Let us turn again tonight to
the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter one, verses one and two. 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 rise, go
over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which
I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Last Sunday
night, you will remember, we looked at the words in verse
two, the land which I do give them. And I pointed out that
this was a fulfillment of a promise that God had made to Abraham
400 years before this. The iniquity of the Amorites
was now full, and God fulfilled the promise to his servant Abraham. And we thought especially of
these three things that are true about God. His long-suffering,
He suffered long with the nations, those seven nations, the inhabitants
of Canaan, suffered long with them. But their iniquity, when
it was full, judgment came. And then we also thought about
the faithfulness of God, and our God is faithful, and He fulfilled
His promise. It may be long in coming, but
God's promises are real and they are sure. And then we also looked
at the grace of God because the scripture here says the land
which I do give them. The Israelites did not merit
this land by their works or their deservedness or anything like
that, but in pure grace, God gave them the land. Tonight,
I want us to look at one question, one question that I have in regard
to two things that we see in these first two verses. My question
is, what does this mean? What does this mean? And I want
to ask that question in regard to a statement in verse two. My servant Moses is dead. What does this mean? And then
I want to ask that question in regard to the name Joshua and
verse one, what does this mean? So first, what does this mean?
Moses, my servant is dead. And I want to answer that question
two ways. First, this is what it doesn't
mean. What does it mean, Moses my servant
is dead? Well first let me answer it in
a negative way, what it does not mean. Moses my servant is
dead. It does not mean that he had
passed into non-existence. Does not mean that Moses no longer
existed. You know that is what many would
like to believe, and some do believe, and many false religions
teach that when a person dies, when they breathe their last
here in this world, that's the end of their existence. That's
the end of them. Like an animal dies out here
in the field, that's the end of that animal. So people would
think and would like to believe, and some teach, that when a man
or woman dies, Moses, my servant, is dead. That does not mean that
he had passed into non-existence. Many would love to believe this,
that there is no eternity for the wicked, and there is no eternity
for the righteous, that death is the end of all. We all go
the same way, and death is the end of all persons. Well, this
statement, Moses my servant is dead, does not mean that the
soul of Moses, here's something else that some people have taught,
that even when a believer dies, or an unbeliever for that matter,
that the soul sleeps in the grave. That the soul is sleeping out
there in the graveyard, even of the righteous. It does not
mean that the soul went to sleep and has been sleeping ever since.
When God told Joshua, Moses my servant is dead, doesn't mean
that he's sleeping out there in the place where God buried
him. You know, God buried Moses and
people looked for his grave, couldn't find it. But that's
not what it means. I want you to look with me in
Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9 and verse 28. Moses, my servant, is dead. Doesn't
mean that he no longer existed. In Luke chapter 9, and beginning
in verse 28, we read here, And it came to
pass, about an eight days after these sayings, he, the Lord Jesus,
took Peter, and John, and James, and went up into a mountain to
pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered,
and his raiment was white and glistering. And behold, there
talked with him two men. Who were these two men? This
is 1,600 years after Moses, God's servant, died, approximately
1,600 years later. And here he is. Here he is, appearing on the
Mount of Transfiguration. There talked with him, with Christ,
two men, which were Moses and Elias. Not only did he continue
to exist, but he was recognizable. They recognized that this was
Moses, and this was Elijah, Elias, who appeared in glory. And this
is what I like to emphasize, and speak of his decease which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. His decease, the decease, the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What did it accomplish? It accomplished
the salvation of his people, Moses and Elijah included. In
other words, all of those Old Testament saints. I've mentioned this before, but
many times when a person, a famous person, a great person in this
world dies, you read in the paper their obituary and they have
a number of things, sometimes one column, two columns, three
columns, four columns, you know, and it's all things which they
accomplished in life. Never have read one that said
this is what he accomplished in death. Because men do not accomplish
anything in our death, but the Lord Jesus Christ did. Moses
and Elijah here on the Mount of Transfiguration are speaking
to our Savior about his decease that he should accomplish at
Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake, they
saw his glory. They didn't see the glory of
Moses, and they didn't see the glory of Elijah. When Moses came
down from the mountain, we know that there was a glory around
him. He had to cover his face, didn't
he? People couldn't look upon him.
And we know that Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of
fire. But when they appeared here alongside the Lord Jesus
Christ, they didn't have any glory. He, they saw his glory,
the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. They spoke to him about
his decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. In Hebrews chapter
11, you know the writer there, he lists a number of those Old
Testament saints, and this is what he says about Moses. He
begins speaking about Abel, and then he comes on down, but this
is what he says about Moses. By faith, Moses, by faith, endured
as seeing him who is invisible." In other words, 1,600 years before
Christ came into this world, Moses endured seeing him who
is invisible. He saw Christ. He looked to Christ. He trusted in Christ, just like
every other Old Testament saint. There's only been one Savior.
