Obedience of Joshua

Introduction: The Narrative of Achan's Sin and Its Purging

0:04 We turn again this morning to Joshua chapter 7 as we continue our studies in this very searching portion of the word of God which focuses on the narrative of the sin of this man Achan. Achan, the man notorious only because of his sin, an infamous notoriety, from such we trust God will graciously deliver us. I would ask you to follow as I read this morning Joshua chapter 7 verses 10 through 18.

0:47 Joshua and the elders having sought the face of God concerning the reason for the defeated Ai, the Lord now speaks and says,

1:24 Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they are become accursed. I will not be with you anymore except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you. Up, sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.

1:47 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, there is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come near by families.

2:12 And the family which the Lord shall take shall come near by households. And the household which the Lord shall take shall come near man by man. And it shall be that he...

2:25 He that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire. He and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, because he hath wrought folly in Israel. So the Lord...

2:41 So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. And the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the family of Judah. And he took the family of the Zerahites.

2:55 And he brought... He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man.

2:59 And Zabdiah was taken. And he brought near his household man by man. And Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdiah, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

3:16 Having laid strong emphasis upon the setting of this narrative and its abiding significance for the people of God in all ages, we are presently working... We are making our way through the substance of the story of Achan, which I have suggested, as I have suggested, breaks into three large divisions.

3:38 We have this simple statement in verse 1 of the commission of the sin of Achan. Beginning with verse 1c and down through verse 5, we have the sin of Achan in its fruition. And then from verse 6 to the end of the chapter, we have the sin of Achan. In its purgation from Israel.

4:02 And in the recent weeks, we have been focusing upon verses 6 through the end of the chapter, which contain the main bulk of the narrative dealing with the manner in which God purged sin from the people of Israel. We saw that the preparation for purging in verses 6 to 9 was the prayer of Joshua and the elders. And then in the following paragraph, verses 10 to 15, we have the directions for purging. In this pronouncement of God.

4:32 And now we come this morning to the third paragraph under the general heading of the purging of the sin of Achan. And this paragraph has to do with the obedience of Joshua recorded in verse 16. Then the discovery of Achan, verses 16 to 18. And then the charge to Achan in verse 19.

4:53 The confession of Achan in verse 20 and 21. And then the judgment upon Achan. Achan in the following paragraph. This morning we will focus upon but two matters in the text.

The Obedience of Joshua: A Simple Yet Profound Statement

5:07 First of all, the obedience of Joshua in verses 16a and b. And then the discovery of Achan in verse 16c through verse 18. First of all, then, the obedience of Joshua. God has spoken in these very sobering words, telling Joshua, that he is to get up off his face.

5:31 He has given an indictment concerning the sin of Israel. He has delivered an ultimatum. He will not be with them unless the devoted thing is destroyed. He has called Joshua, who in turn is to call the nation to corporate sanctification.

5:48 He has given a pattern for inquisition. And then he has given this mandate for retribution. And in response to that pronouncement of God, the scripture is beautiful. In its artless simplicity when it tells us, So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes.

6:12 Here is a very simple statement of the obedience of Joshua. The task laid upon him was no pleasant task. It was no easy task. And yet of Joshua it is said, He rose up early, and he brought Israel near by their tribes.

Joshua's Character: Sensitivity, Lack of Natural Courage, and Self-Effacement

6:33 And as I was meditating upon this portion, recording for us the obedience of Joshua, the question that burned in my own conscience and mind was this, Why could Joshua move as it were so easily to obey so difficult a mandate from God? Was it because that by nature Joshua was an insensitive man? A man who because he had seen blood and would yet see much more blood as the leader of the conquering armies of Israel was rather indifferent to nasty tasks? Like the mercenary soldier who kills for money and feels no twinge of pain when he sees people twitching in the throes of death and then dying? And as I began to read the light that scripture throws upon the character of Joshua, I became convinced, more and more, that the answer to this obedience of Joshua did not lie in what we might call his natural temperament or acquired attitudes as a man of blood and a man of battle. In a very real sense the scripture indicates that Joshua was a very sensitive man. We might even call him the Timothy of the Old Testament.

