Joshua 1:10-18 “Receive God’s Inheritance”

And Joshua commanded the officers of the people,

11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,

13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’

14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them,

15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses!

18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

This morning we are continuing our journey through the book of Joshua. We entered this book in the middle of a season of grief for the Israelites. Everyone had mourned the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy. And I argued that this Book, like the book of Acts, is a bridge. Following the people of God as they claim the promises of God for the glory of God in a period of conquest and transition.

Of the many themes present throughout the book of Joshua, several that appear and re-appear are the themes of conquest, of obedience, and promise. In this passage alone, you can see that obey, command, and possess are utilized over and over. Conquest, obedience, and promise.

Indeed, (I’m taking a thousand foot perspective of this book for a moment), as the people of Israel needed to know in 13-1400 B.C. as the Christians needed to know during the events recorded in the book of Acts, and as you and I need to know this morning, our lives are not built upon our personal plans, but upon the promises of God.

Our obedience, our progress, our works are vitally important and ultimately meaningless if they are not carried out in the power of the Spirit to the glory of our Triune God.

But how are we to lay hold of the inheritance God gives? What does that look like for us today? How do we even know what such an inheritance looks like? I believe that this passage in Joshua helps you and I begin to better understand God’s answers to these and other important questions.

So, where have we been?

Joshua has had a face to face encounter with God and God told Him that Joshua is now the leader, appointed by God, prepared by God, to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. This will be quite a task! Therefore, God reminds him three times that he will need to “be strong and courageous!” I cannot help but remember this song as I used to preach chapel services for a Christian School and we would play, the “Be strong! Joshua 1:9!” song every day. And believe me, preaching to Kindergarteners, requires that reminder!”

And what of our text this morning?

We are to live faithfully before the Lord, to remember the promises He has made that we may receive the inheritance that He has given to us.

The Lord continues to offer this inheritance and you have to lay hold of it. As we mentioned last week, we have in Joshua a wonderful picture of the complete sovereignty of God on display and the powerful reminder of our own responsibility to act.

Surely, God could have simply given them the land without the need for conquest, without the need for action on their part, but he chose to make his will evident through the means of their actions.

Now that Joshua has been reminded from the mouth of God, that His covenant endures and that His word is certain, and his promises secure, Joshua must now lead. And his first words remind us that if we are to live faithfully before the Lord and receive the inheritance He has promised, we must:

Prepare to Act (10-11)

Joshua faithfully steps right into the role that the Lord has called him to by commanding the officers of the people. Similar to those of Moses, these may be a mix of administrative and judicial leaders. As God instructed Moses to have a plurality of leadership, Joshua also instructed these other officers to command their people.

Command their people to do what?

Prepare Provisions and take Possession. Importantly, we see that this is down to the wire, three days until what the people of Israel had been waiting four decades for was about to take place! But this was all part of God’s plan. I know this is always difficult for us to grasp in the moment, but if I could offer this encouragement to you, God prepares us even before we know it’s time to prepare.

Think about Joshua. The whole time he served Moses, he had no idea that when he turned 80 years old, God would come to him and tell him that he would lead the people into the Promised Land.

We also see the strength and courage already exercised on the part of Joshua in telling the people to take possession. He knows the promises of God and says, “We must prepare to act! Let’s go! Three days!” He does not wait and take it to a committee on committees, when the Lord issues a direct command through his word, let us follow the example of Joshua and be quick to do it!

We are likewise to take these steps for preparation. Whatever God has put in your hands to do, do it! Whatever he had instructed you to do through the Word, do it. I always love when members of the church come to me with an idea of how to follow God and make disciples through their own desire and gifting.

And then, after we have made our plans, we trust the Lord to do his part. I think last week was a wonderful example of everyone pitching in taking part by using their own gifts for the glory of God and connecting with our neighbors to point them to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

And that is exactly what we need, to:

Partner to Possess (12-15)

It is great to prepare to act by yourself, but God desires for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity, God wants the people of God to dwell together as different parts of one body, not a bunch of separate bodies.

Trying to play a team sport by ourselves in another room.

Deut 3:18-20 is almost cited word for word here in verses 14 and 15. And as we read verses 12 and following, we might say, huh, interesting that he singles those 2 1/2 tribes out… and move on. But wait. Why would he be speaking to these tribes? What is the significance of that?

In Numbers 32, Moses warns these tribes about their decision to remain on the Eastern side of the Jordan. He reminds them that their fathers had chosen to discourage the people from claiming their inheritance. This is the event recounted in Numbers 13 where the spies were sent to scout out the land and instead of trusting God and his promises, they relied upon their own strength (or, lack thereof) and committed what God considered wickedness in discouraging their fellow tribes. And by not following the Lord’s commands with faith and courage, they were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years!

In the Numbers 32 encounter, the tribes insist that the land they have been given is a good land and that they promise to come to the aid of their brothers on the east side of the Jordan, while they will leave their wives and children home in safety. So there is a great deal of importance and tension in the provided warning from Moses,

‘But if you do not (Help your brothers), then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out’ (Numbers 32:22) ill. Lord of the Rings, “Gondor calls for aid!” “And Rohan will answer.”

