Be Strong and of Good Courage

Joshua Chapter 1:1-9

In my mind I imagine it being a cool morning there on the banks of the Jordan River as the children of Israel stood looking to the other side at the promised land. I imagine there was an uneasy feeling in the camp; they had just mourned the loss of the greatest man in the history of the nation of Israel, Moses, their leader, their governor, the man of God. What would become of them? Could anyone truly replace the great law giver as leader of the nation? In searching for answers to these many questions I feel in my heart that slowly the eyes of the entire nation focused their gaze on the man Joshua. They knew that it was God’s will for him to be Moses’ successor, they knew that he was a great military leader, they knew that he was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, but nevertheless, the people were uneasy.

I wonder if Joshua had any doubts. It had only been 30 days since the death of Moses, up to this point Joshua knew that he was the man chosen by God to lead the people, but he’d never been given the task until now. Would he live up to Moses’ expectations? Would the people accept him or reject him? Very easily they could have stoned him, left him there on those muddy banks and changed direction and headed back into bondage. What would the people do?

I wonder if you’ve ever found yourself in such a desperate situation, one in which the outlook looked bleak, as if there was no hope, no promise of tomorrow. Have you faced such circumstances where all hope seemed lost? Well, cheer up! This is exactly where Joshua found himself, let’s look together at the encouraging words which God shared with Joshua **TEXT**…

Proposition: I want you to understand that Joshua stood in need of encouragement from the Lord.

Interrogative: I wonder, are you in a place in your life where you need encouragement?

TS: Let’s look at the encouraging words Joshua received from God…

I am Giving you this Land 1-4

This promise of encouragement is found in verse 2. You must remember two important truths about this promise of God in order to truly benefit from it:

The time of year - the Israelites were camping on the Jordan during the wet season when the Jordan overflowed its banks.

No doubt Joshua was thinking “OK LORD, we’ll go over Jordan, just in a few months once the waters subside, but God’s command is simply “Go over this Jordan.”

If you are familiar with this portion of Scripture then you are aware that God caused the swelling Jordan River to part just as He did the Red Sea. Once again God caused His people to cross a body of water on dry ground.

The land was currently inhabited. The land was in enemy territory

It would have been easy for Joshua to say to God “OK, LORD, I’ll go over into Canaan, I’ll take my best Generals, our most valiant soldiers, and we’ll go in and take the land and come back for the rest.”

God says to Joshua to “…go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people…” Before Joshua can even form the thought of only taking a handful of soldiers into the land, God tells him to take the entire Nation with him. What a God!

There are 3 truths about this encouraging promise for God we need to understand:

It was unconditional.

God says in verse 2 of the land “I do give”.

Joshua needed to put any thoughts from his mind that God was expecting him to do this. God told Joshua; I AM going to do this.

We need to learn today my friends that when God calls us to something that seems too big for us, it is NEVER too big for Him!

Too many times God’s people quit just before God is ready to open the door

When you say I can’t, remember, God can!

We need to remember that we cannot accomplish anything on our own, we must trust in God if we are to accomplish anything.

It was unbreakable.

In verse 3 God says to Joshua that every place the sole of his foot touched would be given to him.

Why?

Because this is the promise God made to Moses!

God had given His Word that He would do this for Moses; God CANNOT go back on His word.

The same is true today my friends, God CANNOT go back on His promises to us today!

IT was undeniable.

Verse 4 is Israel’s title deed to the Holy Land.

This is disputed today by the Muslim world, by liberals in politics, by heathens and atheists, but never by God.

The little parcel of land that is called “Israel” today isn’t drop in the bucket compared to what God promised them and one day my friends, they will lay claim to the entire Promised Land!

Yes, my friends, Joshua took great encouragement from the promise of God that He was giving him the land. God also promised Joshua…

I Will Fight Your Battles for You 5-6

Joshua’s eyes may have been on the swollen Jordan, but his mind was on those walled cities, the giants, and the armies that lay ahead. God put these thoughts to rest when He made these promises regarding their enemies:

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life” - Only two men in all of Israel knew what lay ahead in Canaan, Joshua and Caleb.

40 years before these 2 men urged the nation to go in and conquer the land, but the people listened to the doubting majority.

Now, 40 years later, on the eve of a major military invasion, Joshua’s mind wanders back to the spying mission 40 years earlier.

