Joshua in Charge, Part 1

Joshua chapter 1, Joshua now is in charge. He's ready to lead. He's been commissioned by God. He's been Trained by Moses, he's been challenged by the words of God, and now he's about to fulfill the great responsibility of leading the children of Israel into the promised land. This, of course, is an en task. And as we go through this great book, verse by verse, you're going to understand how great a task this was for Joshua. And tonight, what I want to do is, I'm going to change your outline. I love to do that.

That's one of my favorite things to do. I stay up late at night thinking of how I can make it difficult for you when you come. But I'm going give you two points. And the first point is this: I want to give you the critical ingredients to leadership.

And then I want to give you the practical injunctions. For leadership. And the practical injunctions are the three points you have on your paper, but the critical ingredients you don't have. On your paper, but we have them in the text. And so I want to be able to point them out to you because I think that I would be remiss in my responsibility if I didn't help you understand the critical ingredients. To successful biblical leadership that Joshua himself possessed. You see, we have to understand there was something about the man.

That God would do in him in such a way that it would cause the people to follow. I mean, we read to you last time when we were together way back in Joshua. Chapter 23, those infamous words, when it says this, verse 31 of chapter 24. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua and had known all the deeds of the Lord which he had done in Israel. Folks, that's a powerful statement. These people, these Jews, serve the Lord all the days of Joshua's leadership.

They didn't do that under Moses' leadership, and he was the greatest leader ever. But you can't say that Israel served the Lord their God all the days of the leadership of Moses. But the Bible makes it very clear that they did with Joshua. And so there are some certain elements. I want to give you seven critical ingredients to help you understand successful biblical leadership. You need to understand these things because they relate particularly to you. Let me give them to you.

Number one is this: in order to be a successful leader, you must have a committed past. A comm past. That means that in your past, you are trustworthy, you are dependable, you are faithful, you are reliable. You could be count on. Joshua was that kind of man. He had a committed past. He was committed as a son. Remember, Joshua is the son of none. So he was the one. That it was the firstborn in his family. So when Passover took place, you can understand what must have been happening in his household.

Dad, did you make sure that you did everything right with the lamb? You didn't break any bones in the lamb, right? You made sure you put the blood on the doorpost, cross and down. Everything's covered, right, Dad? Because my life's at stake here. And if you don't do it right, I'm a dead man. So you got it right, right, Dad? And so you can understand the conversation. But this young man was a committed son, and not only that, he was a committed slave. Committed slave because he was enslaved in Egypt for many years.

And you know, it's always difficult to be committed to your God when things are bad. It is. And you know, I I think back on my life and I I look at my children and I think about you and your children and your families and I think you know can can we say that our that our sons and our daughters are are committed to God.

Can we say that? I look back on my life and I trust that I was committed to my God as a son and provided an example for my parents. And then I was trained by my mom and my dad so I could be a faithful son, so I could be a faithful servant in their home. But Joshua was a committed son and a committed slave. He was a committed servant. The Bible calls him a servant of Moses in verse 1 of chapter 1. He was Moses' servant. And because he was the servant of Moses, he had to be a faithful kind of man. He had to be a dependable kind of man.

We never read where Joshua was untrustworthy, where Joshua couldn't be counted on. In fact, not only was he a committed son, slave, and servant, he was a committed soldier. A committed soldier. Remember what it says? We read this to you before, but back earlier in Exodus chapter 17, it says in verse number 8: Then Am came and fought against Israel at Raphid. So Moses said to Joshua, choose men. For us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill and the staff of God in my hand.

And Joshua did as Moses told him. Joshua did as Moses told him. That was his mod oper. That's how he functioned. What he was told to do, he did. Because he was a committed soldier. He was a committed sl. He was a committed son. He was a committed servant. He also was a committed spy. Well, he went into the land of Israel. And spied out the land with the other 11 spies. He came back, and he and Caleb came back with a positive min report. But he never wavered on what he believed God had for him and for his nation.

He never backed off of his commitment. He never succumbed to peer pressure. He was a committed spy. He would then become the committed successor to Moses. He never knew that God was going to call him. Moses didn't even know that Joshua was going to be called to be the next leader. In fact, it tells us, as he read it earlier, a couple of weeks ago, that as Moses sought the Lord, the Lord told him, Here's my man. It's Joshua. He's the guy. And you see, it's imperative to have a committed past. It is.

You say, well, my past hasn't been so good. Well, you know what? Start today, and tomorrow, today will be your past. You see, we forget that God picks us up where we're at and He wants us to move and progress toward Him. But we need to realize that we need to show faithfulness, dependability. We need to be faithful in whatever God's called us to do. We need to be committed in the little things. I can remember when I was in college and I was going through college and I was playing sports and I had a job and had to go to work late at night.

I worked in a trucking company, McLean Trucking Company, in McLean, Virginia. And it was a place where all these truckers were. Would come in and they'd sleep at night, and so there'd be rooms, and there would be all kinds of mess in there. These guys would get sick, and they would vomit on the floor, and we'd have to go in and clean up everything because we were the We were the janitors, my friend and I. We were the custodial service. And so we had to go in there and clean this stuff up night after night after night.

