All right, back to Joshua chapter
one. Another Old Testament study. I don't know how far we'll go
in the book of Joshua. We'll go as far as we feel led. Joshua is a wonderful type of
Christ. We'll see a type of Christ here.
We'll also see some practical helps to us. The word of God is very relevant
to where we are, each and every case, everyone here. The word
of God meets our needs where we are. It's not out of date
at all. Very relevant. What God said
to Abraham What God said to Isaac, what
God said to Jacob, applies to all of their sons, sons of Abraham,
sons of Jacob. What God said here to Joshua,
what Joshua said to his officers, applies to us. What Christ said
to his disciples, applies to us. We are his disciples, so
it is relevant to each and every one of us. Now, here in the last
half of chapter one, portion we just read, beginning
with verse ten. Joshua commands his officers. He is commanding the officers
of the people. Look at verse ten. Joshua commanded
the officers of the people, saying, and then he gave them, in all
of these verses, with the exception of the last two, or the last
three, are what Joshua is saying to his officers. And from the
beginning, God Almighty has ordained men to be, as it were, officers,
or take the oversight. These are scriptural words, the
oversight, the rule, to lead, to watch over his people like
these officers, defenders. And from the twelve tribes of
Israel to the twelve apostles, God has had these men. From prophets
of old to now pastors, God says, I'll give you men after my own
heart. Ephesians 5 says, When God ascended
on high, when he led captivity captive, he gave gifts It says
he gave some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors
and teachers. And he said he gave them, Paul
told young Timothy, to deliver them who all their lives were
held captive by Satan at his will. Those who were captive,
to deliver them into freedom. And Paul tells us to remember
them which have the rule over you, to obey them which have
the rule over you. And if God has sent these men,
then you can. You can. You must. So God, or
Joshua here, is commanding these officers. Look at verse 11 now.
And here's what he tells them. Pass through the host. Command
the people. Command the people. And then he gives these orders. He tells them to pass through
the host, to go right into the midst of the people and command
them, or rather speak to these people. And this is what God
tells all of his men, is to live with the people. Go right in the midst of them.
Become one of them. Go out into the world. He doesn't
separate his men from the people. He puts them He chooses them
out from amongst the people. This is how God calls his preachers
from the church. That's how they're called. That's
the scripture way of doing it, is bringing them up in the church,
and then the church recognizing gifts on these men, and the church,
and them being sent out by the church, recommended by them. These were men that came out
of the midst of the people, as Christ himself. The scripture
says, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Nancy, you
like that verse particularly. Christ himself, and so are Christ's
ambassadors. They live in the world, too.
Christ said, I didn't, he told the father in John 17, he said,
I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but deliver
them from it. So this is the qualification,
and this is the command. Go in the midst of them. And
he continues to command them, saying, Prepare you victuals. Prepare you victuals. One of
the last things the Lord told Peter was to what? Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. This is the principal
job of God's preacher. He tells them to prepare victuals. Feed the sheep. But here, if you'll notice, I'll
take it a little bit out of context. Here, Joshua is telling the officers
to tell the people. Did you notice that? If you're following along closely,
you will. He said in verse eleven, Pass
through the host and command the people to prepare you victually. So how does that apply to us?
