Press Through Your Challenges: Joshua 6:1-20

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Forward

August 17, 2014

Press Through Your Challenges

Joshua 5:13-15; 6:1-10, 20; Hebrews 3:15

We're coming to our seventh and final sermon from our series called Forward. From this study, God has been speaking to us about the abundant life and how he calls us to move forward in our Christian experience to possess the abundance and fullness of our salvation that can only be experienced as we abide in Jesus Christ.

Now as we come to the sixth chapter, we are presented with yet another challenge that Joshua and the Israelites will have to face. Of course, the Promised Land is a challenge. The first challenge was crossing the Jordan River, and God got them across the river. Now they're across the river, and the next challenge is a big challenge. It is the city of Jericho. 

If you've been in church for just a minimal amount of time or if you've ever read through the Bible, most likely you've heard this story, the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho. What these walls represent are the challenges we face in life. The walls of Jericho teach us a timeless truth. Whenever you move forward with God, you're going to face challenges. 

The abundant life is not a trouble-free life. The abundant life is not a life of comfort. Whenever you move forward with God, you're going to face challenges. You're going to have problems simply because you're moving forward with God. So what the city of Jericho represents, what the walls of Jericho represent for us is they serve as a type of the challenges we meet as we move forward with God. So a Jericho challenge is anything that opposes you moving forward with God. 

Now before we get into this passage, I think it's important that we identify some of those challenges. If you have your outline, I put a little area where you can write down some challenges you are facing right now. There are those challenges on a personal level. Maybe you have a challenge in your family. There are some family issues that are happening in your family, and there is a big challenge ahead of you.

Maybe your challenge is in your marriage or maybe with your children. Maybe the challenge is at work. Maybe you're looking for work, or maybe the challenge is trying to live out your Christian life and Christian experience in a workplace that is against you. It could be that you're trying to get over the challenge of grief because you have lost a loved one. 

It could be a financial challenge. Maybe there's a financial challenge standing before you. There's a wall before you, and you're wondering, "How am I going to get through this challenge?" It could very well be a loved one is unsaved. There are unsaved people in your life, and you want them to come to Christ. So these are just some of the things that could be challenges in your life personally.

Then, of course, we come to the church level. As we try to get out into the community, it's a challenge. Right now, if every church pastor in this area were honest, they would tell you most of their growth comes from transfer growth, Christians moving from one church to another. We sometimes get comfortable with that, especially if you're on the receiving end of it, right? 

The reality is while we're comfortable going from church to church and we're comfortable with transfer growth, here is the reality. The world is going to hell in a hand basket. If you haven't been watching the news, it's getting bigger. So that is a challenge in these communities groups. We're trying to get out there because they're not coming here. 

So it's a challenge to really change the mentality from going to church to being the church. So it's a challenge. We have a challenge called the North Campus. You can draw a circle around that challenge. We need to sell the North Campus. There are all kinds of challenges we have as a church that keep us from moving forward. Then the church as a whole, we need revival, amen? The church needs revival of God. 

If we will repent of our sins as a whole (I'm not just talking about our church; I'm talking about the church), we could turn the world upside down. I think a lot of problems we're complaining about are the direct result of a church that isn't on fire for Jesus. Then, of course, you have what is going on in our nation. We have what is going on around the world. I don't know about you, but there are all kinds of challenges, right? 

So I want you to identify those personal challenges because I believe God wants the walls to come down. I do, but how? How do we press through? How do we press through those challenges, whether they be personal, whether they be the church, or whether they be in our community? How do we do that? Well, God is going to show us through Joshua, the Israelites, and the city of Jericho.

Now let's begin the story in verse 1, chapter 6. It says, "Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel." In other words, they were terrified. They were scared of the people. They were scared of Israel. They just heard about what happened, and they saw how they went across the Jordan River. It was a miracle of God. It says, "None went out, and none came in."

So the good news is the people are scared. That's good news. The bad news is they have secured the city. Nobody is going in. Nobody is going out. That is an extremely large challenge for a group of people who really aren't trained in battle. They're not trained in battle. So humanly speaking, from a human perspective, there is an extreme challenge before the Israelites because this untrained people now think they're going to have to siege the city of Jericho. 

So how do you meet that challenge? Well, Joshua shows us how he deals with it. It actually takes place before verse 1. In the closing verses of chapter 5 (they actually belong to chapter 6), those verses are a transition. They transition us to the second half of the book, which basically has Israel, the people of God, and Joshua occupying the land through warfare. So they're going out into the Promised Land. They're battling because that is the abundant life. You battle. That is what you do. You battle and you conquer. You enjoy the fruit of the land.

Before they could move and occupy, remember if you were here a couple of weeks ago chapter 5. They had to pause. They couldn't just run for the city and attack it as soon as they got over. No, God had them stop because there was sin in the camp. That sin is there was a whole group, a whole generation of young men, sons of Israel, who had not been circumcised. So God said, "Let's pause for a moment. Let's deal with the sin, and then you can move forward." 

So they stopped. They dealt with the sin, and then they partook of the Passover. You can't be uncircumcised and observe the Passover. They observed the Passover, and it says as soon as they observed the Passover, that is when they started enjoying the fruit of the land. That is when they started enjoying the benefits of the land flowing with milk and honey, the abundant life.

So after they experienced the land, the fruit of the land, and the abundance of the land, it's then we find Joshua going out by himself. He is near Jericho. Most likely he is there as a good commander. He is going to go and strategize. "How are we going to take the city of Jericho? How are we going to do it?" It's the normal human response.

While he is there, all alone, he has a divine encounter. Now watch this. Verse 13: "When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, 'Are you for us, or for our adversaries?'" Now I want you to see how he answers. He doesn't say yes or no. He just basically says, "This is who I am."

It says then he said, "No. I'm not even going to go there. It's not an issue of who I'm for; it's an issue of who I'm with and what I'm about to do. "And he said, 'No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.'" Notice this. Joshua at first thought he was a man. Notice the response after he identified himself as the commander of the army of the Lord. It says, "And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped…" In other words, he recognized this is not just any man; this is the commander of the army of the Lord.

Let me just say there is great discussion about the identity of the commander of the army of the Lord. We won't get into all that discussion. We'll just boil it down to what I believe it is. I believe it is the Angel of the Lord, and that means he is in the presence of Jehovah. Most likely he is in the presence of the second person of the trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ. Theologians call this a theophany. So he falls down on his face, and he begins to worship because he recognizes this is a divine encounter. 

Now this encounter is almost parallel to the encounters and the experiences Moses and Jacob had. You remember Moses had an encounter at the burning bush, right? Do you remember that? Yeah. If you know the story of Jacob, Jacob wrestled all night with an angel of the Lord, a man who we know is the Angel of the Lord. He would not let go of the Angel of the Lord until he got blessed. 

Then finally God blessed him and gave him a little limp to go and remind him, "You need to trust me. Stop taking things into your own hands." Well, this is what Joshua is having. He is having a divine encounter with God. The moment he recognizes this is none other than Jehovah himself, the Lord, he falls on his face, and he worships him. 

Now I want you to see something because here is what Joshua says in verse 14. He falls to his face. Remember, he is worshiping. Then he says, "What does my lord say to his servant?" "What do you want from me, Lord? What do you want?" Then God responds. "And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.'" Sound familiar? Yeah. That is what God said to Moses. "You are now on holy ground." 

Now the question is…Is it just where he is standing, or is he referring to the fact that he is near Jericho? Remember Jericho is the challenge, right? Jericho is the challenge. He is standing before Jericho. He has an encounter with God. All of a sudden, God says, "Oh, by the way, you are now standing on holy ground."

What is he talking about? The ground around him? I believe he is talking about not just the ground you're standing on, but your problem is now holy ground. Can I get an amen? Your problem, your challenge, your financial problem, your marriage problem, your health problem is now holy ground. 