There is only one Savior. And they look forward to His
coming. God promised He would come. They
look forward to His coming. They look forward to His work
of redemption. But just like Abraham, our Lord
said this, Abraham saw my day. He saw the day that Christ would
come into this world. Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced. Moses, he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. And look with me in Romans 3,
just a moment. Considering the fact that Moses
and Elijah, Moses representative of the law, Elijah representative
of the prophets, both of them representing Old
Testament saints, here in Romans chapter 3, verse 23, For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
all. no matter which dispensation
a person lived in, whether he lived before the coming of Christ
or since the coming of Christ. We all have sinned, come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely. And that word freely
means without a cause, without a cause on our part. Same word,
they hated Christ without a cause. Freely, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption through His decease, which He
should accomplish at Jerusalem, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness, to declare
God's righteousness. Was He righteous? Was He just
in saving those Old Testament believers? Christ had not yet
died. The blood had not been shed.
Was God righteous? Yes, He was, declaring His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past. In other words, all
of those sins that were forgiven before Christ actually died,
they were all forgiven on the same day. basis as the sins of
believers since Christ died. And that was through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. So what does this mean, Moses
my servant is dead? Well, first of all, it doesn't
mean that he had passed into non-existence. Doesn't mean that. Here's the second thing that
it doesn't mean. Moses my servant is dead does
not mean that the nation of Israel was left now without a leader. Doesn't mean that. For 40 years,
Moses has stood at the front of this nation, had been the
head of this nation. He was now dead. But this didn't
mean that God had forgotten his people, that God had forsaken
his chosen people. God replaced Moses, now listen,
with the man of his choice. God replaced Moses with the man
of his choice. Moses, my servant, is dead. Does it mean that God had forsaken
the nation of Israel, that God had left them without a leader? I want you to look with me, if
you will, to Numbers chapter 27. Going to look at a couple
of places here. before Joshua, first in Numbers
chapter 27, verse 18. And the Lord said unto Moses, take
thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit,
and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eliezer the
priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their
sight. And thou shalt put some of thine
honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children
of Israel may be obedient. And then I want you to look at
another place in Deuteronomy chapter 31. Moses, my servant,
is dead. It doesn't mean that the nation
of Israel was now left without a leader. Deuteronomy chapter
31 and verse 7. Moses called unto Joshua and
said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong. and of a good courage, for thou
must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has sworn
unto their fathers to give them. And notice these last words,
thou, Joshua, thou shalt cause them to inherit it. Moses, as the head of the nation was
known as a lawgiver, because through him God had given the
law. But when you look at those words,
thou shalt cause them to inherit it, what would it take? What
would it take, humanly speaking, for Israel to inherit Canaan? What would it take? It would
and it did take war. It would and it did take fighting. It would and it did take defeating
the nations of Canaan, which at this time possessed that land. Moses, as I said, as Israel's
leader, was known as the law giver, but now A military leader
is needed. Moses, my servant, is dead. Doesn't
mean God had left this nation now without a leader. God had
chosen the man who was to take his place. God had raised up
the man. God had prepared the man who would take the place
of Moses. I want you to look at the very
first time that Joshua is mentioned in the scripture. Look back to
Exodus chapter 17. This was soon after the nation
of Israel had come out of Egypt. They were in the wilderness. Exodus chapter 17. And then Amalek,
this nation, Amalek, verse uh... chapter seventeen verse eight
then came amalek and fought with israel in rephidim here's the
nation of israel one million plus people and they're in the
wilderness and they're on their way to canaan and here comes
amalek the amalekites and they not israel the amalekites they're
the one who began the fight the battle they began to fight against
those who were in the hindermost part of the nation of Israel,
to take advantage of them. Those who were weaker and slower
were in the rear. And so here comes these Amalekites
to take advantage of them. And Moses said, notice verse
nine, Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out, men. This is the
first time he's mentioned. And the first mention of Joshua
has to do with fighting, with going to war, leading troops
into battle. Moses said unto Joshua, choose
us out, men, and go out. Fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I
will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine
hand, so Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with
Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went
up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses
held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down
his hand, Amalek prevailed. Moses had his rod in his hand.
The rod, no doubt, he had used when they opened up the Red Sea.
And he held that rod up, and as long as he held that rod up,
Joshua and the troops of Israel were victorious in fighting the
Amalekites. But when his hand grew heavy,
and it's hard to hold your arm up like that above your head.
