Sermon Tone Analysis

Obedience Required

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joshua 1:10-18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 1999

 

Obedience Required

 

Frank Sinatra

 

Recently the famous American singer Frank Sinatra died.

For more than five decades he has been one of America's most popular entertainers.

Perhaps he is best known for the song " My Way.

" Apparently it has struck a responsive chord among his fans.

What chord is that?

Self - will.

It's the dominant desire of human beings to do things their own way.

And that's exactly how the song ends: " I did it my way.

" In the ordinary affairs of life, the exercise of self-determination may be commendable.

But in relationship to God, our way is never right.

Our self will must submit to His will!

 

Introduction

 

This morning we took a look at the commission God gave to Joshua after the death of Moses.

We saw that God called Him to lead the children of Israel into the promised land.

But so that Joshua would not be overwhelmed with the enormity of the task God provided three things for him so that he would be successful.

/Who can tell me the first provision?/

*God's promises*.

/What was the second provision?

/*God's precepts.*

/And who knows what the third provision was?/ *God's presence.

* 

 

/How did Joshua and Israel respond to God's command?/ /How should we respond to God's commands?/

Tonight, I want to look at the response of Joshua and the people.

God gave them a command to obey and we will see their response.

Joshua's Response

 

*Firstly* Joshua's response was Immediate

 

*Joshua 1:10* /Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,/

 

Verse 10 of chapter one tells us how Joshua responded to God's commission.

It begins with the word */then.

/*Joshua's response was immediate.

He didn't need time to think about it.

He didn't seek advice from some one else.

He knew what God had said and immediately obeyed.

The impression that you get from the first 9 verses is that Joshua lacked courage and was concerned about leading the people into the promised land.

The responsibility leading 2 million people was no easy task.

But God encouraged Joshua and promised him success if he would obey God's word.

The Jordan River

 

The one big problem that immediately confronted Joshua was the Jordan River.

The Jordan River has some of the steepest banks of any river in the world.

At this time it was in flood and presented quite an obstacle.

How would he get some two million people and livestock across.

There were no boats or bridges.

Along with many women and children there were herds of cattle so they could not swim across.

Humanly speaking this was an impossible situation.

What would Joshua do.

Joshua's Response

 

Joshua had received God's commission and now he responded in faith.

He believed that God would keep His promises to Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

He believed the promise that God would be with him as He was with Moses.

He did not doubt God's word, even though humanly speaking it seemed impossible to obey.

Moses faced a similar obstacle when he began his ministry.

Moses was confronted with the Red Sea and Pharoah's army.

But Joshua took control of the leadership and the commands he gave just oozed with confidence.

The timidity that he felt had been put aside and he took control of the situation.

He did exactly what God commanded him to do.

In fact the /commands/ that Joshua gave were the same ones God had given to him.

In verse 11 you can see that Joshua relates this same urgency to the people.

*Joshua 1:11 */Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare food supplies; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

/Joshua did not put off  his response to God's command till after a committee had looked at it or till the weather was suitable for travelling.

He acted quickly and told the people to get ready to move out.

He also informed them the reason for the move.

They were going to cross the Jordan River and possess the land of Canaan.

Joshua had no doubts, but emphasised the fact that the Lord their God was giving it to them to possess.

The result was that the people of Jericho saw God work miraculously on Israel's behalf.

The Jordan River parted and they walked across.

The waters started to recede after the priests put their feet into the river.

Application

 

But how do we respond when God challenges you through the Bible or the preaching of the word.

Do you immediately do what God has commanded you to do.

Or do you procrastinate or say that you will do it later.

/Delayed obedience/ is/ *disobedience*/.

When God gives us a clear command we have no alternative but to obey.

But not only was Joshua's response /Immediate/, it was also /Intelligent.

/

 

*Secondly *Joshua responded  Intelligently  *Joshua 1:10-11 says:*

* *

/Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,/ /Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare food supplies; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

/

 

a.

He used Delegation  v 10.

 

Joshua knew what God had commanded him to do.

But he also knew that he could not accomplish the task on his own.

After Joshua received the Lord's commission he immediately sent for the officers of the people.

He commanded them to pass the word through the camp.

The task was too much for one person.

Joshua needed to share the responsibility and the work load.

The word command or commanded is used six times in these nine verses.

It ends with the peoples response to Joshua and their promise of allegiance.

Illustration from the V.B.S.

I learned an important lesson from our associate pastor regarding delegation.

When we served on V.B.S. ministry we divided it up into areas such as crafts, music, teaching, memory verses, puppets, games, quizzes, etc.

Each section had a leader and they were in charge of about 4 or 5 people.

The leaders were then to keep the coordinator up to date on their area of ministry.

This enabled more people to be involved.

It meant that things were done more thoroughly since they concentrated on their area.

It kept a few people from being burned out.

Moses and Jethro, The appointment of Rulers

 

Perhaps this was started after Moses took Jethro's advice when struggling under the load.

[Ex 18:13-22] Moses at Jethro's advice set God fearing men as rulers over 1000s, 100s, 50s, and 10s.