If you turn with me to Joshua
chapter 1. And the first thing I would probably
ask you to do is just, if you have a little ribbon or marker
there in your Bible, go ahead and put a marker there. We're going to be looking at
several passages and referring back and forth to our text. And last week in our study, we
pretty much, as an introduction to the book, discussed pretty
much in detail the life of Moses. But this book begins after the
death. of Moses. And that's exactly
what the first verse says. 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 and go over
this Jordan, thou, and all this people into the land, which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel." Now, Moses'
death was a great loss to Israel. And even though they had been
disobedient, that they had murmured and complained often, and I might
just add there that that's pretty much the natural heart of man. We murmur, we complain, often
disobedient. But yet when all was said and
done, they respected Moses greatly. If you turn back just a page,
or maybe just be on the opposite side of the page in Deuteronomy
34, verse 8 says, And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the
plains of Moab for thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning
for Moses were ended. But now God speaks to Joshua. Remember, men are but men. Regardless of how greatly they're
used of God, the work of God is never hindered by the death
of one of His servants. Regardless of how much they're
used in the blessings to His people, God's purpose is never,
ever altered or changed. Though the workman might be removed,
God's work goes forward to His ordained completion. Matthew
Henry said this, he said, God has changed servants throughout
history to show us that whatever instruments he uses, he's not
tied to any. He is alone God, and he alone
reigns, rules, and regulates all things. Now if God's work
for a particular people in a particular place is finished, He'll remove
a certain. But if His work there is not
finished, God will raise up another one. He always does. And that's what He did here.
That's what He did here. And what a blessing it is to
know, isn't it? To know that God will accomplish
His sovereign purpose in all things. All things. And He'll do what He pleases,
with whom He pleases, when He pleases, how He pleases. And
none can say to Him, God, what are You doing? None can stay
His hand or say unto Him, what doest Thou? Now as we know, Israel
being God's chosen people, He wouldn't finish with them. They
had yet to reach the land of rest that He had promised. Therefore
he raised up another servant to continue his work." Look at
the next verse over there in Deuteronomy 34 verse 9, "...and
Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, For
Moses had laid his hands upon him, and that was a symbol of
the government being committed to him, to Joshua. And the children
of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded
Moses." One commentator said that this was done according
to God's plan. Now I know what he meant by saying
that. Did you know that the word plan,
planning, planned, is not found in the Bible anywhere. God does
all things according to his purpose. All the events throughout time
have not been carried out by a plan, but according to God's
purpose. Now let me just say a little
bit about this. I wrote a short little article
in the Bulletin last Sunday. Does God have a plan or does
God have a purpose? And it might seem that you're
splitting hairs there. Well, we know what it means when
a man says God has a plan. But friends, to say that God
has a plan insinuates that God makes a proposal. That's what
that word means, plan. A proposal for doing or achieving
something. God doesn't make proposals. He
never has. I used to work for a company
that did quotes, did proposals for jobs. Sometimes it worked
out and sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it would get the job,
sometimes it wouldn't get the job. But God Almighty doesn't
make proposals. He rules and He reigns according
to His purpose, and He sees that all His promises of purpose are
fulfilled and carried out perfectly. Romans 8 28 you all know that
verse by heart and we know that all things work together For
good to them that love God to them who are the called according
to what his purpose doesn't say plan It doesn't say plan. No,
it says that God works all things for his people's good according
to his purpose I see men make plans Sometimes we plan to go
on vacation and maybe there's a death in the family or something
comes up and our plan has changed. He always purposes and what he
purposes comes to pass. God doesn't have a plan of salvation. I hear men say that often and
I know what they mean. But we've got to be careful how
we choose our words. There are many that say things
like that. God's purpose to save those that
He gave to Christ before the foundation of the world. There's
a big difference. It's not a plan. It's not something that may or
may not work out. Not when it concerns God. No. God doesn't have a plan for
your life. He doesn't. God doesn't have
a plan for your life. Our God has ordained and predestined
your birth, your death, and every second in between. See what I'm
saying? Plan is not a scriptural word.
