Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Living Hope Church. Just a great song. I love that song. Jesus strong and kind. Jesus strong and kind. Which, as we look at the passage we will be this morning, it will be important for us to hold to that. A few things I want to let you know about as the kids ages 3 to 5 are welcome to go to children's church right now, as they're doing that, you are welcome to open your Bibles to the book of Joshua is where we are going to be today.
[00:00:29] If you have not been here at Living Hope for the last couple weeks, or maybe at all, this is your first time, perhaps we have been going through a series starting at the beginning of the year, walking through from Genesis to the end of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. And so today we're at the book of Joshua is where we're landing. We're going to be looking at all 24 chapters. Let me pray. And then we're going to jump right into.
[00:00:52] There's a lot here for us. Excited for what God has for us. If you would pray with me, Lord Jesus, we just spent this time, the last few minutes here just singing out loud, reminding ourselves and those around us even of your kindness and of your faithfulness in our life, that you are worthy of our attention this morning.
[00:01:17] And whatever we might be coming into this room with, we just ask that you would help us to lay those things at your feet. Reminding ourselves that the turmoil, even that's happening in the world around us right now, you are in control of it all.
[00:01:31] A day ago, a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, a thousand years ago, you knew that we would be right here today.
[00:01:38] So I ask, Lord, that you would help us to have peace this morning, entrusting ourselves to you and what you want to do inside of us.
[00:01:47] You would help our minds and our hearts to stay engaged with what the spirit is saying to us this morning. The things that I say would be from you and that you would change us to be more aligned with you in what we believe and what we think and what we feel because of what we see here today. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:02:05] All right, Joshua, chapter one is where we're going to start. Can someone say Joshua?
[00:02:10] Joshua. So we've finished the first five books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and today now, Moses, the author of those first five books, he is now no longer with us. He has died in the previous book. And so Joshua is taking over. And so let me give you just a Snapshot of this whole book, as I usually do, and then we will dive right into what you see on your.
[00:02:36] So hopefully you grabbed a bulletin as you came in. On the backside of that is the outline that we're gonna walk through. If you like to write things down, that's the place to do it. If there's other places you like to write things down, do that as well. Here's the snapshot for you. God is going to do a mighty work here. He has led the people through the wilderness. For how many years have they been in the wilderness?
[00:02:57] 40 years. They've been wandering around. It could have been a lot shorter, but they.
[00:03:02] When they got to what was called the promised land, it's the southern part of this land called Canaan, they said, I don't think we can do it. The people there are too big. The people there are too powerful for us. And God said, well, the consequence for you not having faith in me. Can someone say faith?
[00:03:16] Faith in me is you're gonna wander around in the wilderness for 40 years. And all the people who didn't have faith that I could help them get into the land and take over the land, they're gonna die in the wilderness. Now the 40 years is done, and here's take two. Someone say take two.
[00:03:30] We all have had times in our life where we needed a take two.
[00:03:34] This is their take two, if you will. We're starting off the book, and God is gonna say here very clearly to them, I am the one giving you this land. It is not by your own power, your own strength, that you're gonna come into this land. It is by my power. So we start off with a snapshot. God. God is the one doing this. God, through Joshua's leadership, is giving Israel the land of Canaan, as he promised hundreds of years prior to someone named Abraham. And to show his faithfulness, because he is a God who keeps his promises and his justice. And we're gonna see how that plays in. In just a moment.
[00:04:10] Through many battles, God showed his power and his holiness to the masses, culminating in the end of this book. We're gonna see the division and the possession of the land by this nation of. Of Israel, or the Hebrews, as they were called before. So there's kind of where we're going. That's what this whole book is aiming at here for us. Let's go a little bit further on your outline. The basics. Who's the author? What do we know about him? When did this happen, and where is this happening? Here's the Basics for you. You could write this in the author. His name is. It's not a secret. By the way, what's the author's name? Joshua. The book is named after him as well. Which, by the way, is not always the case. Sometimes there's books that are named something, but the author is someone different. Like the book of Timothy, for example. Paul wrote a letter to him.
[00:04:56] Timothy isn't the author here, though. The author is Joshua. Joshua. What do we know about him? He was born in slavery in Egypt. He trained under Moses. God said, you're gonna be the guy to take over for Moses once he dies.
[00:05:10] We also know he was one of the 12 spies who originally went into the promised land. And he was one of the 12. There was only two of them, him and the other guy who had a good report, Joshua and Caleb came back and said, God can help us get into the land. So Joshua was one of the two who actually had faith in God. And then we see in numbers 32 that he submitted to the Lord his Life. And Deuteronomy 34, it says that he was full of the spirit. And you might assume, especially from the pictures, that you might see that Joshua is this young guy ready to go. How. How old is Joshua?
[00:05:43] 90 years old.
[00:05:45] Any of you ready to start a new venture at 90 years old?
