Oh, great singing! So thankful for our Lord, who holds us. If you have your Bibles this morning, let's turn to Joshua chapter 1. Joshua Chapter 1 is where we will be this morning. And as you do that, I do want to just clarify a little bit of false advertising that has been going on. There's a nickname speedy Josh Petras that has been happening. It is just not true at all. It is hyperbole. I enjoy running. That doesn't mean I'm good at it. In the same way, I enjoy driving. That doesn't mean I'm good at it. It's just, you know, I like it. So, my goal, I think I'm going to run on Saturday, the goal is whoever wins if you double their time, and I'd be under that, like if they were to run it twice, they wouldn't let me; that's the goal. So, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. So anyway, Joshua, chapter 1, take your copy of God's word, and let's turn there. And if you turn there, if you would, please stand for the reading of God's Word. We will be considering this morning the entire chapter. We’ll read the whole thing now but we'll be considering Joshua chapter one this morning. We'll start in Joshua 1:1. This is God's very Word.
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’” And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” And they answered Joshua, “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! Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
Thank you. You may be seated. And as we consider God's very Word, let's pray together this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you that we get an opportunity again to hear from you, that you are a gracious God who shows mercy to sinners, that you cover our iniquities, that you wash us as white as snow. As we sing that you hold us fast, Lord, your Word tells us the one to whom you'll look, the one who is humble and contrite, and who trembles at your Word. So, Lord, we pray, you'd help us to tremble at your Word this morning. Help us to understand it clearly and to obey it. Lord, we're thankful you know all that we need even before we ask, we asked, you know, Heavenly Father, to help us to be better worshipers of you today, to live in a way that brings you glory. We pray this in Your Son's name. Amen.
“Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.” “Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.” This is a quote from the famous missionary of the 1800s, Hudson Taylor. Some of you have heard of him before. Taylor was born in 1832 in Yorkshire in England; converted at the age of 17. Taylor would spend the next decades of his life bringing the gospel, the love of Jesus Christ, to the people of China. He went there during the 1850s for a few years, came back and returned in 1866 with a group of sixteen people, along with his family, his wife and his children. And what they did was incredibly risky, because they didn't want to just bring the gospel to the coastal or westernized regions of China. No. They wanted to go inland to the place where the maps are uncharted, where the information was unknown, and other people may have never even seen a European person before. They wanted to preach the Good News of God and his love through Jesus Christ. It was risky because they didn't necessarily know where they were going. They didn't have any guarantee of income. The people there would not welcome them. They left behind all the comforts of England like cricket and family and friends and health, to risk their life sharing the good news, where they would be rejected, where people would get sick, and some would die. It was risky. But “unless there's an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”
Because of risk, many thousands of Chinese came to know Jesus Christ through that ministry. Friends, the Christian life, lived rightly, will include risk. It will include risk, at least by worldly standards. Now, there is a way to live a Christian life that's safe, comfortable, casual, protected, no risk, you know, selective obedience, not going to do anything that really costs me anything, will ruffle anyone's feathers. Just kind of that nice Christian, but to really live for Christ, and to say, I'm going to follow him and everything there will be risk. You risk rejection from the world, as you walk in obedience in a way that's strange to them. You, as you risk rejection, as you try to bring the good news, there's risk because sometimes we share the gospel and nobody really actually responds. There is risk because you are saying no to temporary pleasures, you can see with the expectation of treasures that you cannot see. So, there is risk. So, how do we do that? How do we live fearlessly in a world where we’re tempted to be frightened? Well, that's what we learned from Joshua chapter 1 because we read the repeated phrase, “Be strong and courageous.” It's in verse 6, verse 7, verse 9, and in verse 18. We are supposed to have a faith that is strong and courageous, that does not flinch, and that does not fear. Now, as we look at this passage today, in Joshua chapter 1, I'm aware that the phrase “Be strong and courageous” is very popular. It's well known. You can go, you know, today, you can’t go today to Hobby Lobby, but you could go tomorrow to Hobby Lobby, and buy all sorts of “Strong and Courageous” stuff. But because it's well known, sometimes you could rob it of its meaning. It could be just a sentimental saying; it could mean something different than what the Scriptures mean. So, we need to think about is what does it mean to be strong and courageous and to understand that. We need to know that there is legitimate reason here in Joshua chapter 1 for Joshua, who's commanded to be strong and courageous, there's reason for him to be timid. He has legitimate reason to be afraid.
