Joshua – God Encourages His Leader - as men we fall into similar area:

1. God encourages His leader (Josh. 1:1–9)

Encouragement from God’s commission (vv. 1–2). Leade= rs don’t lead forever, even godly leaders like Moses. There comes a time= in every ministry when God calls for a new beginning with a new generation and= new leadership. Except for Joshua and Caleb, the old generation of Jews had perished during the nation’s wanderings in the wilderness; and Joshua= was commissioned to lead the new generation into a new challenge: entering and conquering the Promised Land. “God buries His workmen, but His work g= oes on.” It was God who had chosen Joshua, and everybody in Israel knew t= hat he was their new leader.

Over the years I’ve seen churches and parachurch ministries flounder and almost destroy themselves in futile attempts to embalm the past and escape the future. Their theme song = was, “As it was in the beginning, so shall it ever be, world without end.” Often I’ve prayed with and for godly Christian leaders who were criticized, persecuted, and attacked simply because, like Joshua, they= had a divine commission to lead a ministry into new fields of conquest; but the people would not follow. More than one pastor has been offered as a sacrifi= cial lamb because he dared to suggest that the church make some changes.

J. Oswald Sanders writes: “= ;A work originated by God and conducted on spiritual principles will surmount = the shock of a change of leadership and indeed will probably thrive better as a result” (Spiritual Leadership, p. 132).

In describing the death of King Arthur, Lord Tennyson put some wise and profound words in the mouth of the = king as his funeral barge moved out to sea. Sir Bedevire cried out, “For n= ow I see the true old times are dead”; and Arthur replied:

The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfills himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corr= upt the world.

[̶= 0;The Passing of Arthur”]

“Would that life were like= the shadow cast by a wall or a tree,” says the Talmud, “but = it is like the shadow of a bird in flight.” Trying to clutch the past to= our hearts is as futile as trying to embrace the passing shadow of a bird in flight.

A wise leader doesn’t completely abandon the past but builds on it as he or she moves toward the future. Moses is mentioned fifty-seven times in the Book of Joshua, evidence that Joshua respected Moses and what he had done for Israel. Joshua worship= ed the same God that Moses had worshiped, and he obeyed the same Word that Mos= es had given to the nation. There was continuity from one leader to the next, = but there wasn’t always conformity; for each leader is different and must maintain his or her individuality. Twice in these verses Moses is called God’s servant, but Joshua was also the servant of God (24:29). The im= portant thing is not the servant but the Master.

Joshua is called “Moses= 217; minister” (1:1), a word that described workers in the tabernacle as w= ell as servants of a leader. (See Ex. 24:13;= 33:11; Num. 11:28; Deut. 1:38.) Joshua learned how to obey as a servant before he commanded as a general; he was first a servant and then a ruler (Mat= t. 25:21). “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander,” wrote Aristotle in his Politics.

God commissioned Joshua to achie= ve three things: lead the people into the land, defeat the enemy, and claim the inheritance. God could have sent an angel to do this, but He chose to use a= man and give him the power he needed to get the job done. As we have already se= en, Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2:10),= who has won the victory and now shares His spiritual inheritance with us.

Encouragement from God’s promises (vv. 3–6). Since Joshua had a threefold task to perform, God gave him three special promises, one for each task. God would enable Joshua to cross the river and claim the land (vv. 3–4), defeat the enemy (v. 5), and apportion the land to ea= ch tribe as its inheritance (v. 6). God didn’t give Joshua explanations = as to how He would accomplish these things, because God’s people = live on promises and not on explanations. When you trust God’s promises and step out by faith (v. 3), you can be sure that the Lord will give you the directions you need when you need them.

First, God promised Joshua that = Israel would enter the land (vv. 3–4). Over the centuries God had reaffi= rmed this promise, from His first words to Abraham (Gen. 12) to His last words to Moses= (Deut. 34:4= ). God would take them over the Jordan and into enemy territory. He then would ena= ble them to claim for themselves the land that He had promised them. There woul= d be no repetition of the fear and unbelief that had brought the nation into def= eat at Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13).

God had already given them the l= and; it was their responsibility now to step out by faith and claim it (Josh 1:3; se= e Gen. 13:14–18). The same promise of victory that God had given to Moses (Num. 11:22–25), He reaffirmed= to Joshua; and He carefully defined the borders of the land. Israel didn’= ;t reach that full potential until the reigns of David and Solomon.=

The lesson for God’s people today is clear: God has given us “all spiritual blessings . . . in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), and we must step out by faith and claim them. He has set before His church = an open door that nobody can close (Rev. 3:8), and we must walk through that door by fa= ith and claim new territory for the Lord. It is impossible to stand still in Christian life and service; for when you stand still, you immediately start going backward. “Let us go on!” is God’s challenge to= His church (Heb. = 6:1), and that means moving ahead into new territory.

God also promised Joshua vict= ory over the enemy (Joshua 1:5). The Lord told Abraham that other nations were inhabi= ting the Promised Land (Gen. 15:18–21), and He repeated this fact to Moses (Ex. 3:17). I= f Israel obeyed the Lord, He promised to help them defeat these nations. But He warn= ed His people not to compromise with the enemy in any way, for then Israel wou= ld win the war but lose the victory (23:20–33). Unfortunately, that̵= 7;s exactly what happened. Since the Jews began to worship the gods of their pa= gan neighbors and adopt their evil practices, God had to chasten Israel in their land to bring them back to Himself (Jud. 1–2).

