I please almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let's
turn to the book of Joshua and the first chapter and we'll read
verses 7, 8 and 9. The book of Joshua and we'll
read verses 7, 8 and 9. 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. 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. Haven't
I commanded thee to 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. It was a daunting time for Joshua. Joshua was ordained to take on
the load that Moses had carried for those 40 odd years. And now the mantle had fallen
upon Joshua. And that was no light's position. And so we have these words which
the Lord spoke indeed wonderfully to Joshua to encourage him and
to strengthen him. And we may think well of course
that's very well and that was necessary for Joshua but if you
and I just pause and perhaps this morning as we run through
these verses to see that they are indeed still relevant to
us today because the Word of God is written for the Church
of God and we shall be thankful therefore that it is written
and it has an application to us and therefore let us not think
well that was just about Joshua the reality is no it wasn't it
was to Joshua but it's also written for the benefit and direction
of the Church of God And may we find and prove it's correct
in our life. For we worship, we trust the
same God that Moses worshipped and the same God that Joshua
worshipped. And God was faithful to both
of those men and helped them all through their lives. And
they had some big problems in their lives, some mountains to
overcome, but God was with them. Well in our day and age we still
have mountains which are mountains to us in our lives. May not be
the same magnitude perhaps that they were in the days of Moses
and Joshua but nonetheless to us in our little lives they are
big problems and they are big difficulties and they do perhaps
stand before us and we wonder what we shall be able to do and
how we should cope with the situations and those things which may develop. As we're faced with that situation,
may we be encouraged to believe that these words spoken by God
can have a wonderful application to you and me. Commence this seventh verse,
it speaks before of being strong and of good courage, but we thought
we'd commence it with the seventh verse and it says, only, only,
nothing else, only be thou strong and very courageous. Well, there's
two words which are necessary. They were for Joshua and they
are for us today. That you and I need to be strong
and very courageous. It's interesting, isn't it, that
here we have this statement, not just to be strong and courageous,
but to be strong and very courageous. And what we should Reading to
that is quite clearly that what Joshua was going to have to face
were times of considerable difficulty and he would need therefore to
be very courageous and he would need to be very strong. Well
what a mercy it is that we can therefore think of these words
and to have that humble confidence today to go forward in the strength
of the Lord God. I like to remember, and I do
mention sometimes, the words that the Apostle Paul had when
he wrote and reminded the Church of God, when he said very clearly,
I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. And that
really is the secret You know, if you and I try to pursue our
own avenue, in our own strength, and we think we can cope with
this situation and cope with that situation, and we often
do. And the reason is that we forget
then to pray to God and we struggle on with ourselves until perhaps
we're brought to our senses and realize that we've perhaps, we've
forgotten to pray. Or perhaps we haven't prayed
as we should. Or we haven't prayed with that
humble confidence, believing that God would hear and answer
prayer. Well, we should recognize that
God hasn't changed since the days of Moses. He hasn't changed
since the days of Joshua. And we have the same God. who
appeared in both of those characters' lives most wonderfully. I don't have to go through the
history of Moses and Joshua, but you can read it yourselves.
And it's very wonderful how God strengthened them and helped
them in times of great need. Well, we have therefore the evidence
of a faithful God. And may you and I therefore be
encouraged by such words as these to not rely on our own strength,
not rely on our own abilities, but to commit our way unto the
Lord, trusting in Him, trusting in Him. Joshua didn't know what the future
held. You and I don't know what the
future holds. Joshua knew there was a God in
heaven. It's a great blessing if you
and I know there is a God in heaven. And that God in heaven
didn't fail Joshua. That God in heaven hadn't failed
Moses. And he'd been with him and strengthened him and helped
him. And so we have these words here of instruction to Joshua
and instruction to us today. And so we start with, only, be
thou strong and very courageous. Well, it's words of good direction,
aren't they? Again, don't forget, not in yourselves. We haven't got strength in ourselves. You might think we have. We don't
have much courage ourselves, but it's good when God gives
us strength and courage. For what reason? To do God's
will. That's the reason, to do God's
will. You see, the Lord may set things
before us which are not easy. In fact, may be very difficult.
