It was October 29th, 1941 Winston Churchill had been the Prime Minster of England for about a year. He came to the office in the darkest of times. Within days of his taking office England’s closest ally, France, fell to Germany. Much of the year was spent in the darkness of an anticipated invasion. But by the end of the year things had begun to turn. Germany had chosen to invade Russia, making a country that was once an enemy an ally. America had agreed to supply England with weapons and supplies. The times were still dark, defeat loomed as a possible outcome, but there was a flicker of hope.
On this day Churchill had been asked to come speak at the school he attended, the Harrow School. The speech that he gave that day against a background of war and looming defeat is ranked as one of the greatest speeches in history. The center of the message was these words. “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never.” These are words that we could all use reminding of sometimes, not just at the start of the New Year, but whenever times are difficult. When things look dark and defeat seems to be a possibility, we must stand.
Today we are going to look at what God said to a man faced with obstacles, faces with a difficult path ahead and doubts about the future. As Christians we look at these words and understand the message that God has for us. It is not just that we are never to give up, but never to give up because of who we serve and whose we are.
Joshua 1:1-9, “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. No then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-all the Hittite country-to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ‘Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
When I read this passage the thing that jumps out at me are those words, “be strong and courageous.” When God tells you something, it’s because it applies. In this case when God is telling him to be strong and courageous it’s because he’s going to need to be strong and courageous. This is a warning of hard times ahead. So God is giving him a warning, but His is also giving Joshua a promise that He will be with him.
In this passage we can learn about how God moves in the world and how God wants to move in us. You see God has a plan for the world, but also for each person who desires a relationship with Him. God’s desire is to move in the world and to do so through His people. Let me get a little more personal. God’s desire is to move in the world around you and if you would call Him your savior then His desire is to move through you.
God had used Moses to bring His people out of slavery, through the wilderness and to the point that they were now ready to enter into the Promised Land. Now His desire was to use Joshua to lead the people into the land and take possession of it. This was a big task it was going to involve difficulty and challenges. It was not going to be easy, it was going to be hard, but God not only wanted to do it, but to use Joshua to do it.
It sounds like it might be a bad deal if you’re Joshua, but remember that when God requires a sacrifice, there is a greater blessing on the other side. In this case, God’s desire was to use Joshua and change him in the process. This is a picture of how God wants to work in our lives as well, and not just in our lives but in the world around us. Some would say that all you have to do is watch the news to see that the world is headed in a wrong direction, but all you really need to do is go to the mall and just people watch. Just look and listen to the people you see there. Listen to your some of the people that you know who don’t know Jesus or who aren’t living for Him. There are a lot of lost and hurting people out there. Life without Christ is a time of darkness. It is a time when imminent defeat is possible. Life without Jesus leads to eternity without Jesus. That is the state of the world today.
But God’s desire is for people to know Him, to have relationship with Him. Just like with Joshua His desire is to work through us. But it is a challenge, helping people to know Jesus, and become disciples of His isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile. If you are truly a disciple of Jesus it is something you will do. Jesus charge to His disciples was to make more disciples. We are supposed to grow in our knowledge of Him, to live so that our character is more and more like His, but we are also supposed to be making other disciples. To live with a vision for our lives, like Jesus said He was, in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” He was talking about people. That was His mission and it should be ours.
1. Never Give in to Problems
When we consider that we find that there or other similarities to Joshua. So as we think about the task ahead of us, I want us to consider three “nevers.” The first is never give in to problems. The people had problems and so do we. When it comes to problems the world certainly doesn’t lack in variety. For Israel it stared with the fact that the people needed to leave the past behind.
First the people needed to let go of their own flawed past. They were used to grumbling. They made complaining an art form. When they were trapped against the Red Sea, they didn’t look for the miracle they said to Moses, “You’ve brought us out here to die.” When Moses was up on the mountain talking to God. They got impatient and made a golden calf to worship. I mean just how blind do you have to be when you take your earring and jewelry melt it down and then start praying to it? I mean nothing had changed except the shape. These were the people that God was going to use to conquer a land full of enemies. These were the people that God was going to use to fulfill his promises. Even more, these people, with their complaints, with their lack of faith, with their rebellion, these were the people that God wanted to fulfill His promise to? They didn’t earn it, they didn’t deserve it, but He still wanted to because of who He is. If they were thinking about their past as a source of their future they were mistaken. But the good news is that God was the source of their future.