Here's what he did. He was able to turn his challenge and his problem into an altar for worship, not a reason for worry. Did you notice that? He is on his face. He is worshiping. I believe the fact that he is on his face and worshiping is a direct result of what took place in chapter 5 because they paused long enough to deal with the sin in their lives.

Now they had an awareness of God and his presence. He was sensitive to the presence of God. Here he is. He is standing before the challenge. We don't know this. It's not in the text, but he could have very well been praying. All of a sudden he looks up, and there's the Lord. There's the Lord. He doesn't worry about the challenge. Instead, he lets that become his altar for worship. 

I want you to think about that. I want you to think about your challenge…that one, or the many…you just identified. Some of you are worried about that challenge. Why? Because we're human. We worry. If it wasn't a part of our nature, God would have never commanded us, "Do not be anxious." Why did he command us? Because naturally in our humanness we're going to worry, right? Instead, he falls on his face. He is worshiping the Lord.

Do you know what happens when you turn your challenge into an altar for worship? What happens is you, in essence, are aware of the presence of God. Now all of a sudden God is saying, "I'm with you. I know there's a challenge before you, Joshua. I know you're wondering how you're going to take the city, especially now that they have secured it. You have all these young guys who don't even know how to fight. You're wondering, 'How am I going to overcome this challenge?'"

By worshiping there, God is saying, "I am with you. I go before you. By the way, this isn't your battle. I am the commander of the Lord's army. I'm the one fighting for you. I'm the one going before you." The same God who is saying that to Joshua is saying that to you today, child of God. Do you believe it? Yeah. So do you want to know how you press through your challenges? You turn that challenge into an altar for worship, not a reason for worry. He is on his face. He is worshiping. 

You need to listen for God's voice while you worship. Here's what happens. As soon as he realizes it is the Angel of the Lord, the commander, that he is in the presence of God, he falls on his face. He worships. Then he asks this question, which is a very important question because it tells us he is ready to hear from God. "What does my lord say to his servant?" You have to prepare yourself to hear from God. Do you know that? How do you prepare yourself to hear from God? You worship. Hearing from God and worship go hand in hand. 

Many people want to hear from God without even coming and pausing and worshiping him. How many of you come here on Sunday mornings with the anticipation and this expectation that as I worship, God is going to speak to me? Do you come here with that expectation? You should if you come to worship. God speaks. We have a God who speaks. So you have to prepare yourself to hear from God. You do it through worship. 

So Joshua is worshiping. He is humbled. He simply says, "Lord, what do you want to say? Lord, what do you want me to hear?" By doing that, he is saying, "God, I'm under your authority. I want to hear from your Word. I want to do your will. What do you want me to hear, God?" That is what worship is. Do you know that? Worship is submission. Worship is raising your hands and saying, "I surrender." Worship is saying, "God, you are God and I'm not." That's what worship is, and that is what Joshua is doing. That's how you prepare yourself to hear from God.

Acts, chapter 13 is a great example of worship and prayer and God speaking to his church because in Acts, chapter 13, it says all the church leaders were worshiping and praying before God. As they were worshiping and praying, guess what? The Holy Spirit spoke. He speaks today, by the way. He is speaking now. As the Scripture says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

So they're worshiping. The Holy Spirit tells them, "Set Paul and Barnabas aside." What happens is they go on their first missionary trip. If it wasn't for them worshiping and listening to the Lord, listen. They went and they obeyed, and the whole world was changed because of that. Acts, chapter 13 and their obedience to the call to missions has brought the gospel to you and me.

Now as you prepare yourself to hear from God, that's when you begin to listen for God to speak a promise to your challenge. As he is worshiping, remember verses 13-15 are connected to chapter 6. So God already spoke to him the first time. He said, "By the way, you are on holy ground." Then he is going to give him a promise. Here's the promise.

Verse 2 of chapter 6: "And the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.'" Church, that is a promise. Can you look at it closely? What kind of promise is it? Can you tell me? What is the tense? Past tense. "I have given you the land." Not, "I will give you Jericho." That's important, don't you think? I think it's very important. It's a past-tense promise in which God says, "I have given it to you." 

Now of course they had to do their part. It's conditional on their obedience, but God says, "It's a done deal. Joshua, when you guys go forward, you're not fighting for victory." In fact, they're not even going to have to fight at all. "You're fighting from victory. I have already given you the victory." 

Let me tell you, church, in Christ we have the victory. We have the victory. So he gives him a promise: "I have given you Jericho." Let me tell you, God used Chad this morning to talk about the promises of God because the same God who gave Joshua a promise is the same God who will give you a promise. If you will pause and worship him and allow him to speak a promise to your situation, he will do it. He will do it.

However, you need to be very careful because when God gives a promise (and he will), how he decides to answer that promise and how you think he should answer that promise may be on two different spectrums, amen? I am sure that if Joshua was a praying man (and I believe he was), when he prayed, "Lord, give us the military strength. Give us the ability to rush that city. I want you to strengthen those guys so they can fight in battle," you can imagine what he was praying.

Here's what God does. Here's what God loves to do. He loves to do the absurd. Naaman had a problem with it, right? "What? You're telling me to dip seven times into the Jordan River? I'm not going to do it. That's unusual." God works that way. God may choose to give an absurd plan for your challenge, and that is what he does.

Listen to verse 3. He gave him a promise. "I have given you Jericho. Now here's what you have to do." "You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days." "So for six days, you march around the city, okay?" Verse 4: "Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets."

Now listen to verse 5. "And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all of the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him." Now that's unusual. That's why I tell you they're not Baptists. The Baptists I know don't shout. I think we should. Now I'm a shouting Baptist, but God gave him an unusual plan. Humanly speaking and from a military standpoint, that is foolish. That is foolish. 

Not only that, but he says, "I want you to blow trumpets." The trumpets weren't the silver trumpets of warfare; they were the rams' horns, the shofar. They would blow those for celebration and worship. You say, "Well, that's an unusual plan." It sure is. It's an absurd plan, but it's a perfect plan. Here's why it's perfect. 

Did you notice the number seven? Yeah. "You need to march for seven days. On the seventh day, you march around the city seven times. You need to get seven priests with seven horns. Every day they are to be blowing the horns. When you get on that seventh day and you get around that seven times, then they're going to have a long blast. That is when they are to shout." 

At the center of it all, it's not Joshua. It's not the Israelites. It's not the priests. It's the ark of the covenant, because the ark of the covenant symbolized God's power and presence. Now here's why it's a perfect plan. 

First, this plan gives God all the glory. Amen? To go to war without even having to fight gives God all the glory. That is how God answers the prayers. That is how he answers our challenges. He does so in such a way that will give him the most glory.

Secondly, it's now going to strengthen the faith of the Israelites. Can you imagine if they obey (and they do), after marching and doing everything God said he would do and he supernaturally brings the walls down, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to take on anybody, amen? Yes. Wow. Look what God can do when you obey his voice. So God gave an unusual, absurd plan.

Some of you have a challenge, if not all of you. If you're like me, I often come with a perfect plan for God to follow. "God, here's how you should answer this. Boy, you would really get a lot of glory." What I find is God always answers in a way that will be for our good. You say, "Well, what is for our good?" Where we are able to demonstrate faith that pleases him. Where we are conformed more into the image of Christ. That's for our good. 

It's good that you become more like Jesus. It's not comfortable becoming more like Jesus, but it's good that you become more like Jesus. Amen? Being comfortable and becoming more like Jesus are not compatible. It's very painful, but what God does is he allows us to face these challenges. He will answer these challenges in a way that will strengthen our faith and conform us more into the image of Christ. Then he will answer that challenge in a way that gives him all the credit.

