Joshua Series Pt. 1 - Pastor Greg Addison - May 4, 2025

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

We appreciate Maverick leading us in worship this morning.

We are so excited to have him here, and you can see what a talented young man he is, and we are excited about uh as he begins to lead us out in our Chaffee campus in the fall.

And uh so we're we're very excited about that.

And we love that last song.

I love to hear you as a church sing that.

And you know, one of the greatest ways, there's so many ways that he's good in so many aspects.

The Bible says every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father.

And so, but our gift of salvation that he has given us is beyond description.

It is so incredible.

What it means to be saved, what it means that Jesus loved us and died for us, what it means that he walks through life with us, what it means, the promise and the hope of inherit uh of heaven and the inheritance that is there, it is just beyond description.

And so many times we don't take enough time to recognize who we are in Christ.

What it means that we're saved, what it means that, as Jesus said, we have an abundant life in him.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, and we're gonna do a study on the book of Joshua.

So we're gonna work our way through.

But here's what's incredible about this book.

The book of Joshua is a uh is the history of the children of Israel going into what was the land of Canaan, and now we refer to that as the nation of Israel, the geographic nation of Israel.

It's the opportunity where God uh talks about for us to see how God brought his children in and provided the inheritance that he had promised them.

But it is also an Old Testament picture of a New Testament profound truth.

The land of Canaan that God had promised them.

And it is an incredible picture of the abundant life in Christ that we have in Jesus.

And so it is a very beautiful story to study as we learn that history of how God used Israel to bring the Messiah into the world.

But it is also chocked full of practical truth, how we obtain the inheritance that we have, or at least this life's portion of that here on earth.

It is how we walk in victory, how we obtain the abundant life that Jesus promised that he came to give us.

And so as we study this, it has a lot of great stuff.

There are great stories, great wisdom, there are military battles, there's all kinds of incredible things.

And so it takes shape as a military battle.

So we're going to use sort of generally that idea that we are on mission, and we are on mission to obtain that abundant life in Christ, that living in victory that He has planned for us.

I want you to read with me here the beginning paragraphs of Joshua chapter 1, because it sets up for us what is happening in this book, the lessons that we have to learn from this book, and it establishes the rubric that you use to study every moment, battle, decision, thought process, everything that goes on.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

It's all right here encapsulated in this first chapter.

So here's what the Bible tells us Joshua chapter 1, verse 1.

Joshua 1:1

After the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, who had served Moses, and he quotes, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now that's kind of a harsh, it feels like a harsh beginning, right?

Just to read, okay, Moses dead.

It almost has the idea like, okay, we finally got him out of the way, now we can get down to business, right?

Moses dead.

Well, that's not really how it's meant.

If you're reading up to this point, what you know is in the in the life of Moses, he was an incredible leader of God's people.

God called him to lead the children out of slavery in Egypt.

If you've been in church any amount of time, you know that story.

And God called Moses specifically, and then he used him mightily.

In fact, there's a passage of scripture I read in studying for this today where it says literally that there was no other servant like Moses.

All that he did to miracles and lead the children of Israel and all that.

So it was a very dramatic thing at some point when the children of Israel knew Moses wasn't going to live forever and who's going to be in charge.

Well, Joshua was one of the men that he mentored and walked by his side, and he led uh and he led alongside Joshua.

Joshua was there in so many incredibly important moments.

And so Joshua uh was clearly an heir apparent and someone that God had tapped for Moses to mentor and then to lead him into that role when Moses was gone.

As the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt and they came to the banks of the Jordan River.

Joshua was one of twelve spies, if you know the story, that Moses sent in to spout the land, to get the lay of the land, figure out what was happening and all of that.

Well, ten of those spies came back and they said, We can't take that land.

There's just too many people.

There are giants there, it's too intimidating.

Joshua and another man, Caleb, said, We can take it.

If God is on our side, who can be against us?

But the Bible says those ten men gave such a scary report that the heart of the people withered, and they refused to go into the land.

So for 40 years, God let that generation wander through the wilderness to die off.

He taught the next generation, if you will, Moses' generation and Joshua's generation.

So the people in Joshua's generation, God taught them that he was their God, and they defeated enemies, and he provided, and all of those things he did to build the faith for the next generation, for this moment, right here that we're reading, where they come to the Jordan River, and now God is going to give them the opportunity to move into the inheritance he's created for them.

