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Hi everyone, this is Pastor Tom Holiday and we are beginning today a study in
the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua, the Old Testament book of Joshua, is an
expression of how God can use one person, the man Joshua. But it's not a book
that's just about what God did in Joshua's life.

It's a book about what God can do in your life. And today we stand at the
beginning of Joshua, and as we stand in this place, beginning this book, I want
to take today to sort of introduce to you where we are. I want to take a look
backward, a look forward, and a look inward.

And as we take a look each of those directions, really today you might get in
your mind a staff, a staff of leadership like Moses and Joshua would use. Get in
your mind also a sword, a sword of victory, and also get in your mind a scroll,
a scroll upon which God's word would be written, a staff, a sword, and a scroll.
You get those things in mind as we begin this study together, it will help you
to picture what God wants to do in your life through this study of the book of
Joshua.

So first, a look backwards. As Joshua begins, as this book begins, we're
standing on the brink of the promised land. To understand the battles before us
as they go into the promised land, you have to be reminded of the struggles that
were behind the people of Israel.

You remember that they had suffered over four centuries of slavery in Egypt,
years and years and years of bitterness and hardship. And then we read in God's
word about the deliverance of God that came through Moses. You might remember
much of this story, the plagues that came against Egypt, the people being set
free through the night of the Passover, the Red Sea and how God allowed the
people to walk through on dry ground, the pillars of fire and of smoke that
guided the people, the instruction of God at Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments
that came down to Moses, the fear that the people have had of entering the
promised land, the twelve spies that went out and how most of those spies came
back and reported, "It's too fearful, we can't go in.

" And so then the wilderness wandering, the forty years of wandering in the
wilderness. You might not know how much Joshua was in the middle of all that God
was doing. We first meet Joshua in the scripture, not in the book of Joshua, but
back in the battle against the Amalekites.

In that battle, God told Moses that as long as he held his arms up, the people
would be victorious. And so Aaron and Hurr stood on either side of Moses and
held his arms up so that the staff of God could be held up, so that the people
could continue to be victorious. But you might not remember that the general of
the army that continued to be victorious that day was a man by the name of
Joshua.

He wasn't holding Moses' arms up, he was out fighting the battle. Joshua became,
until Moses' death, Moses' personal servant. That meant that he had the
privilege of going with Moses to the top of Mount Sinai as the Ten Commandments
were given.

Many pictures that we see show just Moses going up to the mountain, but Joshua
went with him. What glory he experienced. There probably was no brighter moment
ever in his life.

He also experienced in his serving of Moses one of the darkest moments of his
life, shortly thereafter, when he went with the twelve spies to spy out the new
promised land. And two people, Joshua and Caleb, came back and said, "We can
take it. God has given it to us.

" But the other ten spies said, "The giants are too big in the land. The
problems are too difficult in the land. We'll never be able to be victorious.

" And because the people listened to those ten negative reports, God did not
allow them to go into the promised land at that time, but instead they wandered
in the desert for forty years. Now just think of this. Joshua was wandering in
the desert for forty years thinking, "If only they'd listened to me.

If only they'd listened to me. " And then at the end of those forty years,
they're coming to the end of that time of wandering. They know they're going to
be about ready to go into the land.

And then maybe the worst blow of all comes for Joshua. Moses dies. The one who
had been leading them all this time dies right before they go into the promised
land.

Can you imagine the feelings he must have had about God's work in his life?
Confusion and anger and disappointment all mixed together. But then Joshua
realized something.

God was putting a staff in his hand. Those years of service had prepared him to
lead. And we see as we look at Joshua one this week, one and two, that in one
part of his mind Joshua was terrified, but in the other part of his mind he was
looking forward to what God was going to do through him for the people of
Israel.

It was God's encouragement that pulled Joshua through. We're going to see this
throughout this book. That's a look backwards.

Now a look forward. A look forward to what we're going to be studying in the
book of Joshua. And if you look at the outline of the book of Joshua, it's a
pretty simple outline of this book.

It's really a two-part outline. Part one is chapters one to twelve. Part two is
chapters thirteen to twenty-four.

That's what splits pretty evenly in the book. Chapters one to twelve are about
conquest. Chapters thirteen to twenty-four are about settlement.

First they have the victory, the conquest of the land, and then they settle in
the land. Chapters one to twelve, conquest, God gives them victory after victory
after victory. At Jericho and eventually Ai and over the Hittites and the
Amorites, over the kings of Jerusalem and Hebron and Aeglon, they are
victorious.

They suffered only one defeat and that was when they trusted in themselves
rather than the Lord, but God even turned that defeat into a victory. And so God
not only put a staff in Joshua's hand, He also put a sword, a sword of judgment
for the Canaanites and a sword of victory for Israel. Now the Canaanites, if you
go back all the way to the book of Genesis, all the way to the book of Genesis,
these are people that had been flaunting the character of God in their lives.

