The art of going forward Joshua 1:10-18
The party aboard ship was in full swing. Speeches were being made by the captain, the crew, and all the guests were really enjoying the week-long voyage. Sitting at the head table was a seventy-year-old man who was kind of embarrassed but was doing his best to accept the praise being poured on him. Earlier that morning a young woman had somehow fallen overboard, and within seconds this elderly gentleman was in the cold, dark waters at her side. The woman was rescued and the elderly man became an instant hero. When the time finally came for the brave passenger to speak, the stateroom fell into a hush as he rose from his chair. He went to the microphone and, in what was probably the shortest “hero’s” speech ever offered, he spoke these stirring words: “I just want to know one thing,” he said, “WHO PUSHED ME?”
“Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, pass through the host, and command the people, saying, prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it. And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. And they answered Joshua, saying, all that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.”
I remember when I graduated from high school they had a special speaker who stood before the student body and said, “Today you have come to receive a piece of paper that acknowledges your hard work and commitment to the program you’ve just completed. From this class will come leaders of industry, teachers and those who will carry the ideals of this institution into the marketplace and around the world, so, do your best, your only limits are your dreams.”
And then when I graduated from the Word of Life Bible Institute and then the London Baptist Bible College the message was basically the same except they both had more of a spiritual emphasis. It was basically, “Go and do your best and with God’s help who knows what you can become.” And when I graduated from Liberty University I didn’t bother going because I figured I had heard it all before. But, the first thing I learned when I walked out into this great world of promise and potential was that it didn’t all come together the way the various commencement speakers said it would.
And I wonder if Joshua didn’t experience the same kind of disillusionment when he walked away from the presence of God. He had heard the command to go and possess the land with all the encouraging words of support and the promises of success but on the way back to his tent I wonder if he didn’t look around and say to himself, “Who am I kidding? If I try to lead these people into the Promised Land they might end up drowning me in the Jordan or I could get killed by the enemies on the other side.” I mean, after all, he knew the effects of warfare and he also saw the way these people had treated Moses.
So, is it possible that Joshua might have had all the same kinds of fears and insecurities that the rest of us wrestle with? Well, I would say, “Yes, he probably could have” considering the fact that he was made of the same stuff as you and I but at the same time I’m also reminded that the last thing God told him to do was to meditate on the word of God. In other words, he was to preoccupy his mind not with the things that were in his way but with the God who was by his side. You see, our attitude has an awful lot to do with our perspective. I mean, is God in charge or isn’t He?
And when you think about this command to meditate on the word of God, there’s an awesome promise here, that God will be with us where ever He sends us and He’ll provide everything we need, wherever we’re told to go. And all this is ours if we are willing to invest our lives in the word of God.
I’ve met so many so-called Christians who say, “I don’t have time to read the Bible, I’m so busy with work, family and everything else that’s on my plate.” But listen, Joshua was the leader of two million people and if anyone had an excuse for being too busy, it had to be him. And yet, God told him that meditating on the word of God was the one thing that would affect how he did everything else.
And besides, if you spend all your time focusing on your problems then God always seems to get smaller but if God is the focal point of your thoughts then it’s your problems that shrink. So, if you’re one of these people who are overwhelmed by everything, I guess I have to ask you, “What are you focusing on?”
There are a lot of Christians who make a great confession of faith and yet they live as though God were dead. And yet, here we see that Joshua knew God was alive and he didn’t waste any time doing what he was told to do. And so, he commanded the leaders make preparations to enter the Promised Land and in obedience to his command these leaders told the people to get ready to go.
I So, we begin with Joshua’s command to Israel as a nation.
And I want to repeat that Joshua responds to God’s commands immediately, he doesn’t delay or procrastinate but he did what he was told, when he was told to do it. There is an old saying, “strike while the iron is hot.” And the longer we think about something the more likely we are to find excuses not to do what God told us to do. So, delay can be dangerous to our spiritual lives and it can also lead to disobedience. I like how David put it in Psalm 119:60, “I hastened and did not delay to keep Thy commandments.” And so, we see that Joshua wanted to move forward both because he knew it was God’s will and I also think he was sick of being in the desert.
