Joshua’s Commission

Transcript

GRS 201
5/23/2021
Joshua’s Commission
Deuteronomy 34 - Joshua 1
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Joshua and the first chapter, Joshua chapter 1. We did a little bit of background on the book of Joshua in our previous study. We are coming to Joshua 1 but if you weren’t here for that first study you can pick that up on the internet at the church website.

God had been preparing Joshua. A number of things I noted about the preparation. Number one, sometimes God takes a long time to prepare a man for ministry. Joshua was forty years being prepared for ministry. He was eighty-six when he took over the responsibility of leadership of the nation of Israel. Part of the training process is simply being involved in serving the Lord with whatever He gives you to do. We looked back and saw Joshua along the way being used of God as an assistant to Moses, being involved in positions that didn’t seem necessarily to put him at the forefront all the time, but the key thing is he was faithful in what God gave him to do on the day. That’s the best preparation for tomorrow.

That’s another thing I noted in my notes, faithfulness in the little tasks is crucial. First we learn to be faithful in little things then God entrusts us with more. Joshua was a man Moses could count on. Joshua demonstrated that he didn’t follow the crowd. He didn’t have his finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing. Remember when the twelve spies went into the land? Joshua was one of them. They came back out and ten said it’s a bad idea to try to go in and take the land. Only Joshua and Caleb stood faithful to the promises of God. God has promised us and that has not changed. What we know about the land may make it look a little different to us. It may look more intimidating, but the promises of God have not changed. Joshua along with Caleb was faithful. All of that was preparation because the larger responsibility that God was going to give to Joshua was now going to come. He has matured and was prepared.

I think it’s important to note, Joshua is not going to be another Moses. The goal is not to compare Joshua to Moses. Joshua will not be another Moses. We are told that clearly right at the end of the book of Deuteronomy which in my bible is on the same page as the first chapter of Joshua. Look at verse 9 of Deuteronomy 34. “Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom.” The Holy Spirit of God, to give him the wisdom he would need to carry out the ministry, the responsibility God was giving him. “For Moses had laid his hands on him; the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord commanded Moses.” Key here, he’s not going to be another Moses, but he will be God’s man. Israel must pay attention to him, or they won’t be paying attention to God, so it won’t be a reason to say, ‘Well he’s no Moses.’ What really matters is he is God’s man for this time. Note what they go on to say, “since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” If that’s what you are looking for you won’t find it in Joshua. Does that diminish Joshua in any way? No, because God’s plan is to do something different through Joshua and yet something the same. He’s going to provide the leadership for His people through Joshua even as He provided leadership for His people through Moses even though Joshua won’t have the same stature as Moses, won’t have the same position before God in the sense God would sit down face to face with Moses. Joshua accompanied Moses to the mountain for some of those encounters as we saw in our previous study but that was a unique privilege given to Moses but it in no way diminishes Joshua. The people will have to follow Joshua even as they follow Moses even though Joshua will not have a ministry as spectacular, if you will, demonstrating the same kind of power, miracle power that Moses did. It’s just a reminder Joshua is God’s man for this time.

Moses is gone and there’s a sadness in that. Verse 7 of Deuteronomy 34 while we’re at this chapter, tells us about the death of Moses. Moses was allowed to go up to the top of the mountain, look over into the promised land, but he was not allowed to go into that land. Verse 5 “Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab.” That’s a reminder of a sad occasion in Moses’ life. A disappointing time, a failure on Moses’ part, a sin that greatly offended God and necessitated God bringing a punishment on Moses that would not allow him to go into the land that Moses spent forty years leading Israel to. A reminder of the seriousness of sin. He’s buried in the land of Moab. Even his bones aren’t carried over into the land of Israel. Verse 7 reminds you that the death of Moses was because of sin not because of age. “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died his eye was not dim nor his vigor abated.” He didn’t die from old age. He didn’t die from declining health. So there is that reminder. It is a serious thing to disobey God. God’s people always have to be reminded of that. When this happens in such a mighty servant of God as Moses it ought to be impressed on our mind. It is serious and we never know how serious the consequences will be when we don’t obey.

