The book of Joshua, whose name is equivalent to Jesus, signifies the transition from the law given by Moses to the grace and truth brought by Jesus Christ. While the law revealed sin and could not bring people into blessing, Jesus leads believers into their spiritual inheritance. This inheritance, detailed in Ephesians, is not earthly but heavenly, encompassing all spiritual blessings. Possessing this inheritance requires actively stepping out in faith, as God has already provided it, and overcoming spiritual enemies that seek to hinder enjoyment of these blessings. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that believers are not under the law but are united with Christ, fulfilling the law through love and living by the Spirit, thereby possessing their spiritual inheritance.
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Can you hear all right? Can you hear in the back row? Okay. Okay. Now when you turn to the New Testament, Joshua is twice translated with a word which was with a name by which we're very familiar. The name Jesus. That's the way it's translated. in the New Testament. So isn't it interesting that first of all you have the five books of Moses and then you have Jesus. You know the scripture says in John chapter one verse seventeen that the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Moses was the great representative of the law And the law never brought the people of God into the land of blessing. It never has, and it never will. The scripture says, By the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight. And so we have a new leader presented to us in this chapter, and this new leader's name is, in New Testament terms, Jesus. And he's the captain of our salvation. He's leading many sons to glory. He's the one who brings us into the blessing. If this were the hope of Hebrews, rather it says, the law made nothing perfect.
It failed. It didn't fail because there was anything wrong with the law. It says the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. Christ was the one who leads his people into the inheritance. not as I said because there was anything wrong with the law there's nothing wrong with the law the Apostle said the law is holy just spiritual and good he said if there had been a law given which could have given life barely said there would have been righteousness by the law but the law failed you know God first of all in dealing with men first of all gives them the bad news because if you don't have the bad news then the good news will need so much and our Bible is divided into two sections first of all there's the Old Testament and that has to do with the law which was given and the New Testament that has to deal deals with the new covenant the New Testament the Lord said do you remember on the very night of his betrayal he took a cup into his hand he said this cup is the New Testament in my blood.
The Old Testament is dependent upon the life that we can live. And since we cannot live and meet the demands of the law, it fails. The New Testament depends upon the death that he died, not the life that we live. It's the New Testament in his blood, which is shed for us. The Old Testament ends with a threatened curse. God says, Let I come and smite the earth with a curse. And the New Testament ends with a promised blessing. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're with you all. The law given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
I think it's interesting that these two are put right next to each other. First of all, the law and then Jesus. You know, when you turn to the New Testament, the book of Ephesians answers to the book of Joshua. You know, here in Joshua you have the physical, earthly inheritance of Israel brought to our attention. But in the New Testament, in the Epistle of Ephesians, we have the spiritual inheritance of the believer. Paul begins that epistle, first of all, in the introductory remarks, but then he says in verse three of that chapter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual not material blessings God promised material blessings to Israel but with all spiritual blessings not in Canaan but in the heavenly in Christ so the inheritance of the believer in our Lord Jesus Christ today he doesn't have an earthly inheritance God doesn't promise you anything in this world you may have a lot of things but he doesn't promise you
any of them and even when he gives you what you have he tell let you know well this is just temporary because this isn't your inheritance and so you have these two contrasts now what was true in the book of Joshua is also true in our day you know it says the inheritance that we have is in the heaven he's he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ And he also tells you that that expression is used in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. And unfortunately, it's not translated heavenlies there, although it is exactly the same word. It says, put on the whole arm of God, that you may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil.
It says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits in heavenly places. That's what it says. Wicked spirits in heavenly places. Now, when Israel went into the land, God told him, He says, Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours. But when they got there, they found there were a lot of people there. And they weren't on the welcoming committee either. You know, they were there. There were enemies in the land. And we find that there are enemies that would keep us out of our spiritual inheritance. It's all ours. God says it's all yours. Every place that the soldier put upon shall tread on the dimensions of their land.
