They had lived east of the Jordan River. They decided not to move west into the Promised Land. And they're this symbol of, in Christianity, of carnal Christianity, where we live for our flesh, we live for ourselves. And carnal Christianity is genuinely a great hurt to churches today. Many church members live their life content in the selfishness And Josh was concerned about these tribes. They had already decided to settle outside of God's will, and he wanted to make sure that they were willing to move forward. And I have dealt with this. I'm kind of just finishing up what I had dealt with last week. Israel needed unity. They needed full support. They wanted all 12 tribes to unify together to capture the Promised Land. These men were faithful in their actions, but unfaithful in their hearts. Their hearts' love was east of Jordan, east of God's will. A carnal Christian makes a promise to serve at church and then they may back out. They may allow other things in their lives to keep them from church. They allow their hobbies and pursuits to keep them from actively involving themselves in the affairs of the church. The heart of these believers was undoubtedly a cause for concern to Joshua. And he made sure at least their commitment to move ahead. First Joshua chapter 1 verse 12, And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in this land which Moses gave you on this side, Jordan. But ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them, until the Lord hath given your brethren rest as he hath given you. And they also possess the land which the Lord your God giveth them. Then ye shall return into the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising. And the answer Joshua saying, all that thou commanded us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. According as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee. Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment and will not hearken to thy words and all that thou commandest him, He shall be put to death, only be strong and of a good courage. Church, we may lose ourselves of any, may we lose ourselves of any sensuality in our lives and instead look to God for help. And Joshua wants to make sure as they're advancing into the promises and the blessings of God, we're all unified, we're all together. We must not settle for second best. We must not settle for a temporal contentment, which temporal or immediate contentment is actually spiritual adultery. Do you ever have moments in your life when you're back at a place where you previously failed spiritually? When you're back in these situations, what do you do? You find yourself, oftentimes, I'm back. I feel like I'm just on the same roller coaster. I'm going in a circle, and I'm back where I came from. In a church to advance in fulfilling the Great Commission, we must evangelize in discipleship, ample preparation, and complete dedication. Joshua is back at a place that was a disaster for Israel many years before, 40 years before, with Moses. You see, there can be only lasting spiritual progress by first identifying the problems from the first time around. and understanding the enemy we face. We're not focused on the enemy, but we need to be cautious of his ways. So like Israel, how do we avoid a repeat disaster that should have been pressed forward? Well, God's desire here is to cleanse our heart and prepare to serve the Lord. He says to Reuben, Gad, and Hathim, and Asa, are you all in? Are you all in? Are you all in, ready to serve God, ready to do what's right? So let's pray and we'll come before the Lord. Our dear, heavenly and gracious Father, I love you and I thank you for this evening. Our Father, I thank you for the grace that you've bestowed upon us. Lord, I thank you for the love you've given to us. Lord, I ask tonight that as I preach your precious word that you'd encourage us and help us. Lord, I pray that we'd test our hearts and minds and we'd be focused upon Thee. Lord Jesus, I love You and I thank You for being our precious Savior. Thank You for the gift and the grace that You've bestowed upon us. Lord, speak through me. Every word I speak, the thoughts I think, And Lord, I pray that our hearts and minds would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Should there be someone watching that is not saved, I pray tonight they'd settle that decision. Father, I love you and thank you for what you'll do. In your precious name I pray. Amen. Let's look at Numbers. We're going to go back to the Pentateuch here. The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible. Numbers chapter, Penta, five, right? Numbers chapter 32, verse 17, a carnal creativity. And you know what, this is a battle with our flesh. Every day I battle. Every day we are trying to get to a place in our lives where I'm like, you know what, I don't want to be selfish. I don't want to be like this. And these things can creep up on us so easily and quickly. And Ruben Gad and half of Manasseh had assured Moses, we will go in and fight. We will move forward. The carnal Christian will go forward, they'll make strides in their life, but there's always a place outside of God's will where they're willing to retreat. They're willing to retreat outside of, I mean, they get close to what God wants them to do, but they just never go forward, never take the next step. They