Strong & Courageous
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
Drawing from Joshua 1:1–9, Pastor Matt emphasizes that while Christ has accomplished our ultimate salvation and secured our spiritual inheritance, believers are still called to actively engage in daily spiritual warfare. Just as Joshua was tasked with leading Israel to fight for the Promised Land following the death of Moses, Christians cannot passively coast through life; we must forcefully take hold of the kingdom of God. The necessary strength for this battle is not physical, but a steadfast strength of character that resists cultural compromise and stands firm for the truth. This courageous character is cultivated through three vital provisions from the Lord: resting confidently in God’s objective promises, meticulously meditating upon and obeying God’s precepts, and taking deep, unshakeable assurance in God’s abiding presence—knowing that, as Robert Murray M'Cheyne observed, Christ is always interceding for us.
Sermon Transcript
Joshua chapter one is where we will be today. This year, we're spending the year walking through the whole Bible together. We're calling it the Year of the Bible. And as such, we've put together a Bible reading plan. We're reading through the Bible together as a church, and I highly encourage you to be doing that with us. Even if you've fallen behind or fallen off track, you can jump in with us this morning. In fact, in the handout, there are the readings for the week, the chapters that we are reading today and for the rest of the week.
We will spend the majority of this week in this book of Joshua, and then, at the end of the week, moving into Judges. Moving into Joshua, we've made it through some of the most difficult passages in Scripture. The first few books of the Bible are not the easiest of reads. There are some really difficult, hard-to-get-through passages in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The good news is that for the next several months, all of the passages are narrative. There's not a whole lot of Levitical priesthood codes, laws, or building schematics for the tabernacle. It's all narrative for the next several months. And so, if you've fallen off the plan sometime in the first two months—which happens to a lot of people in their Bible reading plan, I understand it's not always easy going—I want to encourage you to jump back in with us today. Our community groups and our life groups are centered around our readings for this year, and I really want to strongly impress upon you to daily be in the Word of God. If you're not on this plan, be on some plan to daily spend time in God's Word together. Amen?
Reading the Word: Joshua 1:1–9
This morning, we're looking at Joshua chapter one, verses one through nine. We're just going to jump right in, so I invite you to stand with me. I know you just sat, but we are going to stand again, and we are going to get into the Word of God together.
"After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 'Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'"
Father, we do pray that You would add Your blessing to the reading of Your Word this morning, that You would speak to each one of our hearts today. Lord, we've come from many different places, many different backgrounds, many different circumstances this week, but Your Word is active and living, and I pray that through Your Word and Your Spirit, You would speak to each one of our hearts today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated this morning.
Strong and Courageous
The title for my sermon today is "Strong and Courageous." It says here in verse 2 that Moses had passed away. Moses was the leader that God had chosen to bring the people out of slavery in Egypt. God had always intended for His people to go in and to possess this land, this land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That first generation was not able to go into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Moses was not able to go into the Promised Land because of his sin. He sinned in front of the people of Israel by striking the rock when God had told him to speak to the rock. And so now that older generation has passed away. Moses has passed away, and now this next generation, led by Moses' assistant, Joshua the son of Nun, is going to lead them in.
As we were reading this this week, my children said it was so sad that Joshua didn't have any parents. I said, "What are you talking about?" They said, "Well, he was the son of none." I said, "No, his dad's name was Nun. He had parents." So I had to point that out to them—Joshua, the son of Nun. I'm not joking, that actually was said in my house this week. The things that they say... I told my kids on Friday, I said, "You have to be really careful what you say on Friday and Saturday, because it's probably going to end up in the sermon if it's good."
Anyway, the leader that raised Joshua up, the leader that God had used to do all of these incredible things to deliver the children of Israel, was gone now. And now Joshua has been anointed to lead the children of Israel, to lead this great people to inherit what God had promised to them, to lead them into this natural homeland. They were to lay hold of this natural country, and this was going to require natural warfare. They were going to have to fight to possess this land, because this land was inhabited. It was inhabited by the Canaanites and all the nations that lived there.
The Spiritual Battle for Our Inheritance
I want to draw your attention to this here this morning: though God had given it to them and said it was theirs, for them to have it, they had to fight for it. The inhabitants of the land didn't just hand it over and say, "Okay, here you go, take our land." Israel had to take possession of what God had promised.
And so it is with us, the church, the spiritual descendants of Abraham. God has likewise made many wonderful promises to us, the new covenant people of God. Though we are not physical descendants of Abraham, we are spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith in Christ. As His spiritual descendants, we have received from God spiritual promises—not to inherit an earthly kingdom, but to inherit the kingdom of God. And just like the children of Israel in the old covenant, these spiritual blessings are ours. However, we must fight to take possession of them. Yes, they have been declared ours by God. But just as the children of Israel had to fight, so we too must fight to see the kingdom of God manifest in our lives.
