Sermon for Sunday, December 4th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament reading:
[Num 33:50-56 ESV] 50 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. 53 And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54 You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. 56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
New Testament reading:
[Rom 6:12-14 ESV] 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Gospel reading:
[Mat 18:7-9 ESV] 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
Text for the Sermon:
Joshua 13:13, 15:63, 16:10, 17:12-13
[Jos 13:13 ESV] 13 Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.
[Jos 15:63 ESV] 63 But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
[Jos 16:10 ESV] 10 However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.
[Jos 17:12-13 ESV] 12 Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. 13 Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
Introduction
The sermon this morning is titled “Driving Problems.”
I’ve had a few. I backed in to my friend’s basketball pole once. Unintentionally did a 360 in the snow once or twice. And had my breaks go out on me. Perhaps these are more like car problems. Driving problems are things that are not mechanical faults but driver errors. A list of “driving problems” I found includes “drunk driving” and “distracted driving.” But at the top it lists “stupidity.” Surely a lot of problems would be solved if we were smarter.
Well, the Israelite “driving problems” predate the automobile, but they are equally a fault of the mind, an error of stupidity and also of stubbornness. An error for which they get the blame.
So there is a great transition here in chapter 13 of the book of Joshua. Up until this point, the defeat of the Canaanites is presented as complete or at least moving towards completion. But from chapter 13 onwards through the book of Joshua and into the book of Judges, we find that the Israelites have driving problems. There is repeated mention of the failure of the Israelites to drive out of the land all of their enemies. The conquest is not complete and the Israelites suffer the consequences.
To understand the context we must start with the command of God in Numbers 33. There God commanded the Israelites to drive out ALL of the inhabitants of the land and to destroy all their idols and to demolish all their high places where they were worshipping false gods. And following this command God gave the Israelites a warning saying “if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.”
Then in the book of Deuteronomy and in the book of Joshua there are the conquests of Moses and of Joshua. With the Lord on their side — even providing miracles — they have conquered much of the land and are now dispersing those lands among the tribes, each having their allotted portion.
But here are yet a number of foreign peoples remaining in the land. In some cases Israel is more to blame than in others. And in some cases the Lord will yet conquer the foreign people, but in other cases they will remain through the ages.
I. Peoples Not Driven Out
A. The Jebusites
First, the Jebusites remain. These are the residents of Jerusalem, also called Jebus.
And it is interesting that they remain in any numbers. We’ve already seen their king Adoni-Zedek joining up with four other kings and fighting against Israel and losing. And they joined up with Jabin of Hazor and again were defeated by Israel. Despite these losses the Jebusites remain in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
Their continued presence shows clearly that Israel didn’t finish the job. They didn’t route out all of the Jebusites as they were commanded.
And their continued presence later to Israel would be a thorn in the side as the Israelites would intermarry with the Jebusites and bring upon themselves the wrath of God.
B. The Philistines
Then there is the Philistines.
In Joshua 13 it says:
[Jos 13:1-2 ESV] 1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. 2 This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites
And I always laugh at that first verse. It seems to be adding insult to injury, emphasizes Joshua’s age. He’s old AND advanced in years. And the text says so twice! How about that for a birthday. Have a Happy Birthday, you, my friend, who are “old and advanced in years.”
Well, we see that despite the efforts during Joshua’s life to conquer the land, the Philistines remain.
The Philistines are really an intriguing people historically. They are not Canaanites, like the rest of the people of the land. They too – like the Israelites – have arrived in the land from elsewhere. Where they came from is the big historical question. They perhaps came from various places, but most think they came from Cyprus, Crete, and other places in the Mediterranean.
Wherever the Philistines came, the place is called Caphtor in the Bible. Unfortunately, the location of Caphtor isn’t known. But Deuteronomy 2:23 says “As for the Avviim, who lived in the villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.”
And Amos 9:7 equates the Philistines with the Caphtorim. They are the same people. It says “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor?”
So now the Philistines are along the coast of the land, living primarily in their five cities: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
And while there are a separate people from the Canaanites, they had much interaction with the Canaanites. They intermarried, they took up the Canaanite Gods, and may have taken up a Canaanite language. And the giants of the land — the Anakim or Rephaim — were like Goliath of Gath to be counted among them.
And the Philistines no doubt will be a thorn in the side for Israel for generations. There will be many battles between the two nations.
