Sunday August 6, 2017 Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas e-mail
Message # 2 “Book of Joshua” Text: Joshua 1:3-15
Be Strong and of Good Courage
Joshua 1:3-15
INTRODUCTION: In one way or another all of us face common emotional enemies, one of which is called "FEAR."
We have fear of the past catching up with us.
We have fear of the present that we face daily.
We have fear of the future for our lives, our children, our grandchildren and even for our great-grandchildren.
Another common emotional enemy we face is "DISCOURAGEMENT."
The word discouragement means "to melt down" or “to be cast down." It is not a disgrace to become discouraged, it is a disgrace to stay discouraged.
However, as believers we should enter every day and every week and every tomorrow with a POSITIVE SPIRIT, and when a child of God does that, he is entering the day REALISTICALLY.
We can say that, because Jesus said in Hebrews 13:5-6, "... I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Since this is true, then I need not enter into a week or a day feeling DEJECTED, FEARFUL, WORRIED, or DESPONDENT.
Do I have your attention? I trust I do, as together we examine the Old Testament book of Joshua. Following the death of Moses, Joshua is faced with one of the greatest challenges of his life. FEAR and ANXIETY gnawed at his total being.
Threatening questions no doubt flooded his mind. Yet God understood His dilemma. God knew what was ahead, He always does. God understood Joshua's human weakness.
Before we go into the heart of this message, let me pause to encourage those leaders, churches and ministries that from time to time have to change leadership.
Leaders do not lead forever, even godly leaders like Moses. There comes a time in every ministry when God calls for a new beginning with a new generation and new leadership. Except for Joshua and Caleb, the old generation of Jews had perished during the nation’s wanderings in the wilderness; and Joshua was commissioned to lead the new generation into a new challenge, entering and conquering the Promised Land. Remember this: “God buries His workman, but His work goes on.”
Over the years I have seen churches and ministries flounder and almost destroy themselves in futile attempts to embalm the past and escape the future. Their theme song was, “As it was in the beginning, so shall it ever be, world without end.” More than one pastor has been offered as a sacrificial lamb because he dared to suggest the church make some changes as they develop a vision for the future. More than anything else, what a new leader needs is encouragement which means “to put heart into.”
On the other hand, a wise leader does not completely abandon the past, but builds on it as the ministry moves forward with a vision of God’s leading into the future. Moses is mentioned 57 times in the Book of Joshua, evidence that Joshua respected Moses and what he had done for Israel. Joshua worshiped the same God that Moses had worshiped, and he obeyed the same Word that Moses had given to the nation. There was continuity from one leader to the next. But there was not always conformity, for each leader is different and needs to maintain his individuality.
God never gives a person a task without giving the resources, help and guidance to carry out the responsibility. In the passage before us, God is giving Joshua a word of challenge and encouragement.
Joshua 1:6 contains the phrase "Be strong and of good courage." This phrase is used four times in Joshua chapter 1, verses 6, 7, 8, and 18. In the New Testament book of Ephesians, the counterpart to the Old Testament book of Joshua, Paul challenges us to put on spiritual armor to protect us. In Ephesians 6 Paul says, "Finally brethren, BE STRONG in the LORD, and in the power of His might..."
From Joshua 1, we discover from where our strength comes:
NUMBER 1: We are to be Strong and of a Good Courage because of God's PROMISE verses 3-6,
“Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (5) There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (6) Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.”
In these verses, God commissions Joshua to achieve three things: lead the people into the land, defeat the enemy, and claim the inheritance.
God did not give Joshua explanations as to HOW he would accomplish these things, BECAUSE GOD'S PEOPLE LIVE ON PROMISES AND NOT ON EXPLANATIONS.
Remember this: the secret to victorious Christian living is living in TOTAL DEPENDANCE UPON THE PROMISES OF GOD.
Now we must understand God's desire was for Israel to quickly occupy the land.
Let me remind you when the Jews came out of Egypt, they came to the Land of Promise in only ELEVEN days. They could have walked right on in, yet out of FEAR of the walled cities and the giant people, they DISOBEYED God and stopped moving forward. Because of their hang-up, (fear and disobedience) God said, "OK, you must wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all this generation drops dead."
