Joshua 1 | Overcoming the giant of fear
Notes
Transcript
Today we continue with our sermon series: Overcoming Giants: 7 Keys to a life of success and transformation.
The Israelites had to face the fact that were giants in the Promised Land.
The 12 spies saw three giants in Hebron: “Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak” (Num. 13:22,28). These were giant warrior kings.
“Next to them we felt like grasshoppers” (Num. 13:33). We can’t overcome these giants.”
Caleb’s response, “Don’t be afraid of them. God is with us and he will give us the victory.”
Caleb entered the Promised Land and drove out the sons of Anak from Hebron (Josh 15:14).
How big were these giants?
King Og of Bashan. His bed was, are you ready for this?, over 13 1/2 ft long and 6 ft wide (4.5mx2m) (Dt. 3:11)
Og’s name appears often times next to Sihon another king in the Promised Land. You will find their names together in the Psalms where God is praised for defeating these two mighty kings (Ps 135:11; 136:19-20).
These two kings were gateways into the Promised Land; Og for sure is a giant, but it is likely that Sihon was a giant as well (Amos 2:9-11). God defeated them both. (*these two victories took place under Moses. )
The lesson, if God can defeat Og, then he can defeat any giant that gets in the way of God’s people on their path of trust and obedience (Dt. 31:4).
We too will have to face giants. Giants who want to get in the way of you experiencing God’s power and transformation.
Our passage today begins by telling us that God spoke to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.” (v.2)
What a great loss!
Now God comes to Joshua saying, “You’ll be the succeeding Moses and leading the Israelites into the Promised Land.”
Before he can take the Israelites into the Promised Land, Joshua is going to have to face and overcome a giant called fear.
Joshua 1:9 “9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
*Top verse in YouVersion Bible year after year.
Geographical Context
Geographical Context
[slide MAP] The Old Testament World
[slide MAP] The Setting of Joshua
*These are real people who lived in real places
Imagine Joshua in Shittim. Perhaps he is alone pondering so many questions.
Then God comes and speaks to Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” ()Josh 1:2)
Joshua finds himself in a place called Shittim. God wants him to move from Shittim into the Promised Land. But between Shittim and the Promised are challenges, trials and many unkowns.
Two options: Move forward or turn back.
Main idea: The giant of fear seeks to move you away from actively trusting in God & lose out on experiencing God’s transforming power for my life.
Blake Glosson put it this way:
“If we don’t take our thoughts captive, they will take us captive. And that’s exactly what the enemy wants. He wants you to be ruled by your worry and taken captive by your fears. Satan wants to double-dip. He wants you to live in despair while you’re in trials and live in dread while you’re not. As long as he can keep you in dread or despair, he can keep you from joy.” Blake Glosson
[slide] The giant of fear
[slide] The giant of fear
Wants you to believe that you are alone
“Moses my servant is dead.” This was Joshua’s precious mentor and a father-like figure:
Moses selected Joshua to lead an army against Amalek (Ex. 17:8-10)
Moses mentored Joshua (Ex. 17:14; Num. 11:28-29)
Joshua accompanied Moses up to Mount Sinai (Ex 24:13).
Joshua would be near the Tent of Meeting where God would speak to Moses face to face (Ex. 33:11)
Selected as one of the 12 spies (Num. 13:8)
Commissioned by God to succeed Moses (Num. 27:18-19)
We too will lose key people in our lives (move away or die).
Seeks to paralyze you on your faith walk
God spoke to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan into the Promised Land.”
God wants for Joshua to arise. That is, to walk by faith and believe what God has promised (i.e. The gift of the Land)
The enemy doesn’t care if you on the edge of the Promised Land. The enemy doesn’t care if you if you have good intentions and plans to go into the Promised Land. But the enemy fears when a follower of Jesus arises and begins to walk by faith in obedience to God.
Wants you to throw away your confidence in God and retreat
God promises Joshua in v.3, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.”
The enemy of fear seeks to paralyze you on your faith walk so that at best, he will hold you back in Shittim and at worst make you return all the way to Egypt where you’ll be a slave to fear.
