JOSHUA: GOD IS SALVATION (part 3)

PRECIOUS PROMISES
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4).

God was faithful to encourage Joshua with some very specific promises before he ever entered Canaan.  These promises were more important than all of the armaments that he carried with him to fight the enemies that he would face.  They were part of the spiritual armor that would protect Joshua when fear or indecision would plague him along the way. 

God has also given us great and precious promises so that we, too, can wage a good warfare, and fight a good fight.  God is not vague about what He promises us, but He speaks very specifically to our individual needs and our personal battles.  As we seek to know and do His will, the Lord will speak intimately to us through His Word, the manna from heaven.  His Word is always timely as well, and it will always accomplish that for which it is sent. 

The purpose of God’s promises is always the same: it is so we can be “partakers of the divine nature.”  This has always been our Father’s desire from the beginning.  After all, He created man in His own image from the start.  When man tarnished that image by his own sin and disobedience, it has been the Father’s purpose to restore that image ever since.  God fulfilled that purpose when He sent His only Son to earth.  He was the express image of God and the brightness of His glory (Hebrews 1:3), and through the Son Jesus Christ man can be transformed into the image of God.  “For in Him [Jesus] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  And ye are complete in Him [Jesus], which is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:9, 10). 

No, we don’t become like God overnight or all at once.  It is a process, just like the conquest of Canaan was a process that played out over many years; but as we cling to God’s promises to us and follow His leading by faith, we will find that our nature will be changed little by little into His glorious image by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.  The point is that God expects us to grow up and He expects us to possess the land.  To do this we cannot depend on the works of the law, we must rely on faith in the grace of God.  Our own willpower is useless.  We must let God have control!

Just months into my own Christian walk, the Holy Spirit began to make me uncomfortable about my cigarette habit.  I was then smoking between 1 ½ and 2 packs a day, and I knew it was unhealthy for me.  It was also  a poor witness both to those I worshipped with and those I might wish to share the Lord with.  I realized that it was an addiction, but felt I had the right motivation and attitude to quit.  One day I crumpled up my partially used pack of smokes and threw them away telling my wife that I was done with them and would need them no more.  My resolve and my conviction were both solid, and I felt good about my decision.  After about a day without cigarettes I began to feel edgy, and the desire for a smoke was overwhelming.  I tried to resist the temptation; but the more I resisted, the more I felt the need to smoke.  I soon found myself purchasing a pack and lighting up one.  After finishing that first one I felt so guilty and backslidden that I crumpled up the rest of the pack and threw them away.  I told myself that I must not have really meant it the first time, but this time I was really determined.  I carefully repented before the Lord and told Him how sorry I was for being so weak.  I felt good again (but not quite as good as the first time).  It was not as long as the first time before I had bought another pack and was puffing away again!  By now I began to realize that I had bitten off more than I could chew, and I decided to back off trying to quit while I assessed what was going on with me.  It wasn’t until a few days later when the Lord began to deal with me that I found my answer.  He reminded me of how He delivered me from so many things when I was first saved, and how that I did not need to exert any effort for that to happen.  I simply believed that He had forgiven my sins and that I was now free because of the grace and strength of my Savior Jesus Christ.  Right then and there I put out the cigarette that I was smoking and began to pray.  I said something like, “God forgive me for presuming that I can save myself, and that I had the power to change anything about myself.  I give this habit to you and ask that you deliver me once and for all in Jesus’ name.”  I have never felt an urge to smoke since that day, and it has been 49 years ago! 

You see the Lord was teaching me a valuable lesson.  He wanted me to realize right at the start of my journey with Him that His promises are effectual to those who believe, and that we can do nothing without Him; but on the other hand, we can do all things through Christ.  Jesus said, “I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19).  Jesus set the example for us to follow.  He wanted to be like His heavenly Father, so He carefully patterned His every action and word according to what He saw of the Father.  This is what we are to do: carefully pattern our every action and word according to the example we see in Jesus Christ. 

There is a great passage in Romans 8:3, 4 where the Apostle Paul writes, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Just as Joshua was anointed by God to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land and conquer all their enemies, God has anointed His beloved Son to lead His present day children into victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.  The law can’t save us, but a Savior can!