In the course of those journeys, the people, again, who were wandering in the wilderness so that God could judge their lack of faith and train the next generation to have faith, they were so difficult, they would cry, they would whine, they would walk away from God, they would do all this.

And so there was one moment where they had run out of water and the people were crying, and God took them to a place and he told Moses to strike a rock with his staff, and from that rock water would come out.

It's an Old Testament picture of salvation.

Jesus was the cornerstone.

Jesus was struck for us.

The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2, by his stripes we are healed.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

And as an Old Testament picture, water is the sustenance of life.

Believe it or not, I know we're Baptists, but you can actually go weeks without food.

Did you know that?

But we can only go three days without water.

It is the sustenance of life.

And so when he struck the rock, Jesus struck for us the river of water.

Life came out.

Jesus said that he was the living water.

And so that's a picture.

They wandered around a few more years doing things.

They ran out of water again.

They're out in the desert.

Same thing happens.

They get all mad, and Moses gets so frustrated with them.

God tells Moses, Take them to this rock, speak to the rock, and water will come out.

And they're whining and they're griping and they're chewing behind Moses' back and somebody's in his ear, and he's had enough of that, and he's so frustrated.

He comes up to the rock, and in the midst of all that, he strikes the rock again rather than speaking to the rock.

And it is another Old Testament picture of salvation.

And you'll find that God is a gracious God and he forgives and he leads.

But in this moment, God was establishing a picture that was key in this building up the faith of the next generation.

And because of Moses' sin and not following God's plan in this key moment, God told Moses, Listen, you will not enter the land of Canaan.

I'll let you see it, but you won't enter in because you've broken this picture of what I'm trying to describe.

And so as they reach the point where the next generations become adults, as they're preceding that, there's a moment in the book of Numbers.

The Bible tells us how Joshua was brought before the people, and Moses anointed him as the next leader, and he was established in front of everyone as the one who would take over the reigns from Moses when he was gone.

And the Bible tells us in the book of Deuteronomy, as the children came up to the Jordan River, and it was time to go into the next land, that God took Moses up into a mountain, just the two of them, and a beautiful picture of intimacy and of God's grace.

And even though Moses made that terrible mistake and he broke that picture of salvation that was so important to the Lord, he still, in his love for his servant Moses, he took him, just the two of them up into a mountain, and they looked over into the land of Canaan, and I believe in a miraculous way, not just depending on Moses' physical eyesight.

I believe that God showed him all of the inheritance of the land of Canaan.

He showed him its beauty, he showed him its potential, he showed him the opportunity, he pointed out all of this to Moses.

And in the Bible says, as Moses died and went to be with the Lord, literally God buried him there.

And he buried him in a way to honor his servant Moses.

The Bible says, and no one has yet, nor will they ever, find his grave.

So it could not be disturbed, it could not be desecrated, it could not be maimed or misused in any way.

God blessed his servant Moses.

And now, after Moses is gone, that's how you read this, and so it's not nearly as jarring as it sounds.

The Bible says, after the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, who had served Moses.

All they know is Moses went off with the Lord up into the mountains to see the land.

And so God now comes to Joshua, and now it is time for Joshua to lead the children as he has been tapped by the Lord and mentored by Moses to do.

And so he says, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Okay, Joshua, the time is now.

He says, Now you and all the people prepared to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.

I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses.

Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River, all the land of the Hittites, and west to the Mediterranean Sea.

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

I will be with you just as I was with Moses.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Joshua, be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.

Then he says in verse 7, Above all, again he reiterates, be strong and very courageous, to carefully observe the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.

And if you just read on the next verse, it says, This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth.

You are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it, for then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

So God there gives Joshua this instruction.

He takes him aside and he reiterates the promise to the nation of Israel.

He reiterates his promise that he has given them this land and that he is going to make them a mighty people and that he is going to use them to bring the Messiah into the world, and through that they will be a blessing to all people and all nations for all time.

And God is reiterating that promise, preparing Joshua to walk in.

And it is on the path of those promises that Joshua leads the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, into the land of Israel.

And you will see in this instruction, one of the things that he is doing with Joshua is he is telling him, This is my gift to you and your people.

I am good to you, and I am going to be good to my people.

I'm going to protect you and guide you and help you and bless you.

