A Time of Change

A Season of Transition

It's the children—the young people of those that rebelled against God—that are entering into the Promised Land. So when you read the story, realize that those who rebelled (and this is the reason they wandered in the desert) died off, and it's their children that are going into the Promised Land. But it's a change, it's a huge change, because here you have Moses, bigger than life, who had been leading the people all these years, and now all of a sudden you have a leadership change.

You know, we don't like change as people. We like everything to be calm and normal. And you know, change doesn't mean bad. Sometimes you say, "Well, there's a change coming up, oh no, what's going to happen wrong?" Nothing's wrong. What if all of a sudden you had too much money? That's a change. That's a problem, but we somehow would be okay with that. So change doesn't always mean a problem, but it means there's going to be adjustments that have to be made. It means there's going to be new direction, new things going on.

And it's kind of like how we are in a church. In a sense, since I've been here since 2011, we've been going through a particular thing: remodeling, getting the church ready, and now it's kind of like we're ready for the next stage, the next phase. There's a change in leadership, and we're going to be going in a particular direction. So read this with kind of that in mind: Moses has died, there's new leadership, and there's going to be a new direction. Now they're not going to wander; they're going to take possession of the Promised Land.

You see, up until this point, for 400 and something years, they've been living on the promise. Actually, a little longer than that, they've been living on the promise. But what is it going to be now? Now it's the fulfillment of the promise. So now it's something new: they're going to be going into their own land, the land that God has given them.

And by the way, when you try and you look at current events and you hear about Palestinians and you hear about, "Well, this was our land" and this and that, realize, as I said in the beginning, this was written 3,400 years ago. Palestine and Palestinian people did not exist at this point. You know, we have the oldest recorded history of humankind, and it's right here. And sometimes we forget that. There's no people with an older recorded history than the people of the Bible. That's you and I. It began with the Jewish nation, but you and I were grafted into this. This is our history; it's the oldest recorded history. And sometimes people forget that, they don't want to understand that, they don't want to look at that, they allow people to tell them something different. Again, Joshua—this story is 3,400 years old.

God Speaks to a New Leader

So verse one, it says:

After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant:

— Joshua 1:1 (CSB)

God speaks to Joshua the same way he spoke to Moses. And so when God says he's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, and his word is forever, realize he does not change; it's going to be the same. So when people say, "Well, I have a new revelation," or a different this or a different that, now you're off the pages of the Bible because God is the same, and he will do the same for one person as he does for another. He does not have favorites. You know, as cute as we all think we are—and you're all cute—you're not his favorite. We're all the same. The playing field is whether you've served the Lord for 110 years or you just came to the Lord yesterday; we're all the same in his eyes. We're all his children, we all needed salvation, and we all received it through Jesus Christ.

So God speaks to Joshua the same way that he spoke to Moses. And realize, Joshua is now the younger version of Moses. He's been with Moses all this time; he was trained, he was mentored by Moses. And so, you know, he has that training, but he hasn't had those shoes to fill yet, and now he has them. So this is written to Joshua, you know, telling him specific things, but it's also written to us. It's written to those who follow, to realize change and things are going to happen, and God is saying to us: as long as you're following him, as long as you're following God, just be strong and courageous and follow what God is doing.

Possessing the Promised Land

In verses 2 to 4, he says:

“Moses my servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea.

— Joshua 1:2-4 (CSB)

This is not only what God spoke to Moses; he spoke this to Abram all the way back in Genesis chapter 12. This is the fulfillment of that. And so God is working this plan out, revealing himself, and now it's time for the Hebrews—which means "alien," by the way. Sometimes you wonder why the Bible sometimes refers to them as Hebrews and other times as Israelites. You're not Israelites until you come onto the land; you're foreigners in a different land. That's what Hebrew means—you're aliens. And so they move from being aliens, Hebrews, and now they move to possessing the land, and from this point on, they become Israelites. And so it's the same people, but it's different—just a different way of looking at it, because now they are on the land; they are Israelis.

So God's word is the same; this is the promise fulfilled. God is not just a promise maker; he is a promise keeper. When God says something, you know God is going to fulfill it. It's like back then, you know, they were waiting for this: "We're going to enter into the Promised Land." God has told us Jesus is going to return, and realize that if all these other things God said are true and have happened (and they have), then guess what? Jesus is going to return, and we have to be ready for that. We have to understand that's a truth, a promise that is coming, and one day it's going to be fulfilled. It could be fulfilled in our lifetime; it could be fulfilled in our grandchildren or their children, whenever, but God is coming back. Jesus is coming back; there will be a second coming. Somebody can say amen!

