Fueled By Faith

July 27, 2014
Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 23:1:  “Fueled By Faith”                        Notes Not Edited

SIS – You must be faithful to please God and continue to receive His blessings.

People put their faith in many things.  Even the Bible says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).  It is not a matter of whether you are going to have “faith,” but Who is going to be the object of your faith. 

Very few people I know or have known lived “high power, high performance” lives in regard to faith.  Most people I know-myself included—barely get by in an old jalopy of a life, rather than screaming down the track in a top fuel dragster.  I believe that a life fueled by faith demonstrates an uncharacteristic (by the world’s standards) sense of victory and satisfaction.  There is nothing    wrong, in a worldly sense, with a “Chevy kind of life” (insert favorite car manufacturer), but most people long to take at least one trip down the track in a Ferrari or Lamborghini.  I believe God built us to go faster, go further, and enjoy the ride much more than most of us are experiencing.  Too many of our lives are “fueled by frustration” and leave us wanting something more.  That “something more” is Jesus, and it is faith that connects us to Him.  Without faith it is not just hard to please God, it is impossible (Hebrews 11:6).  Without faith you will move through life “fueled by frustration” instead of “fueled by faith.”

One of the most powerful experiences a person can have on this earth is sitting behind the wheel of a top fuel dragster.  Top fuel dragsters are all about power and performance--with just a touch of insanity. Top fuel dragsters pack up to 10,000 horsepower (that's more horses than a Texas ranch!). They reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour in about 4 seconds (1000 and 1, well . . . you get the idea).  These engines are fueled by nitromethane (rocket fuel) and give the driver the ride of his (or her) life.  A Top Fuel dragster leaves the starting line with a force nearly five times that of gravity, the same force of the space shuttle when it leaves the launching pad at Cape Canaveral?  Move over into the spiritual realm. What kind of power and performance are you getting out of your Christian life? Are you having "the ride of your life." Christian living is "Fueled by Faith." Our text gives us at least Four Aspects of a Faith-fueled Life.  Let’s read our text together:  JOSHUA 23:1-16.

1.  CONFIDENCE (1-3)

Years ago a preacher penned a wonderful book on living a life of faith.  Eugene Peterson’s book, written over 20 years ago, now has over 200,000 copies in print!  He titled his book on faithful living, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.”  Peterson coopted this quote from an unusual source, Friedrich Nietzsche, the eminent atheist.  Of course, Nietzsche had not concern for faith, but he did recognize the value of consistency in regard to one’s values—or lack thereof in the case of Nietzsche. 

True faith is exhibited in a “Long Obedience in the Same Direction”--  a consistent, persistent practice of holiness.  Joshua exhibits this kind of consistent, persistent practice of holiness as we see in verse 1:

¹A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, Joshua was old, getting on in years.

Joshua is now about 110 years old.  He got his first taste of the Promised Land as a spy back in Numbers 13.  Joshua was 40 years old at that time (Jos. 14:7).  The conquest of the Promised Land had consumed 70 years of his life.  He never wavered in his service to God.  This is not to suggest he was perfect and never failed because he was a human such as we are, but Joshua practiced a “long obedience in the same direction.”  He lived according to a consistent, persistent faith in God.  Where does the confidence to stay at the task for over 40 years come from?  Remember, early on at Ai (chapter 6) Joshua as the commander of Israel’s army suffered a bitter defeat.  But, Joshua did not give up.  Where does such a confidence come from that even the worst defeat in life’s battle cannot undermine one’s faith nor deter one’s obedience?  Our text gives us the source of Joshua’s consistency in his faith.  Look at verses 2-3:

² So Joshua summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers,  and said to them, “I am old, getting on in years, ³ and you have seen for yourselves everything the Lord your God did to all these nations on your account, because it was the Lord your God who was fighting for you.

We have seen from chapters 1 through 21 the promise of God unfolding one displaced pagan nation at a time—time and time again.  God’s faithfulness to Israel was so exacting and His promises so powerful that one Israelite was equal to 1000 enemies.  Verse 10:

¹⁰ One of you routed a thousand  because the Lord your God
was fighting for you, as He promised.

Confidence is a powerful thing.  It produces a consistent, persistent faith that maintains its course in spite of trials and difficulties along the way.  A “faith fueled life” does not meander through the present and future like a river flowing down a mountainside.  A faith fueled life cuts through bedrock and makes its own course toward the end of fulfilling God’s purpose in our life like a raging flood cutting a path straight through to the sea.

A primary ingredient to a “faith fueled” life is confidence in a Faithful, All-powerful God.

