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Joshua 1:1-8  Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,  (2)  Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.  (3)  Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.  (4)  From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.  (5)  There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  (6)  Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.  (7)  Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. (8)  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.


Ephesians 6:10-13  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  (11)  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (12)  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  (13)  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

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These  Old Testament stories are often taken by myself and preachers and applied to us spiritually as Christians.

• -Now, please understand that this is not simply some neat idea we get when we read these stories and force them to relate to something spiritual.
• -The Bible teaches that all these old events were actually engineered in a certain way by God, who controls circumstances and events, to act as foreshadows of the greatest work he'd ever do in earth.
• -He actually commanded things and said things and caused things to happen that would best show in physical terms a work He was going to do in the spiritual category of events with Jesus Christ.
• -Jesus Christ is the focus of the entire Bible.
• -God purposely told Joshua to do things a certain way because He wanted everyone who would come to know Jesus and the work of the cross to be able to read them and realize more perfectly what God did for them with that work of the cross.
• -Jesus and the work of the cross are the most vital things you will ever come into contact with.
• -If you miss what God is trying to do with mankind in these things, you will actually miss going to heaven one day.
• -That's how important the truth of Jesus Christ is!

So as I preach about Joshua this morning, please realize the Holy Spirit actually leads ministers called of Him to perceive lessons in them, that He INTENDED us to perceive way back long ago when He did these things with people like Joshua, so we could not only go to Heaven one day, but enjoy in this life all the blessings God has provided for us through the work of the cross.

By WORK OF THE CROSS I mean what God intended to accomplish and did accomplish by having Christ crucified and then three days later rising from the dead.

The Bible tells us that God planned the cross from the beginning of time.

Revelation 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Ephesians 1:3-5  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  (4)  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  (5)  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,


The two books Joshua and Ephesians are parallel to one another.

• -Joshua shows the physical inheritance, the land of Canaan, that Israel was given to enter and enjoy.
• -Ephesians speaks of the spiritual inheritance Christians are supposed to enter into and enjoy.

God first spoke of the land of Canaan to Abraham.

Genesis 12:7  And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Genesis 13:14-17  And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:  (15)  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.  (16)  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.  (17)  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Abram stood on the land and was told to see the length and breadth of it.

Too many have never gone in to enjoy all the promises of God.

• -But it's there for us.
• -He brought us out to bring us in.

Jesus is JOSHUA in Greek.

• -Joshua represents Jesus.
• -Not only are their names identical when translated from one language to the other, but their roles are identical.
• -Joshua would take them into a physical land of promise they would inherit.
• -Jesus takes us into spiritual blessings.

Someone asked me last week what I thought about hanging crosses on my wall and venerating them.

• -I knew that this is a tradition taken from Paul's words saying he would glory in the cross.
• -But its not an actual piece of wood or metal shaped like a cross that Paul was saying he venerated.
• -It's what occurred on the cross and why it occurred that Paul spoke of what He did.

Deuteronomy 11:31  For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

Possess the land and dwell in it.

Standing there watching Him die would not show you the significance of why He died.

• -What went on in the spiritual realm, that is revealed to us in the New Testament, is the real story.
• -A religious leader simply died in man's eyes.
• -But God actually had man carry out a sacrifice for all mankind's sins that day.
• -The Bible unveils the spiritual plan of God since Adam and Eve first sinned, to remedy sin.

A sacrifice was an offering for sin.

• -A lamb or other animal was slain because the person offering it had committed a sin.
• -God told Adam that if he sinned, he would surely die.
• -So death was the penalty for sin.
• -All these animal sacrifices, we learn from the NT, were wondrous foreshadows of THE GREAT SACRIFICE to come... Jesus Christ.
• -He died because of our sins.
• -There is a spiritual death that is far more terrible than any physical death.
• -It is called the second death in the Bible.
• -It is being away from God forever because He cannot abide near sin.

Before man first sinned, not only was he not going to die, but he had power over the earth.

• -Sin threw Adam out of that place of power in Eden.
• -For Jesus sacrifice to truly remedy sin, then it should not only deal with death, but also with the issue of power.
• -Adam had power with God.

So Joshua's story of returning to Abraham's land and facing enemies greater than Israel and defeating them, speaks spiritually of the truth of being reconciled back to God and having restored to us the power of God upon our lives as Adam originally had it.

Israel was a chosen people of God.

Deuteronomy 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the Church is also a chosen people of God.

Ephesians 1:3-4  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  (4)  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

And God gave Joshua power to give the land to each Israelite for an inheritance.

Joshua 1:6  Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Joshua 14:12  Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.  (13)  And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.

Jesus is in heavenly places and all those places are given to US.

Ephesians 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 2:5-6  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  (6)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:


But when Israel first set out to enter that land, they spied the land out and realized there were enemies in there.

