Joshua, a Warrior With God

For several different sermons over the last month or two, I've been going over a somewhat of a particular theme, and so this is going to be another part to that theme. And in our study of the unity of the Bible, which shows how it is that the Old Testament and the New Testament are clearly written by God. They tie together. They are united in many, many, many different facets.

And in our study of the unity of the Bible, it's taken us through the study of many different faithful servants of God that we're reading out of Hebrews 11. You see a listing there, Hebrews 11, the faith chapter of the Bible. You see those servants listed, and yet the ones that we have talked about up to this point are all prominently recorded in the Old Testament, almost all of them in the book of Genesis. Abel, Enoch, and Noah are all clearly individuals that God worked with, that He chose, that He worked with, that He said were honorable men or who were righteous or walked with God or who did the work of God prior to the flood. And then following that, throughout the remainder of the book of Genesis, we've studied Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. And then last week, we went into the book of Exodus with our somewhat familiar friend Moses. Moses is an individual that we might cover more often, but it's not that maybe he is more prominent than these others. It's just that we usually cover the story of Israel coming out of Egypt on a regular basis during the spring Holy Days. Today, we want to examine God's next selection to lead Israel. At the point that we left off last time, Moses was about to die.

He was not going to go into the Promised Land. He was going to die on, I believe, Mount Nebo.

He was going to be buried. His burial place was not going to be revealed as far as where it was.

And that's pretty much what you find at the end of the book of Deuteronomy.

Or, excuse me, maybe it's at the end of the book of Exodus as we lead into, you know, the next books that will lead, actually the sequencing, I guess, would run into the man I'm talking about who was selected by God to lead Israel after Moses.

Now, this man, when we think about Joshua, the son of Nun, Joshua was trained at the feet of Moses. He was there with Moses a good amount of time.

I'm going to mention some of these things as we go forward.

We also know about Joshua that he faithfully spied out the land prior to wandering in the wilderness. The wandering occurred for 40 years, but Israel had looked into the land and said, ah, it's too hard for us. That's what most of them said. That's not what Joshua said.

Joshua was also a man who directed the Israelites to subdue Jericho with God's power.

He was a man that God used to lead the remaining Israelites into the Promised Land, because that's what the whole story of the book of Joshua is about. It's about moving the people into the Promised Land. But what I'd like for us to consider today is that as Joshua was used by God to conquer many cities and many people, we have to say that he was truly a warrior with God. That would be one of the ways you could describe Joshua, that he was a warrior with God. So what made Joshua such an effective leader in Israel? What impacted his example and service have on the people? How can Joshua's life, or how can his example, how he lived, what he did, how can that affect our role as Christian warriors or Christian soldiers? Because that's what God in essence calls us when we read into the New Testament about the Church of God and about the people that God is working with. He calls us to be Christian soldiers. So most of what we cover today will be covering in the book of Joshua, but not quite all of it. And I'm not going to cover some of the things that perhaps are the most well-known incidents of Joshua's life. Like I mentioned, you know, he spied out the land of Canaan. He was involved in the crossing of the River Jordan on dry land. He was involved in the fall of Jericho, in the sin of Achan, and in the sun standing still. You know, those were highlighted things you can easily read there in the book of Joshua. But I want our focus to be today on what made Joshua a stable, faithful warrior with God.

Because that in essence is what God tells us. If we're going to be successful Christians, if we're going to be Christian soldiers today, then we're going to need to know some of the same things.

We're going to have some of the same needs that Joshua had. And we hope that we can have clearly the same result because he was obviously successful in the work that he did. So first of all, I want to start in Exodus chapter 24. In Exodus 24, I want to go through a couple of verses here that will lead us to understanding how it was that Joshua came to be a selected leader of Israel. Here in Exodus 24, Exodus 24 starting in verse 12, Lord said to Moses, this is actually as Moses had received the Ten Commandments from God. And in verse 12, the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there and I will give you. Okay, they have been spoken, but he said, I want you to come up and I want to give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment, which I have written for your instruction. And so in verse 13, Moses set out.