They were trapped by their personal past, but they had also lost the leader that they had depended on in the past. Moses had died. Think about that for a minute. Moses had been to use the people from slavery to the point that they were about to be conquerors. It was a huge job, with questionable people, but God did it through him. Look at what Deuteronomy 34 says about him, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt-to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.” Wow how many of us would like an epitaph like that? The Jews closed the book with that, there was no prophet like Moses. They had lost a big leader, the one that they had depended on. Now what were they supposed to do?
The past could be an obstacle for them. Which brings us to the next level of problems, they needed to overcome the obstacles that were their own creation. They had depended on Moses, but God wanted to use them. They could have sat where they were, but God wanted to do so much more through them. The land was their’s for the taking because God was with them.
This applied to no one more than Joshua. In a sense he had been an apprentice to Moses. He accompanied Moses for part of his journey up the mountain to get the 10 commandments in Exodus 32. He was one of the 12 spies sent into Canaan in Numbers 13. Moses used him as a general against the Amalekites in Exodus 17. He had done a lot of things for God under Moses, but that’s different from being the leader. He could have felt unworthy. Not only that but as great leader as Moses was remember the people grumbled and complained about him a lot. How would you like that job description? No matter how good a job you do people are always going to compare you to the previous leader, you’re never going to measure up not just to the reality of the previous guy, but to the memory. Joshua had to be thinking, if they rebelled against Moses, what are they going to do to me?
The people had to let go of the past, they had to wrestle with their failures, they had to follow the leader that God had sent them, and the leader had to have the courage to step forward and lead the people into taking land. Those were the obstacles of their own making. But the land was full of real obstacles and real enemies. The Jordan River was in front of them. Sure they had crossed the Red Sea but that was with Moses. this was a big river and Moses wasn’t there. Once they got to the other side they were going to be in a land that they didn’t know. They weren’t familiar with places to get food, to hunt, where to get water besides the river. The land was settled, but it was wilderness to them.
But only to them, because this land was inhabited. It had large powerful cities. Minor kingdoms with developed armies, and defenses. These people were going to fight them. In fact they were determined to fight them. In the 40 years of wandering in the desert I’m sure somehow word of the intended destination of these 2 to 3 million people had leaked out. These kingdoms had time to prepare their defenses and those who were afraid had enough warning to leave. Those who were left had the time and the resolve to dig in and defend themselves. They were real enemies.
The cause of Christ faces this today. In some work places there are rules about “proselytizing.” That’s a fancy word for evangelism. Some people try and ban even the name of Christ from being mentioned. We’ve all heard a lot of “Happy Holidays” recently. Then there is the fact that we are in what’s called a “post-Christian” society. What that means is that people know the name of Christ, they have an impression of Christianity, but they don’t know Christ. They don’t know the Bible, but they think they do. It is a problem. Our job, our mission is to introduce them to who Christ really is. To teach them about what the Bible really says. It is a difficult task.
But here’s the good news. Most people that you try and share with won’t be holding a sword and they won’t want to kill you. This is a different type of warfare, it is a different type of struggle, but in some ways it is even more important. Joshua and the people were charged to take a land for a period of time. Our mission, our battle is eternal. There are lost people all around us. The most important decision some people will make this year had nothing to do with the election in November and everything to do with God. If they don’t accept Him then they automatically reject Him. It is a major battle, just like in Joshua’s time and just like with Joshua, the battle is beyond us, but it is not beyond God. We need to be on our knees praying for lost people and asking Him to gives us opportunities to share, and the courage and wisdom to take those opportunities when they come.
I was talking with someone recently and he said, the problem is I don’t have anyone to share with or I would. The problem is the starting point was wrong. It doesn’t start with finding a person, it starts with asking God. If you ask Him to use you, He will use you. He is God, He was bigger then all of the obstacles and enemies then and he is bigger then all the obstacles and enemies now. If you seek Him in prayer, if you strive for the lost in prayer, then you will see Him moving if you are looking. Never give into the problems. It’s not about you, it’s not about our culture, it is all about God, and God is far bigger.
2. Never Forget His Promises
See when we look at the obstacles the thing that should keep us going, the source of our strength are the promises of God. God doesn’t just tell Joshua to be strong and courageous, He gives Joshua some very important promises. Promises that we can still cling to today because we serve the same God. What He could do then He can certainly do today. Look at what God promises.
Look at the promises that God gives them. God promised that they would take the land. Look at verse 3, “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” Yeah the promise was given to Moses,but it wasn’t exclusive to Moses, it was for the people. When Moses passed the promise endured because God endure. The promise here was that the people would take the land. That was their mission.