And so, for us to understand that we need to turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 12. Take your Bibles and go to Genesis chapter 12. What I want to do is I want to get us sort of caught up on the story that's already happening. We'll look at a few verses to do this. But far too often, the Bible is treated as a sort of medical reference guide, you know, what's your ailment, okay, let me flip here; or almost like a spiritual cookbook, okay, here's what's harming you. Well, once you throw in this, and then I'll find the recipe there. When the Bible is actually a story. It's a true story. It's history. But there's a narrative that's happening from Genesis to Revelation. There's a narrative that's playing out. And so, for us not to be mindful of what's happened so far in the Bible, when we jump into Joshua. Well, that's like jumping into season six of your favorite TV show, but you've never seen seasons 1 2 3 4 Or 5, you just don't know what's going on. And so let this be sort of like the, you know, previously on the Bible segment of our sermon here. What's happening here? Let's get caught up in the past seasons. And you know, the story of Genesis 1 through 11, God creates a perfectly good world, man rebels, mankind is tainted by sin. In fact they're so tainted by sin, and wickedness has so far spread, God starts over by flooding the world and has a sort of second creation with Noah. Turns out those people are wicked and so now God has to curb evil by changing the languages and creating nations so that you know one group of people can't get too evil, that kind of check and balance one another. But now we get to Genesis chapter 12. The question is, how is God still going to reach this lost world? Well, he says in Genesis 12. “Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, and your kindred, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
So, here's God's plan. I'm going to start one nation from a pagan Moon worshiper named Abram, I'm going to rescue him. He's going to follow me, and through him, I'm going to make a nation. And what's going to happen with Abram? He's promised he's going to have a great multitude, many descendants. And they're going to dwell in a physical land known as the land of promise, shall be Canaan later; they're going to live there. That's the God's promise you're going to be a people living in a nation. We see this develop. Look at chapter 13, Genesis 13:14-17, “The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land that you see, I will give to you and to your offspring forever, I will make your offspring is the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring can also be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land for I will give it to you.” This is God's plan. This is God's promise.
Take a look at Chapter 15, Genesis Chapter 15. And we'll pick up on verse 7. Just God again talking to Abram, who will become Abraham said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” That's the promise, it's passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Now this promise wasn't going to come true right away. Because God tells Abraham that look at that. Look with me if you want Genesis 15:13. “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain,’” bank on this, know for certain “that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve. And afterward they shall come out with great possessions. What's God promising there? Hey, this is true, you are going to have a great nation, but they're going to be in bondage in a different nation for 400 years. You know the story, you know what it is, this is God's rescue of Israel out of Egypt.
Take your Bibles and go to Exodus, go to the book of Exodus. Now we're moving forward in the story, they do end up there again, this is all part of God's plan. They're at first there in Exodus to get relief, or sorry, first, they're in Egypt, to get relief from a famine, but then the nation of Egypt and slaves, the descendants of Abraham, and God intervenes to rescue. This is Exodus 3:7, this is Moses, his meeting with God at the burning bush. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’” God says, I'm going to deliver them and bring them to the land that I promised them, and deliver them he does. It is an epic story. So epic that you could maybe make three Hollywood spin offs attempting to capture the story, as they have done with the Exodus story several times. That's what's happening here is God then rescues them in amazing way, returns the Nile the blood and throws hailstones from the sky and, and then he slips the Red Sea. Now, the people are out there rescued, and they're on their way to the Promised Land. However, turn your Bibles to Numbers 13.
Let's go to Numbers chapter 13. Because as they travel, what gets revealed is that this nation is a disobedient nation. They don't honor the Lord. So even as they're traveling to Mount Sinai to receive the 10 commandments, they're complaining all the way. Man, the food was so much better in Egypt, complaining against God and his care for them. And then when they're at Sinai, they actually make an idol and worship a golden calf. And in the book of Leviticus chapter 10, they are given instruction How to worship God. And they create their own way of worshiping God. There are disobedient people to their priests struck dead in that situation. So here in number 13, here's what's going on there. They're just about a year or so out of Egypt, they're ready to enter the promised land. But right before they go in to conquer the enemy there and take the land that God's giving them, they're going to send out some spies, twelve of them to spy out the land. And here's the report Numbers 13:25-27. “At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.’” The spies say, hey the promised land. It's really good. When they say it flows with milk and honey, that's not actually like rivers of milk and rivers of honey, like a Cheerios commercial or something like that. That's what it's saying is there's resources abounding. Like it's ever you could live off this, it's just naturally a place we could survive and thrive here. This is a good land. Numbers 13:28-29, “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” They said, this is going to be rough. This is a huge group of people we have to conquer. They're big people. Look at Numbers 13:31-33, “Then the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’” People say we can't conquer, we're not going in. We can't go into the land, because if we do, we're going to die. God shows up in judgment. He shows up and judges them for their lack of faith, for not entering and obeying. And so, what God tells them is as punishment, you're going to spend the next forty years wandering in the wilderness. And during those forty years, all the men that would be the soldiers, they're going to die. And once they're dead, we're going to try this again, with a new army. So, Israel, what they do at that point, they're like, well, maybe we should go try to conquer, they try, they lose, okay, we have to obey the Lord because the Lord is against us, well, then who could be for us. And so, they wander for forty years through the wilderness. Well, God waits for the right time for them to enter the Promised Land.
