Joshua 1:1-9
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 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.
7 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.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Sermon Transcript
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Well, this evening, we're gonna
begin a study in the book of Joshua, the book of Joshua. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what the Lord says here four times. He says four times, he says the
same thing. Did you notice that? Four times,
he says the same thing. Be strong and be of good courage. Be strong. Now, how are we strong? We're strong only in the Lord,
He is our strength. And be of good courage by resting
in Him. Notice verse six, be strong and
be of good courage. Verse seven, only be thou strong
and very, very courageous. Again in verse nine, be strong
and of good courage. Don't be afraid. Now Joshua had
a lot of enemies staring down his neck. He was facing a whole
land of hostiles, enemies that despised this nation, Israel. And then again, it's repeated
in verse 18, by the Reubenites and the Gadites. They also said
to Moses, to Joshua, as the Lord did, only be strong and of good,
good courage. Now what comforting word this
must have been to Joshua. What comforting word this must
have been in troubling times. Moses, oh, he was so revered
by the people, especially Joshua looked to him. Moses had died. The people were camped on the
bank of the river Jordan waiting to cross over into that land
that had been so long spoken of by the Lord. And Joshua had this weight put
upon him, this weight of leadership, this weight of responsibility.
And Jehovah speaks to his servant and says, don't worry, I'll be
with you. Don't worry, I will not fail
thee. I will not forsake thee. You
will prosper wherever you go and you'll have good success. You're not gonna fail. Be strong,
be of good courage. Now, aren't those comforting
words? Is not this the same message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ unto every one of us that is given faith to believe the
gospel? Our Lord said, these things have
I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In this
world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. And then the resurrected Lord
said to those disciples, he said to them, all power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Go and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And remember this, lo, I am with
you always. Be of good courage. And then
we read in the book of Hebrews where this is repeated in Hebrews
chapter 13, when the Lord is giving instructions to his people,
those Hebrew believers and us. You remember he said, the Lord
will never, no never leave you nor forsake you. Never, no, never will he leave
us nor forsake us. The Lord Jesus Christ as he was
made sin for us was forsaken that God might never forsake
us because the Lord put away our sin. Now in our study through
this book that's named after Joshua, we're going to see the
word of the Lord shall not fail, because he can't fail. When Joshua
dies, when he is a hundred, I think, If I remember right, 110 years
old. When Joshua dies, he reminds
them and us of this blessed fact. Now hold your place there and
let's turn to Joshua chapter 21 first. Joshua 21 verse 45.
Joshua 21, 45. There failed not ought of any
good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of
Israel, all came to pass." All came to pass? Everything God
promised came to pass. Now turn to Joshua chapter 23. I often quote this verse. These are the last words of Joshua
23, verse 14, "'Behold, this day I am going the way of all
the earth, and ye know in all your hearts, and in all your
soul, that not one thing has failed of all the good things
which the Lord your God spake concerning you, all are come
to pass unto you, and not one thing failed thereof." Every promise and every precept
that God has spoken shall be fulfilled and shall not fail. We too can be sure that all the
great and exceeding precious promises of God in Christ are
certain and sure. Yes, amen, and in Him unto the
glory of God forever all shall be fulfilled in Christ. Is that
right? Sure it is. That is right. The theme of this book, like
all Scripture, points us to the greater Joshua, who is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the blessedness we have through
Him. You remember, I quote this Scripture
often, Romans 15-4, whatsoever things are written aforetime
are written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope." It's all about Christ. This book's all about Christ.
In beginning it, Moses and all the prophets, he's spake unto
them in all the scriptures, the thing concerning himself. This book's all about Christ.
That's what makes it so, so powerful. Now, Joshua's name means, Jehovah
is salvation. But I found something interesting
that I had not, I know I've read this before, but I had forgotten
it. In the book of Numbers, don't turn there, but Numbers 13, six,
you know, Joshua is not his original name. Did you know that? His name was Oshiah, Oshiah. And then Moses renamed him Jehoshua. Here he is known as Joshua. Now
I looked those two words up. His original name, Moshiah, means
deliverer. Now who is that a picture of?
The Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 11, 26 we are going to see in
our Bible study. The book of Romans chapter 11,
verse 26, the Deliverer shall come, capital D, the Deliverer
shall come. He is our Deliverer. He is our
Hoshia. And even in Joshua's original
name, even that pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. And then his
name that Moses gives him is Jehoshua. And that name means,
Jehovah saved. And who is the one who saved
sinners? We hear people say often, we hear people say in religious
circles, well, I got saved. Really? Why don't they say, the
Lord in His great mercy, the Lord in His great mercy had mercy
on me and revealed Christ to me. Instead of, well, I got saved.
It's kind of like, you know, I got the measles. And you know,
you caught it, and it's some kind of disease, I got it. You
know, it really, it reveals what they think that salvation really
is. When they say, well, I got saved.
I got saved last week. Well, you know, who saved you?
So what Jehovah is salvation, and we know that salvation is
of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
in scripture, I looked this up in the New Testament, he's called
God our Savior. And he's called God our Savior
for a reason, because he is God who saves. And it's recorded
in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, nine times, he called God our
Savior. I like that. I like that. He's
God, our Savior. And then we know the Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who is named from heaven about the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Call His name Jesus, which means
Joshua. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sins. Now we see in this book this
book of Joshua. We see Joshua leading the people
into the land of Canaan, conquering all the enemies, giving the people
the inheritance in the land. And notice how many times it
says, it's the Lord that giveth you the land. And the Lord did
so through the means and the servant He raised up in Joshua. I've given you that inheritance. I was reading through this again
in preparation for this message. Turn to Joshua chapter 11 verse
23. The inheritance. And this inheritance is given
to all these different tribes Joshua 11, 23, so Joshua took
the whole land according to all that the Lord said unto Moses
and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their
division by their tribe and the land rested. And we know the
Lord Jesus Christ, He is our rest. He said, come unto Me and
rest, and He is our inheritance. And all this is typical of the
Lord Jesus Christ in type, picture, and promise. But in all the fulfillment
of it, we see that in Christ Himself. For He died for our
sin according to the Scripture. He died for our sin according
to the Scripture. A couple of interesting notes
here I want to give you and still this is the introduction to the
message. One of the most important questions
come from the reason why Moses could not lead the children,
the children of Israel over Jordan into the promised land. Now,
you would think that it would be more convenient to have a
vetted veteran leader like Moses To lead the people in, he was
still a strong man, even though he's 120 years old. It said his
eye wasn't dim and his natural force, he was still a vibrant,
strong person. Why didn't the Lord purpose and
design to have Moses lead them through? Pretty good question. Most people never considered
even the question. Most important question comes
One of the most important questions that is answered in this book
comes from the reason why Moses could not lead the children over
Jordan into the promised land and why the Lord buried him in
such an unusual way. The Lord took him to glory, separated
his soul and spirit from his body, his body went back to the
dust and the Lord buried him in a place where no one to this
day has ever found his grave. Now why did the Lord take such
pains to bury him in an obscure way? So no one would worship
Moses. But rather would look to Joshua
who is a picture of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. His death
was not an untimely death, he died according to the word of
the Lord. Now here's the answer to that
question. Moses represents the Levitical
law. He's the prophet of that law. He's the servant of that law.