He set out with his assistant, Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God. And to the elders, he said, wait here for us until we come again. And so Aaron and her are with you and they can, you can bring any questions, any disputes to them. See, clearly, Joshua had been aware of Moses whenever he was coming out of Egypt. And here in this case, whenever the law is being given by God to Moses, Joshua was here referred to as an assistant, an assistant or servant to Moses.

Let's move on to Numbers 27. The book of Numbers, chapter 27, starting in verse 15.

Actually, you find in the book of Numbers a number of different incidents, a number of episodes, some things that are very revealing. It's not always in complete sequential order like you find in some of the other books. But here in Numbers 27, in verse 15, Moses said to the Lord, verse 16, let the Lord, the God of the Spirit of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd. See, this was at a point when Moses realized, you know, God has now told me, I'm going to die. I'm not going to go into the Promised Land. The people need help. They need a shepherd. And so we follow this up in verse 18, the Lord said to Moses, 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, commission him in the sight of the people. And in verse 20, you shall give him some of your authority so that all the congregation of Israel may obey.

So here was clearly a logical succession plan. Moses was going to die. Moses pleaded to God to please appoint someone to lead. And clearly God was choosing Joshua to do this. If we drop down to verse 20, Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua and had him stand before Eliezer and the whole congregation. He anointed him. He laid his hands upon him, and he commissioned him as the Lord had directed through Moses. See, this was in a sense what we might say, and there's three things I'll point out about Joshua. This was in a sense his not only calling, but being given a mission, being given a commission from God. And I think we could liken it to a calling for us today.

That God would call or draw us in a way that is not exactly the same as Joshua, but that's clearly what God was doing. If we go further into the first part of the book of Joshua, the first part of the book of Joshua, we see how it was that God gave Joshua his instructions. Joshua chapter 1, verse 1.

Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none, Moses' assistant, saying, My servant Moses is dead. Now, I want you to proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all the people and the land that I'm giving to them, to the Israelites, every place that the sole of your foot will tread. Have I given to you, as I promised to Moses, from the wilderness and Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the River Euphrates, or the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea, the Mediterranean Sea in the west shall be your territory. 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.

See, now, did Joshua, did he have reason to be apprehensive? Well, I think you would think perhaps he would have, because Moses had been quite a prominent, noticeable leader, and clearly drawn by God, called by God to lead Israel out of Egypt. And he had been with them, even as they spied the land, but then began to wander for 40 years in the wilderness.

And see, God had done many miracles through Moses, and actually, whenever we study the account of God being with the children of Israel, even in the wilderness, you find them relating to God actually through Moses. He was the one who would go into the tent. He was the one that God would speak to face-to-face. He was the one that would perform miracles from God at times.

And so, Joshua certainly needed to be encouraged. He needed to be directed, and in a sense, this is what we see. Verse 5, No one shall be able to stand against you. See, this is God talking to Joshua and saying, No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life, as I have been with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and be very courageous. Being careful not to act accordi- being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded, and do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. You shall meditate it day and night. You shall be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it, for then you shall make your you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall be successful. And I hereby command you, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed.

What you're facing is a tremendous challenge, but you don't have to be worried because I am with you. Don't be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

See, what amazing encouragement that God would offer in not only commissioning Joshua in the role that he was going to have, but to tell him, you know, I will clearly be with you. Don't be dismayed. Don't be afraid. Don't draw back. Don't feel you can't do this. And of course, I think this has some application to us. As we see our lives, as we see the things that we're challenged with, we need to be reminded of what Joshua's lessons were, how it was that God prepared him.

In chapter 3, you also see in connection with his calling, you see that as God would direct Joshua and the children of Israel into the Promised Land, into the Land of Canaan, he was going to carry them through the Red Sea, or not the Red Sea, but the Jordan River, like had they had been brought out and through the Red Sea, they were going to go into the Promised Land through water. They were going to go through the Jordan River. So here in Joshua 3, it says in verse 7, the Lord said to Joshua, this day, I'm going to begin. And so it wasn't just a matter that he was going to bring them into the Land.

What was he going to do? Well, he was going to, in verse 7, I'm going to exalt you in the sight of all the Israelites so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.

So you're the one who shall command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant. When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the Israelites, draw near, hear the words of the Lord your God. Joshua said, by this you shall know that among you is the living God. See, whenever we read these kind of words, brethren, I think it should have an impact.

