once again from the first chapter
of Joshua. And as you're turning there,
I would relate a story a pastor told years ago. He was traveling
to Yellowstone National Park, I believe it was, back in the
first part of the last century, 1920s, 1930s, sometime like that.
And he said, The old car he was driving, you
know, stopped on him several times on the way and he had to
work on it and he had washed his hands and wiped his hands
on his handkerchief. And he got up there to that old
faithful and he said that water was coming out of there and there
was a pool of steaming water. And he pulled out his handkerchief
and he put it down in there trying not to get burned. And when he
pulled it back up, it was just as white as white could be. And
he stood up and he started singing that hymn. There is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And he said
people all around him started singing that same hymn. What
a beautiful, beautiful hymn, isn't it, that William Cowper
wrote that speaks to us of the power, the cleansing power in
the blood of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John said, the blood
of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Not most sin, not most of
our sins, but for God's people, the precious blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses from all sin. Joshua chapter one, and the title
of my message is Hearing God's Word. Hearing God's Word. We'll be looking at the last
part of this chapter, Last time, we looked at God's command to
Joshua three times. God told Joshua, be strong and
of a good courage. We looked at the first nine verses
in this chapter. And God gave Joshua, and we know
from the New Testament, this promise is to all of God's children. It is to you and to me as well. Those of us who know Christ as
our Lord and as our Savior, God gave Joshua this threefold promise
to encourage him to be strong and of a good courage. God said,
I will be with thee, I will not fail thee, and I will not forsake
thee. We see that in verse five. And
we also saw that the strength and the courage that God commanded
Joshua to have, that this strength and this courage It's not something
that we can manufacture in ourselves, that the Lord himself is our
strength, and he is the one who gives us courage. Listen to this
word in Isaiah 41 in verse 10. God speaking, fear thou not,
for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. And then who can fail to remember
the Apostle Paul's testimony in the letter of Philippians
when he said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. The strength that God commanded
Joshua and the strength that he commands his people today
we know comes from Him through looking unto Him. But I want
you to notice also that God commanded him concerning the Word of God
in verse number eight. 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. The Word of God, the Bible, is
different from every other book. The making of books, I believe
it was Sullivan said, there's no end. There's no end to the
making of books. And yet there's one book out
of all the millions, if not billions of books, which have been written
that is different from every other book. And that is the book
of God, the word of God, the Bible that we have in our hands
here tonight, because this book was God breathed. It was God
breathed. It has been called the miracle
book. And certainly it was a miracle,
the writing of this book, how that it was written over a period
of, I think, about 1500 years and a number of different men
God used in writing. And yet God, the Holy Spirit
is the one who inspired. When we say that the book, the
Bible is God breathed, it means simply that all scripture And
yes, all scripture, even the words, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, that
is for teaching and for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness. Solomon wrote these words about
the Bible. I love to read these words. They're
found in Proverbs 6, verses 22 and 23. But Solomon said this, And you know the format of the
book of Proverbs is a father, a good deal of it at least, is
a father teaching his son. And this is what he said, when
thou goest, when thou goest, it shall lead thee. That is the
word of God, the scriptures. When thou goest, it shall lead
thee. When thou sleepest, it will keep
thee. And when thou wakest, it shall
talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp,
and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of
life. Yes, the Word of God, the Bible,
is a miracle book, and God told Joshua that he was to meditate,
he was to keep this book of the law, shall not depart out of
thy mouth. In other words, he was to read
it and to meditate upon God's Word. You notice it says this
Book of the Law. Let me ask you this question.
What was the message of the Book of the Law? What was the message
of the Book of the Law that Joshua was commanded by God to observe? Well, we know the first five
books of the Scripture is considered to be the Book of the Law. And
that's all Joshua had. That's all he had. of the Bible,
the first five books, the book of the law. All that the Holy
Spirit had inspired Moses to write. And I find it interesting
that the first time in the Bible, the first time that we read about
writing in a book, God commanded Moses this. And the Lord said
unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and listen, and rehearse
it in the ears of Joshua. The first time that we read in
the scripture about writing this in a book, it has a special reference
to Joshua. To Joshua. What is the message
of the book of the law that God commanded Joshua to observe? It's the message of Christ. The
message of Christ. Remember, he said all things,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he said, all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses concerning
me. Christ is the message of the
scriptures. He's the key to the word of God.
