Well, good morning everyone. Good to be back. It's always hard to be gone; I feel like you're gone forever if you miss a Sunday and kind of wither on the vine. Thank you to Mark again for filling in; that's a tough deal to get a call on a Thursday or Friday and say, “Will you preach on Sunday?” I've been there, and it's difficult. So I really appreciate that, Mark, and you gave a wonderful message last week.

We're going to be beginning the book of Joshua this morning. As a preacher of God's Word, it's always somewhat of a troubling thing for me to come to the end of a book. Because I've lived in that book for so long, when I think of the time we spent in First and Second Thessalonians, the study, the growth, the learning, the encouragement—all of that study we did in the doctrine of eschatology and the promises and practical applications that we found in these epistles. I always want to just go back to the beginning and start again. I feel like we could go right back to the beginning of that book and get so much more out of it.

And then there's the choosing of a new book to preach and teach on, and this is always difficult for me. It's a great commitment of time, effort, and study, and I want to pick a book that's appropriate for this time that will encourage, edify, and strengthen us the most. Every word is God's Word. They're all amazing revelations of God Himself to us. But I still have to pick a book, and I tend toward the New Testament epistles because they are directly for us—they're complete in understanding, and revelations show practical applications.

But this time, as I began to consider where to go next and as I prayed about it, I kept having the same name pop up in my head over and over: Joshua. I kept thinking, maybe Galatians, maybe Ephesians. Ephesians will be good; that'd be a good book for us to study for our church. And it was really like God was saying, “No, Joshua.” This is pretty unusual for me because I'm not really a “God was saying to me” kind of guy, you know? But every time I would pray about it, think on it, I'd hear “Joshua, Joshua.” 

Okay, so I decided we'll go to Joshua, but I don't really know much about Joshua. I mean, I know the stories—the stuff from AWANA and Sunday school. Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho, you know, that kind of thing. That's about all I know. But I have never really studied in any depth the book itself nor taught or preached anything on it. So I kept asking myself as I studied the man Joshua and began to study the book of Joshua, “Why? Why are we here? What is the message?” 

I mean, I could teach the words, the story, the conquest, the histories, and we will. But what is the meaning of this book? What is the lesson, the encouragement we can take from it? As I studied, it became clear to me that the great application for us from the example in the life of Joshua and his call to take the people into the land and conquer it—to fulfill the promises of God—is no fear. 

And I don't mean this in the sense that we'll never have fear, that we'll never have concern or anxiety in this world, but what I'm talking about from the life of Joshua and the profound historical accounts of God working through him that we're about to study together is a choice. It's a willful, volitional choice on our part to know the Word of God, to believe the Word of God, to trust the Word of God, and to obey the Word of God.

In the last two years, we've seen our world fall into the firm grip of fear due to a virus. We've seen amazing effects on people. Fear has overtaken them, and a large part of that fear, especially the irrational fear of some, is due to one thing: a bad report. A bad report will produce fear. 

I just saw one of our Supreme Court justices the other day give a bad report. She said that a hundred thousand children are in serious condition in the hospitals, many on ventilators in the United States right now because of Omicron. That's a bad report, my friends. If it were true, there may be some reason for concern, but it's not true. There are less than 3,500 children in hospitals with COVID, many of those there for other reasons. It was a bad report.

There's been a consistent flood of bad reports on this issue for the last couple of years, and many of them have been intentional for the purpose of causing fear because fear sells. Fear drives people to do things they wouldn't normally do; fear is a powerful driver. Sometimes I think about what life on our farm must have been like for the people who built our house in the late 1800s—a rough life, no doubt, but a purposeful life with work and family and the land, and no news. I’m sure things were happening in the world; horrible things were happening in the world, but they just didn’t know about them, and they lived on. 

Now we have a constant flood of news, of bad reports coming at us literally moment by moment on our phones and computers, and much of it meant to cause us to fear. 

Turn over to Numbers 13 with me, please—Numbers chapter 13. In Numbers 13, God tells Moses to send out men to spy out the land, to send representatives from the tribes of Israel. And Moses does send them out for 40 days—ten men to do a recon mission. 

Numbers 13:25: “And they returned from spying out the land after 40 days. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, ‘We went to the land where you sent us; it truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.’”

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we,” and they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak. We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

My friends, they didn't have CNN or Fox, but they had bad reports in those days as well. Eight of the spies gave a bad report. What made it a bad report was it true that the things that they said were probably mostly true—the men were huge, the cities were heavily fortified. In our world, there really is a virus; it really has killed people. There was a lot of truth in the report. But the problem was that the report did not take into account all of the information, the revelation that they had, namely the words of God.