2.  COURAGE (6)

⁶ “Be very strong  and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left

The word translated “be very strong” in this verse (חָזַק chazaq) has a wide and varied range of meanings.  It can mean everything from physical strength to arrogance.  One component of this root word means “be courageous.”  Of course, without strength, courage is not much more than foolish and even false bravado.  Yet, Joshua reminds Israel what God had said to himself when the nation began the campaign to conquer the Promised Land (Jos 1:6):

⁶ “Be strong and courageous.

In chapter 1 the Word of God actually emphasizes the connection between strength and courage by adding a synonym for the word, “courage.”  In chapter 23, verse 6, the word uses a strengthened form to capture the idea of “conquering strength,” or “courage.”  Let me take a moment to emphasize how important “courage” is (and increasingly will be) to living a “faith fueled life.” 

For the first time in over 1900 years, there are virtually no Christians left in the city of Mosul, in N. Iraq.  It is thought that the Christian community in N. Iraq (Mosul) is one of the oldest in the world. The earliest dated church building to have been found in the world so far is at Dura Europos in Syria on the Euphrates close to today’s border with Iraq, dating about 232 A.D. (Internet blog, Informed Content). 

The community is reported to have fled en masse after the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (IS, ISIS) of radical fundamentalists warned them that they faced the choice of converting to Islam, paying a poll tax, fleeing the city, or… the sword. The incorrectly named “Islamic State,” which is a kind of criminal cartel, said that if they chose to depart, the Christians of Mosul would only be allowed to leave with the clothes on their backs, and their homes and property would be confiscated by ISIS. There were an estimated 3,000 Christians in Mosul, a city of about 2 million.

Here’s a recent news story from the British newspaper, Monitor:

A man has survived being crucified by Isis in Syria, after the jihadists raided his village and nailed him to a cross for eight hours.

The unnamed man from Al-Bab, near the border with Turkey, was crucified as a punishment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.  He managed to survive the ordeal.  But eight others who received the same punishment did not survive. The men were subjected to the same treatment and crucified "in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days,” according to the British based, Monitor.

The slaughter of Christians in the Middle East is barely even covered by the American media.  And it is not just the Middle East.  A recent Pew Research Study found:  that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world and that their persecution is occurring primarily throughout the Islamic world.  In the category on “Countries with Very High Government Restrictions on Religion,” Pew lists 24 countries—20 of which are Islamic and precisely where the overwhelming majority of “the world’s” Christians are actually being persecuted (Internet).

I do not want to suggest that Christians in America are enduring persecution to any degree like brothers and sisters in the Middle East.  However, American culture has become increasingly hostile toward Christianity.  A recent study issued by the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute highlights,

A new report issued by the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute highlights a pattern of hostility toward Christianity in the United States. As reported by The Christian Post, the report lists more than 600 incidents of hostile acts toward Christians over the past 10 years, including those occurring in public schools, city forums, and federal government events.

Again, I do not want to suggest that these American hostilities compare to any degree with the suffering of brothers and sisters in the Persecuted Church around the world.  I do want to suggest that here in America in the 21^st Century it is going to take a much greater level of courage to bring God’s gospel to bear upon our cities than at any time in recent history, or even perhaps since the Revolution.

Joshua reminds us that a “Faith Fueled Life” requires courage.

3.  CAREFULNESS (8, 11)

Verse 11 tells us:  ¹¹ So be very diligent to love the Lord your God

for your own well-being.

The KJV states it thusly, ¹¹Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love  the Lord your God.

The NLT is more succinct, ¹¹ So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

There is absolutely no place for sloppiness, carelessness, luke warmness, or half-heartedness when it comes to faithful obedience to the Lord God!  Our obedience must be passionate and careful, exacting to the point that is humanly possible.  Why be so exacting in our faithful obedience to God?  Certainly, we should do so out of an eternal gratitude that by His grace we are saved and will not feel the eternal fires of hell.  That should be all the motivation any of us needs.  But, if gratitude for our eternal salvation were not enough, God instructs us to live lives “fueled by faith” for our own good here and now!

The HCSB, the version I use, picks up on a complex construction of the Hebrew at the beginning of this text.  There is an idea of “guarding oneself, or taking heed for one’s own welfare” contained in the opening words which the HCSB places at the end of the verse.  A “faith fueled life” is a rewarding life.  Consistent, persistent faith brings “fruitfulness” (Ex. 23:29-30).  Just like a nitro fueled dragster operates at peak performance and power, so a faith fueled life operates with peak performance and power.

