Sunday Morning, September 20, 2020 AM

Sunnyside this morning. Beautiful day outside we can praise the Lord for that today. A few announcements as we get started. Evening service tonight 530 here at the church. Come back for that. Also tag and prayer time at 630 again.

Just a reminder. There is a meal before that but it's only for tag. Families or if you're helping out in tag that starts at 645 and then looking ahead. Sunday September 27th. Truth group for the young adults.

That's after the evening service. Okay our fighter verse for this week is in the psalm. Psalm 73 verses 25 and 26. Whom have I in heaven. But you. There is none on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Check your calendars on September 26. Saturday 7 a .m. if you're able to help we're gonna have a church workday here at the church if you can help. There are actually some jobs that are posted out on the bulletin board in the hallway.

If you look I think there's like a bluish poster near the bottom of the bulletin board. The signup is actually kind of over the top of that. A you can sign up for specific jobs if you are interested in something or maybe are gifted in that but that's out in the hallway again.

September 26. This coming Saturday at 7 a .m. or as Brian would say. Oh 700 hours. Just a reminder. Offering plate is on the back table so give your tithes and offerings back there. And then the nursery is also available.

Any other questions or announcements this morning. We do have brother red on the piano this morning as Brian and Lisa are out today. So we look forward to having him help us with music this morning. All right.

Well we're gonna prepare our hearts for worship. And then after Randy will lead.

Us in prayer. Dear father we are truly thankful to be here this morning just to.

Worship to praise you. And I pray that you would just encourage our hearts as we hear your word preached. I pray for Michael that you give him freedom to share what you put on his heart. Father we just thank you for the Psalms.

We just thank you for just the encouragement they are and the privilege it is to to offer praise to you and thankfulness to you for all that you've done for us. I pray that we just reflect on what we've what you have done for us.

And I pray that during these times of a lot of unrest that that you would just give us freedom to share the goodness of Christ with others. And father I pray that you would just use this as your instruments.

I pray that you would just encourage our hearts today as we meet together. And I just thank you for each one here. I thank you for those that are are not able to come but we just want to give you thankfulness and praise for Jesus and we ask these things in his name.

Men well good morning. With Brian Lisa gone and with Jay Roberts gone. You've got third string leading music today. Lord will bless. I'm vice. You just stand with me. And we're going to read together the call to worship Psalm 47 verses 8 and 9.

Let's read this together. It's in your bulletin if you need it. God has gone up with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth.

Sing praises with a psalm. Amen. Well let's turn in our hymnals to 275. We're going to sing. How firm a foundation number 275. Scripture reading.

Is in Deuteronomy. Be looking in Deuteronomy chapter 19 reading through the whole chapter. Deuteronomy 19 verse 1. When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you and you dispossess them and well in their cities and in their houses you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession so that any manslayer can flee to them. This is the provision for the manslayer who by fleeing there may save his life.

If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies he may flee to one of these cities and live lest the avenger of blood and hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him because the way is long and strike him fatally though the man did not deserve to die since he had not hated his neighbor in the past.

Therefore I command you you shall set apart three cities. And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he has sworn to your fathers and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers provided you are careful to keep all his commandment which I commanded you today by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways then you shall add three other cities to these three lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies and he flees into one of these cities then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood so that he may die.

Your eyes shall not pity him. But you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel so that it may be well with you. You shall not move your neighbors landmark which the men of old have set in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess a single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established.

If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days the judges shall inquire diligently.

And if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst and the rest shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you.

Your eyes shall not pity. It shall be life for life. I for I tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot. Would you pray with me. Father. We thank you for the timelessness of your word. We thank you that you are a God of justice.

Father you have put it inside each of us to desire justice. Father though we often in sin pervert justice seek our own justice. Justice that is often flawed and partial help us to yield to your perfect justice.

Father thank you for the blessing of your law. Thank you for being a God who cares about the affairs of men. Father we ask your blessing on our time this morning pray that you just might give Michael your words that he might communicate them clearly that we might receive them full of hope and expectation that you are to do your will in our lives.

Father thank you for this time of worship. Thank you for this church. We ask this in Jesus name amen. You may be seated. Let's open our.

Hymnals now and turn to 195 nothing but the blood. For 349 trust and obey for 349 your Bibles. And turn with me to Psalm 111. Psalm 111. So we continue to think together on all the different works of the Lord which he deserves praise.

Psalm 111 let's go to the Lord in prayer father I thank you for what you have afforded us here today that we're able to gather together in your name. And thus we know that we're gathering together in communion and fellowship with our Savior with our sovereign Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit.

