Christchurch, please turn with me to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 1. This morning we will continue our study of this wonderful book. Please stand, if you are able, for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, inspired, and efficacious word. Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on 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 then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Amen. Let's find the reading of God's word. Would you pray with me? Our Father, we know that we need your help as your word is being preached. For in our natural selves, we are dull of mind, slow of heart, distracted, often confused. We pray, Lord, that you would be pleased to speak to us, to illumine your word to us by your spirit. We pray that you would point our hearts to Christ, who is our life and who is our salvation. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Be seated. Beloved Christ Church, in our text for this morning, the Lord calls you to be brave and to be valiant, to be strong and to be courageous. Do you think of your life in those terms? Do you wake up in the morning thinking, I am to be brave and valiant today, I am to be strong and courageous? Whatever you may be facing, whatever challenges may be in front of you, you are not to live in fear and distress, but with faith and with confidence in the gospel promises of God, knowing that God is with you. knowing that God is with you. Look at the final verse of our text. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. This divine charge to be strong and courageous, first given to Moses and then to Joshua, is a divine charge that echoes out throughout history to our present day. In our recent men's trip to England, we studied many different historical figures who demonstrated great courage and bravery for Christ. Three of those men are commemorated in Oxford on what is known as the Martyrs' Memorial. I have a painting of this memorial from an antiquarian art shop that is in my study at home. The three men honored on the martyr's memorial are Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cramner. These 16th century Protestant reformers were brave warriors for Christ. They were burned at the stake by Queen Mary Tudor for their rejection of heretical Catholic doctrine. When Ridley and Latimer were burned at the stake five months before Cramner in October of 1555, Cramner, also a prisoner, was forced to watch his friends die a horrible death. Latimer's dying words to Ridley have been an encouragement to generations. As the flames were being lit, Hugh Latimer looked to his friend Nicholas Ridley and said to him these words. Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man. For we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out. Play the man. Play the man. Their courage and witness amidst the flames inspired many in their own generation to stand firm for Christ and to continue the work of reformation in England. You think about your own life, what you are living for, how would you answer that question? What are you living for? No matter what you are called to, whether it's in full-time ministry or in full-time vocation, in any other realm, your answer as a Christian should be to glorify Christ, to be strong and courageous in His cause, to serve Him with my life and all that I am and all the gifts that He has given to me. The bravery and valor of these two men continue to inspire us to this day. And a question one might ask is this, what drove these men? What drove these men? What motivated them to show such strength and such courage in the midst of the flames? The answer is found in our text for this morning. It's the same thing that motivated Joshua and Caleb after their spy expedition in Numbers 13. that motivated them to say, let's go and take the land that God has sworn to give to us. What are we waiting for? Even as the 10 other spies are saying, no, no, we shouldn't go in there. There are giants. There are fortified cities. You see, they cowered in fear along with the rest of the people. The motivation that Joshua and Caleb had is the same thing that motivated Joshua to take God's people into the land of Canaan after Moses died. What did they put their ultimate confidence in? They put their confidence in God's promises and God's presence. And God's promises and God's presence. That's what motivated them to love and to serve God no matter what the cost. God's promises and God's presence. What we will see this morning, dear ones, is that this is no different for us. Do we, as a church, want to be strong and courageous in our present generation? Do you, as individual Christians want to be brave and valiant for the sake of Christ and his gospel, living above the banal and superficial trivialities of our culture and the trappings of remaining indwelling sin. If so, we must set our gaze upon God's promises and the gospel. And we must be encouraged by God's saving and empowering presence in our lives. You see, dear ones, it was God's promises and presence that propelled Joshua to enter and conquer the land that God had given to them. It's God's promises and presence that compel us to be more than conquerors for Christ in our own. generation. There is so much wonderful history in the book of Joshua, so many compelling things about this story, about this narrative, but we must not miss that this is a message for you, and it's a message for me. It's a message for us as a church to be strong and courageous. to reflect upon the typology of all that's taking place in this chapter and in the entirety of the book of Joshua. Because all throughout the Old Testament, we have wonderful typology of all that Christ himself will fulfill in our lives. Last time we were together, in our overview of the book of Joshua, we learned that Moses had died and a transition of leadership had occurred. Look at verse one with me again. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all its people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Moses, the great leader of Israel, was dead. Joshua will now lead Israel as a spiritual guide and a military general. As God spoke to Moses, so now he will speak to Joshua. And in our text for this morning, we have before us God's commission to Joshua. This here, dear ones, is God's commission to Joshua. He will now lead Israel as a spiritual guide and a military general. And in our text for this morning, we have before us this commission, this divine charge to Joshua, and it's interesting to note that verses two through five provide a kind of summary and structure for the rest of the book. Indeed, if you look in verse two, there you'll see mention of the crossing of the Jordan, which is what constitutes Joshua chapter 1 through Joshua chapter 5 in verse 12. In verse 3, God profiles the conquest of Canaan in chapters 5, 13, and in chapters 12 through 24. In verse 4, God speaks of the geographical boundaries of the land, a land that will be divided up between the 12 tribes of Israel. And we see that set forth in Joshua 13 verse 1 through chapter 22 and verse 34. And then, of course, in verse 5, God mentions all the days of Joshua's life, which anticipates the final two chapters in which Joshua's life is summed up, and of course, at the end, he dies. Therefore, God's speech to Joshua also forms, in part, a summary of the entire book. So if you want to be reminded about a structure or an outline of Joshua, just go to verses 2 through 5, and you'll see that structure there. Well, as we consider the content of God's commission to Joshua, there are a few truths that we don't want to miss. The first one is this. The first one is this. God is faithful, though Israel had been unfaithful. God is faithful to his promises, though Israel had been unfaithful. As we covered last week, the generation that had been delivered out of bondage in Egypt were unfaithful. Those who were delivered, that first generation that was delivered out of Egypt, where God did all these amazing miracles through the hand of Moses, all the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna from heaven, all of these glorious things, and yet they rebelled. Instead of worshiping God, they worshiped the golden calf. Instead of being thankful for what God had done and was doing in their lives to take care of them, they complained and they murmured. Let me ask you a question. As Christians, should we be a complaining and a murmuring people? Yes or no? No! We should be a thankful people. Of all people in the world, those who have been delivered from Satan, sin, hell, and death, we ought to be a thankful people, a joyful people. people who are not quick to complain and to murmur about everything and everybody. Instead of being eager to move forward into the promised land of milk and honey, this generation, they were fearful and unbelieving. Fearful and unbelieving. They disbelieved God, and thus they became the wilderness generation, wandering for 40 years. It kind of sums up The person who claims to know the Lord, or claims to have a connection with God, and yet is just wandering everywhere. And there's no destination. There's no progression, it's just wandering. A kind of unmoored boat, just moving according to the tides of the world. This was the wilderness generation, wandering for 40 years. And you know, they did not enter God's rest. A new generation, of course, arose, a generation that was different than that first generation, a generation that was different than their parents' generation, who believed God's covenant promises, who were ready to go into the land to follow Joshua's godly leadership and to take the land that God had given them to possess Dear ones, we don't want to miss how this is relevant to us. It's a powerful admonition, a powerful warning that we don't respond to God's faithfulness and promises as did the nation of Israel in that wilderness generation. Unbelief and disobedience have consequences. Unbelief and disobedience, which disobedience flows from unbelief, have consequences. And we know this so clearly by many parts of Scripture, but not least as it concerns this particular part of history from Hebrews 3, verses 12 through 19. If you have a copy of God's Word, turn there with me to Hebrews 3, verses 12 through 19. As you're turning there. when you're seeking to understand scripture, to interpret your Bibles, you need to understand that the New Testament is written in light of the Old Testament. You have so many explicit verses from the Old Testament, but all kinds of allusions to the Old Testament, which help us to understand what God's Word is saying in the New Testament. Hebrews 3, 12 through 19. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart. leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt, led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. The writer to the Hebrews warns the early church to take great care that they are not like this first generation out of Egypt. He encourages God's people to exhort one another, to exhort one another to stand fast, to not give in to the world, to not go to the right or to the left, to stay on course, to stay the course, to finish the race, to be faithful. He says, exhort one another, and that is what we are called to do. We were discussing this in men's Bible study on Thursday morning, and we were asking the question, Is it faithfulness as a Christian to exhort others to walk with God, to persevere, to serve the Lord, to be faithful? And the answer is yes, that is faithfulness as a Christian. And so the next question we ask ourselves is, am I exhorting others to persevere, to be faithful, to be encouraged, to not fear, to be strong and courageous, to serve the Lord. Don't you love when people encourage you like that? Don't