Obeying the Father - 23

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Please make your donation today at vision.org.au Welcome to Turning Point Weekend Edition. Like every good father, God wants His children to be successful, but not necessarily how the world defines it. Today Dr David Jeremiah shares how this truth was demonstrated in the life of Joshua. Here's David to introduce his message, Obeying the Father. Well this is a signature passage of scripture that we're turning to today to help us understand how we can be prosperous and successful according to God's definition of those two terms. The lesson we have chosen is entitled Obeying the Father.

It's next here on the Weekend Edition of Turning Point. What is it that God expects from you more than anything else? For it seems like wherever you go these days somebody has a different idea about the number one priority of the Christian life. I have been to conferences where I have been told that it is soul-winning, it is witnessing, and that if we are not doing that we are missing out on the blessing of God. I have gone to Bible conferences where it has been preached that it is the personal study of the Word of God that is the key to your life and it's the number one priority for Christians. I've even had the chance to give an address at a music conference now and again and have heard musicians stand up and talk about the priority of the Christian life being having a song in your soul and in your heart.

Depending on who you talk to these days you can get a different idea about what you need to do more than you need to do anything else in order for you to be successful. Well when we open the Bible to the first chapter of the book of Joshua we are at once put on notice that this is a chapter that has something to do with success and prosperity. As far as I know it is the only place in the Bible where you will find success and prosperity given as descriptions of the walk with God. In the seventh verse the last phrase says that thou mayest prosper wherever thou goest.

In the eighth verse it says and then thou shall have good success. I don't know any Christians who aren't interested in those two commodities being reproduced in their life. Prosperity and success. I'm not talking about material things. I'm talking about spiritual things.

Spiritually prosperous, spiritually successful. This passage in my estimation has the key to that for every Christian. It teaches us what we need to know if we're going to walk in the way of prosperity and success spiritually.

I believe it strips away all of the other priorities of the Christian experience and it gets down to the least common denominator of what's involved in having a prosperous and successful walk with God. The passage of scripture is a watershed in the life of Joshua and it's interesting to me because it is a portion of scripture that gives to us what God said to a man when he was ready to take on a new assignment. It was an address by the Lord to Joshua as he was about to pick up the mantle from Moses and take the children of Israel on into the promised land for their inheritance. If you were God, what would you say to Joshua? If you knew that his job would be to take over two million Jews into a land that was inhabited by enemies and possess that land in the name of God, you knew that it was an overwhelming task as we discover when we read this book. What would your instruction to Joshua be? Well, it's interesting to note what God told him. As we build toward the key to this passage, I want to show you along the way how God prepared this man to take on this assignment which was a challenge and which demanded everything the man had. First of all, I notice as I study the text that God convinced Joshua of past accomplishments.

You say, well what do you mean by that? Well, in essence what God did was he gave to Joshua a history course. He took Joshua back through what had happened in the past in his life as he had walked with Moses and he communicated to him the truth of the blessing of God in the past. One of the things that I noticed as I studied the first chapter was that even though this was an address given to Joshua, Moses' name keeps popping up all the time.

Every time you turn around, his name is there. For instance, the first thing God did as he taught Joshua concerning history was that he told him about the promise that he had made to Moses concerning the land. Notice verse three, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, here it is, as I said unto Moses. Joshua, just what I said to Moses, I want you to know that promise is still good. And then notice in verse five he mentions Moses' name again. He 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. Now that must have been a great deal to Joshua who, according to the first verse, had been Moses' minister. In other words, he had walked with Moses through many of the experiences where God had demonstrated himself strong in behalf of Moses. And so when the Lord said to Joshua, I'm going to be with you just like I was with Moses, I have an idea that a lot of things begin to play through the mind of that man as he remembered all that God had done for his leader. And he thought, boy, that's something God's going to do for me just what he did for Moses. Notice the third time we see Moses' name is in verse seven. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. God had given the law to Moses and God would continue to honor and to bless it in the life of Joshua.

Now by way of preliminary investigation, we learn as we study this passage of scripture that God is the same God, whether he's the God of Moses or the God of Joshua. And what he's trying to encourage Joshua to understand is that as he enters into this new venture, as he takes on this new responsibility, as this new as this new project becomes his, he can count on the same assistance that God gave to his predecessor. You know, we have the idea that God had a special blessing for those who were leaders in the past, but somehow God has run out of blessing and we're living now and he doesn't do for us what he did for them. I hear discouraged pastors say all the time, you know, God isn't doing today in the church what he used to do.

