00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
morning please. Joshua chapter
11. I'm thankful for the guys in the
back there, Adlon and Barry and Harvey all manning the technology
and they're going to try to get the screen working for us this
morning. I'm trying to Do something the Lord convicted me about a
little while back when we were preaching through the Gospel
of Mark. And I noticed how the Lord treats children. And so
I'm trying to put some more graphics and more illustrations and things
in our messages that not just we adults, but also the children
can recognize, can look at and get something out of. And so
if I'm using artists' illustrations or different Bible verses, that
is part of the idea behind that. But this morning, I want to ask
a question to all of us. What is the secret to success
in life? Someone were to ask you this
morning, oh, how do I become successful? What's the secret
to success in life? Not sure what you would answer.
Maybe you'd say, well, if you know, tell me. I'm still figuring
it out. But I thought it was very interesting. When I Googled that, Google said
that investing in yourself is the secret sauce to finding success
in your personal and professional life. Investing in yourself. When I looked at the life of
Joshua here this morning, I think we recognize a life that
was extremely successful that did not invest in him or herself,
but rather invested in their relationship with God. Once again,
God has a completely different perspective on success than Google. But here in Joshua chapter 11,
I want to read one verse of scripture in verse 6. Joshua chapter 11
in verse 6. And then we're going to back
up and give a little bit of a background story here. Joshua chapter 11
verse 6. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
Be not afraid because of them. For tomorrow, about this time,
will I deliver them up, all slain before Israel. Thou shalt hoof
their horses and burn their chariots with fire. Let's bow in prayer. Dear Father in heaven, oh how
we need you this morning. Lord, you know what is going
on in each and every life here today. Lord, You know exactly
the needs of our hearts, but more so, Lord, meeting in church, the preaching
of Your Word, Lord, the worship of Jesus Christ, it's not about
us, it's really about You and Your glory. And this morning,
Father, we pray that our hearts would lift You up and exalt You,
that our lives would change in such a way that it would bring
glory to You. Father, if there's anyone that is here or listening
in, Lord, that is not saved, that they'd be convicted of their
sin, they'd be attracted by your love, and they'd trust in the
Savior. And Lord, we pray that each and every Christian here
this morning would be fed through your Word. God, I pray you'd
help me to preach your Word the way I ought to, and we ask that
you would get all the glory for it, Lord. In Jesus Christ's name
we pray. Amen. I want to back up here a little
bit and give you a little bit of the situation of this very
interesting verse. We find there in Joshua 11, verses
1 to 4, how there's a great host of many different armies all
drawing up to battle to destroy this young nation, the nation
of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua. In verse 4 we read
the summary of these armies, it says there, Horses and chariots, of course,
the modern-day equivalent of that would be tanks drawn up
to battle today. So this is a very scary situation
they're finding themselves into. Being attacked by multiple armies,
too big to number, from several different nations. And how did
we get here? So that's where I want to back
up for just a touch and give a bit of a background. We of
course start off with the nation of Israel under Joshua's leadership
crossing across the Jordan River and first starting out to conquer
the nations and the cities in the south. And so we see here
on the map how from Gilgal, excuse me, they cross over the Jordan,
and then from Gilgal where their camp is, they go and conquer
Jericho, they conquer Ai after the second try, and they help
out at Gibeon. They conquer all the way down
to the south there, to Makeba. And God gives them success. Now we've studied Joshua chapter
10 where we see this all described and we've learned that you know
what? Battles come and battles go. That's part of life. Battles
come and battles go but the captain of the Lord's host is in control. Amen? Battles come and battles
go but the captain of the Lord's host is in control. Praise the
Lord. See, there are enemies, there
are battles, even when we live in the will of God for our life.
Israel there, the nation of Israel, had entered the promised land,
had entered the will of God for them, and yet even that was a
place where not everything just came easy. It's a place where, yes, God
promised them victory in the face of their enemies. And folks,
how much you and I can relate to that as well. We obviously
live in quite a bit of a different context. In the New Testament,
we live in a dispensation. We live through the covenant
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not Israel, but nevertheless,
we still find how foes may fight us. How friends may fail us. But Jesus remains faithful, amen?
