"Covenant Courage" Joshua 1:6-9
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 10 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Moses was dead and the lord singled out Joshua to take his place leading the people of Israel.
The people had wondered in the wilderness for about 40 years after they feared in their unbelief when the 12 spies were sent into the land. Only Joshua and Caleb believed the Lord and trusted in His promises to give to them the land 40 years before.
Now Joshua was selected by the Lord to lead the conquest of the physical land that God had promised to Abraham and his physical descendents.
The Lord promises Joshua that He will be with Him just as He was with Moses. And the Lord declares to Joshua that, “I will not leave you or forsake you.”
Here again there is Christology on display in this historical narrative that we do not want to miss as New Testament Christians.
This text is not primarily giving us life principle to live out as courageous Christians. This text is telling us something about Christ and His triumph and conquest over sin and death that helps focus our faith in such a way as make us triumphant as well as the covenant people of God.
But first as we deal with the Lord’s promise to Joshua we see the their is an expectation of success that the Lord has for Joshua in verses 6-7. Look back at your text to verses 6-7:
I. The Success of Covenant Courage (6-7).
I. The Success of Covenant Courage (6-7).
The Lord speaks of the covenant success of Joshua in verse 6 in that he is to be strong and courageous as he leads the people in the conquest to inherit the land that the Lord had sworn to Abraham and his descendents.
The covenant plan had already been laid out in the Law of Moses and all Joshua would have to do is to just follow the instruction of God’s law. Do not turn to the right nor to the left. All Joshua would have to do would be to just stay on the path of the truth of the law of God which He gave to Moses and he would be successful in the conquest.
Now this way of thinking is far outside the way people usually think of success in our day but it was the same way in Joshua’s day too. You see the plan belonged to God. Success would be determined by the moral standards that the Lord put in place in the Law and the terms of His covenant agreement with His people.
Make no mistake, what God defines success to be is really what success is in spite of our self-determined perceptions. This is why the world may call you successful but in the eyes of God you may not really be a failure. Success must be defined by the word of God, as He has revealed it to be.
A parent may think of success for their child in terms of economic prosperity or accomplishments from a self centered orientation. But God sees success in terms of His covenant fidelity.
This is why sin would always be the problem when it comes to man holding up his end of a conditional covenant dependent on obedience to the Mosaic Law code. And this is why the Lord was telling Joshua to follow the word of God.
Kind of reminds me of Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz. All she had to do was follow the Yellow Brick Road and she would wind up in the Emerald City. Stay on the Yellow Brick Road. Don’t get off of it, stay on it! Even the munchkins sang her the little song and still she had a hard time staying on it.
But for Joshua it was not just to be an external guide it was to be the very source for His covenant courage. Look back to verses 8-9:
II. The Source of Covenant Courage (8-9).
II. The Source of Covenant Courage (8-9).
The Law of Moses was to be on his mouth and it was not just words to say but it was something that Joshua was to mull over continually.
The word “meditate” in verse 8 literally refers to a lion growling over its food or its prey. In the figurative sense it is denoting the idea of coming out from the inside of him and being spoken by the mouth. This is why the ancient Hebrews and practicing Jews to our day still put to memory much of the Law of Moses.
So one aspect of the source of covenant courage was the Word from the Lord given to Moses but there was another source expressed in verse 9.
It was the Lord Himself being with Joshua. “Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (9).
The Lord was with Joshua and He would be with Joshua, what could go wrong?
When it came to Joshua leading the people there would still be problems to deal with. The people were still disobedient to the Lord. Even though a new generation of fighting men had been born there were still sin issues that arose. The people still had a lack of concern for their own pursuit of covenant fidelity.
Like the sin of Achan at Jericho in Joshua 7. Achan took some of the plunder for himself when the plunder of Jericho actually belonged to the Lord and was to be taken into His treasury. The second battle at Ai was a disaster for the people of Israel due to the sin of Achan. When it was exposed Achan and his household payed a heavy price. They were stoned to death and burned.
There was also the Gibeonite deception of Joshua 9. They lied and said they were just pilgrims passing through and Joshua entered into a treaty with them. But once the truth was known it was too late the damage had been done. God insisted that they honor the treaty.
Not everything went perfectly and if you know your Old Testament you know that sin was always the problem when it came to the obedience of the people to God. They couldn’t follow the Law of Moses a bit better than Dorthy could stay on the Yellow Brick Road.
The only way for the covenant people of God to inherit the land promised to Abraham would be for another Joshua to be raised up. A Joshua greater than the Joshua of the Old Testament.
And this new Joshua would have to contend with the problem of the sin nature and to empower the covenant people of God to be obedient to the Lord.
The name Joshua is a compound name it is two Hebrew terms put together to be one term. When you take the name of the Lord given to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, “Yahweh” and you compound it with the Hebrew term, “Shua” which means “saves” you get “Yashua” which means literally the Lord saves.
Messianic Jews often use the name Yashua to refer to Jesus. And rightly so because the Latin name Jesus comes from the Greek term “Iesous” which is a transliteration of the Hebrew name Yashua or Joshua.
This is why the Angel of the Lord said to Joseph concerning Mary in Matthew 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Oh, “what a coincidence” you say. No it was all planned by God Old Testament Joshua was the metaphorical foundation of what would one day come in the person and work of Christ.
Christ was the only one who was strong and courageous enough to take on sin and death and conquer our greatest enemy. He absorbed the righteous wrath of God on our behalf to reconcile us to God. To remove our sin as far as the east is from the west that our covenant inheritance would not be jeopardized by our inability. In Christ we have an unconditional covenant. He kept the requirements of the Law of Moses for us.
Christ was the only one who was careful to do ALL that was commanded by Moses in His active obedience to the Father. He did not turn to the left or to the right but set His face like flint and endured all the scorn and shame of the Cross on our behalf (Isaiah 50:7).
Christ did not just speak the word of God nor did He just merely meditate on it, but He was the Word of God made flesh, He was the embodiment of the word of God.
In Christ are all the unsearchable riches of our coming inheritance. He has gone into the heavenlies to prepare a place for us. He is the maker and builder of the very city that Abraham longed for and the city that we long for.
And one day it will come down out of heaven as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
Christ alone is of one substance with the Father. Inseparable from all eternity and He has seen to it that the third person of the Godhead lives in us. And He has promised us that He will never leave us or forsake us as His covenant people: Matthew 28:20b: “20b And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
You see Christian, Jesus Christ did something that Joshua could never do. Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses and transforms men and women from the inside out. If we think of it like the medical profession, all Joshua could do was administer band aids and bring the condemnation of death in the conquest but Jesus is on a conquest of a different kind. He has conquered sin and death. He can take the dead and make them alive again.
Conclusion:
And maybe today it is you unbeliever who will be made alive by the power of Christ and His gospel. He makes you willing to turn to Him. Come to Him His mercy and grace is sufficient for you.
Christian believer we follow a Joshua of another kind. We follow Yeshua, the God who saves us and keeps us secure in His grace confess your sin and rest in Him. Let’s pray.