7:49 You'll notice in this very narrative when he seizes by the revelation of God this man Achan, who has brought death to thirty-some-odd Israelites, who has crippled a whole nation, who has brought reproach upon the name of God, he does not deal with him in a harshness that might be considered legitimate in those circumstances. But in verse 19 we read that Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to God. Treating him with a form of respect, the address of a superior to an inferior, but in a context of personal respect. And then flipping back through the narrative concerning Joshua, and I can only give you some highlights to put this in its proper setting, there is a clear indication that he was not a man of natural courage. Three times in his commission in chapter 1 of the book of Joshua, God must speak to him concerning the necessity of courage. Verse 19, verse 5 of Joshua chapter 1, 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.

9:05 I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage. Indicating that he was not these things by nature. Be strong and of a good courage.

9:19 Verse 7, Only be strong and very courageous. Verse 9, Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Why does God have to repeat this?

9:30 Well, I think the answer is very clear. Courage and strength was not natural to this man. And as we read back through the history of Israel and the associations of Joshua with Moses, this element in his character comes through with increasing clarity. We read in Numbers 12, 1 and following, the rebellion of Aaron, and of Miriam against the leadership of Moses.

9:57 But there is no indication that Joshua ever rebelled against that leadership. You see, Joshua had measured himself by true greatness and he knew his own size and stature. Any man who must measure himself by true greatness has a sense of his own worth. And so Joshua was willing to take the place of the very servant of Moses, the servant of Moses.

10:24 We read that in Exodus 17, 9 and 24, 13. He was the servant of Moses. And there is an interesting incident recorded in Numbers 11, 24 and following. And I turn you to it just briefly so that we might enter into the heart of this statement in Joshua 7, 16.

10:43 Numbers 11 and verse 24. And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he said unto them, I am the Lord of the seven hundred and seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tent. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders.

11:04 And it came to pass, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and they did so no more. But there remained two men in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the spirit rested upon them.

11:18 And they were not of them that were written, that is of the seventy, but had not gone out unto the tent, and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My Lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake?

11:44 You see something of the spirit of Joshua. So content was he that Moses be God's man, so free from personal ambition, that when it looked like there might be two people to usurp a place that didn't belong to him, he's ready to forbid them. And Moses says, Art thou jealous for my sake? It was misplaced zeal, but it reveals a virtue in his character.

12:06 The virtue of self-effacement, a willingness to be but the servant, living under the shadow of this great man. And he had these graces because his Numbers 27.18 tells us, He was a man in whom the spirit dwelt. And any who say that the spirit did not dwell in men in the Old Testament are running counter to the explicit statements of the word of God.

The Resolute and Thorough Nature of Joshua's Obedience

12:32 For Numbers 27.18 says of Joshua he was a man, not only upon whom the spirit came for specific duties, but in whom the spirit dwelt as an indwelling power to make him a gracious man. And therefore if he was indwelt by the spirit, he knew the fruit of the spirit, which was not only love and joy and peace, but a sense of his own inadequacy, a sense of his own sin, things that make any man reluctant to stand in judgment upon another fellow sinner. And yet the scripture says, Joshua rose early in the morning and brought near the children of Israel, tribe by tribe. Why then is Joshua's obedience resolute and thorough? He rises early in the morning showing the resolute determination to obey with alacrity and with immediacy. And then his obedience is thorough.

13:37 He did exactly as God commanded in each detail, though he did not know. It might be one of his own blood brothers who shall be taken. It might be one of his own brothers who shall be taken. It might be one of his own children.

13:51 It might be one of his favorite cousins. It might be one of his favorite uncles. It might be one of his most intimate personal friends. But Joshua obeys with resoluteness and with thoroughness.

14:02 Why? Well, we've answered the question negatively. It is not because of something inherent in his own temperament. Well, if it wasn't something inherent in his own temperament, it must have been something implanted by the grace of God.

Four Reasons for Joshua's Obedience: God's Clear Word and Presence

14:17 There are four things that are the reasons for this obedience of Joshua. Four things that were attendant upon God's grace in him and to him, and then by application four things which, if in us and operative in us, will enable us, like Joshua, to be obedient not only in the duties that are pleasant, but in those duties laid upon us by the word of God that run counter to everything we are by nature and even the best instincts of what we are as men and women in a state of grace. I suggest first of all that Joshua obeyed because he had a clear word from the living God. God had spoken. Having been on his face, as we studied in verses 6 to 9, it was the Lord God who said unto Joshua and gave him this command, this rebuke, this indictment, this ultimatum and then this clear mandate. And once God has spoken with clarity, there is only one of two things you and I can do.

