Would you please turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1?
And as you're turning, I'd like to pray for us.
Father. God, what a gift you have given
your people that we can take the the living and active Word of
God and a translation that we can read and understand that's
reliable and we can study it and know the types of things that
you have said, The types of things that you have done.
So that we can be more effective, more faithful in our
lives as men and women and children who have been baptized
into the triune name and called into the Commission that Christ
left his apostles and therefore left to us to make disciples of
all nations. And so, Lord, we asked after
that end, that you. Would take up your word that you
would. Teach us by your Spirit, give us
humble ears and humble hearts to sit.
Under your word. Give me a faithful tongue to
teach it well, all so that we can put it into practice and by
our lives. Make much of your Son Jesus
Christ, our Savior, who was crucified for our sin, and who
rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and sat down at
your right hand and poured out from there your Holy Spirit upon
your people, in order that we. Could have power to do the
things that he has. Commanded us to do and so would
you take up your word and would you teach us in these next few
moments Lord we ask in Christ's name, Amen.
So you're in Joshua chapter 1 and before we dig into the book
of Joshua, I want to read 2 texts from the New Testament to
sort of set the context of how we're going to approach the book
of Joshua. I'll give you these.
You don't have to turn there, but if you want to write them
down, I would suggest you do that because they're.
Great verses Romans 15 for Paul says whatever was written in the
former days was written for our instruction.
Talking about the Old Testament, whatever was written in for in
in former days was written for our.
Instruction. Which is a far cry from a lot of
what? You hear in the church today of
like, oh, that's Old Testament. Like we don't do that here.
That's Old Testament, Paul says. That's our stuff.
It was written for our instruction, so.
That through endurance and through the encouragement of the
Scriptures, that those Old Testament scriptures are meant
to encourage us, that we might have hope.
OK, does anyone need instruction?
Endurance, encouragement. Does anyone need hope?
Of course you do, and of course I do.
Therefore, we have to have the Old Testament.
We have to have the entirety of God's Word.
And then this is First Corinthians 10 verse 11.
It says Paul says now these things happen and he's in the
context he's quoting, he, he's retelling the, the redemptive
arc of Israel's history from, from the Exodus wilderness
wanderings up into the, the conquest, which we're going to
look at in in the book of Joshua, he says these things
happened to. Them.
As an example, but they were written down for our
instruction. Now this is interesting.
In what way are they an example? In what way is Israel an
example? Are we supposed to go imitate is
is this is the way we're supposed to live?
Is we're supposed to go over there to this literal ground
that Joshua goes to take and we're supposed to eradicate it?
No, The the word that he uses is it happened to them as a tipas A
tupas a. Type in the same way that
Melchizedek. Is called a type of Christ.
He's a picture. Of the one who would, who would
come? The same way that Abraham taking
Isaac laying the wood. Of the sacrifice on his
shoulders, and traveling for three days to sacrifice him on
the mountain that Jesus would be crucified for us bore his.
Cross of sacrifice up on your behalf.
And on ours, and on that mountain Isaac was substituted.
Some something was substituted for Isaac, a ram caught in the
thicket by his kingly horns. And that becomes a type for us,
so that we will. Recognize Christ when He comes.
Paul says the same. Thing about these things the Old
Testament story is written as a type for us so that we will know
what part of the story we are in they were written down for our
instructions and then he says they were written down for our
instructions on whom the end of the.
Ages has come talking to the 1st century Christians and he really
meant that that the. End of the.
Jewish aeon had come upon them and they're living in the last
days and we're going to see some of that in Joshua.
And so I just want to start. Off by saying that's the lens.
Through which we're going to interpret the book of Joshua.
Is that these things are our things, these things instruct
us. These things are types of
Christ. They're types of Christ's church
and the type of work that Christ.
Wants to do through us. They're not same, same.
So we'll look at the end of this sermon.
We'll look at things that are similar and things that are
dissimilar, but they are our things.
And So what we're going to see today that the book of.
Joshua begins with what we might call a Great Commission.
It begins with a great. Commission I just want to show
you some of these sections here and some of the some of the
information from these things so that we can wrap our mind around
what God is doing here. So the first thing and, and
verses 1 and 2, if you write in your Bibles, write the word
Commission. And in verses 1 and 2, so the
Bible says after the death of Moses, the servant of God, the
servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun,
Moses his assistant Moses, my servant is dead.
Now therefore arise go over this Jordan, you and all this people
into the land that I am giving to them to the people of Israel.
