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All right Joshua chapter 1 a very exciting book of the Bible Glad to be starting off with this book for our Wednesday night Bible study now In the book of Joshua here. We'll start going let's look through this we're gonna go through each verse and I kind of preach through Look at verse number one about says now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord It came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua son of none Moses minister saying and then he goes on God speaks unto Joshua here But I want to point out and maybe you already saw this as we were reading through the chapter before Just a few minutes ago When it brings up Moses over and over and over again it keeps mentioning Moses the servant of the Lord the servant of the Lord the servant of the Lord and God I think it's hammering home a point here Moses was a servant of the Lord not just that but it's just Think about because Moses gone at this point Moses has died and Joshua's now taking the reins. He's taking over. He's he's gotten in this chart in this spot of leadership He's picking up where Moses left off Moses because of his own sin wasn't allowed to actually cross over into the Promised Land but Moses was a great man of God and a great minister and the fact that he's just being remembered and Spoken of almost every single time his name comes up in this very first chapter. He's just called the servant of the Lord What a great testimony to have on his life That as he's being remembered here as he's being spoken of he's just referred to as the servant of the Lord That is what typified Moses life He's identified as just being a servant of God Now think about your life when the end of your life comes. How do you want to be remembered? All right, is anyone gonna know when they speak about you? Oh, yeah, they were they were a servant of the Lord They actually served God their life was one that that was wrapped up in serving the Lord and doing God's work Is anyone gonna know that about you? I don't know It's something we ought to strive for But what it's not there I can't think of a greater honor after your passing than just being called You know as Abraham was called a friend of God and these people are just really close to God and there they go down as Being remembered for their work and their service for God That's something that we ought to just not read over but let that sink in and that and that our actions and in Moses's actions I'm not gonna preach old sermon on Moses, but You know over and over again He was the most meek man the most humble man on the earth and that's one of the reasons why God used him So greatly, I mean when you talk about great people in the Bible Moses is is right near the top I mean, it's hard sometimes to put a First second or third place on some of these great men in the Bible But he is absolutely one of the the best examples of characters We have in the Bible someone was so meek and so loving in general that you know Even when all the people were against him and wanted to kill him He was still in treating the Lord for their sake and having that Christ like type of an attitude or mindset That he still loved them enough is willing to sacrifice himself In order for them to continue to them to get right with God Moses was a great man of God now I also want to point out here just in verse number one is that the Lord says in that the latter half the Lord spake Joshua the son of none Moses minister and what you're gonna find all throughout Scripture especially in the Old Testament Is that every time you have a great leader? You're gonna find a great follower a great minister someone who is serving them before taking over lead themselves We see Elijah and Elisha is another great example of this you have Moses and Joshua So every one of these great leaders has a very solid right-hand man If you will someone who's serving and ministering to all their needs and everything that they had Elisha even had Gehazi for a while until there was you know evil just found in Gehazi And he kind of ruined it for himself He ended up going after filthy lucre instead of continuing on to learn from Elisha And we find Gehazi later on in life. He's just kind of Reliving these old stories telling the king all the things that Elisha did when he could have been the next one Carrying the torch and standing strong for the faith And if you want to do really great works for the Lord you have to learn First to get the mindset of a minister of someone who is willing to take order someone who's willing to serve Because even Moses who was a great leader Leading the children of Israel throw out of Egypt confronting Pharaoh You know going through the wilderness Giving them the law being a great judge. How is he known as a servant? He's a servant of the Lord And what we see Joshua now is Transitioning from kind of being Moses's servant to directly being a servant of the Lord now obviously Anybody who served you know even when he's serving Moses. He's still being a servant of the Lord But even in the great positions of leadership the reason why it's so important as you're learning as you're studying as you're growing to become a minister to have this mindset is because to really to serve God you have to be totally humble and Just ready to do whatever it is that God has for you to do and one of the ways to learn that is by getting under the leadership of a great man of God like Moses and And learn how to just kind of be in the background take orders and just do whatever Needs to be done obviously only in the Lord When it when it comes to things we don't we don't worship man or serve a man to the point to where well Whatever the man says you know that's the gospel But there's still a lot to learn by great leaders and Moses had a great follower a great minister in Joshua And then when the time came Joshua was lifted up because he didn't lift himself up He was brought to a place of honor through all of his years of hard work and service Same way with Elisha and same way with many others in the Bible. Let's keep reading your verse number two Moses my servant is dead. This is the Lord speaking now He's speaking to Joshua Moses my servant is dead now therefore arrives go over this Jordan thou and all this people Unto the land which I do give to them even to the children of Israel every place That the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses From the wilderness in this Lebanon even unto the great river the river Euphrates all the land of the Hittites and Under the great sea toward the going down of the Sun Shall be your coast 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 I will not fail thee nor forsake thee What a great promise here, too We see Joshua receiving instruction from the Lord