Be Strong! Live Service | February 26, 2023

Then Moses... went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land... Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there." So Moses the servant of the LORD died there... He was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. (Deuteronomy 34)

There is no life without change, no change without challenge, and no victory without bold, Spirit-empowered steps of faith.

A Word About Lent

This last week we entered a new season of the church calendar. In a Bible-teaching, non-denominational church like ours you don't hear about this very often, but if you grew up Episcopal, Anglican, Presbyterian, or Catholic, you know that this past Wednesday was a Christian holiday called Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent—forty days leading up to Resurrection Sunday.

What is Lent? It is a remembrance of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness for forty days, just as the children of Israel wandered the wilderness for forty years. After His baptism Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. It is also a time when Christians have traditionally observed a period of fasting—what the Bible calls afflicting the soul—remembering that sin has brought death upon this world. The statistics are staggering: ten out of ten people die. But Lent culminates in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the answer to the problem of sin and death. So even as people afflict their souls and remember the fallenness of this world, it all looks forward to the life that Jesus brings, which is our hope and our joy.

No Life Without Change

There is no life without change and transition. It is an inevitable reality—the only things that don't change are dead things and rocks. We actually want there to be change. The problem is that change and transition are never without their challenges, which means life involves challenge.

A few weeks ago I shared that in this life we are always either moving forward and taking ground or we are backsliding. There is no standing still. Living in Southern California, we recognize this at the beach. You can step into the surf in front of lifeguard tower two, and a few hours later you've drifted to tower six. There is no such thing as standing still. But because we fear the troubles we might face if we move forward, we can be tempted to stop, disengage, and not press in.

Two Generations at the Same Border

That is exactly the story we saw in Numbers 13. Thirty-eight years before our current study, the children of Israel came to the border of the promised land at Kadesh Barnea. They had come out of bondage in Egypt, spent two years at Mount Sinai entering a covenant with God and building the tabernacle, and now arrived at the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses sent twelve spies in for forty days. They brought back a huge cluster of grapes to show the fruitfulness of the land—a land flowing with milk and honey. But ten of the spies reported enemies, giants, and fortified cities, saying, "We were in our own eyes like grasshoppers." They discouraged the people's hearts. Though Joshua and Caleb called the people to faith, the multitude was swayed by the evil report. They did not go up, and they wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years.

Now, at the end of Deuteronomy, they are in this exact situation again. The land is still fruitful, but the enemies are still there—and in fact more prepared than before, having heard reports of Israel for decades. Little has changed; it has gotten worse. The temptation is to be afraid. But Israel's progress depended on faithfulness and bold steps of faith. You have probably experienced such crossroads, and if you haven't, you will. Those giants in the land can discourage you—but we must move forward or fall behind.

The Epitaph of Moses

Moses is an extraordinary individual, unique in all of history. More than three thousand years after his death, we still remember him and the way his life and writings have impacted the entire world. He was 120 when he died. The first forty years of his life he spent in Egypt, trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. The next forty years, through a series of events involving his own sin, he spent in the wilderness learning to be a shepherd—really unlearning everything he learned in Egypt. The last forty years he spent leading God's people out of Egypt to the promised land.

How do you eulogize a man like Moses? Notice the statement Scripture places over his life: "Moses the servant of the LORD died." Of all that could be said, this is his epitaph. That challenges us with a question: How do you want to be remembered? If ever there was a man who heard the words of Matthew 25—"Well done, good and faithful servant"—it was Moses. That is what you and I are called to be: faithful. Paul writes that it is required of stewards that one be found faithful. Faithfulness is the key.

Joshua, Full of the Spirit

Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. (Deuteronomy 34:9)

We are at a transition point where the baton of leadership passes from Moses to Joshua. Sometimes transitions are unavoidable, and this is one of them—Moses is dead. There was great anxiety among the people during the thirty days of mourning, because for four decades, whenever there was a problem they went to Moses, and whenever there was a question they went to Moses. He was the direct connection to God. Now he was gone, and Joshua himself probably felt ill-prepared.

But Joshua was not ill-prepared—not because of anything he did, but because of what he had: he was full of the Spirit. This brought to mind the first passage I ever intentionally committed to memory, on a three-by-five card about twenty years ago: Second Corinthians 3:5–6.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Joshua in himself was not sufficient for the call God was giving him. But he had the fullness of the Spirit in his life. Point one: We do not trust in ourselves but in God who enables and empowers us.