Come back to Numbers chapter 20, just as a little review. This is the time when Moses failed to obey God. Let me just read you Numbers chapter 12, verse 3 “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” That’s quite a testimony from God about Moses. He was a “very humble” man and when God says “more than any man on the face of the earth” God is the one who knows everyone. That’s quite a testimony on Moses’ behalf. Part of this is part of the grief that Moses had to bear in the leadership responsibility because the context here is even Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses’ leadership. You’d think you could depend on your brother and sister. It’s bad enough he’s got this constantly going on through the years, the forty years he led the Israelites. Here on this occasion even his own brother and sister. Before the rebellion Miriam is made leprous and it only takes the gracious intervention of Moses that spares her from a life of death, as they refer to in the context, she’s one of the living dead. Moses prayed and God, after she’s learned her lesson, says, alright I’ll restore her again. So Moses is a humble man.

When you come to chapter 20 your find Miriam dies as the chapter opens up. They are in the wilderness there, the end of verse 20, says now Miriam died there, was buried there. Neither Moses’ brother or his sister are going to go into the land either. They die with the rebellious before they go into the land.

So the problem, the congregation is complaining. Remember when we get to the New Testament, we are constantly told that believers are not to be complaining. We ought to learn from the example here. Verse 2, and they have quote “reason to complain,” they are running out of water. When you are living in the desert, barren regions you need water. Verse 2 says “there was no water for the congregation. They assemble themselves against Moses and Aaron. The people contended with Moses and spoke saying if only we had perished with our brothers before.” We’re going to die of thirst. I wish we had perished earlier. On it goes. Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into the wilderness for us and our beasts to die? Why have you made us to come up from Egypt to bring us up to this wretched place? It’s not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates nor is there water to drink. It’s Moses and Aaron’s fault. Now we always cover up our complaint as valid. They aren’t going to say God you did the wrong thing. No, Moses and Aaron did the wrong thing. But who told Moses and Aaron what to do? So when they rebel against Moses it’s a rebellion against God. Moses and Aaron come in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting, fell on their faces, the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “take the rod and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield water.” Now he’s going to have the rod but he’s not to strike the rock he is to speak to the rock. “So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him.” Good to do what the Lord commands you. “Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them, listen now you rebels. Shall we bring forth for you water out of this rock? Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Water came forth abundantly. The congregation and their beasts drank.” Good. Moses was supposed to take his rod. He was supposed to get water out of the rock. One little detail. God says you speak to the rock. Moses gets emotionally worked up here. He’s angry. He’s frustrated with the people, more complaints, more I have to listen to this, I wish we had died in Egypt. You know, there’s no end to it. He’s got that rod in his hand, he takes that rod, and he hits the rock, twice. Water comes out. It’s a miracle! Who could do that but God? So everything is good. No it’s not. What’s the next verse say? “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron” and they are both held accountable. They were both there in the presence of the Lord. “Because you have not believed Me to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel,” what did they do? They did not do exactly what God told them to do and that is an act of disobedience to God disregarding God. Not honoring that He is God. Since He is God His word has to be obeyed as He gives it. You got water from the rock. I gave it. But you didn’t do it in a way that would bring honor to Me because you didn’t do it in obedience to Me.

We want to be careful. That’s a subtle trap. You think you got the result so even though I didn’t do it the way the Word says the ends justify the means. We run our churches sometimes that way and lead our lives. We way well, I wouldn’t say it was biblical what we did but the result was good. Well if it wasn’t biblical God didn’t get honor and glory in it. A serious matter.

