Joshua chapter 1 and verse 1. 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, 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. 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, 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. 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 mayst 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 mayst 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. 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. Amen. May the Lord bless
to us this reading from his word. Today we are being more fully
introduced to this man, Joshua. Now, of course, we've met Joshua
before. Perhaps you'll remember that
Joshua led the force that fought against and defeated the people
of Amalek at Rephidim in the wilderness when Amalek came out
to fight against the children of Israel. That was the occasion
when Caleb and Aaron held up Moses' arms. And as long as Moses'
arms were held up, the children of Israel prevailed. But when
Moses' arms drooped down, became heavy and fell down, then the
people of Amalek prevailed. And Joshua was the minister,
or was the general who commanded the forces of Israel at that
time. And he became Moses' helper or
minister. And this man, Joshua, the son
of Nun, was one who was often with Moses. And it appears one
who was able to help and support Moses along the way. He was with
Moses, for example, when Moses went up into Mount Sinai. Joshua went with him part of
the way when the Lord gave the law to Moses on Sinai. Joshua was also one of the 12
spies who went to spy out Canaan 40 years previously. and he and Caleb were the two
spies that returned and advised the people to go in and possess
the land for the Lord was with them. You'll remember how they
were outvoted by the ten others and how the children of Israel
had to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness thereafter.
That was 40 years ago and now the children of Israel are back
on the border of Canaan. Moses is dead and Joshua is commissioned
by the Lord to lead the people over the River Jordan and to
possess the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham, Isaac,
and Abraham, Isaac, and to Moses. Joshua's name in Hebrew is the
same as Jesus' name in Greek, and it means a saviour or a deliverer. And in the coming weeks, we will
see, God willing, that Joshua was a type or a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was a leader who fought for
his people and he brought them into the land of promise. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
is the leader of his people and brings them into the land of
glory, the land of heaven, the land of peace by the victories
that he secured at the cross. Here we find that the children
of Israel were still encamped at Shittim and Joshua assumed
command of the people here before they crossed over into the promised
land. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our leader here in this land in which we live and he will
lead us successfully into heaven. It was the Lord's appointment
on the death of Moses that Joshua accept responsibility and it
was the Lord God that sent the Lord Jesus Christ to lead his
people to victory at the cross. And we learn from this chapter
also that the people were pleased to follow Joshua and so the Lord
God, the Holy Spirit makes the people of God willing in the
day of his power to follow after their saviour. We're told in
the chapter that the Lord met with Joshua and it would seem
that he did so personally although we're not actually told exactly
how the Lord spoke to Joshua on this occasion. Perhaps it
was at the door of the tabernacle as God had spoken with his servant
Moses. The Lord tells Joshua that he
will deliver the land of Canaan into his hand and that no one
will be able to stand against Joshua all the days of his life. We're also told the dimensions
or the regions of the land that are to be possessed and these
are specified in this passage. We also hear the Lord repeatedly
telling Joshua to be bold and courageous and confident in the
Lord's service, in the tasks that he has been given to do. It would take six years for the
children of Israel to overcome the nations of the land. And
there would be six warrior tribes in Canaan that would have to
be fought and defeated. But the Lord would be faithful
to Joshua in all these things. and Joshua would be faithful
to the Lord and a valiant servant of the Lord. We didn't read all
the verses of this little chapter just for the sake of time. We
have a busy service today, but we do learn later in the verses
of this opening chapter of Joshua that the Reubenites and the Gadites
and the Manassites were to lead the tribes of Israel into the
Promised Land. These three tribes had asked
Moses if they could stay on the east side of the river Jordan
and possess the land that was on the east side of Jordan while
the other tribes went in to possess the land of Canaan. This was
agreed upon, but it was also agreed that these three tribes
would be with the other nine tribes as they entered Canaan
and would fight with their brethren side by side. And so Joshua calls
these three tribes, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassites,
to lead the armies of the children of Israel into the promised land. And they go over at the head
of the armies into Canaan. We'll learn some interesting
lessons from this little passage, I think, and I just want to draw
a few of them to your attention at the moment. The first one
