Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.northharris.freechurch.org/sermons/4948/joshua/.

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[0:00] Good evening and a warm welcome to the service this evening. Evening Kirsty. Have a seat.

[0:12] Nice to see you Grace. We'll hear from you in just a minute or two. A warm welcome to everyone who's here.

[0:23] Good to see some who are visiting as well and you're especially welcome. The notice sheet you received this morning and you've seen the notices on the screen before the service began.

[0:41] The only thing I was going to say was just to remind the YF people that the Primary Sevens are also welcome to YF this evening and for the month of June.

[0:54] Just in advance of them coming into the YF. So take a note of that and if the congregation could be praying for the work of the YF, it's a really important work.

[1:06] And there's great encouragements just now in it, I think. So let's keep praying for our young folk in the Sunday School and the Youth Fellowship and through all the ages.

[1:16] The rest of the intimations you can read at your own convenience and I'll not go through them just now. Let's begin our time of worship and let's sing to God's praise from Psalm 1.

[1:30] Psalm 1 and the first two verses of Psalm 1 in Gaelic. Psalm 1 and the first two verses of the Psalm in Gaelic.

[1:44] Tonight we're turning to Joshua, the book of Joshua, chapter 1. And we see there in that book the emphasis and the importance of being in God's Word and not deviating from God's Word, His law.

[1:59] Meditating upon God's Word and following His course. And so we sing the first two stanzas of Psalm 1 in Gaelic. That man hath perfect blessedness, who walketh not to strain in counsel of ungodly men, nor stands in sinner's way, nor sitteth in the scorner's chair, but placeth his delight upon God's law and meditates on his law day and night.

[2:23] So we'll sing these two verses of Psalm 1 and then after that Donald McSween will come and lead us in prayer in Gaelic, please. Let's sing these two verses of Psalm 1 and then after that.

[3:01] Psalm 1 and then after that.

[3:31] Psalm 1 and then after that.

[4:01] Psalm 1 and then after that.

[4:31] Psalm 1 and then after that. Psalm 1 and then after that.

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[12:57] Thank you.

[13:27] You got told to turn to the book and you'd be looking desperate for the book and you thought you knew what it was in the Bible, but the more you turned the pages, the more it wasn't there. Just so you know, you all seem to find Joshua quite quickly, but I had to wait for the wee while for the elders in the front row to turn to the right page.

[13:45] It's in the Old Testament. Joshua chapter one, I'm reading from verse one.

[14:46] Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

[14:59] Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

[15:10] Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people.

[15:24] Go through the camp and tell the people, get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God has given you for your own.

[15:36] But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you. The Lord your God has given you rest and has granted you this land.

[15:50] Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan. But all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers.

[16:01] You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest as he has done for you. And until later you have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God has given them. After that you may go back and occupy your own land which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of Jordan towards the sunrocks.

[16:20] Then he answered Joshua, whatever you have commanded us we will do. And whatever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses so we will obey you.

[16:32] Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them will be put to death.

[16:46] Only be strong and courageous. Amen and may God bless to us that reading of his word. Amen and may God bless to you as he is.

[17:25] 13 years. And I know that the congregation here is a long link with InterServe. I think that the prayer meeting, the ladies only prayer meeting, the one that Angus McKellar got expelled from after three attempts to join them.

[17:41] The ladies prayer meeting has been going for how many years, Ina? Over 50 years. Over 50 years. That's amazing. So there's been a long connection with InterServe.

[17:54] And I know you've been coming back and forth here for a good number of years. I just wondered if it might be possible for you to say a wee bit to us just about the work of InterServe just now.

[18:05] Things that we can be praying about in the wider work and within your own sphere. And then we'll have a word of prayer. I know you're going to speak to the Youth Fellowship.

[18:17] Well, I know that you're going to come along to the YF tonight. And we'll be sure how you speak a wee bit to them. And you spoke to the Sunday School this morning. I might quiz the Sunday School on what you were saying within the sermon.

[18:31] So thank you for doing that. And maybe just give us a wee insight. And then we'll pray for that work in a minute. Great.

[18:42] Most of you will know that InterServe is basically a mission agency. And we seek to serve the church both here and in Asia and the Arab world.

