Be Strong and of Good Courage — Joshua 1

0:00 Robert and I came to the Westlake Bible Fellowship car wash this morning, and, it was really nice. Thank you. I'm waiting for the dry off. And so it was a lot of water. A number of years ago, I had a situation.

0:22 I was preaching in the streets of Chicago, and I was, well, was preaching the gospel with a sketch board, and it was really an interesting situation because the crowd was not with me. I had a good crowd, though, and I was getting I was getting heckled, severely. And these two guys stood there leading the pack, so almost the whole crowd was heckling me. And it was, you know, you start wondering about your breath and stuff like that, if that happens. But, I was standing there, and then one guy asked me, and this is the middle of my message.

1:06 The one guy asked me, he said to me, he said, you... Are you married? And I said, yes. And he said, do you do you see other women? I said, no.

1:20 And then they started laughing. They thought that was the funniest thing going that I didn't... Did not cheat on my wife. Is that a kicker? I think of Isaiah five twenty.

1:34 I think of Isaiah five twenty, which says, woe unto them who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness. Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I I have to tell you that's that's our culture today. That is exactly our culture today.

2:00 That's where we are And we really are. I mean, go, oh, no, not really. Oh, yeah, really. Maybe you are not informed from the last year and a half to two years of what has been taking place. In in The United States specifically, but they're calling evil good and good evil.

2:26 They're already doing this, and they think you need a checkup from the neck up when you don't agree with them. Isn't that a kicker? How do we live? How we handle this type of thing? I'd like us to look at a passage that really will talk about that, Talk about us in terms of our living and lessons that will encourage us and that is Joshua chapter one.

2:56 I'd like us to look at Joshua chapter one. For many people, Joshua chapter one especially one through nine is one of those passages that they say, that's one of my favorite passages in the old in the whole Bible. One of my favorite. That's what some people say. I think it's such an encouragement.

3:18 It's incredible. It is an incredible. We're gonna look at verses one through nine and, Joshua, this is the opening opening salvo of the of the book of Joshua and he's talking about conquering Canaan and this this Joshua is a really a focused guy. He was a minister to Moses, very close, watched a lot of things take place. When Moses went and delivered Israel out of Egypt, he watched the snake, he watched the plagues, he saw all those things and how to be a forthright person.

4:04 How to be a forthright person by Moses and just really going straight at it. Didn't play any political games, said this is what it is And in Joshua's watching, watching, watching this. And so I'd like us to look at this passage, Joshua chapter one verses one through nine, because God shows us three lessons in encouraging. Joshua and encouraging us. Encouraging us.

5:00 The lesson of the future. And then in verses six through nine, God shows Joshua the lesson of the present of the present, what's taking place now. God shows the let Joshua the lesson of the past. And I like us to look at this one through five a. The past dealings, with Israel, especially, Moses, dealings with Moses.

5:28 But I'd like us to... If we could, we're not going to, we're not going to. If we could just get a good summation of Exodus to Deuteronomy, If we were to look at Exodus to Deuteronomy, we would get a tremendous summation. And if you would like to read a summation, one of the greatest sermons in the New Testament would be Acts chapter seven one through 60 Where Stephen preaches and goes through Exodus to Deuteronomy and talks about how god worked in Israel's life. So that, I mean, it's it is a very instructive for us.

6:10 Very instructive. But the past dealings with Israel... Look at verses one and two in our text. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all these people.

6:36 Well, that would... All these people, it's only it's only about 1.5 to 2,000,000. That's it. 1.5 to 2,000,000. Take all these people over, okay?

6:48 Take this, have this... So go over this Jordan, thou and all these people unto the land which I give unto them or give to them even on... Even to the children of Israel. So now they're entering the land. They were 40 waiting.

7:05 Forty years because of the disobedience. Numbers thirteen and fourteen really spell this out for us. What they did and what they didn't do. They didn't trust God. They did not trust god at the outset.