Jesus remains faithful. Now the question is, will you
stay faithful to Him? He's faithful to you and to me,
praise the Lord. Will we be faithful to Him? After the southern campaign,
they went back to Gilgal, and then they moved on as you continue
on the map there, brother. And so we see them kind of split
the land in half, so to speak, and they kind of go first the
southern direction, and then they turn north, if you move
on, and we see this here described in Joshua chapter 11. And we
see a great and fearsome army pulled up in battle. Can you
move on those map, please? Thank you. And so you see how
they now turn north from Gilgal, and they conquer all the way
up to Hazar. And so all the way
towards the northern part of Israel. God gives them success again. What did they learn in the Northern
Campaign? Well, I think there's many different things, but one
is that it's not the strength of the
enemy that matters. These Northern armies were quite
a bit more intimidating. They had horses, they had battle
wagons, and all these different things. They had huge armies.
But it's not the strength of the enemy that's important. You
know what matters? The might of our God that you
and I trust in. Amen? The might of our God that
the people of Israel trusted in. And so God wasn't breaking
out of sweat at all. Amen? And their success or their failure,
folks, was not depending on their skill and their efforts or even
chance and luck. No, it depended upon God being
with them. Iman, it depended upon God being
with them and well them being with God of course. And when I look at all these
different historical events and when I look at the life of Joshua,
You and I may look at this map and say, okay, well, I can't
really relate much to that. And if you move to the next one,
please. And you say, what can I learn from that? Well, I look
at the life of Joshua and I look at the success that God gave
him, all the victories. And I don't know about you, but
I look at Joshua and I say, oh, I'd like to be that. Wouldn't
you, Amen? I'd like to get all those victories
and all these many great successes. I'd love that to be me. And so
the question then that I ask myself is, what was special about
Joshua? What kind of person can God use
and give success like he did to Joshua? What can you and I
learn from his life? And so that is our message this
morning, the person that God can use, the person that God
can use. What was it about Joshua that
set him up for success? I don't think there's a single
person in this room that gets up in the morning and says, man,
I just can't wait to be a failure today. I really hope today is
gonna be terrible, and am I really gonna fail at everything, right?
Nobody does that, amen? No, of course, we want to be
successful, we want to feel like we've accomplished something
worthwhile and productive, and we want for things to work out,
and even if we're maybe depressed and all down about ourselves,
like, oh, I can't do anything right, We still want to, though,
have success even when we don't have it. What was it that made
Joshua so special? There's many Bible characters
that we could look at and they didn't have half the success
rate that Joshua had. Well, I think the first thing
that we observe here in Joshua chapter 11 is that he obeyed
God's Word. He obeyed God's Word. You say,
well, of course you're going to say that. But let's look at
this a little bit. And we want to move further and
further into Joshua's life. We by no means will be able to
point out everything that we could see about him, but I want
to kind of roll backward his life a little bit and see, okay,
well, he was a man obedient to the Word of God, but how did
he get there? And then how did he get to that? And how did Joshua
become the man of God that he was? How did God give him such
success? Look at verse 9 in Joshua chapter
11, please. Lord willing, we'll at another occasion break down
these maps a little more and talk about these different nations
and so forth. But I really felt that this morning the Lord wanted
us to first look at the man that he's using throughout these battles. Joshua. Let's look at Joshua
11, verse 9. And Joshua did unto them as the
Lord bade him. Bade means asked or requested
of him. So Joshua did unto them as the
Lord bade him. hooved their horses and burned
their chariots with fire." Say, what was so special about that?
Well, to hoof means to cut the tenon on the inside of the horse's
knee in order to render them useless for battle, to hamstring
them basically. And for you and for me that may
sound pretty cruel but that was a very common practice for armies
to deal with in ancient days with the battle equipment of
conquered enemies so to speak. You know, in times of war, you
wanted to prevent for the enemy to still be able to use these
horses and chariots if they would return. And many times, just
as in this case, the Israelite army was moving so fast around
the country from conquering city after city that they didn't have
the logistical abilities, you know, to feed hundreds of enemy
horses. So it would be similar to today
immobilizing an enemy tank, right, and just leaving it scrap on
the battlefield. Plus, I also think God really
wanted them to rely upon Him to fight the battle for them,
not upon the battle equipment of man. Amen? And so the important
thing here is, so that we notice, is how Joshua did exactly what
the Lord commanded him to do. Drop down to verse 12, we see
that again. And it was just something that really stood out to me as
we study the battles here of the northern campaign. Again,
Joshua did exactly what God had told him through Moses. Go to
verse 15 please. As the Lord commanded Moses'
servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua. He left nothing undone of all
that the Lord commanded Moses. That is an amazing statement.