You know what He tells them? “Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Whoa! All that went on for all the preceding years, all that I went through defending the Jews even when I was in Pharaoh’s household in Egypt and I killed the Egyptian to protect the Jew, and everything. Then going before Pharaoh and all the miracles and bringing the people. All of that, now I just brought water out of the rock like you told me. Instead of speaking I struck the rock, it doesn’t matter to go into the side things why was that so serious. The bottom line why it was so serious, the bottom line why it was so serious is God told him to do one thing and he did it his own way. We say, well I can understand it. He was worked up and he’s a humble man. It’s not like that was characteristic of him that he always lost his temper. That’s where we don’t sometimes consider how serious sin is. I don’t get to determine the consequences for my sin. I say well, it’s not that much, move on. Moses will never be able to move on from this. God’s still going to use him. He’s still the leader for God’s people but the consequences are great. Moses will pray and ask the Lord to reconsider. You know what God will tell him? Don’t bring this up to Me anymore. You’re not going into the land, period. In other words, I’m not open to hear about this. All the time Moses could go in face to face and talk to God? He had a relationship with God like no other man the scripture tells us. I don’t want to hear about this anymore from you. All I did was strike the rock. It’s understandable, I’m just a man, I just got a little carried away. Doesn’t matter. An important reminder why Joshua is taking over. Moses didn’t get old and no longer was in condition to lead them into the land. He could of and Joshua could have been the military commander as he had been, but he sinned. And the great privilege now is with withdrawn from him.

Come back to Joshua. But I want to say something else about Moses. Now we come back to Joshua. You know what he is constantly identified as in the book of Joshua? We won’t look at each of those cases, “the servant of the Lord.” So I want to keep it in perspective. We sometimes, that blot, when a believer sins, that just, that’s the main thing of their life. It’s sort of like David. There’s a serious blot on David’s life but you know how the scripture keeps referring to David? As “my servant David.” My covenant with David so the blessing is God restores us to right relationship with Him even though consequences may continue. We want to be sure to keep things in perspective. And Moses continues to be God’s man until God takes him on the mountaintop, shows him the land, and then Moses dies. He is buried by the Lord and Joshua now takes over. So we go with what God does. Joshua now is the leader.

That’s what we are picking up on. The book of Joshua has part three basic divisions. The first five chapters talk about entering the land. Cross the Jordan, we’re going into Canaan then verses 6 to 12 will talk about conquering the land. You have to begin to wipe out the Canaanites. Then the division of the land in chapters 13 to 24 where we may begin to lose some of our interest. But it is crucially important because if you want to say what is the book of Joshua about? Well, it’s about Joshua and we all like biographies. I like biographies. But it’s not primarily a biography. It’s primarily about the faithfulness of God in fulfilling the covenant promises He has made. Because now, the land, He promised the land. Now, finally Israel will go into the land. It’s been five hundred years since God made that promise to Abraham. Abraham has been dead, his bones bleached. He’s gone. Five hundred years and now God’s going to fulfill what He promised. You are going into the land. They could have done it forty years earlier. You know how far away they are from where they were at Kadesh, when the spies went in and they came back with a bad report and therefore God said, alright. For forty days in the land, you’re going to spend forty years wandering around. Eleven miles. Forty years! Eleven miles! You could walk eleven miles in less than forty years. They are not going the direct way. They are going nowhere. The lands not far. In fact, they decided when God said now they’re going to wander in the desert for forty years they changed their minds. They tried to go over into the land and what happened? They got defeated. You see the consequences. They had to wait forty years for everybody over twenty years of age to die because that was the punishment, the consequence. Now, forty years, eleven miles later, well a lot of miles later, but they are only eleven miles from where they were when they were on the brink before. They never did wander far. They just kept going around there. Now is God’s time so He is faithful. He’s going to do what He said but along the way sin. It has dire consequences. We live in a society and this begins to infect and affect our thinking as believers, the problem is the punishment that’s given. I sometimes watch when they are upset about police and how they treated somebody. But you know what? If they hadn’t been doing the wrong thing the police probably wouldn’t have been there in the first place. I’m not getting into the details but just the reality. If you do the wrong thing, you don’t necessarily get to pick what the consequences are. They may be more serious than you planned on. That’s the scripture here. Moses didn’t realize when he lost his temper and took it under his own authority to decide how he’d get water out of that rock. Even though God honored his action in striking the rock, it would have serious consequences. That happened to the children of Israel. None of those over twenty years of age except Joshua and Caleb get to go into the land. Think of that! Forty years of wandering! That region just becomes a burial ground. What are you doing wandering around? We are waiting for more to die. More to die. There’s still some people over twenty when that happened, we are waiting for them to die.