So listen. While you turn that challenge, while you turn that problem into an altar for worship, you listen. You listen for God to speak. He will speak. You listen. He'll give you a promise. He may give you several promises. Then you listen for those promises. You wait for him to unfold those promises in your life, but you also realize he may choose an absurd way to fulfill that plan. I've had a lot of plans fulfilled in a way I didn't want him to fulfill them, but it turned out for my good and for his glory.

Now you have your promise. Your challenge is before you. The next thing you do is you celebrate. You celebrate God's victory over your challenge with faith and obedience. They still had to do their part. They had to believe. When you have a true belief and a true faith, when you place your faith in a promise, it will move you to action. We call that obedience. 

So here's what happens. There's no question on the part of Joshua. That's why I believe I don't see any complaining going into the Promised Land because when you're living the abundant life, you're in the Spirit. You're open. You're willing to do whatever God wants to do. So when he gives him the plan and tells him, "Here's what is going to happen, and here's how you're going to do it," it's interesting. 

Moses was reluctant. "I can't speak. Can you send somebody else?" Not Joshua. Verse 6: "So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, 'Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.' And he said to the people, 'Go forward. March around the city and the let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD.'" No complaint from Joshua. Now you go to verse 8, and there is no complaint from the people. 

"And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.

But Joshua commanded the people, 'You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.'" So here's the picture. Nobody is complaining. They have the orders. "We're going to march around the city six times. The priests are going to blow the shofar each day. While you're walking those six days, don't shout. Don't say anything."

Here's what happens. When God moves us forward and he gives us a promise, God will oftentimes put us in a holding pattern. We have to wait. Now in a generation that likes instant gratification, I don't want to have to walk around six days, Lord. Can you hurry up this process? Can we slip it into the microwave and, boom, it's gone? It's done with? That is not how God works. 

Here's where many people will not have victory over a challenge or pass through the challenge because they don't like the idea that they're having to walk around the city for six days. They did. They walked around the city. It says they went around the first day and the second day, and they did exactly what God told them to do for six days straight.

Can you imagine the struggle the Israelites had? Now we don't see it on the pages of the Scriptures, but can you imagine about the third day? You're looking to the next guy going, "Do you ever feel like we're walking around in circles?" Do you ever feel like you're going nowhere while you're waiting for God? Well, God puts us in those patterns because he wants to strengthen our faith. They persevered. They did not give up. Why? Because while they were waiting, I guarantee you they clung to the promise of God.

I just read the classic book The Pilgrim's Progress for the second time in my lifetime. You need to read that if you haven't read it. Great book. The story is an allegory of the Christian life. A man by the name of Graceless is saved, and he becomes a Christian. Christian is making his journey to the celestial city. He ends up in a castle called the Doubting Castle, where Giant Despair runs the castle. 

So he and his companion, Faithful, are in the Doubting Castle. They can't get out. Giant Despair is beating them and beating them and beating them. He is going to beat them to death. Then finally, Christian takes this key out of his pocket, and it's the key of Promise. It's the key of Promise that opens up the door and enables him to get out of the Doubting Castle.

That's the same. When you're going around and around in circles and you're waiting for God to act, don't give up. You pull out the key of promise. You open up that door, and get out of that castle of doubt. You keep believing. You keep walking. If you have to go 12 weeks, if you have to go 12 years, do not stop believing the promises of God. They did not stop.

Not only that, but they worshiped. That horn, that shofar, was not for wartime. It was for celebration and worship. So when they were walking around the city, they were in essence declaring God and his goodness and his almightiness, and they were worshiping. While they worshiped, while they waited, they watched. 

Here's what happened. Look at verse 20. Now they've already gone around the seventh day. They've marched around seven times. Here's what happens. Verse 20: "So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown." The shout wasn't a shout of wartime; it was a shout of praise. "As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city."

I was reading through the Bible. God put me in Ezra, chapter 3 this past week. In Ezra, chapter 3, they're rebuilding the temple. They lay the foundation of the temple. It says in Ezra, chapter 3, after they laid the foundation of the rebuilt temple, the priests got out the horns. They blew the horns, and the people shouted. They were praising God for the finished work.

I believe when they shouted and praised God here in Joshua, chapter 6, they were praising God for the victory. They were praising God that now the walls had been pushed down. That is what the Hebrew suggests. It's almost as if God is pushing the walls down from the top. He flattens the walls for them. He flattens the challenge for them. 

You can imagine. The walls are tall. So all of a sudden, they shout. The walls are pushed down flat. Now they're walking up. They're on top of the city, and they're capturing the city. Not one time did they have to do any kind of military action. It was all based upon worship and praising God. So they captured the city. I believe the same God who flattened the walls of Jericho is the same God who can flatten the walls of your challenge. Do you believe that? 

So here's what I want to do. I want to challenge you. We're going to incorporate this into our worship service. You can use your outline this coming week, and I want you to start today. I made some little devotionals. Here's what I want you to do. You've identified your challenge. Now today, spend some time with the Lord. Let him begin to speak a promise to your situation. Let him speak that promise to your challenge. It may take a couple of days. It may be that you don't have a promise from this week. Don't give up.

Here's what you do. I want you to take that challenge you have or challenges we have on all levels. I want you to circle them for six days. Every day, go before the Lord and circle your challenge, okay? Then we're going to come back next Sunday, and we're going to come up front, those of you who take the challenge and those of you who want to see walls come down in your lives, walls come down in our communities, walls come down in the lives of other people. We're going to stand up front, and we're going to pray, because I believe God wants to do some great things. 

Will you take the challenge? I will, because I have some challenges. I want to see God bring the walls down. Some of you are here this morning, and the greatest challenge you have is the wall of sin that keeps you from having a relationship with the one true God. Guess what? Jesus has broken down that wall. Through his death, his burial, and his resurrection, you can have eternal life. You can have a relationship with God.

In a moment, we're going to have a song of invitation. I want to invite you. If that's you today, I want to invite you to come forward and just say, "Pastor, I need Jesus. I want the wall of sin in my life to be broken by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I want to have a personal relationship with God." Let's bow our heads and our hearts before God.

Father, we just praise you, God, that you're a God who puts challenges in our lives so you can do mighty miracles. There are challenges that are represented here today. There are Jericho challenges, God, that many by faith are going to put before you and just ask, God, that you bring those walls down. 

God, we pray that in the coming weeks and the coming months, we can have testimonies of how you brought the walls down in people's lives. God, we pray that you get all the glory. We pray for that man, that woman who is here this morning who doesn't know Christ. We pray that they would come this day and give their life to Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Let's sing. Let's worship. Let's stand, and then we'll conclude.

Moving Forward – Part 3 Joshua 1:6-9

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Forward

July 13, 2014

Moving Forward – Part 3

Joshua 1:6-9

"It's a brilliant idea. I want to sell books on the Internet." So he projected himself at 80 years old and thought, "What would I regret…trying or not trying?" He decided it was not trying. His name is Jeff Bezos, and he is the founder and CEO of amazon.com. Has anybody ever bought anything off of Amazon? Most everything I get comes from amazon.com. 

I want you to think about that framework (regret minimization framework). I want you to project yourself toward the end of your life. When you get to the end of your life, will you have been able to minimize your regrets? I don't mean regrets of things you wish you would have done on your bucket list or temporal things. I'm talking about eternal things. 

Will you be able to say when you get to the end of your life, "I moved forward with God, and I experienced the abundance and the fullness of his plan and purpose for my life in Christ Jesus"? Will you be able to say with the apostle Paul, "I have fought the fight. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful. I've remained faithful"? Moving forward with God will minimize your regrets as it relates to eternal matters, and all that matters is that which relates to eternity. Amen? 

Yeah. That's all that matters. The things that belong to this world are passing. When God commissions Joshua… That's what he is doing in these first nine verses of Joshua, chapter 1. He is commissioning Joshua, and he is calling Joshua to lead the Israelites to go, to move forward, to arise, and go over into the Promised Land. He calls him, and then he prepares him. He spent 40 years preparing him for this moment.