Notice Caleb is sitting there listening to all this, and the people are grumbling. They say, “Oh, giants, fortified cities! Oh my, we're all gonna die!” Caleb hears and knows all of this; he was there. It says he quieted the crowd and said, “Let’s go! We’re able to overcome it.” Why? 'Cause God said so! Why did he say this in light of all the bad news, the details of the report? Because he wasn't consumed with all these details and worldly fears; he had the promise of God.

What is the result of this news, this bad reporting? The masses are in an irrational tizzy. Look at Numbers 14, verse 1: “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept through the night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If we had only died in the land of Egypt or if we had only died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’” 

So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” Moses speaks for God; Caleb and Joshua are with God. So the people say, “Let’s get a new leader who will give us what we want, who will enjoy our fears with us, and take us back into bondage in Egypt.”

Verse 5: “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel, but Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, ‘The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.’”

And here we see the irrational fear turn into anger against those who spoke truth. Nothing ever really changes. Verse 10: “And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will these people reject me? And how long will they not believe me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.’” And of course, Moses intercedes for them.

“Why has the Lord brought us to this land?” they said, “to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? We're all gonna die! Why has the Lord brought us here?” That's their question in their panic, and irrational fear brought on by the bad report. Well, the Lord told them why He brought them there. He gave them a promise, and He told them what He was going to do and what He wanted them to do. But they're not listening to Him; they're not knowing, believing, trusting, and obeying His word. Only Joshua and Caleb do. 

And because they are so fixed on fear, because they're so consumed with the bad report, they start blaming the Lord and crying in fear that their wives and children are all gonna die. You know what they just been through in the last couple of months? You know, I'm in the last several years—many years now, 40 years—the wonders that they’d seen, the hand of God, the power. Why did Joshua and Caleb not fear? Because they knew, they believed, they trusted, and they wanted to obey God's Word. The command to go into the land and take it didn't matter what the report was; they weren't worried about anything else. 

They had the promise of God and they had the command of God. They weren't sweating the details; they weren't looking at the giants, the fortified cities. They were looking to God, to His Word, to His promises, trusting in His provision. This is what it means to not fear. This is what it means to be courageous, to be very strong and courageous, and this is going to be the example of Joshua to us.

Let's look at chapter 1, verse 1: “After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ‘Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise; go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and 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. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe 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 of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’”

We’re going to see in the life of Joshua a slave, a son, a soldier, and a servant. Well, as we introduce this book of Joshua and the conquering of the land for Israel, I want to focus on the man whom God prepared for this very thing. The history of the nation Israel really starts with the promise made to Abram back in Genesis 12. 

Turn to Genesis 12 with me, please—Genesis 12, verse 1. “Now the Lord had said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

There's a threefold promise here—unconditional promises made to Abram. He would become a great nation; from his loins would come the nation of Israel. He'd be given a land—a land that would be designated geographically in other scriptures, as we'll see, the land which Joshua was about to take by God’s promise. The third part of the promise was a blessing to all nations, all the families of the earth, and this through the seed of Abraham. And Galatians tells us that that seed is Christ. 

So it's important to keep in mind God’s overarching salvation plan based in Genesis 3:15 in mind when we consider these things. Why did God choose Israel? Why did He set them apart to be His own special people? Primarily that the nations would know that He is God, that He is the Lord. We see this over and over throughout the Scriptures. Israel was to be a witness, to lead the nations to God, the Gentiles to salvation. 

In Isaiah 43:10, He said, “You are My witnesses and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me, there is no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord; and besides Me, there is no Savior. I have declared and saved; I have proclaimed, and there is no foreign God among you. For you are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God.” 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to Israel as a city on a hill, a light to the world. We see in many prophetic passages that when Israel finally turns to Jesus in faith, they will be guides to the Gentiles, leading men to the Lord. We see God's saving desire for the nations in Jonah with the Ninevites. Even in this book of Joshua, we will see Rahab and her household come to faith—a prostitute who has entered into the line of the Messiah. 

In the promise of Abraham in Genesis 12, it is promised through the nation of Israel and specifically through Jesus Christ, as Paul explains in Galatians 3, that the whole world will be blessed—all the nations. And Paul says this promise is fulfilled in Christ to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. God's intent has always been to bring salvation to the nations. As we study the book of Joshua, we must keep this in mind.

So out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob come the nation Israel, and we are familiar with the story of how God got Joseph down to Egypt, exalted him to the right hand of Pharaoh, and then he brought Jacob and all his sons to Egypt, saving them from the famine. The subsequent Pharaoh did not know Joseph; I love that line: he did not know Joseph, and brought Israel into slavery. For 400 years, Israel was in slavery in Egypt. It was late in this period that Joshua, formerly Hosea, was the son of Nun, was born into slavery. He was born a slave; his parents were slaves along with all his countrymen. 