7:21 God would have blessed their socks off or their sandals off. God would have done that really ministered to them but they did not allow god to do that. They thought that god wasn't with them. They thought that god wasn't with them and so therefore, we can't we can't be blessed. We're gonna be fodder for all the, you know, the people beyond here and it's gonna be horrible.

7:49 It's gonna be terrible. We're gonna get chewed up. The, you know, they want the spies went out and looked at like grasshoppers and all those different things of which we've talked about here. 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 people and 10 spies turned everything on their head. Small number of people influencing a large number of people for evil.

8:19 It's just amazing, absolutely amazing. People say, Well, does it matter what one man does? Man, are you a student not a student of history? Are you not a student of history? One man can make a big difference.

8:36 One man can do that and then you see what 10 guys did. 10 guys did. They cried, they wailed, and that had to infect. I I don't know if you can grasp the how that might have been. At the outset, Joshua and Caleb warned them.

8:57 No. They're like they're like bread to us. And we've talked about that. You know, you go to a restaurant, you eat bread, you don't even think about it. Right?

9:07 Unless you're on a keto whatever diet that is, you know, and have carbs. But, you know, but you you don't even give it a thought. You're like a wood chipper, you know. Got any more bread? Got any more bread?

9:22 Especially if you go to Olive Garden or some place like that, right? And he says, these people, these tall guys, nine feet plus, they're like bread for us. Let's go now, let's do it. And they did not do it, they disobeyed. So they were forty days out.

9:40 Every year of the... Every day of that forty days was of a year and that's how long they had to, wander and anybody of 20 or over would never see the promised land. Would never see the promised land, 20 and under. Oh, they were so concerned about the young folk. They were so concerned about the children.

10:04 Right? They were so concerned about that. They are the ones that got to go in. And this is right right now. This is the situation.

10:36 He was provoked and he regretted not seeking the face of god even in that provocation. So, he's not going in. I find it interesting I find it very interesting that god is showing Joshua the lesson of the past and the way he is talking about this. Notice what he says in verse verse two. Verse, the first salvo of verse two, Moses, my servant, is dead.

11:15 Moses, my servant is dead. Do you think, do you think Joshua didn't know that? Do you think Joshua was not aware of that? Oh, really? No.

11:28 I think Joshua was fully aware but why did god, why does god tell Joshua, Moses, my servant is dead? Because he doesn't want Joshua trusting the trusting the past. He doesn't want Joshua trusting Moses and the power that god worked in his life. He doesn't want that. What he wants, he want god wants him.

11:54 God wants Joshua to trust him. Moses, my servant is dead. I'm now going to work with you and by the way, I wanna tell you something. God, all the saints in the past that are not breathing and are not with us, they're gone. God wants to work with you.

12:16 God wants to work with you without it, I mean, without a doubt. Are you breathing? Are you sitting here? Are you listening? Are you here?

12:25 Are you breathing? God still wants to work with you. He wants to do it in your life. And for us to say that God doesn't want us to do that God... Oh, not me.

12:39 Not God doesn't want. You're denying God. You're denying God his due. He wants to work in you and through you. And this is why I think he tells Moses or tells Joshua, Moses, my servant is dead.

12:58 I'm now gonna work with you. You are now going to be... What a... What an incredible thing. Now therefore arise, go over this River Jordan and all the people onto the land which I do give to them and to the children of Israel.

13:19 Obey me. Do this. He just saw forty years of disobedience and what that all meant. He saw god that provide. Their shoes didn't wear out.

13:32 They had food. They had all all those things and but the forty years of wilderness water wandering and so they he just saw all the ramifications of disobedience. You think Joshua is not going to obey? He's going to obey. He's going to do it.

13:53 God is going to work and he's gonna work. He's gonna work through me And so we see the past dealings with Israel. I mean, there's so much that that God is, you know, so much history on this. The past is so rich for him in terms of instructions. And look at verses three through five a.

14:17 Every place... Now he's continuing to tell him. Can you imagine this? Every place that your sole of your foot shall tread upon, That have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. Talk about a real estate deal.

