We'll turn to the book of Joshua, Joshua
chapter 1.
We could describe this book as the book
that tells us about how Israel possessed the
promised land.
It's very similar to the Acts of the
Apostles, because it was a new beginning and
there were tremendous manifestations of power and Joshua
was a great leader, brought them into the
promised land, just like in the Acts of
the Apostles.
We read about people who came into the
fullness of the Spirit and came into a
new beginning of a new covenant.
And we also see in the book of
Judges, immediately after Joshua, how backsliding came very
quickly in after the time of Joshua, which
teaches us that when God's people don't have
good leaders, backsliding enters in very quickly and
we see that as soon as the Apostles
died, backsliding entered in very quickly as we
read in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3
among the churches.
So the book of Joshua is very similar
to the Acts of the Apostles and just
like we learned from the Acts of the
Apostles, we could learn from the book of
Joshua.
See, the book of Joshua pictures God as
a God of war and sometimes we can't
understand that.
But God is a God of war because
He is a God of love.
He hates anything that harms His people.
Just like a father would make war against
the diseases that are in his son, a
good doctor would make war against disease.
Where there are polluting influences that would defile
and corrupt His people, the only way was
to eliminate them.
So the land of Canaan is not a
picture of heaven.
Some people talk about crossing, we sing songs
sometimes about crossing Jordan in death and entering
Canaan.
Canaan is not a picture of heaven because
there are no giants in heaven to be
killed and that's the clearest proof that Canaan
is not a picture of heaven, it's a
picture of life on this earth, of an
overcoming life.
Sometimes some of these songs we sing have
got wrong theology in them.
Canaan is a description of a spirit-filled
life where the giants of sin, the lusts
in our flesh are crucified one by one.
All the giants were not killed in a
moment.
You know, the people of Israel had to
go across two bits of water in their
journey from Egypt to Canaan.
One was the Red Sea and the other
was the River Jordan.
And these speak of, both speak of death.
We saw in 1 Corinthians 10 that going
into the Red Sea was a picture of
baptism.
The River Jordan is a picture of another
death.
That's where John the Baptist baptized people.
That's where Jesus was baptized.
And that speaks of another death.
And we need to understand these two, the
spiritual meaning of this, if we are to
enter into the promised land ourselves.
See the Bible speaks about the old man
being crucified, Romans 6, 1-6 speaks about
your old man was crucified by God.
We don't crucify our old man.
Romans 6 is very clear that our old
man, which is this mind that wanted to
sin, in which we were in our unconverted
days, our sinful bent of mind, was crucified
with Christ on the cross.
It was God who did that.
But there is another thing which we are
to crucify.
In Galatians 5-24 it says, those who
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its
lusts and affections.
So the flesh is different from the old
man.
The old man is what God crucified on
the cross with Christ.
Romans 6 is very clear.
The flesh, Galatians 5, is what those who
are Christ's crucify.
The flesh, we can say, if I were
to use an illustration, the flesh with its
lusts are like a gang of robbers that
try to come into our heart to pollute
us.
The old man is like an unfaithful servant
who lives inside our heart and opens the
door every time these robbers come to steal
everything.
Which does God kill?
He kills the servant.
The gang of robbers are still there, hale
and hearty.
That's why you are tempted exactly the same
way after you are converted as before you
were converted.
Because the gang of robbers is alive.
They wanted to come into your heart before
you were converted.
They wanted to come into your heart after
you were converted.
But something died.
And what died was not the lusts or
the temptation.
The old man, the servant inside who kept
opening the door, he's died.
That God killed him.
And he put a new servant there called
a new man who does not open the
door.
When the temptation comes, now we say no.
Then how do we fall into sin?
Because sometimes when this new servant does not
eat properly, he's weak.
And he can't keep the door shut against
the robbers.
And the robbers push their way in.
That's how a believer sins.
But there is a difference between a believer
sinning and an unbeliever sinning.
Because the believer doesn't want to.
The unbeliever wants to.
In fact, that is the proof of whether
you are born again or not.
The proof of being born again is not
whether you sin or not, but do you
want to sin?
If you still want to sin, I would
definitely say you are not converted.
When people come to me for baptism, I
ask them one question.
Do you want to sin anymore?
Even once.
I'm not asking you, will you sin?
Nobody can say I will not till the
end of their lives.
But do you want to?
That want to, that's the old man.
So there are two deaths.
And it's very beautifully pictured in the Old
Testament.
In the Old Testament, the entire army of
Pharaoh was buried in one moment under the
Red Sea.
That's the old man.
Who did it?
The Israelites did not kill them.
God did it.
God buried the Egyptian army.
The old man was crucified by God on
the cross.
But now they cross Jordan, which speaks of
another death.
I again go into the water and say,
Lord, I die to this flesh of mine.
I take that attitude.
They that are Christ have taken this attitude
of the flesh will be crucified.
But the lusts are still there.
The giants are still ruling the land.
And Joshua and the Israelites had to kill
them one by one.