That we have communion with you our God this is most blessed and it is such a precious gift from you. We thank you. We thank you that we may gather today enjoy that we may to gather to get together today in freedom.

Lord we thank you for the gift of your Holy Word that it is clear and true and perfect and right and sufficient and authoritative and it is sharper than any two-edged sword. That it is the scepter of our Savior's Lordship in our lives.

And I pray that you would lead us to submit ourselves to the text. I pray that you would help us to submit ourselves to our Savior Jesus Christ who speaks to us here. Have your way in us that we would be the amen on earth of your will that is in heaven.

We pray these things for Christ's sake. The one with whom you are well pleased amen. So Psalm 111 covers a lot of ground and I find myself time and again asking myself all sorts of questions about what in the world is going on in the verse.

And so we're taking our time obviously. But we're going to be looking at verse 6 this morning as we consider how God gave his people a place and how he demonstrated his power and his glory and giving his people a place.

And what kind of joy and hope that we have in this very same truth that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So if you would please stand with me I'm going to read the Psalm again. Psalm 111 praise the Lord.

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is his work and his righteousness endures forever.

And he has made his wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear him. He will remember his covenant forever. He is made known to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations.

The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and a brightness. He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated about 12 years ago someone thought it would be a fun thing for Becca and I an 18 month old Benjamin to tour the Biltmore estate in North Carolina.

This modest little Chateau is situated in 8 ,000 acres and it offers 175 ,000 square feet of living space. 175 ,000 square feet of living space. And if you are doing the math yes that is a little more than four acres of indoor space.

And this was the personal home of Mr. Vanderbilt who was the railroad tycoon who once advised never sell anything you don't own. Now of course we don't know. We didn't know Becca and I didn't really have any concept of the history of the Vanderbilts the legacy of him or his family.

We didn't know anything about the architect who oversaw the construction of the Biltmore or architecture in general. We had no appreciation for late 19th century architecture had no experience from European tours to make an appreciable comparison.

And we didn't even spring for the $7 .50 earphone pre-recorded tour device to listen to all the different places of interest along the tour. So all we did was push a stroller and haul a 35 pound 18 month old linebacker through four acres of gaudy furnished empty house and I think we even opted not even to go to the fourth floor because the stairs were getting rather tiresome.

My appreciation for that structure what. For what was all included in it. How how much engineering was essential to that how much art was invested in that. It was all incredibly muted. I mean I knew it was big I knew it was old and I knew it was lavish.

But everything else was lost on me. That type of muted appreciation should not be accepted as the standard fare for the worshipers of God. I think at some level that's understandable for anybody who's young in the faith who is just getting to know who Christ is and who God is as creator.

But surely there should be some growth in understanding the glories and the works of the Lord be awfully dreary. Wouldn't it awfully dreary to just rattle around the vast riches of God's works and remain only generally impressed with their size with their scope.

There were several attractions on the grounds of the Biltmore that tried to try to keep people coming back or keep people around. But they didn't help me at all appreciate the architecture of the building or its history.

They tried to entice my affections with Dippin Dots ice cream and wine tasting and horseback riding and fireworks. And that probably kept some of the tourists there longer but they had nothing to do with the house itself.

And likewise I mean many have added coffee bars and shopping and amusement parks and pyrotechnics to their churches. But and that may keep some people longer but that doesn't have anything to do with the works of God and his glory in creation and recreation.

Not really. If we're going to excite God's worship we need to examine God's works and in particular the work of the works that we have in front of us today to consider is how that God in the ways of his covenant through powerful works provides a place for his people.

Last time we talked about how he redeemed for himself a people and he sends them bread from heaven. We talked about our redemption in Jesus Christ how he is our manna from heaven how he has saved us from bondage and given us eternal life.

And we give him praise for his works of salvation saving for himself a people. But also we see God's works in his place not just his works for his people but his works in his place. And this is all under the heading of his works for the works of the Lord in the ways of his covenant.

Three ingredients. Time and time again we see that God has his people and he brings them into his place and he blesses them under his rule. And so we've talked about God's people in verses five and nine.

What about verse six. Where we learn about how to praise God for the power of his works in in gifting to his people to bring to his people a place or bring them into his place. So verse six again says he has made known to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations.

So the psalmist in composing this alphabetical acrostic has placed the heading the very top praise the Lord. Everything else he mentions in this psalm as he goes through the Hebrew alphabet is under this heading.

Hallelujah praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. For this praise the Lord. For that look at all the different things we have given to us by a good and gracious and loving and powerful God. And we can give him praise.

We just follow this list and give him praise for one thing after another. And this is involved. This is included to give praise to the Lord. Why. Because he has made known to his people the power of his works.