Let's turn one last spot. Let's go to Joshua chapter 1. Back to Joshua chapter one. Again, we're getting the history so we can understand the significance of what's happening here in Joshua 1, and as you turn to Joshua 1, just go one page to the left, or look to the left of Deuteronomy 34. Because here's how our story ends. You ready? Deuteronomy 34:4-5. “And the Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.’ So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.” Look at Deuteronomy 34:8. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.” Deuteronomy 34:10, “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” So, the people just got done wandering forty years, Moses died. And see, here we are in Joshua chapter 1.
So, you understand why Joshua might be a little timid. Because when God says, arise and cross the Jordan, he's saying, arise and go conquer this nation that I promised to give you. I'm giving you the land. And Joshua is looking around saying, the people that we're going to conquer, those are big people. They're legitimate soldiers with real fortresses, and there's a lot of them and they're big. And he's looking at his people thinking, this is not a group of people that's easy to lead. This is a scared group, a faithless group in the desert. The people of Israel were not soldiers. They had never won any battle because of their own military strategy. They've been wandering the desert, herding sheep for forty years. That's what they've been doing. As he's coming off of the greatest and only leader that Israel has ever known, just died. So, if the book of Joshua is a movie, the opening scene is the thirty-day funeral of Moses, that's what's going on here. That's why Joshua might be a little timid with what the Lord is calling him to do. So, what has he learned about being strong and courageous? Because Joshua needs to be strong and courageous. Friends, we as well know we need to be strong and courageous in our own life, whether it be sharing the gospel, whether it be correcting a brother in sin, whether it be whatever it is we're trying to do in this world, we need to be strong and courageous in our faith in God's commands. So, what I want to do with the rest of our time, is to help us see how we be strong and courageous. What does a strong and courageous faith look like? Well, we learn it from this text.
So, on your handout number one, let's look at this: Be strong and courageous in a glorious God. Be strong and courageous in a glorious God. This is going to answer the sort of why-question of being strong and courageous. Why can we be strong and courageous? Well, if you look there, the command does not even come. The commander of strong and courageous does not even come to over six. And there is a lot of talking going on there. Joshua 1:2-5, we see there's a lot of talking before the command to be strong and courageous. Here's why that's important. Because sometimes I think we view being strong and courageous as something like, we work up, we cultivate, I need to grit and do it. Before the committee becomes God talks to Joshua a lot. And he's talking to them there in verses two through five, about himself, about God. He is informing Joshua about who he is before he commands him to be strong and courageous.
That is because, friends, the strength of our faith, is inseparably connected to our view of God himself. The strength of our faith is inseparably connected to our view of God Himself. If I want a faith that is strong and courageous, it needs to be anchored in it, needs to be rooted in a God who is great and glorious and transcendent. I need a big God if I'm going to have a big, strong and courageous faith. And we know that the height of our view of God will have a direct correlation to the extent of our willingness to obey Him. So that's what God is doing here. He's bolstering Joshua's faith by reminding Joshua of who he is. God wants Joshua of his faith rooted in three different things. And I have this on your outline, because this will help us as well. This is the a, b, and c where do we root our faith so that we have a faith that strong and courageous?
Well, first A: Rooted in his promises? We’re rooted in what God has promised he says, Joshua 1:2, “arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.” He says, do this, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.” Hey, this is not a time of high morale in Israel. I mean, Moses was just the guy. Moses is the best. Moses just died. And how are we supposed to go in and conquer? God says, hey, Moses is dead, but my promises aren't. So, we're going into the land, because I promised to give it to you. It's my purpose. And my purpose cannot be thwarted. And that’s good to know. Is that good to know that our hope for the future is not so much reliant on leaders, but on God and his promises? For us, we can have an unshakable faith because of God's unbreakable promises. And so, if you want to faith that’s strong and gracious, it starts with remembering what it is that God has promised. I mean, even as we look at this, let's think about God's promises here. Let's think about God's character here. Even as we get to Joshua chapter 1 in light of everything we know about Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Isn't it amazing how gracious God is that he's giving these people another chance, another opportunity to obey, even though they failed before? Think of all that God has promised. Think of all that God has promised us. Let me give you just a handful of verses you can think on. You could jot these down and think on these later. What is it that God has promised us? Has promised us, first of all, acceptance. John 6:37. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:37. So the Lord has promised us forgiveness based on his character. Listen to Micah 7:18-19, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” It's amazing! Micah 7:18-19. God promises to forgive. We know that God promises completion. Philippians 1:6, he says that “he who started a good work will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He's promised in John chapter 10 that his sheep hear his voice and follow him, and no one is able to snatch them out of his hand. It's amazing! Promises we can bank on. Think about this in regard to ministry, think in regard to the church, Jesus has promised he will build his church, and the gates of Hades cannot stand against it. Matthew 16:18, he's promised to us rest. Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is rest coming one day for you, because God has promised it, because Christ has promised it. Think about the promise at the end of Romans 8, that “nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” Think about this. 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
There's a promise that one day that fight against sin is over. Because you'll be perfected. That's what we have been promised. Because of his promises, we walk in obedience. So, I'm going to go share the Gospel. Why? Because God has promised to rescue a multitude from every nation. Hey, I'm going to say no to passing present treasures, because God has promised a greater prize, a future glory. I'm going to walk and strive and fight for holiness now, because God has promised my sins are forgiven, and that change is coming one day. And so strong and courageous faith is rooted in his promises.