And we have to kill our lusts one
by one.
That's different from the Egyptian army, which is
buried in a moment.
See, scripture is so exact when it comes
in to its application in the New Testament.
And if we open ourselves to the Holy
Spirit, He will reveal these hidden things of
scripture to us.
And we see the Bible is a wonderful,
exciting book.
It's so perfect and so exact in that
Old Testament typology.
They did not understand it then, but we
understand it today.
This is the land of Canaan, our body
ruled by giants, many, many giants.
But we have taken an attitude towards that
giant saying, I have decided I'm going to
take up the cross.
Jesus said you got to take up the
cross every day.
That's not to kill the old man.
The old man is already crucified.
It's to put the flesh to death.
There is only one thing I want to
say.
The Bible speaks about the possibility that if
you continue to take a lax attitude towards
sin, you can put on the old man
again.
That's possible.
A person can lose his salvation.
But in Joshua, we are talking, the picture
here is of the lusts of the flesh
being put to death one by one.
Overcoming sin is the theme, the spiritual theme
of the book of Joshua.
And the picture in the whole book is
to encourage us in our battle against sin.
And that's why this is a wonderful book.
And we have a leader in this battle
who goes ahead and leads us into this
battle.
His name is Joshua.
Joshua is the Hebrew word for Jesus.
Jesus is a Greek word.
And the Hebrew is Jehoshua.
The Lord is savior.
You shall call his name Jesus because he
is a savior.
He shall save his people from their sins.
And you read about, that's why you read
in Hebrews chapter four.
You see that in the King James Version
how Jesus and Joshua are actually the same
name.
And that's also very interesting that our leader
who leads us into this battle against sin
is Jesus.
Who was tempted in all points as we
are.
Joshua did not sit in a tent and
tell the other people to go and fight.
You go and fight, I'll sit here comfortably
in the tent.
And you fight the battle and win for
me.
No, he went in front and fought and
said, follow me.
That's what Jesus also says.
The Bible says he's the captain of our
salvation in Hebrews.
And Hebrews chapter two.
Now, a captain of an army does not
sit in a tent at the back.
He goes in front.
And the people in the old days, anyway,
they looked at that captain.
The kings used to lead people into battle.
And it's exactly like that.
Jesus is the one who has gone ahead.
And that's why it says, let us run
this race, looking unto Jesus, who in his
earthly life endured the cross, despising the shame,
conquered and is sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
This is the one we are to look
at in our earthly life.
In our battle today, there is a captain
who has gone in front of us.
So that when we are tempted today, we
say, Lord, you were also tempted exactly like
I'm being tempted at this moment.
And you have gone ahead of me as
my captain and you have overcome and I
shall also overcome.
I'm following you.
And there is no defeat when we follow
Jesus.
We are defeated when we don't follow Jesus.
So those things, as a word of introduction,
I also want to say just one practical
thing.
And that is that, you know, there was
a reason why God wiped out the Canaanites.
The same reason why he wiped out people
in the time of Noah through a flood.
Because the whole earth, it says in Genesis
6, had become corrupt.
Does a God of love wipe out people?
Let me ask you, will a doctor who
loves his patient amputate his foot?
Have you heard of people whose feet have
to be amputated?
Because gangrene has set in and it is
so bad that if they don't cut off
the foot, the whole body will be killed.
So when you see that doctor using a
saw and cutting off somebody's leg, if you
don't understand medicine, you'll be convinced that that
doctor hates him.
But actually that is the greatest aspect, mark
of love, that he's cutting off his leg.
So we need to see that killing people
who were going to cause gangrene and corrupt
the whole nation of Israel was the greatest
act of love.
Wiping out people in the time of the
flood was an act of love so that
the human race is preserved.
And that was God's way in the Old
Testament.
He very rarely does it in the New
Testament, where people lead others astray, sometimes he
smites them dead.
We read of the Apostle Paul once smiting
a man with blindness in Acts chapter 13
because he was leading somebody astray.
But those are rare.
I've heard of people who have been killed
because they were opposed to revival.
So God does that very rarely, but in
the Old Testament we read this.
It was not murder of the Canaanites, it
was surgery that we read in Joshua.
And many, many years earlier you read in
the book of Genesis in chapter 15, something
very interesting relating to why this judgment took
place in Joshua.
In Genesis 15 we read here that the
Lord said to Abraham, and Abraham was living
in Canaan at that time, and there were
Canaanites there.
Why didn't God use Abraham and his servants
to kill the Canaanites?
You know that in the previous chapter, Genesis
14, he killed so many armies.
I mean he defeated so many armies.
Abraham was a powerful man.
But he did not use Abraham to kill
the Canaanites then.
He said you've got to wait 400 years.
And the reason being given in Genesis 15,
it says afterwards, verse 14, they will come
out with many possessions and then they will
occupy this land.
In the fourth generation, Genesis 15, 16, they'll
return here.
Reason, because the sin of these people has
not yet become ripe for judgment.