It should have an impact on our thinking, on our outlook, on our viewpoint of how it is that God is able and God is willing to help us. What God was doing with Joshua was exalting him. He was lifting him up. And yet, what Joshua said, by doing what they were doing, the people could know that among you is the living God.

The living God is the one who is going to be helping, the one who is going to be overcoming, the one who is going to be strengthening. He goes on to say, the living God is with you, who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanite and Hivite, the Hittite, Perozite, Gergesite, Amorite, and Jebusite. The Ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. See, this had to be quite a processional.

It had to be an impressive account of the Israelites coming to the Jordan River. And I don't know exactly how wide the river would have been right where they were, but it had to be sizable, and it often overflowed at banks, even at that. And so there was a lot of water. And yet what we find revealed here is that God was not only going to direct them as to how they would enter the land, but that how they should follow Joshua in doing so.

And if we jump on to chapter 4, you see how it is that Israel, following Joshua's direction, verse 4 of chapter 4, Joshua summoned the 12 men from the Israelites that he had appointed, one for each tribe. And Joshua said, Pass on before the Ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites, so that this may be a sign among you.

And so they were not only going to walk into the water, and then there was going to be a stone that they would need to carry, and that stone was going to have some significance. And so he said, verse 6, so that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, what are these stones? What do these stones mean?

And you shall say in verse 7, 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, and the waters of the Jordan were cut off, so these stones will be to the Israelites a memorial forever.

So there was a particular way that they were to cross the river. It was not a matter of getting in the river and swimming across, but that the river was going to stop. It was going to not flow, and they were going to be able to go over on dry land.

In verse 8, the Israelites did, as Joshua commanded, they took up 12 stones out of the middle, according to the number of the tribes, as the Lord told him, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and they laid them down there. And so they were going to use these stones as a memorial. Verse 10, the priest who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished, that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that the Moses had commanded, and the people crossed over in haste.

And as soon as all the people had finished crossing over, and the ark of the Lord and the priest crossed over in front of the people, it says in verse 14, again, God emphasizes not only what he told Joshua and what Joshua could have a feeling of, you know, I have a mission, I have a commission, I have a responsibility, it is my role to fulfill, but you also see God exalting him, as he said in chapter 3.

And here in chapter 4, in verse 14, on that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all the people. And they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life.

And so again, the miracles that Moses had been involved in, and the miracles that the people were aware of and had seen with Moses, they were able to see some of the same type of things happen here with Joshua. And if we drop down to verse 22, kind of in summary of this crossing, it says, 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 to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the people of the earth shall know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that he might fear the Lord your God forever.

See, God was not only helping Joshua, but he was helping all the people to realize as they were going to go in and have to be, in essence, in a great deal of warfare. That's primarily, as I said, what Joshua was prepared to do. He was to be a leader in a general sense, generally leading them into battle and into conquering many different cities and many different people that were already living in this land. And yet it says in verse 1 of chapter 5, When all the kings of the Amorites, beyond the Jordan of the west, and when all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the Israelites. See, that was something God did in order to not only could Joshua even begin to do that, well, no. He couldn't stop the water, he could carry the stones, or at least have them carried. And yet what God was doing was he was showing his involvement in the lives not only of Joshua but of all of the tribes who were going to go in and then do battle with the people of the land of Canaan. So I mentioned this in connection simply with Joshua being called to this job, him being commissioned to fulfill a certain role, him being exalted by God as far as to have the support of the people, to have the encouragement that he could to gain from helping others be able to go into the land. And of course, he's ultimately going to then dole out inheritances. He's going to dole out different lands and response, designated areas so that they would have, the tribes would have these areas to live in.

The second thing that I want to point out about Joshua is not only that he was called to do this job, and it seems like he was prepared in a sense with Moses, and yet maybe even more so he was prepared by God to be able to, you know, to have courage and not be frightened by the immense role that he was going to play in many of these battles. I want to focus secondly here on what I would say is in a sense a truly remarkable encounter that Joshua had. Now we read where Joshua was told by the Lord to do this, and I'm going to support you, but there's a unique way, because again he was to be a warrior with God or for God. There was a very unique way that God revealed himself to Joshua, and in some ways this might be misunderstood by some if they are not sure who this is talking about, but I want us to study this here in Joshua chapter 5, beginning down in verse 13.