OK, so we have a a Commission. The Commission starts with a
timestamp of after the death of Moses.
Now if you think about this, Moses is the hero.
Of God's people all throughout the the Exodus, he's the he's
the greatest hero that's ever risen in Israel at this point.
And so if ever there was a time where we lost the guy in charge
and we said there's no hope for us now, we should throw in the
towel, There's nothing for us. Moses is dead.
The guy who? Has LED us all of this time is
is gone if ever there was a time for the people of God to despair
and. To want to quit.
It's right now Moses, in case you didn't know this Moses.
Had become for the people of God in a sense, a greater proof of
the presence of God with them, greater proof than manna,
greater proof than the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night,
greater proof than water from the rock.
Moses is the one who walks with them.
Who? Continually intercedes on their
behalf when they screw up the covenant, when they rebel
against God and wrath is moving their way.
Moses is with them and. He saves them again and again
and again, and He leads them, He judges them, He declares to them
the will and the word of God. And it was Israel's ever present
manifestation of the nearness of God was the presence of Moses.
And when he died, their hopes naturally died with them.
And so I just would exhort you to see.
Joshua's Commission has a very clear theme of death and
resurrection of hope. Does that sound familiar, that
like that Moses? Dies and then and then God just
says to Joshua, hey, you're up next man up like we're we're
still going forward. My purposes are going forward.
And so just when. Israel should have been expected
to lose her hope. God raises up a new leader and a
new hero. There's a saying that that goes
that the graveyard is filled with irreplaceable men.
You ever heard that the graveyard is filled with people
we cannot afford? To lose and some of them in your
life are there, Some of them in my life are there?
People, we cannot. Replace, if you look at
culturally, some of the men that God has raised up in our culture
to really count and bear fruit for the Kingdom of God, we've
lost some heroes, literal heroes over the last few years.
So you think of RC Sprole, you think of John MacArthur, just
these. Two guys 2.
Buddies in the Lord. 1A Presbyterian. 1A Dispensational
Baptist Reformed Baptist guy. Great friends disagreed over
some really important things, those guys.
By their pen and the grace of God created libraries for the
people of God to just that we could dwell richly upon the
grace of God, understand the word of God, enjoy the presence
of God. These men were magnificently
fruitful men and they died. We said, well, what are we going
to do now? Who's going to teach us now you
think of You think of Charlie Kirk, a martyrdom.
Of Charlie Kirk and we think who's going to go and, and, and
engage in that way now where's the next Charlie Kirk?
You think of Vodi Bachkam A A. Dear brother in the Lord, a
staunch teacher. Of God's word and he just died.
You think of Phil Robertson, right?
Duck commander, guy. He's with the Lord.
Hulk Hogan is gone. What are we going to do?
Who's the who's the, the karate guy that all the jokes are made
that I can't bring him to mind? Chuck Norris.
Yeah, yeah, Chuck Norris. Who?
Yeah. Is is now shadowboxing the
angels I'm sure. All of these men are men that
got raised. Up and is used mightily in many
of your lives tended to raise to to show of hands how many of
these guys that I've just named scroll MacArthur Kirk Bochum
counted in your soul and the likelihood is high whether you
know their names or not they have counted for you because
they train the men who matter to you and they are gone.
Well if ever there was a time where we lost a leader and and
should have been expected to quit.
It would have been right here. But God says to Joshua Moses my
servant is dead. It's your turn.
OK? There is only one man.
This is just important for us moving.
Forward. There is only one man whose
death would forever end the hopes of God's people.
Only one guy that when he died, it's all over and I've got
really great news for you. His name was Joshua and he has
died already and he's been risen.
From the dead, never to die again.
He'll never die again. Jesus lives forever to make
intercession for us. And so the people of God, no
matter who, no matter what leaders lead, no matter what
leaders die, no matter what leaders fail, Christ is still
Lord. He is the living Lord and leader
of his people, just as close to us today as he has ever been.
And he still raises up men to lead his people to victory.
And therefore, brothers and sisters, we fear the death of no
Christian men. There's no irreplaceable person,
by God's grace, the death of great men.
Just means room for the rest of us to rise.
Up and bear the banner. That's it.
That's it OK this is the another part of the Commission is he
says rise and crossover this Jordan into the land that I'm
giving them to the people of Israel.
So this is wild if you think about the the the story.
Arc of God's people being in the land God calls.
An idolater named Abram from. ER.
And he sends him into a land that he promises to give him.
And so Abraham comes into the land of promise and he wanders
there. He sojourns is the is the
biblical word. He sojourns there for.