And we may be very discouraged, and we may think, well, how am
I going to cope with this position? How am I going to cope with this
situation? How am I going to manage? Well, we should realize,
you know, we know the Word of God tells us in Luke, the things
which are impossible with man are possible with God. We have
a great God. We have an almighty God. We have
a God who controls everything in this world and everything,
every detail in our little lives. Nothing occurs in our life without
the knowledge of Almighty God. And that should be a comfort
to us and an encouragement to us, so that perhaps when things
appear difficult, and the mountains are there. Perhaps things don't
work out as we anticipate. Remember such words as this,
be strong and of a good courage. Because the Lord has said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. If God before us, who can
be against us? Just think of that. If the whole
world was against us, and yet if God was for us, we're on the
victory side without any doubt. You might remember there was
an occasion in the Word of God in Elisha's days when he was
there with his servant and his servant looked and he saw a great
multitude He thought, coming down from the mountains, and
he said to his master, what shall we do? What shall we do? And what was spoken to him? Open
the young man's eyes. It's good therefore if sometimes
when perhaps we might say, what shall we do? What shall I do? What a blessing
it is when God tells us to open our eyes and see his way and
his work and his direction so that we can pursue the way as
Paul said. What a wonderful blessing it
is then to have such a God. And so here we have only be thou
strong and very courageous. But the instructions to Joshua
are quite detailed. And it's good for us to just
know what God spoke to Joshua, instructing him what he should
do. He wasn't told to just go in
his tent and sit down and go to sleep and take it easy. No,
God directed Joshua what he had to do. And there was a reason
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 with us however
thou goest. So we see here a very clear direction
to Joshua, a very clear direction to you and me today. And so he
was told that he should observe to do according to all the law. And of course, the law was that
which Moses had very clearly laid down before the children
of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. You can read Deuteronomy from
the beginning. It's a very wonderful book. And remember, Moses wrote
it not long before he was going to die. And he wanted Israel
to understand very clearly what God had told them they should
do and therefore God enabled Moses to write those things down. It's wonderful to think that
those first five books of the Bible were written by Moses and
how instructive they were and how wonderful they were and of
course prior to that there was no Bible People are just passed
things down from mouth to mouth. Perhaps I had written some things
down, but not in any detail until Moses came under the inspiration
of almighty God and wrote these things. And so now this word
is given to Joshua that he is to remember and to those things
which were written and do according to the law, which Moses, my servant,
commanded thee. You see that was written for
Israel and Joshua was part of Israel and he was therefore to
keep the law, he was to follow the details. Well we don't have
today to keep quite the same law that Israel did in those
days because of course it was in the time before the Lord Jesus
Christ came. and therefore things were changed
really because instead of having the figure of Christ in so many
ways in the tabernacle and in the temple, now we have the wonderful
glory of the account in the New Testament of the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and we today are to follow his wonderful and
glorious words that he recorded and his wonderful and blessed
example. So here we have this position
for us today. We are to observe, to do, to
do. We are to therefore read them
and not then just to forget about them and not think they're not
relevant to me. We are to observe them, to do
them. to do them for the honor and
glory of God. And as I tell you very often,
and I never tire of it, our lives, our lives are for the honor and
glory of God. We're not for ourselves. We're
not to get glory and honor to ourselves. Our lives are for
the honor and glory of Almighty God. So what a blessed favor
it is if you and I today are given that grace and that favour
and that desire to truly be strong and courageous and to 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. There
are today many temptations. We live in a world material world
with so many temptations on every hand and we should not think
well well we live in a far worse day than the day of Joshua and
Moses well in one sense yes but in other sense no because we
still face the same adversary the devil that Israel did and
you only have to read the account of Israel to see how many times
They ignored God's word, ignored his Lord and followed their own
way. And of course, they were punished
for it. Yes, Israel's position, Israel's
life was up and down, wasn't it? You might think, well, very
surprising. Yes, it was very surprising when
you think of the wonderful time that they had in being brought
out of Egypt in that wonderful way, directed through the wilderness
across the Red Sea, at a time when the those serpents were
allowed to bite them and then the wonderful deliverance and
the water provided, food provided, wonderful deliverances, couldn't
be anything else than the hand of God. And yet, you see, may
ignore and soften the great and glorious commands of God. Oh,
they were sinful. And my friends, you and I today
are wonderfully privileged, and let's never forget it, that we
have the Bible to read. And it's a Bible of instruction
for you and me today. And we should not think, oh,
well, it's old-fashioned. I don't have to follow that. we have
an obligation, a blessed obligation, to follow the glorious Word of
God as it sets before us the wonderful truth that the Lord
Jesus spoke of and confirmed to the church and confirms to
us today. So what a mercy it is if you
and I follow it. And we're told here as Joshua
was turned not from it, the right hand or to the left. What does
that mean? It means don't deviate from the
Word of God. Don't think you have a special
route that God's brought about for you to walk in. Perhaps a
