Joshua

Well, as all of you know, and as I know you remember everything we ever cover here in church, in our study of the unity of the Bible, we've gone through a number of the faithful servants that we see listed in Hebrews 11, of course in the New Testament, and then all of them are prominently recorded in the Old Testament books, mostly in Genesis, what we've gone through, Abel and Enoch and Noah before the flood, and then after the flood, God dealing with Abraham, dealing with Isaac, and dealing with Jacob, and dealing with Joseph. That takes us to the end of Genesis. It's really an extremely good summary of what happened during the book of Genesis as we read it. Today, actually, I've also covered into Exodus Moses and his life and his preparation by God and how it was, you know, that he had kind of three, forty-year segments to his life where he eventually died when he was about 120 years old. And today, I want to examine who God selected after Moses. A man who, of course, was trained at the feet of Moses in many ways. He was one of the faithful spies who were sent into the land, and he went and looked around and said, let's go get it. And, of course, others said, no, we can't do that. And so he actually gave a very good report of the land that they did not go ahead and go into.

This man, of course, directed the Israelites to subdue Jericho with the help of God, of course. And finally, he was used by God to lead the remaining Israelites into the Promised Land. Now, Joshua, who I'm talking about, of course, was actually, in a sense, somewhat of a unique individual. As you study his life, as you read through pretty much everything that we can cover about his life, even though he's mentioned in different parts of the Bible, the Book of Joshua is primarily where you're going to find information about Joshua. And yet, as he conquered many of the cities and many peoples that God said, I want you to go into the land and I want you to do battle and I want you to conquer these nations that I am dispossessing, I am giving this land to the children of Israel, to the tribes of Israel. He was going to separate, you know, the land into different segments and the different tribes were going to be given inheritances in different parts of the land. But more so than simply conquering other cities and people, I think we can study today how the Joshua was a true warrior with God. That's actually when you study his life, you see he was engaged in a lot of battles. He was actually extremely victorious, and yet I think we can think of him as a warrior with God. So what was it that made Joshua such an effective leader? Because we'd have to say that God certainly gifted him to be able to do this job, but what was it that made him an effective leader? What impact did his example and his service to others have on other people? Because we can read about that as well. And how did Joshua's life or how can his life, the example that he set, how can that affect us in our role as Christian warriors, Christian soldiers, because we're called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned, much of what we'll study today is in the book of Joshua, where he recorded in the biblical record what it was that God directed him to do or what they did and how his life ends at the end of the book of Joshua. He dies. And of course, there's a conclusion there, which makes perfect sense. I'm not wanting to cover most of the well-known incidents of Joshua's life. You might think about what you recall about Joshua's life, and I don't want to go over all of these. I already mentioned he spied out the land of Canaan. That was before they wandered around in the wilderness. He did that. He was involved in the crossing of the River Jordan as they were going to go into the land. He was the one directly involved in helping Israel do that. He clearly was there at the fall of Jericho. He was involved with the sin of Achan, and during his day the son stood still for a period of time. Those are all reasonably well-known, different incidents that you would connect with this man Joshua. But I want to focus on what made Joshua the stable, faithful warrior with God that can be an example for all of us in our Christian lives today. There are three things that I'm going to point out about Joshua, and I think you can see a connection between what it was that God did in his life and even how it is God is working with us. How he is involved in our lives because he is directly involved in each of our lives. First of all, let's go back to Exodus. Exodus chapter 24. Now obviously this is before we get to the book of Joshua, but here you just see the description of what I said about Joshua being in a sense an understudy or an assistant or a servant of a man that God would use in a remarkable way and named Moses. Here in Exodus 24, you see in verse 12, starting in verse 12, the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there. I'll give you the tables of stone with the law and the commandments which I've written for their instruction. And so even though God had boomed these ten commandments from the Mount of Sinai, later he would have Moses come up and he's going to give him these tables of stone. So verse 13, Moses set out with his assistant, Joshua.

