THROUGH THE BIBLE - Joshua 1..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. As I said, we're going to start with this new book of Joshua, and we're going to be reading chapter 1. And then we're going to be given a brief Christological overview.

This is a very interesting book, my dear brother and my dear sister. This is the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to the people of Israel. And as we are going to start reading all of these chapters, We are going to see here, my dear brother and my dear sister, not only that here is the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to the people of Israel, but perhaps Joshua is one of the types or one of the best shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the name is the same name of our Savior, or Joshua, just from the name, He is the one that is going to bring fulfillment to the promise of the Lord. And brethren, in bringing fulfillment to that promise of the Lord, making it into the promised land, there is this glorious reality that the people of Israel who had been captive in Egypt for many years, and who had gone through the wilderness, also through much suffering, they are going to enter into the promised land, which is the rest.

They're going to enter into the rest of the people of Israel. And of course, the book of Hebrews says that Joshua could not give them the final rest. Joshua, as the commander of the people of Israel, was not able to give them the final rest, because that was just simply a shadow. of the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ, that taking those who are captive, that is our souls, on Him, like the church, leaning on the Beloved, coming out of the wilderness to enter into the eternal rest of our souls, only found in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the book.

of Joshua, my dear brother and my dear sister. So as we read and as we go through these chapters and chapter one and all the chapters that we have here, we're to approach this book with much reverence, asking the Lord to help us to see indeed the fulfillment of that promise. And as we're going to be reading all of these chapters, brethren, we're going to see not only how the people of Israel are going to be taken through the Jordan into the Promised Land, but also when they make it into the Promised Land, we will see all of these wars and all of these battles against the Canaanites, because the Lord is going to take possession of the land that belongs to the Lord. And once the people of Israel, commanded by Joshua, takes possession of this land, this land is going to be distributed between the tribes, you remember? The land is going to be distributed, all the land and the cities is going to be distributed or allocated to the 12 tribes of Israel.

Even the Levites will receive cities where they will live. And in the end of this book, we will see the prophetic ministry of Joshua. What we have in chapter 1 is the beginning of all of that glorious story. The beginning of that story of taking possession of the promised land in which the people of Israel will find rest. In chapter 1, we have the taking over of the ministry of Moses by Joshua.

He's dead now, Moses is dead. And there's need that someone will take the people of Israel into and through the Jordan, into the Promised Land, to bring the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord. And that is what we have in chapter 1. As we're going to be reading now these verses here, 18 verses, we will see precisely that. The taking over of Joshua, of the ministry of Moses, And then on the second half of the chapter, we will see the first actions of this new leader of Israel.

The new actions, you remember, perhaps, Gad and Manasseh and Reuben, how they had an allotment of land on the other side of the Jordan. And Moses said to these tribes, that you are to go into the promised land with your brothers and you are to take possession of the land, the men, and you are to be with them. And once you take possession of it, you can return to this land that I'm giving you. That is going to be the first instruction that Joshua, as the leader of the people of Israel, is going to give to these two and a half tribes in the second half of this chapter. That is basically the book and that is basically chapter one.

So now let us please, my dear brother and sister, read carefully here chapter one and the details of that which I have just said now. This is the word of the Lord. These 18 verses now we're reading by faith. paying attention to the details in the context of the things that I have just said. Let us read together these 18 verses, brethren.

This is the word of the Lord. 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 these people, into the land that I'm giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the soul of your food will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. from the wilderness and east 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, I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause these 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." 10 And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go into it and take possession of the land that the Lord your God has given you to possess. And the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember the word that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan.

But all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God has given them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.' And they answered Joshua, old, that you have commanded us, we will do, and whatever you send us, we will go, just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses, whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous."

My dear brother, my dear sister, my desire here is to take this beginning of the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to the people of Israel and indeed to take the application of here that we see in this chapter and to speak to you about the promise of the Lord. the promise of the Lord, not only for the people of Israel, but for the people of God through the generations. And when I say the promise of the Lord, I put it in singular, because there is a sense in which all the promises of the Lord can be taken as a singular promise of the Lord, just as all the words of the Lord, are considered the word of the Lord, because they are all rooted and established upon the true character of our God. Whatever He says is true, and whatever He says that He will do, He indeed will make it happen. This is the promise of the Lord.

