Our study this morning will be
taken from Joshua 1. Joshua 1, verses 3 through 9. And my subject is, The Way Made Clear. Let's read these verses together.
Joshua 1, beginning with verse 3. Every place that the sole of
your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said
unto Moses. From the wilderness and this
Lebanon, even unto the great river Euphrates, all the land
of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going down
of the sun, shall be your coast. 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. Be strong and of a good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the
land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be
thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all the law. I want to say something about
what he said there. The law is of no value except
you do it. You have to do it. And unfortunately,
none of us can. But this is what he's telling
it. You observe to do all according to the law which Moses my servant
commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right
hand nor 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. See, this is the second time
he's telling him that. 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. If not I commanded thee, be strong
and of a good courage, be not afraid, Neither be dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Now I've divided this into five
sections this morning, five different points, and I want to review
a little bit. It's been, this is the second
week since our first study, so I want to review our last lesson
just a little bit, and then I want to Talk about the way and the
work that He declares here and show you that the work is sure.
That's what God tells you. Everywhere you put your foot,
I've given that to you. It's sure. He didn't say anything
about if or and or anything else. It's sure. And then God's law,
I want us to see that that is entrusted to Joshua. And God's authority is manifested
in Joshua. And God's presence is promised
to Joshua. So let me briefly review our
last lesson, or as it was, our first lesson in our study of
the book of Joshua. One pastor said this. He said,
this is like sitting quietly in the shadows and listening
to God our Father giving to His Son, Jesus Christ, His eternal
commission to save a people for the glory of His name. You read
this book, this book way before the coming of Christ. Way before
the coming of Christ. And about 3,400 and some years
ago from right now. And it's like sitting there in
the shadows and listening to God our Father giving the commission
to His Son to save a people. And He's declaring to Him exactly
what to do. He's also telling us in type
and figure in this book of Joshua that the whole of this salvation
is entrusted to Joshua. You'll be saved if you follow
Joshua. You'll be saved if you submit yourself to Joshua, and
Joshua being a type of Christ. It's also, when we read these
words, as in our first lesson, we see that the law is like our
schoolmaster. It brings us to Christ that we
might be justified by faith. Faith sees the promise secured
in Christ, sees the inheritance divided by Christ to his people,
sees the way in a person chosen of God and precious. May the Lord press these precious
types clear in our minds and hearts as we study this book. This book is about Jesus Christ,
our Joshua. In today's study, I want us to
see from the beginning the way and the work declared sure. When
we talk about the way, we're not talking about a bunch of
different ways. We're talking about one way,
and that way is of God. It's of God. An honest disciple... Our Lord said, you know where
I'm going, and you know the way. And an honest disciple said,
wait a minute. We don't know where you're going.
And we don't know the way. And the Lord said to him, I am
the way. I am the truth. And I am the
life. When men and women are brought
to faith in Christ, it is the day of revelation. That's what
brings us to Him. The revelation of who He is and
who we are. We see those things side by side.
It's the day of revelation. It's the day when the Spirit
of God begins to open to us the way. Christ is the way. The way
of God was established in the garden. The Lamb's Lamb. A promised
seed. The way taught and declared. There is a way. And that way is in a person.
And there is in every man a carnal mind. This is where the labor
begins. This is where the battle is. We're all born with a carnal
mind. And the carnal mind is death.
To be carnally minded is death. If God leaves you to yourself,
you're going to remain in that spiritual death. It's a certain
death because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's against
God. It's contrary to God. It doesn't
listen to God. It won't submit to God. Well, what does it do? Well,
it looks to feelings, primarily. If it feels good, do it. Isn't that what people say? It
feeds off of the emotions. It looks to worldly logic. It
looks to worldly acceptance. It leans on majority approval. And let me tell you something
about that. Several times Israel got together to vote, the majority
was always wrong. You don't want to look to the
majority vote. The kingdom of God is not a democracy,
it's a theocracy. We don't look for majority approval. It hangs on what the world sets
before the people as the truth. And it matters not how many times
God condemns it. Man will bring it up again and
again. Salvation is by grace. It's not
by work. Salvation is in a representative
man and a substitute. It's not in the promise of reformation. Men make deals with God, or so
they think. You do this and I'll do this.