Even though Joshua wasn't directly involved in interacting with God right then, he was clearly watching what Moses was directed to do and how it was that he was simply an assistant to Moses. And I would assume that probably was a part of his activity, even as they were coming out of Egypt. Moses and Aaron were directly the ones that were sent to Pharaoh, but surely Joshua had something to do with helping organize and helping put together the plan as far as how it is we will follow God out of Egypt following Moses, of course. And so, verse 13, Moses set out with his assistant, Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. Now that's not the first place where you see Joshua mentioned, but it just points out what it was that, in a sense, kind of the training that Joshua had where he was aware of Moses. He was, in a sense, assisting him. He was learning from him. He was maybe right up front watching whatever the things were that Moses needed to do or that he did as he was a servant of God in a very unique way. If we jump on over to Numbers, Numbers, chapter 27, this is an exchange really between Moses and God, because here in Numbers 27 we see recorded chapter 27 of Numbers starting in verse 15. Moses spoke to the Lord and said, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, let him appoint someone over the congregation, someone who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.

See, how much did Moses identify with his shepherding years? How much did he understand, or how much had he learned from God as he had served as a shepherd for 40 years, and then as he had learned to shepherd the people of Israel in good times and in bad times, because they had a mix of everything. At times it was up, not a lot of times it was down, because they were somewhat recalcitrant and disobedient and rebellious, so they had to come up with new solutions all the time. But here in verse 18 the Lord said to Moses, I want you to take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him, and have him stand before Eliezer the priest in all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall give him in verse 20 some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey.

And so in verse 22 you have this directly from God that Moses had asked, you know, who's going to lead the people after I'm gone? He's writing this at the end or toward the end of his life, and God said, well, Joshua is my selection. He's the one that I am going to commission, the one I am going to appoint, the one I am going to call to do this particular mission, which is going to be a big mission. It's going to be an important mission. But in verse 22, Moses did. As the Lord commanded him, he took Joshua, had him stand before Eliezer the priest in the whole congregation. He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord had directed Moses to do. And so initially we can see that, well, Joshua had a calling. He had a commission from God to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. If we jump over past the book of Deuteronomy to Joshua chapter 1, you see directly what it was that Joshua wrote down that God had told him. Joshua 1, verse 1, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant. And he said, My servant, Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan. You and all this people into the land that I am going to give to them, to the Israelites, every place at the sole of your foot shall tread upon, I am going to give to you, as I promise to Moses. From the wilderness in the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the great sea, to the Mediterranean in the west, shall be your territory. And so again, directly, not only did God designate that Joshua would follow Moses in a succession, but that he would have a direct commission, a direct job, and that job was to overthrow or overtake the people who lived in this land that God was going to give to his people. So in verse 5, he said to Joshua, No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And I will not fail you, I will not forsake you. You need to be strong and courageous, for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors. Only in verse 7 be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded. Don't turn from the right hand or the left so that you can be successful in everything you do. And so, not only was he directed and commissioned to do this job, he was told, follow the law. He was told, don't be deviating, don't be mixed up with the gods of the Canaanites. He says, stay separate. And in verse 9, I hereby command you be strong, be courageous, do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now, I would certainly think that that type of a commissioning, that type of a direction from God would have caused Joshua to have a good deal of confidence. It tells him to be courageous, to be strong. It says, realize that God is with you.

And actually, I think Joshua had to realize that if God isn't with me, there's no way I'm going to be able to do what he says that we're going to be doing. Even as Moses, in essence, said the same thing, well, if you're not going to be with me, there's no way I can get the people out of the land of Egypt. And clearly, that's what was going to happen with Joshua. If we jump over a page here to chapter 3, Joshua chapter 3, it says in verse 7, the Lord said to Joshua, this day, I will begin to exalt you. And so this was as they were going to be entering into the land. This day, I'm going to exalt you in the sight of all of Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You're the one who shall command the priest to bear the ark. When you come to the edge of the water of Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. Joshua said to the Israelites, draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God. So Joshua said in verse 10, by this, you shall know that among you is the living God. It wasn't a matter of simply following Joshua into the Promised Land. It was a matter of understanding we reside with the help of the living God. We have the blessing from God, the blessing of God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and the God that directed Moses. He is with us. By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Gergesites, Amorites, and Jebusites, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. And so he was, in a sense, being lifted up by God. Not only had he been ordained, in a sense, Moses was to lay his hands on him and give him some of the authority that he had, but God was going to exalt. Josh was simply by the fact that he was going to stop the waters of the Jordan. He was going to cause him to cease, and they were going to be able to go through on the dry land. And in chapter 4, you can see this. Verse 4, Joshua summoned the mid-12 men of the Israelites, whom he'd appointed, one for each tribe, and he said, Pass on before the ark of the Lord into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you shall take a stone. And so not only were they to go down into the water and to carry the ark, but they were to take a stone that was going to later be an altar or a memorial that they would take with them as they left that area. But it says in verse 6, this is going to be a sign among you. When your children ask you in times to come, what do these stones mean?