may cross over to God's blessed promises, but this is not where they're at at home. They don't feel the most comfortable in God's will. They feel the most comfort east of the Jordan River. They feel as though it's just enough. I'll do just enough to keep God's wrath from falling on me. They don't know what it's like to live in the land of the living, to have peace and joy. Their enjoyment is from maybe their hobbies or their pursuits or something in life rather than from the Lord. Moses has a discussion with these men here in Numbers 32, verse 17. But we ourselves will go ready arm before the children of Israel until we have brought them into their place, and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return into our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. We will not inherit them on yonder side Jordan, or forward, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side Jordan, eastward. Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. And he allows them to live east of the Jordan River. And again, Moses is saying, are you going to do right? And he says, listen, if you're giving me a promise, but you're not willing to fulfill it, be sure your sin will find you out. Realize this, that many times in our lives, we may try to hide sins, we might try to cover them up, we might try to do things, but it will come a time in your life, your sin will be discovered. many times in an unfortunate way. It is easiest and best if I, rather than trying to hide my sins, get right with God and right in the areas I need to. Mark it down, your actions will be revealed at some point in your life. It's much easier to confess and forsake them now than to let the sin go unconfessed for years. A carnal believer may know enough of Christianity to give the bare minimum to God. They may be faithful and maybe they're giving because they fear God's reprisal or God's judgment upon their unfaithfulness. But concerning other areas of their life, it's off-limits. And God's desire is to have a people that are totally immersed and totally passionate that, I want to do God's will. Would you turn with me in your Bibles? We're going to notice the location of the children of Israel here in Shittim. And this is where Joshua finds himself, a sanctified people, a people whose hearts are ready. and ready to serve the Lord. Now, what had happened here at this place before, at this place, Shittim, in Numbers chapter 25, would you follow along with me? Numbers chapter 25, verse 1. There was something very important that had happened here. And Israel had a previous experience of some judgment of the Lord. Numbers chapter 25 verse 1, And Israel abode in Shittim. And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people and the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-pir, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun. Fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. Moses said to the judges of Israel, slay ye every one of his men. They were joining the Baal Peor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel in the tent, and thrust both of them through the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Those that died in the plague were 20 and 4,000. What had happened here in this place, Joshua finds himself in an area, he says, listen, there's something wrong here. There's something moving forward and there was sin in the camp and they got judged and 24,000 people lost their lives. Think about this. God wants to deal with sin, and what happens is a little leaven, leavening the whole lump, a little bit of sin comes in, and it's not dealt with. The children of Israel had been here before, and they had seen death, 24,000 people. They're preparing to end, here they are, they were just kind of ready to repeat, ready to go back into the promised land, and yet, here in Joshua, I lost my place here, let me find my place again. But as we mentioned here, the scriptures talk about going in to Shittim. They're about ready to go in and Joshua's going to send spies in the land, but he's only sending two spies this time. He's not sending 12. But the doctrine of Balaam has become the issue because the children of Israel, Joshua says, listen, If you advance in Joshua, you'll realize that when Achan took what didn't belong to him, people died in another battle. They lost the power of God. The doctrine of Balaam has become an issue, as it is in our homes, in our lives, in churches today, that when there's a little bit of sin, it affects others. It hinders God's power from being upon the people. And God would have in Revelation 2, verse 14, the doctrine of Balaam, but I have a few things against thee, because thou wast them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things, sacrifice, and idols, and commit fornication. And Joshua, hear, all that thou commandest, we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. These people here, and Joshua is so concerned, he says, listen, we're about ready to enter into the promises of God. We've got to deal with the sin in our heart. Now, what is this idea of the doctrine of Balaam? Remember Balaam and Balaam's donkey? Remember the story of Balaam was told by Balak. Balak said, Balaam, I want you to go curse Israel. He said, I'll do that, let me ask God. God says, no, Balaam, I don't want you to do that. Balaam goes