Topic: Sunday Sermon Series – Living by Faith
Title: Joshua’s Conquering Faith (Part 1)
Text: Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. – NIV
Intro: We have been studying the concept of faith, and what it means to live by faith as it is set forth in scripture, particularly in the book of Hebrews.
Living by Faith is the principal God has called His people to live by. You’ll find it in both Old and New Testament:
Habakkuk 2 (NKV)
4 “Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
When Paul begins his treatise on the Gospel at the very outset of it points his readership to the fact that, the Gospel of God, and the salvation of God thorough Jesus Christ can only come by faith. It is the life principal by which we are to live,
Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.
A concept that our scripture passage puts before us that living by faith can be a battle! Paul instructed Timothy to:
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul said to even keep the faith can be a fight!
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Transition: There are many things that we war against!
A) Sinful desires:
1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul
B) Evil spirits:
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
C) People who oppose the Gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
D) We even wrestle with, and war against the thoughts within our own minds!
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
Wow! The Christian life is a war, and losing this war is not an option!
Listen to the last words of Jesus to the churches in the book of Revelation: What is the last thing he said?
Revelation 2:7 He who is able to hear, let him listen to and give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (is victorious),[ESV - To the one who conquers] I will grant to eat [of the fruit] of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. - AMPC
Revelation 3: 5 Thus shall he who conquers (is victorious) ),[ESV - who conquers] he shall be clad in white garments, and I will not erase or blot out his name from the Book of Life; I will acknowledge him [as Mine] and I will confess his name openly before My Father and before His angels.. – AMPC
I guess Vince Lombardi was right when he said…
Vince Lombardi-Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!
When it come to our spiritual lives – you have to win, conquer, overcome!
And the only way to win this battle is by/thru faith!
1 John 5:4 - NLT- For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
Today we will consider a very practical picture of this type of faith through the event recorded in Hebrews 11:30.
Title: Joshua’s Conquering, Faith!
Proposition: A study of the faith exercised by Joshua and the Israelites in Hebrews 11:30, will Provide for us a picture of, and the principles by which a conquering faith functions.
So let’s look at it from several perspective the first being:
I. The FOUNDATION of an overcoming, conquering, victorious faith:
Is comprised of several components…
Joshua 1:1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now 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.
A) Component #1?
1. The promises of God!
a) Essentially what God is saying is that your going to get that land, because I’m going to give you that land!
b) And the reason I’m going to give you that land is because I promised that land to your forefather Abraham, and I’m going to make good on my promise!
Genesis 12:7a The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.
Genesis 24:7a “The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,'
Genesis 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram [ a binding agreement, a promise, a pledge] and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
c) But to have a conquering faith it requires a second component:
2. Man’s perseverance and persistence!
Joshua 1: 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
Deuteronomy 11:24a Every place where you set your foot will be yours
a) You got to go out and get it!
b) God’s promises must be possessed!
Hebrews 6:12b do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. – NKJV
John Trapp- I give you this land, but yet you must fight for it: and so must the saints for the heavenly Canaan.
Peter Pett- Step by step they would receive it as they went forward by faith in YHWH. Sometimes it would be two steps forward and one step back, but always they should go onwards until the whole was theirs.
c) But I think a third component is:
3. God’s predetermination?
a) Predetermination is defined as the ordaining of events beforehand.
b) In theology, predetermination is the act of God by which He foreordained every event throughout eternity. Everything, from the flight of a sparrow to path of a hurricane, was destined to occur by God in eternity past in the exact manner in which it occurs. As a leaf falls off a tree, it follows the exact course God planned for it to take from branch to ground when He created the universe; when a duck glides across the surface of a pond, the height and spacing of the ripples it makes were all foreordained by God. The One who holds the universe together
(Colossians 1:17) has a plan!
c) And so the point is that God had predetermined a plot of land:
Joshua 1:4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
d) God has predetermined our territory!
Acts 17:26 From one person God created every human nation to live on the whole earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
e) God has predetermined our boundaries!
f) Asaph goes as far as to say in:
Psalm 74: 16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.-NIV
g) All boundaries belong to Him!
Job 38: 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, -NIV
Job 38: 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? -NIV
h) There was a prayer that was popularized a few years ago,
1Chronicles 4:10 a Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!
i) My advice is to pray Oh God enlighten me to what my territory is verses enlarging it!
j) This is what David meant when he wrote:
Psalm 16: 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. -NIV
h) David didn’t pray for a kingship, God ordained it for him!
i) THE 4TH CONQURING COMPONENT MUST BE:
4. The presence of God!
Joshua 1: 5a No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life…
Q: Why?
Joshua 1: 5b As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Daniel Whedon - He needs no other allies who is allied with the Almighty.
a) Presence was promised through Moses:
Deuteronomy 31:1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan. 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said.
Isaiah 52: 12 But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard
c) But one thing we must guard against is:
II. The FOE of an overcoming, conquering, victorious faith:
A) PRESUMPTION!
1. Perhaps one of the greatest illustrations of this is found in Numbers 14:
a) Because of their unbelief God had said to the Israelites:
Numbers 14: 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22 not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
b) But watch what happens:
Numbers 14: 9 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!” 41 But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,
Numbers 14: 44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.
c) They were completely defeated because of presumption!
B) Point?
1. Our self- willed plans, unauthorized by God, will often result in catastrophe!
a). Example #2:
Leviticus 10:1 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
b) How do you know God is with you?
c) God explains it this way to Joshua:
Joshua 1: 5a No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
d) You'll win!
Q: Why?
Joshua 1: 5b As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
III. The Fortitude of a conquering faith:
A) Fortitude- mental and emotional strength in the face of difficulty, adversity, danger and temptation.
1. God tells Joshua to be:
Joshua 1:6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
GNT- Be determined and confident
a) Be strong -?????? (?a·zaq)
1) to strengthen, prevail, harden, become strong, be firm, grow firm, be resolute, to prevail, to press, be urgent , grow stout, rigid, bold!
b) and courageous, ???????? (we·’e·ma?)
1) to be strong, alert, brave, bold, solid, firm, assured, persistent
c) This is the posture, the stand God expects us to take!
i. God says it 3x’s !
Joshua 1:6a Be strong and courageous,
Joshua 1:9b Be strong and courageous.
Joshua 1:18b be strong and very courageous!”
Q: Why 3 times?
d) Consider the consequences!!
Revelation 21:8a But the cowardly, the unbelieving,
e) the cowardly -de????? (deilois) -timid, fearful, faithless.
f) And unbelieving -?p?st??? (apistois)
g) (passively) untrustworthy (person)
Revelation 21:8b the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all
liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” - NIV
h) We cannot and must not quit!!
i) This is a NT command!
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. – NIV
ESV- Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
A.W. Tozer -The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need revival, that we need a new baptism of the Spirit - and God knows that we must have both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy Ghost.
A.W. Tozer -Yes, if evangelical Christianity is to stay alive she must have men again, the right kind of men. She must repudiate the weaklings who dare not speak out, and she must seek in prayer and much humility the coming again of men of the stuff prophets and martyrs are made of. God will hear the cries of His people as He heard the cries of Israel in Egypt. And He will send deliverance by sending deliverers. It is His way among men.
A.W. Tozer -And when the deliverers come - reformers, revivalists, prophets - they will be men of God and men of courage. They will have God on their side because they will be careful to stay on God's side. They will be co-workers with Christ and instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost. Such men will be baptized with the Spirit indeed, and through their labors He will baptize others and send the long delayed revival.
Do you have the right foundation?
Do you understand the foe?
Do you see the need for fortitude?