[18:54] We're concerned about making Jesus known, particularly in Asia and the Arab world. And those are some of the hard places where you've got some of the key religions in the world.

[19:06] I think the thing is that the need is so great. It's not new to be saying to you that we have been blessed to be a blessing to the nations.

[19:19] We're not meant to just sit and receive, receive, receive. It's about being able to take Jesus to the ends of the earth. And that's really what InterServe is all about.

[19:31] There are lots of mission agencies. But it's just been a privilege to have a relationship with you all these years. And we're very grateful, Haina, to you and the prayer group within InterServe for all the prayer support that has come from here.

[19:44] It's fantastic. So the need is still great. There are still, it's just over half of the world's people groups have the ability to hear the gospel in their own language and through their own culture.

[20:01] And you know how important language is to people to be able to hear the gospel in your own language. And in this day and age, you would think, you would imagine that with all the technology and ability that we have, that that shouldn't be the case.

[20:15] Surely every people group, surely every language in the world now must have heard the gospel in their own mother tongue. But that's not the case. It's only just over half.

[20:25] We've still got a long way to go. So really, we can never have enough people going. And the exciting thing now is that many of the people that go, a bit like this reading from Joshua, being strong and courageous, they're going from countries that we would, like Africa and India and Korea, rather than Western countries.

[20:54] But we still have a part to play. So we need people to go. And the other exciting thing is that Asia and the Arab world is coming to Scotland.

[21:05] And we shouldn't really see that as a threat. We should see it as an opportunity. We get a chance to meet people from Asia and the Arab world without going anywhere and being friends with them and being able to share the gospel with them.

[21:21] So that's an exciting opportunity. And that's one of the things that would be great for us to pray for, that to serve in Scotland. At the moment, what we would really like is to have some missionaries that come from other countries and Scotland to work in Scotland with the Asians and Arabs that come here.

[21:45] That's a new thing. Traditionally, we found people from churches in Scotland and sent them overseas. But now, perhaps, it's a bit scary.

[21:57] It's quite easy for us to go to Glasgow or Stonaway or wherever to work with Asia and Arab world without having to go too far.

[22:07] And that's one of the... My role has changed a bit in InterServe. I used to be the National Director for Scotland and Ireland. But a year ago, we merged with England and Wales.

[22:19] And we've become InterServe Great Britain and Ireland. And I didn't particularly want... Well, I didn't think God was asking me to go and live and work in Milton Keynes that I get to stay in Scotland.

[22:33] So, I've become the person for InterServe in Scotland. We have a small office but no other staff. I'm it. And so, part of my job is to encourage this work of working with Asia and the Arab world in Scotland.

[22:49] Part of my work is encouraging churches and individuals to be involved. And part of my work is encouraging InterServe supporters. And that's part of the reason why I come to Harris.

[23:02] Because I would like the ladies InterServe prayer group to feel that they're not on their own and to feel encouraged. So, I would appreciate prayer for all of those things.

[23:13] My work with the InterServe supporters. My work with the churches. And developing the Asian Arab world ministry. But on a much bigger picture, basically we need a lot more people to be going to the ends of the earth.

[23:28] Thank you, Grace. Thank you very much for that. And we will pray. I know that there has been much prayer over the years.

[23:38] Let's pray for a moment, just now. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of being able to come to you this evening and to call you our Father.

[23:56] We thank you for the privilege of being instructed and taught how to pray through the words of Jesus, which have been recorded and preserved and passed down to us in our own language, the language that we can understand.

[24:12] We thank you that we have the clarity of the gospel and the Bibles that we have in front of us and in print form and in apps and in all kinds of different media.

[24:27] We are so fortunate, Lord, and so blessed to have such great opportunity to open your word and to meet together without fear of anyone disrupting this meeting.

[24:40] And we confess, Lord, often we take that for granted. We pray, Lord, that we would not take it for granted this evening, but that we would be truly thankful and feel that real sense of privilege of all that you have given to us.

[24:57] But, Lord, we remember this evening that there are many who do not have the privileges that we have. And we ask, Lord, that you would help us and guide us as we would seek to continue praying for them.

[25:13] We thank you, Lord, for those that you have burdened in a special way to pray for these specific people groups. We thank you for the work of inter-serve in particular.

