Men of God must battle for Christ's Kingdom
Today, we will be in the book of Joshua 1:6-7. I am sure many of you have heard sermons preached from these verses or have heard these verses taught in many times.
To start off, we must understand the context of these verses, so that we know the true meaning of these verses. Joshua is the story of the Kingdom of God launching into the world of nations who arr full of idols. The Lord’s conquering of the Canaanites declared to the world that the God of Israel is the one true and living God, who owns all the heavens and earth. It was also a warning to the nations that the irresistible advancement of the Kingdom of God would ultimately dispose all who opposed Christ, giving place in the earth only to those whom the Lord has chosen as His people. The book of Joshua begins with the death of Moses (Joshua 1:1-2). The man used by God to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity and towards the promised land has now died. The Israelites have not yet possessed the land that the Lord had given them. But now, Moses is dead, and God appointed Joshua to lead t His people into the land that He promised them (Joshua 1:2).
In the verses preceding verse 6, the Lord declared to Joshua all the boundaries of the land that Israel was to inherit. He also tells him that no one will stand against Joshua and Israel from inheriting the land, as seen in Joshua 1:4-5. The task of leading God’s people is a marvelous but tough task, since there was estimated over one million Israelites at this time. It was also challenging because of the great battle of conquering the land of Canaan, and that on account of its many strong armies and idolatrous peoples. In the first five verses God gives Joshua only indicative statements, and these are God’s covenantal promises to Joshua and Israel, then in verses 6-9 God gives imperative statements to Joshua. These statements are commands telling Joshua how he must obey God. Now we will get into our text for this evening.
Exposition of the Text
Joshua 1:6 “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.”
Be Strong and Courageous
The Lord begins His exhortation to Joshua to "be strong and of a good courage". God told Joshua these as an encouragement and hope, and these words are words of commission. God’s promises are not meant to set aside His Law, but rather are given to exhort His people to do with all their strength everything He has Commanded.
Assurances of God’s benefaction must never be regarded as nullifying His people’s obedience or rendering useless the putting forth of great strenuous labor, but instead, are to be taken as abundant guarantees that if the church be "always abounding in the work of the Lord", then we may know "that no labor is vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58). The word for strong is חָזַק- khä·zak'- meaning to strengthen, and it denotes the strength of hand and arm, to lay hold of, and retain anything within one’s grasp.
Joshua was to be strong both physically and in godliness, this word has a strong designation to faith. The word for courageous in our text is אָמַץ- aw-mats'- meaning to be of good courage, steadfast minded, strong, stronger, fortify. Being courageous has a notation of being strong against opposition as in defending a military outpost at all costs, while on the other hand, being strong has the notation of offensive strength in leading a charge against or spearheading an enemy line.
Joshua had to be strong because he was the head of 600,000 fighting men: but, not to mention the vast number of old men, women, and children, and accounting for the slaves, cattle, and living supplies in which the nation of Israel was heavy-ladened. Joshua’s first step was that he had to lead Israel across a large river; in doing of which, he knew he would be fuly exposed to the military weaponry of those nations that he went to attack, and of those nations he left behind and did not destroy.
The nations that he was to lead Israel to conquer were naturally warlike, of mighty stature and strength; their towns well fortified by nature and from the building of strong fortifications. Their militaries and economies were united by the strongest ties and alliances: even so, they all had long before been alarmed about God’s conquering people and had made the maximum preparations to fight against Joshua. Therefore, Joshua had to be strong to conquer the land of Canaan, and he also had to be immovably courageous to defend Israel against the armies and idols of the peoples from Canaan.
Taking Possession of the Land
The land which the people of God were to inherit was the land of Canaan. This land was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:7- The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. This promise was further confirmed in Genesis 15. Then, in Genesis 15:13 God tells Abraham about Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, and that the fourth generation of Abraham’s offspring would take possession of the land.