So, he didn’t appoint a committee to discuss how they were going to get across the water but he simply told the people to get ready and make preparations. And you notice there was no discussion and no choice. We also notice there was no dissension either but only obedience. And do you know what the strange part was, the Jordan River in the springtime is about a mile-wide and it’s filled with rapids because of the melting snow coming down from the mountains.
And you’ll also notice that Joshua didn’t tell them how it was going to happen because he knew that the God who divided the Red Sea wouldn’t have any problem with the piddly, little Jordan River. He and Caleb had walked through the Red Sea and they knew that the same God who led them back then was leading them now.
So, he commands the people to do three things. And the first one was to prepare their provisions. I think they had to pack some food to travel and it’s possible they might have had food besides the manna God had provided and it could have come from the spoils they took as they conquered the various armies that had attacked them in their travels. The manna was still available, but they knew they couldn’t keep it overnight without spoiling.
And here, is a whole generation who had been raised on manna. They knew the rules; how to handle it, probably three hundred ways to cook it and how long it would last. God had provided supernaturally and if He didn’t there was no other way they would have survived in the desert but when they came to a land where there was plenty of food they no longer had any need of manna.
And if God had kept the manna coming down the people would not only lose their appreciation for what He provided but they’d probably also begin to question where it came from and they’d come to the conclusion that it was a natural phenomenon.
It’s interesting to see that God also did miracles in the New Testament but He only did them when it was necessary. For instance, when Peter was in prison, we see where an angel set him free from the chains and then opened the gates of the prison but then Peter had to walk all the way through the city to where the believers were gathered. God could have taken him there by a whirlwind like He did with Elijah in the Old Testament or Philip in the New but He let him walk because performing a miracle in that situation wouldn’t have served any purpose.
So, Joshua said, “Get ready we’re going.” There was no time to talk about it and no time for the critics to get all wound up. It was time to go and that was that.
And I want you to see that he said, “In three days we shall pass over the Jordan to go into the land to possess it” and you might wonder, what was significant about waiting three days? I mean, why not leave right now or wait a week or two? Well, a three-day waiting period was common in Scripture. In Exodus 19:10 and 11 it says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.” “In three days” he said, “the Lord is coming down.” And then in Esther 4:16 we have this very famous quote where Esther said, “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” So, she said, everybody fast and in three days I’m going to go in and see the king. And then in Hosea 6:1 and 2 we have a prophetic message to Israel where the prophet said, “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” And this was a call for national repentance that would be answered on the third day. And then in Jonah 1:17 we find Jonah was inside the fish for how long? He was there for three days. And all these pictures of deliverance spoke of the ultimate delivery from death when Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day.
So, they had to do for themselves whatever they could do which was, to get the food, to get organized and to be prepared and then God would do for them what they couldn’t do for themselves and that was to divide the waters of the Jordan River.
And then we see here, that Joshua addresses a particular group of people where it says, Joshua gave specific commands to the Rubanites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh and basically what he said was, “Remember the deal you made with Moses.”
And what he was referring to, is found back in Numbers 32:1-6, “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?”
And then go down to verses 16-22, “And they came near unto him, and said, we will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: but we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward. And Moses said unto them, if ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until He hath driven out His enemies from before Him, and the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.”
Basically, these people were saying, “We’re content to stay on this side of the Jordan and we don’t care what God promised because we’ve gone as far as we want to go.” And I want you to see here that God doesn’t argue but allows them to settle for less than the best. Listen, God doesn’t force anyone to succeed in life but He does promise success to those who are obedient.
And I’m always reluctant to use the word success because we tend to interpret this word the way the world does by describing those who are successful as people who are rolling in money and own the best of everything but God perspective goes way beyond that.