And you shall say and tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, so the stones will be to the Israelites a memorial forever. Now this was again directing what was to be done. It wasn't just Joshua trying to figure out how do we swim the river. It was a matter that God was going to perform another miracle like He had done with the Red Sea. This was going to be a different type or a similar type, but different area, different water body mass that they were going to go through.

And down in verse 14, He says as they followed His instructions, and actually we're getting through the Jordan River, it says in verse 14, on that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all of Israel, and they stood in awe of Him as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life.

So Joshua clearly had not only a calling and a commission, but God was the one who showed him you can be successful in what might appear to be an impossible job, because they were to go overthrow many other peoples who were already established in the land. But what it mentioned several times is that God exalted Him.

He lifted Him up. He told Him. And if we drop down to verse 22, then you shall let your children know that Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over as the Lord your God did at the Red Sea. When He dried up for us until we crossed over so that all the peoples of the earth shall know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

This was a part of what the training was to be in the teaching for the Israelites to realize that since you are the living God is among you, you need to trust Him. You need to rely on Him. And amazingly in chapter 5 verse 1, when all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan of the West and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, when they heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melting.

There was no longer any spirit in them because of the Israelites. Scared the land to death. You know, they were afraid of what was going to happen. Of course, they didn't fall down and walk away, but at least God put in a sense the fear of God in them. And clearly, you see in this first section that God called and commissioned Joshua for a job that He wanted him to complete. He wanted him to perform throughout the remainder of his life.

That was what he was going to do. The second thing I want to point out is, in a sense also, like all of us, as we have come to understand our calling, as we've come to understand the mission that God gives us of proclaiming the gospel to the world, as He tells us, we're to be overcomers, we're to be changing, we're to be growing, we are actually to be a new creation.

So we have God's direct mission in front of us as well. But the second thing I want to point out is what you read here in chapter 5. Not only did he call Joshua, but he also showed him by whose power he would be successful.

Now, in a sense, he's already said, it's going to be my power. I'm going to help you. I'll go with you. I'll be with you. I will improve situations that don't even look very good. And certainly when you look at, say, the chapter 6, which involves the fall of Jericho, it doesn't look entirely like brilliant military strategy that God was telling Joshua to follow. It doesn't look like it. That doesn't look like a plan for success. But clearly, Joshua was not only willing to follow it, but God backed it up with a remarkable victory where the walls just fall down and the city can be overtaken.

And yet, what I want to point out is here in Joshua chapter 5, what kind of power did Joshua come to understand was available to him? See, all of us, you know, we understand this in degrees. We understand the amount of power that God makes available to us in degrees.

Initially, it's just the right words. We don't fully understand whenever we know that God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. We understand what those words mean, but we don't fully understand what it is that God has made available to transform our lives. And I think that Joshua was given a great deal of incentive, not only with these miracles with going over the Jordan, but here in chapter 5 verse 13, you find an encounter. This is actually how it was, the manner in which God revealed Himself to this particular servant. I don't know, I don't believe that I read any other description in this same light. But here in verse 13, chapter 5, once when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man. He saw a man standing with him, and the man had a drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and he said, Are you one of us or one of the enemy?

He didn't know exactly who this was. He could see what was there. He could see this man, and you could see the drawn sword. So he walked up to him and he asked him a question. And the answer is remarkable. In verse 14, neither or no, he didn't say I'm one of you or one of them, he says, Who I am is that I'm the commander or the captain of the army of the Lord. And I have now come, in essence, to be your director, to be your commander.

He goes on to say, Joshua fell on his face to the earth and of course, worshiped this man. And he said to him, What do you command your servant, my Lord? See, he was comprehending who it was. This wasn't just a man. It wasn't just an angel. This was the Lord of the Old Testament. This was the one who would later be Jesus Christ, the one who had dealt with Abraham and talked to him at times and told him about Sodom and Gomorrah and Conan and had eaten at his home where he hustled out and got some food ready. And Sarah fixed it for these three who were with him, but one of them was a special individual. You also know that Jacob, as we've already read, wrestled with this same God of the Old Testament throughout the night and left an impression on Jacob. You find in the burning bush with Moses that this same God revealed himself to Moses, and yet he said or described it, he didn't describe himself commander of the army of the Lord, he described himself as the self-existent one, the one who is I am. I am that I am. He said, that's my name. If they ask who it is, that's who it is. See this?