Second, it's rooted in his power that's B on your end. It's rooted in his power. God says there in Joshua 1:5, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” No man will be able to stand before you. That's not a prediction, by the way. That's God. That's not God saying like, hey, by the way, Joshua, like, I looked ahead, and you guys are totally going to get the W. I mean, this is an upset but you've got this. That's not what's going on here. What it is is it's a promise of his own presence in the battle. It's God saying, like, hey, you're going to go do this. Don't worry, I'm going to fight for you. By the way, that's what happens in the book of Joshua. It's God doing the fighting thing. I've heard this before where people have said like, well, you know, the book of Joshua, there's military strategy that can be studied there. Really go out to battle God shows up, wipes out your enemies, you clean up, battle over, I'm like, sweet, sign me up for that game of Risk. I'll play right now. That sounds awesome. I'll get after it. But that's what happens here in the book. In fact, some of you have heard a song when you were younger, if you grew up in church. You heard a song, you've heard this. It went, “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.” Has anyone heard? Any of you've heard this song before? You got Jericho? Jericho and it rhymes. “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down!” Right? He did a little fighting. But it said like Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. That's like when my sports team wins. It's like me. Call my dad and say we won tonight. It's like, well, not really, we just kind of had the outfit on. That's what's going on here is God is saying, you're going to conquer because I'm going to make sure it happens; no man will stand against you. What good news is that with whatever endeavor the Lord has called us to. As we seek to share the good news, as we seek to build up other believers, isn't that good to know that it's by his power, not by ours. Some trust in chariots, seven horses; we trust in the name of the Lord our God. We root our faith in him, not ourselves. That's a good reminder to what Jesus told us in John 15. “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” So strong and courageous Faith is going to come from relying on his power. And finally, it's rooted in his faith. Sorry, we read our faith in His promises his power.
And finally, see on your handout, his presence. His presence. Strong and courageous faith comes from knowing the presence of God. He tells him, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Think about that, before he tells him three times to be strong and courageous. Joshua, my promise stands. My power is there, and I'm with you. I'm near to you. That's incredible. That's incredible because of who God is, that our God is so glorious and so great, and yet he walks near to us; we could be with him. If you're here this morning, and you're not a Christian, I will let you know, this is the good news of the Christian message. Like other religions, they promised a God who could do a lot of things. He's just not very close, and you're not really sure he likes you. And other religions, their the gods are very much like you, that they're just not that great or awesome. And then there's the religion of self where you're like, well, I'm near me all the time. But I know my own shortcomings.
But here's a God who spoke everything into existence, who dwells in indescribable light, who upholds the universe and oversees everything at once and yet draws nearer to us. And he draws nearer to us not because we're worthy of being drawn nearer to, he draws nearer to us by sending his Son to live a perfect life, to dwell among us to live perfectly righteously, and then to die on the cross as a substitute for our sin. So, if we confess our sins to God, and admit, I am a sinner, who needs to be rescued, God gives forgiveness to you. And not just forgiveness, but relationship to draw you nearer to himself. Friend, you can know personally, and lovingly, the God of the universe today, because Jesus died for sinners, you confess your sin and turn to him. I would love to talk with you after about that, if you've got questions, or you can just ask the people that brought you. How can I know the God of the universe through Jesus? They would love to tell you about it.
God tells Joshua, I will be with you, which is there's closeness there, and kindness. God is with you. He is for you. And this is what God tells us people over and over again, before they face daunting tasks in the Bible. So, before Moses, it goes to lead people out of Egypt, God says, I will be with you . Think about Psalm 23. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear.” Why, for you are with me. Or I think about Jesus, Matthew 28, on the top of the mountain with a bunch of ragtag disciples from Israel, you know, back country of the Roman Empire, say, and we're going to turn the world upside down, because you're going to go and make disciples of all the nations, you're going to proclaim the good news, and tell them to stop fallowing false gods and follow after me. And it's going to be terrifying, because you're going to be mocked, and beaten. But don't fear, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Or not to think about just our own work here and sharing the gospel here in Huntington Beach, are trying to reach Long Beach to know that God is with us. And so that's how we bolster our faith. So, we have a faith that's strong and courageous. We remember God's promises, his power; we remember his presence, I think just by one way of application. That's how you walk into strong and courageous faith this week. You just rehearse to yourself who God is. Maybe you can look at that list that I gave, maybe with people in your fellowship group, you write down another one: you come up with what are some other promises, some other verses, some other aspects of God's character that strengthen our confidence in him. Here's what I want you to see. Being strong and courageous is not a personality trait or something you must start from within. It comes from remembering who God is and owning it and believing it. So, that's the first part.
