Joshua Studies Ch 1_1-9

In this transcription, the speaker discusses various ideas related to being a servant of the Lord. They mention that serving God is a joy and a choice, and that it involves serving others and being willing to do small tasks. They also emphasize the importance of submitting to authority and being a refreshing presence to one's master. Overall, the speaker encourages listeners to strive to be servants of the Lord and to find joy in serving Him. John chapter 10 and verse number 10. I told you I was looking right at it. John chapter 10 verse number 10, The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Of course, the abundant life. And so he wants us to have the abundant life, and he gives it to us, but our refusal or inability to take it is based on us, not on his ability to give it. He says in verse number 4, Joshua 1, 4, From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. You know, we have those same promises in Hebrews chapter 13. It says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. We have the same promises, you know, again, rightly dividing the scripture. When I say we have the same promises, we have, you know, we're not, we're different. The church is different than Israel. You have to realize that, and I'm sure we've made that clear. But I mean the same promises that we can find promises just like this in the book of, in the New Testament, and therefore we can claim these promises, that he will not leave us, nor forsake us, that his power will always be with us. He will always guide us. He will protect us. He says, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Sixth says, be strong and of a good courage. And of course, in Ephesians chapter number 6, I was going to say Ephesians chapter number 16, but it's not. It's Ephesians chapter number 6, and the armor of the Lord. Ephesians chapter 6 says this, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And so that's where our strength is. Our strength is in the Lord. Joshua's strength is given to him from the Lord. Joshua's charge from Moses said, hey, the Lord's going to be with you, as he was with me. The children of Israel backed it up, and they wanted to see it. They're backing him up, and so that's what is happening. So he tells us in Ephesians 6, 6, to put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And again, it's being strong in the Lord, not being strong in our own might. So verse number 6 of Joshua chapter 1, verse number 6, says, Be strong and of a good courage. For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers, to give them. We're going to look at the attributes of a servant of the Lord in a minute, but if you remember, Joshua has an opportunity to work for the Lord, to give to the children of Israel. Amen. Now it says, verse 7, Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1, 8, and 9, two great verses, and it talks about the success, having success. Now watch this, this book of the law, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage? Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God, He is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Now in these verses, this is the first time this challenge is given to man. Now we can have courage because of God's promises. We can have power because it's God's power, and we can have faith because of God's presence. And so in wrestling with feelings of fear and discouragement, it's not for us to do because we have God's presence. Remember, presence, because Joshua and Caleb, just 40 years earlier, they trusted God. They knew what they should do. No man before Joshua has received orders from God to regulate his conduct by the words of a book. Now Job, of course, is the first book ever written. And in Job he said, I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food. I think that's Job chapter 22. I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food. But he didn't have the written words. He didn't have the written words. He had the stories that were given by Adam and passed down. He may have had a vision or a dream where the Lord spoke to him, as the Lord did in sundry times and in divers manners, spake unto the prophets, Hebrews chapter number 1. And so he spake in different ways at different times, but he didn't have a book. Look at Exodus chapter number 17, Exodus chapter 17 and verse number 14 says this, Exodus 17, 14, And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. So the things that were written, they were commanded by God. Moses wrote them down at the commandment of God, holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 1 Peter chapter number 1. And so this book was written. And then from here on in, you're going to see kings and servants of God, they were commanded to follow the words of the law. They were commanded to follow the words of the book. They were commanded to follow God's words that were written, and that's where we're at today. We are commanded to study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It also says that the Scripture, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. That's what is right for reproof, what is not right for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, how to get right, and for instruction in righteousness, how to stay right. And so the book that's in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, then it says that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. And so if we take the book of this book, the