Just like the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
came up to a certain point of ripeness.
Just like you pluck a mango when it
is ripe.
Sin also, God waits and waits.
It's green now.
Yeah, it's growing, growing, growing.
You wait for the mango to grow till
it becomes ripe.
Sin also grows and grows and grows and
finally it becomes ripe.
And God says now it has to be
judged.
So the sin of the Canaanites, we read
there, was not yet ripe.
It would take another 400 years to be
ripe.
And then Joshua came in.
Now the Canaanites were ripe for judgment.
There was all types of sexual perversity going
there, sex with animals and all types of
wicked things going on.
You read that in Leviticus.
God said this is the reason why I'm
driving out these nations in front of you.
So we see that it was surgery, not
murder.
That's the reason why.
And it was not because he was partial,
because we read, after Israel occupied the land,
700 years later, when Israel themselves committed the
same sins, God chased the Israelites out of
the land also.
The Assyrians came and captured them.
125 years later, when Judah, the southern kingdom,
also began to turn away from the prophets
and fall into sin, God sent the Babylonians
to destroy them too.
So God is not partial.
Whether it's the Canaanites or the Israelites or
the people of Judah, His standards are the
same.
If they keep on violating, violating, don't listen,
don't listen, don't listen, one day God does
surgery, just like He does with us.
You know that if God excuses your sin,
I would say He doesn't love you.
He has to judge your sin.
He hates sin.
If a father allows his children to have
disease, I would say the father doesn't love
that child of his.
So, what we see here is, Joshua did
not question God.
He accepted God's standards.
And he obeyed His laws and His ways.
And it says here in Joshua chapter 1,
so much for an introduction, as we go
into the book of Joshua chapter 1 in
verse 1, we read here, After the death
of Moses the servant of the Lord, the
Lord spoke to Joshua saying, Moses my servant
is dead.
Now I've given you every place that your
foot treads on.
Verse 3, verse 5, No man will be
able to stand before you all the days
of your life.
What is the New Testament verse, which is
the equivalent of Joshua 1.5?
No man will be able to stand before
you all the days of your life.
Romans 6.14 No sin will be able
to master you.
Because you are under grace.
Because you follow Jesus.
This is the exact equivalent of Romans 6
.14. Here is the land of Canaan.
Ruled by many, many giants, many sins.
And the Lord says not one of those
sins will be able to stand in front
of you.
You'll conquer all of them.
Do you believe that?
That's God's will.
Paul believed it.
And he said in 2 Corinthians 2, Thanks
be to God who always leads us in
victory in Christ.
Always in victory.
That was Paul's song.
That is to be our song too.
We know that many people did not enter
into that life.
Many Christians don't enter into this life.
600,000 Israelites came out of Egypt.
How many entered into this land?
Two.
600,000 people are born again.
How many come to a life of victory?
Perhaps two.
Why?
Like Joshua and Caleb, those are the ones
who have faith.
If God has said it, we can do
it.
The other people say, Oh no, no, no,
these giants are so big.
These sins are so powerful.
They have ruled us for so long.
How can we drive them out?
And such believers remain defeated, defeated, defeated, even
though they are serving God.
That's not the way to serve God.
We have to overcome sin.
And thus serve the Lord.
The rivers that flow from heaven through us
must not flow through a polluted channel.
A channel that is polluted with dirty thoughts
and murmuring and complaining and love of money.
No, it must flow through a clean channel
that has overcome sin.
Then it can bless people.
I believe this is the great lack in
Christendom today.
We have Christian leaders who are not pure
inside.
Who have not overcome sin in their private
life.
Who have not overcome the love of money.
Who have not overcome the lust of the
eyes.
Who have not overcome bitterness.
Who have not overcome the spirit of competition
with other Christian leaders and with other organizations.
Who have not overcome jealousy.
And who have not overcome unrighteousness in many
areas.
Who have not even overcome telling lies.
Who have not overcome shouting at their wives.
And they are getting up to preach to
God's people.
What can they preach to God's people?
They can teach God's people how to shout
at your wife.
How to be bitter.
How to be jealous.
How to compete.
What else can they teach?
The rest is all theory.
There is a lot of theory being preached
in the pulpits today.
Which are not real.
We have to overcome.
All the knowledge that you acquire with study
is useless if you are not an overcomer.
You will only preach theory to other people.
Remember this.
Learn this from the book of Joshua.
Be an overcomer.
So, the Lord says, No man will be
able to stand before you.
Why?
Because I will be with you.
It's not because we determine.
No.
It's because Jesus is with me.
It's because he fills me with the Holy
Spirit.
He will never fail me nor forsake me
when I face a trial or a temptation.
That is the type of leader God is
looking for today.
Be strong and courageous.
Don't be afraid of any sin.
You will lead these people to possess this
land which has been ruled by their enemies
for so long.
My dear brothers and sisters, you must go
out and get God's people to possess the
land which has been occupied by sin.
Their bodies ruled by sin for years.