route which you think gives you the facility to do things that
you want to do. You have to always come back
to the word of God and to follow it and see whether it instructs
us in a right way. So here was clearly the words
written and spoken to Joshua and to us today. Turn not from
it. Don't turn from it. Not to the
right hand or to the left. And then the word tells us that
thou mayest prosper. Whithersoever thou goest. If we follow God's way, if God
is clearly our Lord and clearly our Master, and if we do those
things which please God, and if we desire to truly follow
His Word and His way, we can believe And we shall prove that
we prosper with us wherever we go. The reason is that God is
faithful. What a mercy that is. God is
faithful. God doesn't say one thing one
day and then change his mind. My friends, God is faithful and
he keeps his promises. And what a mercy, therefore,
for us today. if we therefore follow the Word of God. It's there for us and it's a
great blessing. Just realize that here today
we have the Bible and there are billions of people in the world
today who do not have a Bible and many of them do not want
the Bible and yet you and I are graciously blessed through the
grace of Almighty God We didn't deserve to have the Bible. But
what a mercy it is if God has given it to us, and we have the
Bible, and we have the ability to read it. What a mercy. Well, my friends, let us then
follow it. Let us hear such words as this. Turn not to the right hand or
to the left, that thou mayest prosper with us whoever thou
goest. Now, one of the great blessings
is this. We have the answer of a good conscience. We don't have
to go about with a nagging conscience that we're doing things contrary
to the Word of God. What a wonderful blessing it
is to have a good conscience in the things of God. Now, I
can't assess that in your life, but you can. You can assess it
before God. If you are truly doing those
things which are in accordance with the Word of God, you're
not swerving away from it, you're keeping in the narrow way, and
it is a narrow way, the devil will tell you, oh, that's okay,
you can just move away from it a bit, you can just go and do
this and do that, and he's very keen to get you Well, let's be
clear about this. There's two ways. There is a
narrow way. There is a broad way. The narrow
way leads to heaven. The broad way leads to hell. The Word of God is very clear.
So what a mercy it is, therefore, if you and I are blessed, therefore,
with that grace, which is the free unmerited favor of God,
to follow the narrow way. the way which is set before us
in the word of God. And he carries on in this eighth
verse, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Well, it's a wonderful
thing, isn't it? If you and I do indeed meditate
on the Word of God. This is the principle book that
you and I should look to, the principle book that you and I
should read, the principle book that you and I should delight
in reading. And not only reading, but then
meditating upon it. And as God enables us to meditate
on the Word of God, we will realize how God's Word wonderfully flows
together. Flows together. I sometimes think
it's a glorious truth that there were 40 or so men that God ordained
to write the Bible. And those things were written
under the blessed influence of the Spirit of God, and they flowed
together. They flow together. And you'll
find that one writer confirms another writer. It's very encouraging. And here we have then today,
what a wonderful truth it is, this great and blessed word of
God. And so this book of the law shall
not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night. You may say, well, how do I,
if it's dark at night and I'm in bed? Well, you know, if you
read the word of God, perhaps during the day, and then you
wake up in the night, it's good to be able to think about and
meditate on those things that you read during the day. And
therefore you can confirm that, well, by the grace of God, I
have meditated day and night. And what will that do? Do you
know what it'll do? It'll strengthen your faith as
you realize the greatness of God, the glory of God, the mercy
of God, the favor of God, and to realize that the Old Testament
points us to Jesus, points us to Christ in so many ways. And then the New Testament directs
us to the glory of Messiah, the one the Old Testament saints
look forward to. There we have it revealed. There
we have it recorded in the New Testament. So what do we have? We have the whole Word of God
flows together. Oh, my friends, meditate upon
it. Some people have a very small
Bible. And a Bible that only perhaps contains the Gospels
and other may have it a bit bigger. It may contain the Psalms and
others may have it a bit bigger and it may contain all the New
Testament. But how few there are that really
have a Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And it's all my friends,
the great and glorious truth of God. and how we should endeavor
to read it regularly, consecutively, as well as at irregular times,
so that it may be really blessed. Well, says this word here, the
book of the law, the word of God shall not depart out of thy
mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Day and night. This is not my
words. This is a word of God. And we
often forget it, don't we? I just wonder, when you read
the book of Joshua last, those who read through it from Genesis
to Revelation would have done so. But I wonder how many of
you have read the book of Joshua? Indeed, how many have read the
book of Deuteronomy? And realize the wonderful coming together
of those two books. Well, here we have then this
wonderful statement. To read it night and day, to
meditate upon it, that thou mayest observe to do according to all
that is written therein. Again, it just confirms what
I've said. It doesn't say, well, it just confirms that which is
written in the New Testament. No, it confirms it all. Confirms
it all. And what does it do? I'll tell
you what it does. It establishes us in the truth
of God. God's truth occurs from Genesis
to Revelation. What a blessing it is. When God's
word is truth. Well, the Lord Jesus says when
he praised his father on the 17th of John, Thy word is truth,
and it is. And we should be so thankful
to know that we have the very word of God that was spoken to
all those men that wrote it, and it's recorded and translated
into our language, and we today can read it. But again, let us