to go in and and what they're doing is they're conquering the land now They're going to receive that Promised land the land that was promised to Abraham the land the land that was promised unto Isaac and to Jacob the land that was promised Ultimately even to the descendants there of the children of Israel. This land was promised by God It was promised to Moses and now Joshua is receiving the promise as well to bring them into this land So that God's gonna fulfill His word why because God's Word never returns void everything that God says can and will Come to pass and there's no doubt in God's words, but why also I point out is he's speaking directly to Joshua here So like in verse number five it says there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life And that is a that is a promise specifically for Joshua And Joshua you're gonna be leading this people and no one's gonna be able to stand before you because I'm with you because the Lord Is with you that I'm gonna be there to fight your battles for you I'm gonna fulfill my promises and where I'm going with this is that there's a lot of people that believe and teach that these promises that were made unto Abraham and the promises that were made about the Children of Israel going into inheriting a land that those promises somehow were supposed to last forever And they're eternal and that they'll always just have that land and that's a false teaching we see You know when God was blessing Abraham He says that blend blessing. I will bless thee and cursing you know in blessing I will bless thee and he says don't excuse me those that bless thee will I bless and those that curse thee Well, I curse and I know I'm not quoting exactly right right now, but he uses the word D. It's singular and We see here another singular form being used with Joshua Because it's obvious that the Lord is not always with the children of Israel It's not something that he's always defending them It's only when they are choosing to serve him and when they look to the Lord as their God That is when he is going to be with them and the power of God's gonna be with them to win their battles But when they forsake the Lord when they turn away from God when they turn to the idols he's no longer with them He takes them out of the land and we see that happen. I mean that's history. It's exactly what happened They were taken out of the land, and we don't believe that any physical seed of Abraham now as any you know right Inherently to a land When they're not turning to the Lord When the God is not their God because they're not going to receive the promises of faithful Abraham The reason why Abraham received those promises is because of his faith That's the whole point He's he's known as a father of faith that is that is why God even made promises to begin with is because of his faith and Today the people of the Lord the people who are known as God's people Or the elect are those that are believers those that have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ So anyways, I'm not going to get all into that That's a whole nother topic for another day, but I'm just pointing out here that as God is is instructing Joshua say hey like I'm gonna be with you all the days of your life and While you're around while you're leading this people you know I'm not gonna fail you I'm not gonna forsake you I will be there for you and Man, what what a great promise to give you to build up some confidence Right think about the the difficult task that Joshua was facing going into the strange land And we know that there were giants in the land We know that there is a lot of very strong people inhabiting the land That's why the children of Israel got in trouble to begin with Because all of the other spies other than Joshua and Caleb came back and said yeah the lands real good But there's no way we could beat these people. They're way too tough for us They're way too strong, and they didn't have faith in God whereas Joshua and Caleb were like hey the Lord's with us Let's go. Let's say you know he's given us this land But it is a Physically or humanly speaking a very difficult task when you're you know now Joshua's in charge, and he's gonna be heading it up I'm sure there's got to be just from his human aspect some type of doubts going man How are we gonna do this you're organizing a battle and God's telling them you know what I'm not gonna fail you I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna forsake you. I'll be with you all your days. What a confidence boost that is what a Exciting time to be part for God to say hey, I'm with you Let's go in go in send the troops this land is yours. I'm not gonna fail my word go in and do it but we have Promises of God as well. We know that the Lord won't leave us or forsake us We know that God is faithful to his words so any words that you find in this book in this Bible That's applicable to believers. You can take that to the bank. That's why I mean for example. We take our eternal life We Know that our salvation is a free gift. That's given by God. We could take that to the bank We trust in that holy with our with our entire heart. We have no doubt over that We know that it's not of our works. We have no has nothing to do with that because God has promised and he cannot go back on his word when God says something lasts forever it lasts forever. It's eternal Let's keep reading here Verse number six the Bible says be strong and of a good courage for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land Which I swear unto their fathers to give them verse number seven only be thou strong and very courageous So the Lord is really edifying Joshua. He's trying to build them up He's trying to get him motivated and saying look you need to be strong. You need to have courage You need to be very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law Isn't that interesting because I was talking about how difficult might be thinking about going in and And you know defeating all these other armies defeating the inhabitants of the land Did he tell them to be strong and courageous to go defeat the enemy? No, he said be strong and courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law So you need to be strong and you need to have courage You need to be bold in the law of the Lord You can't back down. You can't compromise from my word Then you need to be strong and steadfast in my word Keep that as your life keep that as the most important thing and and be strong about it He says which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest Prosper whithersoever thou goest you need to be strong and have courage to observe God's laws We are called in the Bible to be a peculiar people Peculiar means different or gonna be strange if you actually decide to live your life Of one where