is this. Joshua was God's appointed leader. You'll remember with me that
only two men who left Egypt entered into the promised land. Caleb
and Joshua. In fact, Joshua may well have
been the oldest man in the whole nation. One of them was, either
Joshua or Caleb was the oldest man in the whole of the children
of Israel. Now this mighty nation that was
crossing into Canaan. Joshua had proved himself faithful
over the years. He had been faithful to God and
God's testimony. He had been faithful to Moses,
and he had witnessed the Lord's dealing with Moses. Over many
years, the Lord had been preparing Joshua for this task, and now
Joshua's time had come. But I wonder if you noticed with
me the frequency with which the Lord tells Joshua to be bold
and to be courageous. Despite his age, despite all
that preparation, despite all the things that he had seen and
his usefulness over many years, Joshua was just a weak man and
the task before him was daunting and huge. Three times in this
commission, the Lord tells Joshua to be strong and of good courage. Three times he encourages him
with these words, I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor
forsake thee. Do you see what this is? The
Lord is calling for faith from Joshua. He says, I won't fail
you. I won't forsake you. Now go and
serve me according to my word. And that's the true nature of
faith. Faith isn't a bare set of propositions
or a list of facts that we are to believe. Faith is an intimate,
personal trust in the word of the Lord. It is believing and
acting upon that belief with a boldness and a confidence even
when we are afraid. It's standing strong when people
laugh or when they threaten us or when they leave. When the
Lord saves a man or a woman or a boy or a girl, he does so by
giving us faith in his word, in Christ's work and he calls
us to exercise that faith and to follow Christ in our lives. Our faith affects the way that
we live and it changes us because we know the Lord is always with
us. He has promised, I will be with
thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. And Jesus told
his disciples, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world. And we may be just as confident
that no matter how tough the road might be, or how hard the
challenge might appear, when the Lord calls us to follow him
and to serve him, he will go with us. He will be with us. He will not fail us nor forsake
us. We are to be of good confidence
as well. The Lord said to Joshua, Be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the law thy God is with thee,
whithersoever thou goest. The Lord could have rid the land
of the Canaanites miraculously. Sometimes he used even wasps
and hornets to chase away a people. He could have brought plagues
upon the land and rid the land of the people. But the Lord had
a different way of doing it. It was not to be a miracle. It
was to be a land possessed by the people through battles. It
was about obedience and faith. And when the Lord calls us to
follow him, he gives us faith and he calls us to boldness.
And here's another thing that we learn from this chapter. It's a lesson, or was a lesson
for Joshua, and it is for us. We are to be reliant upon the
word of the Lord. God said to Joshua, this book
of the law, or these scriptures that Moses had given to the people,
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. Joshua was to study the scriptures
day and night so as to learn the word and the will of the
Lord. This studying would direct Joshua
and protect the people. And we learn from this that we
need fresh blessings from the Lord every day. We find these
blessings in the scriptures. It is in the scripture that the
Lord shows us his truth, shows us our salvation, shows us how
we should live to his glory. Joshua was an old man, but he
still needed new grace every day, and he needed wise counsel
every night. Let us also learn to be familiar
with the Scriptures, just as Joshua had to be. The psalmist
says in Psalm 119, verse 130, The entrance of thy words giveth
light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. The entrance
of the word of God into our heart, into our soul, into our mind. is where we will have understanding
to follow him. And finally, let us remember
too that Joshua was a type of Christ. Joshua was commissioned
to bring the children of Israel into the promised land and the
Lord Jesus Christ was sent to save his people from their sin. He was commanded to bring them
to God and into the promised inheritance of heaven. Just as Joshua was commanded
to be of good courage, so the Lord Jesus Christ was called
to be bold and courageous unto death. What grounds for fear Christ
had as a man facing brutal death and punishment for the sins of
his people? Those sins fell upon the pure
and perfect soul of Christ and the sword of God's anger was
unleashed against his soul. What suffering Christ endured,
what mighty foes he faced. What a great burden would be
laid upon our Saviour. and our Lord bravely, willingly,
sacrificially represented his people with boldness and courage
and cheerfulness for the sake of our good and because of his
love towards us. Joshua was promised that his
labour would prosper and God's elect prosper in the hands of
the Lord Jesus Christ because he was faithful unto death. All we are and all we have as
our spiritual possession, as our hope of heavenly glory, all
our inheritance is what Christ has won for us at the cross. May the Lord teach us truth from
the example of Joshua and from the service of our loving Saviour. Amen.