[00:05:48] Joshua's 90 years old. And this book covers. Here's the timeline, covers about 20 years. So from Joshua being 90 to 110 when he dies. And then the book is actually. If we were to look at a map of Israel. So imagine here's my hands, here's Israel, the southern part of Israel, the northern part. Here's the north here. So that means this is the west and this is the east. They're currently on the east side of. There's a river that kind of separates where they are on the east to the west. It's called the Jordan, the Jordan River. They have to cross this. They're currently on the east side in something called the Plains of Moab. And this is where Moses dies.
[00:06:25] Then they're going to cross over this river. We're going to talk about that in a second. And then they're going to go, what's this side of the Jordan? The west side. They're going to cross over to the west side. And this is where the land of Canaan is to the west side. And then further north is where they're going to be going. So we'll see a map later on. So that's the plains of Moab. That's east of the Jordan. Then they're gonna cross this Jordan river and then they're gonna get into the land of Canaan known as the Promised.
[00:06:48] The Promised Land. And we call it the Promised Land simply because hundreds of years prior, God told this man named Abraham, one day, Abraham was in this land of Canaan. One day, your descendants will take over this land. And. And so for years, they've been calling it the Promised Land. And friends, if you don't know this, today's the day to be reminded. God is a God who keeps his promises.
[00:07:10] Whatever he says he's going to do, it may take a long time, but he's going to keep his promises. And here in this book, we see that God is keeping a promise that he made many, many years prior. So who are the subjects? Who are some key characters for us in this? Further on your outline, you can write in some of these names if you'd like. But Joshua obviously is one of them. Eleazar is one of the priests. He's the son of Aaron. Aaron was the high priest. Aaron has now died. Eleazar is Aaron's son. Then obviously the Israelites key players in all of this. I didn't even put this on the screen, but this should be obvious. God, right, is a key player in all of this. And then the last that you see on the screen is this, the Canaanites. Now, the Canaanites are the people who are currently in the land. And we need to speak about the Canaanites for a minute because we're going to see some really messy stuff here in a minute. And we need to know something about the Canaanites. And it's this. If you've been with us for the last couple weeks, you know this perhaps.
[00:08:10] Who are they? What do we know about them? They are some evil, evil people.
[00:08:15] So God is going to call the Israelites into this land and actually declare war on these people to kill them completely, to remove them from the land.
[00:08:27] Now, what makes them so evil? Many things, but just a few of them. The idolatry that takes place there leads them towards incredible sexual immorality. And one of the most significant things that we see happening in their life and the gods that they worship is sacrificing of children, of their even own children, because they want something from their God. And the way that they get it, if you will, is but they would do atrocious evil things so that they could get their God to listen to them. And God had had it. He was like, no longer are these people going to Stay here. And God is going to use the Israelites to remove these evil people.
[00:09:10] There's other times in scripture that we see God removing evil people. For example, a massive flood, right?
[00:09:16] There's other times that he'll send plagues, he'll send fire. In this case, he's gonna do something very unique. He's sending in this group of people to remove them. Actually. I say very unique. We're actually gonna see this happening later on when Israel gets really evil. God is gonna use other evil nations to remove them. So why does God declare war? Because there's evil in the land.
[00:09:38] We're also gonna see here in this that God is gonna tell the Israelites to destroy everyone, including even animals. And as you read through this, you might ask this question, why?
[00:09:51] Why?
[00:09:52] I don't think we honestly totally grasp how evil they were without the Holy Spirit's leading and convicting. Whenever there was a remnant of sin left in the land, here's what we know is the people, the Israelites would be drawn away from the one true God and drawn towards the evil idolatry that happened in the land. So here's what God is saying is don't leave any remnant of sin left. Because I know you, I know you will be drawn towards sin rather than holiness. Any of you know what I'm talking about here. And God knows that. And so primarily he wants to protect his people here and now. You might have one other question. Could these people repent?
[00:10:33] Could they turn towards God? And the answer to that is yes, we're gonna see at least two different people. And we know this happens with others as well that chose to say, I see the power of this God of Israel, I wanna submit my life to him instead of following my false gods. And also, other than the Canaanites, the Israelites were told to be at peace with the other people in the land. All right, all of that kind of understood about the people that we're walking into.
[00:11:02] Move on to the structure.
[00:11:04] How is this book broken down? Chapter one of Joshua? Look in your Bibles, this is where we're starting. This is starting off the entering of the land. So you can write that in on your outline. The entering of the land or the promised land?
[00:11:17] Look in verse one of chapter one, it says, after the death of. Are you at the same place with me? After the death of who?
[00:11:24] Moses, the servant of the Lord.
[00:11:27] The Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, which is just a. Interesting name, right?
[00:11:33] He did have a father. His name was Nun. It wasn't that he didn't have a father.