We are not to be content with staying in our comfort zones. We must make sure that we are making every effort to partner with all of the people of God to advance the Kingdom of God.

There is a significant addition here in verse 13 that we must not miss:

What are the Israelites possessing? What is their inheritance?

Verse 13 and 15 tells us: Rest (this is our inheritance) From the beginning of Genesis, God has set the precedent that what is expected, what is anticipated is the culmination of all things in rest. 6 days of creation and 7, rest. The fourth commandment, rooted in rest, honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Jesus steps in and declares Himself Lord, of the Sabbath. Matthew’s Gospel recounts Jesus’ incredible invitation:

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This was anticipated even back in Exodus 33:14 when God tells Moses, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And as we heard this morning in our Scripture reading from Hebrews 4:

Hebrews 4:8 ESV

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

Israel will receive a wonderful partial fulfillment of land promise in this conquest of Canaan, but this rest is not ultimately achieved. Because there was another rest Psalm 95

Psalm 95 ESV

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

The rock of our salvation has come; the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, calls for us to hear his voice, to come to Him in faith,

But also hear the warning!! Those who refuse the rest found in Christ will not enter the rest of God. Do not delay, do not harden your heart against the things of the Lord, do not resist obeying His Word. Christ has brought rest to those who are in him, yet, we are called to lives of activity and obedience. In this passage, we not only see that we need to Plan to Act and Partner to Possess, but we must also echo the response of the people to:

Promise to Obey (16-18)

In verse 16, look again at what the people say,

Joshua 1:16 ESV

And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

When we first read the words of all the tribes here, we may say, “WOW! Wonderful. It is so good to see that the people of God are wanting to do what the leader of God’s people is telling them to do!” But we may In Exodus 24 the people said these same words to Moses. “We will obey!” Eight chapters later… the golden calf is formed. Pastor Matt and I made the comment to each other that maybe as Joshua heard their promise he might have pleaded, “Well…. maybe not JUST as you obeyed Moses?”

Certainly, these are the children of the rebellious generation and they have seen what disobedience looks like and what it results in, but at least in word, what they say is commendable. But guess what? They fail too! Every one of us has failed to obey the Lord and only the true and better Joshua obeyed perfectly, and it is precisely because of His perfect obedience that you and I can walk in holiness. Failing, falling, and faltering though we walk in this life; we don’t obey so that God will love us, we obey because of God’s love at work in us.

One of the modern men I greatly look up to in preaching is Bryan Chapell who says,

“Mere outward conformity to the law is not what God requires. The person who does what God says with a resentful heart and begrudging obedience does not bear the mark of the true child of light. The heart renewed by the Spirit desires to please God, is anxious to find out what He desires, and is motivated by the sense of bringing God pleasure.”

The actions we carry out need to align with the attitudes of our hearts and our hearts must be aligned with a love for God brought about by His Spirit. But don’t think of that as a step-by-step process, sometimes we just simply need to go and take a step of faith. “Partial obedience is really only disobedience made to look acceptable.”

One of the ways we obey the Lord brought to light in this passage is to obey the godly leaders that God has placed in our lives. As the author of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

This flies in the face of our anti-authoritarian age and culture, but just as God put Joshua in place. He has put godly leadership in place. Always subservient to the Word, but called to lead, and called to be followed and supported.

The severity of not obeying is clearly on display in this text. We are exact punishment on someone for not listening, but the people of Israel are in the context of war and to disobey the commanding officer of God’s people is equal to or worse than desertion or betrayal.

How can you support the leaders God has placed? First, by listening to and following them. Second by praying for them. “May the Lord be with you!” “Be strong and courageous”

As a final illustration to remind us that we need one another in this Christian life, I want to share a portion from Pilgrim’s Progress:

In the Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells of two pilgrims named Christian and Hopeful. And as these pilgrims near the end of their journey, nearly to the Celestial City they have longed to reach, Christian becomes fearful and weary in his final moments. And it is in this moment that his friend Hopeful encourages him, “These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters are not a sign that God has forsaken you; but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses."

HOPEFUL then added this word, "Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ makes you whole "; and with that CHRISTIAN brake out with a loud voice, with the words of Isaiah "Oh, I see him again! and he tells me, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you.” (IS. 43)

Then they both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as a stone, until they were gone over. Christian therefore presently found ground to stand upon; and so it followed that the rest of the river was but shallow. Thus they got over.

Now upon the bank of the river, on the other side, they saw the two shining men again who there waited for them; wherefore, being come up out of the river, they saluted them, saying, "We are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those that shall be heirs of salvation."

Do you see dear friends? We have received the great inheritance of salvation through Jesus Christ if we are in Him, while we still wait to experience the fullness of our inheritance which will be ours forevermore! The great river that we must cross into the presence of the Lord, we are meant to prepare each day for it, we must partner with others around us that we can help pull each other along, and we promise to obey as motivated by a deep and abiding love for the One who promises that He will never leave us and never forsake us!

As we endeavor to live faithfully before the Lord, to remember the promises He has made, remember the cross that He bore and the wrath that he endured, so that sinful creatures like you and I would receive the inheritance that He has given to us. And one day hear him say, in person, “Well done. Enter into my joy-filled rest”