So, this new generation has finally arrived again at the borders of the land. This land had been a FOREVER deal promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the nation of Israel. Now God repeats His admonition that as they enter this land they must be “strong and of a good courage.”
Why was this necessary, if God had promised them the land? It was necessary because the land was already inhabited, and before the Israelites could acquire the land, they had to expel the people that were living in their Promised Land.
Again, when we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we discover that when someone becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible says we enter into a different KIND of LIFE. We call this the "NEWNESS OF LIFE."
In II Corinthians 5:17, we are told, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." This new life is not the same kind of life the unsaved people in the world are experiencing. As a believer in Jesus Christ yours is a different kind of life, lived 24/7.
There is a special kind of life God has promised to each and every one of us who name the name of Christ.
It is a life filled with purpose, fulfillment, peace, and victory. Jesus said, "He has come that you and I might have LIFE and live that LIFE more abundantly."
Now as believers, some sitting here know what I am talking about. Others are unaware and wonder why there is no purpose or power or spiritual progress in their lives. They are saved, yet they are wandering in the wilderness of life discouraged and fearful.
Within us and all around us there are enemies needing to be driven out of our lives before we can experience this “NEWNESS OF LIFE” God provides. I am talking about:
the enemy of lust the enemy of self-centeredness
the enemy of self-pity the enemy of gluttony
the enemy of bitterness the enemy of pride
the enemy of hatred the enemy of strife and division.
Now maybe I have not mentioned your specific enemy. But inside your soul you know what it is. That enemy has to be EXPELLED if you are going to live the kind of life God wants us to live, this "NEWNESS OF LIFE."
By ourselves it is impossible to drive these enemies out. This is not an easy task. It will require some spiritual BACKBONE to stand up to all the evil around and in us. Israel faced these enemies to drive them out. Go with me to Deuteronomy 7:1-11 where Moses is warning the new generation about to enter the Promised Land:
“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;” (notice the phrase) "greater and mightier than thou.”) (2) And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: (3) Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. (4) For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. (5) But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Now carefully notice the next verses, (6) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (7) The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: (8) But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (10) And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. (11) Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.”
Have you ever asked,
Why didn’t God just drive out these inhabitants before Israel came into the land?
Why didn’t God just let Israel walk right on into the land in peace?
Why does God allow the enemies of my soul to keep attacking me?
Why is it that once I became born again, the devil seems to be fighting me all the time?"
Listen carefully. It is impossible to stand still in the Christian life and service; for when you either stand still or have no battles to fight you start to take it easy and THAT IS WHEN YOU BEGIN TO BACKSIDE.
So why doesn’t God totally wipe out the enemies of our lives so that we keep depending upon Him and His promises? Let me tell you, if there were no promises of God, no power of God, no presence of God in our lives, you and I would be in deep, deep trouble.
Notice again Joshua 1:5, “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” What a promise to Joshua - Joshua, I will be with you. I will not drop you along the way!
To Moses God said in Exodus 4:12 "I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say."
To Gideon God said in Judges 6:16, "... Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."
To Jeremiah God said in Jeremiah 1:19 "They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, saith the Lord to deliver thee."
To the church, the risen Lord said in Matthew 28:18-20, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations... and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
God's sovereign Word is an encouragement to believe and obey.
NUMBER 2: We are to be Strong and of a Good courage because of God's POWER verses 7-8,
“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. (8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
God tells Joshua he is to GOVERN his life by the Word of God. Five direct commands stand out in Joshua 1:7-8.
First: "Be careful to do according to all the law." 1:7a
Second: "Do not turn from it to the right or to the left." 1:7b
Third: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth." 1:8a
Fourth: "You shall meditate on it day and night." 1:8b
Fifth: "Be careful to do according to all that is written in it." 1:8c
Joshua, must not only know the Book, meditating on it day and night, he must also practice the Book and then communicate the Book to the children of Israel.
If you are going to be strong and courageous to defeat the enemies in your life, those areas that fill you with fear, discouragement, and despondency you must be a person of the Book!.
The word “mediate” has the idea to think over and over again. Christians whose life style allows no time for God's thoughts to filter through their minds on a daily basis become shallow and superficial. Mediation means to literally think the Word of God moment by moment. Let its’ thoughts continually filter through your mind.