In Deuteronomy 34:4 God spoke to Moses, saying, Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” The Lord told Moses this as Moses looked across and saw the Promised Land. God does not allow Moses to enter into the land, but now after his death, it is the fourth generation of Abrahams offspring.
Therefore, as God has always had a church and will always have a church in the world, the church had to have a head or a shepherd. At this time, God appointed Joshua as a shepherd of His church of Israel, and we see this in Joshua 1:1-2 and Deuteronomy 34:8-9. As the new appointed leader of Israel, Joshua was in some sense their king, prophet, and priest before the Lord. He acted as their king leading them into battle and defeating their enemies, such as at Jericho in chapter 6. He is their prophet because he declares the Word of the Lord to God’s people, as seen in chapter 8:18, when He told Joshua attack Ai and conquer it. He acts as their priest in the matter that he acted in some respects as God’s mediator between Himself and Israel, this is seen supremely in Joshua having led Israel into the Promised Land and fulfilled God’s covenantal promise to His people then, as seen in Joshua 21:43-45.
Jesus is the True Joshua
Consequently, Joshua functioned as a Covenantal Type of Christ. Many of you may not know what a “type” is, or what “typology” is. Types and Typology are very important in our interpretation of God’s Word. A Covenantal Type is any person, place, event, or thing in the Old Testament that serves the covenantal purpose of God, in a preparatory manner, until the fulfillment is come, in Jesus Christ our Lord, or in any particular part of the inheritance of which God did promised His people. In this manner, Christ is the ultimate and only true Head of God’s church, and in His Lordship over His church, Jesus is the church’s true Prophet, Priest and King. His absolute Lordship and occupation as the true Prophet, Priest, and King is seen clearly in Luke 2:8-11
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The Lord Jesus is the Head of the church, and there is no other. In His True Lordship, as the Prophet, Jesus came as Ἐμμανουήλ- Immanuel- meaning God with us, and the Lord is given this name in Matthew 1:23. This Messianic title is from Isiah 7:14, and it means that God has revealed Himself to us as the God-man- θεανθρωπος. Jesus is the light of the world (John 1:4-5), who comes to show us God the Father (John 14:9). As John 1:18 says: No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Christ the Prophet
Christ administers His prophetical office internally when by the His Spirit, gives men knowledge of His 'marvelous light' (1 Peter 2:9). He also does so when He enlightens the heart of men 'to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Corinthians 4:6), which enables them to understand the truth in its very essence, 'as the truth is in Jesus' (Ephesians 4:21), and to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). He causes their hearts to burn within them (Luke 24:32), regenerates them (James 1:18), grants them faith (Ephesians 5:8), sets them free by the truth (John 8:32), and they walk in the truth (3 John 4). When the Lord Jesus teaches the unconverted internally, He does not address Himself differently to them than He does to His church. He does this because He speaks as the God-man, God does not change. The Lord Jesus, therefore, spoke divine revelation, but not new revelation, since He is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, and He told His disciples to teach other disciples the Commands from the Law (Matthew 5:17-20). The Lord Jesus executes the Prophetic office through the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God to all the nations, first in the nation of Israel, which was His primary area of administrating the Kingdom, then from there through His church to the nations. In this, He is the Light of the nations that reveals the truth of God to them, and convicts all mankind of sin (Romans 15:8-28, Isiah 49:1-13).
