Josh 19:51, These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land. 
	We are at our point in the reading of the Bible at which the Children of Israel have finally apportioned the land according to lots, as directed by the Lord God. We have seen that some of the tribes eagerly entered in to take possession while others held back and were only going forth when goaded into it by Joshua. However, each tribe was aware of the land that they were to receive. This was the pinnacle of the generational, expectant longing for the time when the promise of God would be fulfilled. They now had the territories defined as to the land that they were to inhabit from this point on. All the boundaries were set in place and what remained was to actually obey the Lord by going into the land and enjoying the fruit of their inheritance. 
	The manner of the allotting of the territory had been earlier defined for us in the Book of Numbers, Chapter 34, verses 17-29. Please open to it so we can read it together. The reason to do so is that the Lord put these names into His Word as a means of honoring those who were to make the decisions for each tribe in receiving their inheritance. Accordingly, it is fitting to read His Word with the honor in our hearts for the task that these men accomplished in their obedience to the Lord and under His guidance and His Sovereignty.
	Num 34:17-29, "These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. And you shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance. And these are the names of the men: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. And of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammihud. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. And of the tribe of the sons of Dan a leader, Bukki the son of Jogli. Of the sons of Joseph: of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh a leader, Hanniel the son of Ephod. And of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim a leader, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. And of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun a leader, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. And of the tribe of the sons of Issachar a leader, Paltiel the son of Azzan. And of the tribe of the sons of Asher a leader, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. And of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a leader, Pedahel the son of Ammihud." These are those whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan. 
    	We need to give the Lord all the credit for that which He accomplished through the Children of Israel in the Promised Land. It was the course of His promise to Abraham which established this inheritance for the future generations of his family. It was only by the power of God that there was a people to receive all the apportioned land. It was by the Omnipotence of God that the nation was enabled to enter into the land and to claim that which God had guaranteed those many centuries earlier, when they were but few in number and merely a family and not a nation.
	It is all by the Hand of God that we have come to this place in our reading of the history of the chosen nation of God. Accordingly, we should listen to the heart of the Psalmist. He was one of those later descendents who was able to enjoy the fruits of the Lord’s Promise with a view to all that the Lord did in the carrying forth of His pledge to Abraham. Here is a vital witness to the Lord’s absolute faithfulness and trustworthiness to fulfill His pledge unto complete fruition. 
Please open to the 47th Psalm. We need to be prepared, by the Holy Spirit, to relish ourselves in the glorious work of God as it is recounted. We must give Him the praise and the adoration and the worship of our hearts for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do for His people, for you and for me and for all those whom He has brought unto Himself by the giving of His Only Begotten Son. This Psalm is one of those which highlights our call to declare, with the every fiber of our being, that God, Alone, is worthy of all praise and adoration and glory!
Ps 47, O Clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended 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 skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham; For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted. 
       	The fact is that God is the One Who has bestowed our inheritance in Jesus Christ. It is nothing that we can earn or try to accomplish on our own. It is all centered in the death and resurrection of Our Savior and Lord. Everything is fulfilled in Him!
Accordingly, we join our hearts to the entreaty of this Psalm and we lift our voices and we sing His praises with all our being. We honor Him with all the worship that He, Alone, deserves. He has made us the nation of God, the True Church in Jesus Christ. Therefore we are called to highly exalt Him as Lord and King of the entirety of His creation.
	This reality of God being the One Who gave and delivered the inheritance of His people is, as well, recounted in Ps 78:54+55. It was God Who delivered the Promised Land into the hands of His People for their inheritance. It was God Who drove out those who opposed His plan and purpose in the Tribes of Israel. As well, it was God Who apportioned that inheritance and Who made the nation prosper in the land of His Promise.
Ps 78:54+55, So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had gained. He also drove out the nations before them, And He apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. 
 	Now let us consider the inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all that was in type throughout the Old Testament with the Promised Land’s habitation by the Children of Israel. Just as that was all the work and the might of God in absolute and glorious display, so is the life that we are given to live on this earth in Christ Jesus. We are not alone and we are not forsaken nor are we ever forgotten. God goes before us with His Omnipresence in our hearts and His Omnipotence and Omniscience in full display in our every step on this earth. 
	One of the first key truths that needs to be established in our hearts is that as glorious as this inheritance in Christ is in our lives, it is for the sake of the Lord’s name in service unto others. We cannot lord our salvation over anyone else because it is only by the grace of God. We cannot place ourselves on some kind of spiritual scale of measurement as more worthy than anyone else and more deserving of honor than this or that brother or sister. The fact is that we are all, where we are in Christ only because of His grace and His mercy. 
	The Lord, in Matt 20:20-28, highlighted this as the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, tried to wrangle some honor for her two boys. They were right beside her in this endeavor, thinking that they were worthy of some greater place of honor in the Kingdom of God. Jesus put the whole matter of our place of the inheritance of the grace of God’s salvation and service unto others into the forefront with His response as recorded in Matt 20:20-28.	Matt 20:20-28, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down, and making a request of Him. And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left." But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 
    	This entire matter of setting aside our rights and our places of honor was further delineated by Christ in Matt 25:31-46. Please open to that passage. Herein, Jesus details what will happen when the time of His return is at hand. There will be those who think that they have truly done that which will earn them a place of honor in the inheritance that they feel they deserve through their good works and their philosophical day-dreams. 
However, only God will be the judge of those who truly are of His calling versus those who are only nominally and socially and religiously doing that which they feel should make God accept them and honor them. They will be expecting a portion of the inheritance that they want, thinking they have earned much on this earth. The fact is that they will find that they have actually denied Christ. They have done nothing more than exalt themselves in their own eyes, while diminishing others as less worthy of time and effort. 
	Matt 25:31-46, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 
    	Lest we feel that we might be among those who are cast into the eternal punishment, the Lord makes it very clear how we will be the recipients of that promised eternal life reserved for those who are the called of God. When the Lord God Almighty works in our hearts and minds to reveal that absolute need for salvation and for forgiveness of our sins, He reveals the work that Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary. 
Jesus, Himself, tells us, in John 14:1-7, how those who are truly the called of God will respond to that pre-salvation ministry of the Holy Spirit. Christ encourages us to not be troubled in mind, but to know that it is God, Alone, Who saves us.
	John 14:1-7, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. "And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 
	Later, in John Chapter 17, Jesus defines our inheritance in Him, our eternal life. It is our living relationship with The Father in Jesus Christ. This is the actuality of being made the very family of the Most High and Holy and Awesome Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. This is our inheritance now and forevermore.
John 17:1-3, These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life. "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. 
    	The Writer to the Hebrews closes our morning’s study of the Word with the detailing, in Heb 4:1-10, of that rest which is ours in Christ Jesus. It far supersedes that which was typed by the allotment and entry of the Children of Israel into the physical Promised Land. This inheritance of being brought into the very family of God, the adopted heirs of all the vast treasury of Heaven in Jesus Christ is that peace and that rest and that glorious revelation of the manifest joy of the Lord in the Sabbath rest of His creation.
	 Heb 4:1-10, Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest." Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. So be it!	
These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Matt 10:32. "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. Amen.