So, what is success from God’s perspective? True Success is simply becoming the person that God created you to be and then accomplishing the goals that God has set out in His word.
On the other hand, the world’s concept of success is summed up in the five p’s and they are; power, position, prestige, pleasure and prosperity. And as great as all these things are, they all fade away with time.
I’ve read comments made by multi-millionaires like John D. Rockefeller who said, "I have made many millions but they have brought me no happiness." William Henry Vanderbilt said, "The care of two hundred million is enough to kill anyone. There’s no pleasure in it." John Jacob Astor said. "I am the most miserable man on the earth." Henry Ford said, "I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job." And Andrew Carnegie said, "Millionaires seldom smile." And all this could be summed up by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who said, "We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap." Now, I know it’s hard to believe that someone isn’t really enjoying having a lot of money but many who have it don’t enjoy it and who says we’d be any different.
So, when Joshua talked to these two and a half tribes rather than try to convince them they had made the wrong decision he told them there was a couple of things he wanted them to do. And he said; make sure your people are at the rear of the crowd where all the woman and children are in case of a battle. And then these men said to Joshua, "As we harkened unto Moses in all things, so will we harken unto thee." And what they were offering to do was to be his personal bodyguard and they said, “Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest them, he shall be put to death; only you be strong and of a good courage.” So, these men were saying we’ll guard you and if anyone rebels we’ll put them to death. So, these people were not only willing to be obedient but they were also willing to deal with any disobedience in their midst because of the demoralizing effect disobedience has on others and the dishonor it brings to the Lord.
And yet, there were negative consequences of their decision to settle on the other side of the Jordan which was to be expected whenever you settle for less than God’s best. First, they had to fight for the Promised Land where all the other Jews would live and some of these two and a half tribes would even die for the land they’d never enjoy. And second, we’ll also notice later on, that as they were separated from the rest of the nation and they had to resort to making copies of things like the altar of the temple to remind both them and their children of their heritage. And then third, when the nation drifted into apostasy these were the first of the people to go into captivity.
And today, Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe Manasseh represent the carnal crowd and these are people who come to faith in Jesus and experience some of the joy of the Christian life but they’re more concerned with the comforts of this world then they are with the rewards of eternity. These are people who are more concerned with making a living than they are about making a life. In other words, they’re completely materially minded. They’ve trusted Jesus for salvation, but that’s about as far as they’re willing to go. They’ll come when they want to, they’ll give when they feel like it and they act like all heaven’s going to rejoice when they show up.
They’re an example of the old saying, “The good things in life are often the enemies of the best.” They’ll get what they want only to find in the end that it wasn’t worth having. They remind me of the verse in Psalm 106:15 that says, “And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls.” So, although some of them might be saved they certainly don’t enjoy the Christian life.
As we look at these two and a half tribes we really have to wonder where they were spiritually because they tasted the blessings of the Promised Land and then they helped the other tribes to get in to it but they were more than content to live across the river.
II The general response of the people. (All the people.)
They said, “Whatever you say we will do and wherever you send us we’ll go.” Their response almost sounds too good to be true but think about it, they knew it was God’s will for them to leave the Jordan and what choice did they have? They could of stayed in the desert and died or they could go forward and live. After all, if God wanted them to cross the river and they didn’t, He could have cut off the manna and let them starve to death or He could brought one of their enemies up behind them or He could have even sent a plaque of some sort on them. Then, not only would they all die but they’d also have to face His eternal judgment. But, then again, they might have thought, we could also drown in the Jordan or be killed by the enemies on the other side but at least if any of these things happened they would have died while doing the will of God.
III Well, the whole command and response thing almost seems too easy to me.
God gave a command and Joshua, the two and a half nations and the rest of Israel all wanted to do God’s will. And we wonder why? Wasn’t Joshua a sinner like the rest of us? Weren’t all these people the descendants of those who gave Moses such a hard time? What motivated everyone to be instantly obedient?