Joshua, this is your inheritance as a people.

And so he is setting him up, and as they go into that land, they are not going under threat of judgment.

They are not going under a harsh command.

They are going under the promise and the provision of God.

And here's the first truth that I want you to see as we look at this book.

It is exactly what I described, that this is the picture of the abundant life in Christ.

And what I want you to hear and see and own as we go through this study, that the Christian life is promised by God to be filled with joy and strength and eternal meeting.

It is an inheritance that can never be measured by human standards.

There is no greater decision that you will make in your life for now or for all of eternity than to give your life to Jesus Christ.

To be saved is to be adopted as a child of God, and a child of God can never be disinherited under Jewish law.

This picture of this inheritance and this land flowing with milk and honey and all of this expansive picture, God is trying to paint a picture for Joshua in the same way that he gave Moses that vision.

Joshua, this is awesome.

Joshua, I am a good God and I'm giving this to my children.

Joshua, there is victory and there is joy and there is meaning there in the land of Canaan.

Joshua, when you go, I want you to go with passion and excitement because what is in front of you is indescribable in human terms.

And when we look at what it means to be a Christian, especially in today's culture where people say so many different things in so many different ways, and politicians and media people and everybody, they grab verses and they throw it out there because they think people in the culture are so dumb that we don't understand what they're doing or how they're misquoting scripture or anything else.

Christians are described as this and that and all this other stuff.

And what we need to understand is that it is an awesome thing to be a Christian.

It is a blessing to be a follower of Christ.

God loves us.

To be a Christian meant that you acknowledge that Jesus loved you so much that he died for you on the cross to pay the price for your sin.

Coming out of Easter, that's what that means.

Jesus died for you and he rose again and he conquered death and sin and Satan and every obstacle in the way of the joy that he has planned for us as his children.

It is an incredibly awesome thing to be a Christian.

The Bible says in the book of Hebrews, what happens to us if we neglect so great a salvation?

It's incredible to think what it means to be a believer.

I want you to just see the picture that's inherent in this picture so you can make the parallels.

The children of Israel had been redeemed from bondage in Egypt.

And from the moment of that redemption that Moses called them out, they were pointing to the land that flows with milk and honey.

They were pointing to a land that God had given them as an inheritance.

They were walking to the Jordan River, looking over to see what God had done for them.

And the Bible says, makes it very clear, they did nothing to deserve that.

The Bible says, I am giving to the Israelites.

It is the gift of God.

He chose the children of Israel to be his people, and he chose them to be the path that he would bring the Messiah into the world.

And all of that is a gift of God.

And the Bible tells us very clearly, in salvation, not that we loved him, but he first loved us and gave his son to be the payment for our sin.

The Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith.

Not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast about deserving that or how they earned it or anything else.

It was all what Jesus did.

And when you look at the land of Canaan, and when you look at the abundant life in Christ that is promised to us, you should be overwhelmed with the grace of God and how much he loves you, that Jesus died for you to save you.

That he has prepared for you a place in heaven.

That he has promised as you walk through this life, there is abundance and joy and protection and provision.

And he is in every way walking through that life with us, just as he promised Joshua never to forsake us.

It is an incredible gift of God.

He saves us from the bondage and the penalty and the struggle of sin, and he saves us to the abundant life in Christ.

It's incredible when you think about what it means to be a Christian.

And so many times people try to paint us what we're against or something else when really what defines us is exactly what Jesus said.

I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.

If you've never given your life to Christ, I want to plead with you to give your life to Jesus.

If you've never trusted him as your Savior, if you've never gotten on your knees and recognized how much Jesus loved you, that he died for you on the cross, if you've never asked for forgiveness of your sins, because you've seen that Jesus loves you and he has a life for you and forgiveness for you and heaven for you, I beg you, please give your life to Jesus Christ.

It is the greatest decision that you'll ever make in this life, not to mention what it means for you in eternity, that you will avoid the judgment of hell and spend an eternity in heaven.

And as we go through this study, my prayer for us as a church family is that we inhabit the joy and the power of what it means to be saved, and we fall in love with God in a deeper way than we ever have because of what it means to be his child.

He has given you an inheritance never to be taken away.

It is an incredible thing to be a Christian.

The next truth I want you to see is this.