Christ the Priest
As we just learned that Christ in His Prophetical office spoke from God to man, but now we come to Christ in His Priestly office. A priest is one who represents man before God as seen in Hebrews 5:1, 7-10:
Hebrews 5:1: For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Hebrews 5:7-10: In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
In Hebrews 5:1, it is said that the priest offers gifts and sacrifices for sins. Therefore, in the case of Christ in his Priestly office, and as the representative for His elect Covenant people at the holy altar of the Justice of God, there is a priestly satisfaction made by Him for them. This is what is called propitiation. It is used in Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; I John 2:2; I John 4:10.Propitiation means- a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God on behalf of God’s elect, in bearing the retribution of death for breaking His Law, then removing the legal guilt of sin and cleansing the sinner of that guilt, since no man can work his way to being right with the Lord in any capacity by his own works, as seen in Romans 3:25. To be made right before the Lord, you must turn from your sin and love of self, towards the Lord Jesus in faith alone, trusting in His work of full obedience God’s Law, and dying as a substitutionary sacrifice for you, and raising from the dead to give eternal life to each one who turns from their sin in trustfully submitting of Christ as Lord, just as God commands all men everywhere to do so. If not, you are under God’s wrath for your disobedience to Him, and He has His anger ready to be poured out upon you at the moment you die (Acts 17:30-31).
Christ the King
What does it mean that the Lord Jesus is King? It means that He is Lord and King over all creatures naturally, because He is the eternal Son of God, equal with His Father and Holy Spirit in all things. In this manner, He has a universal Kingdom, which extends over all things in heaven and earth, and even over hell and eternal punishment.
He is the sole Monarch of the whole world; and all the kings, prime-minsters, presidents and governments of the earth are but His vice-governors that rule under Him, and must rule for Him, in establishing God’s Law in all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
His Kingship is over His church, in that He is the Head of the church in having revealed God’s truth her, in being the Mediator between her and God, and providing all her needs to grow in godliness, and protecting her from all evil things, then sending her out to the nations proclaiming the gospel that God has established His Kingdom, and that the nations must repent and labor for the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 5:22-30, Acts 2:33-36, Matthew 28:18-20).
Application
1. Our first application is for those here who have not repented of your disobedience to God, I urge you to turn from your wickedness to obedient trust in His gospel, because you do not know how long the Lord has given you before you die and stand before Him in judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28)
2. Secondly, since Jesus is King you must seek to obey Him in all of God’s Law, because this is pleasing to God that His church obey Him, and it is the duty of the church to obey as Christ is her Head (Ephesians 5:22-27).
3. Christ commands us to disciple the nations, therefore you should be teaching and discipling everyone in whom you are in contact with (Acts 4:31).
4. The Lord must be worshipped by you, so try to spend at least an hour with the Lord in prayer and studying His Word, then also men, you should be discipling your wife and children (Ephesians 5:25-27, 6:4).
Strong and Godly Men
7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
Now, let us look at verse 7, in this verse we see the same command as in verse 6. That is “be strong and courageous”. However, in this verse God adds two words that were not in verse 6; those words are “only” and “very” one is modifying the whole phrase, while the other is modifying the word “courageous”. Those two words make a significant difference in comparison to verse 6.
Only Be Strong and Very Courageous
Many of your translations will say “Only” or “Above all” to begin this verse. The addition of this word to “Be strong and courageous”, strengthens them. As said earlier, the word for be strong is חָזַק- khä·zak'- meaning to strengthen, and it denotes the strength of hand and arm to lay hold of and retain anything within one’s grasp. The word for courageous in our text is אָמַץ- aw-mats'- meaning to be of good courage, steadfast minded, strong, stronger, fortify. Being courageous has a notation of being strong against opposition as in defending a military outpost at all costs, while on the other hand, being strong has the notation of offensive strength in leading a charge against or spearheading an enemy line. Just as before, when God tells Joshua to “only be strong”, the Lord is telling Joshua to be strong to the uppermost level. This strength only comes from the Lord as seen in Ephesians 6:10: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. As Ephesians says the church’s strength is in the Lord; it is not derived from within ourselves. This strength comes from God’s absolute power, as the infinitely powerful God, the Creator of all creation and the Sovereign over all actions in His eternally predestined plan for creation. Secondly, God tells Joshua to be “very courageous”. The Lord adds the word “very”to modify courageous, but also remember that the word “only” at the beginning of our verse is modifying courageous also. Thus, the Lord is commanding Joshua to have the greatest courage. He is commanding Joshua to stand firm and immovable in strenuous situations, and he is commanding Him to face all opposition directly without cowering away from the many military battles, just as he strongly leads them into the land.