15:30 We either obey in humble obedience or we disobey in brazen rebellion and delayed obedience is of the essence of disobedience. There is no middle ground between humble obedience and brazen disobedience. Once the word of God has come through with clarity, there is no manana. There is no tabling of the issue till the next board meeting.

16:06 When God has spoken, the creature must bow in humble obedience or rear back in brazen disobedience and rebellion. Now there are many times when we move haltingly because the path of obedience is not clear. It's like a man going down a very familiar path which in the daytime he can run at breakneck speed when the light of the sun illumines his way because it's wide enough and though there are ditches in the left hand and the right in many windings, under the light of the sun he can make his way quickly. But at night time, he may grope his way very carefully and cautiously down that same path. There are times in the lives of God's people when their obedience is like the halting step of a man in the dark because the course before them is not clear. There are those times relative to our career and major decisions and matters that involve a complexity of biblical principles when we just have to say, Lord, I dare do nothing but stand still. I feel if I move backward, I may be sinning.

17:21 If I move forward, I may be sinning. To move left is dangerous and to move right is dangerous. So we have to stand and wait upon God, the whole biblical discipline of waiting. But my brothers and sisters, those periods are relatively rare when compared to the many times when the path of obedience is as plain as the nose upon our faces.

17:45 And we should be able to say with the psalmist, I will run in the way of thy commandments. Here was a case in which the son of God's revelation broke upon Joshua's path and it was high noon. Up! Sanctify the people.

18:06 Call them to corporate national sanctification. Bring them near tribe by tribe. When the tribe is taken, when the household, when the family, when the man, stone him, burn him, heap stones upon him, purge sin from Israel, Joshua could not move with halting, faltering step and say, O Lord, thou knowest I have so little life, I must move cautiously. Once God had so spoken, there was not to do but to obey.

18:37 And I suggest to you that Joshua's obedience so beautifully described in those words, he rose up early in the morning, resolute obedience, thorough obedience, was rooted in the fact that he had a clear word from the living God. And Joshua had been convinced in his commission that such obedience to clear words from God was the way that the path was paved with and for the blessing of God. For God had told him in verse 7, Be strong and courageous to observe, to do according to all the law which my servant Moses commanded thee. Turn not from the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. And the same God who spoke from the mountain to Moses and embodied that revelation in the law was the God who had spoken as Joshua was prostrate before the tabernacle.

19:56 And once he had a clear word from God, he had to obey. But secondly, his obedience was so resolute and thorough because he not only had a clear word from the living God, but he had a present sense of direct dealings with the living God. Will you look at the text? And you will notice this little phrase.

20:20 Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. Verse 17. And he brought near the family of Judah. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites.

20:37 Verse 18. And he brought near his household. Now what does that phrase mean? Well it does not mean that he brought them near to himself.

20:47 But this phrase has reference to being brought near to that peculiar dwelling place of the God of Israel. It's the way of telling us that all of this transaction occurred or these transactions in close proximity to the tabernacle and to that place where God's visible presence was manifested. God's command was that all of their dealings would be in the context of this peculiar nearness with the living God. Now what was the purpose of this?

21:24 The purpose was that Joshua might know and that all of the nation might know that they were having present dealings with the living God himself. And when you know you're standing in the presence of that one whose glory is such that if any dare enter in to that peculiar place where his glory is manifested, if he dare enter unauthorized and unprepared, he will be struck dead. When you know you're dealing with that God, my friend, there's no dickering with God. There's no debating.

22:05 There's no sitting down and bargaining. When you know that you're having direct dealings with the living God, a sobriety seizes your spirit. And has a tremendous and powerful effect in making the very thought of hesitation or disobedience a frightening issue. And so Joshua, though everything in his temperament, everything in him by nature, and even the best actings of the principles of love and forbearance and gentleness and the realization of his own potential for sin, everything would have kept him from rising that morning to obey with resoluteness and thoroughness. Nonetheless, he thus obeys because he knew that he was having direct dealings with the living God. And it was this very thing, you see, that had gripped the heart of Joshua. God's most frightening threat to Joshua was not, you won't be able to eat milk and honey unless you deal with this thing.