What It Means to Be Filled With the Spirit

To be full of the Spirit of wisdom raises the question: what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Last week, impromptu, we had a time of worship and prayer after the service and invited people forward to receive the filling of the Holy Spirit. Many came, but many did not. When Pastor Mark and I talked about why, the first word that came to both our minds was fear—and fear is often tied to ignorance. We simply don't know what this is all about, and I realized that's partly because I haven't spent much time lately teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

So tonight at six o'clock we'll have worship and prayer, and I'll teach what the Bible says about the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an "it"—He is a Person, the third Person of the Trinity. We'll consider what it means not only to be filled at one time, but to be continually filled, as Paul exhorts in Ephesians 5. The great evangelist D.L. Moody spoke so often of being filled that a woman once asked him why—hadn't he already been filled? "Yes ma'am," he said, "but I leak." We need to be continually filled, because we are not sufficient in ourselves.

God Moves When People Come to the End of Themselves

I believe we are at an important cultural moment, not identical to but similar to Israel facing the promised land. There is a desire in our culture for genuine connection with God, and when God's people are brought to such longing, history shows God moving in unexplainable power.

It is no coincidence that the movie Jesus Revolution came out this week. It tells the story of the Jesus movement of the 1960s and the Calvary Chapel family of churches we are part of—the ministries of Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie. Some of you were there and will say, "I was in the tent." Go see the movie; it's worth seeing what God can do. God often moves when people have come to the end of themselves, as that generation did after trying every well and finding none of it satisfying.

After we saw the movie, my oldest son said, "I wish that could happen again." And my oldest daughter said something profound: "I think the LGBTQ group is the new hippies." It's worth thinking about. The number is that 37 percent of Gen Z identify as queer, and what they will discover is that none of it satisfies. We need to pray that God would move, because there is no hope in those things.

The Spirit of Wisdom

Was Joshua prepared in himself? No. But ultimately, yes—because he was full of the Spirit. Notice Moses had laid hands on him, and he had the spirit of wisdom. In Isaiah 11 the Spirit is called the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Joshua would need all of that, and all of it comes from God.

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, God has a call, mission, and purpose for your life—and you cannot do it apart from the enabling power of His Spirit. But having the Spirit does not mean you will feel no fear. We're about to see God encourage Joshua repeatedly to "be strong and of good courage"—and you don't tell people to be courageous unless they feel weak and afraid.

When I was about seventeen, leaders in this church laid hands on me and prayed that God would fill me with His Holy Spirit. I believed by faith, based on Jesus' words that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Then opportunities to serve came, and I felt, "There's no way I can do that." That is actually not a bad place to be, because it forces you to rely on God. When you walk through it and succeed, you say, "That certainly was not me—that was the Lord." He receives the glory, not us. Having the Spirit does not erase fear, but even with apprehension we must step forward, or we fall back.

Arise and Go

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD... the LORD spoke to Joshua... saying: "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them... From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates... to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory." (Joshua 1:1–4)

God's description of the promised land was always far bigger than anything Israel ever took possession of—from the Euphrates in the east to the Mediterranean in the west, from Lebanon in the north down to Egypt. They never possessed the fullness of what God gave them; what they took was a small strip about the size of Rhode Island. But God says, in effect, the deed is signed in your name: every place the sole of your foot treads is yours. All you have to do is go in and take it.

The temptation, as in Numbers 13, is to step back in fear because of the obstacles, the enemies, the fortified cities. They saw their insufficiency in light of who they were and not in light of who God is. Now, four decades later, God says again: arise and go—I have given it to you.

Egypt, Wilderness, or Rest

For many years Christians have read this passage symbolically, often seeing the crossing of the Jordan as moving into heaven. But that is the wrong way to look at it, because in the promised land Israel experiences battles and wars and challenges. This is not heaven; it is the children of God moving from wandering in the wilderness into victorious life in the promises of God.

We are always living in one of three places: in bondage in Egypt, wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, or living in rest and victory in God's promised blessing. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, He redeems you from your bondage to sin—Egypt—by His finished work on the cross. Then you come into the wilderness, where God establishes His covenant with you and you begin to walk in relationship with Him. But God's aim is to bring you into victory and rest in Christ.