you love to be encouraged in the Lord? Don't you need that? I need that. There are times when I have been so low that I get a card from a child and I weep over it because I needed encouragement. I needed a word of exhortation, even from a child at times. I know you need that. We all need it. And so when we think about one another, when we truly love one another, we're thinking about that. And we are stepping into one another's lives in love and encouraging one another. That's not a King James Bible that weighs 50 pounds, knocking people over the head every five minutes in some self-righteous way. Who wants to be around someone like that? I don't. We're talking about loving, kind, gracious encouragement. and exhortation, exhort one another to believe the promises of God so that you and I will not be deceived by the deceitfulness of sin, that our hearts will not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hold fast to Christ, the writer to the Hebrew says. Christ, who is the greater Joshua. who has conquered all his and our enemies and promises to us an eternal inheritance. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, he writes, when Israel rebelled against God's commands and even wanted to go back to their old life in Egypt, believe it or not. God is faithful to his covenant promises, and he's reminding Joshua of that here. The previous generation rebelled. but God's promises are still true. Remember our study of Romans. It was the same thing Paul was sharing with Christians from a Jewish descent. And, of course, that message was going out to all Jews, those who even rejected the gospel, and thinking about the questions that's anticipating the questions they might ask of, well, if Jews don't believe, then are God's promises true? And Paul says, yes, God's promises are true. And of course, he moved into the doctrine of election and God's sovereign grace. Just because we don't believe God's promises doesn't mean God's promises aren't true. And this wilderness generation, they did not believe God's promises, but their sons and daughters did, and they are about to enter the promised land. And so I would just encourage you. I don't know all about the homes that you were raised in. I know a lot of the homes that you were raised in, you've shared with me. Some of you may have come from very godly homes and you are continuing and seeking to be faithful, even as your parents were faithful. Others of you have come from homes where there's been a kind of throwing off of the Lord and of religion and of the church. And so you are saying, I'm not going to be like that generation. I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to be strong and courageous. I'm going to be faithful by the grace of God. And this is what Joshua is commissioned to do, to lead these people, and he's reminding him of this land promise. Verse three, that every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. All of this is based upon the promise. Not in Joshua's giftedness, not in his human strength, not in his wisdom. It is based on the promise of God that he is giving this to Joshua and will fight for him. And that leads to the second point, that God is the great giver. No one gives like God gives, amen? Nobody. He is the great giver. It's the theme in all of scripture, all that we have is a gift from the Father of lights. Salvation is a gift from God, lest anyone should boast. This is certainly a central theme in Joshua. Bible commentator John Goldengay points out that the book of Joshua references God as a giver 36 times. 36 times we learn that God is a giving God. It's a prominent theme in these pages, especially as it concerns his giving of the land to his people and his giving of these enemies into their hands. He also makes the point that, quote, one can give something only if he owns it. And Canaan belonged to God. And so he could give it to whomever he wished. You know, there are those who would speak against the book of Joshua and speak in these kind of, for lack of a better term, woke terms of Israel conquering the land. How dare they take that land from these peoples? Well, here's the thing. This land didn't belong to the Canaanites and the Hittites and all the other ites. The land belonged to God. And God can give the land to whomever he pleases. Psalm 24, one and two. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. The land was God's. And he promised to Abraham, many centuries before, that they would have that land one day. There were enemies and idolaters occupying the land, whom would be displaced as a part of God's plan and as, again, a typology of so much that Christ will do for us. When we I'll share a little bit about this in our congregational meeting, but when we purchased land and built a building in my previous congregation, it came about that we realized that the neighbors of the land had built a part of their yard on the property that the church had purchased. And this couple came in to meet with us and said, you know, God says it's better to give than to receive. And so you should let us keep that. Wow. That's one of those where you just say, wow. Well, that didn't work out for them. Of course, we were going to claim the land that our church purchased and that they encroached upon. It was ours, though they were there, and so we took it back, because it was rightly ours. God promised Abraham that he would be a god to him and to his offspring, and that kings would come from his seed, and nations would be blessed through his seed, namely, ultimately, Christ, and an inheritance of land would be given. Land and presence are these two themes that we're going to see over and over again, of course, not just in Joshua, but all throughout the scripture, beginning in the Garden of Eden. And we touched upon this last time, but this is called, dear ones, biblical theology. This doesn't mean theology from