Bible, and we use it for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction, and for correction, and instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy chapter 3, if we use it for those four things as we're commanded, then we too can be successful. Now notice something else that he says here in verse number 8. He says that thou shalt meditate therein day and night. And we don't hear many people talking about meditation nowadays, meditation in the word, meditation on the words of God, but meditation is not optional as far as God's word says, as far as God says it's not an optional thing. As a matter of fact, it's a mandatory that we meditate in the word. And that's where we should be meditating. It's in the word. We meditate on so many different things, and we muse, and we think on things. However, we're supposed to meditate. Now, Joshua is commanded to meditate on the word. Psalm chapter number 1, if you turn to Psalm chapter number 1, this is a great psalm for the upright man, contrasting the upright man with the wicked man. Psalm chapter number 1, as soon as I get there, Psalm chapter number 1, contrasting the upright man with the wicked man. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And so that's what we are commanded to do, the Bible says in Psalm chapter 5, give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Paul said in Philippians chapter number 4, he said to think on these things. Philippians chapter number 4, what are those things that Paul said to think on? He said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. So he tells us to think, meditation is thinking, meditation is taking time to ponder things. It's taking time to ponder things. You know, sometimes I'll be laying, just like it says in the book of Psalms, it says, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. And so you can meditate anywhere, in fact, it's good to relax and to meditate and just to think about God, about his person, about the word of God, and God commands us to do that. So meditation is commanded and it's important. So go back to Joshua chapter number 1, and we're talking about the words of the law. So he is given, Joshua is given these instructions by the Lord. And Joshua chapter number 1, verses 1 through 9, deals with the Lord commanding Joshua, deals with the servant of the Lord. Joshua chapter number 1, verses 10 through 15, deals with Joshua instructing the children of Israel. And then in Joshua chapter number 1, verses 16 through 18, has the response from the children of Israel. So in this first section, it talks about a servant of the Lord. Now the first time the servant of the Lord, and let me say it like this, the only time the servant of the Lord is mentioned, it's about Joshua and Moses. And it shows up first about Moses in Deuteronomy chapter number 34 and verse number 5. Deuteronomy chapter 34 and verse number 5, and the Bible says, if I can get there, Deuteronomy 34 and 5, So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. So the Lord said he was going to die, and he died, it was time for him to die. And this is the first time the servant of the Lord, and when I say the servant of the Lord, I mean the exact phrase, the servant of the Lord shows up. And Joshua is the one that wrote it about Moses. Of course, we know that Joshua, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, when they wrote, when the writers of Scripture wrote, they were instructed by the Holy Spirit what to write. So we believe that Joshua was most likely the writer of the latter part here of Deuteronomy. Now Joshua obviously had a great deal of respect for Moses. He was his minister, his servant for 40 years. He stayed under him for 40 years. And we're going to see that that's a good attribute of a servant is to be submissive to your masters. And Joshua certainly was, and he had a great deal of respect for Moses. As a matter of fact, Joshua writes that Moses, the servant of the Lord, he writes about Moses with that phrase, the servant of the Lord, 14 times in the book of Joshua. And now also, what a testimony that Joshua looked at Moses as a servant of the Lord. Now God didn't use Joshua simply as a dictating machine. No, he used his experiences and he used who he was, just like with the four gospel accounts. He used the gospel writers in their descriptions of Christ to be able to communicate what he wanted to say. And so the same is true about God using Joshua to give us this book to talk about Moses. And so Joshua, no doubt, had a great respect and reverence for Moses, the servant of the Lord. But notice this also, if you go to Deuteronomy, or no, Joshua chapter 24, look at Joshua chapter 24. I found this interesting today when I saw this. Look at it, and now the only two times that these are mentioned, the servant of the Lord, specifically the servant of the Lord, is with Joshua and Moses. And in here, Joshua chapter 24, look at verse number 29, Joshua 24, 29, And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old. Isn't that interesting? The only other person besides Moses that's mentioned the servant of the Lord, somebody came behind, and I don't have a note here who exactly wrote this latter part right here. I don't remember who it was. But anyhow, they wrote that Joshua also was a servant of the Lord. Three other times in Judges chapter number 2, Judges chapter number 2, Joshua again is called the servant of the Lord. And so, another opportunity for Joshua and Moses