Let's move to number two here. What else do we learn about being strong and courageous? Well, number two: Be strong and courageous by fearless obedience. Be strong and courageous by fearless obedience. If point number one was the sort of, here's why we can be strong and courageous, number two is here's the actual how, how do we do this? How do we be strong and courageous? And we read it, it's commanded three times in verse 6, 4, 7 and verse 9: Be strong and courageous, be strong, be courageous, be strong and courageous. Now, again, I want to be careful here to make sure we understand what this means, because I think we can mistake this for like machismo or bravado and being strong and courageous as it’s chest out alpha mentality. There's brash, there's a sort of, I'm strong and courageous in your face. I'm sorry, you think that I'm rude, but I'm just trying to be strong and courageous. Maybe if you were a little more strong and courageous, you would have been offended by what I said right there. You know, like, that's the wrong view of what this actually means. So, let's think about let's be careful. What does this command actually mean? Well, let's first look at Joshua 1:6. He says, “e strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Well, that's already been said earlier in the in the section that that's a repeat reason. Let's look at Joshua 1:9. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” That's another repeat verse, the first command or the third command. The reason to be strong and courageous is exactly the same as what God has said in Joshua 1:2-5, he's promised these things before, which means our answer for what it means to be strong and courageous is found in Joshua 1:7-8. So look at it, verse 7, “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” You ready? The command to be strong and courageous is a command to obey the Word of God. It's a command for obedience. It's a command to submit to, and cling to, everything God has commanded you. He says this word of the law, that's Torah, that's the first five books of the Bible, everything that Moses has written down for you, you're going to obey them perfectly. And everything I command you to do once we're in the Promised Land, once you're in Canaan, once we're doing the content, conquest, I want you to obey it perfectly. I don't care Joshua. If obedience looks like getting the band out there and marching around a city seven times, you obey, because that's what it means to be strong and courageous. Isn't that interesting? Strong and courageous. There's no military strategy here. He doesn't say, be strong, courageous for battle. He doesn't get insight on how to divide the troops. Here are the weaknesses of the enemy. Now here's how you conquer a promised land, obedience to God's word. That is what God has called Joshua to do. And so, to be strong and courageous, then, is not so much a view of my own toughness. It has everything to do with my view of God's Word. It is a call to fearlessly and unflinchingly and fully obey the commands of God. In fact, that I mean, that is where you can get a one sentence summary of the book of Joshua, here it is. Ready? God's words don't fail. So don't fail to obey his words. That's the theme of this book. Okay, God will never leave you or forsake you. So don't forsake his commandments. It's about obedience.
And my worry for my own heart, and for each of us in here, is that we would separate faith from faithfulness. That we might make a distinction between having faith in God and being faithful to God. We are not allowed that distinction. I write faith in God will be faithful to all that he has commanded. It's not just know the Word and believe the Word, but do it. And we see what kind of obedience we have here. Look at Joshua 1:7, “only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant has commanded you.” So it's a comprehensive obedience, obey, comprehensive, obey all of it, every single command.
Take your Bibles, let's go to Matthew 5. Let's go to Matthew chapter 5 here so we could see this play out in the New Testament as well. If we are going to, if we are called to obey all of God's commands, that means that selective obedience is disobedience. Matthew, chapter 5, Jesus is being accused of disavowing the law of starting a new religion of disregarding what God has previously commanded. And Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass through the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches that will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. You want to be great, and God's Kingdom is far less to do with giftedness and far more to do with godliness. Do you obey God's commands? Do you obey them all? What did Jesus say in Matthew 28, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey how much all that I have commanded you”? It's the following in all ways. It'd be a struggle to have a strong and courageous faith which means no matter what circumstance I face, no matter the cost, no matter the push back, no matter what it's going to do, I'm obeying all of God's commands.