As we go through this book, there are general orders, and I'll talk about that in a minute, and a strategic plan that God gives Joshua that carries him through each of these battles and moments so that he can live a life of victory and the children of Israel can obtain their full inheritance.

And as we go through these same plans and orders, as we apply them in the pictures of battles that represent the kind of things that we go through in our lives, it is an opportunity for us to see how we obtain that abundant life and joy that Jesus has for us in life.

Now I've chosen this term general orders and strategic plans.

My military brothers and sisters that have served, forgive me if I mess this up in cor and I mess this up and not do this well.

General orders are something that have their history in the military, and they are given typically to each branch of the government, the Army, or each branch of the military, the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and they are established and they are a fundamental set of orders that you learn from boot camp and on.

And these orders are specific in that one.

What they do is they teach you the character of who you are to be in that branch of service.

How you are to be an airman in the Air Force, how you are to be a sailor in the Navy, how you are to be a soldier in the Army.

And they begin with some very simple things.

General Order No.

And you're never to leave that post until you are relieved.

And so even though it begins with that idea of guard duty, what it does is it establishes the character of who I am to be as a soldier in every post moving forward throughout my military career.

General orders have begun back in the 1700s.

And here in the United States, we're no different.

When General Washington established the Continental Army, one of his first acts and duties was to establish the general orders of the army that define their character.

Now it's incredible as I was reading through this, and I want to just read you the first paragraph, and I want you to make a parallel with me as you read through this.

Think about Joshua on the banks of the Jordan River, looking at the inheritance and all those enemies and how they're going to defeat them, and the importance of the cause of the people of God to establish the nation of Israel to be God's people to bring the Messiah into the world.

And then I want you to make another parallel.

Our cause as the people of God, living for Him to advance the gospel as the army of God.

Listen to this teaching.

This was issued on January 1, 1776, by General Washington.

This day giving commencement to the new army, which, in every point of view, is entirely continental.

The general flatters himself that a laudable spirit of emulation will take place and pervade the whole of the army.

Without such a spirit, few officers have ever arrived to any degree of reputation, nor did any army ever become formidable.

His Excellency hopes that the importance of the great cause we are engaged in.

Joshua could have used that same phrase.

We could use that same phrase today as the people of God, as the army of God.

And wishes it to be considered that an army without order, regularity, and discipline is no better than a commissioned mob.

Let us therefore, when everything dear and valuable to freemen is at stake, when our unnatural parent is threatening us with destruction from every quarter, endeavor by the skill and discipline in our power to acquire that knowledge and conduct which is necessary in war.

Our men are brave and good.

Men who, with pleasure it is observed, are addicted to fewer vices than are commonly found in most armies.

I love that phrase, don't you?

But it is, now listen to this part, this explains what general orders are.

It is subordination and discipline, the life and soul of an army, which next, under providence, it's his word for God's hand, is to make us formidable to our enemies, honorable in ourselves, and respected in the world.

And herein is to be shown the goodness of the officer.

It's an incredible picture to see as you are establishing a people, an army, a church, God's family, to understand that it is the innate definition and character of who we are that guides us in our endeavors.

It is when, as General Washington said, the incredible cause of freedom in America and pursuing independence and all of that, that cause is so great, it should cause us to develop and deepen and pursue a character which allows us and equips us and makes us worthy to the task in front of us and greater than any enemy or force we will face.

It is what God is doing in Joshua.

Joshua, this is the character of who we are.

Be strong.

Rest in my promise.

No enemy can stand against you.

These are my instructions.

This is the word of God.

Follow it to that letter.

I am always with you.

He is building in those general orders of conduct and character.

This is who you will be as the leader, and this is who our people will be.

And because of that, I will use you mightily in the world.

And I think it applies every bit to us as God's army, as God's people, as we go on the great cause of taking the gospel around the river valley in the world, as we are living out the picture of what it means to be a Christian, as we are illustrating the inheritance that comes through giving your life to Christ.

It is our character that is built in us.

It is the sense of identity that we have as God's people, pursuing God's mission, resting in the promises of God, trusting in the provision and protection of God, pursuing the presence of God.

That is what rises us to the level that we bring the gospel effectively to the world around us.

That's what God is building into his army in the Old Testament, and it's what he builds to us in his people as the New Testament army of God, as we are pursuing the inheritance of God.