You see, they're entering into the Promised Land. God's word is the same, but the ministry is going to change. You see, when they came out of bondage, out of slavery, they didn't know who God was. They wanted to go straight to the Promised Land. They heard about the land flowing with milk and honey, and that's where they wanted to go. But God had other plans. He took them to Mount Sinai so he could put his word in them, so he could give them his word, he could give them direction, and show them who they are, and give them moral laws and social laws, and all these things that would help them govern themselves.

But they just wanted what the flesh wants. They just wanted a good time; they wanted to go to the land of milk and honey, they didn't want this other stuff. This is why they rebelled. But what's happening now is they wandered in the desert for an x-amount of years, an x-amount of time. God's word is the same, but the ministry is different, because now they're going to go in, across the Jordan, they're going to go into the land of Canaan, and they're going to settle the land. And they're going to have to wipe out those people that are living on that land.

And sometimes we wonder—to chase a rabbit real fast—why did God tell them to slay the Canaanites and kick them out? Because those people were evil. They were practicing child sacrifice, all kinds of things going on over there; they were just evil beyond evil. These were just not nice people; these weren't just people riding around on camels having a good time. These were evil, diabolical people, and God says, "You get them off the land; do not intermarry with them."

So Moses prepared the people for the Promised Land, but Joshua is taking them into the Promised Land. Same promises, same God, but a different ministry. It's just like when I came in here as pastor. I looked, saw what was going on, and said, "Okay, these things need to be done for us to get to where we need to go." And we've been able to accomplish those things, and now it's time to go to the next level, and we're going to do that. Same thing: same God, same word, but the ministry is going to be a little different because we're going to be doing different things. We don't have to worry about paying off the building anymore—we did that. We don't have to worry about remodeling this or doing that—we did that. We don't have to worry about who's going to be the next pastor—all these other things, we did that. Now it's time to go take possession of what God is calling us to. And so our job has been the last 11, 12, 13 years to prepare this church for the future. Now Pastor John will take us into that future. Okay? That's where we're at as a church.

God is With Us

Verse 5, it says:

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you.

— Joshua 1:5 (CSB)

God will be with you. In other words, the best is yet to come, church! The best is yet to come. God is with us—Emmanuel. That's what it means when we talked about the Christ child, and it says Emmanuel. Emmanuel means "God is with us." God is with us; he will not leave us, he will not forsake us. His plan is going to be fulfilled; we just have to get on board with what God is doing.

And sometimes we tend to resist because, "Well, I don't know about that, I don't know about that." Well, you know what? As long as we're following God, that's what we have to do. If we're not following God, yeah, then there's a problem. But as long as we're following God, doing the things that the Scripture tells us to do, we're right on track. It might not be the way I thought it was going to be or you thought it was going to be, but it's the way God planned it to be, and it's our job to enter into that.

So encourage one another with these words, and also encourage your pastor. Pray for him. You know, I told you, we're going to have the installation in July. I'm still going to be here, be in and out, be doing other things, but pray for him. You know, he has a task of taking this church into its future. And let me say this—don't tell him I told you this—pastors are visionary. We see things, we hear things, and it's a lonely place. A lot of times you don't always see what we see or hear what we hear because we're called to a position to take a flock of people to a particular place. And a lot of times people say, "Well, what about this? What about that?" His job—a pastor's job—is to be a healthy, strong pastor, make sure that church is healthy, and take them in the direction God has called us to go in. And so you have to realize that that's a tough place to be. Leadership can be a lonely place, so pray for him.

But also encourage him. You know, just say, "Pastor, I'm praying for you. I appreciate what you're doing, I'm glad you're here." He didn't tell me to say this; I'm just saying this from experience. Just encourage him, let him know that you appreciate him—not just next week, but 10 years from now, or as long as he's here. As he's doing things, let him know that you appreciate what he's doing.

So Moses for 40 years had been a stabilizer for the people. Even though they were uncomfortable, they were stable. God had provided for them: their clothes didn't wear out, they had manna to eat, they knew the drill, they were going to wander. That was stable. But now there's a new leader. Is it still going to be stable? Well, you see, God's handing off prepared Joshua to take the place of Moses, and so it's going to be stable. But Joshua has to listen to God. He has to follow God, he has to learn what he learned from Moses, he has to remember what God has shown him, what God has done—that work on the inside of him—and take that forward with him.