Can you imagine if somebody would one day have to write your tombstone
and they would write on there, here lies Timothy Jansen or whatever. Everything that God commanded
him, he fulfilled. He left nothing undone that God
told him to do. That would be an amazing testimony for God
to give to any one of us here this morning, amen? Could it
be, just maybe, that that was really a great key for Joshua's
success? So many times it's not the really
deep, the really, you know, intricate things that are the keys that
why God uses a person. Many times it's just simple obedience,
simple faith. He left nothing undone of all
that the Lord commanded. Notice in verse 23 in Joshua
chapter 11. So Joshua took the whole land according to all that
the Lord said unto Moses. Joshua obeyed the Word of God.
There's a question that the psalmist in Psalm 119 asked all the young
people. All right, so if you feel in
some degree or another young this morning, all right, listen
up, okay? There's a question that God's asking. He says, wherewithal
shall a young man, or a woman for that matter, Psalm 119 verse
9, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? How can
I live a pure godly life? How can I be successful for God?
Here's the answer. by taking heed thereto according
to thy word." In other words, listening to the Bible, doing
what God says, living life His way. That is where joy comes,
that is where blessing comes, that is where fulfillment comes.
Turn with me to Joshua 1. Real quick like where we really
see this so clearly expressed that this was the very basis
for God's blessing upon Joshua. Joshua chapter 1 and verse 7
and 8. The Lord is talking here to him and instructing and encouraging
him when he says this. Only be thou strong and very
courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law
which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whethersoever
thou goest. This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night. Meditate means to keep thinking
about it. He was supposed to keep talking
about it and he was supposed to keep thinking about it. Amen?
Study it. Meditate upon it. Notice it goes
on to say that thou mayest observe to do according to the parts
that you really like that are written therein. Oh, different
version. Oops. No, it says that thou mayest
observe to do according to all that is written therein. Amen?
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. And then thou
shalt have good success. I emphasize this on purpose because,
folks, as Christians, and I include myself in that, we all have this
tendency to just pick and choose what we obey from the Word of
God, right? And then we're very quick to point fingers to others
and to this terrible world that's so wicked, you know, that's just
so not obeying God and how dare they rebel against the Creator
and, oh, just, you know, turn on the news and I'm reading the
news with my Bible on hand and, oh, that's wrong and that's wrong
and, oh man, they should just read this and they would know
better. And God says, yeah, you should read this too, then you
would know better too. The air is where you're disobeying me,
Hema. And, um, God is very, very clear. It's not for you and for
me to pick and choose what part of His righteousness we ought
to all obey. No, no. Whether it steps on our toes
or not, whether it cramps our lifestyle, whether it means we
have to change. Maybe feel a bit uncomfortable
and convicted. Because God says, hey, this is
not right, we gotta change this. You know, that's okay. That's
part of living a life for Jesus. That is part of becoming a success. And being used and blessed by
God. Who's ever played the game Lava
Floor? I don't know, has many different
games, you know, when they were young kids. Who's ever played? I don't know, maybe you know
it under a different name or Crocodiles in the River or something. You know, where you're up on
chairs or benches or whatever else and you're not allowed to
touch the floor with your feet, right? And you're supposed to
jump from item to item, whatever, right? Some of you have played it, good.
I was thinking about that a little bit, you know? Or a minefield,
if you will. Wouldn't it be helpful to have
a map to know where to go? To stay safe and not touch the
lava ground, right? Or not blow up on a minefield
of life somewhere? Folks, that's what this book
is. It is my map to guide me through
the minefields of life towards the treasure of joy and blessedness
and being a success for God. We see Joshua start out really
early in one of the first mentions that we see of him in the Bible
when we go back to Exodus chapter 17 with his battle against the
Amalekites. I want to turn over there real
quick, and I think we have the next thing up here for that.