Most of his life he goes down for a spell into Egypt and then
comes back, but the only land he gets of the Land of promise is
land he has to buy. It's wild.
It's the. Only land he gets is is a burial
plot to plant his wife and so Abraham is there, Isaac remains
there, and then Jacob. Running from Esau has to go
back. To the land of his forebears.
But he ends up coming back to the to the promised land.
And then you have Joseph and the 12 tribes.
And Joseph, you know the story well.
He gets slandered, he gets sold, and then he becomes the Lord of
the Lord of the Egyptians. And so.
From that point forward. God's people had been, had been
living in Egypt and they there's only one time when they go down
into Egypt, there's only one time that they ever go back to
the land of promise. Do you know the time?
It's when they go. Back to bury Jacob, they take
him back to bury him. So they just go and visit.
They bury their, their forefather who said, do not bury
me in the, in the land of Egypt, go back to the land and plant me
where God is going to give us the ground.
And so they do, they go and plant him and then they, they
spend the rest of their lives back in Egypt.
And so it's really important for nearly 500 years before this
Commission, Yahweh had sworn to Abraham to give this land to
Abraham's offspring. Think about that for 500.
Years, The people of God have been waiting for the promise
that God said. I'm going to give you this place
for 500 years. They're waiting.
He had sworn this Commission comes to Joshua as the
realization of an eschatological hope.
The long-awaited time is at hand and it is time to rise up and to
take possession of what God has given His people.
Now, I would not be helpful to you at all if I didn't tell you
the New Testament counterpart that John the Baptist comes to
this very same water that's mentioned here to the Jordan
River, and he comes saying the time is at hand.
The Kingdom of God is at hand. It's upon you.
The axe is laid. At the root of the.
Tree and whoever does not repent and trust in Christ is going to
be thrown into the fire. Whoever does repent and trust in
Christ is going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
And so John comes saying the time is at hand.
Jesus. Think about this, the new and
better Joshua. It's literally his name.
Jesus is baptized in the same river that that Joshua is about
to lead the people through into the promised land.
He's baptized into Jordan. Jesus comes into the promised
land, the same land that Joshua's was commanded to take.
And you know what the very first title of the very first sermon
he ever preached after his baptism was?
The very first title is Repent. For the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand. It's here.
I am the king. I bring the Kingdom.
Repent the end. Is upon you.
And so there's this Commission that God puts upon Joshua.
Moses is dead now. You.
Get up and go and go into the land that I am giving.
Now you get a promise. OK, so so Joshua Joshua's told.
You're going to leave the people in.
To the land that God says I am giving them.
And Joshua might have a problem with that because there are
giants still in the land. Now we know Joshua and Caleb
were not. They were not afraid of giants.
They were advocating for going up and obeying the Lord,
trusting the Lord. But those giants are still
there. And so with such a Commission to
get up and go and cause the people to inherit, Joshua might
balk. God, I don't think I can do
that. I don't think I've got the
chops. I'm no Moses.
I'm not a leader. They don't trust me.
I've never done this. Before, well, the Commission is
immediately followed, as God always does, by the promise.
That yields confident assertion of effort on Joshua's part.
So just look at this promise with me in verse 3.
So Commission in one and two, promise in verse 3, three and
following. He says, every place that the
sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just
as I promised to Moses. Think.
Think about that. Every single step you take, the
sole of your foot will. Tread upon dust that I've given
to you and please like round out what we know about these things
from all of scripture. That from from the very
beginning man was created into the image of in the image of God
from the dust. And when they rebelled, a number
of things happened. God told Satan, on your belly
you will go, and what are you going to eat?
What was Satan going to eat? The dust?
And then he tells. Adam from dust you were taken
and what's going to happen to you to dust, you're going to
return. So God tells Satan you're going
to be a Death Eater. You're going to be a liquor of
death because my image. Comes from dust, and it's going
to return to dust. Jesus indicates this when he
sends his apostles into the land to preach the.
Kingdom of God and. He says when you come into a
city, if they receive you, stay there and teach, but if they
don't, if they reject you, what are you supposed to?
Do you remember knock something off of your feet?
What are you supposed? To knock off of your feet.
Dust, because that's a place of death.
They have rejected Christ, they have rejected the Kingdom and
therefore they are marked earmarked for judgment.
So every God, God tells Joshua, every place you walk is yours.
I've given it to you. It's wild.
I have given to you, which is a very interesting thing every
every place to the sole of your foot will tread upon.