I don't believe that. And I personally am naive enough to believe that what God did for somebody back there, he's willing to do for anybody if they'll just lock into his program. And I'd like to encourage those of you who are involved in ministry, when you get discouraged, you grab hold of something that tells about what God did for somebody in the past and read it with the same question in your heart, why not? And a lot of those stories are right here in this book we call the Bible. So God gave Joshua a history course.

Now I would never have thought of that. I never in the world would have thought of sitting down my new leader and saying, now before you take your new assignment, I'd like to give you some history. The second thing that God did as he prepared this man was this. Not only did he convince him of past accomplishments, but he challenged him with some proper attitudes. Throughout the text, we are reminded of the attitudes that God expects from his servants. First of all, he told him that he was to be strong. Notice verse 6, be strong. Verse 7, only be thou strong. Verse 9, have not I commanded thee, be strong. And you get the idea that God expected Joshua to be strong. Three times he told him that it was important for him to have strength and firmness of character.

God knew what Joshua would face when the challenges came. He knew that he needed to develop an attitude of resolute determination to accomplish the objective that God had set before him, with strength. Someone reminded me a long time ago that the problem with most Christians is that they do not understand that triumph in the Christian life is made up of try and umph. When you put those two together, you have triumph. Strength, determination.

Notice the second attitude. He said, be courageous. Verse 6, be strong and of a good courage. Verse 7, be strong and very courageous. Verse 9, have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage.

Three times, God said to Joshua, don't lose heart. Don't get discouraged. You see, discourage is the lack of courage. Don't let your courage be taken away from you. I don't know about you, but I find many discouraged people today in the church.

The climate that we find in our country economically and internationally and all of that brings to us a tendency to be discouraged. There are many discouraged men in the ministry and I can tell you for a fact it's easy for that to happen. But the best way to keep discouragement from happening is to develop an attitude of courage and with determination to lay hold of the promises God has given you. He said, Joshua, I want you to be strong.

I want you to be courageous. And then notice the third attitude he gave him in the ninth verse. And he said, don't be afraid or dismayed. Now the word dismayed really is a word which means to lose your orientation. And sometimes that happens in the midst of great challenges. You get overwhelmed with all that you sense God wants you to do and before you know it, you begin to lose your orientation or your direction. And God said to Joshua, don't you be afraid and don't you lose your orientation.

You remember where your strength is and you stay on target. So God gave him a course of history and he told him about the past accomplishments. And then he gave him some proper attitudes. Now I want you to notice thirdly that God gave him a particular assignment. You know there's nothing worse than knowing you're supposed to do something but not knowing for sure exactly what it is.

I think it's a very frustrating thing to be involved in a responsibility where you're not sure what's in your job description. God gave to Joshua a particular assignment. Notice what he said. He said, you are to go over the land and to possess it. And every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you. Even as I said unto Moses, verse two, now arise go over and possess. That's simple.

That's simple. God said, Joshua here's your job. You're to go over to the land, you're to get up first, go over to the land and take possession of that land. And every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that's yours.

Joshua you better get up and get walking. Get that land under tow. That's your property. Your job is to possess the land. Now you know Joshua may have wondered, well Lord how much of the land can I walk on? And so God is so specific he gives him the boundaries. In fact he draws a map for him. He says, Joshua from the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, under the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, all of this shall be your border.

Joshua here's your assignment, here's your land, now do it. You know what I've discovered as I've read the Bible? That there are very few things about which I need to be in doubt. You know we have the doctrine of the doubtful things. And there are certainly some things that may fit into that gray area that we don't have any clear word from God on. But you know the vast majority of the Christian life is not lived in the doubtful things. The vast majority of the Christian life is lived over here where we have a clear word for God. Now there are a lot of Christians who like to take the clear word of God and move it over into the doubtful things because that makes them more comfortable when they don't do it. But the scripture is so very clear with personal and particular assignments for the children of God.

We don't have to be in doubt. We're not wandering around trying to figure out what it is that God expects of us. If we will study this book, we'll discover that God has given to us a particular assignment. There's not anything that brings more security to the heart than to know what God expects you to do.

And that's what happened. He was given a particular assignment. Now with his past accomplishments in his mind and with these proper attitudes instilled within his spirit and with this particular assignment down on paper and ready to go, the next thing God gives to Joshua to get him ready is a plan of action. He gives him an action plan that'll help him to accomplish his assignment.