The holy law of God cannot bring sinners into covenant mercy blessings. How many times we read in the
book of Romans that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified. Moses could not lead the children
into the promised land because he represents the law of God
and the holy law of God cannot justify the ungodly. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, Romans 3, 19 through 21. Moses is dead. Moses must die and the believers
state before the law of God is what? Dead to the law through
the body of Christ. We are dead to the law through
the body of Christ. The law shall not have no more
have dominion over you because you are dead to the law. Dead
to the law but alive unto God Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. Moses is dead. Joshua lives. He's our Savior. And the Lord
Jesus Christ indeed died for our sin according to Scripture,
but He ever lives to intercede for us. Christ has fully and
forever redeemed us. Thank God He's redeemed us. from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem us from that law. Now we have another picture too,
by way of introduction. We have another blessed picture
of salvation in Joshua our Savior. Joshua our Savior. Joshua had
a friend named Caleb, remember? Caleb. Joshua and Caleb were
two of the 12 original spies who Moses sent out to spy out
the land for 40 days. You remember when they crossed
the Red Sea and they came to Kadesh Barnea and Moses chose
out 12 men and sent them into the land of Canaan to spy out
the land? And he said, you do that for
40 days, you come back and give report. You remember those 10
men what they said? They're giants in the land. There's
no way we can take that land. And Joshua and Caleb said, you're
looking to the flesh. God's with us. We'll win the
victory. Who are those people? God is
on our side. We'll win the victory. They were
the only two that said the Lord is with us. We can take the land.
The 10 others said it's impossible. Well, we know the sad story.
The people sided with the 10 spies. They believed that majority
report. And the Lord gave them for every
day they were in the land of Canaan, spying out the land,
for every day they were in there, it was 40 days, he gave them
a year, 40 years to wander and wander and wander and wander
around in that desert land. till every male child over the
age of 20 died in the wilderness. God killed a whole generation.
A whole generation died that was 20 years old and upward,
died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. With the exception,
guess who? Joshua and Caleb. I was reading there in the book
of Joshua, there's one whole chapter given over to Caleb,
having a specific inheritance in Hebron. And Caleb mentioned,
I was 40 years old when I went into the land of Canaan. And
now he said, I'm 85 years old and I've served the Lord. And
it says always of Caleb that he followed the Lord fully. That's a good thing to do. Follow
the Lord fully. Caleb's name means, Caleb's name,
his name means faithful dog. Matter of fact, I just looked
at my notes here and I just noticed and remembered that I jotted
that reference down. Let's turn there and read that
about Caleb. Faithful dog. Joshua 14. Joshua chapter 14, verse 13. And Joshua blessed him, and gave
unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for inheritance. He gave
him a whole city. And Hebron therefore became the
inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kizanite unto
this day because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. Now, we know Joshua's name means
faithful savior. And we know that he is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can draw this conclusion.
Only the Savior and the dog entered into the promised land. The Savior
and the faithful dog. Caleb's name also means faithful
dog. Only the Savior and the dog entered
into the promised land, into the land of Canaan. And that
too is a glorious picture. Do you see it? The Lord Jesus
Christ is our Savior and He takes all of His people to glory. Those
dead dog sinners. That's what Mephibosheth said
of himself. What am I? That you show mercy to me? Not
the dead dog as I am. It is true. All dogs go to heaven.