By the way, this isn't the first time God commissioned him. If you've read the book of Deuteronomy, he commissioned him before Moses ever passed away. He has been preparing him for this, and then God says, "I'm going to provide everything you need. I'm going to give you the land. I'm going to give you victory. I'll be with you. My power will be with you. No one will be able to stand against you, and I will always be with you." "Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you." 

God calls. He prepares. He provides, but now he has an expectation on the part of Joshua and the Israelites. For all of this to happen, for them to move forward, guess what? They had to cooperate with God. Right? There's no, "Let go and let God" here. No. They had to do their part. They had to cooperate with God to move forward. They had to fulfill the expectations God had of them.

The same is true for us. You know, under the new covenant, God calls us out of darkness, and he calls us to move forward in our Christian experience. He prepares us. Do you know that wilderness experience? That's something we should experience every day, where we are broken before God and humbled before God. We say, "Lord, we're trusting you in everything we do." He provides for us power, his presence. 

All of his promises he gives to us, and he says, "I give you everything you need to move forward in your Christian experience." But he expects us to cooperate with God. There's this interesting (I guess you could say) "paradox" in Scripture. You "…work out your salvation with fear and trembling…" Right? As we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, it's actually God who is working in us to will and to work according to his pleasure. We work out what God is working in! 

Our text today shows us how. How do we move forward? We know God provides. We know God prepares. We know he calls. Now how do we move forward? What our text is going to show us… This is very important, because here's where a lot of people will fail in moving forward. You see, there are obstacles to moving forward. Our text is probably going to show you the two most prominent obstacles you will face when it comes to moving forward with God. 

You see, the greatest obstacles you will face when moving forward with God are fear and discouragement. Fear and discouragement. In verses 6 through 9, we have two commands that are repeated three times. In verse 6, he gives a command to Joshua. "Be strong and courageous…"

By the way, God is commanding Joshua to be strong and courageous in these verses, but then when Joshua commissions the people in verses 10 through 18, when they get to the end of saying, "We'll follow you," then the people say to Joshua, "We'll follow you, but you need to be strong, and you need to be courageous."

Right now God is commanding him, "You be strong and courageous." Again, in verse 7, "Only be strong and very courageous…" Then you come to verse 9, and God repeats it again. "Have I not commanded you?" Yes, you have…two times! That's only right here in this passage! He did the very same thing when Moses was still alive, and he spoke to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous." Now again he says in verse 9, "Be strong and courageous."

Now when you see something repeated, you always want to draw your attention to that. Obviously God says, "Joshua, it's going to take courage, and it's going to take strength to move forward." The implication here is that Joshua's knees are probably shaking. "Oh my goodness! I have to lead these so many million people into the Promised Land." It wasn't just a group of a hundred. It was much bigger than a megachurch. That's for sure! Maybe a couple million people. 

You can imagine he is frightened. The repetition reveals to us the condition of Joshua. Then in verse 9, God reveals that condition. After he gives the command where he says, "Be strong and courageous." Then he says, "Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed…" Those are translated as commands, but in the Hebrew, they're not imperative verbs. They're not commands. They're imperfect in the Hebrew. 

What happens in the Hebrew is imperfect verbs take on the action of the context. What's the action of the context? "Be strong and courageous." The assumption is Joshua is afraid. Joshua is discouraged and dismayed. God says, "I know you're afraid, Joshua. I know you're discouraged, but I want you to be strong and courageous."

Why would Joshua be frightened? Why would he be unnerved? Why would he be struggling in the area of courage? Well, I think there are at least a couple of reasons. Let's get this straight. The Promised Land does not equal comfort. The Promised Land does not translate into a trouble-free life. When they were going over, there were going to be strong groups of people. There were fortified cities with walls all around them, and they had to fight these kings.

You had the Amalekites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites. You had all these "-ites" in the land, and they were to go in and conquer the land, and they were to go in and battle those who were in the land. It wasn't going to be a trouble-free life. See, we like to think the Promised Land is prosperity, no trouble, no harm.

Another thing that would probably scare him is the fact that when God commissioned Joshua and Moses… Moses was there, and Joshua was being commissioned. Here's what he said. He said, "When you go over into the Promised Land, your people aren't going to obey. They're going to be unfaithful." You have to remember all the blessings of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28) were contingent on the fact that they would obey the covenant.

"If you're faithful and you obey the covenant, all of these blessings will be yours. On the flipside of that, if you disobey the covenant, then all of these curses will take place." If you look at the history of Israel, what do you see? You see the truth that when they disobeyed and were unfaithful to the covenant, God allowed things to happen to them. 

You can imagine he is a little bit terrified. He is a little bit fearful. That fear and that discouragement could keep him from going forward. You know, as we relate it to the new covenant and the Christian life, the Christian life and the abundant life do not equal comfort. Nowhere in the New Testament do you see a comfortable walk with God. In fact, it says in Philippians, chapter 1, verse 29, it is appointed to you not only to believe but also to suffer.

Now that's lost in a lot of lack of truth today that, when you abide in Christ and you live that abundant life, I'm here to tell you you're not going to have a comfortable life. That's why a lot of people will say, "I don't want that abundant life. I don't want that! I don't want that discomfort. I don't want to have to battle." It is a battle every day. If you're going to abide in Christ, first of all, you have to battle with yourself every day. 

The old nature is always there, and there's a conflict Paul described in Galatians, chapter 5. You have the old nature and the new nature, and those two do not get along. There's that battle. There's that struggle. How many of you have been in such an intense struggle with the old nature that you wanted to give up? 

I have people get discouraged all the time myself because… You know, here I am. I'm struggling. I'm struggling. I'm struggling. Then I realize that's part of the Christian life. The struggle is a part of abiding in Christ. The conflict is all about abiding in Christ. When you abide in Christ, there will be the conflict with the old nature. Then, of course, there's the conflict with the world that's full of temptations, right? 

Then, of course, we have an enemy, the Devil, who will do all he can to keep us from enjoying the fullness of the Spirit. He wants us to stay in the wilderness. We have in our own lives… I like to call them kings. We have kings in our own lives we have to battle. They all are kings who rule in the dominion of self: self-will, self-love, self-vindication, self-confidence. Yeah. Do you see those kings we have to fight every day? Every day!

So the greatest obstacles you will face when it comes to moving forward into the abundant life and enjoying the fullness of your salvation are fear and discouragement. Many Christians are like the Israelites. They see all that's taking place. They see the strong people. They see the strong and fortified cities with all the walls around them. They see the kings they're going to fight, and they see the discomfort that will come with the Promised Land. Of course they see, "We have to obey the covenant." 

They say, "Do you know what? I don't want to go over." Then there are those who do go over, but when they get over there, they compromise. They don't enjoy everything God wants us to enjoy. I mean, even today as we're watching missiles go toward Israel, I hope you realize where they are living now is not exactly what God gave them. He gave them much more than where they're at. 

The reason they are where they are is not God. Who? Them. God says, "You disobeyed the covenant." When we compromise and when we seek comfort, we fail to enjoy all that God has for us. So move forward. Move forward! Move beyond your fears. Move beyond your discouragement, and do it with courage. How? How do we have courage? 

Faith in God's provisions results in a courage that will move you beyond your fear and discouragement. Faith in God's provisions results in courage to move beyond the fears and discouragement. Faith! Faith! Watch what happens in verse 6. Again, we see the command. "Be strong and courageous…" Then he says, "…for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." Strong and courageous. Let's look at those two words in detail.

They're two Hebrew words: chazaq (which means to show courage) and then 'amats (which means to be able to face danger). What's interesting is whenever you see those two words together in the Old Testament, they are always in the context of God's power and God's presence. Look back at verse 5. 