It's no use just converting people to have
faith in Christ.
Just cross Egypt.
Put the blood outside the door.
Come through the Red Sea.
Be baptized and also be baptized in the
Holy Spirit.
Full stop.
There is no full stop.
That is only the kindergarten lesson.
After the kindergarten, do you send your child
into the kindergarten and say, Okay, you passed
out of kindergarten.
That's all your education.
That is what is happening in Christendom today.
No, that's the beginning of your education.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit, the pillar
of cloud was to lead them into the
promised land.
They should have gone there in 2 years.
They did not go there even 40.
Because the leaders don't teach them.
Faith comes by hearing.
If we don't hear these truths, how will
we overcome?
Be strong and courageous, he says.
And be careful, verse 7, to do everything
that's written in God's word.
Don't turn to the left or the right.
If God says, sin shall not have dominion
over you, say it.
Don't reduce the intensity of that.
And don't say more than what the Bible
says.
Don't say that we can be perfect like
Christ on this earth.
We cannot.
We shall be like Him when we see
Him, it says in 1 John 3.
Don't go beyond scripture, don't go less than
scripture.
We can overcome, but we will be like
Him fully only when He comes again.
But till then, it's like climbing a mountain.
The day I'm converted, my sins are all
forgiven.
My past is blotted out.
But I'm still defeated by so many sins.
And then I climb a mountain.
The top of the mountain is becoming perfectly
like Christ.
That will happen only when Christ comes again.
But do I have to live at the
foot of the mountain all my life?
No.
It says let's press on to perfection.
Hebrews chapter 6.
Let's press on to perfection.
2 Corinthians 7.
It says perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
Don't be afraid of that word.
Perfection is at the top of the mountain
which will happen when Christ comes again.
But we have to press on.
Paul says I'm pressing on in Philippians 3.
I've not reached the top of the mountain.
I'm not perfect, but I'm not going to
sit at the foot of the mountain forever.
The trouble with a lot of God's people
is they're going in circles.
Like we saw in Deuteronomy.
The Lord says you've gone in circles enough.
You've stayed at the foot of this mountain
enough.
Now climb it.
Press on.
Be careful.
Don't turn to the left or the right.
This book of God's word shall not depart
from your mouth.
Where should we have God's word?
I said the other time in our heart.
We also need to have it in our
mouth.
The trouble today is people are confessing things
which they want to satisfy their lusts.
Lord, I confess that I'll have a house.
Lord, I confess that I'll have a job.
Lord, I confess that I'll have a car.
No.
Instead of that, stop all that.
Start confessing.
Lord, I confess I'll overcome anger.
Lord, I confess that I'll overcome lust of
the eyes completely.
Lord, I confess that I'll overcome the love
of money.
These are the things we are to confess.
But the leaders among God's people are telling
people to confess for material things.
Material things.
All the time.
Because that's what people love.
That's how you get crowds.
But you can't build a church with crowds
who are interested in material things.
You can build a church only with people
who are interested in heavenly things.
Godly things.
Don't attract the wrong type of people to
your crowd, to your church with confessing the
wrong things.
This book of the law.
What does God's word say?
Where does God's word say you'll get a
car?
Or a house?
God's word says you can sin can be
overcome.
God's word says you can come into a
life where you rejoice in the Lord always.
24 hours.
Every day.
Where there's never a moment of depression or
discouragement or defeat.
Always in triumph.
Always rejoicing.
Always giving thanks in everything for all people.
This is the new testament.
Confess it.
And say Lord, this is the life I
want to live.
I remember as a young Christian I looked
around and I saw believers.
Believers.
Christian leaders.
Defeated.
And I said Lord, I don't want to
judge them.
That's not my business.
But I want to look at God's word.
I want to look at Jesus.
And I want to look at your promise.
And I kept on confessing.
The life I want in my own life
is the life described in God's word.
Rejoicing always.
Always giving thanks.
Always in victory.
Always praying.
Always having our mind set on the things
above.
Lord, I want to be like that when
I'm 20.
I want to be like that when I'm
30.
I want to be like that when I'm
40.
I want to be like that when I'm
50, 60, 70, 80, 90.
Till the end of my life I want
to be like that.
Let it not depart from your mouth.
I say that to you because these are
not the type of things that you are
encouraged to confess nowadays, unfortunately.
Sometimes you may find, like I often find
that you're a lone voice standing for God
and His word in the midst of popularity
seeking creatures.
Don't be like them.
This book of the Lord shall not depart
from your mouth.
You shall meditate on it day and night.
What should you meditate on day and night?
God's word.
Not even the need of the heathen.
That looks like a good thing.
But you can help the heathen only if
you meditate on God's word day and night.
And be careful to obey everything that you
do it that's written there.
Then what will happen?
You will make your way prosperous.
This is the real prosperity gospel.
Where my life becomes prosperous in a heavenly
way, in a spiritual way and I will
have success.
See those two words there?
Prosperity and success.
The world is seeking for prosperity and success.