This was our job going through college. But you know what? I had to be committed to doing what I was called to do at the time. That was my job. And that's how I was going to raise money to pay for gas in my car and to pay for my school bills and to make sure that I had an opportunity to go out and maybe do some. Social life at McDonald's or Burger King or something, you know what I'm saying? So you had to earn your money, but it was the only job I had. And so many times we find ourselves uncommitted in things that we don't like.

Say, well, this doesn't really mean that much. You know, you never know what you're doing. Where someone else is watching to see how comm you are. The Bible says, whatever you do, you do heartily as unto the Lord.

Whatever it is, you do it as unto the Lord. And you know, when we look for leaders in our church, we look at their past.

Were they committed and faithful in Sunday school lessons and teaching? Were they faithful and committed at coming regularly and being here? Were they faithful and were they committed in the little acts of service that they started? Or do they start and quit? So the first ingredient that's crucial to leading is a committed past.

A committed past. Number two, a clear call. A clear call. If you're going to lead, you got to know who you're leading and where you're leading them to, right? That's important. And it says in Joshua chapter 1, verse number 5. I'm sorry, verse number 2. Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise, cross the Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.

Then it says down in verse number 11. Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people saying prepare provisions for yourselves for within three days you are to cross this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you To possess it. Joshua had a very clear, concise, specific, detailed call. And that was to cross the river Jordan and lead the people into the land of Canaan. Moses didn't have that call, Moses had the call to lead them out of Egypt. But Moses was never given the call to lead them into the land of promise.

Joshua was given that call. And it's imperative that we understand what it is God has called us to do. A very clear. Call. Now, I'm not talking about the call to salvation. That's imperative. You've got to be saved to have any kind of biblical leadership. When God calls a man to be saved, he calls him and does a great and mighty work. And the Bible says in Romans 8 that he calls us, and not only that, he predestines us to be conformed to the image of his son.

See, you know, a believer is called by God, and you know that person is a believer because they are being conformed to the image of God. How do you know someone had a false call to salvation? They're not being conformed to the image of God. Romans 8 is very clear about that. It's very clear if someone is born again, they are steadily and progressively being changed into the image of God If that's not happening, they're not saved. That might sound a little harsh, but folks, that's the reality of the Bible.

There is a transformation that takes place. You are a new creation. Things are taking place in your life, and you are changing. There's that call to salvation where God calls a man. If He calls Him, He conforms Him to His image. But in this case, in leadership. This man, Joshua, had a very clear and concise call. He knew exactly what his mission was. He knew exactly that God had called him and devised him to lead the nation of Israel into the promised land. And if you're going to lead anybody effectively, you must know what your leadership is about and where you're going and how you're going to get there.

That's imperative. I know that God has called me to be the pastor of this church. I know God's called me to preach the gospel. God's called me to preach and teach the Word of God, week in and week out. I don't have any misgivings about that. I don't have any clouds in my brain about that. I know exactly what God has called me to do. And if I don't do that, there's a problem. As Paul said, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. So, I understand God's call upon my life, and I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

And if I didn't have that clear call from God to preach the gospel, then I need not be here. Somebody else needs to be here. But you must know exactly what God's called you to do. And God takes you from place to place to place in order to bring you to the ultimate place He wants you to be. And you've got to be able to decipher what it is God has called you to do. Joshua knew exactly that God had called him to lead these people into the promised land. There was no question about it. And the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Faithful is he who called you, who also will do it.

Now that deals with the whole aspect of sanctification and glorification. It's the promise that God will do exactly what he promised he's going to do. If God called you to salvation, He will sanctify you. And if He's going to sanctify you, He is going to glorify you. God has given us that promise. But the same thing is true when it comes to the call of a man or the call of a woman to a specific task. God will see you through, He'll see you through. And that leads us to the third element of a crucial ingredient to leadership.

Number one is a committed past. Number two is a clear call. And number three, you need to have a confident spirit.

A confident spirit. Listen to what it says in verse number five of Joshua chapter 1. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you. Or forsake you. Those words were given to Joshua so that his spirits will be bolstered, so he will become a confident man. Not self-confidence, but God confidence. Remember Philippians chapter 3, verse number 3. The Bible says we are the marked ones.

We are the circumcision. How do you know the Christian? That is the marked person, the circumcised one in the heart is the one. Who worships God in spirit, who glories in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh. That's Philippians 3, verse number 3. So this isn't a self-confidence. This is a God confidence. But this is a confident spirit. That's why God told Joshua over and over again: you be strong, you be courageous. You'll be strong. You'll be courageous. And that phrase is repeated throughout the book of Joshua.

Because God says, if I'm going to be with you, you have nothing to fear. Listen, if you're going to be a leader, you can't have a passive spirit. You can't have a doubting spirit. You've got to have a confident spirit. You got to know what God's called you to do. And if you know what God's called you to do, then you need to be strong in accomplishing the task that He's put before you. Because He is the one who will stand with you. He will the one who will lead you. He will be the one who will guide you.