Tells me to go to the people and tell them, prepare you victuals. Well, what did Peter say? Desire
the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. What he's saying is feed off
of the word. You feed. Come and dine. You know the old
saying. Don't you? You can lead a horse
to water. You know the rest of it? You
can't make him drink. Well, you can prepare all the
food you will, and you can't make people eat it. So the command
comes to you. You come and eat. The command
is to me to prepare the food, but you to prepare yourself to
receive the engrafted word, and so forth. So Joshua tells these
officers to prepare the people. And he tells the people to prepare
themselves. All right, now he's going to
tell them all to prepare themselves to cross over. Look at verse
11, cross over the Jordan. And I can't wait to get to the
part where they do cross over. Verse 11, he says, within three
days you shall pass over this Jordan. Three days you'll go
in and possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you
to possess it." Joshua tells these men to prepare the people
to pass over Jordan. And that's the end, that's the
goal, that's the purpose for all that I do. That's the purpose
for all this. That's the reason we're here
tonight, to prepare ourselves to cross over Jordan. prepare
to meet our God. And Joshua was telling these
men to tell the people that this is what it's all about. From
the beginning when God called Abraham and chose a people through
his loins and raised up this great people, and then Moses
and called Moses to deliver them out of Egypt, and then brought
them to the banks of the Jordan. and then anointed Joshua to carry
them over Jordan into the promised land. That's been the goal, that's
been the purpose, that's been the reason for everything that
has come to pass. Everything from day one has brought
you to this point to prepare you to pass over Jordan. In all
of our lives, the Scripture said, all of God's purpose, the purpose
of our calling, God has elected a people And the end of our life,
our conversation, the end of our life is, like Ephesians 1
said, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven
and are in earth, even in him in whom we have an inheritance. So get yourself ready, he's saying,
to pass over joy. Prepare yourself, people, for
going over Jordan. And it just might be three days
for us, even. It will be in a moment, a twinkle
of an eye. But a few years are come, the
Scripture says, then I'll go the way in which I shall not
return. A few years. For some of you, it's a lot fewer
than others. Charles Ross, any day now. It may be that way for
all of us. I'd love for all of us to go
together, but it might not be. But for you, Charles, naturally
speaking, you may be going over first. Prepare yourself. We'll go the way which we shall
not return. Now, Scripture says, Oh, that
they were wise and would consider their lattering. That's why we
meet here tonight. Consider the lattering, and it's
a good one. It's a good one. You know, when
we leave home and go on a trip, we generally prepare ourselves,
don't we? Cody Gruber and I. And you prepare
yourselves according to where you're going and how long you'll
be staying. Don't you? When Cody and I went to Spring
Lake, North Carolina, we were going down there just overnight.
Well, I didn't pack. This is going to shock some of
you ladies. But I didn't pack until about ten minutes before
we left. You say, impossible. No, it's not. One pair of underwear,
one toothbrush, don't need comb even anymore, and razor, and
shirt, and pants, and go. Doesn't take long, one night,
no big deal. No big deal. Well, if I were
going for a week, I'd take more, and I'd spend
more time in preparation. If I were going for a month,
When we go to Kentucky for an extended period of time, you
know, we get a U-Haul from Indy and Hannah Stubb. And she starts
a week before. The point I'm trying to make
is, wherever you're going, however long you're staying, will determine
how long you've been preparing for. All right? We're going to
meet God and we're never coming back. Let's spend every day thinking
about preparing for it. Every day. Watch the scriptures. That's what watching means. Preparing. Watching unto prayer. Waiting
for the Lord. Preparing yourself. Your redemption
draweth nigh. So it says to these men, or I
read on. It says to these men, verses 12 and 13. So the Reubenites, Gadites, half
the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the
word which Moses, a servant of the Lord, commanded you. Remember
the word now, he tells these officers of the people. Remember
the word the Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given
you this land. Remember that. Remember the promises
of God. The Lord has given you rest.
So he's telling, Joshua's telling these men, now, I'm choosing
you. You didn't choose me. I chose
you to go. And I'm behind this, and God's
behind me sending you. Now, he says, this is not your
doing. You just do what I say. Not your doing. These are not
your people. These are God's people. These
are my people. I'm the leader of these people.
And he's saying, now, just remember the Word. The Word won't return
void. God is true to his promises.
Rest in that. Just do what I say. The land
is yours. The land belongs to the people.
Just remember that and go. Rest. Take it easy. Nothing to
worry about. I wish I could remember that
as an officer of my Lord, a minister of his God. He said my sheep
will hear my voice. What is God's voice? What is
Christ's voice? Who is Christ's voice? It's his preacher. And Christ
said, They'll hear you. My sheep will hear my voice,
and they'll hear you. They'll hear me through you.
