Joshua – Lesson 11

The Goals and Conditions of Christian Faith

The first chapter of Joshua illustrates the goals and conditions of Christian living. There is sometimes a one-sided approach to Christianity by some people who when they hear “believe” understand that to mean that all of heaven is theirs, with the emphasis in “all”. It is true that we “believe” for salvation. However there are aspects of salvation that we enter into only as we appropriate consciously and actively what God has provided for us.

At the beginning of this study we quoted from:

· 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Now verse 15 is an interesting one and leads us to an interesting conclusion. It is possible for a believer to get to heaven and yet have few rewards stored up. We might say that one gets to heaven by the skin of their teeth. Please understand that we do not mean to minimize the importance of accepting Jesus as your Savior. But what we are saying is that there is a significant difference between owning Jesus as Savior and owning Him as Savior and Lord.

It may help here to ask the question, Do you believe that we receive rewards in heaven based on our earthly life?

· Matthew 6:19-21, 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

We need to go beyond believing in Jesus for salvation from sin’s penalty of hell and the assurance of going to heaven, and learn about that element of our salvation that leads to the abundant life that we are told is there for all true believers. We are given this lesson in type in the Bible. This limited understanding of salvation is like the Israelites who were delivered from the slavery of Egypt but spent the rest of their lives wandering in the wilderness. But who wants to live in the desert all of ones life. There is more, much more.

God’s plan for Israel was not just to bring them out of Egypt, but to bring them to Canaan. It is the same with us. We have been brought out of sin through salvation in order that we might be brought into the abundant life which is also a part of salvation.

If you have been taught that the Christian life is nothing but frequent or even constant defeat in their battle against the world, then you have been taught in error. Now remember that the center of what this study is all about is our faith. This book of Joshua teaches us that when we meet the required conditions, we can do all things through Jesus, and that is so clearly pointed out later as we shall see.

The defeatist attitude toward the Christian life is seen at Kadesh-barnea where the twelve spies came back from spying out the land and ten of them said that they could not defeat the enemy there. There are consequences for this kind of attitude. The 13th and 14th chapters of Numbers remind us that as a result of this defeatist attitude on the part of the ten, the nation of Israel wandered the next 38 years in the wilderness. And the older generation died there, never experiencing what God had already promised them in Canaan.

Yes, God went with them for these 38 years and fed them manna but because they lacked faith, they did not enjoy the blessings of Canaan. In the same way, many Christians, who through a lack of faith, go through life with their basic needs being met but never realizing the greatest blessings that God has promised in Jesus.

The Book of Joshua shows us by example and illustration the requirements necessary for a successful and overcoming life. Did you ever wonder what it means in the Bible to “overcome”? Well, this is the other part of salvation.

In the book of Hebrews we find the land of Canaan is pictured as a place of spiritual rest and victory which every believer can enjoy.

· Hebrews 4:1-3, Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.   3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.

Before we talk about the “rest” of God, I want to ask you what you think is meant by the last sentence in verse 3?

Answer: In our previous study of the Divine Covenants we saw that the first covenant God made was the Everlasting Covenant which He made with Jesus that outlined God’s eternal plans and the role that Jesus was to play in those plans. So here we have a reference in Hebrews to the work that was planned before the creation and it was considered as done, finished.

The rest that is spoken of here is not heaven, though it surely is sooner or later. But this rest is a matter of how we are able to deal with our wilderness experience. There is an endless list of examples but here are a few that should give you an idea of this “rest”: you lose a parent or child unexpectedly, you experience some kind of material loss such as a house fire, the stock market crashes and you lose a lot of money, a trusted friend betrays you, and on and on.

What is our reaction to such events? The Christian of deep faith has a peace that is not possible to explain except that it is the “rest” of God, and we endure such events with the faith knowledge that our God is sovereign and therefore, since He is in control of all things, we can rest on His promises of the future. But also bear up under the present stresses.