the Bible. Biblical theology means moving from Genesis 1 all the way through Revelation 22 and seeing how redemption unfolds progressively. throughout redemptive history. That's biblical theology. Systematic theology is when you look at a heading of doctrine like, what is man? What is sin? What is salvation? And that's systematic theology, but biblical theology moves right through. And what we see in Joshua is a biblical theology of land and presence. The reason why God's people were so devastated, read Lamentations, when they were exiled from the land and the land was destroyed, is because that was so closely knit to God's presence. God's presence was associated with the land that he gave them. And his curse was associated with being expelled from that land and going into exile to Babylon and so forth. That's why they wanted to come back to the land. and re-erect the temple. And there are all these wonderful themes that we can't fully develop this morning, but we will over the course of these weeks. But God was with Adam and Eve as representatives of all of humanity in perfect communion in the land of the Garden of Eden, that land of milk and honey called the Garden of Eden. Perfect, harmonious communion with God. And then when they sinned, they were expelled from that land into what? The wilderness. East of Eden, guess where we live now? We live in Mount Pleasant, Pastor John. We live in Charleston. No, we live east of Eden. That's where we live. That's why we have sickness, death, heartache, trials, tribulations. We've been living east of Eden ever since. Of course, we have all of these themes then that God brings to instruct us, to train us. He makes these promises that are part of his glorious covenant promise of grace. He makes this land promise as a part of that. Why? Because ultimately, fast forward to the end, to the end of the story. How many of you do that when you get a novel? Read in the last chapter first. I wanna know what's going on. I don't do that. Some of you might do that. But we know the end of the story, right? That we're gonna dwell in the new heavens and the new earth. The new paradise. The land of milk and honey. God is teaching his people to trust his promises. He's bringing them into the land which he has given them, and through their own efforts and strivings and weaknesses and sin and idolatry, they are expelled from the land. And of course, in Isaiah, chapter 25, chapter 66, we have promises of a new heavens and a new earth when Messiah comes. And we see that again in 2 Peter. And so this land presence connection is huge as we think about the book of Joshua. So God reminds Joshua of his promise and exhorts him to take hold of the gift and to act in reference to the gift. He exhorts him to rise up and go into the land, leading the nation of Israel into battle against God's enemies. He tells him to be strong and courageous, not because of his military acumen, though he has it, not because of his natural gifts, though he has them, but because the battle belongs to the Lord. because God's promises are true, because God is with them as they cross the Jordan and cross the threshold into the land of giants and fortified cities. Do you ever feel like when you wake up in the morning, you are entering a day filled with giants and fortified cities? I do. God says, be strong, be courageous, don't be frightful, don't be dismayed. Put your hope in God. In verse six, God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. But then God says something perhaps a little unexpected, which leads to our third point. God calls for conformity to his word. God calls for conformity to his word. Indeed, immediately after exhorting Joshua to be strong and courageous, based on his promise to give them the land, he tells, he repeats this exhortation and applies it to obeying and meditating upon God's word. He repeats the exhortation, in fact, he repeats it three times. He applies it to obeying and meditating upon God's word. Look with me at verses seven and eight. Only be strong and very courageous, God says. being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on 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 then you will have good success. Notice with me these words, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. What does he mean by this? Well, in the ancient times, reading was most often done out loud. If you were in a room next to someone reading a scroll, they would be reading out loud. Meditation on these words would have been done through repetition, murmuring, recitation. Not unlike the way that we will memorize scripture today or memorize catechism questions and answers today, we do it out loud because it sticks better that way. So many of us are auditory learners. God has made us this way. It's why it says faith comes by what? Hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Preaching is so central in the life of the Christian because we need to hear the truth. It needs to come into our ears. Joshua's courage and strength in the Lord are to be shown not just through military strength, but by careful obedience to and meditating upon the Word of God. He's to be careful to do so. Isn't this extraordinary? God is saying to Joshua, be strong and courageous to study the Word. Be strong and courageous to meditate upon the Word. That is strength, that is courage, that is to be brave and to be valiant, is to be a man or a woman or a boy or a girl of the Word. Because it is counter-cultural, it is counter-intuitive even. We are as well to be people of the Word. There's a story I've told before about a man from Kansas City who was working in a factory and was severely injured through an explosion. His face was badly disfigured. He lost his eyesight as well as both hands. Interestingly, he was a newly converted Christian whose heart was so zealous for the Lord. And it didn't stop being