Just as the Canaanites didn't hand over the land to the children of Israel, Satan is not just going to roll over in your life because you are a Christian. In fact, one of the things that we are repeatedly told in the New Testament is that the Christian life is a spiritual battle. I'm going to read some scriptures to you this morning that tell us that. I'm not going to comment on them, but I just want to impress on you the repeated refrain in the New Testament to the children of God, to the church, that we are engaged in a spiritual battle:
2 Corinthians 10:3–5: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Ephesians 6:10–13: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."
1 Timothy 1:18: "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare."
1 Timothy 6:12: "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."
And then finally, at the end of Paul's life, he will tell Timothy, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."
We are in a spiritual battle. We don't see our enemy. Our enemy is not flesh and blood; our enemy is these spiritual forces, these dark demonic powers that exist not in the natural realm, but in the spiritual realm. And this battle that we are engaged in as believers is a daily battle.
I am convinced that one of the most effective tactics that Satan uses against the people of God is to hide this reality from our eyes, to obscure it, to hide the fact that we are in a war every single day. He does it through many different ways—through distractions, the busyness of life, and through temptations to pursue comfort and leisure and just waste our time on meaningless things. There are so many distractions available today to take our eyes off of the fact that we're in a battle for our souls.
I was reading this week about how many years of content are on Netflix right now. It would take the average person 100 years to watch everything that's on Netflix. And 3,600 hours of video is added to Netflix every year. It's not static; it's growing. And it's not only Netflix anymore; it seems like there's a thousand streaming services that are all vying for your attention. "Watch me, watch me, watch me." I'm not saying that you can't watch anything, but what I am saying is that this can become a distraction in your life to take your eyes off of the fact that we are to be daily engaged in a spiritual battle.
You are in a daily spiritual battle. And if you are not actively engaged in that fight, you are losing ground. If the enemy is warring against your soul every day and you're not fighting back, that means he is gaining victories in your life.
There is a real spiritual inheritance for all of us, just as there was for the children of Israel, but we have to fight for it. Yes, salvation is accomplished for us by Christ and Christ alone. Yes, He has saved us and justified us. We do not add anything to His work on the cross. It is all of Him, it is all of grace, and we receive it by faith. Just as God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt by His mighty acts and His outstretched arm. Yes and amen. But to go in and inherit the Promised Land, they had to fight. Jesus has delivered us from spiritual Egypt; He's delivered us from the power of Satan, sin, and darkness. But to inherit the kingdom of God, to walk daily in the blessings that Christ has purchased for us, we must fight for them.
Sometimes I think that we who rightly rest in the finished work of Christ—we rightly Sabbath in that, we rightly say, "I don't add to my salvation, I am trusting in Jesus"—sometimes get this idea that for the rest of our life, we just sort of coast. We just put it in neutral and wait for Jesus to come back. But that's not the picture that the New Testament paints for us. The New Testament paints a picture of advancing the kingdom of God in every area of life through a spiritual struggle. We have to be like Joshua. We have to be strong and courageous.
Where do we find strength and courage to fight the battles that we are called to fight? God gives Joshua three things that will make him strong and courageous. These same three things that worked in Joshua's life will also work in ours.
1. God's Promises
The first is God's promises. We see this in verses 2 through 6. He had promised them the land. So He reminds Joshua, "Look, the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I am reminding you of this promise." He also makes another promise to him in verse 3: every place that your foot touches will be yours. He tells him in verse 5 that no man will be able to stand against you. Everyone that you face, you will defeat. The fourth thing He tells him is, "Joshua, you are going to be the one to cause this people to inherit this land." By holding fast to these promises, by meditating on them, by receiving them in faith, this was going to give Joshua courage. As he reflected upon what God had promised, it would make him strong in what God was calling him to do.
Just as God made many promises to Joshua, God in Christ has made many wonderful promises to His people today. Do you need strength today? You need to meditate on the promises of God. Do you need courage today? Does living in 2026 require courage to live for Christ? Yes, it does. What are some of the promises that God has made to His people?
How about this one: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Whatever is in front of me, whatever it is that God is asking me to do, through Christ I have the strength to do it. Why is it important to remind yourself of that? Because when Satan comes and tempts you to sin, he tells you that you don't have the strength or the power to resist this temptation. We have to remind ourselves: no, through Christ, I do have the power.
What about this promise: No weapon formed against you will prosper. What a beautiful and glorious promise. That's similar to the promise God gave Joshua—no one will be able to stand against you. Whatever the enemy aims at you, shoots at you, it will not ultimately accomplish its purpose; God's purpose for your life will stand. What about the promise that He will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory? What about the promise that God hears and answers our prayers? We could go on and on about all of the promises that we have in Christ.
