Special Series #7: Joshua - Biblical Characters and How They Finished

We meet Joshua first when he was selected as one of the 12 tribes to spy out the new land from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun (Numbers 13.8).

Early Faith

Joshua (along with Caleb) spoke with confidence about how God would take them into the promised land and defeat the enemies. He had great confidence in God who would be with them.

If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and he will give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against Yahweh, and you will not fear the people of the land, because they will be our food. Their protection has been turned from them; Yahweh is with us. You should not fear them. (Numbers 14.8-9)

Leadership in Later Years

At 80 years of age, Joshua was entrusted with the task of leading Israel after Moses' death. God commanded him:

Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. (Joshua 1.6-7)

Throughout the conquest and throughout his life, Joshua remained full of faith and trust in the Lord. As he came to the end of his life, he challenged the children of Israel with these famous words:

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24.15)

Transcript

Unknown: 0:20

Music.

Dr Hal Habecker: 0:27

Welcome back to our series on looking at characters in the Bible and how they finished. I hope this series whets your appetite to think more about this. You know, we're only going to consider a few characters in the Bible, but there are many in the Bible, and it's become a habit of mine. As I read the text through all the people in the Bible, you wonder how they lived out their last days, and you learn lessons from them. So Joshua is another great character, and I want us to look at him today, again as always. The beginning of this series. I love Robert Browning's poem, grow old along with me. The best is yet to be I want to add in our aged years, I really believe that. I think God wants to use us more in our aging years than maybe he ever has in the past. And when we're younger, we think of the impact of our lives, and we love it, and we love to grow and excel and leadership, whatever it is we're doing. But I really do believe all these years are preparation, like John Masel says, for all the days of the rest of our lives. God wants to use us greatly, even in our dying days. My mentor from Dallas Seminary always used to say last words are lasting words. You know, what people say at the end of their lives really sticks. So I hope you'll think about that as we go through Joshua today, we meet Joshua first when he was selected as one of the 12 spies to spy out the new land. He was from the tribe of Ephraim Hosea, the son of Nun. The text says We next see Joshua along with Caleb, I might add, who is another great study in aging, because he wanted his mountain, his land at age 85 how many people do you find at 85 saying, Give me this mountain, give me my land. I want to do something for God. And we see him speaking with confidence how God will take them into the Promised Land and defeat their enemies. He has a great confidence in God, who will be with them. You know, I ask myself again the question is my confidence in God growing deeper and deeper the longer I live and will the message I'm sending my adult kids and grandkids and even great grandkids, if God leaves me to that length of life, will I be exuding confidence in God and setting an example for them like Joshua did, the text says, and Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, Surely, let us go up and take the land, take possession of it, because surely we will able be able to prevail over it. I love that line. And the men who went up with him said, we're not able to go up with the people because they're stronger than us. And they presented the report to the land that they explored, to the Israelites, saying, Listen, the land that we went through to explore is a land that eats its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in its midst are men of great size. There we saw the Nephilim, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their eyes, Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, from the explorers of the land, tore their garments, and they said to all the community of the Israelites, the land which we went through to explore is an exceptionally good land. If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and he will give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey, you know. Again, who do you have your eyes set on when the odds are against you? Are your odds set on God, or are they set on human flesh and the size of the obstacles in front of us? You know? I think again, that applies to old age. What are we living for? Who do we trust? Who is leading us into the the value of these years, they plead with the people only, do not rebel against Yahweh and you will not feel the people fear, the people of the land, because they will be our food. I love that their protection has been turned from. Am Yahweh is with us. You should not fear them. And all the community said to stone them with stones. But the glory of Yahweh appeared in the tent of assembly amongst the Israelites. I mean, just imagine that again. I ask myself, What if the elder people in a congregation were the people that were leading the way and saying, let's follow God into this season of our church's life. Let's follow God into this season of our aging years, and let's demonstrate to every generation in this church that God is for us and He will strengthen us to do his purposes in our aging years, as J i Packer says, so long as our bodily health allows, I think that's an excellent vision for our aging years. Now, for the next 40 years, Joshua was the understudy of Moses. He had to live those 40 years where people rejected his faith. I'll think about that. How do you excel as a leader if you're leading people who have said, I don't want to follow God. And God says, Okay, you guys are going to march around the desert for 40 years. Joshua is still developing his confidence in God, believing Him every day that he will provide for his people to finish well, I want to say it's important to have a strong to have strong, spiritual men pouring into your life, as well as mentors. Joshua had 40 years of accountability before God put him into the place of succeeding. Moses, you know, I think about that, we launched finishing well ministries in my mid 60s, and I think of all the people, men and