“Now it came about,” all this to bring us to verse 1, “after the death of Moses” and you have it put together here. “After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord.” So you see those two ideas we’ve talked about put together. The death of Moses reminds you there was a sin that resulted in Moses early death. By early I mean it wasn’t old age. It was sin that brought that about. But it was still the “servant of the Lord.” His ministry wasn’t yet over. It wasn’t over until the Lord took him. That’s the way he’ll be identified through Joshua, not Moses the man who sinned against the Lord but “Moses the servant of the Lord” because his sin was just as forgiven as our sins get. But don’t make light of it, you never know what the consequences of that sin will be.

“That the Lord spoke to Joshua.” Remember the Spirit of the Lord had been placed upon Joshua. He’s the new leader. Remember when the kingship of Saul was over? The Spirit of the Lord moved to David to enable him and give him the wisdom to be king and so on. “The Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant saying,” you get an order here. It won’t be until the end of the book of Joshua that Joshua is blessed with the title “servant of the Lord.” Here we start out, it doesn’t say the Lord spoke to Joshua the new servant of the Lord but he “spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant saying” and again a reminder of what’s going on here. These are lessons for us. Remember the things, as we got to the end of the book of Romans, written in the Old Testament were written for our admonition and instruction so that we would learn and be careful. “Moses my servant” God speaks, “is dead.” I love it. “Moses my servant,” that special relationship with God still comes to the fore. He’s dead. The wages of sin is death and that’s a natural process and sometimes it’s a more immediate process. Remember the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians chapter 11? Because of sin, Paul said some of you are weak, some of you are sick, some of you have died. God intervenes in His own way.

“My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to you.” And Joshua chapter 1 is the introduction to the book. It sets the framework and basic so then chapter 2 there’s some initial going in to check things out in the land. Just instruction, get up, get ready to cross the Jordan. How are you going to do that with all these people and all that? Get ready to cross the Jordan. You and all the people to the land which I am giving to them,” to the sons of Israel. A reminder of God’s sovereignty here. Again, we read all the promises on the land, not all of them but a series of them to remind us back with the covenant with Abraham. God’s giving it to them. Now they won’t just cross over and everybody in Canaan died of a disease, or the Lord God supernaturally struck them dead like He would with a hundred and eighty thousand Assyrian soldiers later in Israel’s history. All that army went to sleep but a hundred and eighty thousand of them didn’t wake up in the morning. God could have done that in the land of Canaan. No, it’s going to take warfare and conflict. But never lose sight of the fact that I’m giving you this land. It’s for Israel. Now how he’s going to go about it, God decides. They are going to have to obey God along the way. They’ll learn to trust Him. They’ll grow through this just like in our lives as believers, right? God could smooth out my life, remove the unpleasant things but we are told to “count it all joy, my brethren, when you come into various trials for the testing of your faith produces endurance.” Israel has failed again and again and again through Israel’s history. Another challenge. Get ready to go over the Jordan. Now last time they got pretty much to this point crossing over into the land they sent spies in. They came back and decided it wasn’t a good idea to obey God. We can’t do it. But wait a minute. God’s giving this to them. That becomes a key expression. You can mark it, I have it marked in my bible. “To the land which I am giving” to them. That solves everything. If God’s going to give it to me, it will be mine.

Now there may be struggles along the way. There may be obstacles. Joshua opens up as a transition from the book of Deuteronomy as we observed earlier and before. “Moses, the servant of the Lord.” God speaks to Joshua, now the address is there. He won’t speak to him face to face. We are not told specifically how He spoke, in dreams, visions, whatever but Moses was unique. We saw at the end of Deuteronomy that what? God spoke to Moses face to face. That was unique but it’s still the word of God however it comes. It still comes with the same authority. Hearing it brings the same responsibility.