[25:25] And, Lord, as they seek to reach out to the Arab and Asian world, as they seek to go to and to pray for and to minister in what is recognized as hard places and amongst hard groups of people in terms of their response to the gospel.

[25:46] Lord, we pray that you would guide them. We pray that you would lead them. We pray that you would encourage them. We pray that they would be effective. And, Lord, that you would use them for your glory so that those whose eyes have previously been closed and whose hearts have been hardened to the message of the gospel would, through the power of the Holy Spirit have their hearts opened and their eyes opened and their ears unblocked so that they would see and hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[26:19] We thank you, Lord, for all those that you are closing in on in countries far from us and many who are settled in our own localities and our own countries and who have not yet heard or understood the gospel.

[26:35] Lord, we pray that you would use inter-serve and those other mission organizations that we can think of to reach out with that message.

[26:47] We thank you, Lord, for grace and we pray your blessing upon her. We thank you that you have given her the soul to be an encourager. We ask, Lord, that you would help her with that.

[27:01] We pray that she would know daily the encouragement of your hand upon her, that she would know daily the sense of the encourager, the Holy Spirit, giving her all that she needs to be able to do what you have called her to.

[27:16] So bless, Lord, the work of inter-serve. Open up, we pray, countries and hearts that are needing so desperately to hear the message of the gospel.

[27:30] And open up, Lord, we pray, the hearts of many in our own nation, as though some other nations who, once we brought the gospel to, are returning to these shores to remind us of what we once told them.

[27:42] So hear our prayers. Work, we pray, Lord, for your glory, for the building of your church. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[27:56] We're going to sing again to God's praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:08] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:40] Amen. Amen. Amen. be gripped by the plot of the story and somebody very well known to me does this and she'll read the first few pages to see her kind of really get into the book and then I'll see her flicking right through the book not looking at any of the pages to the very last chapter and she'll look at the last chapter and just read the last few paragraphs to see how the story ends and you look perplexed and so as I but that's the way some people approach a book they they read the beginning get gripped then they go to the end just to make sure the story ends well so they don't have 300 pages of reading only to find that they're disappointed in the last chapter that's not my general approach to a book but it's the way I want to approach actually the book of Joshua tonight I want us to look at the first chapter and then I'd like us to look at the last few verses in the book of Joshua in Joshua chapter 24 and the reason that I want us to do this is it's not in order that we'll come to a decision on whether or not it would be a good thing for us to read the book this is God's word so every chapter of God's word every book of God's word is is good for us to study the reason I want us to go from the beginning to the very end is just so that we'll get a sense of perspective from the from the outset and we'll get some kind of idea where the book is going I'm not sure we'll go all the way through it in one chunk but it's good for us to know the theme and what direction this book is going so we'll begin in Joshua chapter 1 and at verse 1 and the first title that we come to as we structure our thoughts is the book begins with a death not just a death but it begins with with the death the book is begun with verse 1 where it's reported immediately of the death of Moses chapter 1 verse 1 it says after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord now if you want to get a wee bit more detail on that then flick from Joshua just go back a few pages to Deuteronomy chapter 34

[31:10] Joshua chapter 1 verse 1 gives us the headline Deuteronomy 34 gives us a paragraph underneath the headline and at verse 7 of chapter 34 it says there Moses was 120 years old when he died yet his eyes were not weak nor a strength gone the Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days until the time of weeping and mourning was over some deaths stop a whole nation in their tracks some deaths kind of pass by and we hear little about them but there are some deaths that stop a whole nation in their tracks I was trying to think back over over my lifetime and thinking of some of the deaths that had that kind of an impact and the one that most readily comes to mind is the death of Princess Diana I can remember precisely where I was what I was doing at what time it was in the day when the news broke that that she was dead it was a huge deal it was a it had a massive impact on the nation on the whole western world and for Israel the death of Moses was a huge deal Moses was no ordinary prophet in in their own minds in estimation he didn't just have a a small cameo role to play in Israel's history there was no known comparable to Moses still in Deuteronomy chapter 34 look at verse 10 we're given a wee bit more just on the gravitas of Moses it says since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face who did all those miraculous signs and wonders of the Lord wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to the whole land for no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel that gives us a picture just of the the sense of loss that there must have been at the passing of Moses