Everybody.
But they don't seek it the way it's
written in Joshua 1 verse 8.
So just keep that in mind when we
go through this book and when you go
through life.
Now we want to move on to chapter
2.
In chapter 2 we see God's concern for
a prostitute in a heathen country.
It's not only Jesus who was concerned for
prostitutes in the New Testament.
We see there in the Old Testament, Rahab
who was not a Jew but she was
a prostitute but even prostitutes may be sick
and tired of their prostitution.
Mary Magdalene was sick and tired of her
evil life.
Very few people knew that.
They just despised her.
Some of those prostitutes that are today in
the red light areas of our cities they
may not be there because they love it.
Some of them have been pushed there.
Some of them are sick and tired of
that.
Perhaps some of them need to hear the
gospel.
I praise God for those through the ages
who had a burden for such people because
God has a burden for such people.
They may not be Christians.
They may be heathen like Rahab.
But God who searches all over the world
irrespective of nationality, irrespective of whether the person
is a prostitute or a religious leader.
He sees a longing in that person's heart
and he makes a way for that prostitute's
salvation and Rahab comes down in the pages
of scripture.
In the book in the New Testament James
write about Rahab's faith was accompanied by works.
He says imagine where did that prostitute think
that she would be an example for generations
to come.
For 3000 years people would talk about her
faith.
See God is without partiality and I want
to say that to encourage all of you.
Some of you may be like Rahab one
unknown person who lived in sin, made a
mess of your life living there in some
place where you think nobody can reach you
but God sees the longing in your heart
and he's got ways to lead you to
become his servant.
Now I want to tell you something even
more wonderful.
You know if you read Matthew chapter 1
you read there that Rahab became one of
the ancestors of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine that?
So wonderful plans God had for this prostitute
in Jericho.
She was not even a Jew but she
married after she was delivered and the Israelites
came and she married an Israeli and through
her came Mary the mother of Jesus through
her came David king of Israel through her
came Joseph the husband of Mary she was
the ancestor of both Joseph and Mary.
She was the ancestor of David amazing God's
ways are so different from ours praise the
Lord for his way chapter 3 we read
about how the Israelites crossed Jordan and the
Lord said to Joshua in verse 7 this
day I will begin to exalt you chapter
3 verse 7 in the sight of all
Israel that they may know that just as
I was with Moses I will be with
you God told Joshua you don't see it's
very difficult for Joshua to fit in the
shoes of Moses.
Imagine some great mighty leader like Moses who
for 40 years everybody feared and respected a
man who could solve every problem and suddenly
he dies and Joshua who was probably maybe
70-80 years old is now got to
step into his shoes to lead these 600
,000 men.
He thought how will these people respect me
who am I?
Sometimes you may be called to go into
a ministry which is formally fulfilled by some
great man of God who was respected by
everybody you say how can I do it
and the Lord says don't worry I will
begin to exalt you do you know who
exalts us so that people begin to respect
us God don't wait for some man to
make you a director to give you a
title and say okay now I'm director are
you trying to get respect through getting a
college degree after your name there's some people
who never get tired of making their tails
long you know the tail after the name
this degree and then this degree and this
degree but this long tail is not going
to help you to serve God this long
tail is God who is to exalt you
it is God who is to manifest to
people that you are a man of God
that he's got to be with your mouth
what's use impressing people with your tail this
must be an anointing upon your life the
words of your mouth and then people know
whether God is with you or not Jesus
never had a tail he didn't have anything
he was a normal human being without any
tail but God was with him that's the
important thing that's the important thing God was
with him and that's the thing we need
more than anything else don't seek after degrees
seek that God will be with you if
you go to a Bible school go there
to study the word of God not to
get a degree that's trash seek to study
the word of God and that God will
be with you seek to be anointed seek
to learn the fear of God very few
people go for that unfortunately they go more
for qualifications to lengthen their tails I will
be with you and I will exalt you
and what was Joshua's qualification for serving God
God was with him what was Jesus qualification
for serving God Acts 10 38 says God
was with him what was Moses qualification God
was with him what was David's qualification to
kill that giant Goliath one thing God was
with him what is your qualification to serving
God your certificate God have mercy on you
if you think the devil is afraid of
your certificate devil doesn't care for your certificate
you can get 10 more certificates he's not
afraid of that he wants to see whether
God is with you or not if God
is with you the devil will be scared
if God's not with you you can have
any number of certificates it's no use when
the devil comes against me I don't show
him my certificate I don't have any certificates
in any case I say if God is
with me the devil will run remember this
it's very very important because we live in
a day and an age where we think
is these things by which we serve God
it's not it's the anointing of the Holy
Spirit it's the presence of God standing with
me many many times I've said to God
Lord when I stand in a pulpit I
want you to stand with me it's no
use my standing there if you don't stand
there with me if you stand with me
I can speak your word long for that
that God will be with you I will
be with you I will exalt you and
why did God pick on Joshua because there