Let me give you these four points from this passage as he establishes these general orders, this character for his people, this is the character for Joshua as a leader.

It is what he is to instill into his people as we go through every battle, the battle of Jericho, the battle of Ai, treaties that they make that are mistaken in their lives.

All of those stories that you know throughout the book of Joshua, this rubric right here gives the roadmap to understand whether they did it well or did not do it well.

It's an incredible passage of Scripture.

It also relates directly to our journey in obtaining that abundant life in Christ in the New Testament.

First is this understand and focus on your inheritance.

Just as General Washington said to the army of the Continental Army, the Army of Independence, this incredible cause that you need to keep in front of you.

As he told the children of Israel and Joshua as they went in, you prepare the people to cross over to the Jordan, to the land I am giving the Israelites.

Joshua, this is the inheritance that you have longed for.

Joshua, this is the promise of the land flowing in milk and honey.

This is the promise of a great nation.

This is the promise of me using you as the people that bless the world by bringing the Messiah through.

Joshua, this is the vision that I've given you.

When you go to battle and it's hard, Joshua, there is a vision in front of you.

Joshua, when you say no to temptation and you eliminate sin in your midst, it is because there is a vision that I've given you.

If there is a mistake or a failure, Joshua, you come in repentance and you return and you continue to pursue because you have a vision in front of you.

Listen, no one should have a greater vision than a follower of Jesus Christ.

None of us should have anything more important to us than to understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for us when we were saved.

I want you to listen in Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Paul describes it this way in an incredible passage of Scripture.

Just listen to this.

General Electric Power Company.

That's how I found that.

You got that?

Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.

Okay, just a little tip there.

That was free.

Here's what he says in verse 12.

Not that I have already reached the goal of the fellowship with Jesus he's described before, or that I'm already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of that because I have also been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of that vision, but one thing I do.

Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

He's saying, I have a vision.

Jesus laid a hold of my life for this, and I want it with everything that's in me.

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, all who are mature should think this same way.

And if you think differently about anything in your life, God will reveal that also to you.

In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

The same thing that applies to Joshua, pursuing that inheritance that is theirs as the children of Israel.

It is the abundant life in Christ that is ours through what Jesus did for us on the cross, and we are pursuing with everything in us that goal, that prize, that joy of salvation.

As we go through this book, we will learn those lessons over and over again.

Number two, you trust in God's plan and power over every enemy and obstacle.

Trust in God's plan and power over every enemy and obstacle.

Now, this is a fascinating sort of deal here to me.

He says in verse 3, I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses.

Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River and all the land of the Hittites and west of the Mediterranean Sea.

Listen, let me just say this for a minute.

God deeded the land of Israel to the children of Israel.

And it is theirs by the promise of God.

Right here.

He's never backed away from it.

He's always been faithful.

Now, what is all this geography doing?

It is a massive piece of land.

It is filled with all kinds of wealth, and God is trying to paint the pigeon, the picture of that inheritance to Joshua.

He is trying to show him the magnitude of that.

Same thing when Jesus says, abundant life in Christ.

He is trying to paint this incredible picture and get Joshua excited and ready for battle to stir his heart and get him motivated.

But here's what I always find interesting.

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

I will be with you just as I was with Moses.

I will not leave you or forsake you.

Now let me ask you a question.

Here's what he's saying.

He's saying, when you go to battle, I will always be with you.

But it sort of begs this question: what kind of inheritance is it that I have to go to battle for it?

That always struck me like, what kind of gift is that?

I'm going to give my kids an inheritance, but you've got to go, maybe, here's an inheritance, it's awesome, but you have to go sue your brother and beat him in court just to get it.

Like that's a strange gift, isn't it?

Like, why does it work that way?

Why is God giving them all this land?

And then they have to go through battle after battle and conquer it.

Because he is developing his people and elevating them to who he has called them to be.

And he is using step by step and battle by battle and journey by journey and choice by choice to grow his children.

Here's what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 23.

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture, and it's really helped me so much in so many ways.

Here's what the Bible says.

He is describing as they go into the land of Canaan what some of the rules are, what some of those instructions that he tells Joshua not to get away from.

But here's what he says in verse 27 of Exodus 23.

I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror and throw into confusion all the nations you will come to.

I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.

I love this right here.

I will send a hornet in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you.

I will not, now listen to this, I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year.