23:16 You won't be able to do this or that. The thing that God threatened that struck fear to Joshua's heart was this, I will not be with you. I'll take my presence from you. That was the issue in the ultimatum of God.

23:31 I will not be with you. Joshua, draw near. I am with you. My presence and my glory is manifested in the tabernacle, in that holiest of places.

Four Reasons for Joshua's Obedience: Living Faith and Zeal for God's Honor

23:42 But that presence will be gone unless you obey. He was conscious of having direct dealings with the living God. But thirdly, not only was his obedience rooted in the fact that he had a clear word from the living God, present sense of direct dealings with the living God, but he had a living faith in the living God. You see, Joshua fed upon that unseen world of spiritual reality.

24:13 And that's what faith does. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith feeds upon the unseen world of spiritual reality. If I were to bring a little transistor radio into this room, what would the transistors and all of the elements of that radio, if I may use the analogy, feed upon?

24:37 What is it ingesting in order to spill out voices and music? It's feeding upon the unseen radio. The unseen radio waves that are filling this room. They're here.

24:52 I can't touch them. I can't pull them out. But that little transistor can feed upon them and then spill out music, voices and all the rest. What does faith do?

25:02 Faith feeds upon the unseen world of spiritual reality. And the fact that it's unseen does not mean it's not real any more than the fact that I cannot with these ears hear the many, many sounds that are filling this room. For most of it that's filling the airwaves would be enough to drive a man insane. But it's here.

25:21 And if we could all have a transistor and turn it on to a different station, it would all be made manifest. That world is there. Though with these senses and these faculties I cannot touch it and feed upon it, but the proper instrument can. And so faith feeds upon the unseen world of spiritual reality.

25:39 And Joshua was a man who obeyed in the manner in which he obeyed because such things as the light of God's countenance, the glory of God's smile, the terror of God's frown, the awesomeness of the throne of judgment, these were present and burning realities. They were the daily food of Joshua's soul. And when a crisis came, he acted in accordance with the basic bent of his heart and his inward disposition. You see, a crisis never creates anything.

26:15 It simply pulls back the veil and shows what's been there all the while. A crisis never creates anything new. It simply reveals what's been there all along. And when this crisis in the history of Israel came, in which Joshua was called upon to do something that was contrary to everything in him, nonetheless he rose early and he brought Israel near.

26:44 Why? Because he had a living faith in the living God. He lived in that unseen world of spiritual reality. And he was able to say to himself, what are my feelings?

26:55 What are my natural sensibilities? What is the possible frown of my people whom I leave? What are all these things? It is God's face that counts.

27:05 It is the light of his countenance. It is his smile. It is his frown which alone matter. And then in the fourth place, Joshua obeyed with this resoluteness and thoroughness.

27:16 Because he was possessed with a burning zeal for the honor of God. Verse 9 forms the apex of his prayer. The Canaanites and the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will compass us round and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do for thy great name?

27:41 You see, the apex of his prayer is, O God, though there is the tragedy of our own personal defeat, though there is the agony of the realization of what may come to us individually and as families and as a people, Lord, your name is upon Israel. Your glory stands to be seen or revealed, or your name stands to be blasphemed. And because his heart was committed to the principle of the honor of God, he knew that God's honor hinged on the ability to conquer. And he knew they could not conquer unless sin was purged.

28:19 Therefore, Joshua's regard for the honor of God rode like a mighty steed over everything that stood in its way. There was his personal disinclination for this awful, awesome task. Bring them near tribe by tribe. And God is saying, there's no doubt of the issue.

28:39 I'll find that man. And when I get him, this is what you're to do to him. Everything in Joshua, personal disinclination, a natural aversion, temperamental indisposition. But what was it that made him ride over all of those obstacles?

28:58 It was this burning passion and zeal for the honor and the glory of the God of Israel. Now I've just expounded. Now I want to apply. Joshua's obedience is but a little reflection of the obedience of the greater Joshua, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who likewise when in the history of his own sojourn was brought to that place where every single thing in him recoiled at the thought of what obedience to his father might bring.

Application: Obedience of the Greater Joshua and the Christian

29:35 Everything in him recoiling in an agony of sweat and prayer, the likes of which we shall never know. He cries out, not my will, but thine be done. He that betrayeth me as at hand arise, let us be going. And our Lord himself is the one embodied in the greatest measure with these principles.