And they've never entered into it yet. So that awaits the future. The Lord is going to give them their earthly inheritance of the future day. They haven't gotten it yet. Israel and that little piece of real estate they've got over there is peanuts compared to what God is going to give them. Saudi Arabia and all the rest of it is included in what God is going to give them someday. They don't have it yet. and they get thrown into the sea one of these days still until the Lord establishes them in the land we don't know all that we do know this they're not going to get it all until the Lord comes and establishes them there but they're enemies in the land and they're enemies in the land and that we fight our fight of warfare is not with men we're not to fight with one another sometimes Christians do that it says we're to strive together but not with each other for the faith of the gospel in Philippians chapter one but we have a warfare and the enemy would keep us out of that which God would have for us to enjoy he brings doubts into our minds and we don't really possess our possessions you know there are many Christians today that know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior but they have never entered into the fullness of the fact that they're eternally secure in Christ you
know so they have it But they don't enjoy it. You know, there's a verse in the Old Testament. I think it's the book of Obadiah, my memory certainly read, in which this expression is used in connection with Jacob and where he's told to possess your possessions. You know, you can own a lot of things and never possess them. A lot of people I was reading the other day about some wealthy man he didn't even know how much he owned. You know? Well, if you don't really possess it, in a certain sense, you don't have it. You know, a man that has, say, a million dollars and he puts three hundred thousand dollars in the bank, he doesn't have it any more than I have in a way. Or better still, he might get some interest out there, but let's suppose he buries it in a mattress out back, and he never uses it for thirty years or something.
He's got it, and he doesn't have it. The only thing that you really have is what you use. Really. Truly. And God says, every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon. It wasn't theirs because it was all in there. Oh, that's all mine. The farmer, he looks out and he says, that's ten thousand acres, maybe. I own all that. And maybe all he's walked on is about an acre. He doesn't own it at all. There's every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon. In other words, what he's saying is, the only thing that you possess is what you walk. And that's true of the Christians. We walk it out. Someone said one time, what's your favorite translation to somebody of the Bible? Says, my grandmother, she lives it.
That's it. She lives it. That's the way you possess your possessions. You not work it out. You walk it out. You live it. Every place. That the soul of your foot upon it shall tread upon. This is what he says. Shall we know of you? Yours. So there's a battle. In other words, we're in the land. It doesn't say God will bless you, though it's something future. That isn't what he says at all. He says he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens. There are us. Now he says, just as he said back here, to Joshua, go in and possess the land.
Be strong. And of a good courage. I'll go with you. Fight for you. You know, we're not going to possess it in our own strength. The only reason that they were successful in the measure of success that they enjoyed was when they relied upon God. You know, on one occasion, you know, they had a big number of men and they said, well, this is duck soup. We'll run over them like nobody's business. And they found out they didn't. And, you know, it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, so after the Lord. sometimes I go into homes and I see on the wall a text and it's a little it's bad in a way that they don't put the rest of the text you ever seen this text on the wall I was looking around I don't see it here the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath of the everlasting arms have you ever seen that text in anybody's home the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath of the everlasting arms that's a good verse but that's not all of the verse The next part of the verse says, He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say, Destroy them.
He shall thrust them out. See, as they went to possess, they found that their God went with them and before them to fight for them. But if they sat down, they didn't possess the land. They had to step out in faith against the enemy and they found out as they did, God fought for them, and they won the victory. And that's the way it is still. So here we have God saying to Moses, after the death of Moses, verse one, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of none. I want you to notice, first of all, it says, Moses, the servant of the Lord, my servant, The law was given by Moses.
Is the law a service of God? Yes, indeed. Wherefore then service the law? The law is a service? Yes. Wherefore then service the law. It was added because of transgressions. Why? The law was given to make sin exceeding sinful. You know, a man in the dark might imagine that he's a pretty good-looking fellow. You know, a handsome rascal. If I do admit it, he might think to himself. And then he steps out of the dark into the light. He sees himself in the mirror and he says, Oh, that's the old boy, huh?
You're not quite so handsome when you see yourself in the mirror. And that's why God gave the law. The Bible doesn't say by the law it's the knowledge of God. God never, God wasn't thinking of getting men to know him by the law. That wasn't the purpose. It says, by the law is the knowledge of sin. I have to get the bad news about myself first before I appreciate the Lord at all and what he is and what he has done and what he will do for me. By the law is the knowledge of sin. And God gave man the law. They said, oh, if the Lord has spoken, we will do. almost before the words got out of their mouth while they had broken the law, all that the Lord has spoken we will do.