God doesn’t speak directly to us, but we have His word. It carries the same authority. My rebellion against God’s word is the same rebellion against God as it was back then. We look back then and oh I wouldn’t have done that. I can never understand why Israel did what they did. How foolish were they? You look around, the church at Corinth had the same kind of rebellion and conflicts and disagreements and on it goes because they just didn’t learn the lessons.

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given it to you just as I spoke to Moses. Doesn’t that sound like what God said to Abraham five hundred years earlier? Walk about on the land. Everywhere your feet touch I am giving it to you, a repeated promise. “I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea” which is the Mediterranean. We will put up a map later in our study in Joshua that marks the land, then we’ll see the overall provisions. I thought we would just wait and overview this now and then in our coming studies we’ll look more at that. You can look in the back of your bible and you ought to have a good bible atlas. You have the maps in the back of your bible but go down to Sound Words and check out a nice bible atlas. It will have maps of all the different times in the bible that enable you to relate a little bit to the land. No discount on those except what Sound Words always gives.

So, this is the land. It’s an expansive land. You go to the Euphrates and to the west you go to the Mediterranean and then you go north and south. The Hittite land would be Syria, they are to the north. All this, note verse 5, “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.” What more do we need? “No man will be able to stand with you.” Oh, I don’t know, remember forty years earlier, well the Canaanites, they are giants in there. They are too much for us. Well God’s on our side. They lose. Again, the Assyrians, remember? They challenged the Jews and said your God won’t be able to protect you. None of the other gods were able to. Well, you don’t challenge God like that. What happened? What I told you. The Assyrian army took a nap that night and a hundred and eighty thousand soldiers didn’t wake up in the morning. God doesn’t need an army to fight. He may use an army, but He doesn’t have to have an army. Like Jesus on the cross said, I could ask My Father and He’d give me myriads of angels.

Reading the history, I feel like I could do this. What’s the problem here? “I will be with you.” And you know what that means? Last line, “I will not fail you or forsake you.” That’s the promise. Does God ever fail me or forsake me? No. Jesus said I will never leave you or forsake you. Does the Holy Spirit ever abandon you? Am I ever left on my own to do this in my own strength? No. But am I responsible? Yes. Note what the next instruction is. “Be strong and courageous.” That doesn’t mean that Joshua and the people are just going to sit down at the doorway to their tent and wait until God does it. They are going to get up, demonstrate their trust in God, rely upon Him and they are going to be the instruments through whom He’s going to do it.

Note this repeated expression, “be strong and courageous,” verse 6. Verse 7, “only be strong and very courageous.” Verse 9, “have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.” The end of verse 18, “only be strong and courageous.” It just goes on and on. That’s not all there is.

Come back to Deuteronomy, chapter 31, Deuteronomy 31, look at verse 6. Here Moses is giving instruction. The transfer is going to be to Joshua, so Moses reminds them the Lord’s going to give you the land. He’s going to defeat your enemies like He defeated the past enemies. Verse 4 He’ll “do to them just as He did Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land, when He destroyed them.” “The Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.” What’s the next expression? “Be strong and courageous.” Negatively, “do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous.””

Why does He have to keep saying this all the time? God’s going to do it. Yes, but you know how it is. The trial comes, the opposition comes, and then we can begin to get a little weak-kneed. I know and He’s done it before but will He do it this time. This is a little different. I can always be strong and courageous looking back. There’s no excuse for Joshua and Israel not to be exactly what God said, strong and courageous. If I had been there I would have been. But you know when I have to be strong and courageous in the day and time which God has put me. He’s given me His promises and now I have to do and live according to what He says.