30:04 And blessed is that Christian who like Joshua in his or her dealings with God has learned to obey resolutely and thoroughly because these four things, these four great spiritual principles are the part and parcel of the inner life. There was another occasion when Joshua rose early to do a delightful deed. God said it's time to pass over Jordan. And Joshua 3.1 says he rose up early in the morning to call them to this joyous national experience. We're going to pass over Jordan. There's a morning when he got up with the bells ringing and the hallelujahs throwing out of his mouth. And if he had a shower that morning he woke up the whole family singing praises to his God.

30:52 What a blessed, blessed task to have laid upon one's shoulder to lead the people of God through to their inheritance. But I tell you this morning there were no bells ringing. There was no singing in the shower. But he rose early in the morning and he obeyed God.

31:11 Joshua had learned what some of us have yet to learn. That our obedience is not to stop in terms of the barriers of natural temperament, our training, good or bad, our past patterns and all of these other things. Nor is our obedience to be shaped by what is pleasant or convenient. Listen to me this morning.

31:38 If you don't know what it is to obey God at the expense of trampling underfoot your own natural temperament, past patterns, disinclination of the flesh, you are no Christian. For you know nothing of self-denial and the man who knows nothing of self-denial is not a Christian. The pattern of the obedience that is convenient. When you feel like doing something clearly revealed, you do it.

32:21 And if you don't feel like doing it a week later, you don't do it. It's my past. It's my background. It's my training.

32:32 My friend, that's a cop-out. Because the scripture says you'll give an account for your deeds before God and I'll give an account of my deeds and I won't be able to hide behind the failures of my mother and my father and my training and my genes and my chromosomes or anything else. God have mercy upon some of you who I fear are self-deceived because your obedience and obedience of temperament and obedience of natural inclination but when the clear word of God cuts right across the grain of temperament and all of these other things rather than rise early in the morning to obey God, you rise late to run from Him. And then I say to some of you who thank God, and I believe your number is many here this morning, you do know something of what it is to obey God out of principle. The principle of a new heart for the blessing of the new covenant is that He not only blots out our sins but He says I'll put my law in their hearts and cause them to keep my statutes and my judgments even the hard ones, even the difficult ones. But oh dear Christian you're not going to make much progress in universal obedience that is resolute and thorough unless these four

Cultivating Resolute and Thorough Obedience: Four Spiritual Principles

33:59 things are growing in you. Day by day your obedience will be resolute and thorough in direct proportion to your clear understanding of the word of God. How can you move with alacrity and with speed in the path if it's always shrouded in mist and fog and darkness? That's why God says in Ephesians 5 17, be not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is.

34:31 That's why the blessed man is described in Psalm 1 as the one who meditates in the law of God day and night. He moves certainly because he moves with light and with understanding. That's why Paul prayed for the young converts again and again. Why did he pray for them? That they'd get some kind of a hoopty-doo, coat of many colors experience? No. And if we need nothing else to know that the whole overriding emphasis of the present Jesus movement and all forms of the charismatic movement are not of God. The overriding emphasis is right here.

35:05 The constant emphasis is if you want to make progress in the path of obedience get this experience that will as it were pump you up and float you along and it'll be wonderful to obey Jesus. That's not the way Paul prayed. He says, I pray that your knowledge may increase, that the Spirit would illuminate your mind, that you may know the will of God, that you may know the truth of God, that you may know your inheritance in Christ. Oh dear Christian, do you see why we come back again and again full circle to these basic things, the necessity of secret reading of the scriptures?

35:42 There's no other way! In direct proportion to your understanding of the clear word from God will be the resoluteness and thoroughness of your obedience. In second place, there must be the maintenance of that sense of present dealings with the living God. For God calls us to draw near.

36:06 This is a beautiful phrase that's picked up in the New Testament. Let us what? Draw near with boldness to the throne of grace. Hebrews 4.16 Hebrews chapter 10 we are told again having a great high priest over the house of God, let us what? Draw near. Now does that mean God does not fill heaven and earth? That God does not indwell us and walk in us? No, all of those things are true, but there's a peculiar nearness in the secret place. There's a peculiar knowledge of his presence in the secret place. There's a peculiar engagement of God with us and he with us and we with him. And that sense of present dealings with God cannot long be maintained unless we are frequenting the place of secret prayer.