I look at the tents there originally a couple verses, a
verse or two before he says. To the land that I am giving so
a present. Constant thing I am giving to
them. And then he says, every place of
the sole of your foot will tread upon.
I have given past tense. I've given it to you just as I
promised to Moses. OK, so listen to this definition
of this Hebrew verb tense. I'm not trying to wow you with
grammar. This is super important
practically for your walk with Christ.
This is in this verb I have given is in the Hebrew perfect
tense, and it's a grammatical form that indicates a it.
Indicates completed actions, but it can also express actions that
are viewed as completed from the speaker's perspective, including
future events that are certain. To happen.
I know that's a word dump on you, so I'm going to give it to
you again because it's important.
This verb tense indicates 2. Things either actions that are
totally completed there in the past, right?
Or actions that from the speaker's perspective are still
future, but they are so certain. That you can speak of them.
In the past tense, as though it's already.
Done. God says to Joshua, I've already
given I promised this land 500 years ago, and I'm going to keep
my word to you. If you think about what what
Paul does in the book of Romans, he does the very same thing.
He says for those whom God foreknew, he predestined to be
conformed into the image of his Son.
In order that Christ would be the first born of a many
brethren, he predestined us to exalt his Son.
And those whom he foreknew, the Bible says he predestined.
And those whom he predestined, he called, and those whom he
called he justified. And that's our right.
Now we've been foreknown, predestined, called and
justified, but he doesn't stop. There, can anybody give me the
fifth thing that Paul speaks of in the past tense?
Reality as though it's already ours in Christ.
Those of me for knew he. Predestined those of me.
Predestined He called, those of me called, He justified, and
those of me justified He glorified.
Past tense. It's a future action, but it's
so secure. We can bank on it and speak of
it as though it has happened in the past tense.
This matters because from this moment on, Joshua is looking at
a rebel country that God has already given to him, and this
is going to bring about the confidence that's necessary to
take it. Listen to me, if the outcome is
in question, then they will be fighting for proof of God's
promise. Think about that.
If God says, look, I want you to do your.
Best, and we'll see what happens then.
Then all of their action is to test whether or not God is with
them. But instead of fighting for
proof of God's promises, Joshua. Is instructed to fight from
faith in them and the difference between these two things cannot
be overstated. God has given.
Joshua. A real thing that will not fail.
And so Joshua can take that by faith, not by sight, because
they're still giants in the land.
Still much work to be done, but that.
Hope. That confidence can drive him
forward and spur him on to deeds of faith.
And then he says this part of the promise as well, which is so
precious, brothers and sisters, he says he gives the.
He gives the the the the the. Parcel of land.
He says in verse 4, from the wilderness in this Lebanon, as
far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of
the Hittites, the great sea southward going down of the sun,
shall be your territory, and verse 5, no man shall.
Be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
Joshua, you. Cannot get into a losing fight
unless you disobey. If there's sin in the camp
you'll lose every time. But if you walk.
According to my word. No one will be able to stand
against you. And then he says this, just as I
was with Moses, so I will be with you.
I will not leave you or forsake you.
Just as I was, so I will be Christian.
Can you just marvel at that? Just as I was, so I will be.
It's the greatest news in the world that Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever.
One of my favorite professors at Dallas Seminary said that what
God has done in the past. Is a pattern and a promise.
For what God will do in the future, but he's too creative to
do the same thing the same way twice again.
We're dumb. But what that?
Means is we can look back and say he's.
Always kept his word. He's never broken covenant.
Never broken covenant with anyone.
He's never done it. And so we can look in the future
on the timeline and say therefore he never will.
He's never going to break promise to you.
He's never going to fail in any of the.
Things he's promised you in Christ, He's never, he says,
just as I was with Moses. So I will be with you.
I will not. Leave you or forsake you?
Does that sound familiar? Do we have anything as
Christians? Where Jesus says, hey, I want
you to go do this impossible thing and I'm going to.
Give you power and I'll never leave you.
I'll be with you to the end of the age.
Jesus is is redoing the great Joshua's Commission when he
gives his followers the Great Commission, just as I was, so I
will be. That's the promise that that God
promises Joshua, he commands. Him to go do a work.
But he promises him victory. And just so, as you know, the
same Christ who said, all authority in heaven on earth has
been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey.
All that I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you to the always,
even at the end of the age. That's the same Christ that said
I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not
prevail against it. That is a promise of victory.