A person will never understand the scripture, will never understand
the word of God until God the Holy Spirit causes him to know
that Christ is the key to the understanding of the Bible, of
the Word of God. Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees
and the lawyers, those who were in his day when he was here in
the flesh, who spent their time in studying the law. And he said
this, that they took away from the people the key to the Scriptures,
that they would not enter in themselves and they kept others
from entering in. In other words, if we come to
this book, we read this book and we're looking and hoping
and trusting to find other things that may be interesting, may
be very informative, but miss the message, and the message
of the word of God is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now the Jews,
they divided the Old Testament scriptures into three divisions.
They had the law, they had the prophets, and what they called
the writings, which of course are the wisdom books. And the
Lord said this to his disciples after his resurrection, After
his resurrection, he had to open their understandings that they
might understand the Word of God. But he said this to them,
he said, all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses, that was one part, the Prophets, and The Psalms
concerning me. In other words, the way the Jews
divided up the Old Testament scripture into those three divisions,
the Lord Jesus said that they all must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms
concerning him. Concerning Christ. That's the
reason we say Moses wrote of me. The Lord Jesus Christ, that's
what he said. Moses wrote of me. David wrote
of me. Solomon wrote of me. All the
scriptures. You know that rich man our Lord
spoke about in Luke chapter 16, who died and lifted up his eyes
and he was in hell, being in torments, the scripture tells
us. And he was very concerned about
his brothers that he had, who would also, he said, follow him
into that place of torment. And he thought that if someone
would rise from the dead, Lazarus, that beggar that evidently people
were familiar with, he was a beggar, but he was a believer. And when
he died, the angels of God carried him into the bosom of Abraham,
into heaven, in other words. But this rich man in hell, he
assumed that if someone would go to his brothers from the dead,
like Lazarus, that they would believe and be saved and therefore
not come to that place of torment. But you remember what he was
told. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Let them hear them. They have
Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Now, if,
now get that, if, if they heard him, that is his brothers, if
they heard them, really heard them, not just with this outward
ear, But with the ear of the soul, if they really heard them,
what would they hear? What would they hear? They would
hear that the Lord Jesus Christ is, has been, is, and will always
be the only way to the Father. That's what they would hear,
because that's the message Christ and Him crucified, that's the
message of the Word of God. They would hear what Peter proclaimed
in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 when he said, neither is there
salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven.
given among men whereby we must be saved. They would hear what
the Lord Jesus Christ confessed in John chapter 14 in verse 6. I am the way. I am the way of
salvation. I am the way of pardon. I am
the way of justification. I am the way of reconciliation
with God. There is no other way. I am the
way, the truth, and the life, eternal life, spiritual life. Christ is life. Life is in Him. He that hath the Son hath life. He that the Son makes free shall
be free indeed. Yes, my friends, He is the way
and the only way to the Father. Now, I want to point out two
things that we see in these remaining verses here in the first chapter
of Joshua. And I do so because I believe
they all come out of the fact that he had the Word of God,
and he was commanded to hear and to meditate on the Word of
God, the Book of the Law. The first thing we see is faith. Faith. Joshua, we read here in
chapter 1 and verse 10. Joshua commanded the officers
of the people saying, pass through the host and command the people
saying, prepare you vittles for within three days you shall pass
over this Jordan to go in to possess this land which the Lord
your God giveth you to possess. I believe that we see faith in
these words and I want to go through them with you and see
if we do not see faith. He commanded them to command
the people to prepare beetles, for within three days you shall
pass over this garden to go in to possess the land which the
Lord your God giveth you to possess. Let's look at these words, and
I believe we can see faith here. I see faith in the word then,
T-H-E-N, then. then after he heard God's word
then after he heard God's word 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 then then you know the
psalmist said this in psalm 116 in verse 10 and this is what
we see here he said i believe Therefore have I spoken." Joshua
believed, therefore he spoke. And the scripture here tells
us, then, then. The second thing, I see faith
in his command to prepare vittles. Now Joshua had seen how the Lord
had provided manna for the children of Israel for 40 years. For 40
years, God had fed them in the wilderness. And yet Joshua knew
that when they passed over that Jordan, that was coming to an
end. That was coming to an end. And
so I see faith, Joshua showing faith in commanding the officers
to command the people there to prepare vittles because they
were no longer going to receive that manna from God out of heaven
once they entered into the land of Canaan. And then I see faith
in his words, this Jordan, this Jordan, this Jordan. You know, he didn't command the
people to prepare boats. You would think he might command
them to prepare boats or some kind of pontoon bridge across
the river or something like that. No, he commanded them to prepare
vittles because we're going over this Jordan. It seems to me like
he speaks with disdain for this river. Yes, it was a border.