In Exodus chapter 17, there in verse 9. Amalek is an enemy nation that
Joshua would face several times. But here's the first time, and
we see there how Moses said unto Joshua, Do you have that picture,
Adlon? Notice verse 10. What did Joshua
do? It says, 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. I find this very interesting
because we see here how Joshua, right at the beginning where
we see him for the first time really, goes ahead and obeys
and does exactly what he's been instructed to do. And that was
not an easy task. Maybe he was fearful. Maybe the battle meant a bit
of effort, meant probably some danger, some inconvenience. But none of that was a problem.
Joshua was willing to obey and do what God had told him through
Moses, and go fight the battle for the glory of the Lord. He obeyed the word of God. I
want to move on to the next thing that I noticed about Joshua.
Let's move over to Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7, please. Where we see the defeat at Ai. They first went
ahead and tried to conquer the city and something was wrong.
You know what was wrong? Who knows what was wrong with
the nation of Israel, why they couldn't conquer AI? What was
wrong? Yes. Very true. Exactly. Very good. Achan, right? He had sinned.
There was sin in the camp. There was a traitor. If you move
on to the next one, please. There was a traitor. Notice there
in Joshua chapter 7, verse 8. He's experiencing maybe the worst
crisis in his life. He's desperately praying and
crying out to God and He says, And the Lord said unto Joshua,
What do you think he said? He said, Get thee up, for wherefore lies
thou upon thy face? Hey, what's all the movement
around there, Joshua? You know what? The problem is,
they're sitting in the camp. The problem is, there's a traitor
in the midst of Israel. Joshua moves forward in spite
of what others did. I find this interesting here.
Throughout this whole crisis, God is really teaching Joshua
a lot, and what Achan did did not stop him, did him? He kept
moving forward. Now, he did the right thing.
His response was immediately to go to God in prayer. When
we're faced with a great crisis, when we're faced with compromise,
with backstabbing or hypocrisies of others around us, That should
not deter us from following God. Jesus is still faithful, isn't
he? Jesus is still worth it to move forward. And so in prayer,
God encourages Joshua and gets his focus back on the Lord. And
instead of the circumstances and the people, you know, like
Achan who had portrayed him, who had turned against God. He doesn't focus on that disappointment,
on that defeat, that setback, no. In prayer, God is, through
His words, changing His thinking and renewing His mind and putting
His perspective upon the truth that mattered. So yes, sin is
painful, sin is devastating, and it only really has one cure,
folks. Repentance. And so we see that after Acham
is being dealt with, Joshua moves forward and they just go right
back into the next battle with new faith in God. That encourages
me folks, that encourages me. Because we all may face setbacks,
we all may face people that disappoint us, friends that may turn against
us. We all may face sin in the camp
or compromise and that's no reason to stop. Joshua keeps moving
forward regardless of what everybody else was doing. I want to notice something else
that really encouraged me. Let's turn over to Exodus chapter
24, please. Exodus chapter 24. And I want
to see it step-by-step. What made Joshua into the man
of God that he was, that God could use and bless and give
great success? And I think another reason is
because Joshua had a servant's heart. Joshua had a servant's
heart. He just sang the song, Lord,
give me a servant's heart. And maybe that was his greatest
quality, which really made him such a great leader. In Joshua
24, verse 13, we read this, Joshua 24, verse 13. And Moses rose up and his minister,
Joshua, and Moses went up into the mount of God. The word minister
means servant or one who tends to the needs of others. That's
what it means to be in the ministry or to be a minister of God, tending
to the needs of others, being a servant. Lord, give me a servant's
heart like Joshua. Josh, I didn't mind being a servant
to Moses and assisting him and helping him fulfill God's will.