Numbers 13:26-29  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.  (27)  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.  (28)  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.  (29)  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

Numbers 13:31-32  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.  (32)  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Numbers 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

God admitted these nations were stronger than Israel.

• -However, although they would face enemies far greater in power than themselves, God was with Israel, and Israel was not alone.

Deuteronomy 4:37-38  And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;  (38)  To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 7:1  When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

Deuteronomy 9:1  Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

The enemies that stand in our way are as impossible for us to defeat on our own, as the nations in Canaan were before Israel alone.

• -In fact, the reason the ten spies doubted they could take Canaan was because the nations there were impossible to defeat by Israel alone.

Deuteronomy 7:21-24  Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.  (22)  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.  (23)  But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.  (24)  And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.

Deuteronomy 9:1-2  Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,  (2)  A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

I noted Anak in Numbers 13, the very tribe of people the Israelites noted as being more powerful than themselves.

• -Moses names them out and tells Israel they will win, nevertheless.
• -They were greater than Israel, but God was with Israel.

We need to realize that our enemies are greater than us.

Ephesians 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The HIGH PLACES where these wicked spirits are are where we have our inheritance!

• -"High Places" is synonymous with "HEAVENLY PLACES" in the Greek language.

Ephesians 2:5-6  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  (6)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

But Heavenly places are where our spiritual blessings are!

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

We are up against enemies that are greater in themselves than we are in ourselves.

• -But God said that we can actually overcome these otherwise impossible enemies because He is with us.
• -THAT TAKES FAITH.

But Christ is with us and we shall win!

Joshua 1:3  Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

God told Joshua he was going to have to be strong and courageous.

• -And the courage He required was the courage one gets only one way.
• -From FAITH that God's word is true.
• -And that because God said he is with us, then we are going to overcome obstacles that are naturally impossible and unreasonable to think to overcome.

Joshua 1:5-6  There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  (6)  Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Paul said the same thing in Ephesians!

Ephesians 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

This is all done in the power of his might.

• -We have got to stop looking at things and circumstances with the eyes of the world.
• -We must stop thinking like the world who does not have God on their side.
• -God has given us promises.
• -And, yes, the enemies are greater than us.
• -But we are not told to go in the power of our own might, which is all the power that the world has going for it.
• -We must go in the power of HIS MIGHT.
• -HE IS WITH US.

Hebrews 13:5-6  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Why is God with us?

• -Your sins separated you from God's supernatural power.
• -They separated you from a power that God would exert on your behalf.
• -But your faith in the necessity of Jesus' death whose death according to the Bible was required for us as a sacrifice, and your humility in accepting that as truth, caused God to bless you with forgiveness of sins.
• -And you were restored to Him and the power He had for Adam.
• -And He is now with you.
• -When you understand all of that, and understand that means there is actually supernatural power on your behalf to bless you, because He loves you so much, YOU WILL MARCH HEADLONG INTO SITUATIONS.
• -You will claim as your territory a peace of God that is impossible to have naturally in the midst of hard times.
• -And you will be fully convinced and believe in the power of God that doubters cannot ever accept.

You hear those words of God, and like Joshua, you declare three days and I can go on in.

• -In other words, you know that all this will be possible and you will indeed have the courage you need to believe God for these kinds of things by going through the truths of what God did for mankind who believes in those three days between Jesus' death and resurrection!

Imagine a peace of God that passes understanding and comprehension.

• -A peace psychologists cannot understand nor figure out.
• -Something beyond reason!
• -WHAT GLORIOUS BLESSINGS FROM GOD!

I've laid hands on terminally ill patients dying with cancer, with blood clots in the brain, blinding them and paralyzing their bodies, and God healed them!

I was in the hospital with doctors and nurses running all around a woman whose organs were shutting down, after she was struck with Toxemia, lost her baby in her giving of birth, and who was not showing any neurological activity in her brain.

• -And with the nurses and doctors right there, I commanded her to be restored and healed and to show movement and neurological activity and for her organs to revive again, in Jesus name, and suddenly her hand moved and the nurse rushed over to ask her to move her fingers if she could hear her, and she moved them.

Beyond what we can ask or think!

Beyond understanding!

Beyond reason!

Stop living in the life of looking at troubles that keep you with out peace and restless and in fear, and thinking they're impossible for you to every defeat.

• -Start believing the word of God.
• -Yes, they are greater than you.
• -But God told Joshua that he would bring down nations greater than himself because GOD WAS WITH HIM!

God said He'd be made known to the world when Israel would enter the land and be blessed.

Deuteronomy 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Paul said:

Ephesians 2:6-10  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  (7)  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  (8)  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  (9)  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  (10)  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 3:8-11  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;  (9)  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:  (10)  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,  (11)  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

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