These were very evil people and because of this, God used them as the hand of
judgment as Joshua came into the promised land, but there was more than judgment
going on here. God was also giving them this land, so it's a sword of victory
for Israel. God works miracles after miracle after miracle after miracle.

The dividing of the Jordan River, He causes the sun to actually stand still for
a time in one battle. The crumbling of the walls of Jericho, one of the most
famous miracles in all of the Bible. But perhaps the greatest miracle was one
that's not talked about very much, a quiet personal miracle.

God gave Joshua the courage and the strength to lead. God gave Joshua the
courage and the strength to become the one who led them into God's promise. So
there is conquest in chapters 1-12, but then there is settlement in chapters
13-24.

After the victory, the land was divided according to God's direction amongst the
twelve tribes of Israel. It was divided to complete the conquering. Sadly, they
never did totally complete the conquering of the land.

They didn't follow God's directions entirely, but that's the reason it was
divided to complete the conquering, but it was also divided to give everyone an
inheritance. And nine of the tribes were given territory in the land. Three were
given territory right on the other side of the Jordan.

One tribe, Levi, received no land at all because they were the priestly tribe.
They didn't have land. They just served people who had the lands.

The Bible says this near the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua 21, 43-45. So the
Lord gave Israel all the land that He had sworn to give their forefathers, and
they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every
side just as He had sworn to their forefathers.

Not one of their enemies withstood them. The Lord handed all their enemies over
to them. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed.

Every one was fulfilled. That's what the book of Joshua is about. God had made a
promise that He was going to give them this land, and God fulfilled every bit of
His promise.

Now with that in mind, let's also take a look inward. Not just a look backwards
and a look forward, but also a look inward. Because this book is not meant
simply to tell their story.

It's a book that's written to change your life. So alongside that staff, that
staff of leadership with Joshua, that sword, that sword of victory for Joshua,
also see a scroll, a scroll of God's eternal, eternal word for your life.
Remember that the only defeat that Joshua suffered came when they got away from
God's word to them.

This is what you should do. And after that defeat, Joshua began to make it a
habit to read from God's word to the people after each victory. So their
victories were based on God's word in their life.

And in many ways, as we walk through this book, you're going to see that the
book of Even how it's laid out, and how God causes them to be able to be
victorious in the promised land gives you and I the model of how God's promises
can be made real in your life. It's a very simple model. You can see it in the
outline of the book of Joshua.

Remember the outline. There's conquest, and then there's settlement. How do you
win your greatest battles?

How do you win your greatest spiritual battles in life, the battles with
yourself? How do you win your greatest battles to actually believe God in new
ways, to actually reach out for the vision that he has for your life? Conquest
and settlement, conquest.

God provides victory. He provides victory in your life over sin, over death,
over Satan. That victory occurred in the past, in the cross, and in the tomb of
Jesus Christ.

It's settled. It's settled. And you trust in that conquest.

You trust in the victory that he has already given. You don't try to build that
victory on your own. You couldn't.

So you trust in what he's done. But then there's also settlement. You have to
allow that victory to begin to possess your life.

Sometimes the possession of your life through that victory comes very quickly.
Sometimes it comes very slowly. Sometimes God works through great miracles.

Other times through the patient persistence that he gives into your life. But
whatever it is, however he does it, he is working to bring his promise into your
life. He's working to bring his victory into your life.

Now, victory in the Christian life does not mean you have perfect circumstances.
It never has meant that. It didn't mean that for Joshua.

You look at the New Testament, it doesn't mean it for the Apostle Paul. It
doesn't mean perfect circumstances. That's the victory of heaven.

The victory of the Christian life on this earth means you're trusting him in
every circumstance. And because of that, you're seeing how he works through any
circumstance. That's the victory that he wants to give in your life.

With that in mind, let me leave you with a verse we're going to look at again
tomorrow. His word to Joshua in Joshua 1. 9.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified.

Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. "
Let's take a minute to pray together that the truth of this book would make its
way into our lives, our daily lives as we study it together.

Our Father, we pray, I pray, that as we study this book of Joshua together, the
truth of your victory for our lives would be made more clear than it ever has
been. And the truth of how you want to accomplish this victory, the truth of how
you want to bring your promises into our daily lives, Lord help us to see it
like we've never seen it before. And because we see it in a new way, help us to
trust you in a way we've never trusted you before.

And as we trust you in a new way, I pray that we would have the glorious victory
of seeing how your promises are made real in our lives in a way like never
before. I pray that through the study of this book, we would see how our biggest
battles, how we can win those battles that may have been there for a long, long
time in a temptation, in a sin, in a relationship, in a dream, in a vision, Lord
help us to see how those battles can be won. Help us to see how you can bring
your victory, not our victory, but your victory into our lives.

Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at where
the life of victory begins.