14:43 Talk about talk about... I mean everywhere you go, wherever your foot lands, it's yours. I'm giving it to you. Wow. One of the beautiful things, about the scriptures, especially when it comes to Israel, is the issue of the land.

15:10 The land is a big deal in The Middle East. The land and this is it's going to be this way. It's this way now. It's this way. It's going to be this way in the future.

15:24 And in the millennial kingdom, they will get all of the land that god tells them that he's gonna give them. He told them that in Genesis. He told them in Genesis, they're gonna get from the River Euphrates all the way to the Nile. They're gonna get all of that land. You think that Israel now, which is like the size of the state of New Jersey, maybe a little smaller, and, is is is all the land they're gonna get?

15:51 No way. They're gonna get the total circumference of that land from River Euphrates which is in Iraq. Cuts right through Baghdad. River Euphrates all the way through the Nile. They get all of that land and that's going to happen in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

16:11 And he promised them that in Genesis. He says to him, he you you go and here... Every place where the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, your river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your border. Oh, This is a lot of land.

17:12 No one is gonna be able to do that. I I love it what what Paul writes, if god before you, who can be against you? He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he also freely with him give him give us all things? God is our forward guard.

17:36 God is our rear guard. He's our side guards. He's above us. He's below it. He is everything to us.

17:45 So we may not fear. I I like that. Hebrews chapter 13 verse five. So we don't fear. What man can do unto us?

17:58 Right? Yeah. Absolutely right. That comes right from this passage. Hebrews.

18:03 In fact, let's just look at that just for a moment. Hebrews... And and would you do do, yourself a huge favor? Believe this for yourself. That's one of the things that's so weird about about me preaching, and not me personally, but anybody preaching up here and then you sitting there.

18:27 The weird thing about that is this, that's why I walk around a lot so you get nervous, and and then also that you would believe it. Hebrews thirteen five, let your manner of life be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Many of you and many of me many times I fear. I just like the Israelites, you know.

19:20 I forget that god's with me. I forget it. I fear. Whether it's the COVID fear, whether it's getting into an accident fear, the fear of flying, all all these different phobias, these fears that we have. I'm not talking about us being reckless, I'm not saying that, but I'm talking about something that robs the joy from our hearts and our attention and focus is on something other than him.

19:58 Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. We have a lot of fears, we live in fear. Oftentimes we'd want to do our best, know, I mean I want to wash my hands for twenty seconds with soap and water and then dry them thoroughly with a clean towel, I want to do that. I want to, but I don't want to live in fear.

20:27 I don't want to live in fear in terms of my future. I don't want to live in fear. I don't want to live in fear at all. How about you? Don't you want to be free from that?

20:38 Some of us are just plain worrywarts. We worry about this and we worry about that. That's called fear. And that is, I hate to say it this way, a lack of trust. It's a lack of trust.

20:57 We don't wanna be foolish, that's for sure. I don't wanna go into a dark alley with $100 bills handing hanging out of my pockets and you know going into a known area where people get robbed. I mean I got to be wise as serpents and harmless as a dove, don't want to be stupid plus I don't have the $100 you know but if they think I do they'll rob me you know and but the thing about it is I don't wanna live in fear. I don't want... Especially men.

21:30 The fear of man. We don't wanna live in the fear of man. I tell you, there's a lot of people who are doing it. We see it every day on TV. We see it every day on TV.

22:20 I hate ties, but I want to make them look good. Then I got a truck and it's actually paid for, an F-one 150. Let's see what else I got. I got a cell phone, iPad, and a Mac. I I like that stuff, you know?

22:43 And then we got a house. I can't believe it. For the first seventeen years of our marriage, I never had a house. You know, I've got a I've got a son and I got a daughter-in-law. She's a knockout.

22:58 And he is really well blessed. I got two grandchildren that own me. They do. They own me. Papa, can we...

23:06 Papa, Papa, can we do this? Papa, can we do that? And they own me, all that. But don't you, if you have been blessed like that, don't you fear the loss of those things? Especially the junk, getting robbed.