Wants you to believe that you’ll never measure up
God promised Joshua, No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
Deuteronomy 34 summarizes the life of Moses in this way, “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. The Lord sent him to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, and all his servants, and his entire land. With mighty power, Moses performed terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel.” (Dt. 34:10-12)
The giant of fear wants you to look within. God wants you to look to him.
Here’s the amazing truth: Moses is dead, but God’s promises live on!
In other words, it’s not about you. It’s about him. It’s not about your glory, It’s about his glory.
“Oftentimes, God teaches us important lessons through our failures and disappointments in order to keep us dependent on Him.” (Kevin Struyk)
Wants you to fear the future: What if?
Joshua has many valid reasons to be afraid of the future
What if people start comparing me to Moses?
What if people don’t accept my leadership?
What if we don’t win the next battle?
What if there is a problem and I don’t have the answer?
The only promise given to Joshua is, “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”
Seeks to bring you down through fear and discouragement
V.9 speaks of being afraid and discouraged.
Fear says wants you live in dread of the future. Discouragement wants you to remain stuck in the present.
“What is the point?”
[slide] How to overcome the giant of fear:
[slide] How to overcome the giant of fear:
In our passage, God repeats to Joshua three times, “Be strong and courageous.”
Be strong and courageous by finding strength in God’s presence
Joshua 1:5–6 “5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”
You can see a connection between being strong and courageous and the presence of God:
I’ll be with you
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
This is not the first time that Joshua has heard these words: “7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”” (Dt. 31:7-8)
What a wonderful promise! We have also being given these same promises of God’s presence for our lives:
Matthew 28:18–20 “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Hebrews 13:5–6 “5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?””
Fear says wants you live in dread of the future. Discouragement wants you to remain stuck in the present. Find strength in God’s presence.
Application: Prayer
Be strong and courageous by treasuring and obeying God’s word
Let’s look at the second time God told Joshua to be strong and courageous.
Joshua 1:7–8 “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. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Look at that. These two verses speaks of:
Good success (2x)
Prosperity
I'm not afraid of failure; I'm afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter. (William Carey)
God wants you to experience success and prosperity.
“You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.” (Inigo Montoya)
Notice how verses 7 & 8 have nothing to say about military strategy even though Joshua is going to be facing many military battles ahead.
The key to Joshua’s success was directly related to the degree of his obedience to God’s Word.
Joshua is simply commanded to “being careful to do according to all the Law.”
Being careful: “to keep, to observe”
To do: “to obey”
One commentator observes that the pair of words to be careful & to obey, “are used as a word pair forty times in the OT, almost always with a reference to keeping and obeying God’s words or commands.”
Our focus for 2024 ought to be to love God deeper, to keep his Word faithfully and to grow in holiness.
The result is that his way would prosper and be successful.
This is not the only place where this command occurs: 1 Chronicles 22:11–13 “11 “Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12 Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.”
In the Bible, success is equated with with trusting and obeying God’s Word. (Psalm 1)
Believing God’s promises & obeying God’s commands are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are the two doorposts into a life of success.
The same, it can safely be said, would be the case today: the keys to success in life lie in being intensely focused upon God and in consistent faithfulness to him and his revealed word. (David Howard)
John 15:7–10 “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
We do this by treasuring and obeying God’s Word.
Application: Spend time in God’s Word
Be strong and courageous by turning your eyes on Jesus
Joshua 1:9 “9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Giants are big, but God is bigger.
God speaks to Joshua, I want you to set your eyes on me.
This is what King David discovered in Psalm 27. He was surrounded by an enemy army. He asks God one thing. One thing.
Psalm 27:4–5 “4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”
Conclusion:
The giant of fear seeks to move you away from actively trusting in God & lose out on experiencing God’s transforming power for my life. Jesus is the mighty deliverer who fights for his people.
Joshua means, “the Lord saves.”
Later another Joshua is going to come along. His name is Yeshua which means, “salvation.” In English we call him, Jesus.
Matthew 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””
Jesus is the ultimate Joshua brings salvation and deliverance.
Hebrews 2:14–15 “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
Hebrews 4:8–11 “8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
ADVERTISEMENT