たちをささえる　Ps 55:22  Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.　 詩篇 55:22 口は脂肪よりも滑らかに語るが／心には闘いの思いを抱き／言葉は香油よりも優しいが、抜き身の剣に等しい。 NEVER!

   Press on to know Him: Hos 6:3  Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” ホセア書 / 6章 3節  我々は主を知ろう。主を知ることを追い求めよう。主は曙の光のように必ず現れ／降り注ぐ雨のように／大地を潤す春雨のように／我々を訪れてくださる。」 HAS HE EVER LET YOU DOWN? NO!

   He will never stop doing good to us:わたしたちにとって幸いをなす Jer 32:40-44   I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear Me, so that they will never turn away from Me.  I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all My heart and soul.

 “This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.  Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without men or animals, for it has been handed over to the Babylonians.’ Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes,[ Or will bring them back from captivity] declares the LORD.” エレミヤ32:40-44 わたしは、彼らと永遠の契約を結び、彼らの子孫に恵みを与えてやまない。またわたしに従う心を彼らに与え、わたしから離れることのないようにする。41 わたしは彼らに恵みを与えることを喜びとし、心と思いを込めて確かに彼らをこの土地に植える。...44 ... わたしが彼らの繁栄を回復するからである、と主は言われる。」The Lord completely restores the broken! 110% made new!

   And yet, don’t expect an easy ride: 安逸であるとは限らない. 1 Peter 4:12-13   Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. ペトロの第一の手紙 4:12  愛する者たちよ，あなた方を試みるために臨んできた火のような試練のことで，異常なことが自分たちに生じたかのように驚いてはいけません。 Life still has to be lived and done so under the guiding Hand of the Lord.  He will be with us during these hard times.  In His Name, He has promises never to leave you nor forsake you. Now, believe it and life it out.

   #2 As way of application: How can we grow closer to Him as the result in accepting His way?

   Boats float better when they are IN the water and IN the current and moving along with His flow. When we learn from His Word where He’d move us, we might not get an invitation in the mail.

   When we look at what is going on in our passage this morning, we can see that the people not only lacked faith, they also lacked the capacity to remember what just happened to them. The pagan countries around them knew those stories and they were very afraid.  Maybe they got too close to God and this was not a good thing?  No, they chose to go after their own ways and not allow God to control their lives.  And we can read what happened to them: Numbers 14:36-37.   So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it—  these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. Ouch! 民数記 / 14章 36節-37  36 モーセが遣わした男たちは、土地の偵察から帰ると、その土地について悪い情報を流し、共同体全体が彼に向かって不平を言うようにしたが、土地について悪い情報を流した者は、主の御前で疫病にかかって死んだ。

   How can we grow closer to Him as the result in accepting His way?  どのように近づくために成長できるのか。The way we will answer with this morning is: The ways of the Lord are just. Proverbs 10:29-30 The way of the LORD is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil. The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land. 箴言 10:29-30 主の道は、無垢な人の力／悪を行う者にとっては滅亡。神に従う人はとこしえに揺らぐことなく／神に逆らう者は地に住まいを得ない。

   You cannot go wrong in following what He leads you to do. Want to test Him on this? Give Him something you love the most.  Let Him have your heart’s number one ‘thing’, the very thing you most desire to control.  Just give it to Him—open your hands and let Him have it.  It could be your child, your future, your money, your pride, your desires…whatever, and see how He will deal with you.  Test Him and you will see what Joshua believed and saw.  A whole country open to them which was flowing with milk and honey—God’s promised Land.  He will fill you with His Number One as the result.  You will be changed and you will be growing closer to Him.  

   That is the Way of God. 神の方法