HIGHLIGHTS IN JOSHUA
Number 1
BE STRONG
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"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them."
Joshua 1:6
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JOSHUA HAD been set apart to succeed Moses as the leader of the people of Israel ever since he was faithful to God with the other spy forty years before. He and Caleb had stood against the other ten spies, and said those forty years before that although the land of promise was heavily fortified, yet God would deliver the land into the hands of Israel. Although we must never diminish the faith of Joshua at that time, it is much easier to be strong and full of faith, when the responsibility of leadership rests on someone else, as it did then on Moses.

Now things were different in Joshua chapter one. We are told that Moses was dead, and that God had come to Joshua and told him to lead the Israelites into the promised land to overcome the inhabitants. Joshua was now the one responsible, and so God, understanding the immense and terrifying task being laid upon Joshua, says "Be strong and courageous". These words are repeated four times in the chapter. The chapter ends with these words.

It is one thing to call on Joshua to be strong, but how was he to be strong. God does not call his people to any service without giving them the grace for the task. It is so here. At every time Joshua is called to be strong, there is a resource from God which God gives to Joshua or reminds Joshua of, so that he may be able to be strong. These resources were applied to Joshua particularly for his situation, but in fact they are resources God always provided for his people, so that they may be strong for the Lord. It is these resources, of which there are three, that we are going to consider in this sermon so that we may also be strong and courageous in the life for the Lord that lies before us.

THE PROMISE OF GOD

The first resource is the promise of God. Our text is the first call to be strong, and it is pressed upon Joshua with the reminder of God's promise - "lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them." The reason Joshua could be strong and courageous was because God had bound himself with the promise that he would give the land Joshua was called upon to conquer, to the people of Israel. God must, therefore, in order to fulfil his promise, which he can't and must not break, engage to give Israel the victory in all the battles that lie ahead; or if not in all the battles, at least in the most important of them, so that victory for Israel was insured, and the land would be gained for them, and they could possess it.

Joshua must have found his assurance and courage much increased to be reminded of this promise. However difficult the opposition, God would see that he and Israel would not fail. Joshua was strong because, if the promise of God was not to fail, then God must insure Joshua's success.

Our strength and courage in the Christian life as we face the world, the flesh and the devil, is also based on the promise of God. The Christian believes the promise of God in Christ that whosoever believeth in Jesus will have eternal life. This promise would have no substance if it could be possessed at one moment and then lost in the next. The promise of eternal life is based on a sure foundation. It is based on the sure foundation of the perfect and finished work of atonement for sin achieved by the Saviour. Everything necessary for eternal life to be bestowed has already been worked by Christ, therefore having believed in Jesus, eternal life is secure forever. There is no sin any more accusing us, because Jesus has met all the holy demands of God for us, and has born the punishment for our sin, so eternal life is certain.

On account of this foundation we have been released from the dominion and rule of the evil one permanently. Satan can seek to harm us, and he may often trip us up, but he can no more possess us, and keep us in bondage for hell. Further, because Jesus has redeemed us by this great work of his only begotten Son, he has begun a good work in us, which he will most certainly perfect, until he has brought us to his heavenly home. Further the great work done by Jesus to obtain eternal life for us shows an eternal love for us in the heart of God. He went to this great cost because he loved us, even in all our sin and sinfulness, and wants us for himself, and for fellowship with himself. This desire of God, which cost him the life blood of Jesus, means he can't be content until we are with him, and presented spotless before his throne in glory, perfectly loving him.

There is no strength or courage in us by human resolve, or simply by command of God. However much we may know it is as a duty laid upon us to be strong, and something which we daren't fail in, yet we have no inner power to ensure we shall not fall down in courage when the heat is on. What gives strength is this promise. If we know, like Joshua, that we can't fail, and this success is solely due to the love of God for us; then we are strong in that assurance, and we just do not want to fail because of the great love wherewith we have been loved. God has loved us with an everlasting love, which cannot be removed or changed, so we will not fail in the pilgrimage for glory. Further we love him so much that we feel it would be awful to let this loving Lord down, so we trust and go forward, and are strong.

THE PROPHECY SUPPLIED BY GOD

I have used the word prophecy to preserve the alliteration, but I am not using the word in the sense of foretelling something in the future. That sense of the word is a source of strength, and it is encompassed in the promise we have just considered. The meaning of prophecy that I have in mind is really the first and essential meaning, which is forthtelling of the word of God to his people. God had spoken to the Israelites and this was his prophetic word on which they were to build their lives. If they built their lives, both private and national, on this prophetic word then they would be strong and courageous.

This prophetic word is dealt with in the next verses to our text, from verse seven, and follows the second call to be strong. The prophetic word was the law given by God to Moses. It called for Israel to keep it without any alteration or deviation, and to keep every part of it. This at first sight seems straight forward, and then after a little thought it seems threatening. It can be threatening if the law is simply seen as the ten commandments. If this prophetic word had been just the ten commandments, then there was no power to be strong in it whatsoever. However much Joshua knew that he and the people must obey every precept of these commands, he knew also that neither he or the people could keep them as they should be kept. He knew from experience that there was in him, and in every one, a bias for the things of this evil world, and that to fail in holiness is to be human. There was no strength in this alone. If this was all that the prophetic word of God contained, then it would have caused despair in his tender soul.

