Be Strong and Courageous!

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you turn in your Bibles to Exodus, not Exodus, we're out of Exodus, Joshua chapter 1. We are continuing our series on Joshua, Joshua chapter 1. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Deuteronomy, Joshua. Joshua chapter 1, and this morning we'll be looking specifically at verses 1 through 9. Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. If you're using your pew bibles, you can find that on page 194. Hear now God's word from the older covenant. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now, therefore, arise. Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the rivers Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Prayer for Illumination

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we pray now that as we read your word that you would care for us, teach us, push this word deep down into our souls that we might know it, love it, and live it in Jesus' name. Amen. Moses, my servant, is dead.

Sermon

Have you ever had to step into some pretty big shoes? Have you ever gotten a promotion where you have to take over for your boss. Maybe your father at Thanksgiving time, you remember a time when your dad always carved the Thanksgiving turkey and one day he handed you the knives. And you thought, oh boy. Or your mom said, I want you to do this part of the holiday getting ready. And you thought, how am I ever going to do as good as that person before me? How would Joshua ever do as good as Moses?

That's exactly where Deuteronomy chapter 34 leaves off. If we had just turned over one page, we would have read. Now Moses, in verse seven, Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor his natural vigor diminished. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended for a month long. People mourned. that the servant of the Lord himself was dead.

And verse 9 picks it up in chapter 34, Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him, and he did as the Lord had commanded Moses. But since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, and all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, before his servants, and in all his land. And by all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. Yes, Yahweh Himself was with Joshua, but He had big shoes to fill.

He was to lead a stiff-necked people into battle. He was to lead a people into legitimate battle, sword-wetting blood pouring out battle, facing enemies face-to-face, where God has said, no one's to be left alive. I don't know about you, but I might be a little bit nervous. As they stand on the eastern side of the Jordan River, this is God commissioning Joshua for his work. But there's a promise in verse 5. There's a promise in verse 5.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, Why? As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Joshua is going to have incredibly difficult things to do. As we go through the book, we're going to find there are people failing, there are things that go right and things that go wrong, but there's always one thing that's constant. God is for his people. God is there with Joshua. God is leading his people. He has made promises.

And for hundreds of years, for literally hundreds of years, people have been waiting for this day. As they stand there and the Jordan River is in front of them and they just have to get to the other side of the Jordan. There's the promises that God had promised to Abraham, their father, in Genesis chapter 12. For over 400 years they were in slavery, waiting for that land.

And you can imagine as the years went on, a little boy named Mordecai talking to Judah, his cousin, saying, you really think someday we're going to get out of here and actually be able to go get that land that they keep telling us was promised to Abraham? And his cousin's saying, well, I don't know, Mordecai. Maybe someday God will do it. I mean, I trust him, but we really haven't seen it.

And then God finally brings them up out of Egypt, but what happens? They spend 400 years in slavery, but then they spend 40 years. It's like they're lost without a GPS in the mountains of Appalachia, and they can't figure out which way to go. God keeps them there, and all their parents and grandparents die, a whole generation.

Guys, there's only two old guys in the camp, Joshua and Caleb. The only two that have ever seen the land. The only two who have traveled up and down the ridge that goes between Jerusalem and Samaria. And there's Joshua, the oldest man in the camp besides Caleb.

The one they saw for 40 years serve side by side with Moses. The one who, we'll find out, is about to do amazing miracles. But God's talking to Joshua here. He's the commander of the army. He's the leader of the people. How would he lead? Well first, this is the land of the promise.

Joshua's life and this moment in his life is marked by a clinging to the promise that God had given in Genesis chapter 12. God had promised Abraham that he would make him into a great nation. God had promised Abraham that he would bless him. God had promised Abraham that he would make his name great. God had promised Abraham that he would become a blessing to others. God had promised Abraham that he would bless those who blessed him and he would curse those who cursed him. God had made these incredible promises to Abraham, including the land that they were about to cross over the Jordan to possess. But you might be tempted. You can imagine if Joshua was a commander. You've gone through the Pentateuch.