The word used here in the Septuagint, or the Greek translation of the Old Testament, means to be to act as a man.
It must be asked, how does a man act as man? This question is being asked by our culture as we speak, and it is also being asked within the church. In our nation today, the meaning of manhood is being attacked by the Feminist Movement, by what is called Critical Theory or Cultural Marxism, and by many worldly philosophies. It is also being attacked within the church by these, but also by what is called egalitarianism. I am not going to define these now, but I urge you to go and study these, and as you do compare them to God’s Word.
The main argument coming from these philosophies is that men should be more feminine in their looks and actions. This is manifested by such things as: transgenderism, sodomy being legalized, countless genders, drag queen, and unisex bathrooms. Regarding the church, this philosophy has brought about in passivity of male leadership in the home through differing to the wife as the leader of the home, also with the false idea of “women pastors”.
It has also brought about many men who wear clothing that is only fit for women, and fashion in general that is feminine. This can be seen as men wearing skintight pants, long hair, and clothing that makes men look small and weak. Lastly, it is seen in men’s engagement with the church, those outside the church, and creation.
Many men today, are timid, scared to hurt peoples’ feelings, and are fragile as an egg when they face opposition. When is the last time that you have boldly proclaimed the truth of God to someone? When is the last time that you hurt a person’s feelings with loving speaking the truth of God’s Word to them? When is the last time that you stood your ground and did not back down despite opposition or threat of losing a job, money, friends, honor amongst a certain crowd, or anything else that you desired?
To answer these questions, I would say that probably not many of you regularly do these. Therefore, God is judging America because the men are weak, and they have given up their leadership to women and children to lead in the church, in the home, and in civil affairs. Let’s read some verses about this judgment, because I am sure this is new to most of you. Isiah chapter 3 talks about this judgment.
4 And I will make boys their princes,
and infants shall rule over them.
5 And the people will oppress one another,
every one his fellow
and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
and the despised to the honorable.
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11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
12 My people—infants are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your guides mislead you
and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
Strong and Courageous Men
The Lord’s command for Joshua to “Only be strong and very courageous” is for you men, since Joshua was the head of Israel, in like manner you men are the head of your homes as seen in Ephesians 5:23, you men are the shepherds of God’s church as seen in 1 Peter 5:1-5, and you men are the God ordained governors of nations, states, cities, and towns as seen in Exodus 18:17-26. God commands men to be strong and courageous, but this strength is not from the man himself, nor is this strength given to do whatever the man wants to do. No, the strength comes from the Lord to accomplish His Kingdom and will on earth as seen in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Since Jesus is the King of the nations, and the world is His Kingdom, we as the subjects of His Kingdom must obey our Lord. The command in these verses is to make disciples of all nations, and this is accomplished by teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded. Discipling the nations is hard work, and it takes strong and courageous men who desire for God to be glorified at the cost of martyrdom, loss of job, loss of friends, or whatever it may be, as you can see in Luke 9:23-27. Our Lord commands us to make disciples, and this only happens from the bold proclamation of God’s Word. Therefore men, you must stop listening to what the world is telling you, and stop listening to what most of Evangelicalism is telling you how to act, because the world is under the judgment of God already, and most of what is called Evangelicalism has gone apostate or they have left true Biblical Christianity. Men, you must study God’s Word so rigorously that your whole life looks like and honors Christ in all you (do, say, and think). You have no other option; it is your obligation as the head of the household to train and instruct your wife and children in the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). It is your obligation to go out and boldly proclaim the gospel in your workplace, to those you meet in town, to the lawless government that we have in both local and national administrations, as seen in (Matthew 10:18-19). It is our obligation to preach the gospel to other religions and cults, as you will see in (Acts 13:14-16).