But the Philistines, among other nations, God promises in Joshua 13 that “I myself will drive them out before the people of Israel.” This would occur in the time of David centuries later. Until then, the Israelites had the Philistines as their undesirable neighbor.
C. The Geshurites and Maacathites
Next are the Geshurites and the Maacathites.
Joshua 13:13 says “Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.”
These two groups are difficult to identify.
The Geshurites are probably located on the West side of the Sea of Galilee. And the Maacathites further to the North.
And these groups lasted not only through Joshua’s time but were present even in David’s time. In fact, David married a daughter of the King of Geshur (II Samuel 3:3) and by her had his son Absalom who would at one point flee to Geshur for three years.
D. Other Canaanites
In other verses we find just general references to Canaanites. That is, Israel could not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, who lived in the midst of Ephraim and among the people of Manasseh.
In the book of Judges it tells of other groups not driven out:
Judges 1:27-33 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. 28 When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. 29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. 30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, 32 so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. 33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
It is clear then that Israel did not complete the conquest.
II. The Blame on Israel
The blame for Israel’s driving problems is on their shoulders. God is not to be blamed, but Israel is. They failed to obey God.
[Psa 106:34-35 ESV] 34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them, 35 but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.
They were fearful of the people they needed to conquer. And they were apparently satisfied with the land that they had. But the Lord had told them to conquer all of the land. But they failed to do so.
Thus the people who were not driven out were a thorn in their side. And the Israelites learned to do as they did. The purity that God desired for them was not to be had. The foreign gods and foreign practices would continue through the centuries ahead to plague the Israelites and to lure them away from God.
But in all of this, God’s plan is not thwarted. He had his reasons for bringing about the situation.
The foreign peoples remained (1) to Israel by them, and (2) to keep Israel prepared for war.
[Jdg 3:1-3 ESV] 1 Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.
III. Driving Out Sin
The various foreign peoples, in a sense, represent sin and all its various sorts. These are people’s who practices are against the Word of God. In driving out of the land, the Lord was driving out sin from the Israelites. But the Israelites failure to complete the job was a failure to drive out sin.
That remaining sin, like a small cancer, would grow to great problems for Israel. Their disobedience would lead to much trouble and pain and chastisement.
The Canaanites would be a thorn in their side, a problem that wouldn’t go away. And this is that same language that the Apostle Paul uses when he says that he has a thorn in his side. Though many have taken that to mean he had a physical problem, if we relate it to this Old Testament context (and to Romans 7) we might conclude that Paul had a sin problem that he was struggling with. Sin had not been entirely driving out of him but remained as a thorn causing trouble, perhaps testing him as it tested the Israelites. And perhaps it caused him to be vigilant as it caused the Israelites to be prepared for war.
As the various sorts of peoples were not driven out, so in the Christian life there are various sorts of sins that we often fail to drive out. Sins of omission, sins of commission. Sins of thought, word, and deed.
Application: Finish the Job
As an application then, let us heed the call to “Finish the Job.”
If Israel had a driving problem, we have a sin problem.
So you are called not be satisfied with partial victories, but continue to seek the Lord and drive out sin from your life.
Be glad for what the Lord has done for you, and use that as motivation to seek Him all the more.
We can’t be satisfied, like the Israelites, to be living surrounded by sin. We can’t say we are Christians and then fill our time with non-Christian media. As an old book said, “Ideas have consequences.” And I would add, Biblical ideas have good consequences. Non-Biblical ideas have bad consequences.
So let us strive to be Biblical in all that we do, driving out evil, and finishing the job.
[Rom 6:12-14 ESV] 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
And we have the promise that in fact, God will finish the job.
[Phl 1:6 ESV] 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
So this leads us to our conclusion:
Conclusion: God keeps his covenant. His driving is a success.
Notice that despite the fact that Israel disobeyed and did not drive out the enemy, yet they are still Israel. They are still the people of God. And God still keeps his covenant.
Though Canaanites remained, Israel was still the people of God.
Though sin remains in you, God still loves you.
So Christians, when and where you have sinned, look to the Lord. For He keeps his promises. And in Him everything is Yes and Amen.
And in Him the completion is promised.
He who drove out the money changers from the temple, will drive sin out of your life. Follow His word, seek His will, and believe His promises.
Those old inhabitants, that old sin that is a thorn in your side, WILL one day be fully driven out by the Lord. Praise His name.