Entering Spiritual Cannan

Introduction

In the first verse, the book of Joshua reminds the readers that Moses is dead. In v. 2, we see that God is now fully establishing Joshua as the leader of Israel.

There was a time when God instructed Moses to give Joshua some administrative duties, but, with Moses gone, it’s time for Joshua’s appointment to be given in full measure.

What we find in verses 3-9 is that God is giving Joshua encouragement.

He reminds Joshua of the promise that He made long ago…and then He gives four reasons that Joshua should be encouraged to fulfill the promise that God has already made.

v. 6, God says, “Have confidence in Me.”

v. 7, God says, “Seek wisdom from Me.”

v. 8, God says, “Maintain fidelity to Me.”

v. 9, God says, “Find rest in Me.”

Joshua Encourages Leaders

If Joshua does these four things, then, God says his way will be prosperous and he will find much success.

Now that Joshua has gotten encouragement from God, it’s time for Joshua to go and encourage his officers.

There is nothing more valuable to a leader than Godly counterparts. Men and women who are dedicated to prayer and dedicated to seeking the will of God.

Some of the leadership manuals will say things like, “If you have a word from God, then go with it regardless of opposition from the people.”

While that kind of thinking may have merit, because we are supposed to please God and and not man, what we are going to discuss today is that, as leaders, and as people, we can get ahead of what God wants to do if we are not careful in allowing Him to part the waters.

Where this kind of thinking does apply is when we have a clear word from Scripture. If a church is disobedient to Scripture, it doesn’t need a second or approval from a committee to make it happen.

However, when it comes to things like building programs and ministries, I am a firm believer that if God wants something to be accomplished, as He speaks to His leader, He is also preparing the hearts of His people. Admittedly, some will never go, as we are also going to talk about tonight, but by and large God’s people are ready to respond when the Holy Spirit is impressed upon them.

So, here we find Joshua going to his officials and telling them, “Thus says the Lord.” In return, the people respond to Joshua declaring that they will follow him wherever he leads. This is not because of what Joshua said, but because of what God has declared. They have already seen their parents die in the wilderness, and they weren’t going to make the same mistakes twice.

I. Joshua’s Supporting Cast

Joshua 1:10–11 NKJV

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

God has already spoken, now Joshua is faithful to repeat exactly what God has said. God has declared they would enter into the Promised Land that He has already given them, and Joshua immediately goes and tells them to make preparation to accomplish the will of God.

But, take note here, that Joshua didn’t communicate with everyone directly…Joshua communicated with the officers of the people.

Why?

Officers of the People

Because, just as it was important for Moses to offload leadership responsibilities to Joshua at the appropriate time, it was important for Joshua to teach these men how to communicate effectively and operate in his absence.

Now, remember, Joshua is not running a church, he is running a nation…and more importantly, he is running an army.

When George Washington was at the helm of command in the early stages of the Revolutionary War, he was asked to take over the army for the Revolution. When he arrived, he made some very interesting notes about the people there.

David McCullough writes that when Washington arrived, he found a military that was undisciplined and unexperienced, poorly trained and poorly supplied…Washington reported that they were dirty, disorderly, had no sort of standardization, and would just leave camp at will.

At the root of all these things were officers who lacked professionalism and a love for doing things correctly.

This is what prompted Washington to call his new army, “rabble.”

Joshua needed a supporting cast.

He needed leaders that were capable of communicating the will of God.

He needed leaders that had a love for doing what was right and not in it to win popularity contests.

Most importantly, Joshua needed officers that earned their respect from Israel by loving and caring for the people of Israel, not belittling them or being harsh towards them.

Moses’s Example (Pastoral)

We must remember that Joshua spent his entire life watching Moses lead Israel. Joshua was there on the outskirts of the camp, praying and worshipping God as Moses interceded on their behalf.

And when Moses would find Israel in their disobedience, when Israel would complain against Moses and doubt the goodness of God, time and time again, Moses got on his face and pleaded with God to keep them from judgement.

What we so often forget about the life of Moses was that he spent 40 years in the humble role of shepherd.

And it was in his lowly estate, after he committed murder, that God came to him in the burning bush.

God loves leaders with a pastoral heart

All throughout the Old Testament, God used the shepherds to wonderful things. Because a shepherd knows what it means to care for a flock. They are intimate with their flock, mending their sores and feeding them, watching them grow and caring for them.

And when danger comes, the shepherd is responsible for defending the flock with his life. When they go astray, the shepherd is responsible for going and getting them back. Even our Lord came and was described as a shepherd.