No word in scripture. Ephesians 1.11, "...in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his will." That don't sound like somebody that's just playing
and hoping it works out. Oh, siree, God with sovereign
purpose and divine providence had raised Moses up and he had
determined on purpose that he would die right here in the land
of Moab. When Moses died, he didn't catch
God by surprise. God ordained it. Matter of fact,
God told Moses long before that he would die in Moab and not
enter into the Promised Land. He told him, and he knew. The
knowledge and truth concerning the sovereign God should do nothing
but inspire us, comfort us, and encourage us. He's never failed. He's not planning and hoping
it works out. And I just, after reading that
particular commentary, like I said, I know what he meant. I wanted
to elaborate on that for a minute. Our great God knows what's best
for us, does He not? And He causes all things to work
together for our good. Do you know why? It's according
to His purpose. It's not a plan that can be altered.
But a purpose that will forever stand by sovereign power. Our plans, as I said, can be
altered, but not God. And though Moses was dead, the
promise that God had made to Israel would be accomplished
through another servant. It may be a different servant,
but it's the same God. It's the same God. Now, we should
also notice that Joshua didn't push himself toward filling the
place made by the departure of Moses. Here in Joshua 1 verse
1, it was God that initiated the call of Joshua. It says,
it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua. didn't speak to anybody else.
He spoke to Joshua. Joshua was his chosen servant
to fill Moses' place. And we see again plainly from
verse two of our text, it says, Moses, my servant, is dead. And
then he's speaking this to Joshua, and now therefore arise and go
over this Jordan. You, Joshua. And notice the next
words, and all this people, all of you, unto the land which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel." Now the
appointed time had arrived for Jehovah to make good the promises
which he had made to Abraham and his children some three to
four hundred years previously. Notice that this commission which
Joshua received from the Lord was given to him, but it was
not made with him alone. He said, Thou and all His people,
it says. And this is clearly seen by all
that follows and all that we'll see in future studies. It wasn't
only Joshua that entered into Canaan. Verse 3 says, Every place
that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that I have given
unto you as I said unto Moses. We need to slow down sometime
when we read scripture and pay attention to what the verses
say. He said, I have given unto you. That's the theme of this book.
God-given grace, God-given faith. If God don't give it, we're not
going to get it. And here again we see that the Lord declares
and He emphasizes that Canaan, God's land of promise, was a
sovereign and a free gift which He gave unto Israel. Their ancestors
hadn't done anything but murmur and complain in the desert so
that they weren't even allowed to enter. So it sure wasn't anything
they did to merit it. And even as I said we'll see
in future studies after God had caused them to conquer, it would
still in no wise make them think that they had earned it. You
know why? It was a gift. He said, I've
given it unto you. Who? God, Jehovah. And that's the way we're saved.
That's the way we're saved. God says, I've given it unto
you. Where did grace come from? God gave it to you. Where did
mercy come from? God gave it to you. Friends,
it's the same with all God's blessings, especially salvation.
There's never been a spiritual blessing, now listen, that's
been earned, deserved, or merited. If a man tells you that, he's
lying to you. This is a book of grace and mercy
given by God and God alone. All God's blessings are received
at the hand of a sovereign and gracious God. If anybody else
tells you anything different, this is a message of works. And
it's a lie from the pits of hell. It's all given, our eternal inheritance
to spiritual Israel which God had promised to Abraham. It's
all given. And every child that enters into
God's promises will with one voice sing, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us. but unto thy name give glory."
And every one of them will say, not by works of righteousness
that we've done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Titus 3, 5. Yes, friends, our
eternal inheritance is a gift of God given to us, started with
God's promise to Abraham. Look over to Genesis chapter
12 verse 1 Now the Lord had said unto Abraham get thee out of
thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house Unto
a land that I will show thee now there was no promise made
at this time that God would give Abraham the land of Canaan God
said simply go into a land that I'll show you and He didn't say
a land that I'll give you. It wasn't until years later that
God said to him, I'm the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of
the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. Genesis 15-7. Look at that with me. Turn over
to Genesis. Just a couple pages. Genesis 15-7. I want you to see
a couple things here. What did God say in verse 7? He says, I am the Lord that brought
thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit."