It's easy to see. And then they realized how miserably they failed. God, first of all, wants men to get the bad news about themselves. The Lord Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous. If you think you're all right, then the Lord has nothing to say to you. He says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I've had people say to me, oh, preacher, I'm all right. Well, if you're all right, God can't do anything for you. Christ, Jesus didn't come into this world to save good people, but to save sinners. There is none good. Know what I want. Now, we don't like to believe that, but that's the purpose of the law. The law, Paul says in Romans, in Galatians rather, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
show us our helplessness in order that we could appreciate his grace the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ the law was all demand demanded something of man but man couldn't meet the meet the demand he had nothing to supply he couldn't he couldn't meet the demands of the law I remember years ago coming home from business one day we were in tire business for a number of years and I had a little pickup truck. I used to drive to and from work. And we were great Pepsi-Cola drinkers at our home. And I brought home a case of Pepsi-Cola, twenty-four bottles. And I took it out of this pickup truck and sat it down on the ground, planning to carry it into the home.
And about that time, my little boy, about three years of age, one of my boys, I don't know who it was now. He came running out and said, Daddy, let me carry it. And I said, help yourself. And I just let it. And I just watched. He tugged at one corner and tugged at another corner. And finally, when he got to the end of his rope, he looked up at me and said, Danny, you carry it. That's why God gave the law. He put on man something which absolutely, you know, he demanded because who he is. You know, God in his grace has not lowered the demands of the law. Don't think that for a minute. God didn't change his character when he gave Christ to die for his sins.
It was because of who God is. It was because of who God is that he had to send his Son to meet the demands of the law. And the Lord met those demands fully. And I like what our brother was saying earlier about this lady who said that she was saved by the righteousness of God. And that's true. It says in Romans chapter three that he's just, he's absolutely right. In fact, I would even go further. God would be absolutely wrong to refuse any sin of the trust of His Son. That says, He's just. And the justifier of every soul that believes in Jesus. The perfect righteousness of God is witnessed in the saving's blood.
Because in the cross of Christ we see how God can save. Yet righteous be. God could not pass the sinner by. His sin demands that He must die. But out of pity, Jesus said, I'll bear the punishment instead. The sin alights on Jesus' head. It is in His death. Sin's debt is paid. Stirring justice can demand no more. And mercy can dispense or store. The sinner who believes who's free can say the Savior died for me can point to His atoning blood and say, This made my peace with God. Yes. Moses, my servant, is dead and yet not dead because he goes on to say later on to Joshua that he's to observe to do all that is written in the law and that's the peculiar position of the Christian we're no longer under the law the Bible says we have become dead to the law it's not that the law is dead but it says we have become dead to the law through the body of Christ the law has nothing more to say to me what can the law say to a man who's died can say nothing you take a man and you execute him
for some crime that he's committed and he said the law said the last word that's all it can say well christ took the death penalty that i deserved and the law has nothing more to say to me there's no more demand to put upon me but it says we become dead to the law by the body of christ that we might bring forth that we might be joined unto another that why that we might bring forth fruit unto God. And what is the fruit of the Spirit? First of all, love. And it says in Romans thirteen and verse ten, Love is the fulfilling of the law. God has spread abroad his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And now because I love, am I going to commit murder? No. Because I love.
Am I going to steal? No. Because I love. Am I going to bear false witness? Am I going to do any of the things that the law demands? No. The law is fulfilled in us, the Scriptures, as we walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We're not under law, but we're not lawless. Isn't that wonderful? You know, someone has said that, run, John, run, John, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands. But the message that Jesus brings, it bids me fly. and gives me wings.
What a difference. The supply is there. I have a new life in Christ. And what I could not do in the flesh, I'm unable to do by the Spirit of God. You know, it's an amazing thing. It is an amazing thing. You know, we're familiar with it and we've heard it over and over again. But the single most difficult lesson for men to learn is that it's not a worse than a man should go. You know, everybody thinks that somehow or other it's a measure what they do. You know, it's nothing that I've ever done either before I came to Christ or since I came to Christ that in any way merits favor would go.
I stand upon His merit. I know no other stand. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. And even though the Apostle Paul says, and I'd like to read that verse, just to you, in Galatians chapter two, he says it three times over. And yet people still don't believe it, but it's not of worse. It's a very striking verse. We've read it. Relations chapter two. And notice verse sixteen. He says, Knowing that this is something I know, that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. He tells you how you're not justified and how you are justified.