To his people and that spurs us on to deeds of of faith and
courage and it's glorious OK now so you have a Commission you
have a promise and now you have a list of commands and these are
fire. Verse 6 Joshua might say OK God,
how? Do I go?
About doing this, and the first command he's given, it's in the
imperative voice. Be strong and courageous, for
this is glorious. You shall 'cause this people to
inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
Joshua, I'm going to take you up as an axe to.
Fell a tree that I promised to fell or to give.
A gift that I promised to give you will cause them to.
Get what I give. Them, it's amazing to me.
I was. Thinking about this of just what
a. What a.
Privilege pastoral ministry is is to to be used by God to to
help cause you to inherit all of the things that that well to.
Realize that you have inherited all of the things that you have
inherited in Christ to be used by God to help you understand
what is yours by right as a child of God.
It's glorious. He says you will.
You will cause them to to inherit the land that I swore to
give their fathers. Be strong and courageous verse
7. That was verse 6.
Be strong and courageous. Verse 7.
He. Says something very familiar.
Only be strong and very courageous.
It's. Almost like God is repeating
himself. Because he really wants Joshua
to be strong and courageous. Now, the problem with the
Christian Church in America is, and I chose this word carefully,
if it offends you, I do not apologize that our churches have
been castrated. We.
Have been as a church as churches, we have been utterly
emasculated. As CS Lewis calls it.
We are men without chests. The word courage comes from
core, which is heart. It's it's the the chest of a man
that says I'll be Dad gummed. If you're going to do that, and
I'm not going to say a word, I'm just going to tolerate this
nonsense. We are commanded to be strong
and courageous, but we have been told again and again.
That it is the. Softer virtues that are more the
more. Godly virtues I'm not going to
try and bag on a. Buddy of mine who?
I really do love, but I when I was building content for my
Mother's Day sermon that which was an exhortation to our men, I
started asking some of the some of my brothers in town like hey.
What's the most? Helpful instruction on biblical
masculinity that you've ever received.
What's the most helpful word you've ever received on biblical
masculinity? And this one of the brothers
said, well, it's like, we need to make sure that, you know, all
we hear about biblical masculinity is it's machismo,
lift weights, strong, this and that.
And I'm like. First off, I don't even know
what world you're living in where I mean, yes, there are
secularists out there that are false.
Machismo, and maybe in pockets, some false machismo Christian
guys. But he went on to say what we
need to teach our men are the softer virtues.
My brother. The Christian Church, as the man
said. Has all of the backbone of a
bowl of warm pudding. We will bend and accommodate
anything. Tolerance is our.
Chief. Virtue.
We are nice, nice, nice. People.
But niceness can be sinful. Kindness never is.
Kindness is never sinful. Christ was all he was, the
perfection of kindness. It was a kindness for him to get
a whip and beat evil men out of the temple and say you're not
going to do that. You're just not going to do that
in my Father's name. I will not allow it.
And so we've been told again and again that it's the softer
virtues. This is a lie from the pit of
hell. And yes, as the man said, it
smells like smoke. Listen to the Apostle Paul
talking to the Christian Church, he says.
Be watchful. At Eli's wedding, Roy had kind
of, I don't even know who all you told, but you said, hey,
there's a river there, there's water, there's kids everywhere.
Just just kind of slip out, watch on occasion, make sure
nobody falls in the river and turns glory into sadness, right?
And, and I watched, I'm not sure if Mr. Yonda ever came inside.
He just stood out there, Sentinel over the river so the
rest of us could. Party and yes, we all.
All sort of went out and looked and and.
But but it's just the idea of of a watchfulness, something bad
really might happen and we need to watch and we need to we need
to live like we are in a fight because we are in a fight.
So Paul says to the Christian Church, be watchful, stand firm
in the faith, act like men, be strong, have strength to you.
That's a far cry from just tolerate, tolerate, tolerate.
Be nice, be nice, be nice. He tells another church.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the.
Strength of his. Might put on the whole armor of
God that you may. Be able to stand against the
schemes of the. Devil.
Why should we be watchable, Paul?
Well, because you have an enemy who wants to see your marriage
fail. He wants to see you fail and
your wife. Fail and your children fail.
So watch and fight and stand. Don't just take whatever comes
down the pipe. Towards you or to your towards
your family, you have to stand against the schemes of the
devil. Jesus.
These are red letters from the Book of Revelation.
Here's what he says. And again, masculine virtues
that that God tells tells Joshua be strong and be courageous.
Paul act like men. Our world, softer virtues,
softer virtues. These are red letters.
Forget what Paul says. No, you can't do that.