So Moses was a stabilizer, and this is why most people don't like change. We like things stable. But in order to change and grow, it might feel a little uncomfortable for a while. You know, the one that's going to be the most uncomfortable thing for you is one day you're going to come in here and somebody's going to be sitting in your seat! That's change. That's good! When that happens, say, "Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!" because that means growth, that means moving in a direction, that means God is doing something, movement is happening. And that's a season that we are entering into as a church.

So what's the new normal? We're going to learn that all together. God's word is the same, but what is the new normal going to be? How are we going to reach our community? What are we going to be doing? What are the things we're going to be having? What are the Bible studies? What are the women's groups, the men's groups, all these things that are going to develop? What is it going to look like? We don't fully know yet, but God knows. And so if we follow God, we follow God's plan, and we'll all get there at the same time. Amen!

Be Strong and Courageous

Verse 6—now here's where it gets important—verse 6:

“Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance.

— Joshua 1:6 (CSB)

Be strong and courageous. Now this is not a suggestion to Joshua; it's not a suggestion to us. It is a commandment: be strong and courageous. You know, the church—let's chase a rabbit again—sometimes the church as a whole forgets to be strong and courageous. Sometimes we allow things to happen that shouldn't happen, or sometimes we don't speak up when we should speak up. And I'm talking about the history of the church over 2,000 years: ups and downs and things going on, and the church gets it right, then we mess up, and we get it right, and you know, all these different things. We need to be strong and courageous. We need to stand on the word of God and not allow anything to shake us or move us. We need to stand firm.

It says be strong and courageous because following into the unknown isn't easy. And think about these people: they wandered in the desert, these are young people, they're going into the Promised Land. What is God going to do? Wait until a little bit later when they find out what God's going to tell them to do, and that is to go in there and march around this city, and then the walls are going to fall down. Yeah, right! Well, if they did—and they did—what God said, what happened? They marched around the city and the walls fell down. The battle is the Lord's! But you see, we have to be strong and courageous. We have to trust God at his word. See, this is faith exemplified. We trust God; what God says, yes, I believe it. Why? Because as Hebrews says, we have this cloud of witnesses—all those going back where we saw how God fulfilled his word. God was true; God did the things that he said he was going to do all along the way. And so realize that if he said that and that happened, then what he said that is yet to come is going to happen too. But we still have to be strong and courageous.

Standing Firm in God's Truth

Verse 7:

Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.

— Joshua 1:7 (CSB)

Now he says not only be strong and courageous, he says be strong and very courageous—the second time he says it in two verses. Be strong, and now be strong and very courageous. The Hebrew word for strong is chazaq and it means to grow or to become strong. You know, this is kind of like what the New Testament talks about: grow to maturity as a Christian. The more we walk with God, the more we grow, the more we know, and then we become much more mature. And it's easier to follow things that maybe when we first came to Christ we didn't know about, and we said, "Well, I don't know about that, I don't know about this." But as you see it and you grow, then you get closer to God, and you start believing God, and you start trusting God more. And so that word strong, it means to grow or become strong. It also means to be firm.

As Christians, we need to be firm. Our yes needs to be yes, our no needs to be no. We need to be clear on what our doctrine is. We need to be clear on what we are going to accept and what we are not going to accept. We have to be clear on it. It's not just individually; this is broad, this is as the body of Christ. We need to be firm in what we know to be the truth.

And then courageous, "very courageous," is the Hebrew word amats and it means to be strengthened to the point that you prove your strength. So when he says be strong and very courageous, he's saying grow, become strong, become firm to the point that you are strengthened to the point that it shows in your walk, it shows in who you are, it shows within the body of Christ.

You know, right now John is at the convention, and he's there voting on some things that a lot of other denominations have accepted—some things I'm not going to get into right now. If you want to talk to me afterwards, I'll spend time and answer your questions on it. But a lot of denominations have accepted things that are not biblical, and they've had votes on it, and they've accepted it, and it's caused church splits and it's caused all kinds of problems, and people get hurt. Well, what we're doing now as Southern Baptists, by the way, is the only one of the major denominations that has not split. We've been trying to stand firm because these things try and creep in—things that would water down the gospel, that would change the meaning of certain things and allow certain things. We are voting and ratifying language that affirms Scripture—not affirms what we want to do, but affirms Scripture. And a lot of times, when you're affirming Scripture, some people aren't going to like it.