And this is the real core of what I want to share with you. God has given to every Christian, to all of us who are believers, he has given to us a plan of action. And my friends, that plan of action is in this book. It's called Bible.

This is God's plan of action. This is what God has given to us so that we would know what he wants us to do. Now you say, pastor, I hope it's not going to be another one of those situations where I come to church and the preacher stands up and he naively says, now if you want to be blessed of God, just read the Bible. And then I leave with my Bible under my arm and right back to the same kind of discouragement I've known.

Well, I want you to know I'm not going to let you off the hook that easy. I have some things to share with you from this text that go beyond just a general statement concerning the word of God. It is true that this book is God's plan of action for all of us. But it is also true that it is conditioned upon our response to the word of God as we find it in these verses of scripture. And there are several responses, several responsibilities that God gives to us concerning the Bible that determine whether or not we will be successful and prosperous in our Christian experience. So as we look at the plan of action, notice first of all that this book, if it is to work for us in our lives, we must first of all read it obediently. You say, isn't that the way everybody reads it?

No. In fact, there are two mentions in this text of a principle which the more I understand about it, the more I believe is the most dynamic principle in Bible study that you'll find any place in the scripture. If I had to say there's one principle in the word of God that will open up the scriptures to you more than any other principle, it's right here and here it is. It's wrapped up in this phrase, observe to do, observe to do. Notice verse seven, only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do.

Verse eight, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do. Read it obediently. Now what that means men and women is that when you open this book and begin to study its contents you do it with one perspective, with one goal, and that goal is wrapped up in that phrase.

You're observing it to do it. You're reading it to understand it that you might put it into practice in your life. Most Christians read the Bible in order to discover what it says so that they can then decide whether or not they want to do it. And that's why more of the word of God is not opened up to Christians. You see the Bible teaches us that God will only give to us that which we implement in our lives. To those who have, he gives more.

To those who have not, he takes away. In other words, if you don't put into practice what God teaches you from this book, your Bible knowledge ends there. That explains why some men of God who have risen to the top in Christianity as leaders, as teachers, as educators, as preachers, many of them have been men without any formal training at all. Men who have come up through the method of personal Bible study where they've just opened this book every day and read it and studied it and whatever they read they went out and did it. And the more they read and the more they did the more God revealed to him of his will.

So that as they walked in the light they were given more light. And God is saying to Joshua as he says to us that if you want to know the blessing of God in your life, if you want to know what it means to be prosperous and successful, principle number one in your plan of action must be that you read the word of God with a determination that whatever God says to you as you read it, that's what you're going to do. No holes barred, no conditions, no hidden agenda. Lord this is your revelation to me and as I study it and read it and understand it, by your grace I'm going to do it. Read it obediently.

And then God says, now Joshua that's not all. After you understand that I want to teach you another principle about your plan of action. You not only read it obediently but number two you must meditate in it continually. Notice what it says in verse eight, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Once you understand that you're supposed to do what you understand then you need to understand more.

And you need to make the book a part of your life. You need to make the scripture a part of your being. You need to so involve yourself in the word of God, meditating upon it, reading it, studying it, memorizing it, so that as it becomes a part of your life it literally takes over.

It becomes the controlling factor in your conduct. That's what it means in the New Testament. It says we're to bring every thought into captivity under Christ. As we let the word of God so fill our lives and our minds and our spirits it literally gets into the driver's seat in our being so that every time we face a challenge during the day, every time we have a decision that we have to make, we have so filled our minds with God's word that God's word just takes over and makes the decision for us. We are so saturated with the truth from this book because we have meditated in it day and night. Notice thirdly, not only was he to read it obediently and to meditate in it continually, but he was to believe it totally. Joshua, if he followed the Lord's instruction, could never have been a modern day liberal preacher because God did not give him the option of choosing which part of this book he was going to implement in his ministry.

He told him that he had to do all of it from the beginning to the end. Verse 7 says, all the law that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law. This book of the law, verse 8 says, shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. Would it be nice if we could choose which part of the Bible we liked? I can tell you some sections right now I'd like to get rid of because they really bother me and I really struggle with some of that truth. Wouldn't it be nice if the Lord would give you a four out of five, you know? You hit five parts and you only have to take four.

