Sermon Central
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Israel’s Greatest General (2 Of 2)
Contributed by Dr. Odell Belger on Feb 1, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: The life of Joshua, of the Bible, is unique in many ways. First, it is unique in that his name is mentioned in the Bible. If God had said nothing about him at all except to mention his name, that would have made him very special.
He was even more unique in that we have a record of his life when he was A YOUNG MAN and also when he was OLD MAN. Then the Bible tells us, in chapter twenty-three, what took place when he was, “stricken with age.”
Joshua had lived a godly life. Before he DEPARTED, he wanted to IMPART things to help Israel as that nation of people traveled through life’s journey.
Remember, he began by reminding them of things that God had done for them in the past.
Look at Joshua 23:2-5, “And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age: And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.”
In these verses we see that Joshua revealed two things to the people of Israel. He revealed...
(1) WHAT GOD HAD DONE.
God had performed SUPERNATURAL acts over and over for them. That was WHAT GOD DID. Then notice Joshua tells us...
(2) WHY GOD DID THEM .
BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR THEM!
Look at verse 3. We read, “...because of you; for the Lord your God is he that hath fought for you.”
The New Testament tells us that God cares so much for us that He even keeps track of the number of hairs on our head.
Illus: Years ago, a German scientist counted the hairs on different people. He came to the conclusion that we all would logically reach. That is, he found the numbers vary from individual to individual. However, he discovered something quite interesting. That is, people with black hair have more hair than those who have red, brown, or blonde. For example...
• The average black-haired woman has about 140,000 hairs on her head.
• The average blonde-haired woman has about 110,000 hairs on her head.
He also discovered that the average woman loses about 100 hairs a day, but that the woman who has long hair loses more hair than the woman with the short hair because long hair often can become entangled in the brush and comb.
Illus: Suppose you went to the state fair and there was a man there who for 50 cents would be willing to guess, not how much you weighed, but how many hairs were on your head. The chances of his ever guessing the correct number would be from SLIM to SLIMMER!
But, God calculates all the time, adding and subtracting. Why? Because, He loves us so much that He wants to know every thing about us. We are so special that God knows all about us. In fact, there is not anything that God does not know about us
Illus: Is it any wonder that the song writer was able to pen the words, “Oh how HE LOVES you and me”?
Joshua, the greatest general Israel ever had, not only SHOWED ISRAEL THE PAST to remind them of how God loved them; He also wanted to show them how they could be victorious IN THE FUTURE when he would no longer be around to show them. That is...
II. HE SHOWS THEM THE PLAN.
Joshua 23:6, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.”
There are several things in this verse we need to consider.
A. He shows them the need for being courageous.
Look at the first half of this verse, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses...”
It is very difficult to be A COURAGEOUS PERSON when you have been raised in a society of FEARFUL PEOPLE. We want to examine what it means to be COURAGEOUS. However, before we define courage, we must first define “stupidity.”
Illus: In the mid 60’s to mid 70’s we heard much about a man named “Evil Knievil.” He was in the headlines often because he was doing some very dangerous stunt work on his motorcycle. He would jump over cars and even buses. Some who saw him do those things said, “Oh, what a courageous man.” Well, there were many who believed his stunts had nothing to do with courage. They thought his dangerous antics were the result of stupidity.