Be strong and very courageous. Be firm. Be strengthened in what you know to be true. "Yes, I love you, but this is what the Word says. Yes, I'll pray for you; yes, I'll sit down, I'll fellowship with you, but yes, also, I want to teach you the gospel, I want to share God's word with you, I want to show you what God says." So we have to be firm, we have to be strong, we have to be strengthened to the point that we are willing to show what God is doing. We should not be weak in our faith because, to follow God, you have to be strong. You have to have strong faith. You just have to. God says some things to us and wants us to do some things, and sometimes it's just hard, or we don't understand: "Why did this happen? Why is this going on?" We have to trust God where it's at. It's not always easy, believe me, it is not easy. But God tells us to grow, to get there, and we will.

And so the outcome of following God is along the way we become strong and very courageous, strengthened by the word of God, trusting God even more, even to the point—I can't tell you, you can ask my wife afterwards—how many times I've told her, I said, "I don't know how God's going to do it, but I know he's going to do it. I just know he's going to do it. I know it looks like this, but I know God is going to work it out." And God's worked it out. But you see, getting to that point, you have to grow, because I couldn't have done that years ago. I'd say, "Well, I don't know, I don't know." Now I know God will work it out.

So God says, "Stay on the path set before you." He says, "Don't go to the right or to the left." Now, I'm not trying to make this political, right or left, but he says, "Don't go to the right or left," he says, "Follow me." So I don't care what side you end up on, on the right or the left, as long as you're following God. Because, see, God informs us who we are, put his values that we're supposed to have, the morals, the character, the things that we're supposed to have on the inside of us, and now take that out and share that.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a woman in our city. We were having a special election because one of our council members left—he went to another city. We're having to have a special election, and this lady wanted my endorsement. As I sat down and I talked to her, what I wanted to find out is what are your core values? What do you believe in? I don't want to hear what you want to do this and that for the city; I want to hear your core values. And her core values were Christianity. Her core values were the word of God. I wasn't trying to pull that out of her, but she offered that up. A lot of times people don't want to bring God into the conversation. She brought God into the conversation and she says, "These are my values, this is what I believe, and every decision will come through those values." Amen and amen!

Meditating on the Word Day and Night

Verse 8—this is my favorite passage of Scripture here—it says:

This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

— Joshua 1:8 (CSB)

Personalize this passage of Scripture. In my oldest Bible—I don't have this; this is one of my preaching Bibles, I've got about three or four preaching Bibles, but my own personal Bible that I've had since the '80s—this particular passage, someone was preaching it and they said, "Where it says the word 'you,' you put your name in there and then you read it." So I did that, so my Bibles are marked up. Personalize it this way: "This book of the law shall not depart from Steve's mouth, but Steve shall meditate on it day and night, so that Steve may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then Steve will make his way prosperous, and then Steve will have success." See, this is what God is saying to me. This is what God was saying to them. This is what God is saying to you: trust God, meditate on it, know who God is, know what God is saying.

And it says there, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth." That doesn't mean that you shouldn't say anything. What it means is it should always be in your speech; it should always be in your mouth. It's a Hebrew way of saying things: your words should always be filtered through the word of God. Now think about it: if we do that all the time, then there's a lot of stuff we don't have to say we're sorry for later on. In the heat of the moment, when you get mad and say, "Well, I wouldn't have said that if you wouldn't have done that"—no, if we would have filtered it through the word of God, we wouldn't have said it in the first place, but found a different way of saying it, or not saying it at all.

And so, this book of the law—in other words, Scripture. At this point in time, this book of the law was just the first five books of the Bible, but "the law" refers to now the entire Bible. It says it's—by the way, all of the other books of the Bible, one of the criteria for them being accepted as canonical, as being part of God-breathed, Holy Spirit scripture, is that every single book that comes after this affirms the first five books. There's nothing separate—no doctrine, no statements, no anything that does not affirm what's in the first five books, the Torah.

So it says, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth." It should always be there. Steve shall meditate on it day and night. Think about what you're thinking about. We should be thinking about God. We should be thinking about what is Christ doing, what are we doing as a church, as a body, what am I doing, how am I representing Christianity, what does his word say? It's like the Apostle Paul says—I think the last time I was up here preaching—not that I've made it, not that I've already obtained it, but I keep pressing into this word because there's so much more to know, there's so much more to grow, there's so much more to understand, there's so much more to become than just what we are. And you see, this is what the journey does.

And this is why I like Abraham's story so much, because he becomes a father of faith after 35 years of walking with God, not just because he followed the call. See, he followed God because of all the idols and all of the things that people worshiped, Yahweh was the only one that spoke to him. All the other idols were mute. Yahweh speaks to him, so he follows him. But along the way, he learns how to trust God, he learns...