[33:36] Moses led a nation through incredibly difficult times and with Moses death the whole of the nation of Israel ground to a halt the whole nation grieved because their leader the one who started in such a timid reluctant way but went on to do such amazing miraculous signs and wonders and awesome deeds the one who stood against Pharaoh and led them in their standing against Pharaoh the one who knew the Lord face to face he was dead and this death was a it was a monumental death it was a death that shook all Israel and so that's the context here they want to know what was Joshua walking into in chapter 1 verse 1 he was walking into he was living in the midst of a time in a context that was bleak the nation with the death of Moses were shell shocked there would have been a tangible sense of loss of Moses and of the hope and stability that they seemed to get through Moses there likely was a mood of despair and gloom hanging over Israel but into that context

[35:12] God spoke the Lord that Moses knew the Lord who called and equipped and used Moses spoke after the death of Moses the same God that Moses knew and enabled them to know and to follow the same God comes and he speaks and he speaks words of promise so there's the death to start off the second point is the promise and the second half of verse 1 we'll just follow the text through and take it chunk by chunk in the time we have tonight the Lord said to Moses to Joshua son of Nun Moses ate Moses my servant is dead now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give them to the Israelites I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river the Euphrates all the Hittite country to the great sea in the west no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you

[36:32] I will never leave you nor forsake you can you imagine the impact of these words into that nation these people imagine the comfort that came upon them as they heard that as I was with Moses so I will be with you Moses may have passed I am still present says the Lord I will never leave you nor forsake you what words of promise and the first thing I think I want us to know under this heading is just the fact that the Lord knows the mood of the people he knows the circumstances that they're living in he knows what has happened he's familiar with all that they've wrestled with the Lord knows Moses is dead he may be the God of the whole universe heaven and earth but he knows precisely what's happening in that geographical location amongst these few people he knows that Moses is dead he knows that the Jordan River looms large in the direction that they expect to be going he knows that there are other nations who are poised to to set on them the second they get over that Jordan River if they get over but the Lord's promise is not nullified what he said before he's continuing to say verse 3

[38:07] I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses see what God had promised since Genesis chapter 12 he's still promising in Joshua chapter 1 in spite of the obstacles that they could see in spite of the opposition that they were anticipating in spite of the the dark mood that may be enveloping the whole camp God speaks word of promise and his promise seems even more weighty and impressive now than it did before Moses died a word of application in the past in here it's a word of comfort I suppose God still knows he knew what was going on back then with these people he knows what's going on here tonight in this room with us as his people he knows your challenges and he knows mine he knows the things that we think of when we wake up at half past two in the morning scan through our minds he knows the discouragements that we face and have faced and fear face him he knows our fears he knows our worries and he still speaks he speaks with word with promise and his promises which are many are still valid for us here in

[40:06] Tarbird in 2018 remember this morning John we were talking about the frusty bread the roves they were done they were past their sell-by date he stole them away God's promises his word is never past its sell-by date we were out in the vestry before we began Dom McSween was footering around with bits of paper in his pocket somebody said look at all the notes that they've got somebody else said that's ten pound notes that he's got he says they're not valid anymore they're not valid God's promises are currency that are always valid if we want God's promise from Joshua chapter 1 in New Testament terms Hebrews 13 is one place where it's picked back up and preached in force in our direction in Hebrews 13 and verse 5 we read this keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said never will I leave you never will I forsake you so we say with confidence the Lord is my helper

[41:24] I will not be afraid what can man do to me it's God's promise to us and that was God's promise to Israel but in order for God's promise to become a reality in order for them to grasp that promise and to know it in their own lives there were conditions that the Lord said that were to be meant and that's the third point there's the death of Moses there's the promise of God that comes through his word and then it's the conditions that the Lord outlines and there's three of them here the people were to look to God and they were to listen to God and they were to obey God these are the three conditions they were to look to God they were to listen to God and they were to obey God first of all they're to look to God look at verse 6 the Lord says be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land

