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Thanks, Keith for reading that passage, which we’ll look at later. Our main passage, however, is the one that Barbara read from Joshua 1 which you can find on page 178.

I hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas celebrations with your families and friends, as well as enjoying all the exciting gifts that you got. Hopefully, you have had the chance to wind down from these celebrations to get ready for the next set on New Year’s Eve, or as we say in Scotland, Hogmanay. One of the Scottish Hogmanay traditions is first footing - the first footer is the first person to enter the house in the New Year, and if that person was a tall, dark-haired man carrying a lump of coal, he was meant to bring good luck. As you can imagine, I was never sought after as a first footer. But for Christians, New Year is not about stepping out as a first footer to bring luck, but rather it is about stepping out in faith, following God’s commands and trusting in his promises, as we enter a new year. It can be for us a new start before God. We can look back on God’s blessings to us in the past year, even when we have faced difficulties and hardships. We look forward to the New Year with excitement, but, if we are honest, also some trepidation, wondering what is around the corner.

That’s the situation that Joshua found himself in our passage. Moses the leader of the Israelites had brought the people out of slavery in Egypt and he led them as they wandered in the wilderness. The people had not yet reached the Promised Land, and Moses was now dead. It was Joshua’s job to lead the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land. This new start would be exciting for Joshua, but it would also be scary, taking over from someone as great as Moses, and taking on a fresh new mission. How would he manage? Would he be able to do it? All these people to lead? Who knows what was going to lie ahead? It was a bit like what Ben Cadoux-Hudson was sharing with us three weeks ago – leaving JPC and starting a new ministry in Wallsend can be scary. But God speaks to him to reassure him in Joshua 1.

1. God’s Commands

In the passage we see that God gave Joshua very specific commands that he had to follow.

• Go and accept what God has promised.

Even though Moses was no longer there, God’s promises still stood. That’s reassuring for the church today - even though key gifted people are no longer there for whatever reason, God raises up new people so that his promises are fulfilled. So what were the instructions that God gave to Joshua? Joshua 1.2-5:

“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 towards 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.”

He had to get ready to cross the River Jordan, which was no mean task, because it was a wide raging torrent of a river. Then they had to take this huge area of land. Joshua was told to accept the amazing promises of Joshua 1.5:

…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…

What God promised Joshua in Joshua 1.5 applies to us as we enter 2024. God promises not to leave us or forsake us; no matter how hard it may seem – no matter how many people might stand against us, they cannot have the victory.

• Be strong and (very) courageous

Joshua and all the people were going to face battles ahead, but he was commanded to be strong and courageous. Three times, Joshua was commanded this in Joshua 1.6, Joshua 1.7 and Joshua 1.9. In fact in Joshua 1.7, he is commanded to be strong and very courageous. And Joshua 1.9 emphasises that is a command, not an option. Joshua 1:9:

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.

As we face our battles in the coming year, we are commanded to be strong and courageous. But it is God’s strength and courage that is at work in our lives – for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. We might say that we feel weak and timid – but that is fine, because that is when we turn to God and rely on his strength. In 1939, not long after we had just entered the Second World War, and the country was facing dark, perilous times, George VI gave these reassuring words in his Christmas broadcast to the nation:

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.

That is what Joshua had to do – put his hand into the hand of God – that’s what we need to do as well.

• Keep God’s Word central

If Joshua was to follow God and rely on his power, he needed to keep God’s Word central in his life. Joshua 1.7-8:

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.

We need to do the same. We mustn’t deviate from it, but rather see what God is saying to us from it, and then be doers of the word as the apostle James tells us. We need to hold on to it, meditating on it day and night. Keep reflecting on what we read in the morning. Go over what you hear read in church, so that you might do all that is written in it.

When the Israelites listened to what God was saying, they found success in their mission. When they disobeyed God, they ended up in disaster. As a church, some of our battles this coming year will be against those in the Church of England who have deviated from God’s Word and not kept it central. But we need to keep it central, so that we shall have the success that God has ready for us. These then were God’s commands – to go and accept what God has promised, to be strong and courageous, to keep God’s Word central.

2. So what happened?

The people did cross the Jordan – the Lord rolled the waters back so that they could cross, just as he did with the Red Sea at the time of Moses. They won battles – the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. They possessed the land as God had promised. They received rest, as their enemies had been dealt with. God had fulfilled his promises. There is a nice summary of this in Joshua 21 on page 196 at Joshua 21.43-45:

Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

What God promised would happen did happen. We can trust God who will keep his promises to us.

3. Calling for Commitment

In Joshua 24 on page 198, Joshua is coming to the end of his life, and he gathers all the people together to give them final instructions. He reminds them of what God has done for them; from calling Abraham, releasing them from slavery in Egypt, taking them through the Red Sea, providing for them in the wilderness, opening up the Jordan for them and taking them into the Promised Land where he won battles for them. Basically, he is saying that their salvation comes from the Lord. And he sets them a challenge; put away all the false gods that you have (they are just non-gods) so that they can serve and worship the one true God. He goes on to say to them, if you don’t want to do that, well that is up to you. Joshua 24.15:

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Whatever the people decide to do, Joshua was quite determined that he and his household will serve the Lord. The people do finally declare that they will give up their gods and serve the Lord. Joshua 24.24:

And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey…”

Of course, that is the challenge for us as we enter 2024 – that we will put away our false gods, and that we will serve the Lord. And you know, if we do that, God’s promises for us will be even greater than what he promised Joshua.

4. God’s promises to us are even greater than what he promised Joshua

In the passage that Keith read to us from Hebrews 4 on page 1003, there is a suggestion that the rest that Joshua gave the people was not a full rest. Hebrews 4.8:

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

They had rest at that time, but it was not a lasting rest – there were further battles to come – the Book of Judges that follows Joshua is full of them. We are promised another day, when we shall have eternal rest, won for us by Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Hebrews 4.14-16:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In all that we face in the coming year, we can have complete confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has passed through the heavens. He knows our weaknesses – he has been tempted like us, but he never gave in to temptation. He is even greater than Joshua, and so let us hold fast to him, the altogether lovely, sinless Son of God. And we can draw near to his throne of grace and receive his mercy and find grace in our time of need in the coming year. Let us do that now...We have covered a lot in our quick look at Joshua. I do hope that you take the chance to look at some of these verses again and meditate on them. Let us now sing a song which glorifies Jesus, and by an amazing coincidence on this New Year’s Eve it is to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.