you're following God's Word you are going to be different than other people in the world You ought to be I mean if you really are following the Bible and then really loving God's law and trying to live your life in a way that is that coincides with God's Word and Getting sin out of your life and having nothing to do with wickedness and sinfulness. You're gonna be looked on as different and Because you'll be looked on as different you need to be strong You need to have courage and the faith knowing that no what I'm doing is right It doesn't matter how many people criticize you and ostracize you and make fun of you. Oh You know people coming oh you don't you don't have a TV in your house or you don't watch TV You don't you don't go to the movies. You don't listen to this music or that music You know people will mock you and ridicule you make fun of you We hear it all the time With you know just with how many children we have we only have five children out there I don't think that's a lot the world today. Just like oh, man You've got five you know are these all yours you would don't you know what don't you know where that comes from don't you know? How they're made don't you know it's like all the comments. I mean just just it's like time after time thankfully I don't have to receive the brunt of it that much my wife gets it all the time I don't know why they don't they don't say the nasty things much when I'm out, but you know what? It's fine It's something you have to deal with it's part of life, but we have to expect it and And just have the courage and not let let the world bring you down And my wife especially needs to not have you know just all these kind of oh I don't want any more kids because I just keep hearing it here and here and over and over again No be strong be courageous, and she's not like that think I mean we love our kids We love every single one of them And we love the one that's on the way because we're not stopping till God stops and closes up the womb We believe that God is the one who gives life. God is the one who determines whether or not he's gonna bless you with a child or not and Bible says that children are in heritage of the Lord and that as arrows are and in in Quiver of a mighty man, so are children of the youth And that they're a blessing from God and you know of course the world's gonna be backwards on all this stuff We need to expect that and when you decide and that's just one example. There's so many different examples. You know I Don't know how many times I was made fun of for let's see from when I first got saved There's people making fun of me because all you don't believe evolution is true You know you believe that but you believe the book of Genesis God making the world he just speaks it and it's there like yeah, you know people might make fun of you for that I do believe that I do believe it's God's Word. I'm not gonna back down on then To later on in life when I got right with God not drinking alcohol and have anything to do with it Oh, you don't know What are you what are you some kind of fuddy daddy or whatever you don't know how to have a good time No, I do know I have a good time That's why I'm not drinking because I don't need alcohol to go out and have a good time Because there's way better blessings and going out and getting inebriated and letting your heart utter perverse things And let your eyes behold strange women and just getting into more filthiness and wickedness and Problems that's all it's gonna bring you, but no when you decide to live a sold-out life for the Lord People are gonna look at you different. You're gonna look as being peculiar and As God's telling Joshua here. Hey be strong have some courage That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law She keep all of it Don't don't leave any of that when you observe all of God's laws and look at verse number eight He follows it up with this this book of the law He like doubled down doubles down on that on this concept here this book of the law shall not depart out of my mouth Now it's a command me. It's not just saying you know As a suggestion or as the best thing for you to do in your life He's saying this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. This is what he's expecting out of Joshua I expect you to have this book of the law in your mouth and you need to know it You need to meditate on it and you need to make sure that it is in your lips all the days of your life He says but thou shalt meditate therein day and night Now here's a challenge for you. How often are you looking and reading through your Bible? He says day and night And I'm gonna take this as a challenge personally as well Because there's days that I don't get in my Bible day and night, but he's telling Joshua you need to be in the word day and night And there's sometimes I'm only reading at night We need to but we take this up with Josh's Josh was being commanded from the Lord Hey You need to meditate in God's Word day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success You want to be a have a successful life? I mean who doesn't want to be a success story Moses was a success story I want to be a success or what the world's gonna tell you You know what the world's gonna tell you if you want to be a success. They're gonna tell you how to make money All about money you need to invest in this and you need to work that do this work five jobs and build all this money And have all these things and have multiple houses, then you'll be looked on as a success. I don't look on that as success It's all gonna be burned up and then who's it's gonna be someone's gonna come in and steal it Someone's you know, it's it's it's gonna go away. It's gonna break To be worthless. It's vanity. It's empty. You want to have good success Meditate in God's words in the ring the point of meditate what I mean to meditate you're thinking about it You don't just check off on the calendar. Yeah, I read through my chapter today Yeah, I just know you have you thinking about it. You need to consume God's Word You need to read it with understanding you need to get in the word Day and night think about it meditate on it chew on it Know it so that it's in your mind and in your mouth and in your heart Because the only way you're gonna be able to obey God and follow God and follow the Lord is when you know What his word says? There's way too many ignorant Christians out there today and why say Christians? I'm even talking about believers people who are actually saved who know that salvation is by grace through faith who aren't trusting in their works They're only trusting what Jesus Christ did for them. They know that it's eternal They can't lose it and there's so many ignorant Christians out there They're not getting in the Word of God and you know