He was there when the census was taken. He knows how many people are in the camp of Asher. He knows how many people are in the camp of Naphtali. He knows how many people are in the regiment of Judah. He knows what arms they have to fight. But where does he find courage? Where does he find strength? They can see Jericho across the river. It's on a hill. It's right there in front of them. Where's the courage going to be stirred up in his heart to go and to lead these people into battle? Well, it wasn't going to be in chariots, it wasn't going to be in horses, it wasn't going to be in their numbers, it wasn't going to be in their arms, it wasn't going to be in their military strategies or prowess, it wasn't going to be in Joshua's leadership as a wonderful strategist of the military.

No. What does the text tell us? That it's God who is with them. It is God who is with them. I will never leave you nor forsake you. It is God himself who would go before them in the battle. It is God himself who they were to follow. And how were they to follow in the land that the Lord was about to give them?

Well, it's interesting. He doesn't give them marching orders that we think of. He doesn't give them marching orders of, okay, so here's how it's going to work. You know, you're going to have Naphtali go first, and then you're going to have Dan, and then you're going to have Judah, and then you're going to have Benjamin kind of near, and the Levites following the tabernacle. He did that elsewhere. But here as they're about to cross over that river, what does he tell them? What are their marching orders? What's verse 8 and 9 say?

But this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night." God doesn't give him a book of military strategy to follow, not how to outflank your enemy, not how to put spies within the walls to tear them down from the inside out, not how to build siege ramps, not how to enlist horsemen. but he gives them what we've been going through for the last two and a half months.

He says, you follow my law, you'll be all right. You follow after me and I'll fight for you. You have me as the commander of your forces and I'll go before you and it's going to go well for you. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to observe all that is written in it, for then you will have good success.

Joshua is told time and time again, you get the sense that God knows his deepest needs, don't you? What does he say to him in verse six? Be strong. and of good courage. Why? He's given them the land, he's sworn it to them in verse six. Verse seven, he says it again, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law. He says it again and again and again. Be strong and of good courage.

You can imagine the conversations that were happening as people were sitting there, they're getting ready for battle. They know that the war is coming. They know that they're about to go into Jericho. Now God is gonna have a twist on how they think they're gonna win the war versus how he's gonna actually win the war for them. And you can imagine the conversations that they would be having as they're sharpening their swords, as they're polishing their shields, as they're making sure that all their weapons, all their slings are in good working order. What do you think it's going to be like? Do you really think you got it in you to go to war?

But God is pointing out here there's something that takes even more courage. It's going to take courage for them to live according to God's laws. As Joshua sits there in the commander's tent and as he hears from the Lord, This is purely speculative, but I wonder if what was going through Joshua's mind was not strategy, but was thinking, how will these people not get sucked into the paganism when we go into the land?

How will it be possible that they won't get sucked into this idolatry? How are we going to be able to keep one whole day and seven when the manna stops and people have to work for their food? How will people as the name of Baal and Asherah and Molech and all these other gods fill the air as we hear it as we go throughout the land, how will they remember to keep God's name holy? How will the children in the congregation honor their parents when the culture is dead set against it? Will they steal? Will they become bloodthirsty from battle and start murdering? When God gives them the land, will they just become discontent again and want their neighbor's stuff?

I think what was on Joshua's heart as they're about to enter this land was God encouraging them, not just for the battle to come, but from what was going on in the internal battle that they had already been struggling with for the last 40 years. The reality is, spoiler alert here, that the people didn't do it perfectly. Largely, they did it well. Let me just tell you, there's going to be one, more than one, there's going to be multiple stories as we work through the book of Joshua where we shake our heads and we get hints of apostasy that's already in the hearts of the people. They're willing to follow God's commandments to a certain extent and then they stop. God is commissioning Joshua.

