Title: Living by Faith
Text: Joshua 1:1-9

The book of Joshua is the continuation of the pilgrimage of Israel to the "Promised Land." But it is also a book about the man Joshua. Joshua's life is an illustration of the power of faith, and teaches us the key to victorious living. The principles he lived by and through which he found success are the same ones we can live by to be victorious in Christ. The essential element of that life is faith.

We talk a lot about faith, each of us needs to know the power of faith in our lives that we might become more than conquerors (Rom 8:37). The Bible says faith is the victory that overcomes the world. (1 Jn 5:4) It was by faith Joshua overcame in his world.

Joshua was born a slave in Egypt but was chosen to follow Moses as the leader of Israel. He was the man God used to fulfill His promises regarding the land of Canaan.  Joshua had been Moses Chief of Staff - he assisted him, ministered to him led the armies into battle. He watched and learned as God led Moses. He experienced the supernatural deliverance from Egypt, he watched as the hand of God part the Red Sea, he saw as an entire generation of his peers die while wandering in the wilderness in judgment. He also saw the grace of God sustain the nation during that same 40 years.

It was time for him to assume the mantle of power as the leader of the nation. He was ready to accept this challenge. The bible says he was a man filled with the Spirit and wisdom of God (Num 27:18), a man who followed God fully (Num 32:12). He was a man to lead a nation and a man to teach us how to live by faith.

In this passage we see the challenge of faith, the command to be obedient, and the demand of fidelity.

First the challenge of faith. God told Joshua (v. 2) arise and cross this Jordan. Joshua had been here before. He and Caleb were the two spies out of the twelve sent to into the land by Moses who were ready to move in 40 years ago. He was fully aware of the consequences of unbelief, he knew the danger of disobedience. His challenge was to go forward and trust God.

That's the way faith is. It always challenges us to do something. When we were children we were challenged to take those first steps and believe our legs would hold us up. We were challenged to ride that bicycle and believe those training wheels would keep the bike from falling over even if it seemed unsteady and we were again challenged when those wheels came off to believe that we could stay upright on those two wheels without falling we faced all kinds of challenges to do something and trust they could be done such as roller skating or roller blading, driving was certainly one of those challenges even more for those who learned to drive in the days before power steering and synchronized transmissions. All of those were challenges were in a real sense challenges of faith - faith in our legs, faith in our ability, faith in the bicycle or the car.

Spiritually we are challenged by faith in the same way. Only it is faith of a different nature. Faith in the power of God and faith in the promises of God, but always faith that challenges us to do something. Faith challenges us to examine the claims of God concerning creation, sin salvation, Jesus Christ and the Bible. Faith challenges us to take that first step into the aisle of a church to say I have placed my faith in Jesus Christ. It challenges us to say no when everyone else is saying yes, to say yes when others are saying no. It challenges us to take a stand when we know we may have to stand alone. Faith challenges us to trust God when we think we know best, to live for Jesus when the world says live for self, to give when the world says get, to go when the world says stay.

Faith challenged Joshua to depend on the promises of God. The Lord told Joshua "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. (V. 3, NAS) He said "No man will {be able to} stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. (V. 5, NAS) Now you have to get up and cross the Jordan.

Faith also challenges us to depend on the promises of God, rather than the promises of the world. The world allures with the promise of fame. Fortune, excitement yet often leaves only emptiness. I heard a radio interview recently with a person who was a close friend of Elvis Presley. Presley was a success in every sense of the word by the worlds standards but not long before his death he said I'm lonely and unhappy. Fame and fortune couldn't bring peace into his life.

Jesus said he gave peace. We've talked about that before, a peace unlike the worlds, because His peace continues even in the face of troubles and trials. The challenge of faith is to trust the Lord to bring that kind of peace into you life. Jesus promised I will be with you always (Matt 28:20); I have prepared a place for you; I will give you rest. Faith challenges us to accept and depend on His promises.

That's where the command to be obedient comes in. Joshua was given a specific task to get up and cross the Jordan that required his obedience. The Bible teaches that to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22). In other words obedience is better than lip service.

When being questioned about His Authority Jesus used this illustration of obedience in Matt 21:28-31:  28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'  29 "And he answered and said, 'I will, sir'; and he did not go.  30 "And he came to the second and said the same thing. But he answered and said, 'I will not'; {yet} he afterward regretted {it} and went."  Then He asked those religious leaders who were questioning Him, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The latter." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. (NAS)

Why? Because of a failure to be obedient to God. They had begun to serve him externally and ritually. They were doing the right things for the wrong reasons. They were making sacrifices, but were not being obedient to Him.