And for us, my dear brother and sister, to understand from this chapter and the accomplishments and the role of Joshua and apply that to our souls, the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord, there's something very important that we need to understand. And that is in relation to our faith. The faith of each one of the sons and daughters of God, from the very beginning of the story or history of redemption up to the end, is that which defines the type of relationship that each individual is going to have with the God, the Redeemer, the One that loved them and saved them, either from Egypt or from the darkness of our sins. Your faith, the faith of Joshua and the faith of the people of Israel, whoever had genuine faith, is the most important thing that defines our life as believers and as people who live in God. Love is the greatest of the virtues of the Christian, but faith is that through which life is given and life is maintained.

And when we think about faith, we are to distinguish between two important categories, my dear brother and my dear sister. The first one is our justifying faith. That is the faith that every single believer has by virtue of the coming of the Holy Spirit that changes the heart of that person and then naturally the heart of that person responds in faith to the gospel and then the righteousness of Christ is given to that person and that is justifying faith. The Apostle says in Romans chapter 5 that we have been justified by faith and now we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Once that faith is given, then there's absolutely nothing that will change the condition and the situation of that person.

That person is fully justified. And as that person is fully justified when they have faith, They will be in heaven, even when eternity comes. That is justifying faith, that does not change. It is given to the person. But there's another aspect of our faith that we need to pay careful attention to.

And that is our sanctifying faith. My mind is working in Spanish this evening. You will not understand anything in Spanish. I will try to translate everything that I'm thinking. Second category is this sanctifying faith, not justifying faith, but sanctifying faith.

Now, my dear brother, my dear sister, sanctifying faith is the faith through which you live your Christian life. Once you have been set apart by the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have been justified and nothing is going to change that. But then the impartation of Christ's righteousness upon you, that is making yourself more like the Lord Jesus Christ, is lived through faith. But the aspect of that faith is called sanctifying faith. And that sanctifying faith is required to be constantly empowered.

If that sanctifying faith is not empowered, if that sanctifying faith is not increasing, then the Christian might drive and turn and deviate and walk in darkness or walk in sin or walk in unrighteousness. Yes, justified because faith has been given to that person and the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to him or her. But the life of the Christian is to be lived and increasing constantly in their sanctifying faith. The life that we live in the flesh, we live now by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. Now we live by faith and not by sight.

And that is the sanctifying aspect of our faith. And that faith requires diligence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That faith requires to be nourished and empowered. And the way that that faith is nourished and empowered is through the Word of God that feeds and shapes our faith.

It was by the Word of God that we were initially saved, so that we were justified. And it's with the same Word of God that we are sanctified with the faith that now is making us like the person of Jesus Christ. And the Word of God, my dear brother and sister, requires communion with the Lord. And it requires that the eyes of the person will be open to see who God is, what He has done and what He will do. And the promise of the Lord, my dear brother and my dear sister, falls upon the category of who God is and what He will do.

And what we have in front of us in chapter 1 of Joshua is precisely the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise of God for the people of Israel. And the principles that we see here can be taken for every single promise that God has given to His people. So I want to share with you just simply four important thoughts about the promise of the Lord, not only for Joshua and the people of Israel, but also for your soul. If our faith is going to be empowered, if our faith is going to be strengthened, if we are going to have victory over sin, my dear soul, if we are going to bear fruits of righteousness in Christ for the glory of the Father, then this cannot happen apart from an empowerment and a strengthening of our faith. If our hearts are filled with doubts, if our hearts are filled with uncertainty, if our hearts are filled with religion and traditions of men, and they are not filled with the presence of the Spirit and genuine faith, then the fruits that we will bear will not be fruits of righteousness in Christ for the glory of the Father, but they will be fruits of unrighteousness and corruption until death.

Four things that I want to show you from the promise of the Lord that is not only given for the people of Israel and Joshua, but for every single person. The first important thing here that we see is that the promise of the Lord does not depend upon any son of Adam. The promise of the Lord is not contingent upon the life of any man or woman Any son or daughter of Adam is required for the promise of the Lord to bring to completion. Not even Moses, who was so great and so exalted and who was so mightily used by God to accomplish all the things that he accomplished through him for the people of Israel, was required. for the promise of the Lord to take place.