God makes this promise to Joshua. "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life." That's God's power, right? Notice his presence. Verse 5: "Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you." Go all the way down to verse 9. At the very end of verse 9 after he says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed…" he says (here's the reason), "…for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." God's presence! God's power! 

What these two Hebrew words, to be strong and courageous, are calling us to do is to have an attitude that is strong and courageous that will move us beyond our fears and discouragement. It takes faith. Faith in what? God's provisions. His promises. He promises to be with us. He promises to give us power. He promises to give us victory.

When you move forward believing those promises, when you step out and say, "Okay, God, I know you're with me. I know, in Christ, I'm more than a conqueror. If God is for me, who can be against me…?" When you step out in faith, what happens is it results in courage, and you can move forward, and you can move beyond those fears and those discouragements. Do y'all understand that? 

It is faith in the promises of God, it's faith in his power, faith in his presence, that enables you to say, "I'm moving forward. I don't care about my fears. I don't care about my discouragements. I'm moving forward with God." When we struggle (and we all know this), when we struggle with believing God's promises, what happens? Doubt. Disbelief. 

Oh, let me tell you the Enemy loves to use your fears. He loves to use your discouragements. He loves to take those things and throw them into your face and make you begin to doubt the promises of God and question the very character of God. He will do whatever it takes to keep you from enjoying the fullness of your salvation. Yeah. 

I know in my own personal life the greatest struggles I have had in my Christian walk… In fact, the greatest struggle I've ever had (not to say I won't have one greater than this, but this was a pretty good struggle) was back in 2011. I was actually starting to believe the Enemy, because I'm a pastor, and I have all these answers, but I didn't believe all these promises were for me. I started to believe God had given up on me. I started to believe, "God doesn't care."

Thank God he gave me the faith, enabled me to believe and to understand that what I was beginning to believe was a lie straight from the Enemy. I was able to take that faith and that strength, and I was able to move beyond my fears, discouragement, and my depression. Yes! Yes!

Faith in God's promises results… It's not courage and then faith. Let's not get this backward. It's not, "Well, I'm courageous. Now I'm going to step out in faith." No. I'm going to step out in faith, and God will give me courage. Do y'all understand that? We get it backwards all the time, right? We let the fears tell us, "Don't do it. You don't have the courage yet. Don't do it." Listen. That's a lie from the Devil. 

Faith says, "You go. You step out. You believe." When you believe God's provision, he will provide, and it will result in courage. You can move beyond those fears and discouragement. When you have that type of faith (a courageous faith), it always translates into obedience, which fuels… Listen to this. When you step out in faith and it translates into obedience, it fuels courage and strength. It fuels it!

We see that in verses 7 and 8. Verse 7: "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you." Let me stop right there. Whenever God gives us a command, he always tells us how to obey it. He always follows it. "Okay, be strong and courageous." 

"All right, God. How will I do that?" 

"Well, you need some faith, and that faith will translate into obedience." 

Obedience to what? The will of God. That's what verse 7 is. It's God saying, "If you will step out and obey, if you will only be strong and very courageous being careful… You be vigilant. You keep your eyes on the law of God. You make sure you do everything according to the law that Moses my servant commanded you."

Listen to this. He says, "Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go." Isn't that great? If I have a courageous faith, what does it look like? Obedience to the will of God. Obedience to the will of God! How do I have strength and courage? You obey the will of God. You step out. You'll notice what he said. "Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left…"

Jesus said it in this way. In John, chapter 14, verse 21, he says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." In other words, you enjoy the abundance of salvation as you are obedient to the will of God, right? So you have to be vigilant. Don't go to the left. Don't go to the right. 

Do y'all remember when you used to text when you were driving? I know you don't do it anymore, right? I can always tell when somebody is doing something in their car. Right? It's really scary when they're coming toward you. I've noticed it's not just texting and driving. They have so many gadgets in your car today. It can distract you. 

That's what he is saying. "Be very careful, because when you go over to the Promised Land, you're going to be distracted. If you're not careful, if you're not vigilant and keep your eye on the law of God and be obedient to the will of God, then things are going to happen. You won't be successful. You won't be prosperous. You have to keep your focus on the will of God."

How do you do that? Meditation on the Word of God. That's what verse 8 is all about. How do I stay on the right path? By meditating on the law day and night. "This Book of the Law…" I guarantee you it had Deuteronomy, chapter 28, in it. "Hey, this book of the law with all the blessings and all the curses, make sure you don't let that depart from you." That's what he is saying.

"Do not let the book of the law…" "[It]…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 [only then] you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." 

It says you are to meditate day and night. What that means… Church, listen to me. I cannot fathom living my life without this being the priority of my life. I just can't. I can't fathom a Christian living that way. To meditate day and night simply means God's Word is a priority in your life, that you are consistently, daily spending time meditating.

Now when you meditate, obviously it needs to go beyond meditation. It needs to turn into obedience, right? Some of us have the meditating down, but it's not true meditating if it does not move you to action. That Hebrew word meditating simply means to hum. Hum the Word of God in your mind and in your mouth. Hum it! Sing it! Do whatever it takes to keep it before you. Amen?

Meditate on it. Make it a priority of your life. When you allow that courageous faith to translate… By the way, it's not courageous if it doesn't translate into obedience. When it is active and it is obeying the will of God and meditating on the Word of God to keep the focus, here's what happens. You move forward. When you courageously move forward out of faith and obedience, God's mission will be fulfilled through you.

See, there are a couple of purpose statements that were made in verses 7 and 8. Did you catch them? We love those words: prosperity, success. Man, I want prosperity, and I want success. Unfortunately with the prosperity gospel, the meaning here has been perverted. He is not talking about Joshua's bank account. He is talking about God fulfilling his mission through Joshua and through the Israelites. 

"When you obey the covenant and I bless you, those blessings are to flow through you, and you are to be a light in a dark world. The dark nations around you should realize the God of Israel is the one, true God." Watch this. Look at verse 7. I mean, "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…"

Meditate on the Word of God. Again in verse 8, here's the reason. "For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." The prosperity and the success are that people will see the God of Israel is the only God. There are no other gods. Amen? Here's what happens. God fulfills his mission through you. What is his mission? That we come and just sit in the pews every Sunday? Oh no! It wasn't for Israel either.  

In fact, there's an illustration of the mission in chapter 2. In chapter 2, we meet a woman named Rahab, a Gentile prostitute, but she understands and she has heard all that God had been doing through the Israelites, all the miracles he did, how he delivered them from Egypt. They had heard all that God had done. I want you to listen to what she says to the two spies. 

Beginning in verse 9, she said to the men, "I know…" Oh, that's faith right there. "I know that the LORD has given you the land…" Isn't that amazing? "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan…"

Listen to this. "And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath." Then she says, "Now please. I believe. Will you spare me? I have faith in your God." Then of course in chapter 6, we see that faith translated into obedience, right?

Here's what I want you to see. There are two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. By the way, they're hearing what God is doing and they know he is going to take the land. The people are going to take the land. They could have responded in the same way Rahab did. "Your God is God, and we want to go with your God." But only Rahab did. The rest of them said, "Fight them. Fight them!"

I want you to hear this, church. The way God fulfills his mission through us is as we walk in obedience to his will. That means this building and this church is not the kingdom of God. We are instruments to be used in the kingdom of God. We take the kingdom of God as God blesses us. We take the kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. 

Do you see? That's what Jesus did. He didn't go and build a building and say, "Well, they'll come." He didn't say, "Hey, it's all about location, disciples. If we just get here by the highway, they'll all come to us." What did Jesus do? He went to them, and he said, "The kingdom of God is at hand." That's what we must do. We take it as individuals.

I don't know about you. I want you to think about this. Do you know the Israelites didn't enjoy (and they still haven't enjoyed) all God promised? Here's why. Because they compromised. I don't want to lose out. I want to minimize my regrets as much as possible. I don't want to get to the end of my life and say, "Do you know what? I lived a status quo life. I was faithful, went to church. I gave, and I was just a good person." I don't want that.