I think they were tired of wandering in the desert and they wanted to go somewhere they could call home and be something more than a bunch of nomadic nobodies who spent their entire lives roaming around in a wilderness. Or, maybe they finally realized they wanted to be more than their forefathers who died for disobedience and they wanted to shake the stigma of rebellion and be all that God had created them to be. And then there’s the thought that since all the rebels had died God had put it in the hearts of these people to want to do His will. Whatever their reasoning was, they all said, “We’re ready, let’s go.”
And then they said, “Just as we heeded Moses in all things so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses.” In other words, if God empowers you the way He did Moses we’re right behind you but if He doesn’t, you’re on your own. You see, they knew they needed a leader who was in touch with the living God.
Listen, the longer we look at God the smaller our problems become but the more we look at our problems the smaller God becomes.
Well, this was a new day for Israel. They gave Joshua what they never gave Moses. They gave him uncomplaining loyalty. It was only in the last days of Moses’ life that the people became united around him. And when they declared that just as they had obeyed Moses, so they would obey Joshua, I think they all had really short memories. And yet, I think the forty years in the wilderness had brought them to a point of unity. They had murmured and grumbled against Moses who had loved them and given his life for their deliverance and now it seems as though they had learned their lesson. So they pledged their loyalty to Joshua and, in turn, they expected him and the rest of their leadership to be loyal to God.
We see in this chapter that God used the phrase be strong and be of good courage three times when He was talking with Joshua which is something we’d expect to find in any military leader but this was different because God was calling him to be the spiritual leader of the nation.
When we read something in the Bible we know it’s important. After all, if it wasn’t then God wouldn’t have put it in. And when we read the same thing twice we know it’s something God is really serious about but here, Joshua heard the same message four times, three times from God and once from the people. So, being strong and of good courage must have really been necessary for him to do the will of God.
Now listen carefully, if God said something to you four times do you think it’s something you ought to think about? Did you know that God gave us the great commission four times. In all four gospels He said, we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And do you know what the problem is, when we hear the words, ‘all the world.’ We think, “I’m too old to be a missionary so I guess that leaves me out.” Listen, ‘all the world’ includes Sackville, Middle Sackville, Wood point and Midgic.
So, ‘we’ are to go into all the world and He said this to all of us and not just to the pastors, the missionaries and those with the gift of gab. So, we have to ask ourselves, why did He tell us the same thing four times? I think He was making sure that even if we only had one book in the New Testament we’d still have the Great Commission and second, if we took the time to read that book we’d see that the great commission was what it’s all about.
Some people say, there’s something missing in my spiritual life, I wonder what it is? I know, I’ll get baptized, I’ll join the church, I’ll take communion and I’ll start to tithe. They do all these things while people all around them are dying and going to hell but it doesn’t seem to register. So, they try something else. They start going to church more often. They go to Sunday school, morning service, evening service and if they really get desperate they’ll even go to prayer meeting. And yet, they still can’t figure out, what’s missing. So, they start having daily devotions, memorize some scripture and read a few good Christian books. And the still small voice whispers the Great Commission in their ear. And yet, they pray, “Lord, is there something missing or is this all there is to the Christian life?”
Listen, if we want His blessing then we’ll do His will. It doesn’t get any easier than that. And yet, I know as well as you that it isn’t always easy to talk to people about the Lord. We can talk about anything in the world but spiritual matters. And the reason for this is simple; we’re in a spiritual battle. You see, Satan doesn’t care if you’re nice to your neighbors or even if you spend all day long praying for them as long as you never say anything to them. But listen, our witness is the verbal expression of our faith. I’ve heard people say, “I live a good life.” And my response is, “Big deal, so do a lot of non-Christians.”
We need to pray that God would open our eyes to the souls of men, women, boys and girls that are dying and going to hell all around us.