What a promise God gave to Joshu= a! “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you” (Josh 1:5, NIV). God had given a similar promise to Jacob (Gen. 28:15), and Moses had repeated God’s promise to Joshua (Deut. 31:1–8). God would one day give this sa= me promise to Gideon (Jud. 6:16) and to the Jewish exiles returning from Babyl= on to their land (Isa. 41:10; 43:5); and David would give it to his son Solomon (1 Chron. 28:20). But best of all, God has given this promise to His people today! The Gospel of Matthew opens with “Emmanuel . . . God with us” (1:23) and closes with Jesus saying, “Lo, I am with you always” (28:20= , NKJV). The writer of Hebrews 13:5 quotes Joshua 1:5 and applies it to Christians today: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (NKJV).

This means that God’s peop= le can move forward in God’s will and be assured of God’s presence. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) = Before Joshua began his conquest of Jericho, the Lord appeared to him and assured = him of His presence (Josh. 5:13–15). That was all Joshua needed to be guaranteed of victory.

When my wife and I were in our f= irst pastorate, God led the church to build a new sanctuary. The congregation was neither large nor wealthy, and a couple of financial experts told us it couldn’t be done; but the Lord saw us through. He used 1 Chronicles 28:20 in a spec= ial way to strengthen and assure me throughout that difficult project. I can as= sure you from experience that the promise of God’s presence really works!<= o:p>

God’s third promise to Jos= hua was that He would divide the land as an inheritance for the conquering tribes (Josh= . 1:6). This was God’s assurance that the enemy would be defeated and that Is= rael would possess their land. God would keep His promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land (Gen. 12:6–7; 13:14–15; 15:18–21).

The Book of Joshua records the fulfillment of these three promises: the first in chapters 2–5, the second in chapters 6–12, and the third in chapters 13–22. At the close of his life Joshua could remind the leaders of Israel that “not= one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed” (23:14, NKJV).

Before God could fulfill His promises, however, Joshua had to exercise faith and “be strong and of good courage” (1:6). Divine sovereignty is not a substitute for human responsibility. God’s sovereign Word is an encouragement to God’= ;s servants to believe God and obey His commands. As Charles Spurgeon put it, Joshua “was not to use the promise as a couch upon which his indolenc= e might luxuriate, but as a girdle wherewith to gird up his loins for future activity” (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 14, p. 97). In short, God’s promises are prods, not pillows.

Encouragement from God’s written Word (vv. 7–8). It’s o= ne thing to say to a leader, “Be strong! Be very courageous!” and quite something else to enable him to do it. Joshua’s strength and courage would come from meditating on the Word of God, believing its promis= es, and obeying its precepts. This was the counsel Moses had given to all the people (D= eut. 11:1–9), and now God was applying it specifically to Jos= hua.

During the years of his leadersh= ip, Moses kept a written record of God’s words and acts and committed this record to the care of the priests (Deut. 31:9). He wrote in it a remin= der to Joshua to wipe out the Amalekites (Ex. 17:14). Among other things, the “Book of the Law” included “the Book of the Covenant̶= 1; (24:4, 7), a record of the journeys of the people from Egypt to Canaan (Num. 33:2),= special regulations dealing with inheritance (36:13), and the song that Moses taught the people (Deut. 31:19). Moses kept adding material to this record until it included everything God wanted in it (v. 24). We have reason to believe t= he entire five Books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy) comprised “t= he Book of the Law,” the greatest legacy Moses could leave to his succes= sor.

But it wasn’t enough for t= he priests to carry and guard this precious book; Joshua had to take time to r= ead it daily and make it a part of his inner person by meditating on it (Ps. 1:2; 119:97; se= e Deut. 17:18–20). The Hebrew word transl= ated “meditate” means “to mutter.” It was the practice of the Jews to read Scripture aloud (Acts 8:26–40) and talk about = it to themselves and to one another (Deut. 6:6–9). This explains why God warned Jo= shua that the Book of the Law was not to depart out of his mouth (Josh. 1:8).= In numerous conferences, I have often told pastors and seminary students, “If you don’t talk to your Bible, your Bible isn’t likely= to talk to you!”

In the life of the Christian believer, prosperity and success aren’t to be measured = by the standards of the world. These blessings are the by-products of a life devoted to God and His Word. If you set out on your own to become prosperous and successful, you may achieve your goal and live to regret it. “In whatever man does without God,” wrote Scottish novelist Geo= rge MacDonald, “he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.”= The questions God’s people need to ask are: Did we obey the will of God? = Were we empowered by the Spirit of God? Did we serve to the glory of God? If we = can answer yes to these questions, then our ministry has been successful in God’s eyes, no matter what people may think.

Encouragement from God’s commandment (v. 9). God’s commandments are st= ill God’s enablements for those who obey Him by faith. Gabriel’s wo= rds to Mary are as true today as when he spoke them in Nazareth: “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). I especially like the translation of this verse found in the American Standard Version (19= 01): “For no word from God shall be void of power.” The very word th= at God speaks has in it the power of fulfillment if we will but trust and obey= !

In the years to come, whenever Joshua faced an enemy and was tempted to be afraid, he would remember that he was a man with a divine commission—and his fears would vanish. Whenever things went wrong and he was tempted to be dismayed, he wou= ld recall God’s command—and take new courage. Like Moses before hi= m, and Samuel and David after him, Joshua had a divine mandate to serve the Lo= rd and do His will—and that mandate was sufficient to carry him through.=

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Taken from: Be Strong

By: WA= RREN W. WIERSBE