You know, they get heavy pretty fast, don't they? This man's
80 years old. When he let his hand down, the
Amalekites would get the advantage. So they took a stone, put it
under him, set him down, Moses sat down, and Aaron and Ur stayed
up his hands, the one on one side and the other on the other
side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
And Joshua, He and his army, now these people, remember, they
were not trained soldiers. They'd been servants, they'd
been slaves in Egypt. They'd just come out of Egypt. And yet Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said
unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book. Now notice this, and
rehearse this. We're going to see, God willing,
in future messages from this book, if the Lord allows us,
how this, I believe, comes into play. This is the first time,
I believe, we're told that these things were written in a book.
Well, the book, of course, is this book, the book of God. Write this in a book, Moses,
and rehearse it. Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar
and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner. where he said, because the Lord
has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. Now, the only point I wanted
to make here is that the first time that Joshua is mentioned
in the word of God, it is as a military leader. When a person
goes into the service, many of us have been in the service,
we go to bootcamp, That whole time, what they are training
you to do is to follow orders. If you don't learn anything else,
when they say march, you're gonna march. When they say, about face,
you're gonna about face. I mean, that's the whole point,
as far as I'm concerned, of those first four weeks in boot camp
is training and teaching a person to follow orders because that's
what a military person does. He follows orders. We see that
in Joshua, I believe, here in this passage. Moses spoke to
him. Moses said unto Joshua, choose
us out, men, and go out. Fight with Amalek tomorrow. I will stand on the top of the
hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So he obeyed orders. So Joshua did, as Moses had said
unto him. Now that's the only point I want
to make, but I cannot pass over this. The work of Joshua fighting the
Amalekites and the work of Moses holding up his hands, symbol
of prayer. Who grew weary? In which work did men grow weary? The more spiritual any work is,
the faster we grow weary in it. Does that make sense? The more spiritual any Christian
work is, the more spiritual it is, the faster we grow weary
in the work. But my point is, again, that
Joshua is the man that God raised up. They didn't need a lawgiver
now, they needed a military person. Do you remember in the gospels
that centurion, he was a military man, a centurion, a Roman centurion. He came to the Lord, he came
to the Lord Jesus asking that he would heal his servant. The
Lord said, I'll come and heal him. I'll come and heal him. And the centurion, you remember,
he responded, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under
my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.
Now listen, for I am a man under authority. I'm a military man
and I know what it is to follow orders. That's the way I've been
trained. That's my life. That's my business. For I'm a man under authority,
having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go, and
he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh. And to my servant,
do this, and he doeth it. Lord, just speak the word. And our Lord said, he had not
found so great faith in Israel as in that Roman centurion, the
Gentile. friend of mine I was speaking
with just recently asked me this question. He said, what do you
believe a church should do when they are without a pastor? And
I said, I'm going to tell you the same thing that I said 40
years ago. I believe this is what the Bible
teaches. A church should look within their
members. Just like here, Moses my servant
is dead. They don't go outside of Israel
to find a leader. Joshua was there. He was an Israelite
and God had prepared him and God had raised him up for this
work. And I believe that's the first
thing a church should do. They should look within their
membership Rather than to run off here to another church and
listen to some man or someone recommends this person and no,
see if there's not someone in the congregation that God has
raised up to be the pastor. I just believe that's the way
it should be. Believe that's God's way. And
I told that to my friend. He said, well, that's what John
Gill said. Well, I don't know if I got it from John Gill, but
I know he couldn't have got it from any better person if I did.
I know that. But that's what I believe the
scriptures teach. Moses, my servant, is dead. Doesn't
mean he ceased to exist. Doesn't mean that God has left
the nation without a leader. Now, what does it mean? Moses,
my servant, is dead. Well, first of all, it means
that Moses His appointed time to live in this world had ended. That's the first thing it means.
Moses, my servant, is dead. It means that the appointed time,
God's appointed time for Moses to live in this world had come
to an end. Turn with me to Job chapter 14. Job chapter 14, verse 1 through 6, we read, Man
that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. He
cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as
a shadow and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Now notice, man, seeing his days
are determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou
hast appointed his bounds. that he cannot pass over. Turn from him that he may rest
till he shall accomplish as in hireling his day. As you read those verses of scripture,
you cannot help but notice that man's life is spoken of here
as days and as months. We don't read of years at all.
