If you'll take your copy of God's word and turn with me please once again to the book of Joshua 1. But I'd also like to ask you to look first at the portion of scripture that comes right before Joshua 1. That's Deuteronomy 34. The closing chapter of Deuteronomy chapter 34. And follow with me, please, as I read aloud, beginning at verse 7 of Deuteronomy 34. I'm going to read without comment, and then we're going to have Joshua 1 before us. Deuteronomy 34 and verse 7. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes was undimmed and his vigor unabated. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did. in the sight of all Israel. And then we turn the page and the history of Joshua, the book of Joshua commences. The book of Joshua describes a period of great transition in the life of the people of God. But like every book of the Bible, it proclaims the God who never changes, the God who cannot and does not die. And, like all of scripture, the book of Joshua proclaims the great Savior who conquered death. This book begins in its opening nine verses with the Lord charging Joshua. The Lord commissions his servant Joshua. And then in the remaining verses of chapter one, Joshua then charges the people, and that is our Two-point outline for tonight, the Lord's charge to Joshua, Joshua's charge to the people. As we look at the Lord's charge to Joshua, we'll ask and we'll answer three questions, when, what, and how. When did the Lord charge Joshua? It was after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord. As the book of Joshua begins with God speaking to Joshua, God's very first words to Joshua are these, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now Joshua was very much aware of the fact that Moses had just died. All Israel was profoundly aware that Moses, their great leader, the only leader that they had known, was now gone the way of all men. Though dead, Moses is still very present in the opening chapter of Joshua. His name appears 11 times, and it's clear that His presence is still felt in a very significant way. And yet Moses was gone and it was time for the people to move on. There was vital kingdom work yet to be done. A new generation had come to adulthood. The men that had come out of Egypt and seen God's great works under the leadership of Moses, those men were all now dead, with two notable exceptions, one of whom was Joshua. New leadership was now needed. There were new blessings awaiting the people of God, namely, taking possession of the land that had long been promised to them and their fathers. Well, so much for the win of this charge. What did the Lord charge Joshua to do? In the words of the passage, God said, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land. Joshua's mission was to lead the congregation of Israel across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. They were to invade that land, they were to conquer its peoples, they were to destroy its peoples, and they were to take possession of that land as property that God had pledged to them. In short, Joshua was called to be the military commander of the army of the Lord. He would have to devise and implement battle plans. He would take his place at the fore of the men of Israel as they would march repeatedly into battle. His life would be that of a warrior. The Lord was not going to simply give the promised land into the hands of his people on a platter, no risk, no danger, no bloodshed, no real exertion needed. God had promised the land. God was going to give them the land, but they were going to have to fight long and hard in order to take possession of it. The Lord charged Joshua to lead the people of God in this holy war. Well, we've noticed briefly the when and the what. would Joshua accomplish this mission? And this is by far the most emphasized part of the Lord's charge to Joshua, the how it would be accomplished. And in speaking to Joshua about how This holy task would come to fruition. God draws attention both to what He, the Lord, would do, and He draws attention to what Joshua would need to do. And the emphasis, as we might expect, is on what He, the Lord, would do. Note three things that God tells Joshua that he would do that would enable this staggering, daunting task to be accomplished. First, the Lord says that he would give the land to Joshua and the people as had been promised. The language of the passage, arise, go into the land that I am giving to Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you just as I promised Moses. Verses 2 and 3. The Lord had promised Moses before he died. that a dream that Moses himself had possessed, that he would take the people into the land, a dream that was not realized in the experience of Moses, but God had promised Moses that subsequent to his death, that dream would be realized, the people would go into the land. And God promises that the land would, in fact, be given to Israel. Now, long before Moses, centuries before Moses, the Lord had promised the fathers of Israel that he would give to their descendants this land of Canaan. Its boundaries are mentioned here in the opening verses of Joshua. Israel would actually never come to possess the entirety of the region that is specified here. It was a region that went to the east beyond the Jordan River all the way to the Euphrates River. And Israel would never in the providence of God take possession of the totality of the land. They would come short of that. What happened in their experience would point ahead to a coming inheritance of land that awaits the consummation of our redemption. But God had promised this vast expanse of real estate going all the way back to the first father of the Jews, Abraham. God reiterated the promise to Abraham's promised son, Isaac. God reiterated the promise yet again to Isaac's chosen son, Jacob. And it dominates Genesis in the patriarchal narrative, this promise of a land that God has pledged to give the descendants of the patriarchs. The book of Genesis closes with Jacob's son Joseph dying, but as Joseph dies, the promise is obviously very much on his mind and heart because he insists that his bones not be left there in Egypt, that his bones