But certainly pay attention to the words of Christ.
The one who conquers will have this heritage.
Not the one who tolerates, not the one who gets beaten down,
but the one who conquers will have this heritage.
I will be his God. And he will be my.
Son, by the way, that's kingly language.
That's Davidic kingship. I will be a father.
To him, he will be a son. To me, if he rebels, I'll
chastise him like a son. But I'm not going to forsake him
because he's mine. He's my son, so Christ is Lord,
He is King, He is the son of David and all those.
Who are in covenant union with him are.
Said to be in the New Testament, seated.
With him on the throne, ruling and reigning together with
Christ, it's kingly language. The one who conquers.
I will be will have his heritage.
I will be his God. He will be my son.
But As for the? Cowardly.
I want you to listen. To the litany of sins.
That are mentioned here and see what.
Comes first. As for the cowardly, the
faithless, the detestable, As for the murderers, the sexually
immoral. And yes, brothers, pornography
is included in sexual immorality.
Sorcery, idolaters, all liars. Their portion will be in the
lake that burns. With fire and sulfur, which is
the second death now, obviously. I know because I've been a
pastor for a long time. I just read a lot of your
biographies, and I know that because I just read my
biography. I'm here, I'm mentioned here.
And so there's repentance for sure, and there is pardon,
abundant pardon in Christ. But for those who.
Walk without repenting over these things.
Their inheritance will be. The fire and the sulfur, which
is the second death. And I just want you to to
listen. Like murder, detestable
idolatry, sorcery. Liars.
Sexually immoral. Do you know the?
Very first sin that that Jesus says will not inherit is the
cowardly is those that will not fight when the Kingdom of God is
threatened by the hands of evil men, when our people for whom we
must. Stand are threatened and we just
say. What are you going to do?
What can I do? What can I do?
Brothers, manly virtue is requisite of Christian men.
It is required of Christian men. We need wisdom that comes from.
Faith, we need courage. That comes from hope and we need
temperance. That comes from love.
So you've got, again, these commands.
Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous.
And then he says in verse 7, so you must be strong and
courageous to pull this off. He says as well be careful to do
according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.
Don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you
may have good success wherever you go.
The book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but it
shall 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 them. When you meditate and you speak
and you're careful to obey the word of God, then you will make
your way prosperous and then you will have good.
Success. So let me ask you something,
Christian does obedience matter? To the Christian, does it matter
to us when all is of? Grace, does it matter?
Of course it does much in every way.
We are not justified. Hear me on this.
You are not justified by obedience.
You're justified by faith alone. In the virtue and in the work,
and in the person of Christ alone, we are justified by
faith. But obedience matters in the way
that crosshairs tend to put a man on target, right?
Joshua is sent with a Commission, and he and and God.
Says I want you to. I want you to meditate on My law
because that's My revealed will to you so you will know the
types of things that you ought to.
Do you know you would know the? Types of things you want to
fight. And so if you don't do that,
you're going. To turn from the right.
Hand or to the left and you're going.
To be fine, you're going to find yourself as Satan loves, for the
people of God to do, to be fighting eagerly and
passionately about the wrong things.
Because you haven't meditated upon the Word of God, you don't
know what God requires. If we would have good success,
then the Word of God needs to. Be on our minds.
It needs to be in our mouths and it needs to be faithfully
applied in our hands and in our feet.
And lastly, you have this confidence repeated to Joshua.
So you have a Commission, you have the promise, you have
commands, and then you have another promise for confidence
meant to to give Joshua confidence in verse 9.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
I love that. I love that.
Didn't I command you? Yes, I did this to me is when
when, when they make it to Aslan's country and, and, and
Aslan looks at his people that are in his country and he says
you are not nearly as glad as I intend you to be.
Just precious, right? You're not happy enough.
And I'm not disappointed in you, but I'm not done with you until
you're as happy as I intend for you to be.
And here God says this to Joshua.
You're not nearly as brave enough as I intend for you to
be, so I'm going to say it to you again.
Be strong and courageous and do not tremble.
The word is. Tremble, Do not tremble, do not
be frightened, do not be dismayed, because the Lord your
God. Is with you wherever you go.
Whom shall I fear? If God is with me to prosper my
way, the book of Joshua. Give me, give me 5 minutes and
I'm done. The Book of Joshua.
Is to the Great Commission what the sacrificial system is to the
atonement of Christ I'm. Just giving you word dump and.