You're not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The next one says, Even we have believed in Jesus Christ. There's a faith in him that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. He says it's not by the works of the law. That's the third. And then he says by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Three times he tells you how you're not. And three times he tells you how you are. And yet people still don't believe. Absolutely amazing thing. There's nobody going to be in heaven. going to be there for anything that they've said, thought, or done at any time in their life. We're all going to be there on exactly the same basis. The matchless grace of God in Christ.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Then he says, Moses, my servant is dead, now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, now and all this people unto the land which I have been given. You know, the Jordan in the Bible is a picture of death. And you get into the land by means of death. You stand on resurrection ground. In other words, the gospel is that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and that he was raised again the third day. Well, when you receive Christ as your Savior, God sees you as having died with Christ and now living a new life in Christ on the other side of death.
So that death and judgment are behind the believer and grace and glory are ahead. That's our position before God. God sees us in Christ. If ye then, Colossians three, verse one, or we might say since ye then, be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ is. Because that's where your inheritance is. Where your treasure is. There will your heart be also. So seek it there. That's where your wealth is. It's not down here. It's up there. May not a treasure on earth where moth and rust left corrupt, but in heaven. We neither moth nor rust left corrupt. That's where our treasure is. Our treasure is centered in Christ, where in Him are all the treasures.
There's a scripture of wisdom and knowledge. And that's pictured by the crossing of the Jordan River. The Jordan River itself is a very beautiful picture of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Jordan River begins with three streams. way up in the mountains picture you might say the Trinity and coming down these three streams they form one river a high up in the mountains and that river goes down for quite a ways it's just a very small thing it's a small stream anyway but just a little narrow very narrow brook and hardly noticed and it goes through untraversed territory and that picture is our Lord's early life unknown and unrecorded in Scripture and then It comes and it forms our body called the Sea of Galilee.
And that picture is our Lord's earthly ministry around which most of his labor took place. Most of his life and activity was around the Sea of Galilee. He calmed the sea. He fished there. Capernaum, Tiberius, and many of these cities were right around, ringed around that city where he spent most of his years laboring. And then it went down from there. It descended. It went down. down down beginning up in the mountains of Mount Herman and so forth it goes down to a little lower level and it goes to a still lower level until at last it plunges to the lowest place on the face of the earth the Dead Sea that's where the Jordan River ends it's the lowest place on earth and it pictures how the Lord Jesus the Son of God the one who came from the highest went down to the depths of Calvary's world That's where it ends, but that's not really where it ends.
Because you see, the sun shines down and the waters that flow from the mountains and that go down to the Dead Sea, they're raised up and speaks of our Lord Jesus in His resurrection and ascension. But the Dead Sea, they tell us that in that Dead Sea there is more in actual wealth and all the nations of the world possess today and all of the banks of the world, trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars in actual work. It costs too much to get some of these chemicals and whatnot separated, but they're selling hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars every year out of that Dead Sea in value.
Chemicals that are used, for instance, in fertilizers, the Dead Sea, and it pictures the Lord Jesus in his death and the wealth that he has left behind to meet men's needs. that it says they crossed over his dead seed. Well, it says that Moses, my servant, is dead, now therefore arrive and go with his joy and bow in all his people unto the land which I do give them. And I said, at every place that the soul of your foot shall set upon, God says, that have I given you. We have to possess. our possessions you know sometimes we fail to appreciate the value of what is called the foot soldier you know they fly over and they with the big bombers and they bomb things but you never really win them the victory over a nation that way you know finally at last you have to go into the foot soldier he goes in the infantry and they actually physically visibly possess the land And that's the way it says here, we're to possess the land spiritually.
It says, every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon, verse three, shall be yours. And God says, I have given it unto you. And as I said, it pictures our possessions in a spiritual way. We enter into these spiritual possessions by walking the truth out in our life in a practical way. I said a little while ago that Joshua answers to Ephesians. Now in Ephesians it speaks a little bit and I'd like to refer you to that now of the possessions that we have in Christ.
And notice how often that word in is used in Ephesians chapter one. Christ is our land. He is our inheritance. the inheritance that we have is in him he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in Christ Jesus he's our land and we go in and possess him now it says first of all we are accepted in the beloved that's what we have first of all in Christ we have absolute acceptance with God do you possess that do you really realize fellow believer that God loves you with exactly the same love that He loves His Son.
And you know what the authority for it is not just simply this verse. The Lord Jesus said in John chapter seventeen that the world, he prayed, may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. So near so very near to God. I cannot nearer be, for in the person of His Son I am just as near as He, so dear, so very dear to God. I cannot dear be the lover with He loves His Son. Such is His love to me.