to be considered the servant of the Lord. Three more times, just for the sake of giving you all the numbers, in 2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 1, and 2 Chronicles 24, Moses is referred to as the servant of the Lord. Now, the only other time that the phrase the servant of the Lord is mentioned, it's in the New Testament. It's in the New Testament and Paul writes it. And it's in 2 Timothy chapter number 2, where Paul says, And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. So there's a lot of great things. What greater words could be used to describe our actions and our attitude? God help us to be servants of the Lord. And so we need heroes. And wouldn't it be good that our heroes were servants of the Lord? I think that it is. I think that in my life I have servants and people that I've known, people that I've read about. Maybe, like I've seen the movie Sheffy, that's about Robert Sheffy, a circuit riding preacher in the 1800s in the Appalachian Mountains. And he was a circuit riding preacher. And it's from Bob Jones University. It's called Sheffy, the movie. And he just wanted to be known as a servant of the Lord. That's what he is. And that's all he was. He was happy to be known as a servant of the Lord. And would to God that my testimony would be that I was a servant of the Lord. You know, and would to God that our desire would be to be servants of the Lord. I've got a few things I want to say about servants, servants of the Lord. I want to give you a few scriptures, just a few attributes about servants of the Lord. I'll give you a few attributes. I've got nine of them written down. I'll just give them to you and I'll read a verse or two for each one that I give you here. Number one, the servant of the Lord finds it a joy to serve. In other words, it's not, for my commandments are not grievous, Jesus said. And so as a servant of the Lord, it's not, he's not a hard task master. Psalm chapter 40, verse number 8 says, I delight to do thy will. I delight to do thy will. So number one, the servant of the Lord finds it a joy to serve. It's not a hardship. It's not a hardship to serve. Number two, number two, it's a choice. He has chosen to serve. A servant of the Lord has chosen, just like Joshua in chapter 24, verse 15, he says, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods on this side of the flood, which your fathers served, the Amorites, and I'm misquoting it, I know. But he said, choose you this day whom ye will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's Joshua 24, verse 15. So serving the Lord, a servant of the Lord makes a choice. He has chosen to serve the Lord. Matthew 24 says, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now listen, and we run into this problem a lot in our Christian life. You know, we have to take care of our family, do we not? As a matter of fact, men, if we're not taking care of our families, the Bible says, Paul said that we're worse than an infidel. Paul said also that if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. So the servant of the Lord is not someone who's lazy. Paul was a tent maker, and I'm glad to be counted in Paul's trade as I was a carpenter. He might have been a tent maker. Jesus was a carpenter. I worked in construction for a long time. I worked in roofing for a long time. And, you know, we have to choose what are we going to serve. Are we going to serve mammon, or are we going to serve? And mammon is not just the riches of this world, but also the possessions of this world. So a servant has to choose what he's going to work for, what he's going to labor for. And we'll mention that also. We'll get to that in just a minute also. So it's important to choose to be a servant of the Lord. God can bless you. God can bless you financially if you decide to serve him. He can bless you financially, provide for your family. There are many servants who are serving God and are blessed by the ministry that they partake in. But a servant has to make up his mind to serve the Lord. Number three, the servant of the Lord understands service to God means serving others. He understands that serving God means serving others. Galatians chapter 5 says, For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. In other words, we can, listen, I've talked about it before in our services that we have liberty in Christ, but our liberty in Christ should be governed by our ability to serve others and to help others and not to hurt others. Number five, no, number four, number four is willing to do the small things. Willing to do the small things, it says that servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fear in God. Me and my wife, when we first got together, I remember at our church, they had a list to cling to church. We signed up as one of the, it was a rotating list that you take it for a month. And we were one of the ones that cling to church. You know, it's not a glorious job. We just did it because it was necessary. It's a small thing. You know, choosing to serve the Lord doesn't mean glamorous or glamour or the bright lights. It could just mean working in obscurity and just serving God and just being willing to do the small things. Jesus said this, and we'll see this again in another instance. It says his Lord said unto him in Matthew 25, well done, good and faithful service. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Number five, he submits to authority. He submits to authority. Moses, think about Joshua, 40 years he served under Moses. During that time, you know, there were uprisings where Nathan, Abirah, Korah, they all rose up and tried to go against Moses and Aaron. You don't hear anything about Joshua doing that. You know, Joshua was a servant to Moses, and you know, it would be normal, just like Satan, pride would well up and there he would be, and Joshua would have welled up and would have swollen up and would have wanted some success or some recognition, but he didn't. Forty years he served. And so he submits to authority, and notice what it says in Ephesians 6 and 5. It says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh. You know, sometimes it is difficult to serve according to the flesh. In other words, those who have charge over us according to the flesh. Now it says, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. So we're supposed to serve whomever has authority over us as we are serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not to say we put service to man above God, because Peter, in Acts chapter number 5, it says, then Peter and the other apostles answered, we ought to obey God rather than men. So as long as it's within the confines of not disobeying God's word, God's laws, God's precepts and principles, then we ought to obey man. So the servant of the Lord, number one, finds it a joy to serve. He has chosen to serve. He understands service to God means serving others. Number four, he's willing to do the small things. Number five, he submits to all authority as it is submitting unto Christ. Number six, it's a refreshing to his master. He wants to be a refreshing to his master. In other words, our desire as a servant of the Lord would be simply to please the Lord, to be a refreshing. Peter, chapter 25, says, as the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him, for he refresheth the soul of his masters. And so it should be the desire of a servant to be a refreshing to his master, to please his master. You know, when it comes to people doing things or to being a servant, you know, today in our society, you don't find a lot of good service when you go out anywhere, do you? I mean, the servants, whether they're in restaurants, they're in stores. As a matter of fact, when you come across somebody who's kind to you, who is respectful to you, whether in a hardware store or a fast food restaurant, isn't it distinguishable? Don't you realize that? And even on major purchases, when you go to someone and you make a major purchase, you can tell that some of these people who are trying to sell you these things and they want you to make a major investment to spend with a lot of your money, they're not kind. You can tell they're only doing it for the job. And it's noticeable when somebody is willing to be a refreshing. And those people who serve us, we would be considered their masters, and we're considered servants to other people in those kind of situations. And therefore, that's the way we should be. So as Colton, here's another verse, exhorts servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again. In other words, don't talk back. That's Titus chapter 2, verse number 9, don't talk back to your master. Don't give lip. And so we should be a refreshing to our master, not a burden. And so that's the way we should be. Number 7, the servant of the Lord is ready to serve. You know, that's a real simple one, but it's a true one. Being ready to serve, being available is the important word here, being ready to serve. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, we talked about this on Sunday, about being a vessel. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 21, If a man therefore purge himself of these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meat for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. We need to be prepared and ready to serve the Lord. We need to be ready, just like about questions, answering about the Lord. First Peter says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. We should be ready at all times to testify, to give the answers that we have in our hearts. We should be ready. We should be ready at all times to speak for the Lord. Excuse me, Paul said this in Romans 1, he said, So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. You know, someone said that if you're a Christian, well, if you're a preacher, you should be ready to preach, pray, and die. Well, Christians, every Christian should be ready to preach, pray, and die. Of course, the preaching would not be the same as a pastor or a pulpit preacher, or those kind of things, but ladies, everybody should be ready to preach the gospel and to pray and to die. Around my house, I'm just being honest, I call on my wife a lot of times, almost exclusively, and she prays for us. When I'm praying with her, I ask her, Sister, go ahead and pray. And she prays for our food all the time. She's done it for years. And she's ready to pray, and I'm thankful that my wife is a prayerer. And I know that my wife's prayers are making it to the ears of God. And so we should be ready to preach, pray, and die. We should all, as servants, be ready to serve the Lord. Number eight, he magnifies, the servant of the Lord magnifies his master. John the Baptist said it like this, he must increase, but I must decrease, John chapter number three. Matthew, in John chapter five, Matthew writes Jesus saying this, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. First