The Book Of Joshua 1 Of 9

Moses goes down in the pages of history as one of the greatest men who ever walked on this earth. Once the death of this great man of God took place, many probably felt like everything was coming to an end.

But I am convinced that one of the reasons that God removes great men from the earth, such as Moses, is so mankind can see that when GREAT MEN DISAPPEAR from the face of the earth, the plan of God continues on.

HOW DOES THE WORK OF GOD CONTINUE?

God finds someone else to take their place to continue His work. God did that then, and God still does that now.

You see, many times we are guilty of exalting man when we should be exalting the Lord Jesus. The success of God’s work does not depend on man, but on God.

Illus: Today, many people enjoy watching car racing. And when the race is completed, the winning car is driven into the winner’s circle, and everyone in the winner’s circle may point to that particular car and say, “That car won!”

Well, there is some truth to that, but that is not the whole truth.

• The fact is, that car may be equipped with some of the best mechanical parts available, but that car did not win!

• That car may be designed and engineered by some of the best mechanics that ever existed, but that car did not win!

In all reality it was not the car that won the race. It was the driver who took that car and used it to win the race.

And the same can be said today about us. Often people point to us and give us the praise, but the fact is, it is God above who deserves the praise. He may take our talents and abilities and use them to bring about a victory, but without Him we could not have done anything. As the Scripture says, in John 15:5, “…For without me ye can do nothing.”

It was a dark day indeed when Moses passed from this life, but God went on to use Joshua to take his place, and lead the people to victory!

HOW DID GOD DO THIS? Let’s look at:

I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD

Psychologically, Joshua’s temperament would appear to be Sanguine (confident). He was optimistic, and believed God could do anything. These are the kind of people God can use!

It seems that Joshua was always optimistic when he faced a crisis.

Illus: Remember when Moses sent the spies into the promise land to spy the land out? The majority of them came back and said that they could not do it, because they were like grasshoppers in the land.

But the Bible says Joshua and Caleb spoke up and said that they were well able to possess the land.

All of the spies saw the same thing:

• But Joshua and Caleb saw it through the eyes of God and the victory depended on God.

• The other ten spies saw it through the eyes of man, and they knew they were no match for those giants they had to face.

People that are Sanguine, like Joshua, can be a little intimidating. God raises up such people to do His work.

Look how God introduced this Book of Joshua!

Look at verses 1-2, we read, " Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel."

WHAT IS GOD SAYING TO JOSHUA? He was saying that just because Moses was dead, that did not mean that His plans were dead!

Do you see the point? If the plan of God is to continue, God must raise up other great men to take their place.

For example:

• For a family to continue to be a godly family, when the godly members of that family die, someone has to step up and say, “Lord, here am I, use me.”

• For a nation to continue to be a godly nation, when the godly citizens of that nation die, someone has to step up and say, “Lord, here am I, use me.”

• For a church to continue to be a godly church, when the godly members die, someone has to step up and say, “Lord, here am I, use me.”

Moses had died, the nation of Israel would no longer be able to be led by this godly man. SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO TAKE HIS PLACE!

This was indeed a dark day in the nation of Israel when the news began to spread that Moses had died. Some no doubt were saying, “What are we going to do?”