Further, let's go back to Joshua chapter 1, it's to obey completely, it's to obey the commands all the way. It's to, I'm thinking about if you're asking your son to take the trash out, taking the trash out and putting the bag back in, that's full obedience. They're not and we didn't want just one, we wanted the whole thing to happen. And what God says here to Joshua in verse 7, he says in the middle, “do not turn from it to the right hand, or to the left.” It says don't compromise in any way. Okay, so ninety percent obedience is still disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. And we know what that looks like. I don't know what that's going to look like in every stage of your life. But you know, when you're obeying only ninety percent of what God has asked you to do in a certain situation, that's still not obeying all the way. We'd be strong and courageous. It's not helpful to obey all the things except the ones that cost us. No, we want to obey all the way.
And so just a good question. This one's not in your handout, but it's a good question to consider this week. Are there areas where I'm just obeying partially, and I need to obey fully. God is saying to Joshua, hey, there are times when obedience will be scary. But don't flinch. Don't falter, cling to God's word. Sure, sure. And that I think that's true for us, that we face commands, that we are not always eager to walk in because of fear. Timidity. So, what are some of those? I think the obvious one when it comes to money, sharing the gospel, it's a matter of obedience. Sharing the good news with coworkers, with friends are sometimes hardest of all. Family. There's a cost to it. We can be fearful in those times, or obedience at work. Being said school, sometimes we're fearful to just do what God wants us to do to because we'll be mocked or teased or looked down upon for it, we will be accepted by peers about giving. We know the Lord commands us to give, we know that he promises right to provide everything we need for every good work. But I'm a numbers guy. Looking at the budget right now and going I don't know if we're going to make it if we do this. How about sacrificially loving your spouse who isn't a Christian? If I submit to him, I don't like the direction where things could go. Or if I sacrificially love her, I don't know if I'm going to get any sort of love in return. Or there's times where someone would be fearful about talking to a fellow Christian about sin. And the sort of feedback you'd get for that. There's a cost.
You know what else there's cost in? The cost of saying, I'm going to really invest in making disciples whether it's reaching lost people, or building up fellow Christians, because there's time there, and I might lose me time if I do that. We're supposed to be strong and courageous. We don't back down. We obey all of God's commands. When we feel shaky, we trust the Lord and obey. Don't let your hand slip, but white-knuckle this Word and cling to it in every area. Now, here's what's nice is, God's word here gives us a roadmap for how to obey. He tells Joshua this. Take a look at Joshua 1:8. He says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” So, there's a path here. Take a look. It says next, “For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Now, some of you are insightful Bible readers and you're seeing like, meditate day and night, have success. And you're going I feel like I've heard this before. This reminds me a lot of… you guessed it, Psalm 1. So, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Psalm 1, I want you to see that this is the exact same language. The exact same command that's given at the very beginning of the Psalms, explains us how we, this book of praise to the Lord and this is how praise begins. We'll start in Psalm 1:1. Look at verse 1. We'll just read Psalm 1:1-3. Says, “blesses the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither and in all that he does As he prospers,” same language, meditate, don't compromise left or right, “you will prosper.”
Now what is this word, we need to think about, this idea of meditate, meditate. If I want to be strong and courageous, I need to meditate on the Word. The word there is the same idea for like murmur, it's the whisper. It's the idea of actually talking yourself under your breath. So, this is more than just, I've got verses memorized. You know, I can tell you if you ask me to chapter the Bible, Jeremiah 7. I'll tell you what happens right now in Jeremiah 7. That's not what this is. This is that you're dwelling on the Word throughout the day, you're stewing on it, you're running it through your mind; the Word is always in your heads, that your actions will be dictated by how you think. That's what this means. It's the idea, as I go through life, some of you before you've been to a sporting event, or you've been to a concert, there are the metal detectors on the way in, you know, so that nothing goes into the stadium without going through that the same should be truth; our mind is no aspect of my life. Do I let pass by without running it through the word of God in my mind, what is God's truth? Say here? How do I honor the Lord here or what the Lord would have me do in this situation, we're just dwelling on the Word because we're trying to seek to please the Lord in every aspect of our life.
Now, practically, this could flesh itself out in a number of ways of how you Christian can think about the Bible on a regular basis. One of them is you read the Scripture that day in the morning. You just pick a verse, you say, Lord, I'm going to think about this verse, I'm going to meditate on this verse, I'm going to want to dwell on it and let it change the way I act. You maybe have certain sins that you're fighting against. So, you pick sort of fighter verses, well, this verse addresses this sin and I'm just going to memorize this. You know, maybe you say, I'm going to memorize Philippians 4. There are some awesome Bible Memory apps. I'm going to memorize Philippians 4 because I'm dealing with anxiety. I'm not honoring the Lord by being worried. I'm instead going to work on memorizing and meditating on what's true, and lovely, and perfect, and honorable; I'm going to think on those things. Maybe it's putting reminders in the week, put a little s on my hand. We were going through Romans 6, not because I'm like a special person or anything, I need help. And so, I need reminders like, Lord, help me be a slave of righteousness today, wherever I am. I'm walking through what's that? Oh, slave of righteousness; I want to meditate on the scriptures. This is what Deuteronomy has in mind, when you're putting on the doorway, you're thinking about the Word.