zealous after this terrible thing happened to him. One of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read his Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue, happened to run across some of the raised characters on the page. He could feel them. He could feel them with his tongue. Like a flash, he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. He learned to do this. And at the time that this story came out many years ago, he had read through the Bible four times. with his tongue, four times with his tongue. We find ourselves so slow to pick up God's word, so slow to hear from our God. This kind of zeal encourages us to be strong. and to be courageous, to think and to meditate upon the Word of God, upon His promises, His gospel promises of love and grace and mercy, which compel us to want to learn more of this loving God and Father and of His ways. And that leads us to our fourth point, that God calls for us all to rise up and go. There are so many wonderful similarities between Joshua and Jesus. You know, when we study Joshua, we ought to be thinking about Jesus, because Jesus is the greater Joshua. Be thinking, as we study this book, about the various connections that are made and the typology that is so clearly set forth here. Some of you maybe have already seen this. Joshua went into the land, and God was with him. Jesus came down to earth, and God was with him. Joshua had a mission to secure Israel's inheritance. Jesus came down to earth with a mission to secure our inheritance of an eternal land, a new heavens, and a new earth. Joshua was a man of the word. Jesus was a man of the word, of course, perfectly so, careful to do all that was found in the law. Joshua, strong and courageous, was willing to risk his life to do the will of God. Jesus, strong and courageous, was willing to give his life and did so to carry out the will of God. Not my will, but yours, be done, O Lord. Jesus Christ was careful to fulfill every part of God's law, fulfilling all the requirements of God's law, meeting the standard of God's law, so that he would be that perfect, righteous substitute for us on Calvary, giving his life, shedding his blood, giving us his righteousness as a gift. This is what Christ, the greater Joshua, has done to conquer all of your enemies and my enemies for his glory and for our salvation. Joshua led God's people, and with him they arose and went out, and God was with them. Jesus leads us to arise, to get up, and to go into all the world, and to make disciples. And he says in Matthew 28, verse 20, and I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. Dear ones, as we come to this book, as we launch into this book and we consider this glorious commission given by God to Joshua, let us remember these words. Be strong and courageous for the Lord is with you. Remember God's promise. Remember God's presence. Remember this threefold exhortation to strength and courage in the Lord. And also, by the way, put in negative terms in verse nine, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you So whatever is going on in your life, whatever challenges you are facing, abide in the promises of God. Remember the presence of God in your life and rejoice in it. And may it compel you to say with Joshua, as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. I want to end by mentioning Andrew Gray who was a gifted 17th century Scottish preacher who died and went to be with Christ at the tender age of 22 His writings are magnificent 22 years old he left a deep impression on all those who knew him and all those who heard him preach and The great James Durham once commented that Gray's preaching, quote, could make men's hair stand on end. In 1655, Gray preached a sermon entitled, Jesus Christ's Preciousness to Believers. One part reminds me of Joshua's call to choose this day whom you will serve. Quote, dearly beloved of the Lord, how long will you halt between two opinions? If Christ is precious, then let your soul embrace him. But if your idols are precious, then may your soul embrace them and delight in them. We may say that eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has it entered the heart of man to conceive and ponder the endless and precious perfections that are in precious Christ. We shall never be able to comprehend the excellence and transcendent comeliness and beauty that is in his face. And then he quotes Song of Solomon 5, my beloved is the chiefest among 10,000. He is altogether lovely. Gray goes on to write, he is precious. Certainly if the angels and the saints were asked the question, what do you think of Christ? All those who are around the throne would venture this answer to the question, Christ is excellent and exceedingly precious and rather a subject more of admiration than of speech. Dear ones, may this precious Christ compel us to believe the promises of God, to be strong and courageous, to remember his presence and to go forth into all the world and to be his witnesses. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this opening chapter of Joshua, for this commission that you gave to him, and that is so relevant to us and to our lives, even as it ultimately points us to Jesus Christ, the greater Joshua, the greater champion. Oh Father, we thank you for him, for his cleansing blood, which cleanses all of our sins, for his justifying righteousness, which is credited to our account, thereby we are justified in your presence, not by anything we have done or are doing or shall do, but all because of what Christ has done. He is our hope. And oh Lord, we pray that in this gospel promise, this gospel promise, which so with so many wonderful benefits, we would live our lives strong and courageous for your glory, brave and valiant for your glory and for the growth and blessing of the church. O Lord, fill us with your Spirit. Be with us as we go. In Jesus' name, amen.