God revealing himself to his servants is remarkable. In this case, what was Joshua's job going to be?

It was going to be as a warrior. It was going to be as a general or as a soldier who was going to subdue many, many nations or many peoples, I guess you could say, or cities and peoples, and yet he revealed himself to him as the commander of the army of the Lord.

And of course, Joshua falls down on his face. He worshiped him. So again, it wasn't an angel. If an angel had been there, as they did with John, he said, don't worship us. We're just the messenger. You know, clearly he needed to worship his interaction with the great God.

And so in verse 15, the commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, remove your sandals from off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. See, the presence of God causes things to be holy. He's the one who gives strength and power and holiness, even as he did, as we recall, with Moses, where he was told essentially the same thing, take off your sandals for the ground that you're standing on is holy ground. This was, in a sense, not only Joshua being commissioned and called and given a job, he says, I've got plenty of power to be able to cause you to succeed in the job that I'm giving you. And so Joshua's understanding of God was enhanced that day, where he would come to understand. Of course, it says he immediately did exactly what he was told. And he was then going to be in a warrior status. But as I said, a warrior with God, because as we're going to find in the remainder of what we cover today, we're going to find that Joshua was successful, and yet he was willing to patiently endure throughout the remainder of his life and actually, faithfully remain loyal to this God who had commissioned him and who had exalted him and who had empowered him by revealing or showing himself to be the commander of the army of the Lord. I'm the one who has all the power that's necessary to overthrow all of these people, all of these cities. As we mentioned in chapter 6, the manner in which Jericho was subdued was not what you would say conventional military strategy.

That just was out of the question, except Joshua said, we just do it. God told us we just do it. And how it was that this city fell is certainly incredible. And again, I'm not wanting to go through each one of these chapters, but if we'll turn over to chapter 11.

In chapter 11, you see a summary, a summary of the conquests that the warrior with God was able to have. Verse 16, Joshua took all the land, the hill country, all the Negev, the land of Goshen, the Lolan, the Arab, the hill country of Israel, it's Lolan, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir as far as Beogad in the Valley of Lebanon. Below Mount Hermon, he took all of their kings and struck them down and put them to death.

See, that was his job. He was to be a warrior. He was to be a Christian soldier back sometime before Christian soldiers would be inaugurated with the New Testament Church.

It says in verse 18, Joshua made war a long time with all of these kings.

That sounds like a tiring job. It sounds like an exhausting job to me. And certainly as he got older, which of course the remainder of the book shows him getting older and older and ultimately about to die here at the end. It says in verse 19, there was not a town that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All were taken in battle for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel to battle in order that they might be utterly destroyed. They might receive no mercy but be exterminated just as the Lord had commanded. Again, God was directly involved in the overthrow of these kings. At that time in verse 21, Joshua came and wiped out the Anacom from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debris and Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their towns, and none of the Anacom were left in the land of the Israelites. Some remained, as we recall, whenever David was going to fight a giant from Gath. Some remained along the coast, but within the main body of the nation that would be Israel, the inheritance of the tribes, Joshua had driven them out. And so in verse 23, Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance in Israel according to their tribal allotments, and the land had rest from war.