must have been things in his life that
God saw particularly his faith we can conquer
Canaan he said when he was sent two
years after he came out of Egypt this
young man Joshua said we can conquer Canaan
and God said that's the man I want
that's the man the man who can believe
me who can trust my promise he picked
him and he made him work work with
Moses that's very often the way God trains
a man for his service make him work
for 38 years with another godly man with
a man of God like Elisha worked with
Elijah and learned how to be a prophet
like Timothy worked with Paul and learned how
to be an apostle and Joshua worked with
Moses now if God gives you that opportunity
and calls you to work with a man
of God that I would say is perhaps
the greatest privilege that you can have and
the greatest honor that God can give you
to prepare you for his service that is
worth a million Bible schools if you can
work with a man of God if God
appoints you for that it's not a question
of your choosing there were a lot of
people who probably wanted to be close to
Moses I'm sure a lot of people would
have liked to take over from Moses and
be close to him but God picked out
Joshua and God has to pick you out
in his sovereignty and associate you with a
godly man whose life and principles affect you
so that's how Joshua was prepared his faith
his experience his being called by God that
was the thing and his diligent application to
the word of God he studied it understood
it not to get a certificate he studied
it because he wanted to obey it he
studied it because he wanted to share it
with others let me tell you the same
thing you can be a man or a
woman of God too ok we've seen in
chapter 3 Joshua tells them one more verse
I want to show you before I move
on verse 9 come here and listen to
the words of the Lord your God he
himself had meditated on it day and night
and now he's able to tell other people
listen just like Moses listened to God came
out and told the people Joshua listened to
the law which Moses had written read it
and told the people I want to tell
you what God has said that's your calling
to share to tell people to listen to
what God is saying not my bright ideas
I tell you I don't want to know
what the higher critics are saying and what
the critics of the Bible are saying and
what the people who believe in evolution are
saying let people who want to waste their
time go and study all that I want
to say come and listen to what God
is saying that's what I've done for 40
years and that's what I want to do
till the end of my life that's what
Moses did, that's what Joshua did that's what
Peter did, that's what Paul did come and
listen to what God is saying and I
want to say to you don't waste your
time studying what the other people are saying
listen to what God is saying and when
God is saying something that is the best
answer to all those critics you don't have
to study what they are saying further let's
move on to chapter 4 you know God's
ways are so different from man's ways so
different chapter 4 we read of them crossing
the river Jordan and it's the ark of
the covenant which went in front we read
in chapter 3 verse 15 those who carried
the ark came into the Jordan and the
feet of the priest carrying the ark dipped
and they went following the ark the ark
is a picture of Jesus Christ we saw
that yesterday the ark is that rectangular box
on which the mercy seat was and in
the most holy place the picture of Christ
and the ark went ahead into the land
and the people followed let us run this
race looking unto Jesus it's very significant that
the ark went first and when they went
there Joshua said ok now that we have
come here don't just rush into battle just
hang on a minute, don't get excited take
a little time to relax and let's first
of all give thanks to God oh this
is wonderful to learn this lesson that when
God does a miracle for us the first
thing is to kneel down and give thanks
to God and he said go down into
that river and pick up 12 stones from
the middle of the river verse 8 and
put them here and make a pile of
these stones and make it a memorial so
that years later generations later, a hundred years
later when somebody comes and says what is
this pile of stones here some little boy
asks his father and the father says do
you know what our great grandfather experienced here
he came through this river, the river parted
and they came through so God wanted to
keep a memorial there for future generations and
I believe the things that God has done
for us we must share with our next
generation so that they can have faith that
it's a memorial to what God can do
that's what we see in chapter 4 in
chapter 5 we see that Israel is circumcised
again in Gilgal because it says here in
verse 5 of chapter 5 all the people
who came out were circumcised of Egypt but
the people who were born in the wilderness
had not been circumcised there were 40 year
old people there who were not circumcised that
was a commandment of God so we read
that they circumcised it's a small thing but
it was a mark of the covenant of
cutting off all confidence in the flesh Philippians
3.3 we are the true circumcision cutting
off all confidence in the flesh before you
go into the battle cut off all confidence
in the flesh that's the first step don't
think you can overcome in your own strength
and the reproach of Egypt is now rolled
away verse 9 after that in verse 13
the commander of the Lord's army the captain
of the host of the Lord verse 13
to 15 comes before Joshua this is Jesus
appearing in a vision and Joshua thinks that
is the enemy and says are you on
my side or are you on our enemy's
side verse 13 you know sometimes we ask
God Lord are you on my side or
are you on that side and what is
the Lord's answer I'm not on your side
I'm on that side I want you to
come on my side it's very different you
know we say Lord I'm going there please
come and bless me no we must say
Lord where do you want me to go
and the Lord says I'm going there you
come with me that's very different but what
do we say Lord I'm planning to go
here tomorrow please come I hope you're on
my side and the Lord says I'm not