Corinthians says, for you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. And so the purpose would be to magnify our master. The purpose of a servant would be to magnify our master. And in order to do that, again, we have to be ready. We have to be ready because we don't know at what moment we might be called upon to magnify our master. Paul said it like this, he said, ye are ambassadors. Second Corinthians chapter number five, I want to go over there and look at that and read it for you. Second Corinthians chapter five, and again, we're talking about servants of God. We're talking about being a servant of the Lord. And Paul says it like this, now, verse number 20, Second Corinthians 520, now then we as ambassadors, we are ambassadors of Christ as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. An ambassador is one who represents his country. We look for a country whose builder and maker is God, right? We look for that heavenly country. We're representatives of that heavenly country. Therefore, we should be representing him whether we're at work or we're in the grocery store. We should be representing the Lord. So we should magnify our master. Lastly, the last one that I want to look at this evening is this one that he accepts burdens as opportunities. He accepts burdens as opportunities. Number four, I told you that he's willing to do the small things, but he accepts. And then number three, that's the one I wanted to give you. Number three, remember, he understands that service to God means serving others. So in number nine, the last one we're going to look at, nine being the number of fruit, he accepts burdens as opportunities. He accepts burdens as opportunities. Not only the burdens of others, but the burdens that he himself goes through. You know, every time that I talk with somebody who's going through something, and it's easy when you're on the other side of it, and when you're on the other side trying to help somebody, I always give them this verse in 2 Corinthians chapter number one, verse number three and four, says this, 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse three and four, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, watch it, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. So what we go through, we accept the burden as opportunities. To be a servant of the Lord, we need to accept the burdens as opportunities to serve the Lord. Instead of them being so hard for us to handle, Galatians chapter six says, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. And so, if you dig yourself out of troubles, you're going to be able to help other people get out of their troubles. And so, bear ye one another's burdens is Galatians chapter number six. Don't be prideful over what somebody else is struggling over, because Galatians, Paul said it, he said like this, Lest thou also be tempted. He said Galatians chapter number six, verse number one, He said, If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, and restore such in one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us in Matthew chapter number ten? He says, Come, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And Matthew chapter number ten, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. So, just to recap tonight's message here, we were talking about Moses being a servant of the Lord. The work of God continuing, even though one servant is dead, God raises up another servant. That servant has been in training. We can rely on the promises that God gives to us. In fact, we can do, we have more, we can claim more ground. We are only limited by our own selves and our inability to accept what God would have to give us. And so, that's where we're at. So, the will of God is that we would serve him. And then we talked about this thing about being a servant, about being a servant, and the nine things that identify a servant of the Lord. And let me repeat them and we'll be done. He finds it a joy to serve. He makes a choice to serve. Understand that being a servant to God, service to God, means serving others. Number four is willing to do the small things. Number five submits to all authority. Number six is a refreshing to his master or to those whom he serves. Number seven, he is ready to serve. Number eight, he magnifies his master, and number nine, accepts burdens as opportunities. Now, I hope you found something here in the book of Joshua, chapter number one, verses one through nine. That would be a blessing to you. I hope you enjoyed our time together this evening, and we pray that you would be blessed in your service for God. I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday as we gather at, I was going to say at the Lord's house, but it's going to be Miss Kathy's house, and we do, of course, ask God's blessing, bring a benediction and ask God's blessing upon her home as we're there, that God would meet with us there. And so we do claim it as a place where God will meet with us, and we're thankful for it. We certainly want to thank Miss Kathy for providing that place for us. So let's pray. Let's be dismissed. Thank you for listening. I hope you got a blessing. Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus for everything that we were able to study tonight out of the Scripture. We pray your blessing, that it would be a blessing to those who hear it. May we be able to share it with someone, Lord, and we just pray these things in Christ's name for his sake. Amen and amen.