Yes, it separated them from the land of Canaan. But what was
that when you consider Joshua's God? Joshua's God, who is omnipotent. And no doubt, Joshua, I'm not
sure how old he was when they came out of Egypt, but he, I
believe, had crossed through that Red Sea on dry land like
all the Israelites. And he knew that this Jordan
was not near the obstacle. that the Red Sea had been for
the children of Israel. Yet God is sufficient, God is
sufficient for every need and every difficulty and every problem,
every trial that His children experience. And then I see faith
in His words to go in to possess the land. I see faith there. He doesn't say, Let's go in and
try to possess the land. Let's try to possess the land.
Let's attempt to possess the land. No, no. Let's go in and
possess the land. That's a word of faith. Yes,
I see faith here. And then the last thing I see,
faith in his words, which the Lord, and notice that is Lord,
each letter in capitals means Jehovah. Jehovah I am, he who
commanded Moses at the burning bush to go into Egypt and speak
to Pharaoh and bring his people out, which the Lord your God,
this is your God. Not the God of the Amorites,
not the God of the Hittites, not the God of all these nations,
these seven nations in the land. No, your God and your God, the
God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
unlike every other so-called God. He's a living and true God. You know, in the New Testament,
in Romans chapter 10, the Apostle Paul wrote, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. So we see God commanded Joshua
concerning the word, and then we see faith. Joshua heard God's
word, and so faith, faith was produced, faith was wrought,
faith was given unto Joshua. When God's chosen people hear
the gospel, they come to believe the gospel. If you try to explain
how it is that you came to believe the gospel, you cannot explain
that. If you believe, you just know
you believe. That God, you heard the gospel,
and God, by His wonderful grace and power, worked faith in you. And so you believe. You believe. I remember a pastor illustrating
this one time about when you awake, you just open your eyes.
You don't make a decision to open your eyes. You just open
your eyes. You're awake. And when God saves
a person, they believe. They believe. God gives them
faith to believe. Remember in Isaiah chapter 55
and verse 11. So shall my word be. This is
God speaking. This is not the word of some
preacher, some man. My words, if it's just my words,
they don't make it hardly to the end of this pulpit. But when
God sends his word, and many times, most of the time, he sends
his word through the preaching of the gospel. How shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? God uses men to preach the gospel,
but listen to what he says. So shall my word, God's word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not, hear that? It shall not return unto me void. But it shall accomplish that
which I please, and shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent
it." The Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Remember in the first chapter
of the Gospel of John, we read, but as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And yes, when a person is saved,
regenerated, born again, they believe. And faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God." In other words, by hearing
the gospel. That's the reason our Lord commanded
us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. That's the first thing we see.
First, the Word of God. He's commanded to keep the Word
in His mouth and to meditate upon it. And then we see faith. And second, I see obedience. Obedience. If you look down in
verse 16, Joshua chapter 1 in verse 16, we read, And they answered
Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us, we will do. And
whithersoever thou sendest us, we shall go. Joshua, after speaking
to the officers of the people, he next speaks to the two and
a half tribes, the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Now, these men were ranchers. They were cattlemen. And when
they, the nation of Israel, they defeated two mighty kings on
that side of the Jordan, and they saw that that area was good
for cattle. It was a grassland, I assume.