23:29 I have Simply Safe in my house. I have a camera so I know who robbed me. You know, unless they steal the cameras and the tape, you know. I I look at this kind of stuff and I say to myself, the more you possess the more you possess, the more you fear that it's gonna be gone. Our possession really is gotta be god.

24:06 We have him. Everything that he gives, every I'll I'll put it that way. Everything that we have is given by god. Every breath we take, gift from god. Everything that we have is really by god.

24:29 God's grace to you and if you don't think that that's true, something's wrong with you. You've got your focus on the wrong thing. You do. I'm sorry, you do. God has blessed you.

24:43 God has blessed me and everything that we got. If you can shoot a jump shot and you can rebound and block out. It's because god has enabled you. That is the truth. If you can block well or wrestle well or do those kinds of things well, it's because god is blessed.

25:07 He really has. He has blessed mightily and we wanna thank him for that. Everything and this is exactly what god is doing to Israel. I am opening this up for you. So, if you walk over here, I gave it to you.

25:22 If you walk over to this way, I gave it to you. Here's the boundaries, I'm giving this to you and to the 1,520,000 people that are with you. Do they deserve it? No. Do we deserve it?

25:39 No. It's by the grace benevolent favor of god on our lives. It is amazing how god is so good to us and let me ask you a question. Can I ask you a a quite kind of a personal question? Yeah.

26:01 Have you thanked him for it? Or you just take it for granted. Have you thanked him? Say, lord, thank you. Thank you for contacts.

26:17 Thank you for glasses. Thank you for taste buds. You who have had COVID lost your taste. Start to appreciate taste. My grandmother lost her taste permanently because of an accident she had.

26:37 It was in a car accident she lost all taste. She couldn't taste her food. I mean enzymes in gut that break down the food. I mean, have a you probably know people that haven't had that. Are we thankful people?

26:55 And do we know that god has given us everything? Everything. He's given it. And this is what he did with Israel. This is what he is doing going to do with Israel and god is telling Joshua, this is exactly what I want you to know.

27:35 How was he with Moses? As I was with Moses. What does that mean? That means he saw how god works so powerfully in Moses's life. He was a guy who stammered.

27:51 He did not want, he wanted Aaron there to to speak for him but he didn't, he wasn't mealy mouth. He really wasn't. God gave him Aaron and god was his Aaron was a spokesman but Moses, let my people go. You're gonna have this plagues. You're gonna have this.

28:10 You're gonna have this situation. As I was with Moses, how powerful was god in Moses? Moses is dead. I am gonna show myself powerful in you. The question is, will we as Christians allow god to show himself powerful in our own lives?

28:34 Will we allow god to show himself powerful in our own lives? One of the greatest sins that we could ever commit, we see this in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 specifically and also 12. That sin that doth easily beset us. What was the sin? The sin of unbelief Can god work with you?

29:02 Can god minister to you? Can god show himself powerful in your life? Absolutely. Will you let him do it? A lot of times we think that the Christian life is all kind of boring.

29:17 It's cultural. And this is what we do. We have our quiet time. This is this is kind. This is the kind of thing we do.

29:25 Wrong. Wrong. We we do those things but why? Why? Why do we have a quiet time?

29:33 Why do we study the word? Why do we do that? So, we could know of his incredible power in our lives. We can trust him more. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god.

29:48 I don't know how great and powerful god is unless I read it. Unless I see it or hear it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god. So, listen to the word of god and know this, would you please know this? That god wants to work in your life more than you want him to work in your life.

30:13 He wants to work. He wants to bless. He wants to minister in and through you so powerfully. He and that you would know that he did it and that you would not say I did it by my cleverness and you would have to say, god did this and he gets the glory in that. Don't sit here today.