Several years ago Stuart Taylor and I went to hear a well known preaching professor at a Bible College in the states by the name of Fred Craddock. And Dr. Craddock told the story of how at the end of one semester, he and his wife decided to get away for a little while, so they got in their car and went to Gatlinburg for a bit of vacation.
And while they were sitting in a restaurant on their first night away he said they were just glad to be away from everybody who knew them. And now, he and his wife could sit, relax and enjoy one another’s company. So, they were sitting there enjoying their food Dr. Craddock noticed an old man going around from table to table to table and he thought, surely he’s not going to come over here but sure enough he did. The old man walked over and said, “Hey are you folks having a good time in Gatlinburg?” And they said, “Yeah, we’re having a great time.” And the old fellow said, “Well, tell me what you do.” And as he looked at this man Dr. Craddock said he certainly didn’t want to tell this guy he was a preacher or a pastor so he said, “I’m a professor of homiletics.” And the old guy said, “Oh, you’re a preacher.” And he turned around and grabbed a chair and he pulled the chair up and sat down at their table. And Dr. Craddock thought to himself, “Oh no, he’s going to be here forever, now what are we going to do.”
And the old guy said, “Let me tell you a story and he said, I’m from Gatlinburg, grew up here all my life. This is my home. My mother was a prostitute and I never knew who my father was. I was called the illegitimate child of Gatlinburg and I’d go to school late every day because I didn’t want to walk with the other kids cause they all called me names. The other children couldn’t play with me after school because their parents said, “You’re not to play with him. You stay away from him.” So, I’d run home after school so I wouldn’t have to be around them.
I’d get home and the doors would be locked and I knew what that meant. And I’d have to stay out in the yard summer and winter, rain or hot, until these people left. Then I could go in the house.” And then he said, “My mom wasn’t at home most nights, so I stayed there by myself.”
But, one day a new preacher came to town, down at the First Baptist Church. And he said, “I wanted to go hear him because everybody was talking about this Pastor but I didn’t want anybody to see me. I felt like I wasn’t welcome there. They all knew I was illegitimate and someone might say something to me about how I shouldn’t be there or you’re illegitimate or make a joke by saying, who’s your daddy.”
And so he said, “I got up one Sunday and I went down there after I knew the service was started and I slipped into the very back and I just stood there and listened. And he said, “Oh man, was God just speaking to my heart but before the service was over I ran out before anybody could see me or anybody could say anything to me and I went back home.”
The next Sunday he said, “I couldn’t wait for Sunday to come and I did the same thing. I slipped in late after the service was started and sat in the very last row and listened and oh, what I heard just spoke to my heart and God was moving in my life and I didn’t realize it then but God’s Spirit was speaking to me and I got up before the service was over and ran out so that no one would stop me.” And he said, “I did that for weeks until one Sunday I was sitting there and God was so convicting my heart and speaking to me that church was over and people were up and going out and the Pastor was right there looking at me.
And as he looked he said, “I’ve seen you here for several weeks and I noticed you. I want to know who you are, tell me what is you name and tell me who is your dad, who is your father. And he said, “I could have died at that moment. I just wanted to melt and go through the floor. I was so embarrassed.
And then the Pastor looked at me and said, “Wait a minute, I know who you are. I see a resemblance in you. I know who your father is.” He said, “Your father, your father, your father is Jesus Christ. You are a son of God.” And with that the old man got up out of the chair and walked away.
And Dr. Craddock said he sat there and looked at the old man as he walked out. And then he said, the waitress came by and he asked her, “Ma’am, who is that old man?” And she laughed and she said, “You don’t know who that is?” And he said, “No, I don’t know who that is.” And she said, “Why that’s Ben Hooper. He’s a two term governor of the state of Tennessee.”
You see anyone who realizes they’re born in sin and then allows Jesus Christ to remove the anger and the sense of desperation and fill them with the love of Jesus can be anything God wants them to be, even a witness.
