Joshua - His Commission

This morning we are starting a new series of studies in the Old Testament book of Joshua. And our title is His Commission. It is always important to study the Old Testament. Paul tells us in Romans (15:4):

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

The Old Testament encourages you not to give up spiritually. By way of introduction let me say two things about the Old Testament. First, when you come to the Old Testament, you need to discover and learn from what God has been and is still doing - on the one hand on the stage of world-history, and on the other hand in his dealings with individuals. And Joshua is important in both those respects. Secondly, when you come to the Old Testament, you find there are a number of "problems". "How, for example," you ask, "could a loving God allow some of the brutal things you read about in the Old Testament?" One of the first heresies of the early Church was the teaching of Marcion. He didn't like the Old Testament. So he taught that the God of the Old Testament couldn't possibly be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must have been another God. But those early Christians thought about it and guided by the Holy Spirit said, "No! Marcion is wrong." Yes, the problems have to be answered; but the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. So you can't write off the Old Testament because you don't like it. Over these next few weeks, I hope we can deal with some of these problems in this series of studies. So much by way of introduction. This morning I want us to look at chapter 1 of Joshua. And my headings are first,THE END OF AN ERA; secondly, THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF GOD;thirdly, THE NEW BEGINNING. First,THE END OF AN ERA And it was the end of an era on two counts. First, because Moses was now dead. Verses 1-2:

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: {2} "Moses my servant is dead.

The great leader, Moses, one of the most remarkable men in the history of the people of God and indeed world history, was gone. It was a bit like today in our generation. We are seeing the end of some great Christian leaders. There is Billy Graham, the American Evangelist, who is now old and quite frail. There is John Stott, the Anglican Rector Emeritus of All Soul's Langham Place in London, who is now coming to the end of a remarkable ministry. There is Philip Hacking, the former chairman of the Keswick Convention and the chairman of Reform. He has just retired after many years as a vicar in Sheffield. So it was the end of an era because Moses had died. And it needed to be the end of an era because of the problems among the people of God. There was a clear need for a new start. There had been the Exodus from Egypt. God had miraculously freed his people from Pharoah and their cruel taskmasters. But how had they gone on? Had they remained faithful and trusting in God who had freed them? No! They grumbled in the wilderness. They turned away from God and worshipped the Golden Calf. And they were led in that, as so often happens when God's people are decadent, by a senior clergyman, in fact the senior clergyman, Aaron the priest! And isn't that like today. Spiritually it is a tired generation that you see all around in the Church. There are mainstream Protestants that deny parts of the Bible. There are evangelicals that neglect the Bible. There are charismatics that add to the Bible bizarre practices. And there are Roman Catholics, we heard this week, that are wanting the Pope to declare Mary as co-redeemer. How we need a "new spiritual era" in today's world. It was Luther who said:

The word of God is seldom retained in its purity in any one place beyond the period of twenty or at best forty years. The people become accustomed to it, grow cold in their Christian love, and regard God's gift of grace with indifference.

So a new start was needed in Joshua's day. But who at this time needs a new start in their personal life? You know that you have drifted from God and his purposes for you. In your own life you've been like those children of Israel in the wilderness with their forty years of wandering and on-off disobedience. Well, learn from Joshua. Secondly, it was the end of an era not only because Moses had died, but because the people of God were about to cross over the Jordan. Let me explain. The second part of verse 2:

"[Moses my servant is dead.] Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites.

What did it mean to "cross the Jordan River"? It meant leaving one type of existence for another quite different one. In the wilderness the children of Israel had been food gathering; they had been nomadic; they had received God's miraculous provision of manna. Now they were to enter an agricultural and settled world. They needed to plan and work for their food. They no longer needed miraculous supplies. But how vital they didn't think that faith in the living God was only for the simple wilderness existence and only for when they experienced God's miracles. They had to learn that God is the God of the simple and primitive but also of the sophisticated and advanced. Who this morning is facing a totally new situation in the near future? You're going off to the university for the first time; or you have just arrived in Newcastle for a new job. You're facing, for you, a new world. Remember as you enter this new phase of your life that our God is Lord of all - the new as well as the old. So, the end of an era. Secondly. THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF GOD Here is Joshua. He was, we know, a great man of faith. 12 spies, sometime earlier, had gone out to survey the land of Canaan. Ten said it was a "no go area"; but Joshua together with Caleb had stood out alone. They said, in effect, "Nonsense! We must trust God to give us the land". Joshua was a man of faith. But things weren't necessarily easy for him. For one thing he was, what some people call, a "No 2". Verse 1 here describes him as "Moses' aide". It is not always easy being a "No 2" and then having to be a "No 1". Some people would, no doubt, be adversely comparing him with Moses, his predecessor. Joshua must have known that things would be difficult. And even if he did have faith that God would see him through, that doesn't mean he was not nervous and worried. Who watched the rare sight of England beating Australia yesterday afternoon? I was watching the TV with the sound quiet and listening to the commentary on Newcastle against Aston Villa on the Radio at the same time. Both were nerve racking games. The life of faith often feels like that. It feels nerve racking. And even if you are emotionally strong, you still need reassuring. And God does just that. He is not the sort to drop his people in some project and then leave them when the going is tough. Of course not. He is "the God of all comfort" or encouragement (2 Cor 1.3). And he encouraged Joshua. How did he do that? And how does he encourage us today? Answer: by promises and by commands. And we are to trust his promises and obey his commands. As the old hymn puts it:

Trust and obey for there's no other wayto be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

So what are the promises here for Joshua? There are two. Look at verses 3-5:

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. {4} Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. {5} No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

First, there is the promise of possession, rest and victory: "I will give you every place where you set your foot" (verse 3); "'The Lord your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land'" (verse 13); and "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life" (verse 5). In God's plan for world history as he was working out the redemption of the world, that promise was unique to Joshua and the children of Israel at that time. But the ultimate fulfilment of God's purposes and that promise comes through Jesus in his "rest" and in his victory. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8 says:

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

That "day" is the day Jesus inaugurated with his death and resurrection. And Jesus promises rest now, Matthew 11:28:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Who needs to hear that this morning? Who has never yet found the rest that Jesus offers - forgiveness of sins through his cross, where he died for you; and new life by his Holy Spirit? All you need do is obey Jesus' command, "come to me". Jesus also offers victory - victory over sin and death. Oh! it's a learning process (this is the ultimate fulfilment of that promise to Joshua). In this life you will experience some set-backs. But when Christ returns there will be final and complete victory over sin and death. In Christ and his resurrection "death has been swallowed up in victory." So Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57:

thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So first there is the promise of possession, rest and victory for Joshua and for us. Then secondly there is the promise of God's living presence. Look at the second part of verse 5:

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

And look at verse 9:

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

And that promise is still true for the New Testament believer. Jesus says, Matthew 28.20:

Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

So the way to be encouraged is to remember God's wonderful promises of victory and of his presence. Then trust those promises. But you then have to obey God's commands. Look at verses 6-9:

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. {7} Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. {8} Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. {9} Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged.

First, there is the command to "be strong and courageous". It is repeated three times there. And it is a command. God puts the onus on Joshua. This was his responsibility. He has to steel himself. It wasn't easy leading the people against these fierce Canaanites. But it is not a kind of self-help. He is to be strong in the Lord's strength. As he obeys, so God will strengthen him. Have you found how true that is? You decide to take a stand on something - some ethical issue at work. You are terrified. But you do it. And God helps you. Or you decide to talk to a friend about your faith. You are very nervous. But you discover how God helps you. For he is with you. Secondly, there is the command, verse 7, ...

... to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you.

How was Joshua to do that? Answer through taking the Bible seriously. In verse 8 God tells Joshua:

do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

True, Joshua had special guidance from God. He had some amazing experiences. In chapter 5 you can read about a visionary experience he had of "the commander of the army of the Lord" when he saw a man in front of him with a drawn sword. But Joshua also needed to study as much scripture as then existed. Today we must do the same. And today there's more scripture in the completed Bible for our general guidance. So there's less need for special guidance. Joshua had to take the Bible - or what there was of it - seriously. But how did he do that? How do you do that today? There are four ways mentioned here and they are still relevant. First, in the second half of verse 7:

do not turn from it [the law or God's word] to the right or to the left.

And don't some people do that? There are some who take away from God's written word and deny parts of it. There are others who add to it their own traditions. There are some who go extreme in one way; there are others who go extreme in the opposite direction. But you must keep straight on. Secondly, you are "not to let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth." You are to "speak" it. That is to say, say, your own words and language need to be conditioned and informed by God's word. But how does that come about? Answer, thirdly, when you "meditate on it day and night." The Bible has to inform your thinking - it needs to soak in. And fourthly, when, verse 8, "you are careful to do everything written in it." It is so easy to be selective about the Bible. Of course, you must read the Bible as a whole - that is how you interpret it correctly. But then it is important not to be selective in your obedience to its overall message. You must be "careful to do everything written in it." You must obey the moral law when there is so much immorality around. But don't neglect the law of love. So don't forget those who have physical and material needs in helping them as you can; and don't forget those who have spiritual needs by evangelising as you can. So God encouraged Joshua through his promise of victory and his own presence; and through his command to be strong and to obey God's written word. Finally, THE NEW BEGINNING How, in practice, did the new era begin? How do new beginnings ever happen? Answer Joshua acted. He responded. He didn't just listen. He obeyed immediately. In verses 10-18 that is what you have got .We don't have time to go into detail. But if you look at it later, you will see that Joshua involved others; he organized; he encouraged others (he didn't grumble at them or moan at them); and he secured mutual support. There comes a time when the preparation has to stop. Even the praying for guidance has to stop. Action is needed - not in our strength but in God's. It was such a time for Joshua. I must conclude. I do so with a question. Is it time for practical action for some of us here this morning? It may be some piece of Christian service; it may be in giving. It may be in confronting someone or some situation that we have refused to face up to; it may be in evangelism; it may be for some of us, in the wider world and church. But never act on your own or on your own hunches. Only act in accordance with God's word and relying on God's strength. And remember verse 7:

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.