I was reading the Septuagint, the Greek translation of this, and I know this, but it just kind of was shocking to me. The Greek just says, you know, and after Moses, the servant of the Lord, dies, it comes to pass that Moses, or that the Lord spoke to and the word there is Iesus. I don't know why I wasn't prepared for it this morning as I was reading it in the Greek. You know, I had read it in the Hebrew. But I sat there and that's Jesus's name. Iesus is Jesus's name. It was Jesus Christ that this is ultimately pointing to. It was Jesus Christ who would ultimately keep this law perfectly.

The promises that were given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 to be a great nation, their fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ. He has made you a holy nation, a priesthood of believers. It is in Jesus Christ that the promises that Abraham are filled, that he promises Abraham that he is going to bless him. And it is Jesus Christ whom God says is his beloved son and God blesses us with his spirit. The promise given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 that God would make him into, or make his name great, it is not people, people don't bow to Joshua in the book of Joshua. But the scriptures tell us that the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God promised Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 that Abraham would be a blessing, and indeed, Jesus Christ is that blessing. God promised Joshua that he would never leave them nor forsake them, but he would dwell with them.

And this is exactly what we see in John chapter one, verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Do you see, we look, there's this temptation when we look at these Old Testament stories to think, oh man, it would have been so great to see, to see what happened when they crossed over the Jordan River, when they went into the promised land.

Do you not realize that we live in a better time? When we do not long for that day when God would dwell with us, but Jesus Christ himself told us in John chapter 14, that he did not leave us as orphans, but that his spirit is in you. Jesus has not left us as orphans. He has loved us and he has made his home in us. And it's because Jesus is in us and has loved us, we likewise can have courage.

This is why I thought it was so important to continue to read over and over and over again Jesus' own words about the commandments in John chapter 14. Jesus said in John 14, 12 and 14, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do. Because I go to my Father and whatever you ask in my name, that I will do. And the Father will be glorified than the Son if you ask anything in my name.

You can do great things. You can do great things if your courage is found in Jesus Christ. You have more help readily available at your hands than the Old Testament saints did when they were about to cross that river. You have more reason to have courage because Jesus has taught us all things. Jesus has given us his peace. And Jesus says in John chapter 14, verse 27, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jesus is giving his disciples their courage because he's about to leave.

And he's saying, I'm not actually leaving you. You're gonna have to go out and take the message into all the faraway lands where people are gonna hate you, they're gonna revile you, they're gonna persecute you. But you don't need to be afraid because I'm in you and you're in me. And if you love me, keep my commandments.

And indeed as Jesus Christ who meditated on God's word day and night. It is Jesus Christ himself when he was tempted by Satan. Jesus is famished. One of the biggest understatements of the entire New Testament, Jesus doesn't have food for 40 days. And the book of Matthew says, and he was hungry. One of the biggest understatements in the entire Bible. I don't know how you would feel after 40 days of not eating, but I would be hungry also. And Satan comes to him and he says, why don't you turn the rocks into some bread?

Jesus says, hold on, no, no, no. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It was Jesus Christ who meditated on God's word day and night. It was Jesus Christ who delighted to do his father's will. It was Jesus Christ who would be tempted in every way that the Israelites would be tempted going into the land of Canaan.

But unlike them, and unlike me, and unlike you, he didn't fail in any way. So how do these words apply to us today? Oh, you also have promises, don't you? Has God made promises to you that in your darkest of hours you can cling on to? Yeah, he has. He has promised you that at the day of judgment, those who profess Jesus Christ will not be turned away. Now there are going to be those who think that they have worked their way to heaven. They'll say, Lord, Lord, haven't I done such and such a thing? Haven't I done so and so stuff? And Jesus is going to say, away from me, for I've never knew you, right? Because they don't actually love Christ himself.