Otherwise, the land would become desolate, and the wild animals would multiply against you.

I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous and take possession of the land.

And then he reiterates his promise I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River, for I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

You see, God knows and understands his children have to grow.

His inheritance, this abundance is so great, he is teaching and growing and developing them into that.

And listen, that's exactly what we have in the Christian life.

When you get saved, man, you still look a whole lot more like your lost person than you did like Jesus in that first moment.

And God knows that there are so many things in front of us, and there's so much work he wants to do in your life as he is transforming you to be like Jesus.

And here's part of God's grace.

He does not force you from the first day you get saved right into the middle of you how to be like Jesus and like Saul and walk on water like Peter and all of that.

God's grace for us is this He walks you through day by day, choice by choice, battle by battle, as you increase, as you grow, and as you inherit the steps in front of you.

And so every one of these moments is a classroom where God takes your life and he steps into it and he guides and builds and grows you.

And as you go through step by step, you are doing so already with the promise that every place you put the sole of your foot I've given to you, and no obstacle will ever be in front of you.

And so you face these obstacles.

They are a classroom to learn, not an enemy that will defeat you.

This is not failure.

This is growth.

This is God's building us.

He's transforming us into the image of Jesus.

He is teaching us to appreciate and learn and understand all of this magnitude of the abundant life in Christ.

And as you grow and as you grow and as you grow, you become closer to Jesus, you become more like Jesus.

It is incredible what God does in your life as He reveals and grows and speaks and builds and protects and guides and you learn in these moments where we have to exercise faith muscles, what it means to trust in God and how faithful He is.

Listen, if God just, you think about your kids, if you just give them something, it doesn't have a lot of value.

They take it for granted.

It's just whatever.

It's like Christmas time when you give them, you spend all this money on Christmas gifts, and they play with the boxes and not the gifts.

They don't understand the value and the magnitude of it.

But as they mature and as they get older, and as you begin to give them little bits of money and allowance, and you ask them to buy their siblings Christmas presents, and they realize, they begin to understand how much things cost and what it means, and they understand the thoughtfulness that goes into gifts, and then they have those moments where they get so excited because they have found the gift that their brother or sister is going to love, and they've understood what that means, and the value grows, and the picture becomes powerful, and then you give them a gift, and they've applied that learning, and all of a sudden they've grown and they're grateful, and things have become greater and deeper, and they have increased because they've learned giving and character and joy.

That's what God is doing as we walk through these moments in life.

Number three, you recognize the reality of God's presence.

I will be with you, Joshua.

It's no difference.

God's presence is no difference.

Whether the greatest prophet that ever lived in Moses or Joshua, a brand new leader leading for the first time, the presence of God is the same because God is the same.

God's presence is not limited in your life.

It does not matter if you're the pastor, you're the Sunday school teacher, you're a brand new Christian.

It does not matter if you're 14 or if you're 84.

The presence of God is always the same because God never changes.

Peter opens one of his letters to the followers of Jesus in the New Testament and he says, you have an incredible phrase, you have the same quality of relationship that we do as his disciples, because Jesus never changes.

See, it's not about who you are or where you are, it's about who Jesus is.

And Joshua is promised and must learn what God's presence, his never leaving, unchanging presence means in his life.

And for you, as you grow as a believer, it is constantly learning the unchanging presence of God.

And then he commands him finally, number four, to immerse himself in Scripture and to obey it fully.

Here's what he says.

Above all, be strong and very courageous, to carefully observe the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.

This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth.

You are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe whatever is written in it, for then you will prosper, and then you will succeed in what you do.

You see, he has given us the instruction manual.

This is how it works.

God loves you so much, he's not hidden anything from you.

It is all right here.

It all points us to Jesus.

It constantly promises all the things here, the inheritance and the magnitude of what it means to be a Christian.

His power that he brings into our lives that make us greater than any enemy or obstacle.

That he has promised to be with us, never to leave us or forsake us.

It is all right here.

And what he tells Joshua is, Joshua, you need to get up in the morning and you need to go to bed at night, and you need to immerse yourself in scripture, and you need to memorize it, and you need to think it and you need to understand it, and you need to speak it, and you need to say it out loud, and you let it need to guide how you do, and you need to trust it.