I think the Lord Jesus Christ is probably the greatest example
of a servant's heart, of shemility. Wouldn't you say, Haman? He came
to serve sinful man. Praise the Lord. And we see him
there in John chapter 13 going ahead and washing the disciples'
feet, doing the lowliest, dirtiest of slave work. And yet he is
the master and the king of kings. But he had a humble heart. And
he says to the disciples there, I've given you an example that
you should do as I have done to you. You and I ought to serve
one another. You and I ought to be willing
to take the lowest place to be humble as well. The key to unity
as the Church of Jesus Christ, the key to unity is humility,
folks. The key to unity is humility
in your family, in your marriage, at work, and especially in the
church. Humility is when we see ourselves
through God's eyes. Guess what? We all of a sudden
become very unworthy, and yet so precious to the Lord, because
that's how He sees us. When we look to God, we realize
that, well, we're all sinners, aren't we? None of us is better. Compared to the Lord, we all
fall short. There's no room for pride in
the service of God. Folks, where there's humility,
there's Christlikeness. Amen? And I think that is a very
significant reason why God could use a minister like Joshua. Folks, where there is true humility,
there will not be any gossiping, and any talking behind one another's
back, and slander, and arrogancy, and all these things that follow
pride in the heart. Lord, give me a servant's heart
like Joshua. I want to move on to the next
thing. We see how Joshua obeyed the Word of God. We see how Joshua
moved forward regardless of what other people did, even when they
forsook the Lord. We see how Joshua had a servant's
heart, but we also see how Joshua had to learn a very important
life lesson. Let's turn to Exodus chapter
32, please. Exodus chapter 32. We're just
about to read or just read this this past week. I encourage you to continue in
the Bible reading plan three chapters a day. Every single
person here that is able to read can do that. I totally believe
that. And if you've fallen behind,
just at least jump right in where we're at and continue from there.
Amen? Exodus 32, who knows the story about the golden calf?
Story about the golden calf. I'll try to get you up to speed
a little bit with that. What happens is Moses there in
Exodus 32, he's going up to the mountain and receiving the tablets
with the Ten Commandments. You know the Ten Commandments,
right? I'm not going to ask you to quote them, alright? But maybe
you should though. And so God gives Moses the Ten
Commandments and while he's up there on the mountain, right?
What we see happening down in the camp with the people of Israel
is Aaron, out of all people, ends up making an idol, a golden
calf. And the people start dancing
and partying and drinking and fornicating and everything around
that golden calf. And so God warns Moses about
that up on the mountain, and Moses comes down and takes Joshua
with him, who had come along at least partway with him there.
And this is what happens. We see how Joshua learns that
sin is the most dangerous of all enemies. You see, the worst
enemy were not the Amalekites. It was not the Canaanites and
the Hivites and the Gibeonites or any of these other guys. The
worst sin really is sin. The worst enemy. In Exodus 32
verse 17, we read this, Exodus 32, 17. And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there's noise
of war in the camp. And he, that is Moses, said,
it's not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is
it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise
of them that sing I do hear. So he could identify that it
wasn't, you know, a shouting over victory or a cry of defeat. No, there was some singing and
some music going on that sounded just like the war of noise. We
still got music like that today, folks. And it's usually the kind
of music that's appealing to the flesh, amen? Notice verse
19, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp,
that he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger waxed
hot. And he cast the tablets out of
his hands. And he cast the tables out of
his hands and break them beneath the mount. So the 10 commandments
that he had received from the Lord, right? Verse 20. And he
took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire,
and ground it to powder, and strutted upon the water, and
made the children of Israel to drink it. Verse 25, it says that
Moses noticed they were even naked. What was going on there? Well, the flesh was going on
there. And the flesh loves sin, doesn't it? Amen? Your flesh,
my flesh, loves sin too, sadly. And the flesh is always looking
for something visible, something material and physical. And so,
with Moses being gone for a while, and Joshua, they figured, well,
we're going to make our own God that we can see. Because, you
know what, that's what all the cool nations around us are doing.
And so, let's just be like the cool nations, and like everybody
else, and let's make ourselves a visible God. And we're going
to make this calf. And we see here music that appeals
to the flesh. We see immodesty and indecency
that appeals to the flesh. We see worldly dancing that appears
to the flesh, and we see idolatry that too appeals to the flesh. And Joshua, though, thinks there's
a war going on. Well, there was really a war
going on, but not with physical weapons, it was a spiritual war. The people of Israel had rebelled
against God and His commandments. Sin is our worst enemy. It will destroy us and it will
always take us further than we ever wanted to go. It will always
stay and keep us longer in bondage than we ever intended to stay
with it. Sin is a liar. It's a filthy liar. It never
keeps what it promises. Never. So that's why the Apostle Paul
says to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, O man of God, flee
these things! Run! flee these things, the fornication,
the idolatry, the youthful lusts, all these things that he describes,
and instead rather follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. Folks, our flesh's goal is always
to rebel against God and to follow sin. It's being fed by the things
we see and by the things we experience through our senses. So at the end of that chapter,
Moses stands up in the camp and he says, hey guys, who's on the
Lord's side? And this morning, I believe the
Lord is asking us as well, who is on the Lord's side? Or are
we gonna follow the flesh? Are we gonna succumb to our worst
enemy, sin in the camp? Joshua stayed with the Lord.
