July 14, 2024: Sunday School

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Joshua 1:1-9
• Sunday School Lesson
• Closing Prayer

---

Sermon Title: God Establishes and Equips His Leaders

Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9

I. God Establishes His Leaders in His Time

A. Joshua steps into an extraordinarily difficult leadership transition following Moses

1. Deuteronomy 34:10-12 declares no prophet like Moses had arisen since — a uniquely hard act to follow
2. Moses was the only leader the adult Israelites had ever known; all men over 60 had died except Joshua and Caleb
3. Joshua's age at this point is uncertain; scholars estimate between 69 and 79, comparable to Moses' age of 80 when called

B. God's establishment of Joshua guards against the political instability common in leadership transitions

1. Without God's clear appointment, a power vacuum could easily have led to rebellion (as seen later in the divided kingdom after Solomon)
2. Joshua's first task — leading the people into the promised land — mirrors the failed spy mission of 39 years prior, beginning again with spies at Jericho (Joshua 2)

C. Application: God's establishment of Joshua points forward to Jesus as the ultimate leader appointed by God in his own time, anticipated by Old Testament believers who never saw it fulfilled (see Hebrews)

II. Leadership Takes Courage

A. Joshua is commanded three times in Joshua 1:1-9 to "be strong and courageous"

B. This was not the first time Joshua received this charge

1. Moses encouraged him in Deuteronomy 3:28
2. Moses encouraged him again in Deuteronomy 31:7

C. The promise "I will never leave you or forsake you" appears in only two other Old Testament contexts, both involving humanly impossible tasks

1. Hezekiah's confrontation with the Assyrian army — vastly outnumbered, yet God delivers (2 Kings 19)
2. Solomon's commission to build the temple — the impossible task of constructing a fitting dwelling for the infinite God among his people (1 Chronicles 22:13; 1 Chronicles 28:20)

D. Joshua had already demonstrated this God-dependent courage as a spy, when he and Caleb alone urged the people to trust God and advance

III. Leadership Requires Careful Obedience

A. Three behaviors regarding God's law are commanded in Joshua 1:7-8

1. Positive: Meditate on it day and night
2. Negative: Do not let it depart from your mouth
3. Negative: Do not turn from it to the right or to the left

B. This commission closely parallels instructions for kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (especially verses 18–20), showing Joshua is being held to a royal standard of obedience

C. The command to meditate on God's law also echoes Psalm 1, which frames the entire Psalter — obedient meditation on the law is the foundation of both leadership and worship

D. God ties obedience directly to success and prosperity (Joshua 1:8)

1. "You will make your way prosperous" — Joshua has a genuine role to play through obedience
2. Biblical prosperity and success differ from cultural notions; they are defined by walking with the Lord and gaining wisdom (as in Proverbs)
3. The obedience of the leader is closely linked to the obedience and flourishing of the whole people

E. Moses models faithful transition by establishing Joshua honorably before the people, in contrast to Saul's bitter resistance to God's chosen successor

F. Jesus fulfills what Joshua only foreshadowed — the perfect leader who meditates on God's law without turning aside, who never dies, and who achieves ultimate success and prosperity, though it did not appear so to the world at the cross