You see, we forget about this, folks. We need to understand that the Bible says this over in Proverbs 29, verse number 2.

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked man rules, people grow. There's a lot of groaning going on in the country, our country. There's a lot of groaning going on in churches in our country. And there's a lot of groaning going on in the families in the churches in our country. Because you got wicked people ruling. And when the wicked rule, the people who follow groan. They moan. Why? Because they hurt. They hurt desperately. A lot of wives groan in sighing when they go to bed at night because they have husbands who cannot lead.

Over the last 25 years of my ministry, I've counsel so many women who moan and groan, not in a negative way as complaining, but because of the inability. And the unwillingness of their husband to take the leadership in their home. It's a sad indictment on the men in our churches. They don't have a committed past, they don't have a clear call, and they don't have a confident spirit. And those things are essential if you're going to lead. And Joshua had them all. And all you got to do is read the book of Joshua.

And this is what caused the people to follow the Lord all the days of his life. People want to follow somebody who knows where it is they're going and how it is they're going to get there because they know that that individual believes in God and trusts in God. You need to be able to give the people you lead a sense of security, a sense of stability. And Joshua would give that to the nation of Israel. It's not that Moses didn't give that, he did. But Moses had an enormous task to lead those people who, for the most part, were unbelievers.

Because Hebrews says they died in the wilderness in unbelief. They refused to belie. And so you need a committed fast. You need a clear call. You need a confident spirit. And number four, there needs to be a consuming Desire a cons des, and God told Joshua. In verses 8 and verses 9, these words: This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so 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 success.

Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. There needs to be a consuming desire for the things of God and the word of God. And this is where leadership begins to break down in the family. This is where it begins to break down in the church. We don't have men. Who are consumed with the Word of God. Let me tell you something.

If you're not consumed with the Word of God, you will be an ineffective leader. You will be a powerless leader. You will be an impotent leader because your power comes directly from the Spirit of God who works in line with the Word of God. And if you want to be successful, if you want to be prosperous, as God told Joshua, there needs to be a consuming desire for God and his word. It must be paramount in your life. It must be the number one objective of your life to know your God.

And the only way you're going to get to know Him is through the Word of God. And that is absolutely critical to any kind of biblical leadership, any kind of spiritual leadership, any kind of influential leadership, a consuming desire for the things of God. Need to have that. So important. Number five, there needs to be a compliant he. Compliant heart. And I'll talk more about this in a moment, but the text says in verse number 10, these simple words: Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people.

In other words, he was obedient. He complied with what God said. A compliant he. A desire that says, Lord, whatever you say. I'll do. You can have a consuming desire for the Word of God, but yet not have a compliant heart. You see, once you dig into the Word of God and you see what it says, now you've got to obey the Word of God, right? And that's where Joshua had to fall in line. He had to do exactly what God said. A compliant heart. Number six. A consecrated life. This takes us back to Exodus 33, verse 11.

Remember when It says in verse number 11, Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Remember that? consecrated life his life was set apart everybody else was was was doing their own thing but but but Joshua would not depart from the tent of meeting He would stay. While everybody else was doing their thing, he was doing the God thing. When everybody else was into themselves, he was into God.

He wanted to do, he wanted to know more about his God. That's what consumed his life. And that man. Had a consecrated life because he was devoted to his God. Folks, these are the crucial ingredients, the critical ingredients to any kind of effective leadership. Without them, your leadership is just impotent. You might have a position, but you have no power. And you know what? We got a lot of people with positions, but no power. Because they're not tapped into the Spirit of God. They're not tapped into the Word of God.

And this man, Joshua, had a consecrated life. He was different. He was different than everybody else. You know, we just so desperately want to be like everybody else. I don't get that. I don't understand it. We just want to be like everybody else. We can't handle peer pressure. So when it comes our way, we succumb to it. Because we don't want to stand out and be different. We don't want to stand out and be noticed. We just want to kind of fit in and be like, you know, my favorite phrase, just be vanilla, be like everybody else.

You know, fit right in with everybody else. Just kind of, you know, seep into the crowd. Why can't we have people who want to be different? Not for the sake of just being different, but because we're consecrated to God to do what God says.

Why can't we find people like that? Why are they so hard to find? And that's the kind of people we need to be. Joshua was that kind of man. And lastly, a commanding presence. Commanding presence. The Bible says in verse 11 of Joshua chapter 1, these words pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare provisions.

For yourselves, verse 10: Joshua commanded the officers. If you read through chapter 1, you read through the book of Joshua, something about him, he had a commanding presence. When he walked into a room, Everybody knew he was there. Not because he was loud, not because he was mouthy, not because he was handsome, not because of the clothes he wore. He had a commanding presence because God had command of him. That's what it means to have a commanding presence. And people followed. People submitted.

And that's the kind of issues that become paramount when it comes to leadership. People need to know that God's got a hold of your life. And when they know God's got a hold of you, that God's going to lead you, you have a commanding presence in their life, as you stand before them. And that's what Joshua had. Folks, those are the critical ingredients to effective biblical leadership.