Over and over in Joshua, especially the last three chapters, and throughout the whole Bible actually, we are instructed to be “faithful.”  Verse 8 could not be more clear:

Remain faithful to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

What exactly is “faithfulness?”  The word used in verse 8 is an interesting and enlightening word in the original language.  You don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to see the various colors in the word translated by the HCSB as faithful in verse 8.  The NLT tells gives us an expanded understanding:  “Cling tightly to the Lord your God.

Or, take out the trusty KJV which will tell you, “Cleave unto the Lord your God.”

The word translated, “be faithful” (v8, HCSB) is dabaq (דָּבַק). It can also be translated “cling, cleave, be loyal or hold fast” as in other versions. It could also be translated, “hug,” as in the margin note of the NET Bible. Faith requires much more than an intellectual acceptance of facts. Faith requires a continuing, clinging, passionate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The essence of saving faith lies not in religious beliefs or practices but in a close relationship with God through Christ. 

Everybody has “faith.”  Everybody trusts someone or something as an “Ultimate Reality,” even if that something is an atheist’s faith in science.  Everybody clings to something.  Look at verses 12-13:

¹² For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you,  and if you intermarry or associate with them  and they with you, ¹³ know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you,  a scourge for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

A life “Fueled By Faith” requires we be CAREFUL who or what we cling to in faith.

4.  CERTAINTY (14-16)

¹⁴ “I am now going the way of all the earth,  ^y and you know with all your heart and all your soul that none of the good promises the Lord your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.  ¹⁵ Since every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come about, so He will bring on you every bad thing until He has annihilated you from this good land the Lord your God has given you.  ¹⁶ If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and worship other gods, and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land He has given you.”

Notice again verse 15, ¹⁵ But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened.  One of the most significant laws in the universe is the Law of Cause and Effect.  Every action brings a reaction.  The same is true in the spiritual realm:  faith brings blessing—disobedience brings cursing.  One is as certain as the other.  You chose.

Mark this down dear friends, God’s faithfulness is a two-edged sword.  Just as He is faithful in grace, He is faithful in judgment.  You cannot separate God’s love from God’s wrath.  They are intricate parts of the same Person.  God’s virtues are indivisible.  Just as certain that it is God will fulfill His promise of reward for obedience, He will certainly fulfill His judgment for disobedience.  If you err in regard to God’s judgment, you err eternally!

This week in our study of the Book of Revelation, Brother Charles Massegee described how putting anything in the place of God through Jesus Christ is considered, adultery, or even prostitution.  The Book of Revelation describes the false religion of the end times as a “whore riding on a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names and having seven heads and ten horns” (Rev. 17:3).  This “Whore called Babylon the Great” represents any and all religions and governments that seek the attention of men and women, outside of faith in the God of the Bible. 

As we learned from our study of the Book of Revelation, all false religions and the governments to which they are attached will be utterly annihilated.  The destruction of all false systems, religious and civil, is never in question.  God’s judgment on evil is an absolute certainty, as much so as God’s fulfillment of blessing to His own people.

It is not popular in our culture of political correctness to speak of judgment on anything, and certainly not the “doomsday judgment” the Bible speaks of so often.  God’s wrath is as much a part of His Holy character as His love.  People want to turn Yahweh into a jolly old man who dispenses gifts according to our “list.”  God is not a Cosmic Santa Claus.  God is holy and holiness is a fearsome thing.

People put their faith in many things.  Even the Bible says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).  It is not a matter of whether you are going to have “faith,” but Who is going to be the object of your faith. 

An Arab was walking through the Sahara desert, desperate for water, when he saw something, far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he walked towards the image, only to find a little old Jewish man sitting at a card table with a bunch of neckties laid out on it.  The Arab asked "Please, I'm dying of thirst, can I have some water?" The man replied "I don't have any water, but why don't you buy a tie? Here's one that goes nicely with your robes." The Arab shouted, "I don't want a tie, you idiot, I need water!" "OK, don't buy a tie. But to show you what a nice guy I am, I'll tell you that over that hill there, about 4 miles, is a nice restaurant. Walk that way, they'll give you all the water you want." The Arab thanked him and walked away towards the hill and eventually disappeared. Three hours later the Arab came crawling back to where the man was sitting behind his card table. The man said "I told you, about 4 miles over that hill. Couldn't you find it?" The Arab rasped "I found it all right. Your brother wouldn't let me in without a tie!

Now, you may think this is just a joke, but I think it gives us the foundation for living a “Faith Fueled Life”—you have to trust the Jewish man!  Of course, that Jewish man would be Jesus.

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