How Joshua speaks to us today.

Daniel Bryan

Joshua • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Transcript

Introduction

Illustration/Story

Why do we study the book of Joshua in 2020?

Joshua in short is the story of God leading the nation of Israel to conquer the land God had promised them hundreds of years earlier. It’s an old story about an ancient people and their journey thousands of years ago. Yet as part of the Bible it has served and continues to serve the lives of men and women to this day. It’s inclusion here teaches us about who God is and how He works. If we can better understand God and how He has worked in the past we will better understand the future.

We face struggle, failures and success like the Israelites did.

The book of Joshua covers the journey of Israel into the promised land. Sometimes looking back it’s tempting to think of this as a glorious success. The truth is this journey was full of terrible battles and great failures. The journey was fully of struggle, hardships, and fights.

Some teach that Jesus will take away all our problems in your life. They are dead wrong! The truth is our enemy is a deadly foe.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Satan devotes his energies to making life difficult and challenging and pushing us to reject God. The truth is that none of us will fully conquer the struggle against Satan in this life. In the same way the Israelites never fully conquered Canaan like God commanded them.

Yet, just like the Israelites, God gives us victories in our struggles. And the more we are faithful to God, the more He blesses and guides our lives. One day we can look forward to a time in Heaven with no more struggles.

Today we argue about the correct response to the Coronavirus.

We argue about politics.

We get in fights inside the church and we hurt and get hurt. As Christians God has equipped us to live differently and say no to sin. God has promised to protect and watch over us. God has promised a certain future for us. Despite these promises it’s easy to get lost in life. It’s easy for the aches, pains, and exhaustion of today to overshadow long held confidence in the future.

This bring me to a couple reasons we step back into the Bible.

First of all we believe that all scripture, every bit of it is useful for teaching and training each of us in godliness. It shows us how to live.

Secondly, as we look back and read the story of the nation of Israel it gives us perspective today. As we watch another people caught up in their pandemics, politics, and sins we get a better perspective on our own.

Do you know why many commercials are so short? It’s because advertisers like Nike, Walmart, and Ford want you to get a positive impression of their brand but not spend much time analyzing the ad. They want you to feel a feeling and act on that feeling. We want you to do both at Cornerstone. We want you “like” the Christian walk, we want you to feel like worshipping God and putting Him first in your life. We also want you to understand life from God’s perspective. We want you think about your life with the perspective that God gives.

Joshua shows truths about God that encourage us to this day.

God keeps His promises

God promised hundreds of years earlier to give the descendents of Abraham the land of Canaan

Genesis 12:7 ESV

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Even after God performed incredible miracles to rescue Israel from Egypt…Think the Coronavirus times 10....Even after God rescued Israel they refused to enter the promised land. In judgment God sent them to wander the desert 40 years.

Even after all that time Joshua is able to see God lead them into the land.

Joshua 21:45 ESV

45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Joshua 23:14 ESV

14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.

Where have you seen God keep His promises in your life?

How could you take time to day to write of how God has kept His promises so you could remember?

God promised to judge the Canaanite nations for their extreme wickedness.

Deuteronomy 9:4–5 ESV

4 “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Opening Up Joshua God’s Promise to Judge the Canaanite Nations for Their Extreme Wickedness

God’s faithfulness is such that he fulfils promises that he made so long ago that it would appear as if they were forgotten.

God used the nation of Israel to bring His judgment on the Canaanite lands.

As Don said last week, God also was setting the stage for the coming of Jesus through the name, life, and work of Joshua.

Joshua was part of the “scarlet thread” of signs throughout the Bible pointing to the cross.

“Joshua” is Hebrew version of “Jesus”

Joshua succeeded Moses and won the victories Moses couldn’t win.

In the same way Jesus succeeds Moses’ law and won the victory that law could not win.

Joshua was the captain of Israel.

Jesus is the captain of salvation leading “many sons to glory”

Hebrews 2:10 ESV

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Joshua defeated the enemies of Israel and gave the people rest.

Jesus defeated Satan and his forces giving His people spiritual rest here and eternal rest in Heaven.

Joshua shows us the sovereign power of God.

We’ll see waters of a river stopping in their place.

We’ll see people shouting and the walls of a great city falling at their feet.

We’ll see the sun standing still in the sky so God’s people could win a victory.

In short, throughout Joshua we see God flex His power to control the world for His purposes. If God can control the natural world in supernatural ways, what can he do in your life and mine?

Joshua shows us the importance of obeying God.

We will will see story after story of men and women given the chance to obey or disobey God. We’ll see the blessing that comes from obedience to God.

Joshua 1:7–8 ESV

7 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. 8 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.

We will also see the consequences of disobeying the word of God. We’ll read of a man named Achan whose disobedience to God cost the lives of His entire family.

Joshua shows us the grace of God.

God gave Israel the land out of His generosity...

Joshua 23:9–10 ESV

9 For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.

God is willing to save and redeem even sinners in condemned peoples such as the prostitute Rahab.

Even when God had plans to totally destroy Jericho and their people He was willing to show grace to the prostitute Rahab and her family. Not only did God preserve her family, he wove the family of Rahab into the ancestry of Jesus Christ.

If God can weave the life of Rahab into the ancestry of Jesus, how can he use your life today.

Conclusion

We serve an extraordinary God who works in powerful ways today as much as He did 2000 years ago. Facing a pandemic altered world feels at times as crazy and different as conquering a new land.