Application
Now we turn to the application of this Word of God to our lives.
1. First of all, you as men must diligently study and meditate on God’s Word day and night(Psalm 1). If you are one of those who say you don’t like reading, then you best begin now, for how else are you going to obey the Lord to disciple your family and the nations? Studying and meditating on God’s Word is more than just a 15 minute quiet time, at the least you should be spending an hour in the morning reading and praying over Scripture, because any less than that you will not know God’s Word well enough to teach it.
2. Begin preaching the gospel to everyone. If your work tells you that you cannot talk about Jesus, the Bible, or whatever it is pertaining to obeying the Lord, you must obey God rather than man, because if you do not, you are making yourself a god or bowing down to a false god by not obeying the Lord (Jerimiah 10:6-14). The Lord commands us to go and proclaim His gospel and Law in five jurisdictions, and they are
1. God tells us that we should go to religious places of worship of other religions and cults, as Paul went to the synagogues and Areopagus (Acts 14, 17). You and I must begin going to Mosque, Synagogues, Hindu and Buddhist Temples, Jehovah Witness and Mormon places of worship, and other false religious places of worship, to win souls for Christ’s Kingdom.
2. The second place that God commands us to evangelize is in the public square, like with Peter in Jerusalem and Paul in Ephesus (Acts chapters 2 and 20). This evangelism is contra-cultural also, therefore be prepared to face much opposition, hate speech, and possibly persecution (Acts 20:17-24).
3. The third place God tells us to do evangelism is before our civil government officials. God shows that our evangelism here is not only to our local mayors and city councils, however it is to governors, senators, supreme court officials, and kings/presidents/ prime ministers of whole nations that God commands us to proclaim the gospel of His Kingdom to (Acts 24- 28). It is promised in several prophesies of the Old Testament that all kings and nations will worship the Lord (Psalm 2, 22; Isiah 2,11,42; Micah 4:1-4, Daniel 2:44-45, 7:27), and it is our duty as the church, especially as men, to proclaim the gospel of Christ’s Kingdom, as He establishes it among the nations to our governments. It is our duty that we, as the church, demand our government to submit to and establish the Law of God in our nation again, as in the Puritans did. The people of God cannot be passive anymore when it comes to politics. I know that you have heard from many pastors say to not be political, since the church is separate from the state, or whatever reason is said. This notion of not preaching on politics and being apolitical is of recent making from Senator Lyndon Johnson in 1954, when he and the IRS made laws that churches and non-profit organizations could no longer participate in political campaigns. God is political, He is the one who inaugurated civil government in the first place, which He made to establish and enforce His holy and righteous Law, as seen in Romans 13:1-7. Jesus quotes Judicial Case Laws in Mark 7:10 and Matthew 5:21-48, and says that anyone who relaxes from obeying and enforcing the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be least in the Kingdom of heaven, as seen from Matthew 5:19. The Lord Jesus is political, because it was prophesied out of Psalm 2 that the Lord Jesus has the earth as His inheritance, and the kings and rulers of the earth must bow down to worship Him, that is what it means when He says in verse 12 “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled.” In Micah 4:1-4 is another prophesy about Christ as the King of the nations, and He brings the nations to Himself, also His Law and Word go forth as the established Law of God in all nations, as seen below.
1 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
2 and many nations shall come, and say:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore;
4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Therefore, we must call our government to repent, and demand that they establish God’s Law as the Law of the land. We must resist our government who is Atheistic, semi-Communistic, and is unrighteous, and we must preach the gospel to them and tell them to submit to Christ as Lord in their lawmaking and enforcing.
We must go to our local courts and preach God’s Word to them; we must go to our state house, and to our national government and tell them that they must obey God.
4. The fourth place God commands us to share the gospel is house to house (Acts 20:22). It is known that the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do door to door evangelism, but their evangelism preaches a gospel of death, since it is a false gospel. Therefore, as true Christians and as God has commanded in His Word, we must take back this evangelism from the cults and begin doing our rightful duty of door to door evangelism.