Why should I ever careful be, since such a God is mine. He watches over me night and day and tells me, thou art mine. Fear not, he says. I have redeemed thee. Thou art mine, my beloved. Small wonder that the apostles, throughout the New Testament, they referred to God's people as beloved, beloved of God. You know, we have our doubts and our fears and our worries, and yet the apostle says, I am persuaded of this. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principal powers, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, because he says, I've loved thee with an everlasting love.
You can never be separated from the love of God. You can be separated from your husband, your wife, your friends, your children, your home, and all the rest of them. You can lose your life. Well, since you've come to Christ, if you have come to Christ, you've been brought into a relationship of love, you can't even die out of it. Is that wonderful? Accepted in the beloved. And then it says, in verse seven, in whom? Notice the word in. That's our inheritance, and that's in Christ. In whom we don't have it in ourselves. In whom? We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Many times Christians find it very difficult to forgive themselves.
You ever feel that way? Things that you've done wrong in your life? You find it very difficult to forgive yourself? Mothers, they don't forgive you. Sometimes people, I've heard people, even Christians say, I'll never forgive him for that. You've heard anybody say that? I've heard people say that. Shouldn't say that, but people say that. Never forgive. Perhaps you felt that way. I'll never forgive him or her. Or at least never forget it. I'll never forgive. But you know what it says in Ephesians? We're to be kind and tender on it. For giving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath not will, but he hath forgiven us.
All of my sins. Not only the ones that I've committed before I came to Christ, but my whole entire life. The sins I've yet to commit. They're all my sins related to Jesus. Not just my past and my future ones. They were all future. As far as I was concerned, in the first time. But all my sins were laid in Jesus. Jesus poured them on the tree. God knew them. He laid them on himself. And believing, I go free. Have you entered into that inheritance? It's in Christ. Go in and possess it. Put your foot on it and say, that's mine. That's mine. God says it is. He says, I have given it to you.
every place at the soar of your foot shall tread upon it that I have given it to you. You didn't earn it. All gift of His grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And then it says in verse eleven in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. You want to know how rich I am? You never thought of me as being wealthy, did you? Well, there's nobody in the world any wealthier than I am. There's some just as wealthy, but no one's any wealthier. Paul says, all things are yours.
He says, as poor, he was poor, yet possessing all things. The man that owns everything isn't too poor, would you say? He says, as poor, yet possessing all things. In First Corinthians three, he says, all things are yours, light, That belongs to the believer. Death. Think of death as one of your possessions. What can death do for the believer? Just a servant. Take him out of a world of sin and sickness and sadness and so into the praise. President of Christ should be part of you with Christ, which is far better. Not a bad servant. Not a bad one to own. It says life, death, things present, things to come, all yours. The man who owns everything. That's who you're looking at this morning.
All are yours. And you're Christ. And Christ is God. And the wonderful thing is, it says, I'm a joint heir. I'm a heir of God. I'm a joint heir with Christ. You know what a joint heir is? I didn't know until some time ago. You know, an heir, for instance, an equal heir. You write your will. You've got five children. And you leave a hundred thousand. You leave a farm, we'll say it's worth a hundred thousand. Well, that's a cheap farm today. I guess it's worth a half a million, but I don't know. But anyway, we'll say one hundred thousand dollars. You leave this farm to your five children. And you leave them as equal heirs. You know what that means? That means that each child is entitled to twenty thousand dollars, one fifth of the value.
But if you leave it with them as joint heirs, that means they own everything, all of them together. all five the whole hundred thousand dollar form belongs to all five it is when you say equal air that it has to be divided but joy there you know what they're saying everything that Christ has is mine all that thou hast thou hast for me all my fresh springs are hidden in thee in thee I live while I confess I nothing am in all of that go in and possess the land There are a number of other in-hounds and in Ephesians one. We don't have enough time to go into the inheritance, but you look them up in Ephesians one.
And just remember, as you read Joshua, compare it with Ephesians. Joshua is the earthly inheritance. Ephesians is the spiritual inheritance, but the principles are the same. God says, I've given it to you. Now go and possess it. Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon. That's yours. May God help us to do so. And shall we pray? Now, Father, for thy word which we have read together and thought about, we pray, as I was using and blessing, to each here present, for thy glory and our good, we ask, in our Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen.
I think all that I need will always be All that I need will always be All that I need will always be For eternity Jesus will always be