But he learned, I believe, an important lesson there. That
sin is the most dangerous things in the fight. Let's turn over to Numbers chapter
14. Numbers chapter 14. Where we see one more example
of things we can learn from Joshua. We see how Joshua believes in
God's promises no matter what. Joshua believes God's promises
no matter what. Who knows the story about the
twelve spies? The story about the twelve spies, right? Maybe
you know the children's song, right? Ten were bad and two were
good, right? Ten were bad and two were good,
right? You know that story? Amen. Very
good. What was Joshua's friend that
stood up together with him? Do you know his name? Caleb. Very good. Caleb. Amen.
We read that story there in Joshua chapter 14, and we see how Joshua
and Caleb stand up as all the other spies say, oh man, this
is going to be too big, this is too scary. The Canaanites
and those big giants, oh man, they're just going to take care
of us, they're going to destroy us. Oh, this is so scary, this
is a disaster. Joshua and Caleb say, hold on
here, hold on here. God said we're going to conquer the land. He promised us the victory. So
why don't we just trust what God says, forget what everybody
else thinks, and move forward. Amen? How about that? Everybody else did not trust
the Lord. Everybody else was scared, was
falling all the way over the world, but Joshua and Caleb said,
no, no, no, we're going to trust the Lord. I believe his promises,
no matter what everybody else says. And God blesses Joshua
and Caleb for that. Out of all these spies, as a
matter of fact, of their entire generation, only Joshua and Caleb
survived. And God says specifically that
the reason for that in Deuteronomy 31 is because their heart was
wholly given to the Lord. Is your heart wholly given to
the Lord this morning? It's my heart. Hebrews chapter 11, we
read that without faith it is impossible to please God, in
verse 6. In Hebrews 11, verse 30, we see how Joshua did what
he did and how he had the victory by faith. We can't expect for God to use
us or to bless us and give us the victory in our life if we're
not willing to trust Him for it. And we're still trying to
do it our own ways, amen? In our own strength. Folks, even when everybody else
is turning away from the Lord, even when this whole world thinks
we're going to start crazy. I mean, we're just some nutty
extremists there. You know, take the Bible literally.
How in the world? You know, don't you want to have
some fun in life? Don't you want to be cool and
go with everybody else? No, we don't want to go with
everybody else. We want to stand for the Lord like Joshua and
Caleb did. You know what? We need to be
willing, like Joshua, to stand against the majority, if need
be, as long as we stand with the Lord. That's what faith in
God means. That's what believing His promises
and taking it to the bank, so to speak, means. I'd rather be
in the minority here on earth, but in the majority up in heaven,
wouldn't you, Amen? I'd rather be in the minority
here on earth, but in the majority in heaven. Lastly, we see once again in
Joshua chapter 1, Joshua chapter 1, how he surrounds himself with
those who are loyal to God's cause. Notice there in Joshua
chapter 1, in verse 16. Joshua surrounds
himself with those who are loyal to God's cause. It says there,
And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded
us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. I think we have a next picture
there. Verse 17, it says, According
as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so we will hearken unto
thee. Only the Lord thy God be with
thee, as he was with Moses. Joshua was surrounded by people
who were loyal to God's cause. They were willing to go through
thick and thin with him, like brothers in arms, so to speak,
no matter what, and face every enemy, face every battle, and
they were in this together as brothers and sisters because
they had a cause that was greater than them. Say, what was their
cause? The glory of God? Their cause
was the glory of God. David, when faced with Goliath,
said, is there not a cause? Folks, is there not a cause even
today for you and for me to stand for God, to take His Word and
put it to the bank, so to speak, and say, you know what, I'm going
to trust this even if the whole world thinks I'm crazy. I'm going
to do and obey God's Word. I'm going to act different. I'm
going to talk different. I'm going to look different.