The Savior takes every dead dog sinner to glory. This too is a blessed picture
of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We enter into salvation
only in Him. Remember from our study in the
book of Hebrews, whether the forerunner for us is entered,
even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I like what that woman said when
the Lord said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And that about casting the crumbs out, and she said,
well, the dogs eat the crumbs. And she's saying, Lord, I'm your
dog. I'm your dog. Let me just have a crumb. Just
let me have a crumb. from the table. Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ is our mighty Savior, who is bringing many sons to
glory. He's called the Captain of our
salvation, who has won all the victories over sin, Satan, death,
hell, and the grave, who gives us all grace now and glory forever
in Christ. By Himself, He did put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He obtained eternal redemption
for us with his own blood. When he by himself purged our
sin, by himself, with himself, purged our sin, he sat down at
the right hand of God, and as we know from scripture, we sat
down in Him. When He sat down, we sat down
in Him. Having spoiled all principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them Himself. Now, let's look at a few things
here in Joshua chapter 1. And again, it's always our aim
and goal to glean a few gospel nuggets. The Lord spake to Joshua,
verse 1, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came
to pass that the Lord spake to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses'
minister. Moses' minister. This man was
a servant. Joshua was a servant of the Lord. Joshua was a faithful servant
of the Lord, and made so by the Lord. He served in the place
where God put him, under a faithful prophet of God. He didn't try
to usurp authority. He didn't try to rule over Moses. He was a faithful servant to
Moses, God's prophet. And he served there for at least
40 years, and the Lord was preparing him for this day of special service
to the Lord. And it came to pass. It came
to pass by purpose. Now certainly this is true of
our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who faithfully
served and is serving the Lord our God, faithfully obedient
in all things under the law of God. The Lord Jesus Christ has
called many names, but you know, one of His names is, you remember
Isaiah 42, 1? servant, mine elect, in whom
my soul delighteth." He became obedient unto all things. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a, of a what? Of a servant. A servant. A faithful,
faithful servant of the Lord. And then it says, the Lord spake
to Joshua. The Lord spake to Joshua. God
in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now don't turn, let me just read
this to you, found in John chapter 1. John chapter 1, where we read
of this testimony of our blessed Savior. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man
has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Remember
Hebrews chapter 1, God has spoken to the Father through the prophet.
He hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. Now, verse 2, 3, and 4, And the
Lord says to Joshua, Moses my servant is dead, now therefore
rise, get up, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people unto
the land which I do give thee, even to the children of Israel,
every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that
have I given unto you, as I said to Moses, and then It's given
from the wilderness in Lebanon to the north, to the great river
Euphrates in the east, and to the land of the Hivites in the
south, and to the great sea toward the west, the going down of the
sun. He described this land unto him. And all the people were
to go over this Jordan River. Now remember when they passed
through the Jordan, and you can read about it and I would encourage
you to go over and read about it, they passed over the Jordan
when that time of the year the banks of the river were overflowing. It wasn't dried up in just a
little creek. It was overflowing with water.
And they passed right through as God, like he did with the
Red Sea, parted the water and they walked through on dry ground.
All the people were to go over this Jordan River and do so by
faith. Joshua was not told to build
a bridge, nor construct some boats for
all this great number of people, probably well over one million
people, were to pass through the water by believing God. Now, that takes faith. Doesn't it? That takes faith. To stand at the overflowing waters
of a great river and believing God, he's going to park the river
and we're going to walk through. You what now? Are you sure? You said that right? Yes, yes. You remember as the Lord said
to Moses when they stood before the Red Sea, stand still and
see the salvations of the Lord. Believe God. It says in Hebrews
11, 29, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry
land. How? By faith. They believed
God and they passed through. Now this Jordan River is held
forth as a type of death that is physical death. They sang
that song about passing through Jordan at death. I don't know
much about that song, but there's a song that says something along
that line. You'll have to look it up. But
the land of Canaan Jordan representing the river of death, they say,
the land of Canaan as a type of our heavenly rest given to
us by the free grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Passing
through Jordan into the land of Canaan is the type and picture
of all the elect of God being brought to our heavenly paradise
through the blood and righteousness of Joshua, our Savior. Now, it is a picture of that.
But I think it's a faint picture. Because when they crossed through
the River of Jordan, what was on the other side? Enemies. And they had battles to fight.