Once, when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man standing before him with a sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and he said to him, are you one of us or are you one of our adversaries?

This was a very special encounter. This was an encounter that we will see can be likened unto some of God's intervention with the patriarchs that we've already studied about.

And yet Joshua confronts what appears to be a man with a drawn sword, and Joshua of course asked are you with us or are you one of the enemy? Now he didn't know. Verse 14, he replied, we'll know, or neither, but as the commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and he worshiped and he said to him, what do you command or what do you want your servant to do, my Lord?

And in verse 15, the commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, remove the sandals from your feet, the place where you're standing is holy. The place where you stand is holy ground. And of course, it almost seems obvious what would happen the very last few verses of that verse or words. Joshua did so. He did exactly what he was directed to do. And so, you know, this was an encounter that we could liken under the way that God chose to reveal himself to Joshua. See, what was Joshua's role going to be? Well, he was going to be a warrior. He was going to have to be fighting many, many different people in many different battles. And yet what God revealed himself to Joshua as was as the commander of the army of the Lord. This is actually a reference, you know, not just simply to a man or not simply to an angel, but it's a reference, you know, to the one who is the Lord of the Old Testament, the one who would later become Jesus Christ, the one who was the word who existed long before that. And yet the one, as we've already studied, who dealt with Abel and Enoch and Noah, and the one who dealt with Abraham, and the one who, how was it that he appeared to Abraham? Well, he appeared, he came with two other angels, and they were discussing the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and how that, you know, there wasn't any hope. You know, they were going to be destroyed.

And we would later see how that there was the God of the Old Testament who would wrestle with the Patriarch Jacob. And we would later then see in Exodus how that, how did God interact with Moses? Well, in the burning bush, he was told in his sense somewhat of a similar thing, be respectful and bow before me, take off your shoes, you're standing on holy ground.

So this is the way that the God of the Old Testament, the one that Moses related to in a very special way, you know, he referred to him in Exodus 3 as, I am that I am. That's what he said his name was. What, you know, I'm the one who has always existed. I'm the one who is self-existent.

And I'm the one that you can trust. I'm the one that you can depend on. I'm the power behind your job, your role, as Moses had. He had a role to lead them out of Egypt. And of course, others of the patriarchs had a responsibility before God as well. But in this case, Joshua would need to not only know that he was called to do a job and not just simply to think as it would humanly be so easy to do. Well, you know, I know how to be a warrior. I know what I'm supposed to do.

You're going to need more power than that. And that, of course, is what this is referring to, that God was revealing himself in such a way or in a unique way to Joshua as a battle, a victor.

That was the way that God revealed himself to Joshua. And I think it is amazing to see how God would choose to work with different of his servants in similar but a little different ways, because what he was pointing out was that, you know, you're going to have to do the war. You're going to have to do the fighting. You're going to have to overcome the cities. And yet, in many ways, I'm going to drive people out before you. And yet, at times, you're going to have to depend on me. You're going to have to have faith in my power. And we're going to see Joshua testify to that as we get closer here to the end of his life. But I think this is a remarkable account here in chapter 5, where it's talking about Joshua interacting with the Lord of the Old Testament and the one who would later become Jesus, the one who had been with the Father throughout eternity, and the one who was going to cause Joshua to be successful. If we go on to chapter 6, the third thing I'm wanting to mention is not only that Joshua was called and given a mission, he was empowered, empowered by the commander of the army of the Lord. He was given encouragement and power that would enable him to be successful. And then thirdly, we see, and this is pretty much Joshua's this summary as you read through the rest of the book, you see that Joshua not only remained faithful, he was patiently enduring through a number of different battles, and he would admonish the children of Israel to clearly remain faithful to God, the God that had been with their ancestors, the God that was the Lord of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He was not only the Lord of them, but of Moses and now of Joshua, but of these people as well. In Joshua 6, you see the account of Jericho, and of course, I, you know, we have gone through that before and I'm not intending to go through it right now, and yet what you find, God directing Joshua and the Israelites in somewhat of an unusual battle strategy. It didn't look like that would be a way to overcome the city, but that's exactly, that was the very first time where God's power was shown that he could knock down the walls in Jericho, that he could cause them to be victors, he could cause them to be victorious in a supernatural way, in a very remarkable way. If we jump on to chapter 11, in chapter 11, beginning in verse 16, we have a summary, a summary of Joshua's conquests, and so in verse 16, Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the Negev, and the land of Goshen, and the low land, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel, and its lowland, from Mount Halek that rises toward Seir as far as Beogad in the valley of Lebanon.