He grew up as a slave in Egypt. At the time of the greatest abuse of Israel, as they cried out to God and God heard them and began the process of delivering them out of Egypt, we don't know how old Joshua was at the time of the Exodus. Moses was 80. Exodus 2:23 says it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died; then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob. God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

In Exodus 7:7, it says Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. Exodus 33:11 says the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, and he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. So what is a young man? This kind of changes as you go, doesn't it? My best guess is 40, because we know that Joshua's friend Caleb was 40 years old when he was sent with Joshua to spy out the land according to Joshua chapter 14. So it's probably safe to guess he was about the same age. If that's the case, we know that Joshua spent a good deal of his life as a slave in Egypt, and not only did he grow up as a slave, but he also experienced all of the wondrous work of God in the plagues of Egypt, the exodus of Israel, including the parting of the Red Sea, and the provision in the wilderness.

Joshua had come from very humble beginnings, and he had seen a lot of the sovereign, all-powerful hand of God. And don't forget, he was a son as well—the firstborn son of Nun. I want you to think about what it must have been like when God was pouring out His wrath on Egypt, Moses and Aaron going up to confront Pharaoh, sent by God: let my people go. Well, certainly Joshua was in the know about this, and all of Israel must have been abuzz at the plagues—amazing, biblical proportions, we might say. 

And the culmination would have had special significance to Joshua because he was the firstborn son of Nun according to 1 Chronicles 7. Think of the night of the Passover. God would deliver the final blow and the death of all the firstborn sons of every household and even the livestock unless they covered the doorpost and lentil with the blood of a lamb. Think of this with me: Joshua would die that night as the death angel came to each home unless there was the blood of the lamb. 

Joshua was saved individually, directly by the blood of the lamb which he sacrificed and spread on the door. It was that blood, the faith manifest in the act of taking the life of that lamb and its blood and spreading it in faith on the door, that would cause the death angel to pass over. The firstborn died that night all over Egypt, even in Pharaoh’s house, but those who knew the word of God, who believed, who trusted in what he said and obeyed by putting the blood on the door, lived, were saved from death by the blood of the lamb. It's quite a picture—a quite personal thing for Joshua, whether he was still in his father's house or perhaps he had his own son in his own house. 

And then the amazing, awesome exodus as those millions of Jews exited Egypt and moved toward the Red Sea. Here they appeared to be trapped with Pharaoh changing his mind and pursuing them with all of his warriors to slay them in that place. What fear must have struck the Jews in that place—the massive crowd of people—and in the midst was young Joshua. And then he sees Moses, the man who would eventually, he would later succeed to lead this great nation, put his staff out over the waters and the seas part. Israel walks through on dry land. And in the coup de grâce here, as the Egyptians enter and chase them, the waters come back on them and consume them in judgment. 

God, Jehovah Jireh, has provided salvation for Israel from Egypt in a most fantastic way. Joshua would not soon forget these things—not like so many of his countrymen. So we see Joshua was a slave, he was a son, he was a soldier, and again, we don't know a lot about this, but it's clear that he must have had some training in Egypt. He could have fought under Pharaoh; he was a very accomplished soldier by the time of the Exodus. 

We see in Exodus 16 that Israel is in the wilderness of Sin. This is only the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. And in the next chapter, having traveled to Rephidim, we see the soldier, the commander Joshua, in a most amazing battle. Turn to Exodus 17 with me, please—Exodus 17, verse 8: “Now Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek.’ Joshua's going to lead the battle here. ‘Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.” 

And so it was that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” He tells him, “Remind Joshua, go over this with him again.” And Moses built an altar and called its name, the Lord is my banner, for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Joshua was commissioned to be God's soldier, leader, commander in battle. 

And this would culminate in the taking of the land beyond the Jordan as Israel would possess the land, and God would perform great wonders in these battles through Joshua to show God's glory, power, and might; and the truth that the battle is the Lord's. Joshua was a slave, he was a son, he was a soldier, and perhaps most importantly, he was a servant. He was a servant to Moses and to the Lord God of Israel. 

We don't have a lot of revelation about Joshua before the book itself, but what we do see is a servant's heart—a daily, continual faithfulness to God. We saw that in Exodus 33 that we read before; when Moses would go to the tent of meeting set up outside the camp, all the men would come to the doors of their tent while Moses spoke with God, and Joshua was with him. But it says when Moses would leave, Joshua would stay there. He'd just stay in the tent of meeting. 