Or I'll do this if you do this. They try to make deals with God.
And salvation is according to God's Word, not the consensus
of denominational creeds. So here's the way as typified
in Joshua. He said, Arise and go over Jordan
and all the people. That's how it's going to be.
That's how it's going to be. Would you enter into an inheritance
promised to you of God? You're going to go in with Joshua.
You're going to go with him. What does he say about this way?
Verse 3. Every place that the sole of
your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. You know, we wrestle over petty
things sometimes Trying to figure out what's ours and what's His. Paul said, are you so silly?
Don't you understand the worldviews? Everywhere you put your foot,
God gave you that. God gave you that. Listen to
this. There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy life. It says in a certain place, they
would have taken him out and threw him off the cliff. They
were going to throw him over the cliff. But it wasn't his time. And what
did he do? This angry mob, this lynch mob
was going to throw him off the hill. He walked right out of
them and passed through their midst. Wasn't his time yet. Nobody can stand before our Lord. Nobody. Now, if I can see my Savior,
Jesus Christ, typified in Joshua, then I must see Him, now listen
to me, as Lord. As Lord. Lord of the dead and
the living. God says of our Redeemer, None
can stay His hand or even ask Him what He's doing. He's Lord. This way is through Joshua. Follow
Joshua. No man can stand before Him.
And when God establishes His Son to His people, He establishes
His authority in Christ. And to stand opposed to Joshua
is to stand opposed to God. All right, here's the third thing
I want us to see today. I want us to see that God's law
is wholly committed to Joshua. In verse 7, he said, 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. And then in verse
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's written therein. Brethren, there cannot be any
salvation in the resurrection from the dead or any inheritance
received without first a godly honoring of the law. Has to be. Has to be. And it's clearly revealed
that you and I cannot keep it because of the weakness of the
flesh. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The law is holy and just and good. If there had been a
way, if it had been possible to give us life, the law would
have been the means. There's nothing wrong with the
law. But Paul said we've already proved, we're all under sin.
It's the weakness of the flesh, the inability of the flesh. And
therefore the law becomes a curse upon every natural man. Now here's the scripture, listen
to it. Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. that do them continually,
24-7. The law demands a perfect, continual,
unbroken obedience, and it demands that this obedience be out of
love for the Lord our God and love for our neighbor. And none
but Christ has ever exalted the law and made it honorable. And
let me be as clear as I can on this point of the law. To honor
this law and exalt it required not only the life's obedience
of Christ, but his death on the cross. His death was the crowning
act of his obedience to God. He become, the scripture said,
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And so Paul
says in Romans 10 verse 4, For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I see that law
exalted and honored in him, and I see him and receive the reward
of it by faith. Faith in Christ. He said in Romans
8 verse 8, For what the law could not do, in that it was weeped
through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, poured out
his righteous judgment upon it, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. What does that mean? We look
to Christ for our righteousness. Is the law perfectly kept? with
perfect motives and imputed to us by faith in Christ. And oh,
what a crime it is to dishonor that exalted law by trying to
touch it up with our works. It's sufficient in Christ, and
all we need do is follow Him, look to Him, bow to Him, worship
Him. The enemies of God have from
the beginning challenged the success of Christ and His church
by questioning the righteousness of God in Christ. Always trying
to bring in some law righteousness to mingle with the righteousness
of Christ. That's where the attack is. That's
where the battle is. And it goes on every day. And
Paul said this, if righteousness come by the law, Here's the alternative. Then Christ is dead and vain. His death was for nothing. And
then fourthly, I want us to learn this this morning. God's authority
is manifested in Joshua. I want you to, this is a little
past our lesson, but look in the very last verse of Joshua
chapter 1. Let me show you something. We'll deal with this a little
more next week. Joshua 1.18, Whosoever he be that doth rebel
against thy commandment, he's talking to Joshua, and will not
hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he
shall be put to death. Only be strong and be of good
courage. Will you not hear Christ? Penalty
is death. There's no alternative. There's
no option. You'll bow to Him or be cursed
of God. And if God will put to death
all those who defy His servant who's typical of Christ, how
much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? done to spite under the Spirit
of grace, counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.