Now friends, two words to me stick out there, and they're
words that will mean something to a child of God. The first
one is brought. I'm the Lord that brought That
simply means to cause someone or something to come to a place. It means to make someone or something
move in a particular direction or a particular way. It means
to cause someone to receive. You can look up the definition
in the Concordance and also in Webster's Dictionary. It means
to cause someone to receive. It means to deliver. I brought you out. God brings
us out to bring us in. He brought us out to bring us
in. And then let's consider that little word there, to give, to
give. He gave. Oh my. That little word gave, it means
to bestow, to administer, to hand over, to impart, to freely
devote. Ah, what beauty there are in
those two simple words when meditating on God's wondrous, wondrous redemption. God brought and God gave. That's the theme of Scripture. God brought you out of the bondage
of sin which pressed down on you, and He gave you the precious
gift of liberty, freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. God caused
you. He brought you. He made you trust
in Christ. He gave, bestowed, and handed
over to you Christ's perfect righteousness. What did you do
to deserve it? Nothing. I didn't do nothing. It was freely imparted. Salvation
was by grace and grace alone. Now that's liberty. That's freedom.
You know why? And I think about this often. I am so glad that salvation is
in no way, shape, or form dependent upon anything that I do. Do you
know why? Because that means I won't lose
it. If it's not dependent upon anything
I do, then losing it is not dependent upon anything that I do. Salvation
is of the Lord. That's security. That's liberty,
that's freedom. And yet, with that said, and
even though God is sovereign in salvation of the Lord, I think
we can also see here that man is responsible. I think that's
something that maybe we don't preach enough on. God brought
Abraham out of the land, but he left. He left his home. And by faith he believed God.
Now if he had stayed there in the Ur of Chaldees in disobedience,
if he had to stay, What would have become of him? He was responsible
to believe God. That's our responsibility. We're
responsible to believe God. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 with
me. Verse 8. You know this verse. Hebrews 11 verse 8. By faith
Abraham, that's who we're talking about, When he was called to
go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
look at that next word, obeyed. Obeyed. And he went out not knowing
whither he went. God said leave him, didn't tell
him where he was going. What did he do? He believed God
and he obeyed God and he left. Man is responsible to believe
God. Now I make mention of this certain
word. This verse says, by faith when
God called him out into a place that He would give him as an
inheritance, that he did what? He obeyed. He obeyed. Abraham was required to break
free completely from his old life, to separate himself from
the world. We are too. We're in this world,
but we're not of this world. He was to submit himself without
reservation to God. So are we. So are we. He was to walk by faith. He was
to act in unquestioning obedience to God Almighty and God's revealed
will. So are we. So are we. And all this he was required
to do before the inheritance became his. Man's responsible. God made some very real and some
definite demands upon him. Is that what saved him? Nope. Nope, that's not what saved him.
Saving faith is one, though, that heeds and obeys the divine
commandments of God. But no man can heed and no man
can obey unless God make Him willing in the day of His power.
It's God's power that makes a difference. It's God who maketh thee to differ
from another. Now turn back. You're still in
Hebrews, aren't you? Turn back to chapter 5. Chapter 5. Look at verse 9. And being made perfect, speaking
of Christ, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that what? Obey Him. Trust and obey. No other way. No other way. Our Lord speaks to the self-righteous
chief priests and elders in Matthew 21. Turn there with me. Matthew
chapter 21. And he tells them a story here
of two sons. Matthew 21, look at the beginning
in verse 28 with me. You know, just to back up a little,
I want this not in my notes and not anything that I'd really
planned on talking about. But they came to the Lord, and
as they always did, they tried to trick Him, tried to catch
Him. find a false accusation against
him. And they came to him, if you
look up in the previous verses, and they asked him a question.
But every time he asked them a question, they're still answering
theirs. They asked him by what authority he did these things.
And he said, in verse 24, he said, I will also ask you one
thing, which if you tell me, I will likewise tell you by what
authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John, was
it from heaven or a man? Oh, my. And they reasoned with
themselves, verse 25, saying, if we shall say from heaven,
He'll say unto us, well, why didn't you believe me? But if
we say of men, we fear the people, for I hold John as a prophet."