I'm going to think different. Because Jesus is worth it. Jesus
is worthy. And because I know that God blesses
the man that is having his heart wholly given to him. But one
thing that really helped Joshua is that he surrounded himself
with those who are loyal to God's cause as well. Folks, that's
why church is so important. Because hopefully, that is out
of all places where we are to find those who seek to be loyal
to the cause of the glory of God in this world as well. Amen? We see here how the people encouraged
Joshua They say in verse 6, be strong
and of good courage. In verse 7, only be thou strong
and very courageous. In verse 9, the Lord again is
talking to him and says, be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed. And then in verses 16 to 18 we
see the people of Israel encouraging him as well. Be of good courage. Folks, the greatest men of God
need to be encouraged. The greatest men of God need
to be encouraged. Even David encouraged himself in the Lord.
That's really the meaning of our theme this year. Learning
how to be happy in Jesus. Amen? The joy of the Lord is
your strength. But folks, who are we encouraging
to keep falling for the Lord in this church? In whatever circle
of influence we have. Who do we seek to surround ourselves
to encourage us towards godliness? There's plenty of encouragement
to go the wrong way that we face all week long. Who do we surround
ourselves, like Joshua did, with those who are loyal to the cause
of the glory of God and that will encourage us to do right
and to stay the course and to trust God? Think about it. There's 168 hours in your week. He spent approximately 63 hours
working, maybe more, maybe less. Around 49 hours sleeping or so. That leaves you somewhere around
62 hours, over 8 hours per day technically. How are you using
that time for the glory of Christ? That is the cause that you and
I are to strive after each and every day. Folks, you may accuse me of being
self-serving or sounding like a broken record, but folks, if
it's biblical, we ought to talk about it, amen? And the Bible
says that we need to surround ourselves with brothers and sisters
in Christ that help us to keep going. And that is what happens
at church. That is why the fellowship with
the saints is so vital. That's why the Holy Spirit says
in Hebrews chapter 10 that we ought to not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together. but rather even so much the more,
amen? Not going less to fellowship together and hear the preaching
and pray and sing, encourage one another, but rather more!
Folks, there's a reason why the New Testament calls Sunday the
Lord's Day, not the Lord's Morning. The Lord's Day, not the Lord's
Morning. Even in the Old Testament, we
have that example, that illustration where the people got together
for the morning and the evening sacrifice. By the way, the same
with the Lord's Supper. It's not called the Lord's Breakfast.
It's called the Lord's Supper. But whenever we have the opportunity
to meet together and to worship God together, we ought to do
so because we desperately need to encourage one another. I need, you need encouragement,
folks. Amen? And Joshua was such a great success. He was so victorious because
he surrounded himself with those who would encourage him. And
he found encouragement most and foremost in the Lord. Even Moses was commanded by the
Lord in Deuteronomy chapter 3 to encourage Joshua, to strengthen
him. God knew Joshua was facing some tough battles. And you know
what? He gave him people that would
encourage him to trust God, to move forward. No matter if the
battle was tough and scary, no matter what everybody else did,
no. Joshua was encouraged to keep
trusting God and keep moving forward for Him. Brothers, sisters, I think we
all want to be a success before the Lord this morning. Amen?
And I think we all have to look at our lives in the light of
the example of Joshua, who, by the way, his name is a picture
or type to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew name Joshua really
comes out to the Greek equivalent of Jesus. It means God saves. And as you and I really ultimately
take a good look at the Lord Jesus Christ, are we willing
to trust God's Word and obey it even when no one else does?
Are we willing to keep moving forward even when others fall
to the wayside? Are we willing to continue for
the glory of God and surround ourselves with those who are
loyal and encouraging us to move forward because He is worthy?
The cause of the glory of Jesus Christ is our mission to hold
up. In easy times and in times of
battle. Are you and I going to answer
that call this morning? Are you and I going to answer
that call this morning? We're encouraged through Joshua. Now
it's our turn to step up by faith. Just a seated, amen? I'd like
to ask you to please stand, bow your heads in prayer. There's
nothing special about Joshua that you or I couldn't attain.
He was just a humble man who was willing to put it all upon
God and his promises. Even in setbacks, in defeats, even in discouragements
and struggles and battles, He kept moving forward. Because
the Captain of the Lord's Host had commanded, and obeying Him
is the worthiest of all causes. Send you place this morning.
If there's a decision you need to make to follow and trust the
Lord like Josh I did, I want to encourage you. Don't delay.
Do it now.
The Man God Can Use
Series Joshua
| Sermon ID | 13024641155317 |
| Duration | 50:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Joshua 11 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.