be taken back to the land that God had promised. Even though he had lived in Egypt as an adult, even though he had risen to be the top man in Egypt under Pharaoh himself, Joseph at heart was a Hebrew. who longed for the land that God had pledged to his people. Well, God tells Joshua that the time had come, he would now do, through Joshua, what he had long promised to do. And we're reminded, as we are so often in the Bible, God always does what he says he will do. We may have to wait long. God's people had waited centuries, but God always does what he says he will do. Well, in connection with keeping his promise, God drew Joshua's attention to a second thing that the Lord would do. The Lord would overcome every adversary that Joshua faced. As has been noted, and as most of you are aware, there were tremendous obstacles that would be faced. The land was not going to simply be handed to Israel without any fighting. There were various tribes living in Canaan at that time, and they would fight tenaciously for their homeland. There were giants that lived in that time. These are not fictional characters. They are not the stuff of myth. There were true physical giants, men of extraordinary stature that lived among the Canaanite people. There were heavily fortified cities with walls of tremendous thickness. In that era, there were some tribes who had crossed the latest technological advance. And even though the Iron Age had not formally begun, there were some tribes who had already figured out how to work with iron so as to make chariots of iron. It gave them a staggering advantage, humanly speaking, against other peoples who didn't have that high-tech weaponry. Joshua was aware of what was before him, But God promises Joshua, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. God in short was saying, no giant will be too big for you, Joshua. No city walls will be too thick for Israel to overcome. No iron chariot will be too strong whereby they will certainly prevail against you. Not a man will be able to stand against you. We're reminded of the promise of the Lord Jesus when he told his apostles, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not what? they will not prevail against her. It's a picture of the church on the offense, the church on the march, the church invading the kingdom of darkness, and Satan will hurl everything he's got, and the devil's got a lot. Satan will hurl everything he's got against the church making progress in the spread of the gospel, in the advance of the kingdom. Jesus made a promise, an abiding promise, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Matthew 16 and verse 18. This is a comparable old covenant promise. You're going to face tremendous enemies. I'm not going to lie to you about that, Joshua. You're going to sweat and you're going to bleed and you're going to lose people that you love and you're going to face tremendous obstacles but not one enemy will be able to stand against you. The third promise that the Lord made to Joshua as to how this mission would be accomplished is that the Lord said he would be with Joshua, never leaving or forsaking him. Verse five, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Verse 9, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now Joshua was a proven man at this point in his life with a resume, a lengthy resume of faithful, gifted leadership. For more than 40 years now, he had served as the chief assistant to Moses. So he was a known leader in Israel. I mean, everyone knew who Joshua was. He had been the top guy next to Moses himself for decades. He's first mentioned to us back in the book of Exodus chapter 17. Israel had just been delivered, wonderfully, out of slavery in Egypt, and they were on their way, the first time, to the land of promise. They encountered a hostile tribe named Amalek, who refused to let them pass. And we read back in Exodus 17, verse 9, that Moses said to Joshua, that's where his name first appears in the pages of Holy Writ, Moses said to Joshua, Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. And for those of you who remember the Old Testament history, that was the memorable battle where Israel prevailed only as Moses was able to raise his hands on top of that hill, an expression of his interceding on behalf of the people of God. Moses, the great Old Covenant advocate, the go-between, the mediator. reaches up his hands and his voice to heaven, pleading with God to intervene on behalf of his people and to win the day in this battle. And when Moses' hands were up, Israel would prevail. And when Moses' arms began to sag down, Amalek would prevail. And it was a seesaw battle for a while. It wasn't evident which way the outcome would be. And Aaron and Hur stood, seated Moses on a rock, and each one helped him, joining him in the effort to lift up hands to God, and Israel prevailed at last in battle. Well, who was on the battlefield actually leading the troops? It was Joshua, even then. Many, many years earlier, decades earlier, Joshua had been a on the ground general leading the troops of God. Later in Exodus in chapter 24, Joshua is mentioned as one of the 70 elders of Israel who beheld God and ate and drank, a fascinating reference. We're not given a lot of details, but it was an extraordinary covenant meal hosted by the living God who appeared to Moses and to Aaron's sons and to the 70 elders. And Josh was clearly included in that number. And this group of Israeli leadership has this staggering privilege of sitting at God's table and God in some visible way. manifested himself, perhaps a pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, because the scriptures say they beheld God. Joshua is the only one, however, that Moses says, come with me. God directed that Joshua go with Moses further up into the mountain of God, where Moses was going to receive face-to-face direct revelation from God. So Joshua had long been singled out as a man who was capable, a man who was gifted, a man that had the blessing of God upon him, a man who was faithful, but Joshua had always had Moses up there on the hill interceding with God. The buck had always stopped finally, not with Joshua, but with Moses. Moses was the man. Moses was the guy who had, according to the closing words of Deuteronomy, unparalleled fellowship with God. No one would rise again until Jesus came, who had the kind of face-to-face fellowship with God that Moses had. No one would do the works that Moses did. until Jesus came. Joshua was profoundly aware that Moses was now gone. But God comes to him and he assures him, Joshua, Moses, my servant, is dead. But I'm still very much alive. And Joshua, Moses is gone. I am not gone. I will be with you. I will be right beside you. I'm not leaving you. I'm not forsaking you. Joshua, don't be frightened. I will be with you. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 applies this grand promise of scripture, not to leaders, but to rank and file every Christian. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 speaks in this way as it urges us to a life of being content. Keep your life free from love of money. and be content with what you have. For he, the Lord, has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13 continues, so we can confidently say, I will not fear what can man do to me. Quoting from the 56th Psalm. God has pledged his presence. He has sworn that he would never leave me. Therefore, I need not and must not and will not cave into fear. What can man ultimately do to me? Well, we've been reflecting on what the Lord said he would do in terms of the how of this mission being accomplished. But the Lord's charge to Joshua also included what Joshua must do. And the Lord summoned Joshua both to an attitude and to an action. An attitude and an action. In attitude, it was imperative that Joshua be strong and courageous. And this is actually the single point that receives the heaviest emphasis in the entire chapter, because we see that message not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in Joshua 1. Verse 6, the Lord says, be strong and courageous. God then repeats himself, only be strong and very courageous. Verse nine, the Lord repeats himself again. Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous? That is, do not be frightened, do not be dismayed. Verse 18, now from the people, not from the Lord, the people responding to Joshua's charge say, only be strong and courageous. It's clear that Joshua was facing, at this time in his life, an intense temptation to be afraid. And of course, there were reasons to be afraid. Forty years earlier, Joshua had come with the people of Israel, with Moses back then, fresh on the hills of glorious things that God had done on behalf of his people, bringing them out of slavery and bondage in Egypt. And that generation of Israelites had seen with their own eyes the incredible things that God had done to rescue them from their enemies. They had seen the ten plagues. They had seen God providing miraculously on the wilderness trek. They come 40 years earlier to this same point. Jordan River's there. They're to cross it and take possession. And Joshua knew from profound firsthand experience what could happen in a situation like this because what had happened 40 years earlier? Well, the real things that were present to be afraid of had taken over. The people had allowed fear to feed unbelief. rather than fighting against fear, seeking help from an almighty God. The people had caved into fear and had magnified fear, and that had fed their unbelief, which in turn gave rise to revolt. And the people as a whole had said, we're done here. We are out of here, Moses. You think you're taking us across the limit of the land? We'll be destroyed. There are giants in the land. We're heading back to Egypt. Better to be a slave and be safe than be your free person and to be trampled to death by the Canaanites. Well, Joshua had no doubt vivid memories of what had happened 40 years earlier, and that was when Moses was present. Joshua was afraid. misguided reading into the text when you see this constant refrain. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous, Joshua. Be strong and courageous, Joshua. Stand up, Joshua. Be strong, Joshua. Don't cave to uncertainty. Don't give in to timidity. Don't allow reluctance to overtake you. Be brave. This wasn't just positive talking. This was God saying, Joshua, you have reasons to be brave. Because what's always true for the people of God, as has been noted more than a few times, is that while we have many reasons to be afraid, we have more reasons to believe in our God. There are greater reasons for being confident in the Lord than there are to be afraid of bad things that may happen to us in this world. God was calling Joshua to an attitude of firmness of person, of purpose, that would be rooted in and could only be rooted in an unwavering commitment to the word of God. trusting what God had said over against the circumstances of life, depending on what God had said over against the feelings of the moment, trusting in what God had said as the ultimate definer of what is really real. And that's the corresponding action. that the Lord charged Joshua with as to how this mission would be accomplished. He must be strong and courageous. The action he was called to is you must be in the word of God. You must have the word of God in you. You must mutter it to yourself is the literal idea of meditation. Don't worry if people think you're nuts as they see you talking to yourself. You take God's word and you talk to yourself a bunch. And you keep preaching to yourself. And you shake yourself when you need to be shaken. And you slap yourself when you need to be slapped. But get God's Word into your mind and into your heart. And that's not just going to happen passively by being aware of it out there. You have got to talk to yourself. Meditate upon this Word. Get God's truth inside of you, Joshua. Whereby? When you speak, Bible comes out, whereby when you make leadership decisions, the Bible, the principles of God's word come to expression. Joshua, you don't need a powerful personality. You don't need military genius. You don't need Moses. But you will die without my word. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate upon it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous. And Joshua, I assure you, then you will have good success. God didn't sound like he had much doubt. God didn't sound like he was a bit reluctant as to how this may turn out. God didn't sound very iffy. God knew what was gonna happen, and God had spoken in such a way that there was warrant for Joshua to be confident going forward. No denial of obstacles, no denial of bloodshed, no denial of hard, but good success. In verses 10 and following, Joshua charges the people they were to prepare for crossing the Jordan so as to possess the land. He charged the two and a half tribes that were going to settle on the east side of the Jordan River to leave their wives and children there to come with their brothers Even though they had their land already, they were to come with their brothers and fight for the land that the other nine and a half tribes would possess on the west side of the Jordan River. Once all the fighting had been done, then those two and a half tribes could return to the east side of the river to take up possession of the land that had already been allotted to them. Surprisingly, wonderfully, The people, according to verse 16, answer, all that you have commanded us, we will do. So different from 40 years earlier. Moses is gone. The staggering deeds of redemption from Egypt are now a memory of 40 years past. But in God's providence, the time had come And the people said, we're in. We're with you. Yes, sir. We'll get our stuff together to cross the Jordan River. And it must have been profoundly encouraging to Joshua. Maybe a huge part of his fear was how would the people respond? Moses was gone now. How would the people respond? God's people need God-given leadership. And they need God-given leadership who have God-given wisdom. Thank you for praying for your leaders here. Keep praying for God-given wisdom. God-given leaders can really mess up at times. Keep praying for God-given wisdom. God's people need God-given leaders with God-given discernment. The God-given leaders need a people to whom God gives a willingness to support and comply, a willingness to follow. And the great incomparable Moses didn't have the ability to command that from people. Moses was ready to go 40 years earlier. Joshua and Caleb had been ready to go. Everybody else said you go have fun. We're out of here. God alone can bring true leaders to his people and God alone can work in his people what is needed for for things to go forward according to God's purposes. But this was God's time. And Joshua charged the people, and they respond, all that you've done, we will do. They do flatter themselves a little bit when they say, just as we obeyed Moses completely, we will follow you. A little bit of historical fudging there. It's funny how memory can be so selective, but the basic point was, we're with you. As you think about your life right now, as you think about your situation, as you anticipate coming months, as you think about the next year, what one or two things do you most fear? What things that you view as, boy, that would be bad. What one or two things do you view as, in that category as being most likely to perhaps happen, and it scares you. You think, oh, oh, this could happen. That wouldn't be pretty. This could unfold, and that would be unbearable. This could happen, and that's almost paralyzing. Maybe there's some of you who are already thinking it's certainly going to happen. It's just you've already, part of you has just kind of given in this bad thing, and some bad things you may know are going to happen. Sometimes we have advance notice of certain things are coming and they cannot be avoided, humanly speaking. Well, what one or two things come to your mind that they tempt you to be afraid? This is an every person, every Christian fight. And I want to encourage us as we close tonight. One of the Many insights gleaned as I was reflecting on the passage and reading some good commentators on the passage. One of the many insights that I really appreciated from one commentator, my favorite one on the Old Testament, is he drew attention to the fact that Deuteronomy closes with a funeral. Genesis earlier had closed with a funeral. Joshua will close with a funeral. Joshua's death. But this commentator drew attention to the fact that there's a difference when you come to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Because those books of the Bible end with a resurrection of someone who had died, but he rose because death could not hold him down. That's the only place where the peace is, y'all. That's the only place where confidence, true confidence, True confidence is born and fed. Lean into Jesus Christ. Moses is long gone and Joshua is long gone. Jesus is here tonight, right here. And he'll go with you, every one of you who knows him, who is trusting in him, who is following him. Jesus goes with you into whatever you fear happening. Lean on Him. Have His words coming into your mind and heart. Let Him move into you through that word. You move into Him through that word. The spouse that you can't think of living without. The precious child that you can't imagine losing. The friend who has been closer than a brother or a sister. The esteemed pastor. they will all pass away. Jesus will always be here. Let's pray together. Our God, we thank you for the privilege of being able to ponder your word again this evening. We thank you that you've given us Copies of it in our own language. We thank You that we have such access to it. Oh God, amidst the many demands of our lives in this present age, amidst the heavy responsibilities and the many distractions, give us grace, dear Lord, to have Your precious words in our minds and in our hearts. Oh God, help us to again and again go back to the well of Scripture, And oh God, may our confidence in you deepen. And we bless you and we praise you that a God like you is so ready to be with a people like us. And we thank you that you have pledged that you would never leave nor forsake us. Oh God, come near in unprecedented ways in these days, weeks, and months. We love you. We thank you for loving us. We pray in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. so so