See, this was his mission, this was his job. And if we drop down in chapter 12 to verse 7, the following are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan. Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotment. In verse 8, in the hill country, in the low land, all these same areas, the land of the Canaanites. And then in verse 9 it starts listing the cities, the king of Jericho or A.I. or Jerusalem or Hebron or all of the cities that are listed in down in verse 24, the king of Terza, 31 kings in all. This was the type of life that Joshua led. He was, in a sense, a warrior throughout the entirety of his life. And certainly this is an impressive list of victories over the kings of the cities in the land of Canaan. And yet, as Joshua trusted in God to give him these victories, he was able to overcome Israel's enemy. And you see, again, I'm not going to go through the different tribal areas that Joshua assigned the different tribes to live in. You can read through that if you would like. I'd like to just cover the latter part of what we read here in chapter 23 and chapter 24. Because, in a sense, this is a summary of the remainder of how it was that Joshua lived his life. He understood his mission. He understood the power of the commander of the army of the Lord, and that if we rely on him, then we'll be successful. And they were. But in chapter 23, verse 1, it says, a long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all the enemies round about, and Joshua was old and he was well advanced in years, Joshua was summoned all of Israel and the elders and heads and judges and officers, and he said, I am now old and well advanced in years, and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. You know, he could say, you know, I'm glad you followed me because that was going to work. He didn't say that. He says, you know, you've been given all of these victories because God has been with us. He has been the one who is the power able to overthrow these nations. And he says, you have seen what the Lord your God has done in verse 3 to all these nations, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. And I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes these nations that remain along with all the nations that we've already cut off from the Jordan of the Great Sea in the west, and the Lord your God, in verse 5, will push them back before you. He was telling them, this is what you should expect. If you rely on God, He will continue to give you victory and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess the land as the Lord promised. In verse 6, therefore, be very steadfast to observe and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from an either the right or the left, so that you may not be mixed with these nations left here among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow yourself down to them. But in verse 8, hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations, and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day. One of you puts to flight a thousand. See, He was telling them, that wasn't just because of how impressive you looked. That wasn't just how strong we were.

He says, one of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as He promised He would do. Since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as He promised He would do. So in verse 11, be very careful. Be reminded and be careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. See, now in a sense, this was kind of Joshua's conclusion, concluding statements to the people of Israel, because he knew he was old or he knew he was going to die.

He knew that they were going to face continued battles. He had been successful with God's help, with everything He had done. And of course, he says quite clearly, that it is the Lord who is fighting your battles. If we learn that lesson, if we learn to trust the Lord in being able to fight our battles, then we will have great success as well. Now, in chapter 24, you see Joshua making a statement about himself in verse 14. He said, Everyone, all of you should revere the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness.

Put away the gods that your ancestors serve beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord.

If you're unwilling to do that, then you'll find that you will fail. But he says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That was, again, his mindset, even up until the very end, and even as he is, in a sense, kind of contending with the people, because they say, Oh yeah, we'll obey, we'll obey. He said, Well, you know, you haven't always shown that you'll do that.

And of course, he goes back and forth with them a little bit here in the remainder of this chapter.

But it is incredible to see, in a sense, the summation of what Joshua's life as a warrior with God was about, because here in verse 29, it says, After he had spoken to the people, Joshua, the son of none, the servant of the Lord died, being 110 years old. And so he wasn't, perhaps, extremely old. He was older, but 110. Moses had been 120 when he died. And yet, here you even see a little difference in the description. It wasn't simply Joshua, the servant of Moses, or Moses' assistant, Joshua, the servant of the Lord. He had, throughout his lifetime, in a sense, earned that designation. He had relied on God to cause him to be successful in his endeavors. And it says they buried him in his inheritance in the hill country of Ephraim. And so that was where Joshua died, and it was where he was buried. And amazingly, how much impact did he have on Israel? In verse 31, it says, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and who had known the work that the Lord had done for Israel. See, his example, his impact on not only himself and his family, but on those who knew him. And those who knew what he said, you need to be faithful. You need to trust the Lord. You need to trust that he can fight your battles for you. Now, as we read the history, we don't find that they're very good at following instructions, but at least for the generation that directly followed Joshua, those who lived with him and those who kind of outlived him, who could remember what it was that he said, and not only what he said, but what it was that he did rely on the Lord to fight his battles for him. See, that, I think we could apply to how it is that God has chosen to work with us in our Christian lives today. See, just like we've read about what it was that God did with Joshua, we can understand how that God has chosen to reveal himself to us. He's chosen to call us. Now, we can appreciate that and understand that. You read in Matthew chapter 13, of course, Jesus was talking to his disciples, Matthew chapter 13, and he was having to reveal to them an understanding that they didn't fully comprehend, because whenever he was asking, why are you talking in parables, he told them, well, so that most won't understand. That's what he had to say, because here in Matthew 13, verse 16, he said to his disciples, blessed are your eyes, for they see, and blessed are your ears, for they hear. And up in verse 11, again after being asked, why is he talking in parables, he says, to you, my disciples, it has been given to know the secrets or mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to those who are without, to them it has not been given.

