Joshua (Part 2) — Richard Sipley

A voice came from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Beautiful. Thank you. He is the pleasure of God. Good morning. I want to thank all those who are involved in our ministry of music and tell you that you have ministered to my heart this morning.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Please open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1. This is the second in our morning series on the book of Joshua. The message for the men's breakfast is something quite different.

Men and the Problem of Compartmentalized Lives

I think very important. One of the greatest problems of men is that they have a tendency to live their lives in compartments. They tend to compartmentalize their lives. And I want to talk about getting it together.

How to stop living your life in compartments as men. So I hope you'll come and eat with us. And then let's think about this very, very important aspect of what men need. My text this morning is three words from Joshua chapter 1 verse 14.

Three words from that verse. Help your brothers. Help your brothers. For the last week, we have all watched in horror at the terrible destruction of Hurricane Katrina. The property loss runs into the billions, but the human loss is a hundred times worse.

Compassion in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

We have sat and just shook our heads and sighed and with tears in our eyes and cried out, Oh God, help these people. What a devastating tragedy. My wife and I lived right down almost exactly in that area on the Gulf Coast while I pastored a small church there.

So I'm fully aware of that whole area and the tremendous difficulties that were involved. The awful heat and humidity. We used to try to go to bed at night and get up at three in the morning and take a cold shower, try to get some comfort, go back to bed and hope to get a little sleep.

I'm just talking about just the climate alone. And imagine people exposed in that city by the thousands as they were with nothing and without water and the awful heat and humidity and the stench and the terrible things that faced them.

It was a terrible, terrible time. Then in the aftermath, other people from outside reacted with compassion and personal sacrifice that will long be remembered. They came even by the hundreds. They threw themselves without restraint into the dangerous business of saving and helping those headed for destruction.

The first rescue team on the scene was from Vancouver. They worked 30 hours nonstop around the clock and rescued 119 people in that time, their very first thrust into that terrible scene of destruction and death.

There were so many pictures of people just trying to help, just trying to save other people. A couple who, like myself, saw it on television, took their two weeks of holidays and went down to fix hot meals.

Thursday they served 6 ,000 meals. Thursday of this week. And then there was a little league ball team in Alberta, Alabama where my wife and I lived for a while. They had bought a large supply of sausages to sell to earn money to buy new uniforms.

They decided these people needed it worse and they gave the sausages for the food effort of that couple who was making the meals. I don't know if you saw it. I saw them cutting it up. Just everything to help.

A businessman on Larry King Live who had already given $5 million from his company and decided right on the air to give another million. Well, that'd be nice, wouldn't it, to have that kind of money? But there he was giving.

Policemen, firefighters, doctors, nurses flooded into the area to help save these desperate people. Doctors working around the clock without modern conveniences, without any of the modern equipment of our day.

Using horse and buggy methods, anything to save the lives of people. Drenched with sweat, tired, sick, thirsty. And working day and night to save these people. I was amused and fascinated by one man. In the destruction and flood, the doors of the jail were opened.

It wasn't exactly like Paul and Silas. The prisoners were all free. And this man walked out the front door. And as he walked out into the open, he heard a woman scream and he started running. And he spent the next many hours saving people who were drowning or trapped or hurt or dying.

And completely seemed to change his whole attitude toward life. He said it was the first time he ever thought of other people instead of himself. Remarkable. I hope that it has done something to begin to change his life.

I found myself sitting there praying again and again. Oh God, somehow, somehow, out of this, turn the hearts of these desperate people to the Lord. I thank God for what the churches did in all that area.

Rick Warren was talking about it and he said the most complete help that he saw in the whole thing was from the churches. Who took people in and organized them and gave them food and a bath. And tried to help them find a place to sleep and to stay.

And thank God for his people that were at work. There's a thousand stories of heroism and sacrifice to save these desperate people. It's been a great illustration in our very faces. But let me ask myself this morning.

The Lost Who Are Sinking Without Hope

What about the 200 ,000 people a day? Drowning in the waves of sin and sinking into everlasting hell without God and without hope. Who are all around you and me. What about them? Is God speaking to you and me and saying, help your brothers, help your brothers.

Joshua's Call to Help Other Believers

This situation in the first chapter of Joshua is a very interesting one. Because the Israelites had wandered around the desert for 40 years. And they had come back around on the eastern side of Jordan.

And there were two tribes and a half a tribe who were given their inheritance there. On that side of Jordan. And that was the Reubenites and the Gaddites and half the tribe of Manasseh. And they were on the eastern side of the Jordan.

And already had their territory, their homes, their places to live. Their families were already settled in. They were already to start resting in the wonders of God's glory and grace for them. The promised land had come for them.

And it would have been very easy to say, well, you guys have to cross the Jordan and take those cities. We'll see you later. But that's not how it was. And it really has something to say to us this morning.

So I want to begin reading in Joshua 1, verse 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Now we're talking about possessing our possessions. Well, some of them already had possessed their possessions. They already had what God had promised them, and they were enjoying it. And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.

Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them until the Lord has given your brethren rest as he gave you.

And they also have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.

Here's what Joshua said. The Lord has already given you rest. How many of you this morning can say, Because of God's grace and love to me, I have already received Christ as my Savior. I have already entered into his kingdom.

I have already entered into the rest of grace where I no longer have to depend on my own works. But I have his works and his salvation and his wonderful glory. I'm saved. I'm in. I belong to God. Everything that God has is mine.

And I am his child in his wonderful kingdom. Most of you. Well, that's what he said. The Lord's already given you the promised land. The Lord wants to give your brothers rest. He wants to give them that which they do not yet have.

And then he said, You may not fully enter your rest until you help your brothers obtain their rest. We are Christians. And we have been saved by God's wonderful grace. And there remains a rest for the people of God.

But we have been saved and we've entered into that rest of grace. But all around us are thousands and thousands of people who have not entered in, who do not know how to enter in, who cannot enter in without our help.

And so God is saying, I want you to go help your brothers. In fact, God is saying, I'm not going to let you really enjoy everything until you do. In fact, I'm saying that I'm going to try to see how miserable I can make you until you do.

You're looking at me very peculiarly. Well, as long as I'm here in this pulpit, I'm not going to give you any rest until God stirs you up and you're out there in some way trying to reach lost people for Jesus Christ.

You say, well, you're getting under my skin. I hope so. We who are Christians have a similar obligation. You say, can you prove that? Yes, I can. Romans 1, 14 to 16. Paul said, I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel, the good news to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the good news of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The Gospel as a Debt Owed to Others

The King James Version says, uses the word debtor. And as far as I can determine, that is the correct one in this particular case. Vines Expository Dictionary of the New Testament defines it. One who owes anything to another, a debtor.

One who owes anything to another. And Paul said, I am debtor. I owe something to other people. Paul believed that he owed some kind of debt to every other human being. Why did Paul consider himself to be a debtor?

How can any man be a debtor to another? He must have in his possession something that belongs to the other man. Number one, he might have bought something from him and owe for it. Like he might have gone to bought something but didn't pay for it and he bought it on time so he still owes money.

How many of you have something you've bought and you still owe some money on it? And a lot more of you that didn't raise your hands. That house or that car or that boat or whatever. He might have borrowed something from someone else and he hasn't yet returned it.

So he owes it to him until he returns it. Number three, he might have received services from the other person and therefore owe him for his time and labor. So he owes him a debt. Number four, and this is the one that fits all of us.

He might have received a gift that was meant for both himself and someone else and not as yet given to the other man his share. That's the one that fits us. Here is Johnny and his mother calls him in and says, Johnny, I have just baked some fresh cookies and I have a cookie for you and Bobby.

Two cookies, one for you, one for Bobby. Give him his cookie. And they're so good and they're warm and they smell good. They've just come out of the oven and Johnny eats his. He doesn't see Bobby right away and he can't resist it and he eats Bobby's.

He stole his cookie. He had something that belonged to somebody else. He was given two cookies. He was told to share. He didn't share. He just kept it for himself and he owes a debt to Bobby. Now, if you get under conviction about this, when you get home, call your sister or brother and ask their forgiveness.

My friend, this exactly fits every Christian, every Christian. The message of salvation has been given to me, but it is not mine alone. It is the gift of God to every man. What debt do we owe? Well, the context makes it very simple.

Paul is talking about the gospel. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. He says, I'm a debtor both to the Jews, to the Greeks, to the wise, to the unwise. And as much as in me is, I am ready to preach to you that I roam also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.

That's the whole context. So the thing we owe to people is the good news of Jesus. And all He has done for us. All He has done for us. Not only saving us, but a thousand other things. Everything that Jesus has done for us.

He wants to do for everyone else. Amen? You say, is that really true? Yes, it is. It's emphasized constantly in the New Testament. In John 3 .16, that wonderful verse, which many of you learned as a child.

For God so loved, what? The world. The world. The whole world, right? God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

That is a great and wonderful statement. This says that God did it for the whole world. 1 Timothy 2 .4 states that God wants all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 4 .10 reminds us that God is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Of course, in a special sense, because they have believed and been saved. In 1 John 4 .14, we read that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. In 1 John 2 .2, it tells us that Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and that is very explicit.

And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. That's crystal clear. Don't try to escape it. In 2 Peter 3 .9 states that the Lord is patient, not wanting any to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance.

And so, God sent His Son to die on the cross to provide salvation, which is adequate for all men. Not all men will be saved, because they won't all receive, and they won't all believe, and they won't all hear, unfortunately.

So what we have, it doesn't just belong to us. I was going out of the checkout at one of the supermarkets, and there was a girl that seemed quite upset that was at the cash register, and so she didn't do, they've all been trained to say, and how are you today, you know.

They don't, some of them really care about how you are, most of them don't. But it sounds nice, you know. And she didn't say it, and so I always look at their name tag, and so I called her by name and asked her how she was.