He said, My sheep will follow me, and they'll follow you. Go. Go. Remember the Word. Think
on the Word. Preach the Word in season, out
of season. Preach the word. Just remember
the word. That's your rest. That is your rest. That's your
confidence. Verse 14, he says, Your wives,
your little ones, your cattle, shall remain in the land which
Moses gave you on this side of Jordan. You shall pass before your brethren. Your family will remain. You'll
pass before them. This reminds me of our Lord calling
his apostles. That's the reason I had you read
that over in Matthew 28. It reminds me of him calling
his apostles to leave their home and family. These were mighty
men. Read on. It says they were men
of valor, mighty men of valor. In the middle, in the margin,
it says they were armed. Does your margin say they were
marshaled by five? You could allude to the five
points of Calvinism there, couldn't you? I like that. Marshaled or
armed with the truth being. And Calvinism is the gospel.
The gospel is Calvinism. That's exactly what it is. The
truth. Doctrine of grace. Armed men. And God has armed
his men from the beginning with the truth. There have been mighty
men of valor down through the years. and a help to all those
that they've gone before. He said, help them, help me,
and the truth will. It'll set God's people free and
minister to the people, the truth will. Verse 15, he says, Until
the Lord hath given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, go
before them armed unto the Lord hath given your brethren rest,
as he hath given you. And they also have possessed
the land which the Lord your God giveth them." Paul said,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. He said, Your wives, your little
ones, all of them, Paul desired their salvation more than anything
else. Another place he told the Thessalonians,
he said, You're my crown of rejoicing. When the Lord shall appear, you
shall appear with him. That will be my crown of rejoicing.
And every preacher of the gospel, his greatest hope and wish, his
payment, what he wants more than anything else, is the salvation
of those whom he preaches to and their little ones. Nothing
would rejoice my heart any more than to see our children, Kevin,
Jennifer, Brandon, Shannon, all our young people come to know
this Lord. That's payment. That's it. Salvation. Verse sixteen. He
says, verse fifteen, I didn't finish that. He said, Then you
shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it. which
Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you on this side of Jordan toward
the sun rising. And that's what Paul said to
Thessalonians. I'll just quote it. Now, verse
16, and they answered Joshua. Joshua says, Will you go? Will
you go? And they answered Joshua, saying,
All that thou commandest us, we will do. And wherever you send us, we
will go. Where you sin, we'll go. What
you say, we'll do." Verse 17, "'According as we have hearkened
unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee. Only
the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.' As we
hearken to Moses, we'll hearken to you." And so these men went
out, and so do all of those whom God sends to preach the gospel.
And the scripture says that all of God's people are ambassadors
of Christ. Men and women, all believers,
are ambassadors of Christ. He calls us all kings and priests. In Christ, there's no male or
female, so Nancy Parks is king in this sense, an ambassador
of Christ in this sense. And we've all been called by
the Lord himself, sent by him to do something, men. Paul or
John wrote to the children, and he wrote to the young men, and
he wrote to the fathers. Remember that? Giving each one
of them commandments. Paul in Ephesians talked to the
women, didn't he? Told them that they had specific
a specific ministry, and to fulfill that ministry. Men are spiritual
leaders, not only in the church, but in their home. They're the
priests of their home. Women are examples. They have
the care of souls, their children, young women, youth. We each have a calling, we each
have a place. I often hear people belittle their place or say that
they don't really have a place in the church. But let me tell
you this. Just to be a member of the church is a high calling,
a high honor, and a tremendous responsibility. Just to be a
member of the church. Let me give you some examples
here. You say, what can I do? Well, the Lord doesn't put us
in the place of preaching first. He puts us in the place of sleeping. He doesn't put us in the place
of authority first. He puts us over adults and so
forth first. He puts us in the care of maybe
children. Scripture says we'll be faithful
in a few things. He that is faithful in a few
things, he said, I'll make him a ruler over many. But if you're
not faithful in a few things, one thing. The Lord gives us
one thing to do. then we're to do that with all
our might. Whatsoever our hand finds to do if it's just washing
the dishes after we've eaten dinner downstairs. We do it whether
we eat or drink or wash what we've eaten and drinking out
of. We do it as unto the Lord with all our might and we do
it cheerfully. If we don't do that and are not
faithful in that, how can we expect the Lord to give us something
greater? That's the best Sherry and I were talking about this.
