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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June, 1938
dead. Even so there is nothing at all that Christ can do for us until we are done with the law forever. He is able to do what the law could never do, but He begins only when the law is wholly abandoned as a way of salvation. W e cannot be saved partly through Christ by grace and partly through law. Our great Joshua-Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. He will share no honors in the •stupendous work of saving sinners. He must do all, or He will do nothing. 2. "A ll the land of the Hittites” (1:4). The grant of territory made to Israel in verse 4 was a vast domain including many peoples and strong nations, yet this word of God to Joshua mentions only one nation by name. What is the reason that the Hittites are singled out thus? The answer undoubt edly is that in order to bring strong en couragement to the hearts of Joshua and his people, Jehovah deliberately names the mightiest nation o f the entire group to be dispossessed and promises that Israel shall have “ all the land” occupied by this nation. Now the astonishing thing is that not so many years ago the unbelieving critics of the Bible not only scoffed at the importance which is assigned to the Hittites in the Bible, but actually raised the question as to whether such a people ever existed. Then in 1906 came the great archeologist Winckler and unearthed a large number of Hittite monuments which revealed that this people was one of the mightiest nations of antiquity, comparable to Babylon and Egypt, with whom they fought on equal terms for the hegemony o f the ancient world. T o tell Israel that they were to take “ all the land of the Hittites” would be like telling little Switzerland she would be able to conquer Germany with Italy thrown in for good measure! It was an astonishing promise. But no promise of God. is impossible of ap propriation. When will Christians learn this truth! Golden Text Illustration J oshua 24:15 Far up on the summit of the Rocky Moun tains is a spot marked by a huge signboard as “ The Great Divide,” meaning that the spot indicated is the watershed of the North American Continent, all the waters on one side eventually flowing into the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean and all the waters on the other side flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Each drop of rain as it descends determines here its ultimate destiny! How small the beginning; how enormous the “ divide” at the finish ! Every individual stands, at some period in his life’s history, at the commence ment of the great, and eternal divide. “ Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Josh. 24:15). “ Choose life” (Deut. 30:19). “ Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).— 1,000 Tales Worth Telling, by H. Pickering. Choosing Sides J oshua 1:1-9; 24:1-31 Memory Verse: “W e will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). Approach: Our stories now are going to be about what happened a long, long time before the Lord Jesus lived upon this earth. Our story today happened about fifteen hundred years before that time. But even
then God was plan n in g fo r the tim e when He should send the Lord Jesus, and He w as tr y in g to m ake the p e o p le understand just what the Lord Jesus was to do for them. Lesson Story: You remember the story ■? * I3 l V 1 5 1O i l o f h ow M oses, the great leader, led the children of Israel out of Egypt, how they wandered through the wilderness for forty years, and how Moses died just as they were about to enter into the land of promise. But God had chosen a leader to take the place of Moses. It was Joshua, the son of Nun. God told Joshua what to do. He said something like this: “ Cross over the Jordan River into the promised land. Every place that thy foot shall tread, I will give thee. Remember to obey My law, think about it often, and do what is written in it to do. Have courage and do not be afraid. I w ill be with thee.” And Joshfia did as God told him. He led the people across the Jordan River, into the promised land. He obeyed God’s law, and those who followed him were blessed. For many years he ruled the children of Israel. When the time came for him to leave them, he gave them God’s message reminding them that God had delivered them many times from their enemies and had given them a very pleasant land to live in. Then Joshua said something like this: “ T o thank God for this, you must serve Him. God is a just God. You should not serve any but the true God.’^B Many years later, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring people into the promised land— the life of joy He has •promised. What happy lives we live if we enter this promised land with the Lord Jesus as our Leader! Object Lesson P laying S afe Objects: A toothpick, a bright nail, and a rubber band. Lesson: How many of you boys and girls Joshua 14:6 Then the children o f Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing: that the LORD said unto Moses the man o f God concerning: me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. 7 ¡Forty years old was I when Moses the servant o f the LORD sent me from Kadesh- bamea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 8 Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. 9 And Moses sware on that day, saying:, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD1my God. 10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these. forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children o f Israel wandered in wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day four score and five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent m e: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.
think you are strong enough to break this toothpick? I am sure any one of you could, but if I place the toothpick beside this bright nail, then it is impossible to break it. We have here an example of how Christians can “play safe” in the game of lifei This nail reminds me of Christ, and the tooth pick reminds me o f a Christian. As long as the Christian stays close to Christ, he is safe. It is when he wanders away from Christ that he is apt to meet with danger. Joshua was the great leader of Israel. He realized that he was very weak and unable to take Moses’ place in leading the children of Israel into the promised land. However, the Lord said to him: “Be strong and of a good courage” (Josh. 1:6), and again: “ Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” , (Josh. 1:9). In order that Joshua might realize that God was with him, he was permitted a sight of the Captain o f the Lord’s hosts, as told in Joshua 5:13-15. Joshua was wise in realizing that the secret of success was in staying close to God, and he said,; “ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). Because it is quite easy for this toothpick to get away from the nail, I am going to put this rubber band around them, so they may be held together constantly. Joshua needed to be bound to the Lord with the band of faith, and in the same way you and I, as Christians, need to be bound to Christ in order to be safe. Boys and girls, and older people as well, often speak of wanting to “ live their own lives.” No life is strong and useful apart from Christ. No person can know true courage apart from Him. But bound to the Lord, a Christian can face anything.
JULY 10, 1938 CALEB: LIFE-TIME DEVOTION N umbers 13:26-33
J oshua 14:6-15 12 Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou hea.rdest in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. 13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. 14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance o f Caleb the son o f Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day; because that he wholly followed the LORD God o f Israel. 15 And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war. Lesson Text: Josh. 14:6-15. Golden Text: “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30). Devotional Reading: Psa. 121.
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