WALKING ACROSS THE LAND

 

Pastor Jerry Rockwell

WALKING ACROSS THE LAND

 

JOSHUA 1:2-9

Introduction: Several years ago, Author Blessett walked across the U.S. carrying a cross. His goal was to emphasize the significance of his commitment to the Lord and draw attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I remember correctly, the fellow was a former hippie of the 1960s and had been saved from that movement. He ran a “Coffee House” that served as a hub for the hippie movement in California and eventually transitioned into the mainstream of Evangelical Christianity. He walked from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., carrying the cross and telling people he had met about Jesus Christ. I saw him as he made his way down old U.S. Route 66, which is now Interstate 40. His cross had wheels that made it a little easier. 

Our text is about another walk of a different kind. We have already seen the people of Israel standing on the brink of the Jordan River, ready to take the land that was first promised to Abraham, and then to Moses and the nation. This was the inheritance that God had pledged to His people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had just completed a lengthy stay in the wilderness of Arabia and were ready to make the journey into the land that was theirs. 

The Bible gives us an important promise in Romans 15:4 (KJV) For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. The Old Testament is a picture book of what we know in the New Testament. Our study of the Old Testament (OT) is as important as the New Testament (NT). Have you ever thought about the way God created us? He gave us two eyes, two ears, two nostrils in our nose, two arms, two legs, two lungs, two kidneys, etc. With two arms, we can do more work; with two legs, we have balance; with two ears, we can hear better, and so on. These appendages are designed to be effective in life and our responsibility of serving God. Just as we will see the people of Israel entering the land, there is intense fighting and battle. You and I have a similar experience if we want to follow our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We will come into contact with the enemy and need to have the equipment to fight the battles found in Ephesians 6:10-18. 

Historically, the people of Israel are on the brink of crossing the River Jordan and facing the enemy. Today, in one sense, we stand at the brink of a similar situation where we are ready to receive our inheritance. When we accept Jesus Christ as Saviour, we have crossed the river from the “Old Life of the Flesh” to the “New Life.” We have Jesus, who is prepared to lead us to victory and has already won the battle for us. We need to secure our inheritance. Yet, there will be some battles with the flesh and the Devil that will derail us if we don’t obey and follow Jesus, who wants to lead us to our inheritance. There is a lot of congruity between the OT-Joshua and the NT-Jesus Christ in their work. Joshua in the OT is a type of Jesus in the NT. The people of Israel are types of believers today who have an inheritance, and we need to lay claim to it and win the battle of the “world, the flesh, and the Devil” (1 John 2:15-16). 

The Lord now tells Joshua that he has some responsibilities that will help the people of Israel gain their inheritance. Joshua 1:1 tells us that the “Lord spake to Joshua…” He told him several things that were necessary for him to be the one to take his people into the land and obtain the inheritance. Let’s look at the instructions given to Joshua and make the spiritual application that I believe they so appropriately point out. There are three things that God wanted Joshua to understand about the trip that was in front of him, and the people applied them to their lives.

  1. THE TRANSITION TO TAKE PLACE, Joshua 1:2. Joshua is reminded that Moses is dead, and he is now in the place of leadership. The transition is taking place. Joshua takes the position of leadership held by Moses and becomes the one to take the people to victory and conquest in the land. They are leaving the wilderness and are ready to occupy their inheritance. We might say this is a move from one economy to another. The Law is now in place, and Joshua has the responsibility to fulfill the promises of the Law of Moses. GO TO Joshua 1:7 (KJV). Joshua had the responsibility to put in place the fulfillment of the law. This is precisely what Jesus Christ did for us. Look at Matthew 5:17-18 (KJV) 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. That is what Joshua was commissioned with, what we see for our benefit, a type of the change from law to grace. John 1:17 (KJV) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Joshua had to learn that he no longer depended on Moses but on the Lord. That is what he is told several times in this first chapter. Look at Joshua 1:5; THEN Joshua 1:9. HIS STRENGTH IS NOW COMING FROM THE LORD. The matters of types are seen in 1 Corinthians 10:11 (KJV) Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. The word “ensamples” is the word for a “type.” 

You and I need to learn an important principle. We are no longer under the law (Rom. 6:14-15). Jesus Christ has fulfilled it. We now live under grace. We fail to understand the grace of God fully. Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV) 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. There are so many things we need to understand, and one of the essential things is that we live under grace, not the law. Look at Galatians 3:1-3 (KJV) 1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?  [Emphasis added.] We can quickly become legalistic and think that we are spiritual because of what we do, how we dress, or how we do certain things. We are not spiritual by what we do. We are spiritual by our faith and the Spirit of God in us. 

The man who founded Dallas Theological Seminary, Lewis Sperry Chafer, wrote a seven-volume systematic theology, and in it, he outlined 33 things we receive at the time of conversion. One of things in that list we have received the “riches of His grace.” Look at Ephesians 1:7 (KJV) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 2:7 (KJV) That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:8 (KJV) Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. We seldom understand what God has accomplished for us in His grace. The second thing Joshua needed to know was: 

  1. THE TRIP THROUGH THE LAND, Joshua 1:2-6. Joshua is told to walk through the land and everywhere the “sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses” (Josh. 1:3). God is telling him that he is going to receive every piece of land that his foot treads on. This same promise was given to Moses although we are not given the direct statement by God of this promise except the statement made to Moses in Deuteronomy 34:4 (KJV) And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. We are told that God said a similar thing to Abraham in Genesis 13:17 (KJV) Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Also in Genesis 15:18 (KJV) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Moses did tell the people in Deuteronomy 11:8 (KJV) Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it. The land was to be their inheritance according to Joshua 1:6. 

You and I have an inheritance that we are to possess and it is stated in Ephesians 1:10-11 (KJV) 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Our inheritance is in heaven according to Ephesians 1:3 (KJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Yet we are to obtain our inheritance in the same way that Joshua and the people of Israel were, by walking. Look at Ephesians 2:10 (KJV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 4:1 (KJV) I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Our walk is defined in three ways in Ephesians 5. WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO WALK IN LOVE, LIGHT, AND CIRCUMSPECTLY, Ephesians 5:2, 8, 15. 

  1. TAKING GOD AT HIS WORD, Joshua 1:7-9. In Joshua 1:8, we find the word “success” occurring for the first time in the Bible. In fact, this is the only time it appears in the Bible. It is the same word that is translated “prosper” in Joshua 1:7. We should take note that success here is related to what one does with the word of God. Note three things are to happen in relation to this law/word.
  1. It is not to depart from your mouth. We need to realize that the word of God is essential to the one who plans to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be a guide to all that we say and do. Note what Israel was instructed to do in Exodus 13:9 (KJV) And it [what God had done for us] shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt [bondage and the world]. Psalms 78:1 (KJV) Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. THE WORD OF GOD IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO US.  
  2. It is to be meditated on day and night. One of the special passages is in Psalms 1:1-3 (KJV) 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. If we ever expect to prosper spiritually we need God’s word. Can I ask you a question? Do you read the Bible? You should get a reading guide and read something of the Bible every day. This is an aid to meditate on it. You cannot meditate on something you do not hear. 
  3. It is to be obeyed. We have the responsibility to do what God has said. James gives commentary on this. James 1:22-23 (KJV) 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. Are you a doer of the word?

Conclusion: Our goal as believers is to know the grace of God, maintain a godly walk, and handle the word of God. Do you expect to have victory? Do you desire to possess your inheritance? Then you need to incorporate these three things into your life and move to the Spirit-filled life and begin to win the battles of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Flip Wilson used to say, “The Devil made me do that.” No, the Devil puts the temptation in our reach and then we make the decision.