When I get to the end of my life, I want to say, as Paul did, "Man, I fought that fight. I ran that race. I preached the gospel of the kingdom. I did all I could to go out into the community and to the ends of the earth, preaching the good news and letting people know there are two kingdoms, and only one kingdom is going to last forever, and it is the kingdom of God." I'm going to minimize my regrets because all that matters is what we do for eternity.

My bucket list for doing things in this world means nothing if it doesn't have eternal significance. Listen. My retirement or anything I am saving up for this world means nothing if I don't put it in terms of eternal significance. I want to move forward. I want our church to move forward. What's going to keep us? Fear. Discouragement. 

If we will just have faith, step out in faith, as individuals and as Christians say, "I'm going to step out in faith, and as I step out in faith, God will give me the courage I need," it will result in courage. That faith will become a courageous faith that translates into obedience. I'm obeying the will of God. 

As I'm obeying the will of God, that's when I become successful. That's when I'm prosperous. That's when God is actually fulfilling his mission through my life. That's when God is fulfilling his mission through my life. That's what I want God to do in my life. Let's bow our heads, our hearts.

Are you here this morning and you…? Let me just rephrase that. Are you minimizing your regrets eternally? I mean, seriously evaluate your life. What's keeping you in the wilderness? What's keeping you from enjoying all that God has for you? What's keeping you from being a light to this world? Identify it. 

Here's what I want you to do. You step out in faith. God has a promise for you. All the promises are yes in Christ Jesus. God has a promise for you. You claim it. You step on it. You move forward, and you'll find you'll have strength and courage. The greatest place to be is exactly where God wants you to be. There's great courage and strength knowing, "No matter what, I'm doing the will of God for the glory of God."

Commit yourself this morning. If you need a personal relationship with Jesus… I'm going to close us in prayer, and then we'll be dismissed. If you want to talk to me about Christ, I'm going to be right here in the front. I would love to talk to you. If you want prayer, I'll be right here in front. 

Father, thank you for this precious word of how we cooperate with you in moving forward. In Jesus' name, amen.

Moving Forward – Part 2 Joshua 1:2-5

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Forward

June 29, 2014

Moving Forward – Part 2

Joshua 1:2-5

I like Mexican food. How many of you like Mexican food? I'm almost a little bit too fond of Mi Ranchito. When I go there, 99 percent of the time I order the same thing. I order the Fajitas Mi Pueblito, mixed. Does anybody else know what I'm talking about when I say fajitas? You order the Fajitas Mi Pueblito? You should. Nobody else has ordered? I had one person in the last service. Is that what you order, Fajitas Mi Pueblito? Okay, you're going to understand this.

Now what makes it so special… It's not the chicken or the beef, and there are the onions, of course. I know you are probably hungry, right. The onions. They put tomatoes in there. They sauté the mushrooms with it and they put cheese on top when they bring it out. But there's one ingredient. This is really the only reason I order it. They put bacon in it. Oh, do they put bacon in it. They can leave out the chicken, they can leave out the beef, just bring the bacon. I want bacon fajitas, I guess.

So you can imagine my shock and dismay when one night (it might have been a Sunday) they brought me the fajitas and there was no bacon. I'm like, "Who's cooking back there? Do they not know the ingredients? Read the menu!" I was doing it in the niceness of the Lord, but, "Dude, I'm not eating this. You have to go get the bacon. Bring to me the bacon."

Now I'd like to say it only happened one time, but it happened three times. One time I was just so tired. This was on a Sunday. I just ate them anyway, but I didn't like it. So now every time I order I say, "Give me the Fajitas Mi Pueblito mixed, and make sure you put the bacon in it," because for me the bacon is the Promised Land. Anything less is the wilderness.

I think there are too many Christians who are living their lives without the bacon. Figuratively, not literally. What I mean is they're not experiencing all God has for them, the abundance of their salvation and the fullness of their salvation. Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly."

I think we make a mistake when we present the gospel, "Hey, you need Jesus so you can go to heaven." I'm learning more about the kingdom of God, and I think you need Jesus so heaven can come to you right now. See, Jesus wants you to have the abundant life now. Jesus wants to begin to make you whole now. He wants you to enjoy bacon now. He wants you to enjoy the fullness of your salvation now. Many Christians don't abide in Christ and enjoy the fullness of all God has for them.

As we study the book of Joshua, we're journeying with Joshua and the Israelites to the Promised Land. Their journey is a picture for the Christian life. If you think about it, they were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt, they were led into the wilderness, and it was only going to take them a month to get to the Promised Land. 

How many years did it take? Forty years. Why? Because they didn't want the bacon. They didn't trust God. They didn't believe God. They grumbled with God. There was a whole unbelieving generation that did not experience the fullness and the abundance of the Promised Land. But see, that's a picture of the Christian life.

When you come to Christ, God delivers you out of the bondage of sin, and you come into the wilderness and he expects you to move forward to enjoy the abundant life, the full life in Jesus Christ. Now the Promised Land for us is not a place. He's a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. He is the Promised Land. Read Hebrews. We experience the Promised Land because we have the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, living in us.

We have to abide in Christ, and as we abide in Jesus Christ then we experience the fullness of all God has for us. Think about this. I'm doing a study on the Holy Spirit. In fact, it's called Forty Days with the Holy Spirit. R. T. Kendall wrote this book. He's just emphasizing things I think we take for granted concerning the Holy Spirit.

As I was witnessing to Muslims in New York, it's so interesting when you say, "Well, we worship one God; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit." They're going, "What?" "Yeah, I don't know how else to tell you. We worship one God. He's in three persons. They're all distinct persons, and well, they're one." I just accept it by faith. I can't explain it. 

Anytime you try to explain the Trinity you become a heretic. Do you know that? Don't try to illustrate the Trinity. You can't illustrate that we worship one God in three persons. They're all different but they're one. You can't do that. It's a mystery. I think we take for granted the fact that God is eternal, right? God the father is eternal. God the Son is eternal. Now the eternal Son became man, right? He become God-Man. So the logos came and dwelt among us, but he has always existed.

Then we have the Holy Spirit. Guess what? He's eternal too. If you are a believer, he lives in you. Now that blows my mind. The everlasting God, the God who always exists and the eternal God who has always existed… Kids always ask, "Well, who created God?" Nobody! He just is. Well, the just-is God lives in every true believer. Now we have the eternal God, and he says, "I want you to have life abundantly. I want you to have victory in this world. I want you to be blessed by the abiding presence of Christ in your life."

Many Christians won't cross the Jordan, and they'll live defeated lives. Now the Promised Land doesn't mean that everything is going to go good for you. In fact, the Promised Land was a place of conflict for the Israelites. They had to battle. They had to fight. But God gave them these wonderful promises that he'll give them the victory and all they needed to enjoy the land. It was contingent on them wholeheartedly obeying God.

Now here is the main theme of this study as we go through Joshua. We're going to spend the summer months in this, but the main theme is that God calls you. He calls believers to move forward in our Christian experience to possess the abundance and fullness of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Now last week we saw he was calling Joshua and then calling the Israelites to go forward, to move forward, to press on, to leave this wilderness, and to go into the Promised Land. What we learned from that calling is that God calls us to move forward in spite of changing circumstances and on the basis of his unchanging character and purposes. God is commissioning Joshua in these first nine verses, and he gives him eight commands. Two of them we saw last week. "Arises and go over." 

In verse 2, he says, "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over…" "I know Moses is dead, but I still want you to go forward because I'm an unchanging God. My character is unchanging, my purposes are unchanging, and I am now calling you to go over." As he's calling him to go over, he also prepares him. God prepares you to move forward.