what their life is not going to be a success Not in the eyes of God because the way that he says right here for you to be prosperous and we says prosperous He's not talking about finances We Can look at Jesus Christ prosperous would anyone say that he wasn't because I'd say that his path was very prosperous Did he have this world's riches or goods? No, he was homeless He traveled about and just stayed wherever he could and lived off of whatever he found and then you know, God blessed his work God sustained him and kept him going He didn't have he didn't die with this world's riches and goods yet he was the most prosperous man ever to walk the earth The greatest success story and you know what that is a success the haters of God Talk about Jesus Christ as a failure Because he died on that cross because he was crucified he was shamefully and treated There's even a you know, I'm gonna get on this I don't know if I've ever done this before This specific point. I used to be a big Metallica fan growing up My number one favorite band. Okay, I'm gonna get on this for just a minute because it's important All right and and I know I know what it's like to be a believer and want to overlook some things and Just not want to deal with some stuff just because your flesh likes the music All right, but the world's music Garbage, it's trash We ought not to love the things of the world And specifically I'm bringing up Metallica because I know a lot about them I know a lot about their music and they have a song. It's called the god that failed The god that failed Jesus Christ is looked on as a failure in the god-hating eyes of Many musicians and people out there that are putting out this music and say, you know when they put out garbage like that How can you listen to anything else they have they say oh, but this song doesn't talk about yeah, but This is what's coming out of their heart. This is what's what they're producing what they're putting out Just like Nine Inch Nails. You know what Nine Inch Nails is even talking about the nails Some of the nails that went into Jesus Christ's hands his feet Talk about blasphemous they have a song called heresy says your God is dead and No one cares if there's a hell. I'll see you there. Yeah, is that you? I'd be listening to But they call Jesus Christ his big failure He wasn't a failure. We know the store. We know why he endured the suffering and the shame because it's out of love for you If he didn't do all that stuff if he didn't suffer the shame if he didn't allow himself to be beaten and spit upon and buffeted and and whipped and shed his blood and Die on that cross and have his soul go to hell then your sins couldn't have been atoned for He did it for you. I'd say that's a success When one man gives his life To save a multitude so that anybody can receive salvation. That's a success story Don't get caught up in this world's garbage It will influence you you think it won't and this wasn't even my notes at all But but you know what if you're sitting here today I don't know if anybody has this problem, but you know what if you do you need to get right with God Because that music is wicked It is it is of Satan. It literally is satanic and you know what I've heard all excuses before I used to give the excuses myself. I remember telling my mom back when I was young trying to tell her oh, no No, this is good. They actually talk about Jesus There's a song called creeping death and it talks about basically when the death angel came and killed the firstborn son in the land of Egypt and like that's what that song is about. It's from a very dark perspective though It's wicked Don't let that you don't don't let that garbage get into your ears because it will influence you It will corrupt you and you will not be successful listening to that junk You want to have good success Try meditating in God's Word day and night Think about it. You know we all have different times to do things, and if you're just pumping your ears full of worldly music and I did this for years. I know firsthand You think about those things later on I can't tell you how many Full length albums we call them albums now CDs whatever you call them That I have like lyrics just just in my head, and you know what I can't get rid of them It's a curse I Go out to eat somewhere you go out to a restaurant you go out to you know the music's still just being played And it's the same stuff from the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s Just keep on playing it over and over and over and just hammering it into your heads And I couldn't get rid of this stuff now even though I want to just out of my head Now thankfully the more you get away from it the less you think about these things But you memorize it it sticks in your head and the message is there Do you really want to continue to let that stuff just get pumped in your mind as opposed to? forsaking that and replacing it with God's Word And start getting that Pumped in your ears, you know what I do now instead of where I used to drive in my car and turn on the radio And crank it and you know Blair that and you know Feel good, whatever and just just go about with life not caring Now I get Alexander's Corby on the audio Bible and get that going in my ears Or listen to some good hymns if nothing else, but I mean get God's Word We could meditate on it, and you know what I have I don't have them with me if you want an audio Bible. I've got one for you. I've got plenty. I brought some extra copies Let me know today. I'll bring it on Sunday. I've got these DVDs that come in with the whole mp3s of All of the whole Bible you get the whole Bible on audio You play that in your car play that in your headset whatever whatever it is that you use to listen to music Normally the world's music replace that with God's Word You will become a success in God's eyes, which is what really matters anyways The world's gonna look down on you for that They're gonna think you're weird. They already think I'm weird. It's okay You'll be in you'll at least have me for company if they start thinking you're weird Just come on in join the club because been there done that people you know I don't know what people think sometimes if I ever have the windows rolled down or listening to Alexandria score we talked to you'll read from the Bible whatever. I don't care. It doesn't matter what people think doesn't matter You know matters what God thinks? And if you want to have good success you're gonna look at the law of the Lord day and night What we also learn from this is that the laws of the Lord are for our benefit He says you know that way you're gonna make your way prosperous. You're gonna make your path prosperous You're gonna you're gonna have good success. It's that that's what we all want to have we want to be prosperous