again, and Balak comes back with some more money and more promises to promote him in power in his kingdom. Balaam says, oh, I'd love to do that. More than willing to compromise. Eventually, after all this, and again, finally, He says, can I go with the ambassadors as Balak sends some people to bring him back to him to curse Israel? And he still won't curse them because God says no. Balak is just discouraged. He said, I don't know what I can do. Balaam says, God won't let me curse Israel, but here, let me give you some information on how you can hurt Israel. Balaam counseled Barak to have his people entice Israel to partake of the offering sacrifice to Baal their god. to marry the Moabite women, very attractive, seductively attired. And what happens here is the doctrine of Balaam is things in our lives that might not necessarily seem bad at first, but a little compromise, and a little compromise, and a little compromise. And then we find ourself in a place as there in the doctrine of Balaam, we find Israel would be in a place where they lost the power of God. They were open targets for the enemies of God to attack. And that's what Balak wanted to do. He needed to get God to remove the power from them because of sin. And Satan knows when God is angered by sexual immorality and he's tirelessly seeking to entice Christian people towards this end, trying to get Christians to go off on all various sorts of tangents. The anger of the Lord would end up being kindled against Israel. The anger of the Lord was like it was inflamed, just like you stoke the fire. Joshua says, I don't want that in our midst. Moses sternly warned the people about entering the promises of God. They're in Numbers, chapter 33, verse 52. And Moses says, listen, if we're going to get into the promises of God, we've got to get rid of these wrong images. We've got to get rid of those, we cannot yoke up, we cannot be attached to those who are not loving the Lord and walking with Him. Because it's a very important thing, because what attracts and keeps my mind will become an idol of one's life. And when I have an idol in my life, it leads to further vexation of the Lord, further grieving of God, further problems in life. I've got a deal. Is there a Lord? Is there any idols in my life? In Numbers chapter 25, the result of that idolatry would cost 24,000 people their lives. The key in Numbers chapter 33 verse 52 to destroy all their pictures, destroy all their molten images and quite pluck down all their high places. What is he saying? He says when you enter the promised land, don't leave any of their images, their art. In the same way today, Christian, we can get attracted to the things, the art and other indecent images can cross our paths and looking at things we ought not to look at. He says, destroy their molten images. We ought not to have any statues or these things of the images and quite pluck down all their high places. These things that would receive veneration or receive worship. God says, get rid of them all. We're about ready to enter the promised land, says Joshua. Man, God's gonna give us a beautiful land. As you think on this, a mission, man, Joshua is concerned. He says, listen, I want these people to be pure. I don't want anything to defile. Imagine in your life if you're gonna be working out and you're doing an Olympics. And if you're gonna be in the Olympics, you're gonna have a very regimented diet because you want your body to be at optimal capacity for performance. Man, I wanna eat the best and I wanna drink and sleep and all these various things. I want a high-functioning body. Joshua, before he goes in, in verses 12 through 18, he's making sure that they are on the same page. There's a secret mission that comes in Joshua chapter 2, verse 1. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy, secretly saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. They went and came into a harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee. which are entered into thine house, for they become to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. And it came to pass, about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out, whither the men went I wought not. Pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with a stock of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. The men pursued after them, the way to Jordan and to the fords, and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. Now the name Joshua means Jesus, is Jesus in the New Testament. The kingdom message of Joshua was rejected when Christ came the first time. His message of the kingdom of God was rejected. The message of kingdom is obeyed and Joshua's a prophet, has the authority of a leader or king of the nation. As you think about this, the fiasco 40 years prior, they sent 12 men in, right? 12 men went to spy on Canaan. Ten were bad and two were good. Remember that song, kind of a little kid's song. But why are they sending spies in the land? The answer is, let me read for you here. They need to get some information about Jericho's fortress. This is a heavily, heavily fortified area. Unbelievable walls, like double walled. I mean, it's just a place of, I mean, it's impenetrable by military might. They needed information about the gates, and the towers, and the military force, and the people's morale, and the water supply, and a safe place for the families would be needed. Joshua wants information, not on the entire land, but on the city of Jericho. 