[00:11:37] Moses is assistant. Moses said to my. Moses said, Moses, my. The Lord said, my Moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore rise and go over the Jordan. We talked about that right there on the east side. Cross over the Jordan. That's the instruction that they have. And here we see something really clear. This is what we see on, on pictures and so on. Look in verse nine, jump down. I know this might be scary, but have I not commanded you? Look in verse nine. Be strong. And what? Courageous. Courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. There's a picture on the screen here of this transition that they're gonna make here from one side of the Jordan to the other. So chapter one goes on and the people now all listening to Joshua. Joshua says, now I'm gonna be the leader. And the people say, yes, we believe that you're gonna be the leader. And our prayer is that God would be with you, Joshua, as God was with Moses. That's the Israelites prayer.
[00:12:36] Now before they cross over the river here, they're on the screen there. Before they cross over the river, here's what Joshua does. We're gonna send in how many spies, two spies to go in and spy out. Particularly the first massive city called what?
[00:12:52] Jericho. We're gonna spy out, we're gonna see what is going on in the city and around the city. So they send the two spies, as we see in chapter two. And the spies go into the city. People find out about this. Cause by the way, it's really hard to find, to hide two and a half million people. It's a really hard thing to do. So everybody in Jericho knows that all these Israelites are right on the other side of the Jordan. And they know that everybody that Israel has gone to battle with, who's been the winner?
[00:13:22] Israel. And now everyone in Jericho is pretty scared, rightfully so. So Joshua sends two spies over. They go in and they go into the city of Jericho. Obviously the guards find out in some way and they go into this lady's house. What's the lady's house? What's her name? I'm sorry? Her name is Rahab. They go in and Rahab, someone who again in the land, probably idol worshiping past, we find out that she's a prostitute as well. They go into her house and when the guards come knocking at the door because they're looking for these two spies, what does Rahab do?
[00:13:59] She says, no, they're not here.
[00:14:01] Now some we would look at this and be like, wait a minute, she lied, didn't she?
[00:14:07] Does that mean lying is okay?
[00:14:11] All right, we got 14 year old who's got this right, and the rest of us are unsure.
[00:14:21] So let's go back to Exodus 20 where we see the Ten Commandments.
[00:14:25] Not really. All right, no, lying is not right. But do you know that God can use our sin?
[00:14:36] He can.
[00:14:37] Even when we do things that are wrong, God can still work. Now if she had told the truth and the guards had come in and they went to look, could God have blinded their eyes to the two spies?
[00:14:48] Most definitely.
[00:14:49] Could he have made it? So the spies didn't look in the right place to find the guards, didn't look in the right place to find the spies? Of course he could have, but God used the situation.
[00:14:58] So it does not mean just to clarify, because I feel like this is important to clarify. Lying is not okay.
[00:15:04] That's not what we get from this. What we do see is this.
[00:15:08] Rahab saw something. She saw that the God of Israel was more powerful than her own gods. And she wanted to submit to the true God Yahweh rather than her own gods. And so she said, I'm gonna do what's necessary to show, to demonstrate my alliance to the one true God, this God of the.
[00:15:31] And so what happens is the spies end up coming back across, going back across the Jordan. And this is what the spies tell everybody. You can read this in your bibles. In chapter two, verse 25, here's 24. The spies say to all of Israel, cause they're like, hey, how'd it go? And the spies say this. Everyone is terrified of us. Everyone is afraid. Don't worry, we've got this in Hebrew, of course. And so they go on in chapter three to tells about this miraculous event. When the nation of Israel goes from one side, they come up to the Jordan River. The priests are told to go first, which is also unique. Instead of the army, the military, the priests are told to go first. Those carrying the Ark of the Covenant. And as soon as they put their feet in the water, what's gonna happen to the Jordan River? It's gonna part sound familiar? Right? And they're gonna walk across on anybody on dry land. Again, sounds familiar. And. And so the priests stand there in the middle of the Jordan, which by the way, this time of year would have been overflowing its banks. This is not some little stream. This could have been upwards of 100 plus feet from one side to the other. And a rushing river and it says that God made the water like a wall on both sides. And the people of Israel, two and a half plus million people walk across.
[00:16:44] And here's what we see in chapter four. It says they took 12 stones from the ground in the river and they were told to take it to the other side of the river and to make an altar as a reminder to them and all of their kids of God's faithfulness. Faithfulness is again, a key word if you like to write things down. That's really the crux of all. This entire section here is trust in God's faithfulness. Chapter five goes on and says that they were then, because they hadn't been circumcised in the wilderness, all of the men were circumcised. Then also they celebrate Passover. In chapter five, the manna comes to a close. Manna had been given every single day to these people for this 40 years of wandering. And now that's done because they're in the promised land, they can eat of the land.
[00:17:31] And then we come to the end of chapter five when Joshua and it says the commander of the Lord's army meet him. And Joshua says, are you for our enemies or are you for us? And the commander of the Lord's army, which by the way, most people believe is actually Jesus showing up in the flesh.
[00:17:53] It's called a christophany. When we see Jesus or God in the flesh in the Old Testament, and one of the reasons we believe this is because what does the commander of the Lord's army say to Joshua? Take off your feet for this is. What does that sound familiar? Burning bush. Right.