We have good success God's rules or laws are for our problem. We shouldn't look at God's rules as something that says oh God God doesn't want me to have any fun. Oh you mean. I can't do this. I can't just a big rule book I can't do all this stuff that I want to do Well the reason why God said not to do is because it's actually gonna hurt you You know my children might want to eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner And be like what's the big deal you know I just want I just want to have this ice cream I do why can't I just do this? Why do you have to have these rules against me and ice cream all the time? It's for their own benefit Anyone with two brain cells can figure that out. I mean kids don't always get that but you know as adults You know a lot more You have a lot more wisdom and understanding and say no your body actually needs nutrition otherwise You're gonna get sick. You're gonna be ill all the time. You're not gonna be having any fun at all You'll be vomiting because all you're gonna be consuming is sugar. It's not good for you, and it's not the way. We're made to work Well just as much as we know so much more than our children. God knows so much more than us and in his profound Wisdom he's given us instructions and rules We just don't do this, and it doesn't matter if you don't understand it just as much It doesn't matter if my children understand it They at least can understand. It's mom and dad love me That's for my benefit, so I'm gonna listen to him and that's the attitude we ought to have with God You don't always have to understand why God has certain rules in the Bible Certain commands, but we ought to just trust in God That his rules are there for a very good reason Whether we understand that or not Turn if you keep your place here in Joshua I want you to turn to Psalm 1 because this is actually a very important point This is why I'm gonna be highlighting the most of the sermon tonight is just God's Word and the law of the Lord being so Important because what else are we hearing today from? Modern Christianity is this kind of forsaking of God's law and people that teach that well We're free from the law We're free in grace Now Obviously those words there's truth to that when it's applied properly as in We're free from the curse of the law through Jesus Christ Amen We can't work our way to heaven. We there's no way that any amount of obedience of God's law is gonna get us saved Yes, we do have grace. Yes. We are free in that regard But The Bible also says that we're not to sin the Bible says that you know This is the love of God that we keep his commandments as commandments are not grievous If there is just no more law in the New Testament then that means that there is no more sin because sin is the Transgression of the law so it'll be impossible for people even to be a sinner if there just is no law No, of course, there's a law We just don't get saved by following the law So be careful with the way that these people want to teach the Bible and say oh no Yeah, you don't have to worry about the law anymore. No, we do have to worry about the law Obviously, there's been a few changes. We're not offering, you know a physical animal sacrifice Because there's been a change in the law In the regard of how we worship the Lord in the Levitical priesthood But when it comes to all the thou shalt and thou shalt nots that hasn't changed We're talking about the way that God views sin when we talk about You know rape and murder and lying and all these other things still being you know It God still hates those things these moral laws if you want to kind of group them together like that anything that has to do with right and wrong They all are still in effect, but people want to throw out the book throw out the Old Testament laws because They don't jive with with modern society and modern culture The the the big one these days especially is homosexuality because churches don't know how to deal with this And when someone like me says hey God knows how to deal with this Because he's given us his law In Leviticus he's given us the law he tells us what he thinks about this When the Bible says that if a man lied with mankind as he lies with a woman Both of them shall be put to death their blood shall be upon them That's how God views sodomy That's the way that God feels about it And you know how you would know that if you're meditating in God's law day and night you would know that too As opposed to this listening this world and getting brainwashed and it's saying oh, it's an alternative lifestyle oh Everybody welcome everyone come in we're just gonna you know everything's just fine. We're gonna not look at any sin We're not gonna call anything out Everybody's good. Everything's fine. Hell's not that hot no If we want to know what God thinks if we want to have good success we're gonna look at The law of the Lord we're gonna meditate there in day and night I Had you look at Psalm chapter 1 we're gonna go through multiple Psalms. We're gonna see just this the amount of weight and importance that's given to God's law Because we cannot understate this We need to know God's laws we need to know how God views things so that we could have the right mindset the right outlook on Everything on morality on right and wrong We get it from God's Word Not man's opinion And look if God said putting a sodomite to death is a righteous judgment, and it's a righteous judgment I'm not going to be the one to judge God and say God's wrong If God says that if a man forces a woman She Ought to be put to death Amen God's right again If God says that someone that seals a person a man-sealer a kidnapper to put it in modern modern terms Ought to be put to death Amen God is right again God's judgments are righteous and true and it's people Who mess it up and think that they know more than God and no no no no no we can't be doing that that's archaic You want to regress yeah, I do what I want to regress to the old times to the old timeless path Because God's Word is always existing. This is the right way I Don't care if it's all you call whatever you want. I call it. God's Word, and that's what I'm trusting in Psalm 1 look at verse number 1 about says blessed is the man we were just talking about we just saw in Joshua 1 8 about having good success Psalm 1 1 blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sith And see the scornful, but his delight. He actually likes It is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night you want to be blessed Start loving God's Word loving God's law Don't look at it. Oh, man. God's law is so boring. I don't want to read that tell me what I'm doing wrong You ought to love that to know Where you're in error with God so you can fix it and get right with them and be even more blessed and