When God called Joshua in that first chapter, do you want to know how old he was? He wasn't young. He was 85 years old. Yeah, I let those 85-year-olds in the first service have it. You have no excuse. If God is calling Joshua at 85, he's calling you too. No, I'm just kidding. But he was 85 years old when God says, "Okay, Joshua, it's now time for you to rise and move forward. You're going to lead these people into the Promised Land." 

That means he was 45 years old when God delivered the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt. Let's do our math…85 minus 45 is what? Yes! For 40 years God was preparing Joshua for this day, and 40 years he spent in the wilderness. You can't bypass the wilderness to get to the Promised Land. It's all a part of it. It's the pathway to the Promised Land.

The wilderness has a purpose in the life of God's people. For the Israelites, it was a place where they were going to have to totally trust God to provide food, to provide water, to provide protection, to provide guidance, and all those things God did. All those things he did, but it's a place of brokenness. It's a place where God gets us to the point.

Some of us struggle with the wilderness. We think, "Why does God have me in the wilderness?" Have you ever had anybody say this to you? I have this all the time. It's not an uncommon statement that's made to me, but I imagine if you're a believer you've probably had this too, or maybe you've thought this. 

"Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" Have you ever heard that? Yeah. My first response is, "Well, I don't know anybody good." In fact, Jesus said there's only one who is good. Who's that? Yeah, God. God is good. We're sinners. But then I thought to say that is to really not understand the very purpose of why God allows us to go through wildernesses. 

The wilderness has a purpose. It is to get us to a point in our lives where we are broken, where we're no longer trying to trust in ourselves, we're no longer trying to worship ourselves, where all we can do is say, "God, I surrender to you. I'm broken. I trust you." That's why we need the wilderness because it's the pathway into the Promised Land. It's the pathway into the abundant life. You can't go around the wilderness to get to the abundant life. 

So I want you to think about this for a moment. On your notes if you take notes (and if you don't, I want you to make a mental note) every one of us is probably in some sort of wilderness right now. It could be your marriage. It could be your finances. It could be your work. It could be your church experience, relationships in the church. Every one of us is probably in some sort of wilderness right now. That wilderness has a purpose. So if you can, I want you to write it down or just make a mental note because we're coming back to that.

Then I want you to make a note of this because that wilderness you're going through right now, whatever it is, has a purpose. What it's probably doing, and you can begin to identify with that right now, is what happens is it begins to reveal these inner (I want to call them) bondages to things that belong to the old nature.

For instance, it can bring out anger. You're in the midst of this wilderness. All of a sudden there's anger. Maybe it's anger with God. Maybe it's anger with another person. Maybe it's bringing out a bitter spirit, a resentful spirit. Maybe that wilderness is bringing out unforgiveness or maybe fear. Maybe it's bringing out disbelief that, "God, if you really love me, why are you allowing these things to happen?"

That's what it was doing in the Israelites, and unfortunately, the reason they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years was because when it came out they didn't like it. They didn't allow the wilderness to fulfill its purpose, and instead they grumbled and they complained with God. They became angry with God. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They were the first generation of instant gratification. Do you know that?

I used to think, "Man, people my age and younger are instant gratification," because we grew up with microwave. We want it and we want it now. We have fast food. But the Israelites were doing the same thing. Now maybe their timeframe for instant gratification was a little bit longer and slower than ours, but they still wanted it, right? "We want food! We want it now. We don't want this stuff called manna. What is it? We want meat. Where's the water? We want water. Oh, we had it much better in Egypt." The wilderness has a purpose.

Now we're coming back because you have a wilderness. There's something in you God is bringing up to the surface. The wilderness is synonymous with what Peter calls trials in his first chapter. In 1 Peter 1, he says there is a purpose for trials. They are necessary. The wildernesses we go are necessary because when you go through that wilderness what God does is he begins to bring out those inner bondages, whatever they may be, and he begins to purify your faith to really see if it's genuine because if you have a genuine faith you're going to stay with it.

Many people give up. "God, I'm not going your way. I'm going my way. I can do a better job doing it myself." But true faith will hold on. What that trial will do, what that wilderness will do is begin to… Well, it's going to be hot for sure, and it's going to purify that faith. As it purifies that faith, guess what happens? All of those impurities are removed and you're broken and all of a sudden you look more like Jesus. 

See, that's the wilderness. Those things are coming to the top and God is trying to get you to that place to say, "I surrender. I trust you." God calls you, he prepares you, but he also provides for you to move forward. 

Here's the blessing of God's call. When he called Joshua, when he called the Israelites, he didn't just prepare them; he also said, "Oh, by the way, I'll provide everything you need to move forward." What is true of Joshua and the Israelites is also true of you, child of God. God provides everything you need.

The provision God provides, everything that follows the commands in verse 2 are God's provisions. Let's look at verse 2 again. He says, "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over…" There's the command. Now here's the provision. "…arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land…" Here's the first promise. "…that I am giving to them…" "I promise to give you the land." "…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."

What God does is he says, "Joshua, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to provide for you, and the provision all comes in the form of promises." So first of all, God provides his promises so we can walk on those promises and move forward into the abundant life. The first promise was the promise of the land. He said, "I'm giving you the promise. I'm giving you land. I'm promising you the land. It's the same promise I gave to Moses."

Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines the promises of God in this way, and I think it's a correct way. "The promises of God, or biblical promises, are God's grace given to man." That is a good description of the promises of God. God's grace given to man. Do you know why we call it grace? Because God does not have to give us any promises. That's why we call it grace. God gives us what we don't deserve.

What God does when he makes a promise, he says, "I'm going to make a pledge, and whatever I promise, whatever I pledge, I will perform it, I will grant it to you." We know God is faithful to his promises because we know of God's character that he is a God of mercy, he is a God of grace, and he is a God of faithfulness. When God gives a promise, he will keep it. So he says, "Joshua, I want you to go forward. I promise you, and it's the same promise I gave to Moses, and it's the same promise I gave to Abraham."

That's why in verse 3 he says, "I have given to you." In verse 2, "I will give it," and then verse 3, "I have given it. I've given it to you because I promise. It's a done deal." Now what did God give? Well, look at verse 4. He gave the land. He says, "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."

Now to really understand what's going to transpire here, I'm going to encourage you to read the book of Deuteronomy. But what God does here is he says, "Here's what I'm giving you. Here's the Promised Land." So what does that consist of? Well, it consists of modern-day Israel. It consists of all of the country Jordan, most of Saudi Arabia, half of Iraq, all of Lebanon, all of Kuwait, and some of Syria. That's a lot of land, isn't it?

If you look at the map, you realize they don't posses that right now. They don't have that land. Some would suggest they've never possessed all the land. If they don't possess the land and they've never possessed the land, the great question is, "Well, Pastor, does that mean God is unfaithful to his promise?" No, not at all.

The reason they don't possess the land and never have possessed the land is not God's doing. Whose doing is it? Israel's. See, that's why you need to read Deuteronomy. God said, "I'm giving you the land, and I'll give you peace, and I'll give you abundance, and I'll bless you, and as I bless you and you live the abundant life, you'll become a witness to all those nations around of the glory of God and the goodness of God. They will see there is only one true God and he is the God of Israel."

But they had to believe. The reason that promise was never actualized in the life of Israel is because they did not wholeheartedly believe and keep the covenant. Time and time again, even when they went into the Promised Land, some of them didn't even go over. They said, "We're going to stay on this side of the Jordan." Others of them said, "Okay, well, go," but once they got there they didn't kill all the enemies. They didn't kill all the people, but instead they compromised and they settled for comfort.

They didn't keep the covenant. Then through the years they disobeyed the covenant, and God would say, "Okay, you're not going to have any peace. Not only are you not going to have any peace, I'm going to remove you from the land." If the people of Israel were breaking the covenant and if there was a prophet saying, "Oh, don't worry, we have peace in the land because the temple is here," they were considered (Jeremiah 14) a false prophet. 