Below Mount Hermon, he took all her kings, he struck them down and put them to death.

Joshua, verse 18, made war a long time with all of these kings. Now, this was over an extended period of time, that Joshua would be led and guided by God in helping different of the tribes to overcome different cities that would ultimately become an inheritance that they would be granted.

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 could they would come against Israel in battle in order that they might be utterly destroyed and might receive no mercy but be exterminated just as the Lord had commanded. And it says in verse 21 at that time, again, in summary, Joshua came and wiped out the Anacom. So there were some giant or larger people in certain areas. The Anacom are to be referred to as large and wiped out the Anacom from the hill country from Hebron. It says, Joshua utterly destroyed them from their towns. Verse 22, none of them were left in the land of the Israelites. And so Joshua took the whole land according in verse 23 to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it to an as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war. See, Joshua's life, you know, appears to be a big battle.

It appears to be a struggle as he would go up against one city, one group of people after the next. And yet in this description or in this summary, it talks about how that God helped him.

God empowered him to be victorious and be able to overthrow these people. Now in chapter 12, you see an impressive list of victories over the cities or the kings of the cities of the land of Canaan. Here in chapter 12 verse 7, it says the following 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 in the hill country. Verse 8 in the low lands in all of these areas. And in verse 9, it starts naming off the kings, the king of Jericho, king of Ai, next to Bethel, the king of Jerusalem, of Hebron, of Jermoth. I'm not going to read through all of them. You can read through each of those cities.

And in verse 24, the king of Terza won 31 kings in all. See, there were many different battles that Joshua was given power from God to be able to be victorious and not only he, but the troops that he was leading into this battle. And so it's throughout the remainder of the book, you see how it was that Joshua would divide up the land and how he would give different of the tribes of Israel the inheritances that they were to be designated. And, you know, I don't have a map or something that might help you be able to see that, but, you know, there were designations as far as where difference of the tribes would be. You know, the city of Jerusalem would have Judah around it and Benjamin, and then Ephraim and Manasseh would be a little bit further to the north and into the mountainous areas that are north of Jerusalem. And yet, what I want to focus on here in the remainder of this sermon is just simply, simply that as Joshua had been missioned and then empowered to do what God wanted at that time, to give the land of Canaan to his chosen people. You find Joshua in chapter 23 exhorting the people.

He exhorted them in verse 23, or excuse me, chapter 23 starting here in verse 1, a long time afterward when the Lord had given rest of the land from all their enemies around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years. Joshua summoned all the Israelites and their elders, their judges, and said, I am old, I am well advanced in years, and I am old, I am well advanced in years. And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all the nations for your sake, for it's the Lord your God who has fought for you. See, again, as we found with Moses, Joshua realized it wasn't just because of me, it wasn't just because of my power or my might, it wasn't because we even outnumbered the cities that we went against, it was because of the victory that God gave us. And he says in verse 4, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain along with all the nations that I've already cut off from the Jordan to the great sea in the west and the Lord your God will push them back before you, and he will drive them out of your sight and you shall possess their land as the Lord has promised. Therefore, see, he had done a good amount of the work, but it was not entirely finished. There were yet areas to recover. And so in verse 6 he says, therefore be very steadfast to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right nor to the left.

And in verse 8 he says, hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. For the Lord is driven out before you, great and strong nations, and as for you no one's been able to stand against you to this day. But in verse 10, and this is an important verse that I think we should continue to focus on in our own Christian lives, in verse 10 he says, one of you puts to flight a thousand because it's the Lord your God who fights for you as he promised you.