[42:31] I swore to their forefathers to give them be strong and very courageous then again in verse 9 same message have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be terrified do not be discouraged so three times in two verses they're told the same thing be strong and courageous look to God because that's the only way that they could be strong and courageous sometimes we hear a football manager should give a kind of team talk at half time the team might be not playing as well as they could they might be behind and the manager will come into the dressing room and say come on guys we are the best players we have the most money we are a great team we should be winning this let's go let's do it you can do it you can did the Israelites here just need a kind of motivational positive team talk well no they needed far more than that why were they told to be strong and courageous was it because the odds were good in human terms of them making progress into the promised land well no there was a series of miracles needed for them to be able to enter the promised land were they told to be strong and courageous because they had such a good track record of success and their own strength and their history well no their track record was miserable they were an ill equipped they were a minute nation were they told to be strong and courageous because the

[44:19] Jordan River was just a burn it was just a trickle and they had their waterproof gear all set and ready no it wasn't just to get an impression of the Jordan River the Jordan River was not a burn that we could skip over the Jordan River was one mile in width the currents were absolutely deadly at this point in time it was likely to be in flood so the odds of any of them getting across that river were absolutely minuscule so how could they be and why should they be strong and courageous why should they not be terrified or discouraged well the answer to that is because verse 6 the Lord promised that he will lead these people to inherit the land that he swore to their forefathers to give them the reason they were to be strong and courageous was because verse 9 the Lord your God has promised that he will be with you wherever you go so what would they have been called to do they were being called to look to God they were being called to look to God not to look at this fast flowing dangerous

[45:53] Jordan river not to look at these aggressive fearful foreign nations that wanted to eliminate them they were not being asked to look inside themselves for inner strength that they could muster up but they were being called to look to God the God who promised that he would be with them the God who proved many times in the past that he was faithful the God who is the Lord God Almighty remember Peter since we think much about Peter when he's on the water as long as he's looking to the Lord he's walking he's progressing so when he looks to the waves when he looks to those who surround him he starts to sink and we can see this whole nation sinking into a fear and a depression that would cause them to be stuck and Joshua as God calls them encourages them to look not to themselves not to anyone else but to look to the

[47:28] Lord and as long as they were looking to the Lord they could be strong and they could be courageous and they could be sure that the Lord would go before them and would take them into the land that he had promised I'm not even a quarter of the way through the sermon but it's seven o'clock it's good to see the children and I have promised that I'll finish at seven so let's pray heavenly father we thank you for your word to us we thank you for this account that we have of how you ministered to your people so long ago and we thank you Lord that we can say this evening that we are your people and you are our

[48:30] God and Lord we thank you that we can reflect on the fact that you know us and you know all the concerns and the worries and the fears that we have so we thank you that you call us to be strong and to be courageous not to be terrified not to be dismayed and we thank you that as long as we listen to you Lord and we look to you we are given that courage and we are given that strength to be able to progress and to follow you and to confess Lord that often we take our eyes off you and we are overwhelmed by the things that worry us in this world we can be put off by the things that other people say and we feel that we're starting to sink but we thank you that as we cry out to you as Peter did as we ask you to save us

[49:33] Lord you hear and you lift us and you set us on that steady ground we thank you Lord that as we'll see as we go on that the land that you promised your people you delivered them safely to we thank you that all your promises are true and are dependable we thank you above all for the promise that was made to your people Israel that out of that nation would come one who would be the Messiah one who would save the people from their sin and we thank you Father that you have enabled us to see Jesus who came and who lived for us that life that we could never live life without sin we thank you that just as was promised he became that man of sorrows and he suffered and died to take the punishment for our sin and we thank you that just as was promised he rose from the dead and has given us the assurance to all who look to him all who trust in him all who put their faith in him and all that he has done we are promised eternal life we are promised that we will be safely delivered to the land that is promised beyond time in eternity to help us we pray to lift our eyes from ground level to fix our eyes upon

[51:18]  Jesus to think much upon the things of heaven and Lord to trust you hear our prayers take away our sin we ask it in Jesus name amen we're going to sing to conclude 536 536 536 as we go through even chapter 1 and then flip on to chapter 24 we're able to see that all that God does promise he he delivers he delivers and we think about the fact from there that all that he has promised to us and salvation is delivered in and through Jesus and we sing of that now and we sing of that now and we sing of that now and we sing of that now and we sing of that now