EVERY PLACE YOUR FOOT SHALL TREAD

Even before the first battle was fought, God told Joshua, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses."  (Joshua 1:3)  All that was required of Joshua was to move forward as the Lord directed him.  Every place his foot touched down would be his.  The only thing that could stop him would be his own fear of proceeding.  As long as he had faith to believe God's word, he would continue to advance, and God would continue to lay his enemies down before him.  This promise is ours to claim as well.  God has called us to overcome this carnal nature that leads us into sin.  It is not His will to merely stamp us with a label that says "SAVED" and let us continue to be the same as we were before we said "yes" to Him.  St. John tells us, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Jesus] is pure." (1 John 3:3).  We have enemies in our flesh to defeat!  Anger, lying, lust, unkindness, bigotry, hatred...the list goes on and on.  It is only through the promises of God that we can be transformed into the image of Jesus and  be able to overcome all these foes so that we can really become a holy people.  "For whom He [God] did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29).  "…ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." (Colossians 3:9,10).

God spelled out the scope of His promise to Joshua when He defined the borders of the Promised Land to him.  In so doing God left no doubt about what He intended.  He said, "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."  (Joshua 1:4)  God is not shy about revealing His intent to us either.  He intends to take back all of the territory that Satan usurped when he rebelled against God and deceived man into transgressing God's command.  How far can we go in God?  What are the boundaries of God's promises to us?  He said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48).  He said, "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15, 16).  David tells us in Psalm 8 that God has put all things under man’s feet.  Paul quotes this verse in Hebrews 2 and expands on it somewhat, “Thou [God] hast put all things in subjection under his [man’s] feet.  For in that He [God] put all in subjection under him [man], He left nothing that is not put under him.” (Hebrews 2:8).  The scope of God’s promises to us is staggering!  All that is necessary for us to do is believe and step forward.  God has already given us the land – we merely need to walk in and claim it.  Every place that the sole of our foot shall tread will be ours!  This would be impossible if we were warring in the flesh, but our warfare is not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds!

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.  Through faith we can begin to understand and appropriate all that is ours in Christ.  “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”  (Eph. 3:17-19).  Faith encourages us to reach up, press in, and move forward.  The boundaries of this blessed Promised Land, though finite, suddenly seem boundless; and the limits that we have placed on ourselves seem limitless.  Remember that Israel never did quite take all of the land that God had promised them: not because it wasn’t theirs to take, but because they defiled themselves with idols and quit trusting God as their salvation. 

THE FEAR OF MAN

There was more that God told Joshua to encourage him in the work that he was about to embark on.  God said, "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."  (Joshua 1:5)  The fear of man is a dreadful snare.  Joshua was about to face many men who would wish him ill.  He would face kings, warriors, and even giants in his quest to capture the Promised Land; but God told him that not one of them would be able to stand against him as long as he followed God's commands.  In the same way that God blessed and was with Moses, He promised to bless and be with Joshua.  God said He would never forsake His servant Joshua. 

We can fall prey to the fear of man also.  There will be many that we encounter who will be forceful or compelling with their views and opinions; but if they are not pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ and challenging us to be all that God intends for us to be, they are enemies of our soul.  We need not fear such “prophets.”  Whether they are kings, warriors, or giants, they cannot stand in our way!

THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BE WITH YOU

Finally, God spoke to Joshua and said, "... for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9).  How much more can we ask for?  If God be for us, who can be against us?  He has great plans for His people!  God spoke to the Israelites through the mouth of His prophet Jeremiah and said, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you.” (Jeremiah 29:11, 12).  Jesus one day got into a ship with His disciples to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  While they were crossing the Lake, a terrible storm came up, and the waves began to fill the ship.  The disciples were very afraid and went to find Jesus for help.  He was in the back of the ship sound asleep, and they wakened Him saying, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38).  Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and spoke peace to the waves saying, “Peace, be still,” but then said to His disciples, “Why are ye so fearful?  How is it that ye have no faith?” (vs. 39, 40).  Even after all they had seen and heard of Jesus, His disciples still expected the worse instead of trusting in their Father’s tender care.  We are no different.  We are too quick to doubt God’s love when life takes an unexpected turn.  God’s promise to Joshua is our promise too.  He will be with us wherever we go and through whatever we experience in life.  Jesus said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  We can believe Him.  We can rest in His Word.  David said in the Psalms, “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot.  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” (Psalms 16:5, 6).