And so they wanted to stay there. They wanted their inheritance
to be on that side of the Jordan. And at first, Moses, I believe
Moses saw this as something that would once again cause the people
not to believe and not to pass over the Jordan. But then they
said they would do this. No, no, we'll pass over first. We'll build places for our cattle
here and houses for our wives and children and then we'll pass
over. These two and a half tribes,
the men of these tribes, we'll pass over. We'll be the spearhead. We'll go over first and we will
remain in the land until all the land has been conquered.
And those are the ones that Joshua here commands, and they obey. Yes, they obey the word of Moses. As the scripture says, all that
thou commandest us, we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest
us, we will go. And that just leads me to say
this, real faith, Real faith is always accompanied with obedience,
always. Ephesians 2, verses 8 through
10. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." We're not saved by our works. We're not saved by our works. We're saved by the person and
work of Jesus Christ, those who are saved. Christ is the Savior. It's His blood that atoned for
sin, my friends. It's His obedience that justifies
men with God. We're not saved by our works.
We're not saved because of our works. Men are saved by the person
and work of Jesus Christ, but yet those who believe in him
are exhorted to maintain good works. The apostle James, he
wrote this. He said, for if any man be a
hearer of the word and not a doer, He's likened to a man beholding
his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, that's the gospel. Whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty and continueth therein, he be not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer, a doer of the work. And listen, this is
very important. This man shall be blessed in
his work. Doesn't say he shall be blessed
for his work. That's very important to observe.
This man who is a hearer and also a doer, he shall be blessed
in his doing. Now, in closing this message,
I'm going to take some liberty and I want to speak to you just
a few words about how it is that people associate crossing over
Jordan with dying. With the believer dying, people
have associated this with the crossing of Jordan as long as
I've been around. And I want to ask this question
for us to consider. When is a person prepared to
die? When is a person prepared to
die? Death is a reality for all men. It's before us all. You know,
Job, in the book of Job, he said this about death. He spoke of
death as a journey. And he said this, I go, I go
on this journey and we're all going to go on this journey.
If the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime, death is a reality. Job said, I go whence I shall
not return. We're all going to cross over
that river. We're all going to die when it's
our time. We know that, that's before us.
But when, when is a person prepared to die? That's a very important
question, isn't it? When is a person prepared to
die? Well, I believe the best answer,
as always, is a scripture answer. When is a person prepared to
die? And I think of that older man
who was in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought the child,
the Lord Jesus Christ, six weeks old, more or less, into the temple. And this older man, he took the
child up in his arms and he prayed and he said, now let us thou
thy servant depart in peace. Why was he then ready to depart
in peace? Because as he said, mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. In this person, in this person,
you see salvation's not in a plan. It's not in so many steps. It's
not in a catechism class or anything like that, that you go through
and learn certain propositions and certain truths. Salvation
is in the person of Jesus Christ. And when he took this babe up
in his arm, embraced him, as it would picture faith, we embrace
Christ by faith. Then it is. that we are prepared
to die. When God teaches us and shows
us and by the grace of God enables us to look to Christ and to look
to him only for all our salvation, then we're prepared to cross
over that river. Just like that thief, Bill sang
that hymn at the beginning of the service. The dying thief
rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And you know, there
he was hanging on a cross, being crucified, and the Lord alongside
of him, and yet he looked, he looked to Christ. What could
he do? What could he do there, nailed
to a tree? He looked. Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. Today, that's what our Lord said,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Amen. I trust the Lord to bless
this word to all of us here tonight, all who are watching by means
of the streaming. And Bill's going to come and
sing another hymn, and this is a beautiful hymn, Hallelujah,
What a Savior. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah,
what a Savior. That's number 127, if you have
your hymn book. Sing along, if you will, 127.