Joshua - Lesson 15
The Inward Basis of Faith
· Joshua 1:1-18, After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates - all the Hittite country - to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." 10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.'" 12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 "Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: 'The LORD your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.' 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers 15 until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise." 16 Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
Having looked at the various mentions of Joshua in the first five books of the Bible we now come to the book itself.
· Joshua 1:1-2, After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites.
God not only assigned the leadership of Israel to Joshua, but God encouraged His servant with what to most of us would seem to be incredible promises. It is for this reason that we need to get into the Word regularly. It is there that we find encouragement along the way by all kinds of promises made by God to us.
The Promise
· Joshua 1:5, No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
When God calls anyone into His service, He morally obligates Himself to see us through to the end. This means that whatever He calls us to do by way of spiritual warfare, He obligates Himself to strengthen us so that we can fulfill His purpose.
· John 15:16, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Could any promise be clearer or more emphatic? When God makes a promise to us He obligates Himself to fulfill it. We just ask in Jesus name.
· Philippians 1:6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Not only does He obligate Himself to do a work through us, but He will also do a work in us. And He will not leave that work unfinished, but will complete it.
The next passage is fully in accord with the Philippians verse.
· Hebrews 13:20-21, May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
If this God, who has the power to bring Jesus back from the dead can do that, then He has the power to equip us for the work that He has for us to do.
Then Paul tops it all off with:
· Philippians 4:13, I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Joshua needed this kind of encouragement just as we do. Joshua fought against men but there was a spiritual warfare here as well. Did you notice in verse 5 that God promised to be with Joshua the same as He had been with Moses. This was very important to Joshua because he had seen how God had been faithful to Moses for over 40 years. He had been something like Moses’ second in command and this had been valuable experience.
· Hebrews 13:5, God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
There will be times when we will feel forsaken but we can be sure that He sees us and knows our situation. It is often true that such times are times of testing our faith. The key is that He has promised that He will never leave us.
The apostle John has given us a powerful reminder of who it is that has promised.
· 1 John 4:4, the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
It is important to remember that the God who made these promises so long ago to Moses, Abraham, Joshua and others, is exactly the same God who tells us that the things that are written in His Word, the promises, are for us as much as they were for the ancients. It remains for us to believe the promises and to have faith in the Promiser.
God’s call to Joshua was given clearly. He was repeatedly encouraged to “be strong and of good courage”. And the basic principle involved here is “faith” as the means of appropriating what God had promised. Every place that the Israelites put their feet was to be theirs. His presence would be with them. This message was not only for Joshua but is for us as well.
I want you to keep in mind that the experience that Joshua had was intended in the Scriptures as an example for us. If Joshua was to be involved in God’s work by faith, then we are expected to be involved in God’s work by faith in His promises. He has shown us His promises, assured us of His presence and encouraged us to step out in faith. We are to get involved. We are to be responsive to His call.
In order to be responsive to His call, we must be committed to Him. To be committed to Him requires courage on our part. These are the qualities that are essential for our spiritual warfare!!!
This is a tremendous order for fallen people. After all we are only human. But Joshua had supernatural help, and so do we.
One question comes to mind: “Why is it so difficult for us to be more obedient Christians?” One might answer; well it’s just too hard. Paul understood this so he prayed for us.
· Ephesians 1:18-21, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
The thrust of this passage is that God has the power to do that which we are unable to do alone. This is supernatural power. Remember the events at Kadesh-barnea? It was there that twelve men were sent to spy out the Amalekites. Ten said they could not win against the Amalekites. Only Joshua and Caleb said they could win. The crowd had no courage and sided with the ten. But, there were consequences to this lack of faith. They were required to wander for almost 40 years in the wilderness.
The difference in many of us and Joshua is that many of us are too big for God. We say, “I’ve tried and tried but with no success.” That’s our problem. We tried in our own strength and abilities.
Paul learned this lesson and wrote of it:
· 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul knew that any spiritual power that he possessed came from Jesus.
· 1 Corinthians 1:26-28, Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
The interpretation of this passage is easy: victorious living on our part is God’s responsibility; acting in faith is our responsibility. He supplies the strength. It was so with Joshua. Just as Israel’s Joshua led them to their inheritance, our Joshua, Jesus, leads us into our inheritance.
Babes In Christ
There may be an inclination on the part of some to think that “those who want to remain in the wilderness” are not Christians. Well, this overlooks the fact that a person can be a babe in Christ and never really grow beyond their spiritual infancy. Not all Christians reach the same degree of maturity. Peter wrote:
· 1 Peter 2:2, Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
It is normal that a babe in Christ should desire the milk of the Word. But the baby stage of Christian things is not spiritually mature. Paul made this clear.
· 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?
Here Paul shows some of the signs of spiritual babyhood. Very much the same thing is said in:
· Hebrews 5:11-13, We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
This is God’s evaluation of the spiritual babe, not mine. Following the above verses:
· Hebrews 5:14, But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
And if we continued reading into the next chapter we would find that it begins with the admonition for Christians to progress from basic things to maturity.