[00:18:10] When you see an angel and someone falling down by faith in action look like, where do I outwardly demonstrate my inward faith? Does that make sense? Where do I outwardly demonstrate my inward faith? Something to consider in this first section. Let's look at the second point on your outline. It's this. They have not only entered into the land, but now victories in the land. This is chapters 12 through chapters 6 through 12, victories in the land. And now that they've gone from one side of the Jordan to the other, is God going to provide them victory? That's the question at hand.
[00:18:45] So chapter six starts off and says this. If you're looking in your Bibles there, it says this, that Jericho was, it uses this term, was shut up tight. Now what do we know about Jericho? A lot of things that we don't have time to talk about. But those massive walls, plural, around Jericho, and they had shut all the doors Left locked all the gates on this massive walled city around Jericho because they had heard stories about what happened to all those other people on the other side of the Jordan. And Israel had continued to beat, win in battle and win in battle and win in battle. And now Israel is literally at the doorstep of Jericho. How do you think they're feeling right now?
[00:19:26] Pretty scared. And so it says that their doors are shut up tightly in this walled city. And then God gives a very unique piece of instruction for how to take over the city, doesn't he?
[00:19:40] This is the story that all that we'll remember about Joshua. So I won't spend a whole lot of time on it other than this. Wander around the city, march around the city. How many times at the end? Yes, seven times. One time each day for seven days. And at the end of that time, you're going to yell, you're going to shout, you're going to blow your trumpets and what's going to happen to the walls?
[00:20:00] Now, some of them who were physics majors would have been like, it doesn't work like that. I mean, I know that there's like, when you yell, there's some things might shake, but these are massive walled cities. It doesn't work like that. God. But what did they need to have faith. They needed to have faith.
[00:20:17] And so that's what happened. And it says this, that the walls of the city fell flat. It wasn't just that one of the gates opened or all their yelling made a lock break. The entire walls of the city came crashing down and everybody, it says all the soldiers ran into the city and devoted it to destruction. In chapter seven, flipping your Bibles to chapter seven and eight, there's a really fascinating account that we see here that is actually quite unique to the story to the book of Joshua, because most of the time in Joshua, we don't see individual interactions with an individual. Except here we find out about this guy named Achan or Achim, depending on how you'd like to pronounce it. And here's what happened. He was one of the guys in this battle against Jericho. He went in and they were clearly instructed, kill everything, destroy everyone except the gold and silver. Take that. And that's to go to God. That's to go to the temple, worship. So here's what this guy Achan does, or Achan does. He goes in, he sees some of the stuff there, and he takes some of it and he steals it. Instead of destroying it, he hides it under his tent. Nobody knows, though. Have any of you done something that you thought was going to stay hidden for a long time. And then after a while, you found out. People found out about it.
[00:21:39] Achan takes some stuff, he puts it under his tent. Perhaps his family knew about it, we don't know. But no one else in Israel does.
[00:21:45] So they have this massive victory at Jericho. They're like, all right, what's the next big city? And they go to this next big city, and it's called AI or AI. And they're like, all right, we're going to win over there going to be another victory. They go and they fight against AI. How does that work out for them? They lose terribly.
[00:22:02] Like running with their tails between their legs kind of lose terribly. And Joshua, you can read about this. Chapter 7, verses 5 through 7 says that Joshua was broken.
[00:22:13] He's like, why are we here, God? What happened? And here's what God says. Joshua, get up.
[00:22:19] Somebody in your camp, messed up big.
[00:22:23] Go find out who it was. And they find out it was this guy named Achan. And Achan and his family are actually killed because of his sin. And then take two, happens again because God is a God of second chances. They go back to AI, and this time they completely destroy I. And what they learned is this. And this is the takeaway here. This was a clear demonstration that their winning in the land was because of God's power, not theirs. That's what God wanted them to learn. One of the things God wanted them to learn from this. Chapter nine goes on and tells us about this group of group called the Gibeonites. They found out about Israel coming, and they're like, we don't want to die. And so they actually deceived Israel and made them make a profit to say, we won't kill you. Which ended up working out for them, sort of. Chapter 10 tells us about these other kings of the land that say, all right, we're gonna all pool our resources and fight against Israel. Who won Israel or this other nation? These other nations.
[00:23:21] Israel did. And God actually, this is crazy. Chapter 10 of Joshua, there's this crazy thing that happens. It says this that God, when these five other kings are fighting against Israel. It says this that God threw hailstones out of the sky and killed people in these other nations that were fighting against Israel. And more people died by these hailstones that God threw out of the sky than by the sword of Israel. And not just that. This other incredibly like has never happened before and never will never happen again. Most likely is this God said, Joshua prays and God makes the sun and the moon stand still for an entire Day. For 24 hours, the sun stands still. Have any of you seen that happen before?