It's a fearful thing, Paul said, to fall into the hands of the
living God. It's a fearful thing. Jesus Christ is Lord, as Joshua
was Lord over the Hittites before he ever went into the land. The
Lord told him, nobody's going to be able to stand before you. He told Moses, he said, see,
I've made you a god unto these people. Joshua was lured over the Hittites,
even though they didn't know it, and when they were told and
wouldn't submit to it. But he was over them, and they
were put to death. And even those who professed
to be with Joshua, if they defied him and exposed, they were put
to death. God's authority is in Christ. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Now he said you go preach. You
go preach. And all those who rebel, all
those who refuse to hearken unto his words shall be put to death.
I want you to listen to this. This is in John chapter 3. And
he works up to this all the way through that chapter. He talks
about John the Baptist, and John the Baptist said he was just
a friend of the bridegroom. And then he starts talking about
Christ. And he gets up to John 3.36, and he said, He that believeth
not the Son. About what? About anything. People want to pick and choose,
don't they? Well, he's not talking about that. Oh yeah, he is. He's
talking about anything he says. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. He will not be able to perceive
it. Study as he will, do what he will, he'll never be able
to perceive it. Why? Because the wrath of God
abideth on him. That's why. God's authority is
in His Son, and His Son and His people shall not only go into
Canaan, but they're going to occupy And they're going to take
those who lay claim to it and put them to death. And then lastly,
God's presence is promised in Joshua. Verse 9, Had not I commanded
thee? Be strong, be of good courage,
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God
is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Our Lord is the God-man. He's the God-man. And typically
here, he's promising to Joshua, being a type of Christ, that
his presence is going with him. So here's the question. How do
you and I know if God's presence is with us? Because every church
in the land says God's presence is with them. So how do we know? How do I know this morning? How
can I say to you that God is present with us? Can I say that? Is it a possibility for you to
say that? Well, God is spirit. You can't
see God. So how do I know if God is present
or not? Let me just briefly give you
four things. In 1 John chapter 4 and verse
15, listen to what this says. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. God's presence is with him. He
said, I'll never forsake you. I'll never leave you. Some 2,025 years ago, there was
a baby born in Bethlehem, Judah. His name was called Jesus. An angelic messenger came and
said, You call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. It said of him that he was born
of a virgin. That's exactly what the prophet
Isaiah said. The Lord is going to give you
a sign. A virgin shall conceive. He was born after all the prophecies
concerning him. His birth was attended. with
angelic messengers, and even his mother said she trusted in
him as God her Savior. And according to the inspired
Word of God, he's God come into the flesh. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of God. And the soul, now listen
to me, the soul with conviction of heart, who can confess Him
as such, God come into the flesh, dwelleth in Him, and He in God. There's no other way He could
do it but by the presence of God, by the Spirit of God. And
then secondly, God's presence is manifested when His people
submit to being led. Is there a people anywhere being
led of God? Is there a people that he's leading
to Christ, drawing to Christ? You find me a people that's being
led of God and I'll show you where God is. That's the only
way they can do that. You can't lead a man anywhere,
a natural man. You can't lead him anywhere.
You can't lead him to give up all his hope in this world and
all his treasures in this world. And follow after Christ, put
all his eggs in one basket? No way, you can't do it. But
you can with God's people. God's presence is manifested
when His people submit to being led. As many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And then thirdly, how do I know
God's presence? Can I even say that? Scripturally,
I believe I can. Thirdly, he said, were two or
more gathered together in my name. Are we gathered in his
name this morning? Is the gospel I preach declaring
the glory of his name? Declaring his sovereign grace?
Declaring his sovereign mercy? Declaring him his immutability? Declaring his sovereignty? over
all things, his purpose, his wrath. That's what it means to gather
in his name. And his name's manifested in son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where two or more gather together
in my name, he said, there am I in the midst. And then fourthly, we're assured
of God's presence where he's pleased to work. God's work is
effectual. Religion always talks about God
trying to do something. He's trying to get you down the
aisle. He's trying to get you to join the church. He's trying
to get you to do this. God don't try to do anything.
He just does it. He just does it. God's work is
effectual. His work is irresistible. His
work brings about the impossible. May the Lord help us to submit
ourselves to his son and follow him. And as those people did
who followed Joshua, find rest for ourselves. All right. Thank
you.