The remarkable thing was the God didn’t come to Moses when Moses was robed in the royalty of the world, but He came to Moses when he was in the wilderness of Sinai, tending those sheep.

Moses had a shepherd’s heart.

Joshua Follows that Example

Not only did Moses have a shepherd’s heart, but Joshua observed him for 40 years. Now, at the helm of the nation of Israel. Joshua has the organization skills, the business skills, the leadership skills, and the skills of war…but above all else, Joshua had the heart of a shepherd, a heart that he got from Moses, a heart that was cultivated by God.

So, now Joshua is cultivating that same leadership in his officers

Thus Sayeth the Lord

He is telling them, “Thus sayeth the Lord.”

Look again in v. 11, Joshua repeats the promise back to his officers, so that they could know that Joshua had authority on the matter.

This gives them assurance of his leadership, and it begins to develop a conviction to follow the commandments of God in the officers of the people.

He is telling them what to communicate and how to communicate, because everything depends on communicating orders directly, clearly, and effectively. As God said in v. 8, “do not go to the right hand or to the left hand”, Joshua is encouraging them to do exactly what God said to do, exactly as God said to do it.

He is also doing something extremely practical he learned from Moses. What Joshua is doing is leading the leaders and allowing them to lead the people.

He is training them, just as he was trained, to be the responsible party. He is training them in the ways of being a shepherd. He is teaching them how to lead and command in their own sphere of influence.

Whether Joshua likes to think about it or not, one day, Joshua will not be there…and unless Joshua has people in place that are appropriately trained in leadership, they will suffer when he departs.

How to Discern God’s Word

The reason that this type of intensive training and organization was necessary for Joshua, and applies to well to the local church, is because it can be difficult to discern the voice of God.

Here are some key principles on how you can begin to discern the voice of God in your life.

1. Learn to hear the voice of God

Scripture is your source of truth

Joshua acted as a prophet here. Moses was also a prophet.

They didn’t have this wonderful collection of “Holy Books” like we have today. They were a people that heard from God, and they recorded what God said, and now we have God’s Scripture.

This masterpiece, that we call the Bible, is God’s written word to us. It was at one time God’s spoken word, if you will, to His officers. Those that we call prophets and Apostles.

This Bible, this Holy Word, is God’s word. And if we claim to have a direction from God or a Word from God and it is not based on the Scripture, it is not from God.

Prayer is your communication tool

You’ll never learn to hear the voice of God without a deep and intentional prayer life.

If you want to be motivated and moved to accomplish the will of God, you’ll never get there without prayer.

So many people say that they want direction from the Lord, but they never motivate themselves in prayer.

When you get before the Lord in sincere prayer, worshipping Him, thanking Him, then His voice becomes clear and He begins to communicate with you.

When people become dangerous

Where life becomes dangerous is when we decide what God is saying and where God is leading without spending time in His word and without spending time communicating with Him in prayer.

You see, any bonehead can come up with a new ministry to lead or a new cause to give to financially, but only a spiritually minded person, someone who is in the Bible and in constant prayer can accurately discern the direction that God is leading them.

Where you go wrong in your life is you have one of two things…

You either take a verse out of context or they claim to have a word from God that’s not from God.

Plenty of people do this, they’ll say, “God told me to…” xyz. The usual give away that God hasn’t told them to do anything is that what follows is usually something selfish.

Or, you just don’t care what God has to say and you just start doing because you’ve always done.

So many are good at this…people think they have all the answers, all the programs, all the tactics, but we never stop and ask God to lead us in what we are doing. What those people are called is hard-hearted. They aren’t remotely sensitive to the Holy Spirit because they never seriously read their Bible and they never seriously pray.

John 10:27 NKJV

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

How can you expect to be following God if you never talk with Him in prayer.

It’s amazing how many leaders in the church simply don’t read their Bibles or have any meaningful prayer time.

2. Learn to Walk in His Ways

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

Psalm 119:1–2 NKJV

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!

Activity Doesn’t Equal Obedience

We cannot fall in the trap that activity means obedience.

Too many Christians think they don’t believe in the prosperity gospel, but then, by their actions, live a life that says, “if I work hard enough, then God will bless me.”

But their theology and their understanding of God is flawed from the very beginning, because God doesn’t want you to do anything.

He wants to do it all, and He wants to do it in a way that you don’t receive the praise, and He wants to do it in a way that allows simple people like us to be used.

Elizabeth and I have been challenged by the Lord to be more intentional in having spiritual conversations.

People constantly tell me, “It looks like you’re doing a good job down there at Providence.”

