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Eugene Prewitt

Joshua’s Courage and Mine

Joshua chapter 1, we're looking at verse 9.

This is the 1 well-known verse we're looking at this morning.

What we're going to do this morning is talk about the story of Joshua 1.9 because there is a background to it and there's a follow-up that is also interesting that it can teach you about courage.

Joshua 9 says, Have not I commanded thee, Be strong and of a good courage, Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.

Are those the same ideas, afraid and dismayed?

Dismayed is a concern about the present and the past.

Don't be either or be neither afraid nor dismayed.

For the Lord thy God is with thee wherever thou goest.

If you're afraid, It's like you're thinking he's not going to be with you in the future if you're dismayed It's as if you're thinking he's not with you now And he hasn't been with you before and all which things he has commanded you now Do you see in verse 9 that this isn't the first time that God said this to Joshua?

That Joshua, God didn't say, I have a new command for you.

In other words, courage is something that we need to be reminded about sometimes.

That is, we can hear about it and we can still lose it.

The story for this begins way, way back, more than 40 years before this time, when Joshua was a young soldier or a young man which was the same thing if you came out of Egypt the young men were soldiers.

Numbers chapter 13 is the story of the 12 spies.

You might remember that Joshua was 1 of them.

It's interesting because verse 20 is what was said to the 12 spies before they went to do their spying.

You might imagine if you hadn't thought about the chapter, that the 12 spies were sent with kind of a neutral idea, Like, go find out what's out there.

Almost like, find out whether we should be afraid or not.

But you know, they weren't sent with anything like that at all.

Numbers 13, verse 20, And what the land is, that is what you're searching, to find what the land is, whether it be fat.

Now you don't think of a land as being obese, but, nerds, a land that has plenty of food.

Whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein or not, and be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

I just want you to realize in this passage that Joshua is in this story.

Do you understand what I'm communicating?

Joshua is 1 of the 12 men who is hearing this from Moses.

Before you go spy, this is what you're looking to find out.

Lots of trees, not many trees, good fruit, not so much fruit.

Looking to see if it has lots of food, not so much food.

But are they looking to see whether or not they're able to overcome it?

They are to be strong and of good courage.

They went and looked and when they came back only 2 of them were of good courage and so those were the same 2 that show up in the next book well in joshua the 1 we were looking at earlier the rest die turn your bibles to deuteronomy chapter 31 deuteronomy chapter 30 31 and we're looking at verse 6.

This is near the end of the life of Moses.

He is about to send Israel off with Joshua as their new leader.

Fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is he that doth go with thee.

He will not fail thee nor forsake thee." Does that reason sound familiar for having courage?

Isn't it the same reason Joshua gave to the people later?

Well, this was the reason given to him earlier.

I learned something about Joshua from studying the story, and that is that when he was young he paid attention to the lessons that God taught him.

I learned that Joshua did not feel a need to be original in his teaching.

He rather felt a need to teach the things that were most helpful.

The things that Moses taught him were the things that he taught others.

And Moses said, don't be afraid, don't be dismayed, be courageous because God is the 1 who goes with you.

If I could do a quiz question, what would be 1 reason today that you should be courageous at the doors?

Just as much a source of comfort, it don't matter really what has been happening to you on the street, you really have this to hold on to, it is God who goes with you.

Verse 7, And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage, for you must go with this people under the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it." Was this a private speech?

Moses is speaking to Joshua, but not privately.

All of the entire community is hearing that Joshua is being commanded by Moses, and the 1 command he's being given is, be courageous.

You have to take the whole bunch of these people and you know, I don't know what I want to say about that, but I know what I'm thinking about it.

The responsibilities God gives you in the future, whether in church or in schools or how, it may often feel a temptation to you to just go to Canaan by yourself.

And you should know that the courage that was given, or the command given to Joshua to be courageous, was not given privately, because his courage was not meant to be expressed privately.

The intention was that he was going to be courageous publicly because he had to take some people with him.

And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge." Charge.

It's like, well, you know, because you've been in school, you've been to graduations where they always give them a charge.

It's like a challenge from an elder to a younger to live up to a high standard.

And said, this is verse 23, be strong and of a good courage, for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I swear unto them, and I will be with you.

In verse 23, is Moses going to be with Joshua?

God says through the Bible that he's going to be with you.

He says, and you can hold on to this fact that God is with you, and you can share that fact with others.

Now turn back to Joshua, and we're going to finish off this story.

So God speaks to Moses, then God speaks right with Joshua, and in fact, Joshua ends up having a very similar relationship to God that Moses had.

It says, Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shall you divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.

Let me remind you the background then we're going to go forward to after the story.

We started with Joshua telling the people be strong, be courageous, don't be afraid, and don't be dismayed.

Don't be worried about the future and don't doubt that God is leading you in the present because God is with you.

And then we found that in his own experience, a command just like that made the difference between life and death for him.

That he was 1 of 12 that was given that command, 2 obeyed it, and 10 did not.

The 2 were still living in Joshua 1, and the 10 were not.

That Joshua had experience in his life that would tell them that this is a life and death issue, Courage.

And courage never has ceased to be a life and death issue.

There's 1 more thing we want to observe here.

These are the people of Israel speaking back to Joshua.

Whoever he be that doth rebel against your commandment, and will not hearken unto your words in all that you commandest him, he shall be put to death.

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Joshua’s Courage and Mine

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