SAT you know, conundrums. Today I'm going to say this to
you again, the book of Joshua, the Commission to Joshua is to
the Great Commission what the sacrificial system is to the
atonement. Of Christ meaning.
These are shadows and these are substances.
These are the types and these are the the substance that the
type points us towards. And so just a few things,
similarities between Joshua's Commission and our Commission
and then differences. OK, similarities.
It's a death and resurrection context.
Jesus has died and he's risen, and with his resurrection he
revived and resurrected the hopes of his people that had
been forever shattered because our leader, who he thought was
the Christ, was crucified and now he is risen from the dead.
So it's a death and resurrection context.
It's very similar. Secondly, that there's this.
I have given and I am giving nature.
Of the work that that Christ doesn't say, you know, God tells
Joshua go up to the land that I am giving and I have.
Given it to you, Jesus in the same way does not say, hey, go
make disciples of the nations so that all authority in heaven and
on earth can be given to me one day.
It's not what he says. He starts with the the real.
I've it's already. Been mine.
It's it's been given to me. It's mine.
To which they would say, well, but nobody honors you.
Well, it doesn't matter. It has been given to me.
Go make disciples. So.
There is a have. Given and currently giving
nature of the promise, which by the way means that you could
apply the words of. James here we have not because
we ask not, and we ask not because we believe not and we
believe not because we read not. We do not understand the things
that God in Christ has given to us, that God in Christ has given
us the world, that indeed God has made him both Lord and
Christ as Jesus and they crucified.
And Christ has asked of him, saying, give me the the nations.
And the Father has said, I give you the nations as your
inheritance, and by God you will rule them.
They are yours. I go rule them.
And so Jesus says, go announce and declare my lordship over
all. Things and teach them to obey me
and we just don't think that's real.
We we somehow just undercut that.
And so we don't pray like again, we have not because we ask not
how often I grew up in the church, right.
And I'm not trying to criticize anybody or anything, but I could
just I'm trying to remember anytime growing up in the in the
in the church where I heard a man say, father, in the name of
your son, Jesus, give us Argyle. Give us Denton.
Right John Knox famous story the Scottish.
Reformer would get up in the middle of the night and go pray
like. All of us do.
And and his wife would wake up and she would realize he's
probably catching, you know, pneumonia.
And so she she there was one night where she got up and she
got a blanket and she went to find him at his prayer place and
cover him with a blanket. And as she was creeping up
behind him, she heard him say, Lord.
Give me Scotland or I die. I want my nation to honor your
son. Give it to me.
And you know what happened. He gave him Scotland.
Now are we praying? This way.
And if not, why not? It's because we we have not
believed that God really has given the nations to Christ.
And so let us read and therefore believe what we read and
therefore pray according to what we believe.
Thirdly, similarities is the promise of victory for us to
look at the Great Commission of Christ and doubt it.
Would be for Joshua to. Say I know that you said it's
time, but I don't think you're going to do it.
I don't think we can win down here, right?
I don't think we can do this for us to.
We have to believe in the promise of victory.
That's the similarities now, 3 differences and I'm done.
The differences between this Commission and ours.
First is the expansion of the promise.
It's no longer just to the Mediterranean, to the Euphrates,
even though it still includes. That that's still ground, that
ground. Literally belongs to Jesus
Christ. Physically belongs to Jesus
Christ. It does not belong to the nation
of Israel. It does not belong to the
Palestinians. It doesn't belong to anybody but
the Lord. Jesus Christ, just like every
square inch of the world, belongs to Him.
And when a nation or people group anywhere say say Christ is
Lord, they can expect his blessing and his presence.
But when any nation, be they Israel or America or Great
Britain, when we raised rebel fists to the Christ who rules
and says you and say to him, you will have no dominion here, that
nation can expect the wrath of King Jesus, period.
I don't care who you are, I don't care how historic you have
been. Our nation included our one
nation under God that continues to murder by the millions the
image of God. That continues to defy the the
lordship of Christ there there has been back to my point that
was a side OK if there's an. Expansion of the promise.
It includes the same place and also now all of the world,
Christ said, not just Euphrates. To the Mediterranean, he says,
all authority in heaven and watch this in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. So it's not just earthly
authority, it's also heavenly authority second there.
So there's an expansion of the promise, there's an expansion of
the power, God tells Joshua. Look, I'm going to be with you.
Always and no one will be able to to stand against you.
And we look at that and we say, man, how awesome would that be
to be promised victory by God? Jesus told his followers at the
end of Luke and at the beginning of the book of Acts.
Stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high.