So I think it's a better picture when God brings us to know him
in saving mercy in a picture of salvation in Christ. I think
it's a better picture of that. I'm not denying that other picture
is there, because that's traditionally the way that's given. But I think
if we think of it in a way of saving mercy and salvation, in
the victories that we have yet to fight, fight the good fight
of faith, remember. But all, I love that statement
there, where it says unto you, all this people, verse 2, all
this people, And not some of them. All these people will pass through. And we know
the Scripture says, all that the Father, all which the Father
has given me, He said, I will lose none, but raise Him up at
the last day. As certain people going into
a certain land, none can perish for whom the Lord Jesus Christ
died. We don't read of anybody, when
they cross through this river, We don't read of any old man,
young child, or anybody else perishing. Everyone passed through
and everyone was saved. And certainly that is a picture
of Christ, is it not? Verse 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, As I was with Moses, I'll be
with thee. That was the promise. Verse 5,
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life, As I was with Moses, I will be with thee, I
will not fail thee, I will not forsake thee. Be strong and be
of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for
an inheritance the land which I swear unto thy fathers to give
them. Only be strong and be 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, whether soever
thou goest. 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. Verse
nine, have not I commanded thee? Be strong and be of good courage.
Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with
thee, whithersoever thou goest. Now. The promise of God, as I
was with Moses, I'll be with thee. No man will be able to
stand before thee. No man can stand against thee. You remember how many times we
read in the book of Isaiah where the Lord says, I am the Lord. Beside me there is no other.
None can stand beside me. None can stand against me. What
the Lord says here is certainly true concerning Joshua. The Lord
did bless him. The Lord did keep him. The Lord
did enable him to lead the people into the Canaan land and to the
promised land and be a blessing unto the people. But how much
more? The Lord Jesus Christ. who suffered
once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring
us unto glory. He's the captain of our salvation
who's bringing many sons unto glory. Where sin has abounded,
grace does much more abound in Christ. Of all these great words,
all these great words describe the ministry of our Lord Jesus
Christ. His ministry is most, I love
this word, successful. We don't know anything about
a defeated, failed Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
ministry, His salvation is most successful in all aspects, accomplishing
all the salvation of His people and giving them an eternal inheritance
forever. It says in verse 5, and no one,
nothing could stand in successful opposition to Joshua, and no one could stand
in successful opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. He had plenty
of opposition, didn't He? But no one succeeded to oppose
him. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down. No one could change his will
or his eternal purpose. Remember he said, I set my face
like a flint. No one turned him away from his
purpose. He said, I must go to Jerusalem. I must be betrayed. I must lay down my life. I must
take it again. This commandment have I received
in my father. Almighty God was with him and
failure was not an option. Was it? Did the Lord Jesus Christ
go to Calvary's tree thinking, well, I might not get the job
done. He never entertained any failure. I love that scripture, Isaiah
42, 4, probably my favorite verse in the book of Isaiah. He shall
not fail. He can't fail because of who
he is. Although the father did have
to turn his face away from him upon Calvary's tree, When he
cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The father
did turn away his face from him when Christ was made sin for
us, but he did not take away his favor. Did he? When he's hanging there
on Calvary's tree, enduring the wrath of God, God still has this
estimation of Christ in his ministry, in his person, and in his work.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Well pleased. He did turn his face from him,
but not his favor. I can't explain that. How do
you explain, as Martin Luther said when he read that statement,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Remember what he
said? How can God forsake God? I don't know. You tell me. I
can't explain that, but I believe it to be so. That's what faith
does. Faith doesn't need an explanation.
Faith believes God. This is my well-beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased. No one stronger than Christ. Verse 6, He's the Almighty Savior
of sinners. He's always about His Father's
business. He has the courage to face down every enemy even
Satan himself the prince of this world has come remember and he
has found nothing in me He was tempted of the devil for how
many days in the wilderness When he didn't have anything to eat
anything to drink tempted of the devil 40 days He rebuked
him and conquered his dominion. The Lord said, My need is to
do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He
has all power to save sinners. Through Christ our Almighty Joshua,
we have an eternal inheritance forever. Our spiritual inheritance
is so much greater than a piece of land. A piece of land. What is a piece of land? Well,
I own a piece of land. Those old ranchers out west,
they love to show off their land. You see out there 60 miles, see
that mountain way out there? That's the border, my southern
border out there. I own all that land. Do you really?