30:39 Don't sit here today and walk out after the thing and you know, think, we're going to thank god that it's not raining. Right, bro? Windows were wide open when the the car wash started, you know? I mean, you know, but thank the lord you were ran out and rolled them up or you'd be having a sauna bath in your car. And you know, you look at this, you look at this kind of situation and we say, god, I want you.

31:11 I want you to work in my life. See, we Christians, we say to people when we talk to em about Jesus Christ, we say, well, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The question is, do you? I'm not talking about how you if you're going to heaven or not, I want you to know that if you've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you're going to heaven. That's fantastic but I wanna know him.

31:38 Paul put it this way, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. And often times when god works in our lives, he puts us in situations that are impossible. We say only you can do this. Only you can work. Our backs are against the wall.

32:05 We have nowhere else to turn. We turn to the God of the universe. The God who said let there be light. Spoke it into existence. This is our God.

32:22 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of god and not of us. Paul tells the Corinthian church. This is what he desires for you. Think about that just for a moment. This is what god desires for you.

32:46 And often times, we get distracted. You know, I I think I have ADOS, attention deficit, attention deficit, oh shiny. I think I have that because I'm often distracted from the lord. I'm often distracted by situations that bring and come in. I'm going tell you blindside me.

33:13 They boom. Right there. Oh no. Like God didn't expect this. That God is not in control in any in any way shape or form.

33:51 He will never fail. He will never forsake. I like verse seven. I like that. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee.

34:07 Turn not to to the right hand or or from the right hand or to the left, thou mayest prosper wherever thou go. I will be with you. So, bro, you're gonna be playing this year, right? Okay. You're gonna be playing fifth year senior.

34:23 And that's really good. So, and you you and number four for all. Here it is. Come out there. Yeah.

34:30 How you doing You're right. So the six eleven guy jams the ball down your throat. Is God still with you? He sure is. He sure is.

34:45 And you're sitting in the classroom and you're taking an exam. Is god with you? Or you got, you're a wrestler, right? Yeah, you're coming up against that guy. Is god with you?

34:55 Yes. Now, we're not using god as some kind of gumball machine that say something special. God just help me to glorify you. In this let me beat him. Let me do the the quick take down on him and help me to do this.

35:14 Help me to be the best I can be. For your glory. But is god with you? Yes. Think about that for a moment.

35:26 He's with you all the time. All the time. This is what he's telling us. We gotta believe him, folks. We have got to believe him.

35:35 He will never fail us nor ever forsake us. As we have already noted in Hebrews, so that we may boldly say, the lord is my helper. I will not fear what man will do unto me. I haven't forgotten about you, Mary, in terms of your basketball prowess. Is god with you on that?

35:57 The answer is absolutely. It is god with you moms when you're doing the dishes and doing the mundane, cleaning the toilets, and all that kind of stuff and getting ready for house guests. Is god with you? Is god with you when you're working the hard job and changing something, a tire or something? Is god with you?

36:16 Absolutely. God is with us. This is really something. I every time I fly in an airplane, Psalm 91 comes out. I read Psalm 91.

36:37 I I do. I read Psalm 91 every every time And I ask the Lord just to... Lord, not... I don't have to... I don't even have to pray.

36:48 Lord, be with me. He already is. He is already there, and he will never forsake. Never forsake. Wow.

37:01 Wow. So we've looked at the past, the future, and now we're gonna look at the present. He is going to tell us about right now. He tells us you know that God will always bless trust. He always blesses obedience and he always blesses commitment.

37:19 Look at verse six a, be strong in the Lord. Be, be strong and of good courage. Because when you're facing a foe, you get a little nervous. When you face the foe, get nervous because he's right there. We forget that God is with us too.

37:40 In fact, the the the great illustration on this is Elijah... I think it's Elijah or Elijah, his servant. This Assyrian army is right there and they're about to attack and he, this guy is, I would, I would be going pale too. This guy is really upset and Elijah, this the the prophet looks and and says to the lord, let him see the way it really is, wrote a loose paraphrase of the Hebrew. Very loose paraphrase.

