Good morning to everyone. Thank you, Mark, for leading us. That may have seemed a little tedious, that reading. But to a grass farmer, that was inspiring. Bobby leaned over and said, are we going to talk about rotational grazing today? 

So we're in Joshua 21. We're coming to the close of the end of our study of the book of Joshua. Only three more chapters left. And really, what a rich study it's been for us. Challenging at times, but rich in principle and an application as we see God provide again and again and again for his people, accomplishing his plan and purpose through them. We see the word of God fulfilled over and over, always consistently, as the promises of God always come to pass. He works by his grace and power to do what he says and to bring about his will through his people. And this is such an encouragement to us because we know that we can trust the word of God. We can trust the God of his word. And we know that he will bring his promises to pass, all the promises that we have from God in Christ.

Well, in our text today, we will see God fulfill a promise made to his priests. And this is one of those messages like in 1 Corinthians 9 or Hebrews 13 or those kind of passages where it seems like a self-serving message. But I don't intend it to be that way at all. We're just going to preach what it says. But I did learn a lot from the book of Numbers and the Old Testament concerning God's provision for his priests.

You'll remember that the tribe of Levi, the priesthood, was not to be given their own portion of land as were the rest of the tribes. You may have wondered why that was. Why did every tribe get its own land, its own place to dwell? But the priests of God, the Levites, were not to be given their own portion to dwell in. We will see that this was a gift of God to his people to put the priests in the cities of the people, to scatter them among the people that they might dwell with them. God was protecting his people. 

Numbers 3:39 tells us the number of the Levites. It says all who were numbered of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord by their families. Just the males from a month old and above were 22,000. So there are quite a number of the Levites. And we see several times in the book of Numbers that God calls out the Levites as his own. They are mine to serve in the tabernacle, to serve among the people. So God's plan was for the priests, the tribe of Levi, to be separate, to be consecrated for service, to dwell among the people, and to serve them. And so he gives the provision, the command, to give to them cities to dwell in within the land of the other tribes. And then the common land, or pasture land, around the cities for their livestock, making provision for his priests.

I'd like for you to turn with me in Numbers 35, please. Numbers chapter 35. Numbers 35.1. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying, command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession. And you shall also give the Levites common land around the cities. They shall have the cities to dwell in, and their common land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. 

The common land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward 1,000 cubits all around. And you shall measure outside the city on the east side 2,000 cubits, on the south side 2,000 cubits, on the west side 2,000 cubits, and on the north side 2,000 cubits. The cities shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common land for the cities. 

Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites, you shall appoint six cities of refuge to which a manslayer may flee. We studied that last week. And to these you shall add 42 cities. So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be 48. These you shall give with their common land. And the cities which you will give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel. From the larger tribe you shall give many. From the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance that each receives. 

This is the command. This is the promise that we see fulfilled in our text today in Joshua 21. Let's go back to Joshua 21, and we'll just read a few of these verses. I'm going to skip all the hard parts that Mark read. 

So Joshua 21, 1. It says, then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, the Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in with their common lands for our livestock. 

So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance at the commandment of the Lord these cities and their common lands. And we see in the following verses that the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, as 48 cities are given to the Levites in the pasture land around the cities. Now look at verse 41, please. All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were 48 cities with their common lands. Every one of these cities had its common land surrounding it. 

Thus were all these cities. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelled in it. The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. 

God's promises came to pass. Not a word failed of any good thing that the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. So I've given you three points on your outline this morning. First, provision for God's priests. Second, protection for God's people. And third, God's promises come to pass. 

Well, our first point this morning is provision for God's priests. As we read through the first books of the word of God, especially the book of Numbers, we see a large amount of instruction concerning God's priests, the tribe of Levi. And it's interesting to read because sometimes you feel like it's a great blessing and other times perhaps a curse to be of the tribe of Levi and serve in the priesthood. God separates, sanctifies the priests from the rest of his people. He calls on them to a higher standard. He does not allow them to live as the other people in many ways and germane to our text in the book of Joshua, they do not receive their own land, their own place with their own tribe to dwell in, but rather their lives are a life of service to the Lord and to the people of God. 

When I was reading about all of the restrictions for the priests of God in the old covenant, it made me think of the writings of G.D. Watson who lived from 1845 to 1924. And he wrote something you may be familiar with, it's called Others May, You Cannot. And you'll find that on the back of your outline if you'd like to follow along with me. You can read that small print, I had to fit it all on one page. 

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, he will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, he will seem to let other good people do things which he will not let you do. Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent. 

Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, he will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works. Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money or having a legacy left to them or in having luxuries. But God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis because he wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on him and his unseen treasury. 

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because he wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for his coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for him and get the credit, but he will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then to make your work still more precious, he will let others get the credit for the work which you have done. This to teach you the message of the cross, humility, and something of value of being clothed with his attitude. 

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings and for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite sovereign and has a right to do as he pleases with his own and that he may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in his dealings with you. God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be his slave, he will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. 

Settle it forever. You are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the kingdom. When you are so completely possessed with the living God that you are in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God. 

In many ways, the priests of God seem to suffer restrictions in lifestyle, behavior, freedoms that the other tribes were allowed to experience. But theirs was a great service to the Lord and to the people, a rich life, an important and meaningful work involving eternal matters and the spiritual health of the people. And of course, these applications extend into the new covenant time as well and apply concerning those who are chosen by God, given as gifts to the church, as pastor, teachers, and servants to God and the people of God. 

We see this in two passages, I think. One in Numbers 18 and the other in Ephesians 4. Let's look at Numbers 18 first in verse six. Numbers 18, six, concerning the old covenant priesthood. God says, behold, I myself have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel. Look at these words. They are a gift to you, given by the Lord to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Therefore, you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and behind the veil and you shall serve. 

I give your priesthood to you as a gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death. Now, if you turn to Ephesians 4, we see the same message concerning the gifts of Jesus to the church. Ephesians 4, seven. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Now, skip down to verse 11. And it says, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors, teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

This is a passage here where Paul's talking about Jesus giving gifts to the church, including pastor-teachers, to equip the saints, to serve the Lord, to preach and teach His Word so that the body might grow in maturity and fully, freely function to bring forth fruit for the glory of God. God gave gifts, men to serve as priests in the old covenant, as pastor-teachers in the new. 

And as we continue in Numbers 18, we see that God made provision for these priests so that their focus might be on their work. Look at Numbers 18, eight. And the Lord spoke to Aaron. Here I myself have also given you charge of my heave offering, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel. I have given them as a portion to you and your sons as an ordinance forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire. Every offering of theirs, every grain offering, every sin offering, every trespass offering, which they render to me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. 

In a most holy place, you shall eat it, every male shall eat it, it shall be holy to you. This also is yours, the heave offering of their gift with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. All of the best of the oil, all of the best of the new wine and the grain, their first fruits, which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to the Lord shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. 

Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is 20 geras. But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem, they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord and their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave-breast and the right thigh are yours. 

All the heave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the Lord I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you. And the Lord said to Aaron, you shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. God is their portion. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 

Hereafter, the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithes of the children of Israel which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore, I have said to them, among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance. 

So what's God saying here? He's saying, I'm gonna provide for your needs, your earthly needs, your carnal needs, so that you don't have to worry about going out and working in the field and providing your own food. But you're not going to have an inheritance of land in the world. You're not gonna have silver and gold and things. I am your portion. Your work is dedicated to me and for the benefit of the people. It's an important principle to understand. The Levites were chosen out of all the tribes to a life of service to God in the tabernacle. They were restricted in many ways, called to a life of holiness and service. But they also were provided for materially by God through the people so that they might be free from the cares of providing for themselves and be able to give themselves to the work of God to minister to the people for their good. 

We see this in our text in chapter 21 as God gives the cities to the Levites and the common land for their livestock. But they were to live among the people, to be available to the people, to be examples and to serve. And God gives us similar commands in the New Testament as well concerning provision and service. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 9 with me, please. 1 Corinthians 9, always tension, always trouble in Corinth, but we learn some important truths here concerning God's provision for his preachers. 

1 Corinthians 9, one. Am I not an apostle? This is Paul writing to the Corinthians and there were those there accusing him and examining him. He says, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 

My defense to those who examine me is this. Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Peter, Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? 

Do I say these things as a mere man or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written that he who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?

It's interesting to note that when Paul entered new areas, because that was his job, he was the apostle of the Gentiles going out and evangelizing all these new areas. And when he was doing his mission work in evangelism, he worked to support himself. He ate his own bread. He preached and then he made tents. He did not expect pagans whom he was trying to win to Christ to support him nor new converts. He didn't want this to be a stumbling block. However, it is clear that once a local church of believers was established, Paul taught that the pastor teacher should be supported so that he might give himself to prayer and the word and the work of the ministry. 

We find an interesting passage in the book of Nehemiah. I just wanna read this to you. It was during a very distressing time in Israel, a time of wandering from the Lord and blatant disregard for his word. In Nehemiah 13, eight, it says, and it grieved me bitterly, Nehemiah speaking. Therefore, I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God with the grain offering and the frankincense. 