40 years earlier, the spies had gone in. They didn't just go to Jericho. They went and searched all of the land. You know what? We don't need to learn all of the principles of God's word now, but it's day by day. I learn a little bit and a little bit at a time. The spies were also sent for another reason. God knew there was a woman in Jericho that needed to be saved. And so Joshua sends these spies out. These two spies, he sends out two. Now the 12 spies that he sent were leaders of the tribes of Israel. As you think on this, these 12 spies and 10 of them come back with, ah, there's giants in the land, right? As the song is. The grapes in clusters long, men that are mighty and strong. I don't know, I'm messing that, my wife's gonna correct me later on on this. But in Numbers chapter 13, the Lord's speaking to Moses saying, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan, all the land. Joshua says, I don't need to search all the land of Canaan, I just need to look at Jericho. You know what, if we end up going with the majority crowd's position, we'll never advance on the promises of God. If we follow the crowds, we'll not reach the down and out person. If we follow the crowd, we'll stay where we're at in the desert. The 12 spies and 10 of them discouraged an entire nation and led Israel to 40 more years. And here is Joshua in chapter two, Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim. That Shittim is where they had idolatry. And God's saying, I don't, a repeat disaster. Joshua's like, we've been here before, let's not do it again. You ever have that in your life? You're thinking you came to a, sometimes you might have those deja vu moments, or you had like, oh, where am I here again, you know, and those things that happen. But you're like, I've been around this block a time or two, and I don't wanna repeat the same last time I went around. And Joshua sends two spies, and the spies, he sends them out secretly out of the congregation. He doesn't give them any fanfare. He knows that Israel is still weak in their faith. And Joshua, a man of great faith, understands the greatness of God in Hebrews 13, 6, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Joshua is concerned. He says, number one, are the Reubenites, the Gadites, and Hathor, Manasseh, are they on my side? Are they willing to, are they all in? Here we are, I'm sending two spies in the land because I don't want to have these leaders go out. And if they come back and they're fearful, we're going to spend another 40 or 60 or 80 years in the desert. Man, can you imagine waiting to get into the promised land and be like, oh, we whine and complain again and we're not entering. That's a terrible place to be. In Hebrews 13, 6, we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Joshua does not want these men. He sends them out secretly. He sends them out just to Jericho, and they come back, and the people aren't expecting them. But what we must do is learn about the enemy before they attack us. In Numbers chapter 13, shh. In Numbers chapter 13, Verse 17, kind of what happened in the plan of attack of Moses here. It's a repeat disaster. I don't want to repeat the same mistake I made last time. It hurt too much the first time, I don't want to do it again. I don't like keeping going on that little gerbil wheel, right? That wheel, I don't want to keep running in the same place. I want to attack, I want to move forward, I want to progress. And there needs to be a time of planning and preparation. But I don't want to stay in preparation, I want to advance into the goodness of the Lord. In Christian, God's desire for you and for me is to advance into his promises. In Numbers chapter 13, verse 17, and Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them, get you up this way southward. Go up into the mountain and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, and whether it be wood therein or not. Be of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness. of Zan and Rahab as men come to Hamath. Then they go out and they realize the men are super strong. I mean, this is a military, militarily advanced nation. It's a, I mean, they have an unbelievable agriculture. It's a prosperous place. The people only get their eyes focused on the immediate obstacles. They don't get their, they don't get their eyes focused on what God wants to do. And I tell you, we're going to do a lot of repeat disasters in our lives when I get to the place that I'm just looking at the problems and not looking at the God who's in control. God says, I want you to advance into the promised land. God says, and Moses did the same thing. I want us to advance. And then they came back. And the 10th time, they began to murmur and complain. And God says, enough is enough. So I draw this down here this evening. Think about this, a repeat disaster. What are some things in your life, maybe you're like, I've done this before and I've made the same mistakes. Could it very well be in your life that there's some idols there? There's some things in your life that you've never dealt with. And as those idols are there, And what I mean by idols is they take of my time, my attention, my passions, more