In 2 Peter 1:3–4, Peter writes:
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
His power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. What do you need to live for Christ? He has given it to you.
2. God's Precepts
The second thing God gives Joshua is His precepts. Precepts is a word for God's law or His commandments, and I picked it because it goes with promises: precepts and promises. Let's look at Joshua 1:7–8 again:
"Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
Look at what He tells Joshua: take great care to obey the Word of God. Don't waver to the left hand or to the right. Don't compromise on any of it. Then He tells him, it shall not depart from your mouth. What does that mean? It means you don't just think about it in your mind, but you speak the Word of God. What are the words that are coming out of your mouth? The Bible tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
This reminds me of what we looked at last week from Deuteronomy 6 about teaching our children. "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." This day and night meditation of the Word of God. How much care do you give every day to obeying the Word of God? How much is God's Word the lamp to your feet and the light to your path on a daily basis? That's what it means to be led by the Spirit. To be led by the Spirit, we have to be filled with the Word of God. Otherwise, we will just fulfill the desires of the flesh.
God tells Joshua, "Then you will prosper and succeed." Joshua is about to engage in a military campaign, and it's interesting to me that God doesn't come with military strategy. He doesn't come to Joshua with combat techniques or how to order the army into different battalions. God comes and says, "Joshua, you're going to war, and what you need to do is have a Bible study." I imagine Joshua might have thought, "Could you maybe just give me some tactics?" But how often do we, too, think that success will come from following other paths? I would argue that true success in any endeavor—success as defined by God—is only found through following the Word of God.
The strength God is talking about is not physical strength. He's not telling Joshua to hit the weight room and bulk up. He is speaking of strength of character. What does that look like? Strength of character is doing what is right when what is right is unpopular. It's believing what is right when what is right is not believed by everybody else around us. It's holding fast to the truth when the world around us is living by lies. If our understanding of what is right and wrong is informed by the culture and not the Word of God, we will not have the strength to stand for Christ. We will just be pushed around by every whim of the culture. But if we want that spiritual inheritance, we must cultivate a strength of character that only comes by meditating on the Word of God.
3. God's Presence
Which brings us to number three this morning: God's presence. The three things that God gave to Joshua for him to be strong and courageous: God's promises, God's precepts, and finally, God's presence. Let's look at verse 5 and verse 9.
In verse 5: "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you." And in verse 9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
This was not only true of Joshua; this is true of you in Christ as well. Jesus says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." As believers, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We carry the presence of God with us wherever we go. What this means is that all of life is sacred. All of life is holy. In the Old Testament, God tells Moses, "Take off your sandals, you're standing on holy ground." It was holy ground because the presence of God was there. But God's presence is with us everywhere we go, so our whole lives are holy. That word "holy" means separated. Our whole lives are to be lived separated as unto the Lord, lived as worship unto God. Not just on Sunday, but throughout the week.
How much strength should that give us? If you were going to get into a fight with somebody, would you feel more confident if you had Shaquille O'Neal with you? How much more confidence would you have if Shaquille O'Neal was standing behind you? If you don't know who that is, he's a really tall, massive guy. Listen, we have somebody stronger than Shaquille O'Neal standing behind us. We have the Lord Jesus, died and risen, King of kings and Lord of lords.
There's this wonderful quote by the 19th-century minister Robert Murray M'Cheyne. He said, "If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me." Christ even now intercedes for us without fail. Whatever trial, temptation, or circumstance is in front of you, Christ is praying for you. Think about how much boldness that would place in your heart.
Conclusion
So whatever you are facing today, have courage. Have strength. Remind yourself of the promises of God. Speak them out. Declare them. Hold fast to the Word of God, allowing your conscience to be trained by it. And continually remind yourself that Christ is always with us.
Yes, we must fight for the spiritual inheritance that Christ purchased. But through Him, we can apprehend everything that He paid for, and we can leave a great legacy of faith to the next generation. I want to encourage you to not only hold these things for yourself but to also hold them for others—to remind others of these three things when they are battling. That is such an important role that the body of Christ plays. We need the strength that comes from God's promises, God's precepts, and God's presence, but we also need God's people. I just made that up right now. It's another 'P', and it's really good. We need God's people to remind us of these things, to pray for one another, and to be with one another in the fight.
This world is a wild place. We don't know what tomorrow holds. But what we do know is that God is with us, and we can be victorious. It won't happen by accident. It will happen through strength and courage. So let's get engaged in the battle. Let's fight for the promises that God has made for us and for our children. Amen.