God would not have His man nervous or afraid of what lied ahead. Before Joshua could even allow himself to become afraid God promised him that no man – giant or otherwise - would be able to stand before him. What an encouragement this must have been!

**Often times we tend to allow ourselves to keep us from saying or doing what God wants us to do. We are too afraid because the task seems to be too big for us, well guess what it is too big for us, but it’s not too big for God! We need to realize that He will not ask us to something that He is not willing and wanting to do for us!

God promised Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” – I can’t imagine more comforting words on the eve of battle.

God used Moses, one man, to lead His nation out of captivity under the greatest, most powerful nation on the planet.

God was with Moses in a mighty way, some of the greatest miracles recorded in Scripture were done with, though, or by Moses, and now God is promising Joshua that He will be with him in the same way!

How would you like for God to promise you that He was going to be with you as He was with Moses?

Wouldn’t that make an impact on your discouragement?

God says “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” - Here’s a promise that is given to the church! Hebrews 13:35.

One of the names for God is El Shaddi, it’s translated as “Almighty God” it means the “All sufficient One”.

The one that supplies all our needs. God promises Joshua that He will never slack up or loosen His grip on him. Just as Joshua drew encouragement from these words, my friends, we can as well.

God Promises in verse 6 that they will inherit the land.

Here for the 1st time in this passage we see the phrase “Be strong and of a good courage”.

This phrase is used 4 times in 18 verses, 3 times by God, once by the people of God who have accepted their mission and are ready to follow the man of God into battle.

God’s promise to Joshua here is that he can draw strength from knowing that God was about to make good on his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Make no mistake about it; this land is important to God.

The land is referred to 87 times in the book of Joshua, and now the nation is on the verge of entering and conquering the land.

God makes this unconditional promise to Joshua “for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them”

No matter how great the task may seem, no matter how impossible the situation God’s people can rest assured that He will go before them and fight their battles in their place.

Not only did God tell Joshua He was giving him the land, and fighting his battles, but God made one more promise to Joshua…God said:

I Will be With Thee 7-9

Look at verse 9, God says to Joshua, “the LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest”. No doubt before Joshua would lead the army of Israel into battle, he would rehearse these words in his heart “The LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest”.

These words were to be Joshua’s encouragement, but what was to be his enablement? For this we must look at verses 7 and 8. See far too often, we desire to receive the end result, the blessing, and we fail to realize that we must work to receive it.

In verse 7 God tells Joshua again to be strong and VERY courageous, not for battle, but in order that he might “observe to do according to all the law…not to turn from it to the right hand or to the left…” Too many Christians, too many churches are turning from away from the Word of God today and turning to the world instead! We are called to do just the opposite, to turn from the world and to the Word!

God has made a promise to Joshua, that He will be with Him, but if Joshua is going to be used of God, then he must be a man of the Word. God instructs Joshua that he must not turn to the right hand or to the left, might I say to you my friends, that God hates compromise when it comes to His Holy Word. The common theme in our world is “let’s be more flexible” God says don’t turn from my Word to the right hand or to the left.

Not only was Joshua to observe to do the whole law, and not depart from it, he was to be a student of the Word, to mediate in it day and night.

I cannot tell you the number of believers who have come to me in tears, their lives upside down, their world crumbling. They say “Preacher, I don’t know what to do.” The first question I ask them is this “Can you tell me about your devotional life?” To which, almost without fail, the response is “I don’t have a devotional life.”

WE cannot overlook the importance of these 2 verses, because before God promises to be with Joshua “withersoever” he goest, he tells him in verses 7-8 that only when he has devoted himself to the Word would he be prosperous and have good success.

Conclusion: There on the banks of Jordan God speaks to a discouraged Joshua, promising him that He would give him the land, that He would fight his battles, and that He would be with him withersoever he went. Today, on the stormy banks of our lives as we face crisis situations, as we need guidance and encouragement from God, He is making these same promises to us.

I don’t know your situation, maybe you’re here facing a trial, an event or a decision that seems too big for you, I urge you to put in God’s hands and to put your trust in Him to see you through.

Would you stand to your feet this morning with your head bowed and eyes closed, I want to give you a chance today to come to this altar and do business with God. I don’t know what you’re facing, what difficulty it is that seems too big, but I know it’s not bigger than God! Why don’t you give it to Him today?

I wonder today if you’re here and you don’t have peace in your life because you’re not sure if you are saved or not.