[00:24:03] Maybe if you live in northern Alaska or something, right? It's light all day for them. It says this that the sun and moon stood still for this entire battle to happen. And then chapter 10 and 11 and 12 tell us more about these victories that happen. What's the point here? Write this down somewhere. Here's the lesson in this section where these victories occur. Public victories are a result of of private obedience. Public victories are a result of private obedience. From Israel crossing over the river to the story of Achan. We see Israel, when they obey privately, there is public blessing. And also the story of Achan reminds us that our sin will find us out. And also other people might experience negative consequences because of our own sin.
[00:24:55] Thus also public obedience is good. But if we don't practice private obedience, we won't experience all the blessings that God has for us. And so this begs the question, before we look at point three on your outline or point C, here's the question. Is there a private part of my life that I'm practicing disobedience and what is it costing me and others around me?
[00:25:20] Is there private parts of my life that I'm practicing disobedience and then what is it costing me and other people around me? The big idea is this. Public victories are a result of private obedience. Let's look at point three on your outline. It's this dividing the land. And so they've entered the land, they've seen that God is faithful, they've been victorious in the land because they've been obedient to God. And now it's really towards the tail end of this 20th chapter 13 in your Bibles you can look and see what it says there. It says this in chapter 13, verse 1. Look in your Bibles with me now, Joshua, was anyone there old?
[00:26:00] And if we don't know what old means by the way, and advanced in years.
[00:26:04] And the Lord said, because if Joshua was not self aware, the Lord said, you are old and advanced in years.
[00:26:14] Just in case.
[00:26:15] Here's what's about to happen, Joshua. The Lord says, here's what you need to do. And there remains very much land to possess.
[00:26:25] And here's what I want you to do. You're old. Which we've gotten clear, right? Joshua knows he's old. God knows he's old. But here's what your job is now. Now I need you to divide the land between these tribes, these people These, they came in to conquer the land. They've been promised their own separate places of land. And so now your job is to divide the land between all of these tribes. And that's what happens in chapters 13 through 22. It's literally just Joshua saying, here's where you're going, here's where you're going. Okay, you guys, you go over there and see which ones you like and how it should be divided, and then come back and I'll let you know which land that you get. Doesn't that sound riveting?
[00:27:04] You can say, no, it's okay. Here's a picture of how that land was divided on the screen for you. The Levites, they didn't get their own land. Each of those different colors is a different portion of the land. What's fascinating also about this is the way that Joshua. You might be asking this question, how on earth did Joshua figure out who gets what land?
[00:27:24] It says this that Joshua casted lots for them to figure out who was going to have what land. And now some of us, we're like, well, firstly, that doesn't sound very spiritual, does it?
[00:27:35] But also, why didn't God just tell him?
[00:27:39] I don't know. But also, what did casting lots look like then? We don't know. We could guess, but we actually don't really know. What we do know is this God intervened in situations like that. So it wasn't just, I'm rolling the dice, you got a higher number, you get the bigger land, and I'm rolling the dice again. It was God somehow superintending in each of those situations and to say, this is where I want you to go. This is who I want you to pick. And so all through chapters 13 through 22, it's literally just Joshua saying, you get this and you get this. Now, it may not seem like much to us, as I said, but to them, this would have been a big day. I mean, imagine wandering or wandering and wandering, having no place other than your little tent to call home. And even then, you never knew when you were gonna move again. And then they were like, hey, by the way, take this land. And then you get to stay put.
[00:28:31] Imagine camping for 40 years.
[00:28:34] Are you looking forward to go home?
[00:28:36] Yes.
[00:28:37] They were so, so excited because finally they were gonna have their own place to live, their own place that they could call their own. They didn't have to live in these temporary places anymore. This is similar to us, isn't it?
[00:28:53] We are wandering right now, you and I, and we're living in tense did you know that the New Testament calls our bodies tense?
[00:29:01] And one day we're going to go to our eternal home, which is called what?
[00:29:05] And we're no longer going to be in our tents any longer. You and I feel the strain every day of getting up in the morning, going, am I going to be sick today? Am I not? I got hurt and all of these things. One day we're gonna be in a place we could call the Promised land, if you will, in heaven, knowing for certain that all of our ailments, that all of our problems, that all of our struggles are gonna be completely, what, Gone.
[00:29:28] And that's the same kind of joy many of these have. Here's the lesson for you here before we go to point four. It's this. Maybe write this down somewhere. Treat God as king and let him take care of the consequences.
[00:29:42] And that's what we see. They did. They treated God as their king. They obeyed God. And the consequences weren't negative, as we often use the term consequences, but it was positive.
[00:29:51] God took care of the consequences. And the result was they finally had their true home, their final home, their final place where they can take a breath and rest and have confidence.
[00:30:03] The question for us here is, what part of my life and of your life is Jesus not being treated? And as master, what part of my life might Jesus want to speak to that I'm not listening to him in Treat God as king and let him take care of the consequences. Point four in your outline, the last of the four sections, only two chapters here.
[00:30:24] We see here flipping your bibles to chapter 23, that's what I'm doing right now. Chapter 23 starts off with this gap. So there's been a gap that's occurred between the end of chapter 22 and. And chapter 23. Someone say a gap.