5. The fifth and final type of evangelism is familial evangelism (Acts 16:32). This is the evangelism to our families, friends, co-workers, and others where we have much time to spend with them. In familial evangelism you act very hospitable to those whom God has ordained you to be with, but you also proclaim the gospel to them. This evangelism is a little less in your face evangelism than the others, however you still must proclaim the gospel fast in your relationships. Also, another name for this evangelism is hospitality evangelism because what you do is invite your friends and co-workers over to your house and feed them, while also preaching the gospel to them. Another, part of this evangelism is with your children. It is the father’s duty to instruct and discipline his children and wife in the Lord.
3. You men must be holy, just as the Lord commands us in 1 Peter 1:15-17, to be holy means to be set apart to be used by God. The Lord commands everyone to be holy in everything, not just when you are gathered here on the Lord’s Day. To be holy is to be a godly man and being holy means that you do not act as non-Christians do. Your desires must be the desires of God, which is found in His Law. If you do not delight in obeying God’s Law you are either a new Christian who doesn’t know any better, or you are not a Christian, because as seen in Hebrews 8:10 that God put His Laws in our hearts and minds, so that we will please Him.
Careful Obedience to the Law of God
Being careful to do according to all the Law that Moses my servant commanded you.
The Lord commanded Joshua to carefully obey His Law, He is commanding Joshua privately to obey His Law, but also as the shepherd of Israel, Joshua is tasked with making sure all of Israel obeys the Law of God. This Law of God was written in summery as the 10 Commandments. The first four Commands are man’s relation to God, then the last six are man’s relation to other men(Exodus 20: 1-17). In the giving of the Law to Moses, the Law was divided into three parts, and these parts are the Ceremonial Laws, Moral Laws, and in connection with the Moral Laws, there was given Judicial Laws.
As for the Ceremonial Laws they contained several typical ordinances, some of worship, which foreshadowed Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and some holding forth different instructions of moral duties. All of the Ceremonial Laws are now abrogated under the New Testament, since they were fulfilled in Christ’s atoning sacrifice (Daniel 9:27, Ephesians 2:15-16, Colossians 2:14,16-17). Secondly, God gave a system of Judicial Laws, which expired together with the State of that people, this system is no longer obligatory to anyone, however all the Judicial Laws are still obligatory to every nation, except those laws only pertaining to the specific layout of the land that Israel was given by God(Genesis 49:10, 1 Peter 2:13-14, Proverbs 8:15-16, Romans 13:1-7).
The Moral Laws forever bind all, both believers and non-believers, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Christ in the gospel does not in any way remove the Moral Laws, but much strengthen their obligation from mankind to God.
Although true believers are not justified or condemned by the Law as a Covenant of Works, the Law is nevertheless of much use to them and to others. As a rule of life, the Law of God informs them of God’s will and of their obligation to obey it. It also reveals to them the sinful pollution of their nature, hearts, and lives, so that, through examining themselves from according to the Law of God, they may become more convinced of the presence of sin in them, and be made more humble on account of knowing their great sinfulness, and therefore making them hate sin that much more. (Romans 7:12,22,25, Psalm 119:4-6, 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 5.14,16,18-23).
Thus, they gain a better awareness of their need for Christ and for the perfection of His obedience. The prohibition of Christ against sin in the Law are also useful in restraining believers from pursuing the desires of their old nature, prior to them coming to faith in Christ, and the punishments for disobedience to the Law shows them what their sins deserve and what afflictions they may expect for them in this life, even though they have been freed from the curse threatened in the Law. The promises of the Law similarly show them that God approves obedience and that blessings may be expected for obedience, although not as their due retribution from the Law as a Covenant of Works, but as a graceful standard that God has given to all of His church and the nations to live and be governed according to it (Leviticus 26:1-14, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 6:2-3, Psalm 37:11, Matthew 5:5, Psalm 19:11).