37:00 I don't know of anyone who has ever crossed my path who exuded something of the reality of God who was not frequent at the throne of grace. Frequent at the throne of grace. Why? Because it's there that the sense of direct dealings with God are renewed and deepened.

37:24 And there must be if our obedience is to be resolute and complete this living faith in the living God. Well how is that maintained? Well Paul tells us 2 Corinthians 4.18 we look not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen. He tells us in the next chapter we walk not by sight, we walk by faith. Not by sight! You see the necessity of meditation now? Not just reading the word and not just prayer but meditation in which the mind like the radio that picks up those waves the mind feeds upon that unseen world of spiritual reality.

38:02 And I bring near as the old writers would say I bring near my death bed. What shall my mind say and the disposition of my spirit be as I'm facing that wrenching of soul and body. I bring near the coming of Christ. The day of resurrection. I bring near the day of judgment. I bring near the reality of hell. The certainty of the destruction of all things and I begin to look upon this world for what it really is. This is the mirage. That's the substance. Not the other way around. This is the mirage. The scripture says the earth and all that it has is but the passion of this world and its passing.

38:50 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof. But he that what? He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And then in the fourth place we must seek increasingly to have our hearts imbued with a burning zeal for the honor of God. That's why Paul says whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Let this be the consuming passion in every area of life. Then what happens? Well, the pathway of obedience is clear. And there's something in us that recoils and we don't want to do that. But we know that we do not glorify God in any other path but obedience. And when our zeal for the glory of God is deep and pervasive, it will bring into its orbit all this reluctance and indisposition of the flesh. And I plead with you as God has dealt with my own heart in meditation upon these things to seek by God's grace to see an increase of these virtues in your own heart. And what is

40:00 true of any given individual is true of a church as a whole. The extent to which we as a people of God will be marked by an obedience that is resolute and an obedience that is thorough is not the extent to which we attract strong personalities. Quote, sharp young men and keen young women. That's carnal reasoning because God makes up his church for the most part out of the riff-raff.

40:30 For ye see your calling, brethren, that not many mighty, not many noble, God hath chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom he hath prepared for those that love him. Well how in the world then are we going to be a people who move with a firmness of step and with a resoluteness? I'll tell you, it's as increasingly in our corporate life we refuse to do anything that is not laid upon us by the scriptures. And as we together search the scriptures for light and direction for our corporate life, as we have a clear word from God, then we shall obey with resoluteness and thoroughness.

41:15 It's only as by God's grace we maintain this sense that we have direct dealings with God himself. And my friend, that can't be imposed upon you. There's the necessity of heart preparation. Every Lord's Day, Lord, I'm coming to meet you. Prepare my heart to meet you. Prepare my heart to run out to you in praise, in worship, in adoration. Lord, dispose my heart to respond to your voice. May I see beyond our pastors or whoever is expounding the word.

41:48 May I know that I'm having dealings with you. I'm drawing near. To you, the living God, this must spill over into our corporate life. In our corporate life, there must be a present faith in the living God. The unseen world must be our concern. And there must be by the grace of God this increasing longing for the vindication of God's name and God's glory. Whatever name or reputation this church has or doesn't have is a matter of little consequence. But one thing of great moment and of great consequence, the honor of the name that we bear as a gathering of his people. And so may the Lord help us that we like Joshua may be marked by an obedience that is resolute, by an obedience that is thorough. And we will have that with Joshua only to the extent that there is within us these four realities. That we've expounded this morning. I see that my time has so far gone that it would be wrong for me to attempt to deal with the second division that I had hoped to deal with, the discovery of Achan.

Closing Exhortation: Self-Examination and the Need for a New Heart

43:05 We'll have to leave that, God willing, to next Lord's Day morning. But in my closing exhortation, I want to bear down upon the consciences of some of you this morning who I feel may need a bit of bearing down in love. Will you look back over the past week? Stop and think for a minute now.