The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. So you have
30,000 acres in Wyoming, in Sublette County. What does that mean?
That means nothing. That means nothing. You see,
our internal inheritance is more than a piece of land. It's eternal
glory with Christ. We have everlasting salvation,
everlasting righteousness given to us, that we might truly worship
God forever. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. The Lord Jesus
Christ is not only our strong Savior, He's our courageous Savior
too. Took great courage. boldness,
like a lion, to lay down his life for us, so strong and so
courageous that he as the God-man mediator did truly obey every
jot and tittle of the law as it says there, turn not from
the right hand or from the left, let the law Depart not from thy
mouth. Meditate upon it day and night.
Do and observe the Lord Jesus Christ." Did that for us perfectly,
didn't he? Worked out a perfect righteousness
for us with his own blood. He honored the law of God for
us. He did not turn away from the
righteous demands of the law. He honored it completely. Satisfied it in every way, as
I often say, in every precept. and every penalty, honored every
precept, and even the penalty of the law. He said, I didn't
come to destroy the law, I came to honor it. The way of salvation
He accomplished is called a prosperous way. Did you notice that? Verse 8, Thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success. I think of that scripture in
Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, don't turn, let me
just read it to you because you're most familiar. But I can't quote
it like I used to. When I was 20 years ago, I could
quote this and not miss a syllable, not miss a comma. Can't do that
anymore. But I can read it still. Isaiah
53 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, He put him to
grief, for thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The way of salvation
by grace is a prosperous way. He makes us to prosper in the
way. You remember Psalm 1, He shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. that bringeth
forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." That's Christ. Verse 8, "...and shall have good success."
Good success. Haven't I commanded thee? Could
he have anything but good success? Good success? Because we have
a successful, powerful, effectual Savior that cannot fail, nor
can believers fail who are in Him. Matter of fact, we read
this promise, Romans 8, 37. Remember, we are more than conquerors
to Him that loved us. And then Paul said, thanks be
to God who's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I've about wore you out,
haven't I? About wore you down, haven't I? Turn to the book of
Revelation. Let me give you a few more nuggets
to take home. Now this will just take me a
minute. Look what we have in Christ. Revelation 1, verse 5 and 6. Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, the first begotten of the dead, Prince of the kings
of the earth, unto Him that loved us, washed us from our sins in
His own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and His
Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Revelation
5, turn over there, verse 9. Revelation 5, 9, they sung a
new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, to open the
seals thereof, for Thou wast slain, and redeemed us to God
by Thy blood, out of every kindred, tongue, and people. Sounds like
success to me. Sounds like a prosperous way
to me. Thou hast made us under our God kings and priests, and
we shall reign on the earth. Turn over to Revelation 7. Verse 13, one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And whence they come? Whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They
are before me, before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them, They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. And the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them and lead them unto living fountains of water, and
God shall wipe away all our tears." That sounds like a good success.
That sounds like a prosperous way. That sounds like God. who
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Can you endure
one more? Turn to Revelation 21. Revelation
21, verse 1. Trying to show the prosperous
way The good success we have in Christ who has won the victory
for us. Verse 1, Revelation 21, I saw
new heaven and new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away. Thank God. Thank God. And there was no more sea. Remember John was on that island,
stuck out there on that desert island. He said, now boy, no
more sea. No more trouble. And I, John,
saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with me,
and he dwells with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them. Wipe away all tears from their
eyes. No more death, sorrow, crying. Former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, I make all things new. Write these words are true and
faithful. It is done, successful, prosperous. I'm Alpha Omega,
the beginning and the end. I'll give unto him that is a
thirst a fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh
shall inherit all things. All things. And I will be his
God and he shall be my son.
About Tom Harding
Tom Harding is pastor of Zebulon Grace Church located at 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky 41501. You may also contact him by telephone at (606) 631-9053, or e-mail taharding@mikrotec.com. The website address is www.henrytmahan.com.
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