So what had happened was the house of the Lord was not being utilized like a storeroom. The next verse says, I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given to them. For each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field to provide his own bread. So I contended with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. 

This was a hard time in Israel and Nehemiah is grieved and he's weeping bitterly because the Levites are working in their field so they can eat and the service in the Lord's house has been abandoned. 

Let's look at Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 at verse seven. Remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Look at verse 17. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. That's the part that hits me right there. As those who must give account, let them do so with joy and not with grief. Why? Because that would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us. For we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things desiring to live honorably. 

He says they watch out for your souls as those who must give account to God. God has given ministers as gifts to the church to serve you, to equip the body, to preach the word for the benefit of the believers, for the work of ministry. In 2 Timothy 4.1 he says I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. Time's gonna come where they won't endure sound doctrine. They want their ears to be tickled but he says you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. 

These are Paul's dying words to his son in the faith, Timothy, the young pastor. We emphasize verse two rightly. Preach the word. But verse one is the one that strikes me. Before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead. It's a pretty heavy charge. God's servant will give account to him. He is a servant of the living God and he is a servant to the people for their good. 

And so we see that God makes provision for his priests in Joshua 21 as he promised and God made provision for his priests through the sacrificial system so that they might not have to labor in the fields for their own food but rather can focus on the service to the Lord and to the people for their good, their benefit. This was provision for the priests but it was also protection for the people. 

This makes me think of Paul's words in Philippians 3.1 where he says it's not tedious for me to write the same things to you again and again but it's safe for you. The word of God taught, preached again and again is safety for us. It's security for us. God scattered the Levites among the people in their lands, in their cities so that they might be available, they might be accessible and serve as examples and have influence among the people. This was protection for the people. 

And it's the same in the New Testament time. God has ordained in Titus that elders be appointed in every church in all the cities, and Crete was the example in that context, all the cities of Crete, and that they oversee the local autonomous body, the local gathering of believers. They are to guard their flock against wolves. They are to protect them by speaking the truth in love, by preaching the word, and being constantly available to the people. 

This is safety, protection for God's people. And this is part of the grace gift, the promise of God to his church. And this is again an affirmation in Joshua 21 that God's promises always come to pass. This is the heart of this message. 

Look back at Joshua 21, verse 41. All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were 48 cities with their common lands. Every one of these cities had its common land surrounding it thus were all these cities. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers and they took possession of it and dwelled in it. The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers and not a man of all their enemies stood against them. They had peace, finally. 

The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. We see a great example, an affirmation of the truth of God's word, his promises in these events in the book of Joshua. The battle is the Lord's, we've learned that in the book of Joshua but the truth is he will bring it to pass. He will win the victory. 

I love 1 Thessalonians 5, 24. Paul says, he who calls you is faithful who also will do it. Not a good promise. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. Hebrews 10, 23 says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. Jude 1, 24, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To God our savior who alone is wise be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever, amen. 

He has promised, he is able and he will do it. That's the application for us in our text today. It's the affirmation of all that God has promised to us in Christ. From the beginning in the book of Genesis after the fall, God promised a redeemer. He promised a savior who would crush the head of the serpent. God has kept that promise in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So many prophecies about Jesus' first coming we see in the Old Testament, all of them fulfilled. So many prophecies in the Old and the New concerning his second coming, all of them will be fulfilled. 

We have the promise of eternal life. We have the promise of his sufficient grace, the Holy Spirit, the enduring word. We have the promise of the rapture. If it were not so, he would have told us. We have the promise of judgment, the kingdom, a setting right of all things on this earth and even a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell. We have the promise of a purpose in this life, in this time, on this earth, a privilege to be a witness for Jesus Christ, to be his ambassadors, his herald of the good news message of Jesus Christ. 

And we have the promise that his word will not return void, but will accomplish his purpose. So many promises, my friends. And all of the promises in him are yes. That's the message of the book of Joshua, of chapter 21. He brings all of his promises to pass and we can trust him. We can believe him. He cannot lie. And his grace is sufficient for today, it's sufficient for tomorrow, it's sufficient for all eternity. 

What a promise we have in Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you again for your word, your truth. We thank you that you make things clear to us and we thank you for the simplicity of the promise of salvation, of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished in his one-time death on the cross and in my place for my sins, his burial, his resurrection. And Father, we thank you for all of the precious promises we have in him for today, tomorrow and for all eternity, Lord. Thank you for those truths, that assurance and thank you for affirming that again to us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.