38:12 He says, let him see the way it really is and what does he see? He sees an army that was once invisible to him. He sees it right now. He sees it presently. How god is holding it back.

38:31 I was with them. I was with them. I am going to be with you. Trust me. Be of good courage.

38:57 And so that's that is it. Trust. He always blesses trust. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Turn not from the right hand or to the left that you may have neither thou mayest prosper wherever you go.

39:20 God always blesses. God always blesses when we take him at his word. He always blesses, always. God delights when you take him at his word. When you trust him, god always blesses and you will never ever ever go wrong for being and taking a stand for the word of god.

40:00 For the word of god and in these days, we've talked about this years, you know, twenty years ago, thirty years ago, we talked about the potential of persecution. We're looking, we're at the door. We're about to go into the room of persecution and Christians in the in the church in America today and experience what a lot of people have experienced all over the world. Christians have. By standing true to the word of god.

40:35 I have a I met a guy Gorgie Vins of Russia. Soviet Union at the time. He was a Baptist pastor. He preached the word of god and was sent to a Siberian gulag. For preaching, having the Bible, and all going to his church as a pastor of this Baptist Church in the Soviet Union and he opened it up and he starts preaching from the Bible.

41:01 They send him. For years, he comes, gets released. He comes back and he what is the first thing that he does? He goes back into that pulpit, opens up the word of god and starts preaching from the Bible and they send him back. I got to meet Gorgie Vince.

41:25 You know, he was... When he was at the Moody Bible Institute, he spoke at Moody. We had no idea who this guy was. This guy was... I mean, we just thought this guy was...

41:35 He looked like a bowling pin in a suit. He did. He had a little dark goatee and he had this pale... I... Did I ever tell you this story?

41:44 He had this he had this lady next to him, very pale, very pasty looking, and she she's standing next to him and, as he goes up and it's a it was a President's, President's chapel which was every Monday and so doctor Sweeting would have, you know, he'd either speak or have somebody else speak of notoriety or whatever and we didn't have a clue who this guy was. In the back, in the back of the 2,500 seat auditorium, in the back underneath the, what do you call it, the balcony. All of the students would be studying for their next class so you could hear the pages turning and things being dropped into the din of noise. But when he got up, I mean, we heard like Ryrie. We heard, I mean, I mean, Ackengate.

42:43 We heard a lot of these guys, right? But when he got up, you couldn't hear, you could hear nothing. You could hear a pin drop in the back. We had no idea who this guy is and he started to speak in Russian and this lady starts translating. This lady is his daughter who never saw him because he was in the gulag so long.

43:10 She was raised without a dad. And now she's, he was expelled and so is she. And he is standing before us. He never wrote a book. He never taught a class.

43:22 He didn't have a THM. He didn't have a THD. He didn't have any notoriety except what? Suffering. And we paid attention because he trusted god through that and was obedient through that.

43:46 God blesses obedience. And then look at this. Okay? Look at this book, verse eight, of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, and you may have observed to do according to all that is written therein. For there, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then shalt thou have good success.

44:13 Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Haven't I commanded you? Yes. He has.

44:25 Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the lord thy god is with you wherever you go. I think to myself of this fella named James Lipton. He was born in 1926, and he died in 2020. And he was the host of the long running TV series Inside the Actor's Studio. He asked this question of his students, the secular guy.

45:31 I wanna ask us the question. I've been thinking about this and I'm thinking of a sermon on this. What would I like to have god say to me when he welcomes me home? Because that's the final, that's the ball game, isn't it? Isn't that it?

45:55 Everything else is preparatory for this when we close our eyes and death and it can happen to anyone of us at any time. What will you want him to say to you? I would love him to say and say to me, well done. Good and faithful servant and maybe add an an appendix to it. You trusted me.

46:27 You trusted my word He delights in it. Let's delight him. Father, we just ask you that you would really help us in this. We are very weak. We're very feeble at best.

46:50 We ask you that you would work in our lives that we would see your grace and your power. Please minister, we pray. And we ask these things in Jesus's name. Amen.