No! the prophetic word encompassed much more. It encompassed all the priestly and sacrificial instructions contained in the ceremonial law. It contained all the rules for Israel to remain in God's love and the means whereby this could be achieved. God has never left his people without hope. To give them just the moral code, without anything else would have been to leave them with no hope. The ceremonial law gave hope, not only in what it achieved, but also in what it pointed to.

The prophetic word commanded by God included a demonstration of the love and mercy of God to sinners, and pointed to the way whereby a broken law could be atoned for, and the punishment of sin lifted. When God gave Moses the ten commandments, he also gave them the sacrificial system whereby sin could be atoned for. It gave hope and strength, because in it was the revelation of mercy and love, that God understood the problem of his people as fallen sinful beings, and provided the way whereby they could remain in his love. If God had just given the moral law, then once this was broken all was lost, and despair would drive the sinner to give up and give themselves over to sin. God instead provided a way of escape. He provided a substitute to bear the sin of the sinner. The animal in the Mosaic law which pointed to the perfect substitute, Jesus Christ. It is in attention to the prophetic word which makes this blessing strong within us and so makes us strong.

For there to be strength in this prophetic word it must never be forgotten, but kept before the mind every day. More than this, it should be the subject of continual and persistent meditation. This is what God urges upon Joshua in verse 8. The devil, if he can't make us forget this prophetic word, will cause us to remember only part of it so that we lose its blessing. If he can't keep us from forgetting part of it, he will keep us from fully understanding and appreciating it, so that we miss the blessing and the strength in it. It is so easy to get a misconception of God, if we do not have the whole council of God before us, but instead we allow ourselves to only receive it superficially. When we see the mercy and love of God towards us, we are touched by that love, and this is the strength to keep us in the prophetic word.

It is the same for the Christian in the New Testament age in which we live. It is by the prophetic word, the Bible, that we become strong, and maintain our courage. It is when the wondrous revelation of God's love to us in Christ, and his mercy and grace thereby revealed, are rich in our hearts and minds, that we not only find new life, but we have the expulsive power of love for God kindled in our hearts, which expels the desires of the flesh. The Bible must be the foundation and the sustenance of our life, and we must feed on this spiritual food deeply every day. The feeding must be sustained by real meditation, so that our lives are filled with the prophetic word. In such living there is strength and courage as the trials and temptations come upon us.

We are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might when the great blessings of the Gospel, that in the work of Christ for us is the answer to our sin and all the needs of our earthly life, are filling us and clothing us like armour, that the devil has no power to overcome us.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

At the third time the Lord calls Joshua to be strong in verse nine, the grace to be strong that is given by the Lord is the assurance of God's presence. It is a wonderful assurance "The Lord God will be with you wherever you go."

The fact of God's presence was a great aid to be strong because of what it meant in the life of Joshua and Israel. The Lord would always be there to guide and direct in every decision that had to be made. The Lord would be there to comfort and heal in all the trials and times when things were getting too much to cope with. The Lord would be there in every battle to fight for Israel, and ensure their progress to victory and the possession of the promised land. God's presence was a demonstration of his covenant love for his people, and that his love would not falter or fail. It was the assurance that he would keep all his covenant promises. Israel knew they were on the victory side because God was with them.

The presence of the Lord is the great privilege of the people of God then and now. The greatness of this privilege can not be over estimated. It is not a general concept on the basis of the omnipresence of the Lord, but rather an intimate relationship that marks the believer in Jesus as in a peculiar relationship with his God.

Belief in Jesus unto salvation has no less goal than a restoration of the privileges of Adam before he sinned. Adam had in paradise intimate communion with the Lord. This was his chief delight and crown of his experience. This is what God had created mankind for. So in Christ we are justified completely before the Law of God. Having the righteousness of Jesus imputed to us, fellowship with God has been restored. The Holy Spirit who has come to dwell in the new born soul has this special office, to bear witness with our spirits that we are children of God, and to give us the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father".

This is no light or superficial experience. It is a work done in us so that we feel the fatherhood of God for us, and that we are his dear children. This is much more than the general fatherhood of God over all his creation, by right of creation. It is the engaging that we are his family, and so his beloved children, whom he loves deeply and forever. It is the assurance that he is watching over us and ordering our lives in love for our good. It means that nothing less than our final residence in glory with the Father is conceived. It means that the loving arms of God are always about us, and that he is there at all times for us to come into his presence and lay before him all that concerns us and all our needs and fears and hopes. This spirit of adoption is the very life blood of prayer. We have access into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus, not as a judge to be feared, not just as a school master to be directed and corrected and taught; but much more as dear children to be loved and succoured and protected and kept.

As our Father, God pledges that he will be the provider of all that we need in life. How then can we not be strong, for our strength is in the Lord. As Paul says in Ephesians six, when he is speaking of the temptation and the wiles of the devil, we are strong in the Lord and the power of his might, because the Lord is our Father, pledged in love to keep us safe unto heaven.

CONCLUSION

Like Joshua we are called to be strong in our journey to heaven, our promised land, of which the land of Canaan was a type. Like Joshua we are given these three things to strengthen us to ensure that we are able to be strong and will be strong. In these three things - God's promise, God's prophetic word, and God's presence - we have all that we need. We may be fearful that we can't be strong, because the world and the flesh and the devil are too strong for us. Like Joshua we must go forward in the comfort of the strength of the Lord, and although we will have moments of failure, we shall find that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us, as he has promised, and he will heighten in our experience the sense of his salvation promise in Christ, and enrich us continually in his prophetic Word.