43:24 With Monday morning, when you rose, got dressed, got the kids ready for school, went off to work, went off to your college class, whatever it was. Think back from Monday through the day, meal times, evening. Where during this week did you obey God against everything of your natural incarnation? At what point did you trample over your own natural lust and dispositions in order to do what was revealed in the word of God? You find the places you're having to look hard. Some of you can say, Pastor, it was before I was even dressed Monday morning, everything in me said, stay in bed. Live on the blessings of yesterday. You don't need to get up to pray this morning.

44:21 But you trampled over your lust for inordinate time in bed, and you got up and you went to pray. You don't know what it is to trample over your natural indispositions to pray. And you don't know the first thing about what it is to pray. But about when your husband spoke and gave a loving direction, did you rise up in rebellion to that direction? Or did you say, Lord, my place is to be submissive? What about you husbands? When you gave an unjust direction and your conscience smote you, husbands loved your wives. Not be tyrants and hide behind it.

45:07 What did you do then? Against your carnal, fleshly, masculine pride, did you humble yourself and tell your wife, you were a cur, and you were wicked, and confessed your sin to her? Did you? What about your children?

45:27 You professed to be Christian. Mom and Dad gave a direction. You cut across the grain of what you wanted to do. Did you obey because you have a clear word from God that says, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right? What about you who are in a place of administration? You have others beneath you. And God says you're to treat those beneath you as one who himself is beneath others. Did you treat your employees or those who are your inferiors in terms of the structure of your business as you hope Christ will treat you, your master, when you stand before him?

46:06 When everything in you wanted to bring down the axe upon that dumb, stupid thing that that secretary did, did you against the grain of your own natural inclination treat them with patience and forbearance? You see why I'm giving you specifics? Because we're masters at a detached application of the word. Brethren, this is what I'm talking about this morning. Sisters, listen, if you can't look back over this week and see the places where you've obeyed at the expense of natural temperament and the inclination of the flesh, it's doubtful that you're a Christian at all. Perhaps this is the root problem with some of you. You've tried everything under the sun to make progress in the Christian life, and the real root issue is you've never really had a change of heart. You just don't have the tools to bring yourself into line, and you never will, till the mediator of the new covenant gives you a new heart and puts his spirit within you.

47:16 And then, though the indwelling of the spirit does not cancel out that indisposition and opposition of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, thank God the indwelling of the spirit gives me a gracious ability to subdue the flesh. If ye by the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. May God give us then these principles, these gracious, implanted principles that made Joshua the man of obedience he was, and we can only have them from the hand of the greater than Joshua, even our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us pray. O Lord, we confess with shame this morning, how halting has been our obedience. How careless and incomplete has been our obedience. And as we have focused our attention upon this simple statement of the obedience of this man Joshua, and have seen how it was contrary to

48:46 everything that he was by nature, and even many things that he was by grace. O Lord, how beautiful is his obedience. And we see beyond him to his own Savior. And we stand amazed at the obedience of our Lord Jesus, who though he were a son yet learned obedience through the things which he suffered.

49:10 O Lord, forgive us for our carnal indulgence. Forgive us for pampering our own natural temptations and our own temperamental whims, when the path of obedience has been all too clear for us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Cleanse us in the precious blood of Christ.

49:33 And give us such a hunger to feed upon your word. Such a constant sense of having direct dealings with you as our God. Such a living and growing faith that feeds upon the unseen world of spiritual reality in such a consuming zeal for the honor of your name, that you may record our obedience as being resolute and thorough, as was the obedience of Joshua. Lord, we plead for those amongst us who can know nothing of this, because all they have is the carnal mind that is enmity against you and is not subject to your law, neither need can be.

50:18 Be gracious to them. O God, may they, in the sense of their own helplessness and poverty, cry to the Lord Jesus. We thank you that there is never a record that any cried to him in vain. That we see nothing in your word but encouragement to believe that those who cry, Son of David, have mercy, shall indeed receive that mercy.

50:47 Seal then the word to the heart of saint and sinner alike, and by your grace may we see its outworking manifested in our own lives in the days of this coming week. Lord, we bless you for your presence with us. Thank you that our hearts have been drawn out as we were led in prayer earlier this morning, as together we've sat beneath the light of your word. Now Lord, give us, give us, we pray, the grace and enablement of the Holy Spirit, lest we be indicted of those hearers who only look into the glass and forget what they saw.

51:32 Oh, make us doers of the word, we pray. Receive now our thanks and dismiss us with the benediction of your presence resting upon us, we plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.