on your side I want you to be
on my side who is on the Lord's
side so he asks are you on my
side or my enemy's and the Lord says
neither I'm the captain of the host of
the Lord and I've come here to lead
your army you just come along with me
that's pretty humbling and Joshua said fine I'll
just follow you life is so simple I
don't have to plan to go here and
there and ask you to come with me
you know a lot of people are serving
the Lord like that today they've made their
own plans and they've asked the Lord please
come here and do this for me that
for me the other for me he won't
come no we can't treat God like a
servant he's the captain if God was your
servant what do you tell your servant what
does the master tell his servant I'm going
here please pack my bags and come a
lot of people talk to God like that
but he won't come because he's not your
servant you've got to say Lord where are
you going I'll pack my bags and come
with you change your way of serving the
Lord and it'll make a lot of difference
in your life I know it has in
mine because then I can serve the Lord
more efficiently I can go where the Lord
has already prepared the ground instead of planning
to go somewhere do something for five years
discover that God is not there and say
okay I wasted my time let me go
to another place what a fool what a
foolish way to serve the Lord why not
wait on the Lord and say Lord where
is the ground ready and the Lord says
here come with me and I go this
is the way to serve the Lord and
I've discovered the truth of that in the
last 25 years that's the best way to
serve the Lord he knows exactly where he
has to take you not somebody else but
you okay those are the lessons we learned
there and then we go to chapter 6
and we see here the Lord tells him
I have already verse 2 given Jericho into
your hand that's the thing we need to
go when we fight against Satan I have
already defeated Satan the Lord did not say
I'm going to give Jericho in another 7
days to you no no no no no
I have already given you just go and
take it I have already defeated Satan you
just go and establish my victory I believe
that our calling is to go and establish
the victory of Calvary wherever we go Satan's
already been defeated I have given Jericho into
your hand don't miss these little sentences in
scripture they have a great spiritual truth I
have given you just march around and blow
the trumpets on the 7th day in other
words just confess Satan has been defeated like
it says in Revelation 12 11 they overcame
Satan by the blood of the Lamb and
by the trumpet in their mouth the word
of their testimony to Satan Satan you've been
defeated on the cross I have great joy
in reminding Satan about that very frequently that
he was defeated on the cross he doesn't
like to hear it he doesn't like to
hear it I tell you that I remember
a demon possessed lady whom I was I
didn't know she was demon possessed I told
her to accept the Lord and I told
her to confess tell the devil he's been
defeated on the cross and she shouted out
and said I've not been defeated on the
cross I said yes you have you were
defeated 2,000 years ago you were defeated
get out of her in Jesus name and
the demon left and then she said yeah
Satan you've been defeated on the cross and
I learned one thing that day that the
devil does not like to be reminded that
he was defeated on the cross 2,000
years ago I want to ask all of
you wonderful believers sitting here how many times
do you tell the devil that he was
defeated on the cross start today tell him
often you were defeated on the cross he'll
hate you and I like it when the
devil hates me because then I know I'm
in the right track don't get scared if
the devil hates me he'll trouble me no
you will experience the mighty power of God
to overcome Satan and put Satan under your
feet be strong and courageous that's what the
Lord told Joshua remind the devil frequently that
he's been defeated so that's the blowing of
the trumpet and the city this is not
a technique you know you can listen to
what I'm saying now I got the technique
I'll just get up in the morning and
tell the devil Satan you were defeated on
the cross and you don't keep your conscience
clear Satan will laugh at you you're telling
me that I know all about your life
I know I know Jesus and I know
Paul but who are you that's what the
demon told some people who tried to make
the right confession so I'm not teaching you
a technique it's not a technique I'm saying
keep your conscience clear humble yourself submit to
God James 4 7 and then resist the
devil if you try to resist the devil
without submitting to God you're gonna have problems
so then we move on to chapter 7
where we read Israel was defeated that's exactly
what I said just now because they didn't
keep a good conscience one man stole something
now God had said very clearly in chapter
6 verse 24 it says they burnt the
city and the silver and the gold and
the bronze and the iron they put into
the treasury of the Lord because God had
told them that you must not touch anything
here in Jericho it must all be given
to the Lord everything must be given to
the Lord and so they did that but
there was one man it says in chapter
7 verse 20 he confesses later on I've
sinned I saw verse 21 a beautiful dress
from Babylon Shinar is Babylon see how Babylon
comes up again these Babylonian dresses I tell
you they're pretty tempting and silver and gold
and I saw I coveted I took 3
steps in temptation and sin I saw verse
21 721 I coveted I took and 4th
step I hid hid it this is how
we sin I see I covet I take
and I hide it's all there in verse
21 and therefore Israel was defeated and when
Israel was defeated Joshua said why and the
Lord said there's sin in the camp and
Achan was stoned to death and then now
listen to this is the wonderful part of
the story which some of you have missed
I'm sure the Lord told them when you
go to Jericho don't take anything and Achan
thought boy here I'm coming to fight a
battle and if the next 20 years after
killing all these giants I get nothing I
will I'll be poor if I serve the
Lord like this I'll be a poor man