In what way in particular he gave them the heritage of the nations. Well what was the power of his works. How powerful were these works that we should praise him concerning. And and what about this heritage of the nations.

What kind of heritage was it. What kind of land was this. We need to consider the details of this gift that God gave to his people. And we should ask the question do we as the people of God redeemed by Christ have anything to say in praise of God for his powerful works and giving us a place.

Let's consider these matters. First of all it's considered God's provision. It says that he gave them the heritage of the nations. They certainly were involved in this process. But it is his gift. He gave them the heritage of the nations.

Now what was this heritage. It was land and everything that goes with land. The houses that were had been built there the the fields that had been plowed the wells that had been dug all of the infrastructure of the land the roads.

This land was given to his people. He gave this land to his people. Well what is the history of this land. What is the history of the promised land. Well God came to Abraham who was a pagan in the land of Ur probably worshiped the moon God.

God came to Abraham who was a pagan living in the land of Ur. He called him out of darkness into light. God promised him land and descendants which outnumbered the stars. Although Abraham sojourned in the land for many years he only ever owned a burial plot there in Canaan.

That's all he ever really owned in the promised land. And yet he would. He traveled the length and the breadth of it. And he set up altars to the one true God wherever he went he worshiped the Lord throughout the land.

He only ever owned though a burial plot. But God is not ashamed to be his God. For Abraham was seeking a city which has foundations a city whose architect and builder is the Lord. And Abraham was buried in that burial plot buried in faith in hope that God would keep all of his promises.

And God told Abraham before he died your descendants your descendants will be enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. But I will bring them up out of Egypt. I will bring them back to this place and they will possess this land for the iniquity of the Emirates is not yet complete.

In other words the wickedness of the people who live here now has not come to the point yet where I am ready to judge them. But for God is long-suffering in his justice he is. He is long-suffering and gracious even in his holiness.

And so it was that 400 years after God gave that promise to Abraham God brought the descendants of Abraham the children of Israel into the promised land. And they acted as God's tool of judgment and brought judgment against these wicked nations who had been for 400 years resisting the witness made by Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Melchizedek the witness of the one true God.

They had rejected that witness and that influence for 400 years. And finally the time had come for their judgment. And so God's people took possession of the land by the aegis of his holy warfare. That's the history.

What about the kind of land that God gave them. Right. What kind of land is this. Is this the kind of sight unseen. You know land you buy somewhere in the heart of Florida. Yeah I hope it isn't. You know a big swamp.

What kind of land is this. Well you may have heard that it is a land that flows with milk and honey. A land that flowed with milk and honey. This was the inheritance of these these nations. The tribal lands passed down from generation to generation by the by the Canaanites the Hittites the Perizzites all of these different ites they were passing down this land from one generation to the next often warring over it in between themselves.

But here praise is offered to the Lord for giving this particular land the inheritance of the nations to his people. And it was quality land that it flowed with milk and honey simply means one thing fertility plenty of livestock plenty of crops plenty of everything.

Now the pagans who lived there attributed all this abundance to their idolatrous fornication before Baal and Asherah and their other deities. But the truth of the promised lands beauty and bounty is found in the covenant purposes of God.

So listen to Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 8 through 12. Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 8 through 12. You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and to their descendants a land flowing with milk and honey.

And so what does that really mean. What does that translate into. Here's the description of the land. For the land into which you are entering to possess it is not like the land of Egypt from which you came where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden.

But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it a land of hills and valleys drinks water from the rain of heaven. A land for which the Lord your God cares. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it from the beginning even to the end of the year.

So imagine this a well-watered lush piece of land that God's eyes are continuously upon. What does that sound like. It sounds like a garden. If you love your garden you keep it well watered. And you check on it every single day.

See how it's coming along. The Lord has special care over this place. He makes sure that it's well watered. He watches over. And that's why it's so bountiful. And that's why it's so beautiful. Echoes of Eden are found here in this promise.

Now the following five verses there in Deuteronomy 11 makes it very clear that the beauty and the bounty of the land directly depended upon the Lord's special care. Should Israel break covenant with God then God would respond by bringing famine upon the land.

He would withhold the rain. He would withhold the fertility. And all would fail if the people he put into land broke covenant with him. But should Israel keep covenant with God he would greatly magnify the beauty and the bounty of the land.

Now how much land was this anyway. What's what. What is the expanse of this gift. What. What is this heritage of the nations. How much land is this was considered about the dimensions of the promised land.

The heritage of the nations. The Hebrew word is the goim. That's why the King James says heathen has the idea of the the heathen nations the pagan nations the Gentiles. The heritage of the nations are given to God's people.