[00:30:39] A gap. All right, so a gap has occurred. We see that at the top of verse 1 of 23, really important here, it says this. A long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all of their surrounding enemies. And Joshua was what?
[00:30:54] Old? Just in case we weren't clear and if we don't know what old means, he was, well, what?
[00:30:59] Advanced in years.
[00:31:02] Joshua's gonna do something that Moses did right before Moses died. He's gonna call all of Israel together. He's gonna call him from all spread out. And he says, I have a big message for you, so pay attention. And that's what we see in chapter 23. He is calling them. He's actually pleading with them to say this. You all have been faithful to God. Please, please be faithful to him.
[00:31:28] Looking ahead into the future. I'm about to die. Because I am what, old? And I am well advanced in years. So I'm about to die.
[00:31:36] Please, when I'm gone, obey God like you've been obeying God. Here's what he says, verse 6 of 23. In your Bibles, you can see this. Therefore, be strong to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. Turning aside neither to the right or to the left. Don't mix with these other nations. He's literally begging them, please don't.
[00:31:57] Because if you do, you won't retain this land. Point D on your outline. You can see this retaining the land.
[00:32:04] And actually in this case, we're gonna see that, yes, it was promised to them, now they have it. But here's what Joshua is saying is if you wanna stay there, you have to continue to obey God, you have to continue to follow him. Look in verse 11 and 12 and 13 of chapter 23 is something. It's on the screen here. Look at what he says. He says, be very careful. Can someone say careful?
[00:32:27] Careful therefore, to love the Lord your God.
[00:32:31] For if.
[00:32:34] For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of the nations among you and marry them and associate with them, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive these nations out before you. But they shall be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish off the face off this good ground that the Lord has given you. He's saying, this God gave you great ground, great land, because you've been faithful to him. But if you stop being faithful, you will no longer have this land.
[00:33:03] A significant warning to them in chapter 24, a verse that many of us know we're at the last chapter of the book now.
[00:33:11] Joshua calls them to make a decision. Look in verses 14 and following chapter 24 in your Bibles, it says this. Joshua says, choose someone, say, choose, choose this day whom you will serve.
[00:33:28] You now have to make a choice. And Joshua says, you all can make your own choice. I know what me and my house are doing. What are we doing? We are going to serve the Lord. That's what we are doing. What are you all gonna do? And the people, we with their voices say something. Verses 16 and following say this. The people say, we are going to serve the Lord. And all the people said to Joshua, look in verse 24, the Lord our God, we will Serve, and his voice we will obey.
[00:34:00] And then after that, Joshua goes and dies, and a question remains.
[00:34:07] We know what the people said with their words, but you will know this and I know this.
[00:34:11] Actions speak louder than words.
[00:34:15] And so the question that we are left with at the end of Joshua is this.
[00:34:21] What will their actions show?
[00:34:23] Will their actions be as strong and with as much conviction as their words judges? The next book answers that question.
[00:34:34] What are their actions going to show?
[00:34:37] Now, we're gonna move on a little bit further here in your outline. There's some application, and we see that Jesus also rises to the surface in all of this. We're gonna do something a little bit different. It's gonna throw you off for a second. We're skipping a section on your outline. We'll come back to it.
[00:34:52] And then after that next section, the Savior. We're gonna take part in communion together. And so we're gonna connect those together. Let's look at the application just relatively briefly here before we step back up in your outline to the Savior portion. What does this teach me about God, about man? And what does this teach me about me? Here's some things, a couple things here that you can see about God. God we see as we look through this book. God hates sin, and he knows that. This is in the New Testament, by the way. Good company corrupts. I'm sorry, bad company corrupts good morals. That's referenced later on in the New Testament as well. Anything short of laying sin at the altar will result in it coming back to bite you. God knows this.
[00:35:34] This is one of the reasons he hates sin in the life of his people so much. He was driving them out. He says, drive all these other people out. Don't leave any of them left, because I want to keep you safe.
[00:35:45] We also see this. God's goodness and his faithfulness are never on pause, even when we read through a book like Joshua and Judges, and there's so much death and destruction going on. It's not like God stopped being good. And God did not stop being faithful. Even in the practice of his justice and his holiness. What do we learn about life or about humanity? It's this. Look on the screen here, and you can write this in if you'd like. The Old Testament, what we're journeying through is full of stories about how God, about how the people of God forgot God and His Word and suffered terrible consequences.
[00:36:25] If we were to shift forward some thousands of years for the Christian today, the Word of God is our food.
[00:36:31] If we neglect it, we can't expect to be what?
[00:36:36] Healthy. And when we consume and submit to it, right, we have it. We can't expect. I'm gonna put this on the shelf, I'm gonna let it collect dust, and then I'm gonna be a healthy, growing, mature follower of Jesus. But rather, if we choose to do the work of opening it up and seeing what it says and submitting to the word of God, we can expect to grow in our health. We don't read the word out of duty, but because I want God to mature me, I want him to grow me. And lastly, the me part. This first section here on the screen is thinking particularly about that one guy that we talked about in chapter seven who hid that stuff under his tent. What was his name?