See again, what the Israelites had been able to achieve and what Joshua had achieved as a warrior here in the Israelite army, but as in a sense under the commander of the army of the Lord, under the direction of the God of the Old Testament, it says God is the one who fights your battles as he said he would. And so he says in verse 11, be very careful. Therefore to love the Lord your God. You know, we've been drawn into a relationship with God, into a closeness that is begun by coming to understand our sins, by being repentant, by being forgiven, by being a recipient of the Holy Spirit of God, by being baptized. We become a part of God's army. We become a part of Christian, what you could call Christian soldiers. And yet this is exactly, you know, the thought that we need to keep in mind in order to succeed, in order to be able to be victorious, we want to never forget that the Lord is the one who fights our battles for us. We want to continually be in close communion, close connection with Him. And of course in verse 11, he says, be very careful to love the Lord your God. In the last chapter here, in chapter 24, you see Joshua continuing, continuing to kind of wrap this up. This was going to lead to him dying, of course.

And yet, you know, he tried to re-encourage people, you know, God will be with you, God will be with you. You need to remain faithful. Don't turn aside. Don't go for the gods of the people of Canaan, the people around you. Says, don't get sucked into what others are following as far as their own ways, their own idols, their own gods. And he says this throughout chapter 24, but he says in verse 14, now therefore revere the Lord your God, revere Him and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness and put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt and served the Lord. He actually mentioned in going back to the fact that Abraham and Abraham's father, Terah, they had been involved in not knowing the true God until God entered their life.

They had worshiped the Babylonian gods of the area beyond earth, but not only there, but also in Egypt. The Israelites had seen the false worship that would go on there in the land.

And so Joshua said, be particularly concerned about being close to the living God.

And don't be or put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt and served the Lord. And if you're unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your ancestors served in the region before the river or the gods of the Amorites in whom land you are living. But as for me and my household, we're going to serve the Lord.

That's one of the noted statements that Joshua makes, and you often see it written in places.

And yet it's simply stating a commitment, stating an ongoing devotion to the true God and to His worship. And throughout the remainder of the chapter down to verse 28, Joshua kind of contends with the crowd. And he says, will you do it? Or they say, we will do it. And he says, I don't know. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a challenge, and ultimately, you know, they continue to say, we'll do it, which of course, you know, they fail in. But the final thing I'll mention here about Joshua is just what you see.

In verse 29, he said, after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died, being 110 years old. Now, Joshua was called the servant of Moses, or Moses' assistant at one time. But to be called the servant of the Lord was, in a sense, a kind of a capstone on how his life had gone, how he had diligently followed what God had offered, and how he had been successful in the job and in the role that he had been commissioned to do.

And it says in verse 30, they buried him in his own inheritance in the hill country of Ephraim.

And so this was where, you know, Joshua and his descendants would, his descendants would live.

He would be buried, and they would continue to be in a certain segment that God had given them.

And amazingly, you find in verse 31, I think quite a, what you could say would be an impressive follow-up, an impressive follow-up to Joshua's life. Because in verse 31, it says, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua. See, now, when we read later about many of the kings of Israel and Judah, you know, you don't find too many of them that were following God for very much of the time. Most of the time, you have to say, during that king's reign, things were evil. And yet, clearly, during the time of Joshua, during the days when God was giving the land that he had promised to Abraham, to the children of Israel, Joshua was faithful. He was considered in a very positive way by God. In verse 31, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and then all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known the work that God did for Israel. See, not only did it affect him and his family, but the elders who knew him. And as long as they lived, there was peace. Now, we're going to enter into what you read through the book of Judges, a much more chaotic time, a much more unpredictable time, but during the days of Joshua. And then shortly after him, you know, the people could clearly look to God, you know, they could receive from God the help and the encouragement that they needed, and it says that they were truly blessed. Now, how does this apply to us? Well, as I've mentioned, God has chosen to reveal himself to us. He's chosen to open our eyes, to open our ears. Let's look at Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew chapter 13, close to where we were in the sermon at in chapter 12.

But in Matthew chapter 13, we see Jesus telling the disciples that as you are my trainees, you are my servants, you are ones that I have been teaching and showing how it is you should serve God.