I want to keep a little bit for
myself but it was only a test in
chapter 8 verse 2 the Lord said to
the people now you go and defeat I
and this time you can take everything for
yourselves the rest of the time in Canaan
whenever you defeat anybody all the spoil is
yours what a fool Achan was if he
had just not done it the first time
he would have got all the rest of
the spoil for the rest of life any
number of Babylonian garments any amount of silver
any amount of gold he missed all that
because when God tested him he failed sometimes
God will test you and see whether you
grab something out of covetousness and if you
do you would have missed God's best which
he had for you for the rest of
your life that was a test instead of
that if you sought God's kingdom he would
have given you so many things if you
sought God's kingdom first all the other things
will be added to you and in chapter
8 we read of how I was defeated
in verse 26 it says Joshua lifted up
his javelin just like Moses lifted up his
hand on that mountain top Joshua lifted up
his javelin and I was defeated and the
danger after we won a great victory is
that we can become complacent it always happens
after a great victory we say praise the
Lord finally we won and we relax and
when we relax we get deceived and that's
what happens in chapter 9 because these people
thought they were so great and they knew
God so well some Gibeonites we read in
chapter 9 who were actually Canaanites who should
have been killed came and met Joshua they
acted in chapter 9 verse 4 very craftily
and they pretended that they were coming from
a long distance they wore worn out clothes
verse 5 and worn out sandals and old
bread and they came and said we have
come from a very far country from the
other side of Jordan perhaps and we have
come here can you give us some protection
and Joshua said where are you from and
they said we are your servants verse 8
we have come from a very far country
and we heard they flattered Joshua and it's
very dangerous servants of God when you listen
to flattery I'm always scared of the people
who are trying to flatter me there's deception
around the corner oh we have heard the
fame of the Lord your God and Joshua
we have heard that you are a great
man of God and we have heard the
reports of what happened in Egypt and we
heard the reports verse 10 of what he
did to the kings of the Amorites and
so our elders in our country men said
let's go and ask these people let's be
your servants and these wineskins were new now
they are torn and listen to this verse
14 the men of Israel did not seek
advice from the Lord and Joshua made a
peace with them made a covenant with them
okay we will not kill you and then
three days later verse 16 they discovered they
were not from a far country they were
neighbors but they had already made a covenant
and what did we learn from that be
careful immediately after a time of great victory
have you seen the times in the gospels
where immediately after a great time of healing
Jesus would go away into the wilderness to
pray to give the glory to his father
because he was tempted like us that's a
lesson for us Joshua did not seek counsel
from the Lord when is it that you
don't seek counsel from the Lord not when
you are defeated when you are victorious we
are more dangerous we are in greater danger
after a victory than after a defeat usually
after a defeat we are very close to
the Lord because we have fallen it's after
we have been victorious for some time that
you are in real danger and that's how
many people don't progress they cannot endure in
victory for too long they get deceived and
led astray and then we read but they
come back so they told these people to
be servants and then we read about five
kings attack Gimeon and in chapter 10 now
he is encouraged by the Lord and the
Lord tells him don't be afraid I have
given always the word is I have already
given them into your hands I have already
given them into your hands now you are
going to overcome them and Joshua came upon
them and defeated them and it says in
verse 21 that no one could utter a
word against Israel no one could utter a
word against Israel that's how God led his
people on and in verse 24 we read
that Joshua called the Israelites and said put
your neck put your feet the last part
of verse 24 on the necks of these
kings the Bible says in Romans 16 20
the God of peace will crush Satan not
on Calvary but under your feet he has
already defeated Satan on Calvary under your feet
he will be crushed now that is what
God is going to do those are the
most important chapters I don't have time to
go through all the rest I just want
to say one more thing in Romans Joshua
13 1 Joshua was old and advanced in
years and the Lord says there is still
much land to be possessed the Lord says
there is much land to be possessed and
this man is dying he's old it's a
sad thing there were no other leaders after
Joshua that's a sad thing in Christendom today
godly men are dying and still so much
land has to be possessed there was one
man like Caleb in chapter 14 but he
was also old and he was passing on
towards the end of the book in chapter
24 chapter 24 we read Joshua bidding farewell
and he says in verse 15 you can
serve whom you like but as for me
and my house we will serve the Lord
that's how Joshua lived it was not only
him he and his house served the Lord
that's how they lived and that's how they
he led not only the people of Israel
but he led his house he was an
example in his home and he was an
example for the people I believe God needs
many people like Joshua in our land today
to live for him and I pray that
we will learn from these principles and study
the other chapters in Joshua so that we
can also follow in his footsteps.
Amen let's pray Heavenly Father help us to
go in your footsteps help us to honor
you help us to be godly men who
do not fear the devil but who stand
on Calvary's victory proclaim that victory there is
much land to be possessed today for you
both in our bodies sins to be overcome
and also in the land of India I
pray that you will raise up many men
to serve you in this day and age
in Jesus name Amen