Now the psalmist doesn't say just exactly which nations these are. He leaves it kind of open-ended. We're not told in this psalm but God's initial description of the land to Abraham was very generous and in fact exceeded any control Israel ever achieved under Joshua David or Solomon.

Surprising Genesis chapter 15 verses 18 to 21 as God is explaining the covenant to Abraham gives the dimension of the promised land. Here's what he says. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants or to your seed I have given this land from the River of Egypt.

That's what. That's the Nile from the River of Egypt as far as the Great River the River Euphrates from the Nile to the Euphrates. Feel free to get in the back of your your Bibles and take a look at some of the maps that you have back there and and just trace from the Nile to the Euphrates and try to identify where in the tribal allotments of Israel were located.

You know the ones that were given to them by Joshua. He says I'm going to give you the land from the River of Egypt as far as the Great River the River Euphrates the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kedmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.

And of course those nations were defeated in battle and many of them were subjugated by the children of Israel in much of the promised land. But these dimensions that God gives were far larger than the allotments that were made by Joshua.

One of my favorite maps as a kid was the was the map where it has the different color shading of colors all over the Holy Land. And this was the tribal allotment of Judah. And this is the tribal allotment of Manasseh.

I just love that map. But those tribal allotments far smaller than what God promised. Again he said it to Moses. He didn't just say it to Abraham. He said it again to Moses. Exodus 23 verse 31. He says I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines.

Red Sea has two inlets coming around the Sinai Peninsula. Look at the eastern one and and just draw your finger across from the eastern inlet of the Red Sea all the way across up to the Mediterranean Sea.

Okay that's that's that's one direction. And then he says from the wilderness to the River Euphrates. So you see go to go towards Egypt the wilderness of Sinai all the way down and then and then trace it right across from the wilderness of Sinai next to Egypt all the way up to Euphrates.

You see that that's a lot of land. That's a lot of land that God promised isn't it. And it's worth comparing to the amount of land that Israel ever did possess. What's the point. There's two points here.

One is generosity. It's generosity. Second point is geography. It's geography. First the psalmist says well let's praise the Lord for his mighty works and giving the inheritance of the nations to his people.

And one reason we should give praise to the Lord is for his generosity. It was more abundant than God's people ever experienced. They they never got to the end of the boundaries that God set. You know it's a it's a reminder.

It was just like Adam. God put Adam into a garden which was inside of Eden which was on planet earth. And God said be fruitful multiply fill the earth and subdue it right. Noah was given sanctuary into an ark which landed among the mountains of Ararat.

And he got the same orders as as Adam did fill the earth. God gives Israel tribal allotments that are listed for you in Joshua. Go check them out. Concrete historical geographical borders given to the twelve tribes of Israel.

And they were smaller than the land that God promised them. And then when you realize that and then you begin to listen carefully to the promises that God made to Abraham he tells. He tells Abraham in chapter 22 of Genesis your seed will possess the gates of their enemies.

In chapter 26 he tells Isaac your descent. Your seed will possess the lands plural the lands of the goyim of the Gentiles. And then without blushing without stuttering a bit the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 4 verse 13 that the promise to Abraham and to his seed was that they would inherit the world.

The world. Did Paul get it wrong. Sometimes the Holy Spirit takes things out of context. No no. That's the way it is. With God's promises they just get bigger and bigger and bigger. The more we lift our heads the more we turn our eyes to Christ.

It's generosity the generosity the abundance the promise of plenty in this place for his people. A people by the way who are innumerable. You'd have plenty of space for innumerable people. What do we know about God's provision of place for his people.

What do we. What do we say as both Testaments testify together that that Yeshua Joshua leads us into his rest. That that Christ the Son of David builds the temple with living stones. We are gathered to Christ gathered in Christ to Mount Zion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hebrews says how big is that place anyway. I mean how big is it. As long and as wide and as deep as needed to house the innumerable multitude of the redeemed. That's how big people in place are connected in covenant and in Christ.

Zechariah says Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude within it. It also says the Lord is the wall of fire around us and the glory in our midst. Zechariah 2. So in the Father's abode there are many rooms.

Isn't there. Far more than 175 thousand square feet of living space. Way bigger than the Biltmore far greater than 8 ,000 acres of rolling estate. Jesus Christ reigns from the right hand is preparing a place for us.

His promises this when he returns we will live together with him in that place. And it's not going to be tiny. It's not going to be small. It's not going to be a micro hotel. It will be more than we will ever come to the end of.

So praise the Lord. Also praise God for his geographical placement. The precise location of the land that God promised his people is a matter of great praise. He gave to his people the heritage of the nations.