women, who have impacted my life, and they did that throughout their aging years, and now I'm following in their train. I mean, I wouldn't be where I'm where I am in life now, had it not been for older people have impacted me all along in life. I could recite them for you. You know, I think of one psychiatrist from Louisville, Kentucky, David Stewart, when I served with the Christian Medical and Dental associations in his latter days, he was dying of cancer, and God gave us a great friendship. And he used to say to me, aren't these great days? And you know the sense of optimism with which David lived every day, including his cancer years leading up to his death, he would always say that to me, a week before he went to be with the Lord, he called me on my phone. We were sitting in the office. He was in Louisville, I was in Dallas, and he said to me, how I'm close to the end. Aren't these great days? You know, I will never forget that conversation. What a joy. So before his death, Moses addresses Joshua and exhorts him to the task of leading Israel following his own death. Watch this. Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him, in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Just a simple biographical comment, my dad went to be with the Lord when I was a senior in college during my year, during my senior year, and when I went back to college, my mother gave me this verse, and she said, how Don't Don't be timid about what God wants to do in your life. And she read these verses to me, and I have them underlined in my Bible to this day. So then Moses commissioned Joshua, or God commissioned him, the son of Nun, and said, Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you now. Joshua, the son of Nun, was filled with the Spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. You know, I think about that personally to me. I know men who have laid their hands on me as a young man growing up as a preacher of the gospel, as a teacher of the word, and they said how we're behind you, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord commanded Moses. Finally, Moses is dead. Joshua is entrusted with the task of leading Israel at get this 80 years of age, how many of us are excelling and leading for God at 80 years of age? 80 year old men and women can and ought to be serving God as followers of him in their age. Age. No detractor in serving God. Let me say that again, age is never a detractor in excelling and serving God. God gives the following command to Joshua as he begins his leadership in Israel. I love this. Be strong and courageous at age 80, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Remember, that's what Joseph was thinking in Genesis. 50 only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. Success always comes from following God courageously. And then this great verses in Joshua, one, this book of the law, shall not depart out of your mouth. You shall chew on it every day, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed at the age of 80 as you embrace this task. For the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. I love that Be strong and courageous. God iterates it three times. Remember that this is God's mission, that that's our life. Our life is a gift from God. We are on his mission at the age of 80. Remember he continues the pattern of Moses. Obedience is essential. Obedience gives success. God's words are essential for success, and they give a great confidence. You know, when I was younger in college, I intersected a lot with the late Dr Francis Schaeffer from Labrie in Switzerland. He made a statement that I heard as a junior in college that I'll never forget. He said, Remember, God's work in man's way is not God's work, only God's work done. God's way is God's work. You know, are we doing it in his strength, for his purposes, for His glory, and are we following the leadership of the Spirit in our lives, all throughout the conquest and throughout his life, Joshua remains full of faith, and he trusts in the Lord doing all the above which God had told him and Moses had told him as he comes to the end of his life. Watch this. He challenges the children of Israel to keep living as he had lived. He says, The Lord your God will thrust them out from you, from before you and drive them out from before you. Don't hesitate in finishing the task, and you will possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you be very firm then to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, so that you will not associate with these foreign nations around you, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them or serve them or bow down to them. But listen, you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day, for the Lord has driven out great and strong nations from before you. And as as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One of your men puts to flight 1000 for the Lord your God. Is he who fights for you, just as He promised you. So, take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. Now, why wouldn't you do that in the very last year of your life. Why wouldn't I do it? May God calls us to that end. In the final analysis, the best challenge that we could give is an invitation out of our lives and out of our own personal households, out of the own history that we have based upon the life of Joshua, the best thing we can do is say, with Joshua the following, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You know, I think about that, if it's a disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose hand you are living, whose land you are living, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That was Joshua's message to his household, to all of his family, to all of those whom he lived with during those years. Years of leading Israel into the promised land. You know, I think it's the best message we could give to our adult kids, our grandkids, our great grandkids, as we live out our days, to our church, where we fellowship, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord Amen. I mean, that's our mission as we age, and I can't help but think again of Psalm 90, verse 12. So Teach us to number our days that we may present to you, O God, a heart of wisdom which grows out of the last days, weeks, months and or year we have in this life so much as we're aware of what's going on, so may God energize us to finish well and take him take lessons from God's servant, Joshua and how he lived. Let's live the same way you