Do Not Turn from God’s Law
Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
God now tells Joshua not to turn from His Law to the right or left. What does the Lord mean by this? He means that Joshua was not to be led by his own inclinations, nor lean upon his own understanding, he was not to be seeking to please those under him; instead, he must be regulated in all things by a "thus saith the Lord". As one commentator states: (I quote, "It is the exactness of obedience which constitutes the essence of obedience"). If God’s people do not desire and earnestly strive to obey all of God’s Commands, then they are totally lacking in genuine obedience. Anyone who picks and chooses between which Commands he or she wants to follow is a self-pleaser and not a God-pleaser. This is seen in Deuteronomy 4:2, and also in Mark 7:1-13, so turn with me to Mark 7:6-13
6 And he (Jesus) said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."9And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 11But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)— 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."
As you all can see from these verses, God hates when people disobey His Law, these Pharisees broke the 5th Commandment and a Judicial Case Law from Exodus 21:17, in order for them to make up their own command.
Today in Christianity, there is a great ignorance when it comes to knowing how to live a godly, Christ honoring, and God glorifying life. I would argue that this ignorance, and the great monstrosity we have in the United States as a whole is from lawlessness, since people can almost do whatever they want. As Judges says in Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Proverbs 14:12 says: There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. These verses clearly show the state of what is called Evangelicalism and most definitely the nation as a whole.
Therefore, to fight against this great lawlessness and to honor Christ our King and to advance His Kingdom on earth, we as Christians must seek to obey God’s Law precisely since it is the only righteous standard to live by, and the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit so that we will obey His Laws, as you can see in Ezekiel 36:27.
The Lord told Joshua that if he would obey His Law, that he may have good success wherever he goes. Notice that this deals with Israel conquering the nation of Canaan as their Inheritance. As you all know Israel conquered Canaan.
It must be asked what is the church’s land to conquer? The church’s land to conquer is all of the earth as it is Christ’s Kingdom (Psalm 2). Therefore, as the church, it is our obligation to obey our Lord and His Law, so that we have good success. Jesus commands us as His church to proclaim the gospel, but we are also to teach every nation to obey all the Commands of Christ, which you and I have already seen that Christ teaches God’s Law, you can observe the Lord Jesus commanding this in Matthew 28:20.
Application
1. Yours and my first application must be to seek to know God’s Law so that we can obey our King. Therefore, I urge you to begin studying the Old Testament because it is not just a book of history, but a book a godly man and woman must love as seen in Psalm 19:7-14.
2. Secondly, you must seek to obey the Law of the Lord, remember the Ceremonial Laws are done away with, but the Moral and Civil Laws are the Laws that we are still under obligation to obey, as seen in Romans 13:1-7 and Matthew 5:17-20.
3. Thirdly, you and I must boldly proclaim both the gospel of Christ our King and the Law of God in our families, church, and nation, because when you lose one of those a whole nation becomes lawless, the church is weak, and families are destroyed, our Lord commands for us to do this from the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.
4. Fourthly, for the church to have success, through the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ on earth as in heaven, we must worship the Lord as He commands in His Word, not adding to or subtracting from His Law, because as you saw in Mark 7:1-13, Jesus called this type of worship vain or meaningless worship that God does not accept.
5. Men, you are the head of your house, the church, and government; therefore, you are under covenantal authority to make sure the Law of God is being instructed in all of these jurisdictions of your life, as seen from our text today.
Conclusion
To conclude, we learned that Joshua was a type of Christ because he led Israel into the Promised Land. Secondly, that Christ has led us into the true Promised Land of the salvation and reconciliation back to God. Thirdly, we learned that God commands men to be strong in their godly shepherding of their family, church, and nation. Fourthly, that God commands us as His church and the world as a whole to obey His Law in rightful worship of Him.
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