What is our mission. To have an impact in our community for Christ. To fulfill the great commission that He gave us to go and make disciples. If we seek Him, if we follow Him then we will take the land, we will be used to make disciples. Look at what Jesus said in John 4, “‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. do you not say, ‘four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open you eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” As Christians we are supposed to do a lot of things, but there is a promised harvest, a joy that comes with helping people to find eternal life. God gives us a big task but He promises us that we will take the land.
God also promised them victory. Look at verse 5, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.” It as a promise of victory in battle. For Joshua this meant the people they would have to conquer in Canaan. Those who would oppose them and fight God would give them victory over. But listen this also applied to the internal struggles. No one would be able to stand against Joshua as he sought to lead the people to accomplish the mission that God had for him. Yes there are obstacles to sharing Christ. There are people who opposed the cause of Christ all around us. But God is bigger and when we stand in His strength He will give us the ability to overcome them in His name.
God promised us the land, He promised us victory and most importantly God had promised His presence with them. Look at the rest of verse 5, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” What an awesome promise and it applies to you and me. What negative in this world can be greater than the presence of God? There is nothing. Not darkness can cover it, no obstacle can stop Him. He is God and He is with you and me. When things seem bleak, when defeat seems imminent, isn’t it good that we are not dependent on our enemy to make a mistake and invade another country, or for someone to send us weapons? Our victory depends on the God who is right next to us. He is greater than any darkness around you. Ultimate when you stand with Christ you will stand, victory will be yours, you will see the land that you were promised. Pray for those people around you who don’t know Christ, you will see some of them find Him. But we have to be willing to fight for them and that battle begins on our knees in prayer.
3. Never Forget His Precepts
Never give in to the problems, never forget His promises and never forget His precepts. See God wants to work through you, but He expects some things. Notice the turn in verse 7, “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” He’s told to be careful and then to obey. A definition of precept is a rule intended to regulate behavior or thought. Do you see it? God gives Him promises and also tells him there are some things that he has to do. There are things that we have to do if we want to claim those blessings.
How does it start. God commands us to be strong and courageous, it is a call to advance the kingdom. It’s not just a warning, God is not telling Joshua that there is trouble ahead, God is calling to him to be strong and go and accomplish the mission that God has given him. God has given us a mission. To have an impact in our community. Jesus called us in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” If we want people to see God then we need to be out serving Him. We need to find ways to show them who He is. It is an active role. It’s not just going to church on Sunday, it is being the church. Look at the words of Christ to Peter in what is called by some the commissioning of the church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” You notice something about that verse. Jesus was talking about the “Gates of Hell.” A gate is not an offensive weapon, it’s a defensive weapon. A gate doesn’t charge, it gets charged. The church is supposed to be on the offensive. When we go in Jesus name to expand His kingdom there is nothing that can stand against us, not even the gates of Hell itself can stop us. Why? Because God is on our side. He is calling us to battle, calling us to go out and live our faith. Victory for our church, victory in our community, comes not from just sitting back and waiting for God to do something, but in getting on our knees praying for something to happen and then living a life of Christ power courage to go out and make disciples.
To advance the kingdom the next step is to walk in the pathways of Christ. Look at verse 7, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” Do you see it? God didn’t just say I’m going to give you success, He said, walk according to my laws that you may be successful. We have to be different from everyone else. We have to live according to what Christ said and did, not according to what everyone else is doing. Look at the encouragement of Paul to the church in Corinth. “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” It’s not that Paul was perfect, he also called himself the chief of sinners. It’s that he dedicated his life to following Christ as best he could and then called them to do the same. When people see the difference in us, they will want to know what we have.
How do we know what the example of Christ is, and where do we find the strength to begin to follow? We are commanded to know the Bible and to meditate on it. Look at verse 8, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” In order to do what God says, you have to know what God says. If you want to try and live a life that reflects the character of Christ, you have to know who Jesus was. The place that we find that is in the Bible.
But the command is to do more than to read about it, it is to think about it, to meditate on. Meditate is to give considered thought to. In other words we read the word of God and then we stop to think about what it says, and apply it to our lives. Look at the advise that Paul gave to Timothy, “Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this.” If you want to know what God says, you have to read the Bible and think about it, spend time on it, meditate on it. When you do your life will be different.
Yes there are challenges in the world, but God has promised us victory and His presence. In order to stand in this world, we must never give in to the problems, we must never forget His promises, and we must remember His precepts, we must do what He says. The path to victory in difficult world is to walk with Jesus. If you’ve never committed to do that, then do it today. There is no better way to start the year.