be successful Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and He meditates day and night verse number three and shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in the season his leaf also shall not wither and Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper Meditating in God's Word day and night knowing God's law is going to make you fruitful It's going to make you prosperous. It's going to make you solid and firm like this tree. That's planted by rivers Very well watered very solid turn if you would to Psalm 19 Psalm 19 verse number 7 Psalm 19 verse number 7 the Bible reads the law of the Lord is perfect. It's perfect There's no flaws in God's law it is perfect Converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise a simple You know that people aren't gonna get saved if they don't realize that they're a sinner If you don't realize that you need a Savior if you don't realize that you actually have a problem with God Then you're not gonna get saved and you know how people know that they're not right with God it's through the God's law It's by knowing that they're a sinner because they've broken God's laws The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul people need to hear about God's laws a lot more a lot more conviction going on if there's a lot more preaching on God's laws Instead of just oh don't worry about the Old Testament. We're in the New Testament now. We don't need God's laws Not gonna be very successful if you're saved living a life like that Let's keep reading here in Psalm 19 verse number 8 the statutes of the Lord are right Rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they then gold Yea, then much fine gold also sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb You ask yourself how much you would invest and devote of your time If someone told you how to achieve finding a lot of gold How much of your life would you let that consume Say someone gave you a treasure map Right it may sound a little silly, but let's say there was some credence to it There was some some reason to believe no this is actually this is legitimate Wherever they found it. There's this map And if you find this treasure it's gonna be just wealth untold a Lot of people would probably give up everything to go and seek after that treasure The Bible is explaining to us We've got something already that's way better Than those physical riches that you would be so willing to give up of your time and your energy and your life To go and seek after and it's right here and it's gonna do you so much more good than that gold or that silver will ever do you and Will make you a success story if you can just meditate in God's Word Just receive this this is more to be desired than gold yay, then much fine gold sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb verse number 11 moreover by them as thy servant warned and In keeping of them there is great reward The great reward is not the gold and the silver the great reward is to come You will be rewarded for following God's Word for doing what God has for you. You just can't see it right now Not physically But as we're talking about the sureness of God's Word, it doesn't fail Well all the promises that God has made About the rewards that we receive from following his word. They are gonna come true You just have to have faith turn if you went to Psalm 119 and don't worry We're not gonna read all of Psalm 119 But if you read so what you ought to go home and read all of Psalm 119 It's the longest chapter in the whole Bible for those of you that don't know It's a long chapter in the Bible But Psalm 119 is literally all about the law of the Lord All about the statutes and the judgments and the law the whole chapter 176 verses All about God's law That ought to tell us something when we look at the longest the longest chapter in the Bible About God's law I think it's important and we're gonna get some some of the added importance just from reading some of these verses Look at verse number one Bob says blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord Again, we're talking about being blessed. We're talking about having good success God's blessing in your life when you're undefiled How are you gonna be undefiled when you know what's right and wrong when you know what God's laws? Then you know what the right choice is to make and then you can do what's right verse number two blessed Are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart? They also do no iniquity they walk in his ways thou has commanded us to keep thy precepts Diligently as precepts are just his rules his laws There's so many words that the Bible uses in Psalm 119 to basically talk about Essentially the same thing his laws his testimonies his commandments his precepts all talking about the Word of God talking about God's laws look at verse number Five oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes Then shall I not be ashamed What a horrible feeling to be ashamed I'm sure we all have experience with that when you when you just do something. That's just really shameful and you regret You sympathize with Peter a little bit, so you know when he denied Jesus and he just went out He went bitterly what a low point in life to do something you just feel ashamed of But he's saying oh if I could keep God's ways that'll never be ashamed What a great feeling it is to go to bed at night and to put your head down Knowing that you're not just in just all kinds of sin that you're doing your best You're you know you're cleaning up your life. You're doing what's right? You're serving God, and you're not ashamed that is where we want to be says what he says Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments How you're gonna know his commandments if you're not meditating there in day and night And when you're respecting God's commandments you're actually obeying them Verse Number seven I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments I will keep thy statutes Oh forsake me not utterly jump down to verse number 97 because as we're Saw in Joshua talks about meditating in God's Word. We saw in Psalm one about meditating in God's Word well Psalm 119 Sorry verse number 97 I Bible reads oh how love I thy law it is my meditation all the day thou Through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever with me Do you want to be smart you I gain wisdom and knowledge? Meditating the law of the Lord God's words gonna make you smart. He says it made me smarter than my enemies wiser More understanding verse number 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers For thy testimonies are my meditation Why does he have more understanding than all of his teachers people are supposed to have a lot of knowledge in teaching him? Why does he know so much more why because he's meditating and just studying God's Word? Because that is the unadulterated truth and light Verse number 100 I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have not Departed from thy judgments for thou has taught me How sweet are thy words unto my taste a sweeter than honey to my mouth? Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore. I hate every false way now You may not have this level of love for God's law and for God's Word in your life I Understand that there is a level of growth but what you ought to be able to recognize tonight is to be able to look at God's Word and See how these words are being used about God's Word being sweet to my taste Sweeter than honey, and how valuable it is and how great it is and say well I don't feel that way when I go home and read my Bible, but I could trust that this is true And I'm gonna force myself to read and study a little bit more and meditate a little bit more until I get to this point Where I actually feel like man God's Word is great. It's amazing. It's sweet like honey to my mouth I love meditating the law of the Lord because it will happen But you have to maintain the faith just to even get to that point And sometimes it does become something you force yourself to do. Okay, I've done it. I Love hearing God's Word now. Now still I still have the flesh and I'm not look I have not arrived So, please don't get me wrong I'm not saying this to try to elevate myself and say oh I'm just awesome Christian because I still have the flesh that wants to not ever listen to God's Word but in my own spiritual growth There are way more times when I didn't want to listen to God's Word and it was more of a chore to actually read and to do it but as time went on and I continued to try to maintain a schedule in making sure that I'm that I'm doing this because I know it's important It actually becomes more enjoyable and you actually appreciate it more You start understanding more and you learn more and it grows and builds on itself And it will do that So if you're at the place where you just feel like I don't see how that's ever gonna happen just have a little bit of faith and Trust these words that we're reading from God's Word that it is true and it will come true and it will make you wise It can make you wiser than your teachers If you are meditating in God's Word and and treat them as being very very valuable turn back if you would to Joshua chapter 1 And Joshua chapter 1 this is my biggest takeaway from this whole chapter is just having this great success Meditating in God's Word making that be your life making that be a very very solid priority in your life Let's keep going to your look at verse number 9. Now. We're gonna see another phrase that's repeated For summer 9 he says have not a command of thee be strong and of a good courage We just read that a couple of verses ago in this chapter Be strong and of a good courage. God is still trying to encourage them and again reiterate You need to be strong. You need to be motivated You need to have good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest You When you get your heart right and you start following that up with actions of meditating and scripture Do getting sin out of your life doing you're gonna be walking in the spirit that much more and you have you'll get the confidence and the comfort of Walking in the spirit and having the fruit of the spirit with his love joy. Peace gentleness goodness faith These are all fruits of the spirit that you receive that are gonna come forth in your own life Because you're walking in the spirit and when you're doing what God wants you to do you're walking in the spirit So by meditating on scripture by doing these things You gain that extra added peace. Maybe maybe your life is full of turmoil And you have a lot of stress and anxiety and just you're not at peace Get in God's Word and try me just try it out try it for yourself I don't see how that's gonna help me. I got too many other things going on. Try it for yourself Take the challenge of God's Word. I guarantee you it won't fail But give it an honest shot Don't read for one night and just beg God didn't do anything for me forget it. It's not how it works Be strong be of a good courage Consume God's Word get in the Word and Then you'll get the comfort of knowing hey God's with me I've had people family members and other people ask me before You know especially when I went to the soul winning conference in Detroit This year earlier in the year. There's a big conference held in Detroit, Michigan It's so winning conference and there's a lot of soul and being done. That's a great thing It wasn't just preaching on soul and it was actually boots on the ground getting the work done. It was awesome. It's a great event. I Took my daughter with me. My oldest daughter came with me and we went out to the ghettos And I'll tell you what it was something else. It was it was actually unlike any other place I've ever been soul winning before I've been soul winning in ghettos before I've been so winning in in poverty stricken areas And we went out here. It literally looked like a war zone No joke. I got a picture of my phone. I'll show you after service. I took a selfie with my daughter and I because The the devastation is so bad economically in Detroit that there's just buildings that have just gone abandoned You got these big brick structures like multifamily housing and all this stuff and they're in Crumbles and debris and everything. I mean, it's literally looks like a third-world country And we're going out and trying to knock on doors and the vast majority of them are vacant and just just left to rot In a very bad area a very poor area I see You know drug paraphernalia and stuff just out on the street and and just not not the safest of places. I'm sure to be in But you know what? I wasn't worried not for one second Because What we were doing is what God told us to do God told us to preach the gospel to every creature When we're going out and bringing the Word of God And we're going up to people in love and trying to show them how they could be saved You have no reason to worry about your safety or anything else for that matter If anything is to happen when you're going out and serving the Lord I'm gonna say that's of God because I know that God's able to protect me from anything There is nothing too strictude too hard for the Lord nothing If he allows something to happen and so be it I'm in the will of God But I have no reason to fear None at all and people at home. Don't you afraid of your for your family and said no, I'm not afraid Not gonna be afraid and no one's ever gonna make me afraid to serve God because hey if God before us who could be a And I know if I'm doing what God said to do that I'm right with God and that God will be