She was in charge of hiring someone for their company. And she interviewed
some people. And one of the criteria for them
getting a job was their willingness to do the menial tasks, the little
things. And she interviewed some people
who had college degrees. If they weren't willing to sweep
the floor or empty the garbage and clean the toilets, forget
it. She's not going to make them
in charge of greater things. And you prove yourself in that
way. The scripture says, Who hath
despised a day a small thing? I've given you Tom Hardy. I always put him up for an example,
and he's a worthy one. I don't know of a man who has
been more diligent in whatever he has done over the years. I
hope he doesn't hear this. He'll be embarrassed by it. But
he was custodian of the church in Ashland. for a long time,
and man, he did it with all the gusto and all the energy he could
possibly muster, and cheerfully. And now, he's one of the most
devoted. Well, I'd like to have him as
my pastor. Highest, that's the highest recommendation
I could give a man. I'd like to have him as my pastor.
and I'd hang on his words. He started that way. Who hath
despised a day of small things? One who faithfully, diligently,
cheerfully sweeps the floor, and does it as unto the Lord,
is a needful minister." What if Vicki Patton didn't sweep
this floor? Is it needful? Is it a vital
ministry? This nursery. These ladies that care for the
nursery, sitting out, that's nothing, there's nothing to that,
I don't know. That's not necessary. We'd all
soon find out just how necessary it is. Come Sunday morning, we
gather all those little ones up here, we'd find out. Maybe
we ought to do that, and make us more thankful for the nursery. Now what about taking, we say,
what can I do? What about taking one of these
young people under your wing? I think about our young men in
this church. What about taking one of these
young boys and making him a project of yours? Be an example to him. Is that a needful ministry? Whew! Is that profitable? Is that a
ministry? Well, John Newton wrote a young
preacher one time, and he was bemoaning his lack
of success in the ministry. He just had a few people. He
just had a few people. Newton wrote him back and said, He said a man would greatly overestimate
his worth. And this is his exact words.
I'll never forget. I read this 20 years ago. He
said a man would greatly overestimate his own worth if he did not feel
it worth his while to spend 10,000 years in the labor for one soul.
Do you get that? What about one
little child? That's a soul, isn't it? Vicki, it's a vital work you're
doing down there. A vital work. A vital work. Deborah's downstairs right now,
and so I can say this. Sarah Williams went up to the
Bible school this year, and one of the teachers there who had
her in her class came up to me afterward after the thing was
about over, and she said, You know, she said, that's Sarah
Williams. She said she's really been taught. She said she answered
nearly every question I asked. She said somebody really taught
her. How do you think that made me
think? Not only about her teacher that prepares this church, a
child. She represented this church,
didn't she? She represented this church up
there, and she did it well. Sarah, you're listening. And
Deborah's teaching, and Mama and Daddy is too. It's a ministry. Is it vital? Paul thanked Timothy's
grandmother and mother. All right. So Christ tells us,
you know, to do whatever we can. He tells us to wash feet. and
don't expect anything in return. Verse 18, and they said they
would. And verse 18, and they said in
verse 18, Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment
will not hearken unto thy words, and all that thou commandest
him, he shall be put to death. That reminded me of 1 Corinthians
16.22. It says, Any man love not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, let him be
accursed. And he will. Any man that doesn't
follow our Lord's commandments, he will be accursed and only
be strong and of a good courage. So that's the principal type
here in this day. Joshua represents our Lord, calling
out his ministers of the gospel, calling out his people, his officers,
plural. But there's also a type of Christ
here. We can go back here and look at each of these verses
as a type of Christ. Let's do that, just very briefly,
OK? Go back to the beginning of verse 10 again. And like I
said, I didn't want to take it out of context, because it was
Joshua who represents Christ, commanding his officers and sending
them out before the people. But now we can look at this as
God Almighty in a covenant agreement with his Son, commanding him. before his people. Let's look