We are commanded to obey God. Paul said the things you have learned and heard and seen do. This command concerns every area of our lives. Our task is not simply to attend church, but to worship God, not simply to have a Bible but to study the Bible, not simply to study the Bible but to apply it's truths to our lives.

Sometimes we are commanded to specific tasks, some are called to be pastors and teachers and missionaries within the body of Christ. I believe we are also called to specific tasks in other areas as well and often a person who is obedient to God's call outside of vocational ministry has the opportunity to influence many people vocational ministers can never reach.

We are also called to nonspecific obedience as well. By that I mean we are all called to be salt and light, to live holy lives, to be firm in our faith and always ready to give an account for the hope in us. These are general commands where being obedient to them can be expressed in as many different ways as there are different individuals.

Faith is active and dynamic it challenges us to be light when all around is darkness. Faith commands us to be obedient to the will of God and the rule of God in every area of our lives.

Faith also demands fidelity or faithfulness to the Word of God. In verses 7 and 8 we are introduced to the principle of fidelity. The Lord speaking to Joshua said, "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. " This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall 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. (NAS)

God gave to Israel the book of the law as their guide for faith and practice. We have been given God's revelation in the Bible as our guide for faith and practice. One of the greatest threats to Christianity in a postmodern world is the undermining of the authority of the Bible.

We might expect such from those outside the faith such as the ABC special The Search for Jesus with Peter Jennings that purportedly was to be an unbiased scholarly presentation. However, it was clear from the outset that it was far from scholarly and far from being unbiased.

About the miracles of Jesus, for example, Jennings said dismissively that "most scholars we talked to think these stories were invented by the Gospel writers as advertisements for Christianity in its early years. Christianity, after all, was competing for followers with Judaism and with Greek and Roman pagan religions." Similar assertions were made about the virgin birth, the resurrection and all points in between. At numerous points Jennings said, "Many historians don't believe" the Gospel narrative. And the so called scholars interviewed were predominantly members of the Jesus Seminar, a very liberal group that gets together ever so often and votes on whether the things Jesus said or did. Not one conservative biblical scholars were interviewed at all. Yet the Jennings continually gave the impression that what was reported was the generally accepted view of Christian scholarship, and it was not.

What's more troubling is the fact that within the church itself the Bible is actually under attack. The essential Christian doctrines of faith are being replaced by more politically correct less confrontational doctrines. The fallible mind of man is being substituted for the infallible, inerrant revelation of God.

But just as God command Joshua to be faithful to the Law he commands us to be faithful to His Word. All Scripture, Paul wrote, is God breathed and the Bible declares that ". . .the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Heb 4:12 (NAS)

In presenting the gospel message Paul made appeal to the truth and authority of the scriptures in 1 Cor 15:3-4 He wrote, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (NAS) While we know Paul was referring to the Old Testament Peter understood that the things written by Paul were just as valid and just as much scripture as that which was written in the Old Testament he wrote in 2 Pet 3:15-16, "and regard the patience of our Lord {to be} salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all {his} letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as {they do} also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (NAS)

Jesus said, ". . .blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it." (Luke 11:28 NAS). We must remain faithful to the Word of God. Blessed are those who head and observe not those who don't like what it says and decided to change it to suit themselves. Today we have those who would deny the major tenants of the faith even that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation as clearly revealed in the Bible. It has been called just another book, but make no mistake history past present and future will bear witness that it is more than just another book.

The attack of the Bible, however, is really nothing new. More than a hundred years ago in 1874 the Scriptures were also under attack by critics, and John W. Haley published a defense entitled Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible. In the preface he wrote, "Finally, let it be remembered that the Bible is neither dependent upon nor affected by the success or failure of my book. Whatever may become of the latter, whatever may be the verdict passed upon it by an intelligent public, the Bible will stand. In the ages yet to be, when its present assailants and defenders are moldering in the dust, and when our very names are forgotten, (God's Word) will be, as it has been during the centuries past, the guide and solace of millions."

The Bible is the word of God given to man. It derives it's authority from God Himself (2 Tim 3:16-17). It is the written word which testifies of and bears witness to the Living Word - Jesus Christ. The church will rise or fall depending on its fidelity to the Scripture.

He concluded the book of Romans this way: "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, {leading} to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. (16:25-27 NAS)

We must face the challenges of life by accepting the challenge of faith trusting Christ completely, we must fulfill the command to be obedient in all areas of our lives and we must remain faithful to His holy Word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps 119:105) to guard our way. It is the anchor that holds us to Christ Jesus and allows us to live by faith. And faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

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