See, God commissioned. He called and commissioned Joshua with a calling. He wanted him to be an example of service, an example of success, an example of being courageous, so he wanted him to be a warrior with God. But just as Joshua was called, we've been called and we've also been empowered by the Holy Spirit. As I pointed out, Joshua interacted with the commander of the army of the Lord. He had a sense of the power and the authority that Moses and others before him had had.

And see, all of us, we can read and see, well, be baptized, be repentant and be baptized, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, we can follow that formula. We can see that's what God tells us to do, but how awesome is that power? He says that spirit is a spirit of power. It is a spirit of love. It is a spirit of a sound mind. And so we have a lot going for us if we appreciate the power that God has made available. And then finally, you know, we want to do our job. We want to do that faithfully, relying, as Joshua did, on the fact that the Lord can fight our battles. We don't have to fight them on our own. Joshua wasn't fighting on his own. He had, of course, support from the different tribes of Israel at times, and yet he was looking to the Lord to do battle for him. And as we are told here in 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul is writing to Timothy, and of course, Timothy being a younger minister, wanting to know what it is that Paul can tell him in order to be successful. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1, he says, You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. And what you have heard from me, through many witnesses, and trust of faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. So this is what Timothy was directed by Paul to do. Paul told him, you're learning, you're following, you're doing, following the example that I've set. You are setting that same example. Teach others to be faithfully the servants of God. In verse 3, share in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. See, Paul likens a Christian life, and in this case, Timothy's life, and what he would teach the brethren, he likened our lives unto Christian soldiers, warriors, in a spiritual battle. And he says, in talking about those Christian soldiers, good soldiers of Jesus Christ who have been called to a spiritual battle, a spiritual warfare, he says in verse 4, no one serving the army gets entangled in everyday affairs. The soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer. See, we don't want to get sidetracked. We don't want to get off track.

We don't want to get choked. We don't want to become deceived. We want, in a sense, to be pretty single-minded. I think that Joshua had to be pretty single-minded, is that my job is to subdue all of these cities and kings. I'm a warrior with God. And, of course, we want to do that as well. Verse 5, in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to rules. So we understand what the rules are, or we understand what God's law is, and that is, in essence, a prescription for how we are to live and how we are to grow in our obedience and responsiveness to God. And then finally, in verse 6, it's the farmer who does the work. You ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I'm saying, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things. So Paul was telling Timothy, you know, you've been set on a mission of being a warrior with God, like Joshua, and yet you are helping others to fight that same spiritual battle. Keep yourself focused on that battle. In verse 8, he says, remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David, that is my gospel, for whom I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not changed.

See, Paul could say that even though he was restricted, the word of God wasn't restricted. He could be proclaiming the message through others. And as he did, even when he was in prison, interact with other ministers, other members, where he could teach them the kingdom of God. Therefore, in verse 10, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Jesus Christ and have eternal glory. See, we have before us an incredible blessing of becoming a new creation, and ultimately, whether we are alive or whether we have died prior to Christ's return, we're going to be able to be glorified with Jesus Christ.

But we want to keep in mind, I think the lessons that Joshua teaches, that he was called and given a mission, he was empowered, and then fully he was faithful in keeping in mind that the battle is going to be won because of relying on the Lord. And that, of course, is the, I think, key for all of us, that we can be successful in our struggles. It's not that we don't have struggles. It's not that we don't have difficulties and problems and sins that we need to overcome.

It's that we've had or we have plenty of help, and we want to keep in mind what it says about being and perhaps we can think about it. You know, are we, as I think Joshua was, as he bowed before the commander of the army of the Lord, are we humbly surrendered to the one who should be the commander in our lives, in our spiritual lives, the development that God is involving us in? Are we truly connected to that commander in that way? So as Joshua served the Lord as a warrior with God, I simply remind all of us that we have a similar calling. We have the help from God to be able to do His will, to do His work, but also to be a transformed product, to take on a new mind, a new creation. And as we remain faithful and as we rely on the Lord to fight our battles, I think we'll find that we will, as he told Joshua, you will, if you do what I'm saying, you will be successful. And so we have every reason to believe that we will be successful in our Christian battle as we are the Christian soldiers that God has called us to be.