The Faith To See It Through Series

The Faith to See it Through

Grant van Boeschoten

November 4, 2007

I have heard it said that you cannot determine a man’s greatness by his wealth and ability, but rather by what it takes to discourage him.

I hope that I am not talking to a discouraged people this morning. And today, I want encourage you. Today I want for God’s spirit to get in you and for you to get some FAITH from God.

I need the faith to see it through. You need the faith to see it through. What is it? It is whatever God has called you to. It is living out your salvation and the promises of God.

For Joshua, son of Nun, “it” was entering and possessing the Promised Land.

Joshua was born as a slave in the land of Egypt and was just a young man when God sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of that land of slavery and into the Promised Land.

The Bible doesn’t say when it happened, but it does say that Joshua was the personal assistant to Moses from the time that he was a young man. Joshua was there when the 10 plagues went throughout Egypt. He was there when God opened up the Red Sea for the Israelites to walk through and he was there when that same sea closed back up on the Egyptian army.

Then comes the battle with the Amalekites. God told Moses the plan and in turn Moses told the Israelites the plan. Moses would stand at the top of a nearby hill with the staff in his hand. As long as Moses held the staff up the Israelites would win, and Joshua would be the man who would lead the Israelite army.

Moses held up the staff and Joshua and the Israelites CRUSHED the Amalekites.

Joshua was there when God met the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. He was there when the mountain was smoking, and the trumpets of God were blaring and all the people watched as Moses called out to God and God answered back in the thunder.

Joshua was there when God called Moses up the mountain, because Joshua went with Moses up that mountain into the very presence of God. And God gave to Moses the plans for the ark of the covenant, and he planned out how the people could worship him. God wrote the 10 commandments on 2 tablets of stone for Moses to take back to the people.

When Moses and Joshua were going back down the mountain they heard a lot of noise coming from the camp of the Israelites.

Joshua said to Moses, “It sounds as if there is a war in the camp.” And Moses said, “That’s not the sound of victory or defeat, it is the sound of celebration.”

And as the two of them made there way down the mountain they began to see what the celebration was all about. The people had brought their silver and gold to Aaron, Moses’ brother, and he had made them a golden calf to worship in the place of God.

And Joshua was there as Moses broke the very tablets that God had written the 10 commandments on.

Moses was clearly God’s leader for the nation of Israel, and as his personal assistant, Joshua had some pretty sweet benefits.

When God wanted to talk to Moses His glory would descend upon the tabernacle in front of all the people and Moses and Joshua would go in and God would speak to Moses.

Some of you might be saying, “I know that God spoke to Moses in that tent, but how can you say that Joshua was in there too?”

11 Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, stayed behind in the Tent of Meeting.

Ex 33:11 (NLT)

If Joshua could stay behind it has to mean that he was there in the first place. What an awesome thing to be able to go into that tabernacle or that church and watch as God spoke to Moses face to face. It was so good that Joshua didn’t want to leave when it was done. He wanted to hang around for a little while longer.

When the Israelites came to the wilderness of Paran, which is located in the North East corner of the Sinai Peninsula and just South of the Promised Land, God told Moses to send 12 spies into the land. Moses did as God commanded and picked one representative from each of the 12 tribes to go.

Joshua represented the tribe of Ephraim and he took his place amongst the others in what would be one of the biggest tests of his life. Though at the beginning of the journey, I’m sure that it felt more like an opportunity and an adventure than a test.