You know what the easy answer is? “Well, thank you…you see, we began to do this, and this, and this, and if you’ll do those things, then God will bless you too.”

But do you want to hear the right answer?

“I’m not doing it, the Lord is doing it, I’m just humble to be part of it.”

Because, it’s not primarily about doing, it’s all about obeying. That’s why God tells Joshua

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

You can do all sorts of things, but disobedience requires doing the wrong things.

Apathetic Living is Also Sinful

There’s some teachers and unfortunately some preachers that think they don’t have to study…that they can just get up there and flippantly preach or teach some passage that they read over two or three times.

They don’t believe in sincere prayer, they don’t believe in studying to show themselves approved, they just don’t care.

Then, there’s the Christian who shows up to the committee meeting or the Deacon’s meeting and they haven’t one single conversation with the Holy Spirit about their responsibility. They don’t give financially, they don’t serve the church, they don’t do anything…they just think that the sky fairy sets up the tables and writes the tithe checks.

First, we need to learn to hear the voice of God. Second, we need to walk in His ways.

3. Learn to be on His Timing

I was so sure that God called me to the ministry, I wasn’t willing to wait on God to do it, I constantly tried to do it. The hardest years of my life is the fruit of my own doing. My own stubbornness and my unwillingness to wait on God to do what He said He was going to do.

Not So Fast

What we do is we run the risk of trying to accomplish the work of God before He ever does it.

Imagine how silly it would have been if Moses would have told Israel to start swimming across the Red Sea. Those mothers with their young children, those elderly men and women, scared to death because their leader is now commanding them to do something unreasonable.

The insane thing about the entire situation, is that crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground was the most logical way to escape the Egyptian army.

Now, that’s not something that human logic would bring us to, but when God’s involved, He does things that people cannot replicate, and that miracle is just one of many.

When we wait on God’s timing, it’s obvious and it’s miraculous, but what God is asking us to do is never unattainable, even if He tells us to cross through a Sea on dry ground. Even if He tells us to get water from a Rock. Even if He tells us that in order to live we’re going to need to die. We must wait on the Lord and then do things His way.

Go when He says go

But there’s the other side of this…that when He tells us to go, we need to go.

God tells Joshua in v. 2, “Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people.”

Joshua didn’t say, “Ok Lord, I’ll go as soon as I’m ready.”

That’s not going to work.

My favorite illustration of this type of behavior is the initial reaction between Elijah and Elisha. Elijah rides by the newly appointed prophet, throws his coat on him to signify that God was calling him, and then Elisha says, “Can I go and tell my family goodbye?”

Elijah responds, “Do whatever you want, am I the one that called you?” and the Elijah just keeps on going.

Elijah was saying, “Don’t ask me, God told you to come, it’s up to you now. I’m going this way whether you’re there or not.”

When God says go, you need to go.

When God says stay, you need to stay.

II. Joshua’s Prescribed Diet

Joshua 1:11 NKJV

“Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

Joshua tells the people to prepare “provisions”. That word “provisions” means to prepare food for a journey. He’s telling them, “we’re moving and we’re moving now, get yourselves ready within three days.”

The Staleness of Manna

The people of Israel have been in the wilderness 40 years and they’ve been surviving on this stale bread that they named Manna…andI realized after I preached Wednesday that I used a lot of my ammunition for this point…but I want to remind you that manna literally means, “What is it?”

It was stale, it had no nutrients, it was something that was for provision, but just something to keep the people barely alive.

Now, God is telling through Joshua, “In three days, you’ll go into a land with some real food.”

Now, manna is representative of lacking truth from God’s word. It’s representative of what our spiritual condition is like if we don’t love and live on the Word of God.

Because the people of God were rebellious and refused to enter into the fullness of God’s plan…God had them wander in the wilderness and eat the manna that barely kept them functioning.

The Richness of God’s Word

The malnourishment of the manna is contrast to the spiritual life of someone who feasts on the Word of God.

The malnourishment of the manna is contrast to the spiritual life of someone who drinks from the Holy Spirit in prayer.

The malnourishment of the manna is contrast to the spiritual life of someone who actively obeys the will of God.

You see, if they would have been obedient in the beginning, they would have entered into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land with massive grapes and pomegranates…instead, they wandered in a dry land where there was no drink and the bread that they had was stale and unimpressive.

Therefore, God tells Joshua 1:8

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

If you will eat a healthy diet of My Word, you will be prosperous and have good success.