But friends, we meditate on the Word because when we meditate on the Word, we will then act according to the Word we meditate on. In fact, it said that… we can go back to Joshua chapter 1, as we meditate on God's Word, he said, let it be on your mouth. So, the idea is we're thinking on it, and we're speaking it. We're dialoguing about the Word; we're discussing it. When others come to us for advice, we're not just giving them advice, we're giving them the Word. It's a good thing for us to check to make sure that is what I'm saying, as I give people insight actually biblical or is it just kind of my thoughts on things, but we give them the word. And what does it say? You speak the Word; you meditate on the Word so that you may be careful to do all that is according to what is written. How you act is going to come from what you think about. And so if God's cause, Be strong and courageous to do all that his Word has commanded us to do, well, then I need to do it. Which means I need to speak the Word, I need to meditate on the Word. At the very least, I need to read the Word. We need to be people of the Bible, if we're going to walk according to all that God has commanded us. How much do we really need to read enough to know how to obey the Lord in every circumstance. I was reminded by Pastor Bruce of a quote from JC Ryle, “It takes the whole Bible to make a whole Christian.” We need to know God's words ought to be pleasing to him. Now, before we jump to point number three, we're at point number three in just a little bit of time, we'll spend a short time on that. I want us to ask one other question, here's what to think about. God has told him you will make your way prosperous, and you will have good success. And some of us are thinking, okay, my kids got a sporting event next weekend. Or I'm up for a promotion next weekend. Is this telling me that if I'm super obedient this week, then I'm going to get the success wherever I go? So, it's a legit question to ask. That's what is that saying? What do we think is this is just saying like, if I obey, then I will get all the good blessings in life. I think the answer to that question is, yes and no. Let me explain. I think the answer is yes. He will be like a tree firmly planted, whatever he does, he prospers. If you want your life to be good, if you want your life to be full, if you want your life to be blessed, obey God's Word. I mean, think about the benefits of obedience. Think about how sin ruins everything. I mean, sin robs of joy, harms relationships, ruins reputations, sends us so much damage. But if you think about the times when you're most happy when you're obeying God's Word, the best people to be around are people who love the Lord and love others because they're loved. Your relationships, your family life is infinitely better because you obey God's Word.
And so yes, there are many blessings that come from being a Christian, a better, happy, more joyful life. At the same time, we are not promised, like Joshua, that all tangible rewards for obedience will happen in this life. There are plenty of godly people that die unexpectedly and young. And so there is something we need to learn from this though. The measure of success is obedience. I want you to think about this week, I want you to think about this this week. Success equals obedience, success in life, not from the worldly. Not from the worldly standpoint, not from the earthly view. But according to God's view. Was my day successful is greatly measured by was I obedient to what God has commanded me to do? So, let's think about the home life. Okay? Is my Oh, how do I measure success? Are my kids going to grow up and love the Lord, or are my kids going to reject him? Well, there's plenty of godly families whose kids don't love Jesus. There's plenty of wicked families who, by God's grace, their children have been saved. The point for your success is this. Are you walking in obedience? Work this year: What was our quota? What was our bottom line? Did I get the promotion? Did I get the raise? School? If you're if you're a student? How are my grades, my GPA? Those are all measures of success? And not all those are bad things. But eternal success is measured by did I obey? Do we have more money in the bank this year than last year? How are we doing with our money? Well, how did we honor the Lord with our money? That's how we measure success. Friends, let's not settle for another measurement of success. Perhaps one question this week is take different areas of your life and have said, have I substituted obedience and created a worldly standard of what success looks like in this area of my life? What does the Lord want from us? Wants us to obey him. Obey him because we love him. So let's seek to do that.