[00:37:18] Achan.
[00:37:19] Think about this for the me part.
[00:37:22] God cares about my personal private obedience. God cares about what happens when I'm alone, what happens at my house, what happens in my house.
[00:37:31] If someone, not volunteering, but if someone went digging through the things at my house, would they see my reflections of my commitment to Jesus? If someone flipped through the channels of the things that I watch, on whatever platform it is of the things you're watching, what would they see? Reflections of your commitment to Jesus in those things. If someone flipped through the social media platforms that you exist on, do they see reflections of your commitment to Jesus? Here's what we see from the story of Achan. God cared about what Achan hid under his tent. Nobody else knew, but God knew and God cared about it.
[00:38:11] And secondly, what can I learn personally? My application for me is this is I can count on on God. His promises are sure. And that's what the people of Israel came to understand in all of this. What promises of God do you need to write down today and hold to today to find comfort, to find rest?
[00:38:31] Write that down somewhere.
[00:38:33] Shift back up to the Savior part. We're going to transition here.
[00:38:37] As we think about communion. We're going to particularly look to see God's faithfulness here. Look in your outline.
[00:38:43] You can write some of these in on the blanks that you have. Jesus is seen throughout this book. So let's look at three places where the words of Jesus, the work of Jesus and the person of Jesus rise to the surface in this book. And we can actually start from the back of the book and work our way to the other direction, back to the beginning of the book. The first is this. In Joshua 24, we see this In John 5, Jesus calls people to make a choice, just as Joshua did. What did Joshua say? At the end of the book, he says, choose this day whom you will serve. The choice is yours. You choose.
[00:39:18] In John chapter 5, we see Jesus saying something similar. Whoever hears my word and believes in me, he has eternal life.
[00:39:26] But those of you who don't, there is judgment coming.
[00:39:30] Judgment coming. Jesus calls people to make a choice. Secondly, you can write this down.
[00:39:36] Jesus changes our identity through faith. If you were to flip back in your Bibles to chapter two, we learn about this lady who we just we hear about here, but we also hear about in Matthew chapter 1 in Hebrews as well, this seemingly random person who said, I'm gonna have faith in God. And we see that her identity was changed through faith. That's the point B there. Jesus changes our identity through faith. This woman, what was her name?
[00:40:03] Rahab.
[00:40:05] She sees the incredible fear that her people in this massive city of Jericho have for the nation of Israel out there. But the people's fear in Jericho translated to nothing more than we're going to resist.
[00:40:18] For Rahab, that fear that she may have had at the beginning translated into faith. She said, I'm not going to let this fear that I have just sit here. I'm actually going to trust in this God. And the result? What was the result? Her family was saved.
[00:40:34] She was saved. But also this she's remembered for thousands of years later because of her faith. A seemingly small action.
[00:40:43] And not only that, she is a part of Jesus family line, isn't she? Matthew chapter one tells us that she gets married to this guy named Salmon and they have a kid and his name is Boaz. And then we find out Ruth shows up on the scene, which we'll talk about her in a little bit. And then pretty soon we find out David King David comes from this woman named what Rahab. Because of a seemingly small act of faith. She chose that day whom she was going to serve. And point three, you could write this in under the Savior portion is this Jesus is our salvation. Amen.
[00:41:19] Joshua. The title of the book is actually, depending on how you translate it, the same Hebrew name as Jesus. Joshua and Jesus, same name. It means this. The Lord is our salvation.
[00:41:33] The Lord is our salvation. God used Joshua named the Lord is our salvation, not I am my salvation. The Lord is our salvation. To walk into a land that was permeated with terrible sin. And God said, joshua, I'm sending you in to do a mighty work, to bring about something good in something that is broken. Friends, isn't that exactly what Jesus did?
[00:41:54] The Lord is our salvation. He came into a Broken world full of evil. He stepped in, bringing the power of the Lord God with him as he was God stepping into complete brokenness. And he said this, I can bring about something good in something that is broken. And he did that in every single one of you today. If you are a follower of Jesus, he says, I see that you're broken. I see that you're hurting. I see you have this massive problem called sin that you can't do anything about.
[00:42:23] But the Lord is salvation. He can do something about that. Amen. He can do something about that.
[00:42:30] Even though ultimate victory over our sin and death is sure, God also still lets us struggle at times, doesn't he?
[00:42:41] Cause we know that Jesus, our salvation, conquered sin and death completely. And yet you and I still like, struggle and have tension back and forth. Joshua steps into this land, God is going to give them the land, and yet they still have battles. Friends, you and I know that even though we struggle, complete salvation has been paid for, has been bought and been promised by Jesus Christ. You and I can know for certain that no matter how much you and I struggle and God is faithful and he will bring about our eternal home. As John 14 says in heaven, one day our eternal home will be seen by our very own eyes. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much that we're able to know for certain that you are our salvation.