And when it brings you to a choice, and the old sinful person of who you are says, go this way, and scripture goes this way, you be careful to go the way of scripture, and you watch how you inherit what God has given you.

Listen, I want to cast a vision for you as we close this morning.

Can you imagine how God could move in revival when a church of his followers become his army?

Can you imagine how many people would be saved when the entire church gets up in the morning with Jesus, memorizes his word, follows his word.

We're praying, tithing, serving, teaching.

We're inviting people to Christ.

We're living in victory through every moment.

Sometimes you're living in victory.

Through circumstances that would crush other people, and they're watching you and they're saying, What do you have that I don't have?

And then they look at your family, and you've charted a course to be like Jesus with your family, and you're teaching your children, and you have the blessings of God, and the people around you go, What are you doing in your house?

That you guys have that joy.

You as a businesswoman or a businessman, and you're living by spiritual principles, and you're emulating Jesus in your place of work, and you're creating balance in your life, and you're working with integrity, and you're praying, and you're surrendering it to God, and He's blessing because you have followed the general orders and you've taken to heart those four things, and you're keeping in front of you the inheritance, and God is blessing your career, and He's working with you, and the people arounding you are saying, What in the world do you have in your life?

I want it.

I want it.

And you just get to respond and say, Listen, God is so good.

Do you know him?

Do you want to know him?

Imagine what we obtain when we are living up to our inheritance.

It first begins with the decision that you make to trust Jesus as your Savior.

Do you know him as your Savior?

Have you ever trusted Christ as your Savior?

The decision is simple to explain.

Bible says that all of us are sinners and fallen short of God's glory.

All of us are living in the bondage of sin like the children of Israel as prisoners in the land of Egypt.

And God stepped in through his redeeming agent.

And Moses led them out with the promise of freedom.

God took Joshua and he led them into the land of Canaan, his redeeming agent.

He led the people in to inherit what God had created for them.

Listen, you don't have to earn and you cannot earn salvation any more than the children of Israel learned it in bondage in Egypt.

God sent Jesus to be your redeemer.

Jesus stepped out of heaven, he lived a sinless life, and then he died voluntarily on the cross, as we discussed in the journey up to Easter.

He did it because he loves you.

He did it to pay the price for your sin.

And then he rose again, conquering death and sin.

And he offers to you this salvation.

I will redeem you if you'll trust me, if you will follow me, if you will give me your life, I will redeem you and I will take you into this promised inheritance.

In fact, the Old Testament name of Joshua is pronounced Jesus in the New Testament.

He is our redeemer and our leader into victory.

If you've never given your life to Christ, I'm going to invite you, whether you're watching or whether you're here, give your life to Christ.

Trust him as your Savior.

How do I do that, Pastor?

You take your life, everything you've been, you are, you ever will be, and you give it all to Jesus.

It is all his.

You give him all of your life, and you just commit to follow him wherever he leads.

And friends, Jesus will do more with your life than you can ever imagine.

We're going to learn the abundance in salvation as we go through this book.

I beg you, give your life to Jesus.

And he'll do more with your life than you can ever do.

I want you to bow your heads.

As we close this morning, I just want to ask you: do you know Christ is your Savior?

If you do not, in a moment, I'm going to pray.

God's people are going to sing a testimony of what it means to be saved.

We'll have pastors at the head of our aisles, and I'm just going to invite you to come.

Come and give your life to Christ.

There'll be someone here to pray with you.

If you have questions, we're not pushing you or whatever, just come and say, I've got questions.

And let's start a conversation and we'll walk that with you.

If you're ready to give your life to Christ, you just come and say, Man, I want that abundance that Jesus died for me to have.

And we'll give you scripture to stand on.

We'll pray with you.

And then we'll start to walk that journey with you and help you learn to grasp what Jesus has laid a hold of for you.

If you are a follower of Christ, I'm just going to ask you as we pray, I want you to just make the commitment.

Lord, I'm going to take these four things and I'm going to study those.

I'm going to talk to you about those things because I want that victory Jesus died for me to have.

For my brothers and sisters in Christ this morning, I pray as we take this journey that you will do something in us that you did in the children of Israel in this book.

You'll give us a passion for that inheritance.

Give us the faith that nothing can stand in your way in our lives.

That you are always with us.

Lord, help us to make that commitment to follow you.

It is in your name that we pray, and all God's people said.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.