He says in verse 16, blessed, Matthew 13 16, blessed are your eyes, for they see, and blessed are your ears, for they hear. Truly, I tell you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, but they didn't see it, or to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it. The disciples needed to understand that God's drawing them or calling them to Jesus Christ was a very special understanding, and if we jump up to verse 11, as Jesus spoke about why he spoke in parables, he said, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, or heaven, but to them, those on the outside, it has not been given. See, this is a special blessing, brethren. As we talked about Joshua having a unique calling, a unique mission being given to him, you know, we're in the same boat. We've been given a calling. We've been given a responsibility. We've been given a commission of doing the work of God in this age. Doing that work before Christ intervenes and really does the work throughout the world that he's going to bring to this earth when he comes.

So we've had our eyes opened. We've had our ears unstopped. We've been given the power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever Joshua was confronting the commander of the Lord of the army, the one who was going to lead the army of the Lord, that was showing the type of power that was available.

He said, it's not your strength, it's my strength. It's my power. And whenever we realize, you know, that God blesses us with the Holy Spirit in that spirit, even though it's something that, you know, we may study and we may come to understand more fully. We want to be guided by the Spirit of God.

It tells us that the Spirit of God will lead us into all truth or guide us and that we should be led by the Spirit of God. That Spirit is not a weak spirit. That's a spirit that is very powerful.

It is a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. And so in connection with that, we want, in a sense, to be missioned to be relying on the power that God makes available.

That's what caused Joshua to be successful. That he was relying on the commander. He was relying on the one who would be able to cause him to be victorious and that he wanted to remain and would remain to be faithful to the end of his life. Here in 2 Timothy chapter 2, and I'll tie this in to the conclusion here. 2 Timothy chapter 2, you see this directed by Paul to Timothy. And, of course, Timothy was a student of Paul's. He was going to be learning. He was going to be growing.

He needed instruction. He had the right heart. He had a desire to serve and to care for others.

And yet here in 2 Timothy 2, you see Paul telling this very beloved son of his, you then my child, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. And what you have heard from me, through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.

And so here, Timothy was being told, we need to teach what we've been taught. We need to continue to have a consistency with what it is that God teaches us in his word. He goes on to say, pass that on to others, share in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. That's why, as I think of Joshua as a warrior with God, in a sense, that's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be good soldiers with God. We're not simply for God, but we want to be with God in relying on him, trusting him, believing him, having faith in him, and depending on him to be able to help us with any battles, any struggles in our spiritual warfare. In verse 4, when you think about this Christian calling, being a Christian soldier, the spiritual battle that we have is described. In verse 3 and 4, we need to be fully engaged in that battle. No one serving the army gets entangled in everyday affairs. The soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer, and so he's telling him to be focused on what your mission and what your job is, not just in proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, but in the overcoming that God wants us to do. Each one of us have a nature that has been hostile to God, called human nature. We have a nature that isn't completely gone.

It is subsiding, I think we could say, and we want to continue to put that old man aside, but it's not completely gone. We've got a struggle and a battle, and we've got burdens to bear, but we've got plenty of help to be able to bear burdens that will enable us to be victorious. No one serving entangles themselves in everyday affairs, but they give themselves wholly to the job at hand. Verse 5, in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing.

According to the rules, it's the farmer who does the work that ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

Remember in verse 8, remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, who was a descendant of David. He said, that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not changed. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. See, not only can we start on the path and receive God's calling, and we can receive God's power in His help, but we want to faithfully, throughout the remainder of our lives, be drawn close to God and be successful in overcoming as God expects us to do. And so I think it's good, as we study about Joshua, as we see his success, as we see the example that he set, that we tie that into our Christian development. And I think we have to ask, you know, are we fully and humbly surrender to the one who should be the commander and the leader of our lives?

Are we fully devoted to Jesus Christ, who not only is the one who dealt with all of these Old Testament personages that, you know, we have been discussing and thinking about, but is the one who's directed to be the head of the church, the one who said, I will build my church. I will bring those that I choose into my church. I will help them to be successful as they live faithful lives. So as Joshua served the Lord as a warrior with God, we too must fight our spiritual battles, realizing, even as Joshua was told, realizing that God is with us and that He will bring us victory. He will cause us to be victorious. It doesn't say we won't have struggles. It doesn't say we won't have difficulties. It just says that with God's power, and with His help, then we can truly be the type of overcomers that God wants His Christian soldiers to be.