Let's move to point number three. Point number three, we'll wrap this thing up. Number three, Be strong and courageous, everyone. Be strong and courageous, everyone on this. This is covered in the lesson. The rest of the chapter we’ll spend less time here but that's okay. Let's figure this out, though. So, Joshua 1:10. What is happening is Joshua is being strong and courageous. He's doing immediately what God has told him to do. Joshua commanded the officers of the people. “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people. Prepare your provisions for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan River to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.” Boom, immediately, God says we're going. Guess what? we're rolling out. It's going to take us three days to get the troops ready. And then we obey God's commands. That's what he's doing. But then you get to verse 12. And it says, enter “the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh. Joshua said, ‘Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’” Some of us we read this and go, like, I don't know what Reubenite is. I don't know what a gad is, it is, what do I do this? What is a half tribe? How do you only have half a tribe? They're all there. So as a half what do I do? And so, we get confused. And then we run to Philippians. No, here's what we do instead. Okay, what you need to know is there is drama here. This little section that may be unfamiliar to us. There's drama going on. Let me explain. So back in Numbers 32, that can never hurt you. The people of Israel are on the way to get to the promised land. That older generation we talked about, they died. So, this is the new generation, they're heading towards the land that God has promised to them. But in Numbers 32, just as they're on the other side of the Jordan, ready to enter, two tribes, Reuben and Gad come to Moses and say, you know, Moses, we kind of liked the land right here. Can we just stay here? We don't need an inheritance in the Promised Land. Can we just have this land right here on the other side of the river? And Moses is hot because he's like, sick of these people. He's like, you guys are always looking to disobey and he thinks what they're trying to do is a number is another Numbers 14 moment, another Numbers 13 moment. He thinks they are trying to get out of going into the land again. And they say no, no, we will, we promise we're not backing out. So, he tells them, alright, fine, you can have this portion of land just outside the promised land. You can have it but you have to send every single one of your soldiers into battle. They have to help your brothers conquer the land. In fact, they need to do something, they're going to set up their communities and then leave their wives and children to go to battle. It's what Joshua says. Right there in Joshua 1:13, says, “Remember the word that Moses the servant, or sorry,” verse 14, “your wives, your little ones, your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you. And they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them.” So, he's coming in, right, these guys, they made this deal with Moses, Moses is dead. And Joshua is a relatively new leader without the sort of political capital that might be required for making such a request. You understand workspace dynamics here. And your Joshua is strong and courageous says you need to do what God has told you to do. You need to do what God has commanded you to do is a worry about the feedback. He says you're going to obey. Now look at verse 16. Thankfully, they do obey. They answer Joshua, all that we have commanded all that you have commanded us, we will do. Wherever you send us, we will go.” Verse 17 is kind of funny, “just as we obeyed Moses and all things, so we will obey you.” It's not exactly historically accurate, but we'll roll with it. And they decide to go into the land.
So, Joshua, chapter 1 ends, or chapter one ends with this picture of all of Israel is ready to obey God, and to enter the Promised Land. Now, what does this have to do with us? Here's the takeaway. The takeaway is that it matters that everyone obeys, matters that everyone obeys. If you look back up at verse 2, he says, “go over this Jordan, you and all this people into the land that I am giving them.” He says, you and all these people, need everyone to obey. In fact, one of the themes in the book of Joshua is that with whatever group, or with the nation of Israel, the disobedience of the one means the disobedience of all of them. You're connected to everyone? What's the application for us? Whatever group, you're a part of. What matters is the obedience of every single person. Your workspace matters that everyone obeys. How you obey, and how you disobey will affect the people you're connected to. Think about your family. Your obedience, or your disobedience will affect them. Do we believe that? Or some of us, okay, well, I'll rely on the spirituality of the other spouse to be the lead in our family. The same is true friends with his church. What makes his Bible Church successful? What does faithfulness for us look like? Is it just the sermon? And I'm so thankful for Pastor Bobby was such a great preacher, so encouraging to hear him preach every single week. Is it just our doctrine? It's amazing the amount of people here that serve and the truth that knows that we know here, it's do we all obey the Word? Every single one of us, it matters that we all obey. That's how we measure it, that we obey God's commands. When I think of what our church is trying to do in this area, it is risky. I mean, we are attempting to plant a church in Long Beach, a city where many people do not know God, do not know the gospel, don't want to. We continue to try to really follow Christ here in Orange County, where there are a lot of people who think they know the gospel and haven't heard it before. We're supporting a missionary in Japan, one of the most unreached cities in the world. We're helping build a church in Uganda right now. We are really trying to do a lot of things. And so how will we as a church, measure our own success? Ready? It's our willingness to obey God's Word. It's our willingness to obey his commands that will be marked by holiness, obey his commands to make disciples that we wouldn't turn to the left or to the right, but in every single command, we would obey him and there's reason isn't to be fearful, and there'll be more reasons to be fearful in the future. But we have a great God, a God who has given us good promises, a God who has given us his presence. I mean, when I think about Joshua, it's impossible not to think about the Jesus' name in Hebrew would have been Joshua. And I'd be amazed that we, as we seek to enter that promised land, that we have a leader who never turned to the left or the right, but obeyed God's commands himself. And so, because God is good, because he is powerful, because he is with us friends, let us obey his commands. Let us go wherever it is he leads us. Let us live not by sight, but by faith. And let us be strong and courageous. Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for all that you have given us in Christ. We thank you for your good promises towards us, Lord, that you promised to love us and nothing will separate us from the love of God. Thank you that you've promised your presence, that you are with us always, that you will never leave us or forsake us. Lord, help us to be faithful to you. Help us in every aspect of our life, to be courageous and strong in our obedience. Lord, we thank you for Christ. And what a great merciful God you are and what a great merciful Savior he is. Help us to be faithful to you in all things. It's in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.