than the Lord does. When tragedy happens, I may resort to these rather than the Lord. These are, and it can be various things in our lives. Rather than, I might go to a friend rather than the Lord, and there's good to talk with friends and family and those sorts of things, it's all good. But the problem and the burdens I carry, God's saying, I want to deal with those with you. And God has called us to go out in the highways and byways and compel people to come in. And as a church, he says, advance with the gospel. We need to be equipped through the word of God to use the word of God, a plan of attack, spiritual purity. May we prepare ourselves to be fully used by God, being sanctified, cleansed, and going through the effort to prepare ourselves to help others. And God says, listen, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, are you ready to go in? Yes, we're ready. Now they were carnal, they're a picture of carnal Christianity. Here is Joshua chapter two, they're in a place where they'd messed up before, and Joshua says, oh my, I don't want to do it again. You find yourself on that same wheel going over and over and over and over again. Maybe it's time to just ask the Lord, is there something in my life that needs to be removed? Is there some idol in my heart that's got a place that it should not be there? I don't want to repeat our past mistakes. I don't want you to do that. May we seek to find our path because, like Israel, they were in a repetitive cycle. Are you willing to look past your past mistakes and allow God to use you to press forward into his promises? They're right on the cusp of over 400 years waiting to get into the promised land. Waiting to get into God's promises. And Joshua steps back and says, let me think about this. Let me think about where we're at. Let's think about what has happened here before. You know, that's a wise thing to do. When things begin to seem like, uh-oh, we're entering into the same place we did before, I step back and I say, Lord, it feels like I'm about ready to go on the same cycle and I don't want to go on that same wheel again. Father, what is it in my life? Is there any idols? Is there anything in my life that, Lord, shouldn't be there? Lord, am I making you my Lord? Am I making you the one that has the authority in my life? You see, the only thing preventing forward spiritual progress in your life is your willingness to submit to the Lord. You keep yourself from spiritual progress. I keep myself from spiritual progress. And I need to trust the Lord. And I need to understand that he's in control. And Joshua said, go and I'll be with you. And Joshua, and you and I, we need to have the same mindset. God says go, I'm gonna go. Because of the courage of the Lord. I'm gonna do what God's called me to do. As you think on these truths this evening, and ponder this, a repeat disaster. Imagine God wants to do something great in your life. God wants to advance your life, but you gotta stop making the same mistakes, and you gotta get real and transparent with God and say, Lord, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be there? Are there any idols? Maybe some past hurts that I need to let go of. Is there anything in my life, because if there's not, just as the doctrine of Balaam, just as a little bit of compromise, a little bit of issues, would cost the lives of many people. And Christian, if we don't deal with sin, it's gonna cost you a lot. Sin will keep you longer than you wanted to stay, cost you more than you wanted to pay. As you think on this, a repeat disaster this evening, may we be willing to advance in the Lord's work with a pure heart. Allowing God to search our hearts and say, Lord, is there anything there? I want God's best. I want to see God do something wonderful. But I've got to be willing to be real and open and transparent. And sometimes that can be a fearful thing. But you know with a God that made you, it's not a fearful thing to be transparent and say, God, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be there? As we come to a time of invitation this evening, a little bit early tonight, but as you think on these truths, I just, may we be satisfied with all that God wants to do in our lives. I don't want to repeat that. I don't want to be a carnal Christian waiting to live east of the Jordan River, just outside of God's will. Because I'm content with just good enough. I'm not content with God's best. And I trust you won't settle for less than God's best for your life. May we search our hearts. so we don't have a repeat disaster. As the music will play, I trust you'd just be willing to just take some time to talk with the Lord, a prayer time. If you need to talk after the service, I'd love to meet with you. But I trust tonight, number one, that every one of you could say, Pastor, I know Jesus as my personal Savior. There's a time in my life where I personally ask Christ to forgive me of my sins, of all my sins, and be my Savior. You could say, I remember when I ask Christ to forgive me of my sins. If you can't say that, I'd love to show you. And Christian, may we search our hearts for the idol so when we advance for the Lord, we're not living east of Jordan, and we're not living in a place of compromise, only to be destroyed. As the music plays, may you have time to talk and pray with the Lord.