He was a servant to Moses—whatever Moses needed—and it says he remained in the tent of meeting. He stayed there; he was nearby, always by Moses when he was meeting with the Lord. Even when he went up on the mountain, he was up near Moses. When the Lord called Joshua to go in as one of the ten spies, he went. And when there was the bad report, when the news was troubling, fear-inducing, causing the people’s hearts to melt, Joshua said, “Wait a minute! The Lord God has promised us the land; He will give it to us. It doesn’t matter how big the giants are, how fortified the cities are; the land and the people are ours. Let’s go and get them!”

Joshua was a servant who wanted to be faithful—faithful as a youth, even as a slave; faithful as a servant to the work of Moses and of God; faithful as a soldier, the leader of the army of Israel. He was courageous; he was not filled with fear. Yes, there were giants in the land; yes, the cities were fortified. But like David with Goliath, it mattered not to him what the odds were, how things looked from a worldly perspective, or how frightening the news was. Joshua knew the Word, the promise of the Lord. He believed the Word of the Lord. He trusted in the living God and he obeyed what he was told to do as a servant of God. 

See, the rest is up to God. But in this, in faith, walking in the Spirit, there is no fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Look at our text again—Joshua 1:1. “After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ‘Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise; go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.’”

Look at verse 5: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 

Only be strong and very courageous. Makes me think of Timothy when Paul had to write to Timothy, right? Timothy wasn't conquering any land; Timothy wasn't leading soldiers in an army. Timothy was preaching the Word. He had trouble in Ephesus; he needed to straighten it out. He needed to not be timid. He needed to say, “Thus says the Lord,” and preach and teach the Word. This was his command. But he needed to be strong; he needed to be courageous. Because the Lord was doing the work. 

It doesn't matter whether he's taking down the walls of Jericho or he's edifying the church in Ephesus; the Lord is doing the work. We need to be faithful. Verse 9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

The Lord was with Joshua all the days of his life. Do you know that we have something more? Something better in the new covenant than Joshua had? Jesus said in John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him. For He dwells with you,” He said to the disciples, “and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” 

Paul says in Colossians that the mystery of the new covenant is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us. He has come to live in us and given His Spirit as a guarantee until the redemption of our bodies. In John 14, He promised to come and take us to be with Him forever. If it were not so, I would have told you, He said. He's preparing a place for us in heaven to spend eternity with Him.

Romans 8, as we've seen recently, is a bold statement of our security—our salvation in Christ and His promise to glorify everyone whom He justifies. Hebrews 13 says, “Be content; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” Not only do we have these promises of eternal life now and forever with Him, but we have the promise of His sufficiency for us today and every day, no matter the circumstances in our world.

My oldest daughter, Caitlin, has a four-year-old daughter, Lucy. Last night, Lucy was praying, and she prayed, “God, please don’t let me go to school on Monday,” because she's scared about going to that school. They recently moved to Minneapolis. And Caitlin said, “Well, Lucy, that’s maybe not a prayer that God will answer. You have to go to school on Monday; I have to go to work.” And she said, “Well, I’ll pray again.” Okay. 

She said, “Lord, please go with me to school on Monday.” Philippians 4:12: “I know how to be abased, I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Are there giants in the land? Will we have trouble and tribulation, disease and sickness? Will we die? Yes, unless the Lord comes first, you're going to die. You bet you will. But death no longer has dominion over us. We've been released from the bondage to fear of death; we are in Christ. These are all promises of the Word of God. 

Do we like the process? No. Do we know it's going to be hard sometimes, painful, overwhelming? Emotionally, yes. But my friends, the great message of the book of Joshua chapter one, the opening of this great book, which we will explore in depth next time is this: Be strong and courageous. Why? For I am with thee. I am in you in the new covenant. I will not leave you or forsake you; I will keep you and work in and through you for my glory. Ultimately, I will bring you to glory to spend eternity in heaven with me. 

Don't look to and listen to the bad reports. Turn off the news, which is meant to cause you fear and panic, and look to the words of God. Do not turn to the right or to the left. The answer is the middle road, steadfastly fixed on the person and promises of Jesus Christ. Be very strong and courageous. What does this mean? It means that we know the Word of God. It means that we believe the Word of God. It means that we trust in the living God and that we obey what He says. This is the promise of God to Joshua and even more so to us. 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

Closing prayer: Father, we thank You for Your Word, Your truth. We thank You that You’re in us. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have come to make their home in us. We have a promise; we have a guarantee that You’re going to keep us, that our salvation is reserved in heaven. And though we experience trials in this life and fear and worry and sickness and death and all the things in this cursed world, we don’t need to fear. Help us not to live in fear. Help us to be strong and of good courage because we know that You are in us, that You're working out Your will for Your glory. We can be a witness for You in all these things and a testimony to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.