The sad reality is that many Christians wander aimlessly in the wilderness for virtually their entire Christian life, never experiencing the victory, rest, and blessing that are theirs in Christ. The land belonged to Israel by inheritance; all they had to do was step in and take it. But for thirty-eight years their own fears and unbelief kept them out.

In Ephesians 1 Paul says we have in Christ every spiritual blessing in heavenly places—redemption, forgiveness, adoption, an incorruptible inheritance that does not fade away. As Paul says in First Corinthians, all the promises of God are in Him "Yes" and "Amen." There are thousands of promises in Scripture, and they are all yours in Christ. But we need to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of us. Point two: By faith we must take possession of what God has granted us in Christ.

Courage In and Obedience to the Word

"No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life... I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage... Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go." (Joshua 1:5–7)

How many of you desire to be prosperous in everything you do? How many desire victory in your life? I think it's a safe assumption that everyone wants that. God's Word tells us plainly the path to blessing. Call it the divine algorithm—if this, then that. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. If you want a prosperous life, good success, and victory, here are the instructions.

The victory would not go to the strongest or the swiftest. If it were all a worldly matter, Israel's enemies were stronger, better prepared, and more defended—Israel was toast. Their victory came not from their power or strategy but from God. Point three: Victory for them and for us in Christ is found by courage in and obedience to God's Word.

A companion text is the opening of the Psalms:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly... but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water... and whatever he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1)

Have You Even Tried It?

When I say, "Take courage in God's Word, abide in it, let it abide in you, and by His enabling power do and obey it, and you'll experience God's success," I can see the response: that seems like an incredible oversimplification.

It reminds me of Naaman, commander of the army of Syria, stricken with leprosy. He went to the prophet Elisha, who didn't even come out but sent a servant to say, "Wash seven times in the Jordan, and you'll be clean." Naaman left fuming—"We have better rivers in my country than this dirty Jordan." But his servant said, "Maybe just try it; you're going to die anyway." He did, and he was clean.

You may say this is hyper-simplistic—read the Word, apply it, hide it in your heart, and you'll experience God's victory. My simple question is: have you tried it? In my own life I see victory tied to God's Word as I do that. Israel's rest in the land was never automatic; every time they left God's Word they ended up in bondage, but when they returned in faith and obedience, God defended and blessed them. I have seen this true time and again.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night... For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:8–9)

Bold Steps of Faith

Then Joshua commanded the officers... "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan and go in to possess the land...'" (Joshua 1:10–11)

Point four: Israel's progress depended on faithfulness and bold steps of faith. Joshua wastes no time. God said go, so within three days they are going in. Thirty-eight years earlier the only thing between Israel and the promised land was their own unbelief.

The author of Hebrews tells us to take careful note of that Exodus generation: "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience" (Hebrews 4:11). The "therefore" sends us back to remember what happened to those who died in the wilderness in unbelief.

A Ready Heart

"Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land... but you shall pass over before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, until the LORD has given your brethren rest..." (Joshua 1:14–15)

Joshua calls the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who in Numbers 32 asked to settle east of the Jordan but vowed to send their fighting men to help the rest take possession. He holds them to their vow.

So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses... Only be strong and of good courage." (Joshua 1:16–18)

Point five: The successful servant of God stands before Him with a ready heart. "Here am I, send me. I don't feel I have power or ability or anything to offer, but here am I, send me." And notice how they even encourage their leader: "Only be strong and of good courage."

This is a good place to end, because God has called you and me to step into the promised blessing He has given us. When we get to Joshua 13 we'll read that "there remains much land to be possessed." When things get hard, I hear people say, "Lord, come quickly"—and amen, but there remains much land to be possessed. God obviously is not finished with His work here in North County, here in California. He has a task for you, and what He looks for is a servant who says, "Here am I, send me." We feel we have nothing to offer, but God fills us with Himself—His power and strength—and uses His people mightily. May He do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think. No more hanging around Kadesh Barnea. In three days we're moving out.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we need Your grace and Your strength. Lord, I know in me I have no ability, power, or sufficiency apart from Your power and Your Spirit, so would You fill us up. Do whatever You need to do to bring us to a place where we are crying out for Your power. Joshua felt completely insufficient—all he had was You—and with that he was willing to say, "In three days we're moving out." Help us to have that mindset and heart, as ready and willing servants saying, "Here am I, send me." Do work in Your church, do work in this community, a work that would blow our minds if someone told us about it. Pour out, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.