The Apostle James tells us in the New Testament, for what is
your life? It is even as a vapor that appears
a little while, and then it vanishes away. All of these to remind
us, and we need reminding, we all do, because we so soon forget,
the brevity of life. By our standards today, Moses
lived a very, very long life. He lived 120 years. But what is that in the light
of eternity? What is 120 years in the light
of eternity? Life, we know the scriptures,
compare life to a race. When we come into this world,
we join the race. We begin the race. We run the
race. But there's a finish line. And
when we cross that finish line, and we don't know when it is,
where it is, God does. And it's set. I heard on the
news, and you've probably heard this recently, about people dying
before their time. And I know what they mean by
that. because we just assume that people
will live to old age. And somewhere along the line,
people have got the idea that God has promised people 70 years,
three score years, and 10. God never promised us tomorrow. The scripture says, boast not
thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth. I was speaking with one of the
brothers after the service today and we were talking about the
virus and what's going on right now. And both of us are agreed
that we are comforted and knowing that our times are in his hands. Time of our birth, the time of
our new birth, When God saw us, if we're saved here tonight,
wallowing in our blood like an infant cast out, and He passed
by, and He said, live. And the time when we leave this
world, our times are in His hands. That's comforting to know, isn't
it? leaves this world, dies before
their time. Maybe the time they had presumed
that they had, and we may have presumed that they had, but God set the time. And man cannot
pass over that time. Here's the second thing. What
does it mean, Moses my servant is dead? It means that Moses'
service in this world was ended. Scripture says in Hebrews, he
was faithful in all his house. His service as a servant, that's
what he was. That's what that scripture says
there in Hebrews 3 verse 5. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant. Listen, Moses, my servant, is dead. Could anything better be said
about any one of us? Sean, my servant, Ken, my servant. Pauline, my servant. Could anything better be said
about any person than for God to call them his servant? Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter in into the joys of the
Lord. And number three, what does it
mean? It means that Moses had entered
into the joys of his Lord. We were singing that hymn at
the beginning of the service. I am thine, O Lord. I have heard
thy voice and it told thy wondrous love for me. But I long to rise
in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. I love that song,
don't you? That's my prayer. That's the
prayer of every child of God as long as we are in this world.
Draw me near, near precious Lord to the cross where thou hast
died. Moses no longer needed to sing
that hymn. He had entered into the joys
of the Lord and that old nature with which he had struggled It
lay in the grave. He was now with the Lord in joy
in heaven. The fullness of joy at thy right
hand are pleasures forevermore. He was now entered into that
place that the Bible tells us is one where there's no more
curse. The curse came into this world
because of sin. No more curse, no more sin, no
more sickness, no more sorrow, no more separation, no more death. That's what it means. Moses,
my servant. has entered in to the joys of
the Lord. And tonight he's still there.
He's still there rejoicing. And as John Newton, or that hymn,
Amazing Grace rather says, 10,000 years have passed. We'll still
be singing his praises. Amazing grace that saves a wretch
like me. What does this mean? All right,
let's move in just a few words here. What does this mean, this
name Joshua? Well, Joshua, rather, was one
of the men in the Bible, there are several of them, whose name
was changed. God changed their name. I think
about Jacob. His name was Jacob, Sir Planner. And he wrestled, or the angel
of the Lord wrestled with him and, you know, put his hip out
of joint, and Jacob finally was brought down, wasn't he? God said, your name's not Jacob
anymore. It's now Israel, a prince with
God. God has to bring men down. He
has to bring all of us down. to the feet of Jesus Christ. Brings us down that we might
look up and look to him. Peter, his name was changed,
wasn't it? His name was Simon. When his brother Andrew brought
him to the Lord Jesus, Jesus said, you're no longer going
to be called Simon. You're going to be called Cephas,
which means a stone. Well, look back again to Numbers,
and I'll be very brief, but what does this mean, this name Joshua? Back in Numbers chapter 13, this
is when they chose out the spies, the 12 spies, to go into the
land and spy out the land of Canaan. I'm not going to read
through all of them. You know there was one man from
every tribe was named, but notice in verse 8, the tribe of Ephraim. This is Numbers chapter 13, verse
8. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea,
the son of Nun. Hosea. Moses changed his name,
if you notice, in verse 16. These are the names of the men
which Moses sent to spy out the land, and Moses called Hosea,
the son of Nun, Jehoshua. Jehoshua. What does it mean? Ashuwa means salvation. And Jehovah Shua means he by
whom Jehovah will save. And in the Greek, the way this
name is written in Greek, it's precisely the same name as Jesus. Jesus. That's the reason in the
King James translation, there's one passage in Hebrews that has
the name Jesus should be Joshua should be Joshua. The law was given by Moses. Moses,
my servant is dead, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law giver could not bring
Israel into Canaan. And we know by the deeds of the
law no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. It is Jesus by whom Jehovah will
save, Jesus Christ. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
the angel told Joseph. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. Why? for he shall save his people
from their sins. What does this mean? Joshua. It means our savior. Our savior. He saves us. The law couldn't
do it. We couldn't obey that law. The
law shows us our need, but the gospel shows us our Savior, Jesus
Christ. I pray the Lord would bless this
message. David.