“Be strong and courageous.” You are going with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to give you. Verse 8, “the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” We have this reminder and we have far more of the scripture then there Jews had. We have the whole completed Old Testament and now the completed New Testament and the examples of what God has done and the promises of God to us. Then you come down to verse 23, still in chapter 31, “then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said,” here we go again, “be strong and courageous.” How do I do that? I focus my mind. This is what God has promised. This is what He has told me. I will do no other. I will do it. Have you considered the consequences? Do you know what the obstacles could be? Some of them, not all of them. Well then what makes you so confident? Well God told me.

Now be careful. Don’t make this subjective. It’s not just a feeling I have but I have the word of God. He tells me what to do. I don’t back down. I don’t go weak in the knees. “Be strong and courageous.” We had that three times in chapter 31, verse 6, verse 7, verse 23 so when we come to Joshua chapter 1 this is not new. It is just repeated again and again and again and again. We have it four times in chapter 1 of Joshua. Maybe we ought to put a plaque in front of us, “be strong and courageous.” You want to put it from the foundation because God will not fail us. That’s my confidence. I don’t know what tomorrow brings. Remember Ecclesiastes? I have no control over tomorrow.

Back to Joshua, the promises here, “be strong and courageous.” “Only be strong and courageous.” You see we can narrow down our responsibility, keep it simple, “be strong and courageous.” What should I do? “Be strong and courageous.” I can remember that. “Only be strong and courageous; be careful,” note this, “to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you may go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.”

That word that’s translated “meditate” is a word that means speaking out loud. In those days, one of the ways they did mediate was they talked out loud. I still use that today. I’ve talked with you, I’m getting to the age people will get concerned, but I did it even I when I was younger. I talk out loud in my office. I rehearse these things, I do it out loud. It helps me remember. I’ve talked out my sermon many times through the week before I come here. I talk to God about these things. I’ve shared the gospel with empty chairs through the week. It’s just on my mind, thinking, mediating upon it. It’s not the meditation of the world where you empty your mind and that results in an empty mouth but here it’s rehearsing over what? The word of God! The devil’s counterfeit of the biblical view on this kind of mediation is the empty your mind and then see what comes in, let the devil fill it. No! You take the word of God, it’s that simple. So when we talk about being strong and courageous it means we’re not going to depart from what the word says, to the left or to the right. It doesn’t matter what anybody else does. It doesn’t matter what everybody is doing. It matters what God says and there’s never an excuse for me to veer from that. Now again, I want to study, I want to be careful with the word, but I don’t abandon what the word says because, well, most scholars say this.

I was reading a scholar and I appreciate this scholar. It happened to be in the book of Numbers as part of the background reading. He’s written some good commentaries, but he was saying why he’s changed his view, with all of modern scholarship, the numbers in the book of Numbers, just can’t be accurate. So six hundred thousand soldiers is probably is multiplied by ten then we ought to look at all the numbers in the book of Numbers as multiplied by ten and the real number was sixty thousand, not six hundred thousand. Wait a minute! He acknowledges it’s repeated but scholars say – well you know what? God was there and then He recorded what it was.

So just an example, I want to be careful I don’t change my view. This was written for us. It was written for us as God’s people to read it. Now we have to be diligent in our study in it to show ourselves approved to God, workmen that need not be ashamed in our handling of the word. We are approved because we handle the word accurately and that involves then obeying it. Do what it says. We can so simplify our lives. Here’s what the word says. Do it! I have to tell myself that. I sit and talk out loud to the Lord. Lord you know I’m frustrated. I’m struggling here. Lord I have to be honest. And I’ll say out loud, here’s what You have said and I’m having a problem doing that and I want to acknowledge before You that’s my problem. I need to fix it quickly, now. I have to talk to myself. Talk to myself, here’s what the Word says. Why aren’t you doing it? Why are you dragging your feet? Get after it. That’s what He’s telling them.

“Be careful,” verse 7, “you be strong and courageous” not because you’ve pumped yourself up, the power of positive thinking and all of that, but because you’re going to be careful, I am going to do everything God has told me to do. I’m going to be careful not to do anything God tells me not to do. It rather simplifies my life. You know what it comes down to? Do I want to? Be strong and courageous. Do it.