at verse 10. Joshua commanded the officers
of the people, and our Lord God commanded his son. In a covenant
agreement, he made him captain of our salvation. He was made
perfect, the captain of our salvation, made perfect of the people. He
was chosen, he was exalted as one chosen out from among the
people. Verse 11, he says, Pass through
the host. Go down there. Pass through the
people. And our Lord did. Christ passed
through this earth, didn't he? The Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us. And command the people. And he
did. Our Lord gave commandments. Our
Lord spoke his word. And here's what he said. Prepare
you victuals. Christ came and he said, Take,
eat. This is my body which was broken
for you. This is my blood which was shed
for you. Eat. It's prepared for you. My
body, my blood, my body. If any man eat, not my flesh
or drink my blood. He has no part in me." He says,
in three days you'll pass over this Jordan and go in to possess
the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
Christ says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. I'll take
you with me to the Father. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me." Read on. So he, to the Reubenites, the
Gaddites, had to travel, and I suspect he remembered the word,
and our Lord did. He meditated day and night in
the Word. Not one jot or tittle of the law failed, and Christ
fulfilled it all. He magnified it. The Lord gave
us rest. He said, Come, I'll give you
rest. He's given us rest in Christ. You're wise, and this is God
speaking to the Lord Christ. You're wise, you're little ones,
your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on
this side, Jordan, but you'll pass before your brethren armed."
Christ is that armed man, isn't he? Stronger than he, who passed
before, who went before his brethren. As the scripture says, Jesus
went before them into Jerusalem, went before them to Calvary,
went before them, faced Satan, faced the law, faced sin for
us, and went before us into that river of death. These men, we're
going to see in a little while, went over Jordan first, into
the land, and said, three days, you're coming with me. Three
days, he said, look at verse fifteen, the Lord will give your
brethren rest as he's given you, and they also possess the land. And you'll return to the land
and enjoy it, which Moses gave you on this side Jordan toward
the sunrise. Christ said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go, I'll come again and receive you
unto myself. Three days, he said, destroy
this temple, and three days I'll raise it up. I'll come back and
get you, and we'll enjoy it together. They woke up and they were to
face toward the sun rising. That's what he's alluding to
there. This side of Jordan toward the sun rising. Everything faced
east, in other words, where the sun arose. That's where they
were to look. That's where the temple was built.
That's where the eastern gate into the temple. That's the way
it was built. Toward the sun rising toward
the east, and we, the scripture says, are to run this race that
is set before us, looking where? To that risen son, looking unto
him, unto Jesus, the author and finisher. And they answered,
and our Lord answered God's call, saying, All you command me, I'll
do. Whithersoever you send me, I'll
go. And that's what Christ said in his high-appreciated prayer
in John 17, "'The people you've given me, I've given them your
reward.'" Verse 17, "'According as we hearken unto Moses in all
things, so will we hearken unto thee. And only the Lord thy God
be with thee, as he was with Moses. And whosoever he be that
doth rebel against thy commandment will not hearken unto thy words.
And all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death.'
And Christ came and said, He that believeth on me shall be,
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not, and is
not baptized, shall be damned. And lo, I am with you even unto
the ends of the world." That's a very clear picture. All right,
Sherry, if you come up, we'll sing a song in praise of him. Let's sing number 510. 510. This reminded me of those people
gathering there at Georgia. Let's sing this. Just sing. Angel's feet have trod With its
crystal tide forever Flowing by the throne of God Yes, we'll
gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river Gather with
the saints at the river Third verse. Yes, we'll gather up the river,
the beautiful, beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the
river that flows by the throne of God. Soon we'll reach the shining
river. The. The.