just also realize that because it is our privilege to have the
Word of God, we are without excuse if we don't. We won't be able
to say, well, poor, I didn't read the Word of God. My friends,
we are without excuse. We have it. Don't pick up so
many other things. Read the Word of God, because
it gives life to the soul. It feeds our soul. It's food and drink to our soul,
to our spiritual life. As we spoke at length last Sunday
about the new birth and the new heart. And that's what the Word
of God speaks to. It does also direct us with regards
to our natural life. But principally it speaks to
us about our spiritual life. That's the important thing, isn't
it? You and I will live a hundred years, perhaps, and then we'll
die. Naturally, our soul never dies. How important it is, therefore,
that we have the evidence of that spiritual life, and the
Word of God, therefore, speaks to our never-dying soul, and
it's food and drink The 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. Well,
I believe that is twofold. Again, it will speak naturally. and also it speaks to us spiritually. And what a wonderful evidence
of the life of God in our souls when we see the fulfilment of
that being worked out in our lives. Thou shalt make thy way
prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. And the contrary is true, of
course. If we don't hear the Word of God, if we don't read
the Word of God, if we don't meditate upon the Word of God,
then we won't benefit from these blessings. Because it tells us,
then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt
have good success. So realize that God's word is
true. And these words are written for
our encouragement. Because we have a great God,
my friends, a wonderfully gracious God, and a wonderful gracious
God who's set before us his way of salvation. He set
before us the way of salvation. There's only one way of salvation. and that way of salvation is
to have that personal knowledge that we are a lost and ruined
and undone sinner and that we find salvation through the glorious
life and merits and sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe by faith that he died
upon that cross at Calvary to take away all our sins. Now, what a wonderful Word of
God we have, if it directs you and me to that wonderful position,
and that's really what it's about. You see, the Word of God is there
to convict us of our lost and ruined condition, and to direct
us to the Saviour of sinners, to your Saviour and my Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to receive that faith to believe
that when we finished our little life on this earth, it will then
be to go and to be with Christ, as the Apostle Paul says, which
is far better. And I hope God gives us grace
to believe it is so. We might think, of course, of
things in this life. a far better world. That's the old devil.
He's telling you lies. He always has been a liar. He
always will be. My friends, the Church of God are on a journey. We're traveling through this
world. We're traveling to our eternal home. And what a glorious
home that is. It's a home where there's no
more sorrow, no more sin, no more pain. No, but perfect peace
and union forever. That's the glory, or at the end
of the road, naturally, for the Church of God. And so may we
be those who are true followers, who follow the Word of God. You
see, you and I won't follow the Word of God unless we know what's
in the Word of God. How important it is, therefore,
that you and I do hear these words, spoken to Joshua, for
then thou shalt make thy way prosperous in the things of God. What does it mean? It means this,
that we grow in grace spiritually and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is true prosperity, spiritual
prosperity, to grow in grace, the free unmerited favour of
God and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
to believe that he came into this world, as the Apostle Paul
said, to save sinners of who I am chief. And then thou shalt
have good success. Very positive, isn't it? The
Word of God is positive. You and I should be thankful
for it. And then he comes and says, haven't
I commandedly. Yes, God has commanded us in
his word. He's given us many commands in
his word and you are to follow those commands. What God says
is true. What God says is to be followed. What God has recorded is there
for our eternal good. And say, well, I think I'll consider
that tomorrow. No. We are told today, if we
should hear his voice, harden not our hearts. Well, naturally
we have a hard heart. What a blessing it is when God
gives us a soft heart. Haven't I commanded thee? What's your response to that? Do you say, well, yes, God has. Or do you say, oh, I don't want
to know about that. The truth is, my friends, you may try to
wriggle, but you can't. Because God's way is true. His word is true. Haven't I commanded thee? And
so then he, having asked the question, he then says, be strong. and of a good courage. Again,
you see, be strong and have a good courage as we look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We look to him for our strength. We look to him for all that we
need, for time and for eternity. Be strong and have a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed. We have nothing to be afraid
of. We have nothing to be dismayed of. If God be for us, who can
be against us? Don't forget that, for if you
and I are walking contrary to God, we can't expect God to be
for us, can we? Well, 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, withesoever thou
goest. Well, my friends, what an encouraging
statement that is for us today. These were the words given to
Joshua. Joshua proved them through his life. He lived, I think,
to 110 years of age. And yes, God was with him. and
God helped him and God blessed him indeed. And so we have such
statements before us this morning to realise that those things
which are written, they're not just haphazard, they're not just
words which were drafted with no consequences, they were written
under the influence of the Holy Spirit and written for your and
my instruction and encouragement and direction. And so may indeed
the blessed spirit of God come upon us even today that we may
rejoice to know that we have a God who has spoken and a God
who doesn't change and a God whose word is true and a God
whose word you and I can rely upon. for time and for eternity. Can we not come and say, blessed
be God? Amen.