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth” because they meditate on it. They talk about it, they talk it out. They didn’t have their own copy, wasn’t always able. They’d have to go to the priest and have him read it to them then they’d go away just like we have our children recite lessons, recite things. It’s good for you. Get by yourself, talk the word of God to yourself. I like to read it out loud so I hear it with my ears, coming out of my mouth and it comes back to me. “Day and night,” fill my thoughts with the word of God “so that you may be careful to do according to” most of “what is written in it.” No, that little word is key isn’t it? “All.” What did my very scholarly, in depth seminary professor tell me? All means all, that’s all, all means. “All that is written in it.” I want to interpret it accurately, correctly but yes, it’s for me. “For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Isn’t that what we have as a promise even further developed and elaborated. The Spirit of God permanently indwells us. “Don’t tremble or be dismayed.” He wouldn’t have to tell me that if some of these situations that God puts me in aren’t going to seem all but overwhelming. I can be honest with the Lord, talk about it. He knows what I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. Lord, You know I’m feeling overwhelmed. You know Lord I almost feel like I’m paralyzed here, can I do this? Lord, I can in Your strength. I can do what You tell me to do, and Lord I need to draw upon the enablement of the Spirit. I have to grow through this and I’m not talking myself into it, I’m talking my way through it with the word of God. Life is not that complicated. That’s why one of the things the devil does is move us away from the Word of God. Less time in the Word. He’s talking about day and night. Some evangelical churches are satisfied with twenty-minute sermons. Get in, give me some key points, and let’s get out of here. The Word of God tells me I’ve got to be filling my mind with this day and night, not just when I’m in church on Sunday. We’re here to study the Word of God, to be taught the Word of God in classes and that and in the in-between times, be meditating on that, thinking about that, going over it. Constantly bringing my life under the search light of the Word.

“Then Joshua” followed up and “commanded the officers of the people, saying, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people saying, ‘Prepare provisions.’” Get ready. In a few days we’re going over the Jordan to the “Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.” Remember in their victories there they asked if they could have that part of the land for themselves. You can, but you can’t then be excused from the battle for taking the whole land, so you’ll have to cross over with us and help conquer. It’s easy to say, oh yeah, I’ll take the land that’s been conquered. Good, you can have that, but you will have to come with the rest of us and conquer the rest of the land. So, remember, verse 13, again that word “remember,” “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, “the Lord your God gives you rest, and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, your cattle,” they can remain, but you have to cross over with your brothers. So, they’ll form a full contingent from their tribes just like all the other tribes. When the Lord gives your brothers the rest of the land and you return to your land, and it will be won because that is included in what God had promised but it is on the other side.

Verse 16 Then “they answered Joshua saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.” Great commitment.

So that’s chapter 1. That’s the introduction to the book. Now we are ready, and we’ll begin to do the difficult things. By and large through Joshua, the book of Joshua, the people remain faithful. After the days of Joshua and the leaders associated with him things will begin to deteriorate but we are ready to go.

Obedience to the word, obedience to the leader that God has commanded, here we go. In our strength no. The Lord is going with us. The Lord will give us the victory and we will see. The Lord is faithful. That’s what we are going to learn in the book of Joshua and have illustrated for us. We can trust the Lord. We can be strong and courageous. That’s true for God’s people whatever their day, whatever their situation, be strong and courageous.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Thank you for the book of Joshua. Lord we’ve come to this point in the history you unfold in your word, and we see you are a God who keeps His word. Every promise is fulfilled as You have given it. You are the unchanging, faithful God. Lord this is a blessing to us in this day in which You’ve placed us as Your people. You’ve called us to Yourself. You have filled us with Your Spirit. We are into a world that is a mess, that is darkness, it is opposition. But we don’t have to fear or be dismayed. You are the God who is with us to strengthen us. We need to be filled with Your word, be faithful to that Word so that You can work Your purposes in and through us. Thank you for the blessing of this day. I pray for the week before us. Wherever You send us, wherever You place us, however You choose to use us, may we be strong and courageous for You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.