So what do we know about this man so far?

 This is  a test about what you heard last week!

What were Peter Cotterell’s three points?

 Who is he? Joshua is the man that brings God’s people in to the Promised land. He is mentioned 11 times in the Pentateuch. He and Caleb were the only ones who were born in Egypt who survived the 40 years in the desert. He was Moses assistant and military commander. So we find him fighting an enemy while Moses prays. We find him going up Sinai with Moses. We find him over enthusiastic about the control of prophecy.

Which brings us to Peter’s second point.

 Who are the we?

He and Caleb are the two spies that understood that with God they were able to enter the promised land. The democratic majority got it wrong. They could only think of we in terms of we are not able.

Peter’s third point was

 Where am I?

The promised land is not life in heaven after death but life in the spirit here and now. In the next couple of weeks we will see that life in the spirit involved endless battles and struggles but with God the we did enter and settle in the promised land.

A book is known by its cover. In ancient times scrolls were known by the first phrase in them 

1:1 After the death of Moses…

So Genesis is called “in the beginning” ; Deuteronomy “ These are the words”; Judges “After the death of Joshua”. The names we are familiar with come from a Greek translation of the Old Testament because the early church read Greek rather than Hebrew.

So this book is known by the key starting point. The great leader had died. Joshua was no longer the assistant, he was the one everybody was looking to. They had arrived at the River Jordan opposite Jericho. They were on the West Bank. The question is what happens next.

Today we are going to try to get an feel for the first 4 ½ chapters of the book.

In chapter 1 God commands Joshua and  he communicates this to the people of Israel. Chapter 2  is about two spies who go into Jericho and spend the night with a prostitute named Rahab. You will have to read that for yourself. In chapter 3 Israel crosses the river Jordan. And in chapter 4 a memorial is set up to remind them that God brought them across. Chapter 5: 1-9 is about all the men being circumcised at Gilgal. And in chapter5:10-12 they celebrate the Passover and the Manna stops.

Read chapter 1:1-9; 16-18

 1 God commands Joshua and he communicates this to the people of Israel.

Joshua 1 verse 9 (NIV)

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."

I have a great deal of respect for Ian Botham who was an England cricketer and now commentates . In one test match against the Australians, England was beaten and on the last day, few turned up to see the final defeat. But Ian Botham refused to accept defeat. He batted like a man possessed of the conviction that England could win and steadily the runs accumulated. His energy and conviction slowly infused the rest of the team.  Now they had to bowl the Aussies out. He proceeded to  bowl brilliantly and wickets fell. His team’s spirits rose and the Australians saw defeat bouncing of an uneven pitch and unplayable bowling. He won the match that day because he believed it could be won.

Back to Joshua. He is not told of a new strategic weapon. Or a sophisticated tactic. He is commanded to be strong and courageous.

First: Emotions are changed by our will not just the change of circumstances. It is easy to be the victim of our circumstances, to feel that we can’t do anything. Often we apparently can’t actually the change the situation we are in.  But the promise to Joshua is the same promise we have in Christ. for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

We are commanded to believe it. We are commended to let it change the way we think about the situation we are in. No longer are we the victims, we are not to be terrified of the present or the future because The Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go and he can transform the situation, whatever it is, just by being there and enable us to experience the blessing that comes from his presence day by day, hour by hour. Compared with Ina Botham, the Holy Spirit is a far stronger and more intelligent and reliable guide and leader. So get your head up! Be strong, even though the body is weak. Be courageous even though the diagnosis is bad news. Do not be terrified, even if the problems ahead seem insurmountable.

This is reinforced by the message the spies bring back.

2. Rahab and the Spies.

Joshua 2 verse 24 (NIV)

They said to Joshua, "The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands;

all the people are melting in fear because of us."

Fear and courage as opposites. The conquest is to do with emotion not strength. In military terms, defenders always have the advantage except that they do not dictate the battle. But the enemy does not have the Holy Spirit, or the command to be strong and courageous, they only know the rumours and have to live with their fears alone.

Step 1. Courage comes from knowing the presence of God.

After the team talk, action!

3  The crossing of Jordan.

Read 3:5-17

 What you need to know is that the ‘ark of the covenant’ was very special because God had said that he was in a special way present above it. In it was the copies of the 10 commandments that Moses had made on the mountain. I could not find any picture that would represent what it looked like on that day because they all have the ark uncovered, so this is an edited one. We know it was a box, covered with gold with two cherubim over it but we also know that it was covered up with several layers of materials and carried on poles.

Having crossed the Jordan, God gets them to take 12 stones from the middle of the river bed and swop them for 12 stones on the bank. The 12 from the river bed are set up as a memorial to this event. So what is it there to tell us?

4  The making of a memorial.

 Joshua 4 verse 24 (NIV)

He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."

It has two messages. One to the world that God is a God to be reckoned with. This is not a God who you do all sorts of things for and maybe he will be nice to you. He is the God who acts decisively for his people. He is the God who is here, right in the middle of the action. This event is a further reminder that this is the God who parted the Red Sea and swallowed up the Egyptian army. If you don’t know that story watch the video ‘Prince of Egypt’, Joshua and Caleb were at both events. Secondly

so that you might always fear the LORD your God.

There are two types of fear. Fear which paralyses and which we are commended not to be and fear which gets life in its proper perspective. Our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ is our Lord, he is our Saviour and we need to let that fact dominate our thinking. The fear here is the fear that Joshua and Caleb had that recognised that with God We are on the victory side. Next week we will learn that it his side not ours.

 So we to be courageous but not reckless. We walk with God not rush off to be heroes.

SO we have we got to. We are now on the East Bank of the river close to Jericho in enemy territory. We have an army and a huge caravan of family and possessions.  So what next God?

God has a simple next step. – every soldier to have an embarrassing operation that lays they entire military out for three days.

READ

 5. 1-9 Circumcision at Gilgal.

Joshua 5 verse 9 (NIV)

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."

So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

Step 2. Cutting the link with Egypt. – This event is quite simply a physical act of obedience for a people already the people of God. They have stepped forward in faith and God calls them to put him above everything else. For the Jews that means circumcision, for the Christian , that means baptism. The life of the Spirit does not begin at baptism but to enter into it fully, you must be baptised. It is a step of faith not the faith itself. For the people of Israel it made them vulnerable.  It finally removes the slavery mind-set from them. There is no going back, the only way is forward. They now obey God as free people. For us there has to be a turning away from the past. Not looking for the pleasures that sin brings but the pleasure that God gives. And to underline that they celebrate the Passover

5:10-12 Passover and the stopping of Manna

 Step 3. Being defined by God’s action - a saved people not an enslaved people. One of the dangers of life is that our status and self image are defined by what happened to us in the past. Many of us still major on what evil happened to us or we did rather than on what God did in saving us and giving us son-ship in Jesus. Communion reminds us that we are saved and therefore free. We can enter the rest of God’s people. We are defined by the cross so this evenings celebration helps us to see that we are no longer sinners but sinners saved by grace. 

And having had these three great faith experiences, the miraculous food supply stops. They are eating food that they collect and forage for. In the promised Land the old miracle of manna is no longer relevant.

 Step 4. Moving on in our experience of God.  The Manna stopped but the presence of God is revealed in other ways. And we must move on. What God did is the past is to be celebrated but life in the Spirit is a journey, the trill of yesterday’s knowledge of God’s presence has to move into today’s experience of him. That may appear to be barren and difficult but we are commended to be strong and courageous. He will be with us in the coming days but not as manna giver. The children of Israel have to grow up into a new experience of God and we have to as well.