Psalm 111 verse 6 says the inheritance of the goyim the heathen the Gentile. But why those nations. Why the Canaanite Perizzite Hittite and so on. I mean why didn't he give them you know the coast of China.

Why didn't God give to his people the Mississippi Delta. Why didn't God give to his people the Italian Peninsula. Why Canaan. Why that place. Because for 2 ,000 years plus that land was the busiest intersection of the ancient world.

Egypt Syria Assyria Babylon Median Persians Greeks Romans. All these powerful empires especially those last four the first four true world empires Babylon Median Persians the Greeks the Romans. Canaan was their crossroads.

It is the intersection of the ancient Near East. If you wanted to go east or west if you wanted to go north or south you went through Canaan. That's how you did it. And that's why there was so much war going on.

That's why nations were armies were always marching through one way and the other. God gifted this land in particular beginning with Abraham on through. And it was a theological geographical concern. A theographical matter spellcheck doesn't recognize through a theographical God's people were positioned you see for maximum impact.

One of the questions I had in Jeremiah why is there such an emphasis here about people of Israel. They have lost their land fair and square by covenant mandates. They lost their land fair and square. God did exactly what he said he would do.

Why the emphasis. I'm bringing them back to that particular place. Because God promised to forge the new covenant in that particular place. It was going to be from that location that the good news of Jesus Christ was going to go forth.

God gave Canaan to Israel because the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ would be preached to the Jews first and then from that busy world-connecting intersection it would be preached to all the Goim to all the nations to all the Gentiles.

You hear this centeredness in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 when Christ says to his apostles. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem right.

There's ground zero Jerusalem and then Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. Now we pass by that. But you know you have to be a little curious now Jesus. I think you left a few intermediary steps.

I mean after you leave Judea and Samaria there I mean there's there's some regions and even some continents that you could kind of ease out. But that's not how it was understood. Canaan was the crossroads.

You could get to the uttermost parts of the world from there. And they all knew it. It was the intersection. There was only one real intersection in in Middleton Tennessee where we were for about seven years.

There was one intersection and if you wanted to explain anything you had to start there. And that's the way it was in the in the ancient world. And it is indeed the fact that the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.

So praise the Lord hallelujah hallelujah to God for his covenant dealings perfectly situated to gather people from every tribe tongue a nation into his into his son Jesus Christ. And did it from that intersection.

So let's move on to God's power. God did provide this land for particular reasons that he's praiseworthy. But what about his power for success. He made known to his people the power of his works and giving them the heritage of the nations.

So we can praise God for the dimensions of the land far more than they could then they could even manage far beyond their ability to experience in a multitude of generations. But also the location of the place.

He is so gracious and he is so wise. But also the psalmist gives praise for how God manifested his power to his people in the giving of their place to them. He did the power of his works unto his people.

Show when he the heathens heritage upon them did bestow. What kind of people were they these nations these going. What kind of fortifications did they have. How many troops. What kind of weapons were they coordinated.

Among them were giants and fierce warriors the Anakim the Nephilim. They made the Israelites feel like grasshoppers. They said their cities were huge and heavily fortified. When the kings of various city states gathered together their soldiers to fight against Israel it was said that they were as many as the sand on the seashore.

They had vast numbers of cavalry and iron chariots. And yet by the power of God one Israelite chased a thousand and two chased ten thousand. They slaughtered all the Giants. God sent confusion ahead of Israel against their enemies.

He sent confusion. He sent hornets he sent hailstones and defeated all their enemies. He even kept the Sun in its place an entire day while Israel's enemies were defeated. Praise the Lord for his power in his works in giving the place to his people.

And after the three major campaigns were done under the general of Joshua the central the south and the north after those three campaigns were completed in the and the backbone of the Canaanite defense was broken.

This is what Joshua said. Joshua 23 verses 3 through 5. And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you. For the Lord your God is he who has been fighting for you.

See I have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes. With all the nations which I have cut off from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the Sun the Lord your God he will thrust them out before you and drive them out before you and will possess and you will possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you.

So it's interesting God has been all these powerful works so that his people are securely in the land. And then the promise comes and he will continue to deliver these enemies into your hand. He says these are an inheritance for you.

But they're still going to have to fight. There are still pockets of resistance. There are still valleys that are filled with the enemy. There are still cities yet to be torn down. So they have more work ahead of them.

And yet what is the idea. The idea is that they would continue by faith in the Lord in faithful covenant-keeping with God. That they would continue fighting against the Canaanites and rooting out all of their idolatrous influences.

That was the goal that they failed is what happened in the days of the judges. That they did not trust the Lord. That they were afraid of the enemies. That they compromised with the idols. And then we see the the chaos in the days of the judges.