Because I'm going to, I'm going to ascend and sit at my Father's
right hand, and I'm going to pour out the Holy Spirit upon
you so that you can feel good in your defeat.
You can feel comforted as you don't accomplish the things for
which I've called you. Or does he say no?
When the Spirit comes to you, you will receive power to be my
witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth, the outermost reaches of the earth.
The power has expanded. And lastly, there is an
expansion of the practice. There's an expansion of the
practice. Joshua was promised that no man
would be able to stand before him in battle, and we have that
same promise. But the weapons of Joshua's
warfare were predominantly, though not exclusively, the
sword and the spear. It's different for us, Paul
says. Though we walk in the.
Flesh. We are not waging war according
to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh
but have divine power. How do you like them apples?
The weapons that we have are not fleshly weapons.
They're actually powerful. They can actually do things.
The weapons of our warfare have divine power.
Flesh is weak. Ours are more powerful and and
they have power. To destroy strongholds like the
stronghold that the devil takes up in our in our own personal
lives, in the lives of our families, in the lives of our
churches, and in the lives of our country.
We have weapons that can destroy those strongholds.
And then he goes on to say we destroyed twice.
We lay waste to these things. We destroy arguments and every
lofty opinion raised. Wait, wait.
I thought we were to tolerate. Every lofty opinion raised, No,
Paul says. We begin.
We've been given weapons in Christ to destroy these things,
to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and to take. Every thought captive to obey.
Christ. Captivity we are at.
War brothers and sisters, but our warfare is different than
Joshua, so make no mistake, we are the church militant.
We have a. Commission on us like Joshua had
on him. But we don't predominantly fight
with physical swords, although sometimes we must.
We don't predominantly fight with physical swords, we
primarily fight with a sword. That makes the wounded hole, to
quote the hymn, The sword that isn't in the hand of our
heavenly Joshua, but rather is in the the Sword of His mouth
that will strike down nations by reconciling them to himself if
while we. Were enemies.
We were reconciled. To God by the death of his son
like we we just saying this that.
You were rebel, I was rebel enemies.
And Christ brings the sword that comes from his mouth, and
instead of striking us down, he reconciles us to himself.
It's amazing. Amazing.
And Speaking of reconciliation. The.
Christ, who promised never to leave us or forsake us, has
indeed kept His word. Here He is with us down to this
very day. We know this in.
Part. By our participation in the
Lord's Table. Brothers and sisters, this bread
is His body which is broken for you.
This cup is His blood poured out for the forgiveness of your
sins. If you have never owned him as
your Lord and Savior, then repent of your sin and trust in
his death for you, especially one of my favorite author
setting. When you throw a rock at a pack
of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that you hit.
And sometimes when you when you preach and you read hard texts
like Christ saying a litany of sins and, and, and all of us go,
Oh my gosh, that's in my past. Oh my gosh, that's in my past.
If you have never repented over those things, repent of them.
Come to Christ and He will make it to where that's not part of
your biography anymore. But only the righteousness of
Christ will remain. So repent and trust in Him as
your Lord and Savior. But brother, sister, if He is
your Lord and you have been baptized into His name, this
table is your table because it is His table and He has given
everything he has to his church. Listen to Paul.
All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollo's or.
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present or the
future, all are. Yours.
It belongs to you because you belong to Christ, and this table
belongs to you too, and all of its fullness, and its fullness
is Christ himself. And so you come to that which is
greater than the sum total of the cosmos.
You come, you are welcome to Jesus Christ.
Let me pray for us. Oh Lord, we thank you.
We thank you that all of us have known what it is to be rebels to
your name and rebels to your cause and rebels to your
commands, to stand with double fists of defiance.
And all of us know what it is to hear the good news that in
response to our defiance. You conquered by dying.
You took our. Sin you took our shame, you took
our punishment. You took our alienation upon
yourself when you went to the cross, Lord Jesus, and cried out
in dereliction. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And we know why.
It's because you bore the sins of many.
And now, having been risen from the dead, you have reconciled us
to your Father, and you are able to present us holy and blameless
before the presence of God, with great joy.
And so to you belong to glory as we come to this sacrament, the
very presence of our Christ at the table.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you would take these elements up and
that as we eat and as we drink in remembrance and in faith,
that it would be a real participation in the body of
Christ. Would you minister to us here?
And I pray especially for the tender hearted.
Who are? Convicted by sin, would you
preach gospel to their soul, that they might know that you
really have forgiven them and that they would come with
gladness? We love you and we ask these
things in Jesus name, Amen.