A false prophet doesn't tell a disobeying Israel they're safe in the land. A true prophet like Jeremiah says, "Repent, or God is going to discipline you," and history shows he did. They spent 70 years in exile. Now of course, under the new covenant, we have a more glorious kingdom, one that belongs to Christ, one that's way better than this world could ever offer. The reason those promises were never actualized is because they didn't wholeheartedly abide in the covenant.

God says, "I give you all the promises you need. What you need to do is now abide in my Son, Jesus Christ." He provides promises. He also provides power. Notice the very first part of verse 5. He says, "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life." That's pretty powerful. He's telling Joshua, "When you go into the Promised Land, you have all the power you need. You can destroy the foreigners. You can destroy the nations that are located there. You can destroy all the "-ites" who are there, the Hittites, all of them. I give you the power."

I like to think that the very first part of verse 5 is the Romans 8 of the Old Testament. In Romans 8 it says if God is for you who can be against you, right? That's what he's saying. "I am for you, Joshua. Don't worry. I am on your side. I've given you all the power you need." 

It doesn't matter what trials you're going through. It doesn't matter what hardships you're going through. It doesn't matter what wilderness you're in. "I give you the power," he says to Joshua, and he says it to us as believers as well that in Christ Jesus no matter what you face you are more than conquerors. Think about that.

Where's the power we have located? Where? Holy Spirit. Right. And he lives in every one of us. The eternal God lives in us. What does that mean for the believer? The same power, resurrection power, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that lives in you, and you can live the Christian life because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will take your dead nature and has turned it alive, and you are now alive in Jesus Christ. 

You are a new creation in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come, and you have resurrection power in your life. You have reigning power because it says that now the power of righteousness reigns in the lives of believers, and we have the ability to live a righteous life, a righteousness that comes from God, because the power of God lives in us. We have a released power. There's this mighty power working in us so we can labor and serve and worship. God says, "I give you my promises, I give you my power, and I give you my presence."

Look at the last part of verse 5. This last promise is really the promise that holds it all together. "Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you." That promise is not just to Joshua; it's carried over, isn't it? Jesus says that as well. "I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you." The Lord says it here. "I'll never leave you nor forsake you." That's what holds it all together.

"How will I know you'll give me the power? How will I know you'll fulfill the promises?" "Because I'm with you." As God's presence went with them and as they wholeheartedly obeyed the covenant, they would enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land. God would bless them. God would give them peace. God would just miraculously bless them. Have you read some of the blessings that are in Deuteronomy? He said, "Man, these things won't happen to you if you will obey, and then you will be a light to all those Gentile nations around you."

The abundant life has a responsibility. The abundant life has the responsibility of witnessing to the lost nations of the glory and the goodness of God. It's carried over into the new covenant when Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…" Go and make disciples of your neighbors. Go and make disciples of your family members. Go and make disciples of the people at work. Go and make disciples of that person who works down at the gas station, the person who works at Walmart. Go and make disciples of them. 

"…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold…" What is it that Jesus says? "…I am with you always, to the end of the age." That's significant because just as he calls us to live the abundant life, the only way we can do that is to wholeheartedly abide in Jesus. As we wholeheartedly abide in Jesus and we allow the power of God to live through us and the fullness of the Spirit to live through us, our responsibility is to not hold that into ourselves. 

God never intended for the abundant life to stay with you. He never intended living water to stop with you. For that water to stay alive it can't be stagnant, right? So it has to flow out of you. That's why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are thirsty, and I'll give you living water." Living water, the fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of the Christ life will flow through you and to others. So we're supposed to be leaking all over everybody, amen? Think about it. 

God says, "Move forward. I've given you everything you need. You have promises. You have power. You have my presence." Now I think we need to understand this for a moment because here's where a lot of you might find yourself today, and that is understanding the time element of God's promises.

If you're like me and you struggle with waiting on God… Anybody? I'm glad one person struggles with waiting on God. Have you ever felt like God delays? Anybody else want to? Yeah. Do you know what happens when we struggle with waiting on God? Usually we think he's delaying, but that's only from our perspective. God uses that time element, the waiting, as a tool in our lives. That tool is to really show us where our heart is. It's to teach us how to trust in his supernatural power, to trust in his ways.

In all honesty, I'm still learning all that stuff. I've spent a lot of my Christian life taking things into my own hands. Anybody? Yeah. I've spent a lot of my Christian life trying to make things happen for God when I should've just been waiting the whole time. A lot of times it has caused me to become depressed and even grumble with God and say, "Why, God?" 

I think just recently I've started to understand that that wilderness has a purpose, that brokenness has a purpose, and that purpose is to get me to the abundant life. That's what happened to the Israelites. That manna had a purpose. The water from rocks had a purpose. The turning bitter water into sweet water had had a purpose. The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night had a purpose. It was to keep them humble, keep them broken, and keep them surrendered to God because that was the pathway to the Promised Land.

Let's go back to your wilderness. You know, that one you wrote earlier on your piece of paper. What is it? Were you able to identify some of those inner bondages or a bondage? Some of your struggles inwardly may be with God. Maybe you're in the wilderness right now and you're angry with God. "God, how can you allow me to go through this wilderness experience?" Well, it has a purpose. Maybe it's a marriage. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe it's relationships.

God wants to bring you to that place where you allow him to refine you. Let me just say thank God if you're able to identify that wilderness and to identify what he's trying to bring up to the top. Thank God you are on the pathway to abundance. Let's bow our heads. Let's bow our hearts.

I want you to take that wilderness, whatever it may be. It could be parenting. It could be anything. It could be insecurities. What is coming up? Here's what I want you to do. I want you to commit it to God. Just give it to him and just say, "Lord, here's my wilderness. Here are the inner bondages I'm struggling with," whether it be anger or insecurities, unforgiveness. Whatever it is, give it to him. 

Then I want you to thank God he has given you everything you need to move forward. God does not want you to stay there. He doesn't want you to stay in regret. He doesn't want you to stay in anger. He doesn't want you to stay in unforgiveness. He wants you to move forward on his promises that he will never leave you nor forsake you, that he doesn't condemn you. He gives you all the power you need. He forgives you. He cleanses you. You give it to him right now.

Then here's what I want you to do. Some of you know God has spoken a promise to you. Maybe today he just gave you a promise. Maybe it's the promise of power you needed. Maybe it's the promise of his presence. You needed that. Well, you claim that promise today. It's yours in Christ Jesus. Maybe it's the promise that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Maybe it's the promise he'll work all things for the good, all things for the good, all things for the good for those who love God. That's a promise for you.

He promises that when you can't pray for yourself the Holy Spirit is praying for you right now. That's a promise. Claim it. The Scriptures promise that Jesus right now is also interceding for you. That's a promise. Claim it. It's also a promise that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's a promise. Conditional promise, but it's yours. Take it. It's yours.

Here's what you need to do with that promise. You need to strengthen yourself with it. Don't listen to the lies of the Devil. That's your promise. You remind yourself of that promise. That promise is yours. It's yours because Jesus bought it for you. It's yours. 

Some of you here today there's a wonderful promise that says if you seek the Lord with all of your heart you'll find him. Some of you here today need to be delivered from your sin and self and you need to experience eternal life. Heaven needs to come to you today, and that'll only come to you as you turn from your sin and self and place your faith in Jesus.

If you're here this morning and you know you've never trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior (every head is bowed here), I want you to look up and raise your hand and just look at me and say, "I'm trusting Jesus for the first time. I've never trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior."

Father, thank you for your forgiveness that's in Jesus. As we come to the Lord's Table, we humble ourselves. We confess with you. We're so thankful as we examine ourselves, our wilderness, the things we're struggling with, whatever those sins may be, we humble ourselves. We give them to you. We agree with you right now about them, and we are accepting right now your forgiveness in Christ Jesus and the cleansing we have in Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.