And they answered Jesus and they said, we cannot tell. And He said unto them, neither
tell I you by what authority I do these things. And then in
verse 28, which is where I intended to go, he says, but what think
ye? He says, a certain man had two sons, had two boys. And he
came to the first and he says, son, you go work today in my
vineyard. And his son answered and said,
I will not. That's me right there. I will
not. Not going to do it. But afterward,
he repented, and he went." Oh, I pray that's me. And the same
father said to the second son, in verse 30, he said the same
thing to him. And he answered, and he said,
I go, sir. But he didn't go. And the Lord
says, whether of them, which of the two did the will of his
father? Which of the two did? And they
sent unto him the first. And the Lord Jesus said in verse
31, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in
the way of righteousness, and you believed him not. What's your responsibility before
God? To believe Him. To obey Him. That's our responsibility. They believed him not, and repented
not afterward, that ye might believe him. That first son obeyed,
even though he told his father he would not go, he repented,
he changed his mind, and he went. 1 Samuel 15.22 says these words,
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. To obey. To obey God,
dear friends, is to believe Him. It's to believe. We are responsible
to believe Him. We see in our text, in Joshua,
and in the whole of God's Word, the responsibility of grace's
recipients. Look again back in Joshua, verse
2. He says, Now therefore arise,
Go over this Jordan thou and all this people into the land
which do I give to them and in order for the people of Israel
to enter into Canaan and enter into this land that God promised
they had to obey God's Word that was given to Joshua. They must
act upon God's command just as their father Abraham had when
God said you get out of here boy. You get out of here. Now
listen to me carefully. This this is beautiful. And again,
in the passage that Ray read in Numbers, touched upon this
somewhat. As you know, God's servant Moses
represents the holy law of God. God gave His law to Moses. Moses
is forever associated with the law of God. And he's a picture
here showing that entry into the promised land, into Canaan,
could only occur after his death. Now this confirms to us the utter
stupidity of legalism. The utter stupidity of trying
to live and approach God through the so-called good works of the
flesh? Friends, there is none that doeth
good. It's foolish for us to think
that the keeping of the law would do anything but condemn us before
a thrice holy God. Moses had to die. And so do we. We've got to die
to our own ability. We've got to die and live under
Christ alone. And if we're to proceed on in
our journey with God, none of us can be what God demands us
to be from His law. Can we? Can we keep God's law?
Absolutely not. So who's going to take these
folks into the promised land? Moses is dead. Who's going to
take them into their inheritance? There's only one. Joshua. And
again, as Ray said, did you know the name Joshua and the name
Jesus? They're basically the same name. They mean Jehovah
is salvation. Salvation is of God and Joshua
was the only man who could lead them into the promised place
of rest. Friends, if you don't hear another
thing I say tonight, hear this. Christ, the God-man, is the only
one who can bring us into the place God has promised and reconcile
us to God. To have Christ is to have perfect
rest. It's to enter into the land of
God's promise. The only way. Moses is a picture of the law,
Joshua is a picture of both Christ and a true faith in the grace
and salvation of God. Now, one of the first things
we read in the book of Joshua is that God had given the sons
of Israel the promised land, but they still needed personally
to place their foot on that land for it to be theirs. That's what
we read in verse 3. Now you think about that. If
they stayed in Moab and they had looked at this land that
God had promised from a distance, how could it have ever been theirs?
Oh, that's our land over there. God promised that to us. Why
aren't you over there? And this is highly symbolic of
our lives as believers, for even though God has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, like Israel, we need
to place our foot upon these things by faith. We need to experience
the benefit of the blessings. If I know that all good things
happen to me in Christ and I stand at a distance from Him and never
place my faith upon Him and in Him, how is it going to benefit
me? And this is the picture that's
given to us here in Joshua chapter 1. Moses, the law, had to die
and Joshua, which represents Christ and faith in Christ, had
to take a man. No other way. That's why Paul
wrote in Galatians 3, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster,
to what? To bring us to Christ. The law
was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. We might be what?
Justified by faith? By Joshua? by Jesus Christ. But faith's not blind. Faith
has an object, and that object's Christ. And in Galatians 3.25,
but after that faith has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster.
Moses is dead. For ye all are the children of
God. How? He tells us by faith in
Christ Jesus. If these folks who had been given
God's promise, God's people, Israel, were to enter in to the
land of promise, it had to be Joshua that led them. That's
how God had ordained it. That's how it must be. Now I
want you to look at two other passages and I'm done. Turn with
me to Romans 7. And I really think this brings
this to light here, what Paul wrote. He says in verse 1, Romans
7, he said, No you not, brethren, for I speak to them that know
the law. How that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband
liveth she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. Verse 4, Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become, what, dead, dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, Joshua, Jesus Christ. even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Now turn
over a few pages to Galatians 2. Galatians 2 verses 19 and
20. Oh, I can just almost hear Paul
here as he writes these words. He said, for I through the law
am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in
the flesh. How do you live it, Paul? I live
by the faith of the Son of God, my Joshua. Jesus, who loved me
and gave himself for me.