There's absolutely no man, that's no matter how reputable he is, or how much they know, or how popular they are. There's absolutely no need of men or women for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled. But even though the Lord does not require men or women to fulfill His promises, In his wisdom, he has defined that he will use men and his people to accomplish his promise and the fulfillment of the promise. Because the Moses that now is dead is being replaced by Joshua, who is going to take the ministry of Moses and bring accomplishment to that promise of the Lord. It was needed in the wisdom of the Lord that a man will be the commander of the people of Israel to bring fulfillment to the promise.

Because even though he does not need anyone to bring fulfillment to his promise, he uses his people to accomplish that. And the apostle Peter says in Peter chapter 1 that there is a salvation that is ready to be revealed. And that salvation that is ready for us, that is ready to be revealed, that is for us. And what he says is that the people of God are being kept, are being guarded, are being preserved. for that promise that is yet to come.

And the way that God is keeping and preserving those people, Christians, for that promise that is yet to come, it is through God's power, because He does not need anyone to bring fulfillment to His promise. Yet, as the Apostle writes that, he says that that power of God works through our faith. It does not matter how big you are, or how popular you are, or how knowledgeable you are, or how intellectual you are, or how much you know the Scriptures. If by grace through faith you have been inserted into the person of Jesus Christ, then the Lord will bring to completion the work that He has started in you. And guess what?

He is the grace that is sustaining you and He is going to use you. Independently of whatever you do and whatever you have, the grace of the Lord will come upon you to conform you to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring to completion the work that He has started, not only for the people of Israel entering to the Promised Land, but also for every single believer, and then we can rest. The promise of the Lord does not depend on any man or woman, but the Lord in His grace has defined that He is going to use His people to bring glory to His name and the fulfillment of His promise. First thing, second thing, the promise of the Lord is not only not contingent upon men or women, even though they are used for the fulfillment of the promise, but second is that the promise of the Lord is certain. Every single word that comes out of the mouth of men or women can be doubted, can be questioned.

But every single word that comes from the mouth of God is absolutely certain. And the reason why the promise of the word of the Lord is absolutely certain is, first of all, because He's absolutely sovereign. He is in control of all things, so that he can say to Joshua, you see the land from Lebanon to the Euphrates, everything that you see, not I will give it to you, but I have given it to you. Because this is the Lord that is sovereign above all things, Creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in them. Your thoughts, your emotions, your feelings, your heart, your blood, your breath, everything is under the sovereign control of the Lord.

And even though at times our eyes, because of our unrighteousness and our lack of faith, does not allow us to see the sovereign control of the Lord, He is in absolute control of everything. And if He is in control of everything, How can we doubt the certainty of the promises of the Lord, owner of heavens and earth? Every time that you go outside and a drop of rain comes and hits your head, or that you can breathe the air that is coming, or you can see the beauty of the morning, or you can smell the nature, all of these different things, all of them under the sovereign control of our Lord and Savior. Your heart beating, one more day, one less day, sick or not, that is the sovereign control of the Lord. And in that sense, every single person is immortal until the day that the Lord has decided that He is going to take them either to glory or to pay for their sins where they belong.

The Lord is sovereign and hence His promise is absolutely certain. But not only that, my dear brother and sister, the reason why also His promise is certain is because He is our refuge, He is our defender. It is said to Joshua, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. The promise of the Lord, my dear brother and sister, is certain, because He is our refuge, He is our defender. He is not only sovereign, but He is on our side.

Or better, we are on His side by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in control of absolutely everything, and there is absolutely no one who is going to be able to stand against this mighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. And if that was not enough, it is not only that He is sovereign and that He is our defender, but brethren, also that He is with us. Just as He was with Joshua and with the people of Israel, just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. by virtue of the accomplishments of Christ, my dear brother and my dear sister, we have the confidence that the fellowship that we have with God is going to remain until the end.

We're going to be united to Him and there's absolutely nothing that can separate us. So independently of the size and independently of the difficulty of the pilgrims towards the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord, then we know that the presence of God is with us because of what Christ has accomplished upon the cross. And then when the mind of the Christian truly meditates upon these truths, and when we really see that it does not depend on men, and that the promise of the Lord is certain, this takes us to the third aspect of the promise of the Lord. And that is that the promise of the Lord empowers. When the mind of a person, when the heart of a person is truly taken by the reality of who God is, sovereign above all things, and that He is going to bring fulfillment of His promise independently of all those things, then the words that Joshua received there in verse 6 are made clear to the soul of every single person.