[00:43:34] No matter how much we struggle, how much tension there may be in our life, how many battles we're still fighting today, that you promise that as we submit our lives to you, there will be victory after victory. It doesn't mean the battles will suddenly stop.
[00:43:48] But as we trust in you, as we do things your way, you are faithful. And I pray, Lord, that you would encourage us this morning.
[00:43:56] For all those here perhaps going through hard things right now, who are battling hard things right now, Lord, you would show up in their life in a powerful way and remind them personally that you are faithful and you see exactly where they are.
[00:44:11] Or for those here today who do not know you, who have never submitted their life to you, Lord, I pray that you would help them to see that you are the only place salvation is found in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:44:21] I want to read the lyrics to a song that many of you know. Ushers. If you're helping with communion, you can get ready for that. The rest of us, I just want you to listen in to this song that speaks about what Jesus did for us. As we prepare our hearts for communion, listen to what this says.
[00:44:40] In Christ alone.
[00:44:42] My hope is found in Christ alone, who took on flesh fullness of God in helpless babe. We celebrate this at Christmas. When Jesus came in the flesh, this gift of love and righteousness, he lived for 33 years and then scorned by the ones he came to save.
[00:45:03] Till on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God. Because, friends, you know this.
[00:45:12] There is wrath because of our sin.
[00:45:15] The wrath of God, though, was satisfied because of Jesus death on the cross. For every sin on him, Jesus was laid.
[00:45:23] And because of that, here in the death of Christ I live.
[00:45:28] Then after that, there in the ground his body lay.
[00:45:33] Light of the world by darkness was slain.
[00:45:38] Then three days later, bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands today in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me. Friends, even though you might feel the grip of sin around you, it no longer has control of you anymore. For I am his and he is mine.
[00:46:01] Why? Because I was bought with the precious blood of Christ.
[00:46:07] And so here today, there is no guilt in life.
[00:46:11] There is no fear in death.
[00:46:14] Why? Because this is the power of Christ in me.
[00:46:18] From life's first cry, the beginning of life, to final breath when death comes. Jesus is the one who commands my destiny.
[00:46:27] So thus there is no power in hell. No scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand until he returns or he calls me home.
[00:46:37] Here in the power of Christ I stand.
[00:46:42] Friends, that's what we celebrate today as we take communion.
[00:46:46] We're able to be confident in our relationship with Jesus if we've submitted to him as Lord and Savior. If you've never done that, you can do that today. You can say, today I'm gonna choose this day, who I'm going to serve. I'm gonna admit that I am a sinner. I'm gonna believe in Jesus as my Lord and as my Savior and as my Master. I'm gonna confess him as the one who's gonna lead my life.
[00:47:06] As I pass these elements in just a moment, there's a small little wafer in these cups that we're gonna pass. And grape juice. It's a symbol of the body and the blood of Jesus. If you've never trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can just let these elements pass by you. If you have, I encourage you to reflect on the work of Jesus that he's done for you and I.
[00:47:27] In your hands, you have two cups that you can separate. One there's a little wafer, and the other there's grape juice.
[00:47:34] As we consider holding these Right now we're reminded of the last that Jesus had with his disciples in what's called the upper room. He's talking to them before he goes, to soon be taken as taken as a captive, if you will, arrested and then taken to the cross.
[00:47:51] He calls them to remember the new promise, the new covenant that they have in him.
[00:47:58] That it's not by the blood of animals that people are made right with God, but rather it is through the work of Jesus alone.
[00:48:06] Later on in the Book of first Corinthians, when the apostle Paul is speaking to the church and he's telling them, make sure you keep doing this because people are forgetful. You are forgetful.
[00:48:17] He gives them a command. He says this, for I received from the Lord this instruction, and then I delivered it to you. That the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He's saying, take it and remember. So let's eat together.
[00:48:37] And then after they had eaten, it says this in verse 25 of 1 Corinthians 11. In the same way also he took this cup after supper, saying this, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
[00:48:48] Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread which we just did and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death and also our forgiveness of sin because of his death, until he comes because he is alive. Amen. Let's drink together.
[00:49:09] Lord Jesus, we rejoice this morning together we are able to proclaim your death and your resurrection. We're able to proclaim that we are able to stand here not because of our own works, but because of yours. Not because of our own goodness, but because of yours. And so this morning we rejoice, knowing that we can stand confidently before you, that you see us, and that you are a God who is faithful, that you are a God who is kind and merciful towards us, that you are a God who keeps his promises.
[00:49:37] Lord, I pray that you would just remind us of the peace that we can have because of what you have done. Because Jesus took the wrath that was due us, took the penalty that was due us upon himself.
[00:49:49] And so, Lord, I pray that we would take any of that guilt that we might be carrying and lay it before you, reminding ourselves we are free in we have peace with God. Because, Jesus, what you have done, Lord, I pray that you would help us to continue to remember that today, tomorrow and the next day. And that our lives would look like we are free, joyful people. Because, Lord Jesus, you are where the joy is. In Jesus name, amen.