We’ve seen Joshua’s Supporting Cast, we’ve seen Joshua’s Prescribed Diet, and now we see…

III. Joshua’s Solemn Charge

Joshua 1:12–15 NKJV

And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, until the Lord has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

There were two and a half tribes that didn’t want to go into the promised land.

From the very beginning, they made up their minds that they wouldn’t enter and they didn’t do it.

What they did is they acted as the prodigal son. It wasn’t time for these two and a half tribes to receive an inheritance, but they demanded it early, and it eventually caused the nation of Israel a lot of pain.

The reason it caused so much pain was primarily because it deviated from God’s original plan to establish all of His people in the land that He gave them.

It also cause pain because the people that didn’t enter caused division in the nation. Instead of living on the west side of the Jordan, they all lived on the east side of the Jordan, and they struggled to maintain their identity as Israelites.

This is a good illustration of the Christian that wants to ride the fence. They want to be in on the blessings, but out on the obedience. They want the spoils of the Promised Land, but they don’t want to do the work of conquering.

I’ve heard it said many times that there are three types of church members when it comes to making progress and building the church.

There are those who make it happen.

Those who watch it happen.

and those who wonder what happened.

Now, if you’ll recall…the land of Canaan doesn’t represent Heaven as so many people have made it seem over the years…but Canaan, the Promised Land, represents life in the fullness of God’s promise and life in the fullness of Jesus Christ here on earth.

We don’t need, and we don’t want, a portion of our people barely making it in their Christian life…we don’t want people living spiritual paycheck to spiritual paycheck. I don’t want our people eating the manna.

What I want for you, and what God wants for you, and what you should want for you, is to live in the fullness of the presence of Jesus Christ.

So, here’s the charge

Will you begin to enter spiritual Canaan? Will you enter into the rest that only Jesus can give?

Then you need to do those things we mentioned in the beginning.

Learn to hear the voice of God through devotion to Scripture and prayer.

Learn to walk in His ways by taking action to be obedient. Not simply doing for the sake of doing, and certainly not by doing nothings.

Learn to work on His timing. When He says go, go. When He says stay, stay.

But you can’t work in His timing unless you’re first living in obedience, and you cannot live in obedience unless you first learn His voice, and you cannot learn His voice unless you first begin to pray and feast on His word.

Joshua’s Solemn charge was this…

You made a promise to Moses that you would help your brothers conquer the land that God promised us…it’s time to act now and work now.

Some Christians get tired in their commitments to God…but you still committed to Him, you still need to follow Him. As Scripture says Gal 6:9

Galatians 6:9 NKJV

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

IV. Joshua’s Encouraging Followers

Joshua 1:16–17 NKJV

So they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you.

When it says, “they answered”, it means the officers he addressed in v. 10.

They trusted in the leadership of Moses because they saw the sins of their fathers, and they saw the dedication in which Moses had towards them…and now that are giving that same favor to Joshua.

He has given himself an image of Godliness and wisdom, and he gave himself that image by being humble and totally submissive to God and to Moses.

He didn’t get it by being the smartest or the loudest, but by being the most obedient.

So, when Joshua asked the people to follow the Lord, they were ready to follow Him.

We need to be just like that when it comes to following the Lord. We need to be ready to follow Him, learning from the mistakes of those who went before us.

Joshua 1:17 NKJV

Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses.

I need to ask you, selfishly, to pray for me…and I desire that you pray for yourself also.

Like I said in the beginning, I am convinced that as God leads us then He will communicate that direction to me and He will prepare your hearts to receive it…but you cannot receive it if you do not pray for yourself, and I may slip and fall if my congregation doesn’t pray for me.

Above all the other blessing you could give me, I ask that you pray for me…even if, and especially if, I mess up and fail you…pray for me…pray and ask God to be with me as He was with Moses.

Joshua 1:18 NKJV

Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

Now, I’ll say this…I don’t think this is a verse that applies to us totally…if you kill someone for talking bad about me I’m calling the police.

But, I think we could all learn here, in principle, that we need to kill negativity, kill gossip, kill selfishness, and kill sin in our church with a vengeance.

For, “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.”

Not only that, making sure that we as a church are following the leadership of the Lord is a matter of life and death…both for us and those that are lost and dying and going to Hell.

We must heed the Word of the Lord.

Conclusion

Every leader needs faithful officers.

Every Christian needs to discern the Word of God, by learning His voice, walking in His ways, and acting in His timing.

Every Christian need a daily diet of God’s Holy Bread and a drink of the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian needs the fullness of Jesus Christ

And every Christian needs to kill the sin in their life and the sin in the church.