Or it could be a multiple choice but it isn't like that, is it? God has given us the whole thing and we have to believe it from the beginning to the end. That's what we call plenary inspiration. It's all God's word and it's culturally understood and interpreted and all of that. I know all of that but the truth of this book is ours from the beginning to the end and God makes us responsible for it all. The totality of it. He is to read it obediently and meditate in it continually and to believe it totally.

Now here's where the rubber meets the road. He is to follow it exclusively. Notice verse 7. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee.

Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. He was to set his face like a flint upon the star of the word of God and he was to keep his eyes on that and he wasn't to go off here or off there but to stay right in the groove. This was to be the sole source of instruction for his life. Every time he had a question he was to come back to this book. Every time he didn't know what to do he was to let this book solve that problem in his life and he wasn't allowed to compromise it at all.

He had no leniency given to him to go this way or that way. Oh if there's anything that's going on in the Christian church today it certainly is that. Men and women are compromising the word of God and I hear it all the time. We explain it away by way of our culture. We say that certainly God wouldn't expect this of us in a day such as this day.

We explain it away in terms of our own habits and our own practices and I've learned that one of the most dangerous things that happens to all of us as Christians is that sometimes we determine what we're going to do and then we try to figure out a way to make our theology fit our practice and we begin to compromise what God's book has to say. But God said to Joshua, Joshua here's my plan of action. Now it's not one of many plans of action and it's not something that you mix with your own thoughts or the thoughts of a humanistic world but here is my plan and you follow it exclusively. You stay right on track. Don't you go this way or that way.

Let this be your goal and your guide. The exclusiveness of the word of God. I remember reading some time ago a statement written by Henry Drummond in which he said there's a great instrument for finding God's will. This instrument can penetrate where others cannot go.

It is a name which every child may understand even as the stupendous instrument itself with all its mighty powers is sometimes moved in infant hands when others have tried in vain. The name of that instrument he said is obedience. Willingness to obey. Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness if we had perfect confidence in the power that we are obeying. God says that the secret to success and prosperity in your life is all wrapped up in this thought that you have his plan and you're willing to do it. You know that's the source of frustration that all of us face. That's the source of the frustration in your life if you're a Christian today.

You know what God has said and you know where you are and you know what God's standard is and you know where you're living and you just are struggling continually to get up to where God's standard is because you don't want to obey and sometimes even when we obey we do it with the wrong spirit. I remember a story about a little boy who was misbehaving at the breakfast table one day and his mother finally in exasperation said Johnny you go and sit in that chair till I tell you you can get up. Well he didn't do it he just sort of played around by the table and finally she said to him again Johnny I'm not going to tell you again you get in that chair and you sit there until I tell you you can get up. And finally after he sat on the edge of the chair for a moment and got up she went over as parents are prone to do and she took hold of him by the shoulders and she literally put him over in that chair and she sat him down with authority and she said Johnny you sit in that chair.

A few minutes later he looked up at her and he said well okay I'm sitting down on the outside but I'm standing up on the inside. That's the way a lot of Christians obey the word of God. They're doing what God wants them to do on the outside but there's not a willing obedience in their heart to do what God asked them to do. God has given to Joshua all he needs to know to be successful as he takes on this new assignment and that success is wrapped up in his plan of action. Now let me just add one thing along with the plan of action. God comforts Joshua with the promise of assistance.

This is the most exciting thing in the whole text. Verse 9 says, for the Lord thy God is with thee wherever thou goest. You know you have all that God has done for this man. You have his instruction, his plan of action, but the most important thing that he needed to hear from God is he took on this overwhelming assignment was the reality that he wasn't going at it alone, that God was going to be with him.

How was he going to be with him? Remember what he said earlier, as I was with Moses so I will be with you. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. If you go through the scripture you will find almost inevitably that wherever God gives us a difficult command there is always attached to it a promise of his assistance. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the age. The promise of God's assistance. Are you aware of the fact that if you're in the center of God's will, being obedient to his word, doing what he's asked you to do, that you have been guaranteed by the scripture the personal presence and assistance of almighty God.

How can you ever go wrong if we could only understand that to trust God's will, that to trust and obey, there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but just to trust and obey. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. You can also view Turning Point television on free to air channel 7 2 Sunday mornings at 8 and on ACC TV Sundays at 6 30 a.m and Friday afternoons at 1. We invite you to join us again next weekend as Dr David Jeremiah shares another powerful message from God's word right here on Turning Point weekend edition. Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from vision Christian media to find out more about us go to vision.org.au