with me and there is no reason to fear Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid For the Lord that God is with you. That's what God told Joshua That's why I said look you just need to meditate on my words do this and you're gonna be good. I Will be with you The whole time through the rest of your life And if you decide to serve God and get in his word and start listening and have respect under God's commandments and do them You will also have no reason to fear. You'll have comfort you'll have peace Let's finish up this chapter verse number 10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the host and command the people saying prepare you vittles For within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land When which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it, so he's saying get prepared, you know in three days We're gonna we're gonna go over the river. We're gonna start just just entering we're gonna start the fight And you're gonna inherit the land vittles is just you know Like food and rations and stuff like that and you bring your supplies with you and we're gonna get ready We're gonna pass over Jordan and verse number 12 It says into the Reubenites into the Gadites into the half tribe of Nazis fake Joshua Saying remember the word which Moses the servant of Lord commanded you saying the Lord your God have given you rest That have given you this land Your wives or little ones in your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan But you shall pass before your brother and armed all the mighty men of valor and help them until the Lord Have given your brother and rest as he hath given you and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God given them Then you shall return unto the land of your possession and enjoy it Which Moses the Lord servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the Sun rising So basically he's just starting off with keeping Moses commandment he might have been a little bit more popular with some of the people there with the The Reubenites the Gadites have the tribe of Manasseh if he would have said oh, yeah You guys could just you've already got your possession. You can stay here. We're gonna go over and fight That would have made him popular in their eyes But no, he's saying this this is this weird. These were the rules Because they got their possession when they defeated hog King of Bashan and you know the kings that were there on that side before they even got to the promised land They're like, hey God, you know, they defeated these people that came out against them So now they have that land or like can we just have this for our inheritance? Like we like this land It's good for cattle. Well, you know, we're content with this. This is good We don't need to go all the way over in the promised land and the deal was okay You can have this land, but you can't just hang back and let your brother and go and fight all the battles You still need to go and help them out and sure you could have this land You could come back after all the fighting's over you help them out. Then you could come back So Joshua basically in this segment, he's just he's just keeping that he's just keeping to those words to a T saying nope This was the deal you guys you got this land But you have to come over and fight with your brethren and then you could go back and then you could have your rest So he's keeping up with that promise. He's being a good leader and sticking with the words of Moses Verse number 16 says in the answer Joshua saying all that thou commanded us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us We will go so he's got the respect He's gonna lead him just as Moses had to respect, you know He's got the people's respect here and and they've accepted Joshua as being their leader verse number 17 according as we hearken unto Moses and all things and and It's almost kind of funny because if you when you read the Bible like the people didn't always follow Moses in all things Right, I mean how many times were they against Moses? So if I were Joshua, I'd be kind of thinking like oh great the way that you listen to Moses You're gonna listen to me. I don't know if that's good or bad. But At this point their hearts right, you know, they're ready to go the the the previous generation is already past That's why they're wandering in the wilderness for 40 years the people who really just didn't have their hearts right with God the younger generations Here they're ready to follow Joshua says according as we've argued on Moses and all things So we hearken unto thee only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses Verse number 18 whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment And will not hearken unto thy words and all that thou command is him He shall be put to death only be strong and of a good courage So there we see those words again be strong and of a good courage Another theme in this chapter multiple times be strong. There's a battle that's getting underway in Joshua We've got a spiritual battle that's already underway. We need to be strong It's While we're here keep coming to stronghold Baptist Church will help you get strong if you're not strong already But stay strong be strong get strong in the Lord and have good courage Don't let anyone back you down or get you, you know to Make excuses or be ashamed of believing in God's Word You have no reason to be ashamed whatsoever the people that mock you have a reason to be ashamed But you don't Stay strong in God's Word meditate in his word day and night and you'll have good success It's power as a board of prayer dear Lord. We thank you so much for this great wisdom and knowledge that we could learn from your words and So many people want to have a successful life Lord and you tell us very plainly here in the sixth book of the Bible It's right there if we want to have good success. We're meditating your law We're gonna keep them and have respect under your ways dear Lord I pray to you a please help us help us stir up our spirits to have a right spirit within us renew our hearts dear Lord to want to serve you help us to actually desire and to view the the reading of your word as Something that's sweet as something that is Joyful and then we give the right value to your words and not just cast it aside as as something That's not that big of a deal Lord help us to have the the proper respect under your Commandments and Especially in a day that tries to teach us that all these old Commandments aren't that big of a deal They really are dear Lord help us to get the right perspective Your Commandments as well as just on sin and what's right and what's wrong in general dear Lord teach us instruct us We love you. We want to serve you God and just bless everyone here tonight in Jesus name