But he's promised us that he's going to return. He's promised us a day that will come when there will be no more tears. He's promised us a day that's going to come in which the good work that he started in you is gonna be done. You're gonna be perfectly holy, righteous in his sight. Your body will be raised from the dead and you will dwell with him forever. He's promised us his presence.

This text, Joshua chapter one, is specifically quoted in Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 says this, let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we say boldly, the Lord is my helper. I shall not fear.

What can man do to me? Where will you find courage? I'm going to leave you with a series of questions. Where will you find courage when the idols of your heart crop up? How will you fight temptations in your life? Where will you find strength and courage when it seems like everybody in the world wants to treat the Lord's Day like it's a family day or a day to go shopping and have brunch with your friends, whatever, and you have to tell your family, people you love, I'm sorry, I need to be with the Lord's people. Where will you find courage?

When you're faced with that opportunity in your life, when you know you have a chance, a divine appointment to tell your co-worker about Jesus Christ, If you're anything like me, you know it's scary to do that. It's vulnerable to do that. I thank God that the Lord gave my boss courage, that he gave Dan Phillips courage to talk to his subordinate about Jesus Christ, something that was wrong for him to do by the rules, but right by God's law. Children, where will you find the courage?

When all the culture tries to tell you that you have all the wisdom and your parents are dumb and you should follow your hearts. Children, where will you find strength to stand up to an entire world philosophy telling you that if you just have all the things in this world, you'll be happy? Where will we find courage to tell the truth when it might cost you your job? Where will you find strength to say no to the desires of your heart and be content with what God's given you in your life.

I hope you don't try to find it in yourself. I hope you don't try to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and just run on sheer willpower, because it's going to fail. I hope you don't just think, if I'm just motivated enough, I'll be able to keep the Ten Commandments, I'll be able to keep God's law, I'll be able to do these perfectly, because I promise you, your motivation is going to wane, and your perseverance is going to fail. And you're going to find yourself falling on your face and tripping up once again. Where will you go? I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

We will only find strength for the fight we find ourselves in in this Christian life to put to death the sinful desires of our flesh if our eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ. If his word is in our mouth, if we're thinking upon his word as our hearts, the fire in our hearts is not just burning at an ember but being fanned into a flame. As we love Jesus Christ and we seek to keep His commandments, not because we want to earn His love, but because we love Him, then we will have strength and courage. The world needs to become smaller in our minds and in our hearts. And Christ needs to become far more grand. And as we think about our king who died for us and who sits upon his throne of righteousness, who shows us so much grace and love, as we desire to bring him glory, then we find our hearts reforming. Then we find our lives changing. Then you will have strength and courage to do the things, say no to those people, say no to those desires in your own heart that you never knew you could.

And he'll do it in weird ways. It's not a linear path, let me tell you. Sanctification is weird. It comes out of left field. It comes from a rebuke of a child. It comes from failing with your parents. It comes with something that crops up in your heart that you thought you had put away a long time ago. But if you're meditating on his word day and night, If he's always before your eyes, you'll realize he's always been with you and he's never gonna leave you.

Closing Prayer

So brothers and sisters, follow the true Joshua. Take comfort in Christ. Be strong, be courageous, not in your own strength, but knowing that the Lord is always with his people. Let's pray. Oh Lord, I pray specifically for these people here this morning. Lord, I pray that you might give them a sense of resilience and strength, of confidence and of courage in their hearts. That they might stand up to the roaring lion who is there seeking to devour them as the enemies of hell are seeking to rip people out of the hand of Christ as if it were possible. God, I pray that you would give your people a heart for you. A love for you. God, I pray that you would not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. I pray that you would let us take the way of escape. I pray that your spirit would be in us and that we would be people of strength and of courage. We thank you for Jesus Christ. We thank you for our victor. We thank you for our commander. We thank you for our king.

Lord, we pray that we would love you. keep your commandments and follow you out of hearts of love. God, we pray all these. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural Southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.