It says, "...Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause the people to inherit the land that I swore that their fathers to give them. Be strong and courageous. What man or what woman is going to be able to derive strength and courage and power in and of themselves? Impossible.

The only way that a man or a woman can derive courage and valor and strength and power is when the mind of that person is open by faith to the mighty power of God and who He is and what He has accomplished. And when that is apprehended by sanctifying faith, my dear brethren, my dear sister, then we can hear the words of God speaking to us, be strong and be courageous, keep walking, keep walking ahead, the fulfillment of the promise that has been granted and given unto you in the person of Christ, my son died for you upon the cross, this is the fulfillment of the greatest promise upon the cross, so now be strong and courageous. And this is an empowerment that does not happen apart from the continual and ongoing dependence upon the word of God. Because the encouragement that God gives to Joshua of being strong and courageous is in light of the condition of that the Word of God will not depart from your mouth. That everything that you are will be established and rooted upon the fact that the Word of God will be treasured up in your heart.

that the Word of God will be treasure up in your soul. How is a person going to come to the majestic realization of the promise of God? None other way that through the Word of God. that reveals through the power of the Spirit and in the person of Jesus Christ, who God is, what He has done and what He will do. There's absolutely no Christian whose sanctifying faith is going to be strengthened and empowered, my dear brother or sister, who lives a life apart and in distance to the Word of God.

So the fulfillment of the promise for Joshua and the people of Israel was contingent upon them submitting to the words of the Lord. This is what the Christians ought to do. There's absolutely no way that we can love one another. This is what John says to the elect lady in 2 John, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth. Love being a manifestation of truth.

And that truth is not a truth that abides in the mind, it's a truth that abides in the heart. That is when Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life, comes and takes possession of the heart of a person, so that the soul of that person is awakened and open to all the truth that is given through the scripture. So be courageous, be strong. And once a person has received the divine encouragement of the presence of Christ, that is necessarily going to take us to action. There is no empowerment of faith, my dear brother, my dear sister, that does not move a Christian to action.

We are not saved by the works that we do, but the works that we do are a qualifier of the spiritual reality and the power of Christ that is within us. And when I say works, I'm not speaking about doing things with our hands, but rather bearing the fruit of righteousness that is found in Christ Jesus for the glory of the Father, or bearing the fruit of the Spirit that is rooted in Christ Himself. There is absolutely no possibility that a Christian who has been taken captive by the realization of the power of the promise of God, in the person of Christ, and the accomplishments of this glorious God of ours, will be absent of action. That is, when the heart is taken by the love of Christ, and when the soul is captured by the faith of the Savior, and when we come to a realization that He died upon the cross, and He died for our sins, Then there is going to be a natural manifestation of action of obedience to the Lord, and not an obedience that is burdensome, but an obedience that is the result of love, just as Joshua took over the role of Moses, and then now he was being the commander of the tribes of the people of Israel to take possession of the land. So the Christian, when they have a realization of the cross and Christ, and that He died for them upon the cross, it is moved by this glorious promise that I am with you, the end of the age, then that a Christian can be empowered and strengthened to love one another, to serve one another, to share the gospel, to grow in Christlikeness for the benefit of the brethren, to care for the poor, to care for the needy, to care for the local church, not to be a selfish person.

that is asking and always requiring secretly in the heart to be served by others, and always wanting to be received by others, but rather, brethren, a person that now knows that the value of his life is to serve the one who loved him and gave his life for him. Because if the promise of the Lord is, certain, not contingent upon any man, that is empowering our soul and that leads to action, that is because, only because the first promise that was ever uttered before the creation of the world has been already fulfilled. And that is, I want to have a people unto myself who is going to pay for their sins. And then the son says, I will go, my dear father. I will go into creation.

I will go into the likeness of a man. I will take the nature of these sinful men and I will take the price of their sins. I will die upon the cross. and that promise was already fulfilled. It is finished, the Savior said upon the cross, because He came to die to crush the head of the serpent, and indeed He accomplished that.

And by virtue of the glorious accomplishment of the cross, that we can have certainty that everything that the Lord says is indeed going to happen. May the promise of God empower our hearts and move us to be more like the Savior and less like us. Amen.