She looked very startled, and she never did tell me. And I felt sad, and you know, everybody was behind me, and you know, they wanted to get their stuff checked out. But I had an overwhelming desire to stop, to reach out, to take her hand, and say, honey, you have a problem, but I want to tell you that Jesus loves you.

You ever feel like that? And it is so nice when you leave to say, not just have a good day, but, and God bless you. And sometimes they almost faint, and sometimes they just look thrilled to pieces, and they say, oh, thank you.

But everywhere you turn, every person you meet, every conversation you have, whether it's in business, or social context, or wherever it is, you have something that belongs to them. What are you going to do?

What are you going to do about it? You say, well, I haven't been trained, and all this kind of thing. Brother and sister, forget all that. You're supposed to share with them what God has given you, whatever He's given you.

Has He saved you? Did He forgive your sins? Well, then tell them that. Say, you know, Jesus forgave all my sins. That's pretty good news, because people are pretty full of sin, right? In New Orleans, there's a great crowd, and I saw this black lady.

God bless her. She was on fire. She was shaking her fist and shouting at this crowd of escapees. And she said, this is God's wake-up call. New Orleans is sinful city. And they switched the camera real quick.

Let's not get that stuff on the news. I stopped and prayed for her. I said, God bless that lady. Wow. So every person I meet, I have something that belongs to them. Paul said, I'm ready. And he meant that he was prepared and willing to share Christ, what God had given him.

Personal Evangelism Through Simple Testimony

Years ago, a young lady was on a stagecoach in England, and she gave a track to a handsome young man who she discovered was on the way to his wedding. He was not very polite about it, looked angry, tore the track up into little pieces and threw it out the window.

But one piece blew back in the window and landed on his knee. He wet his finger, picked it up, and looked at it. It had two words on it, God, eternity. That would shake you up. He thought about that the rest of the trip.

He arrived at his bride's home, met her at the door and said, God and eternity. And she said, are you crazy? He said, no. God, there's a God and there's eternity. And he took his bride to be, and they went to a pastor and sat down, and he shared the gospel with them.

And by the time they got married, they had been saved and were ready to begin a Christian home. Just a young lady giving out a track on the stagecoach. She had something belong to him and belonged to the young woman he was going to marry.

And she gave it to him. A man came home at night and was opening his garage door. It was when there weren't many of those automatic ones yet. He was pushing up the door. There's a big streetlight right there by his house.

A stranger walked up and asked for directions to a place in that city. He gave the man the directions and the man turned to walk away. But then he said, before you go, we may never meet again. And I should like to ask you, have you a personal interest in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Simple. No, said the man, but I would like to have. And so they stood under the streetlight while he told the old, old story of Jesus and his love. And they bowed their heads and prayed together under that streetlight.

And the man went on his way, and the man went in his home. He had something belong to that man, and he gave it to him. And that's what God is saying to our hearts. Paul said, I'll do it the best I can.

As much as is in me, I'm ready. I like to define the word responsibility by dividing it into two words, response and ability. I am to respond to my obligations to the limit of my ability. So what can I do then?

Prayer as Every Christian's Evangelistic Responsibility

What can I do to share Christ? First, I can pray. And that's something every Christian can do. I can pray, and I must pray. I can pray, and I must pray. How many of you know some people by name that you know are lost, and you'd like to see them saved?

Of course. Some of mine are relatives of mine, and some are friends. And God says, pray. We need to pray for those people. We need to pray for them regularly, earnestly, intensely, believingly, and expect God to answer our prayers.

We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to convict them. We need to pray for God to bring them into a position where they will be cornered by God. And I've thought about the dear people in New Orleans and Biloxi, held my first revival crusade in Biloxi.

And I have said, Lord, so many of them have nothing left. Nothing. May they turn to you. So we need to pray. We need to pray for real people with names and addresses, people we know. I can give. I can't give as much as the man that gave six million.

Giving and Going to Spread the Gospel

But I can give to help send the gospel. Because Paul said, the same man said, how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?

And so we do send missionaries, and we do send evangelists, and we do send pastors and teachers and people. We can give our money to do that. Amen? That was very weak. Amen? God's listening. David Livingston had written across his life, I put no value on anything I possess save in terms of the kingdom of God.

Then I can go. By that I mean I can share personally within the area where God has placed me. With family, with friends, with people at work, with neighbors, within the church even, in evangelistic efforts.

You want to get really involved, we're about to begin Christianity Explored. Get a friend, a relative, a family member, a neighbor, someone who is not a Christian, who you know is not a Christian. And persuade them to come with you to Christianity Explored and hear the gospel.

And that's all you have to do is get them there. They get a meal each time. They do still get a meal, don't they? Oh, I see. First time meal, dessert after that. Well, that's better than nothing. And come with them and pray for them and sit there and pray for them and let them hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Huh? I'll tell you what. Next Sunday morning I'm going to be preaching on the subject from Joshua, whosoever will, on Rahab the harlot, the chief of sinners. And how she was saved by the grace of God.

Now there's an opportunity for you. Get somebody who's not a Christian and bring them here next Sunday morning. Get a handcuff and handcuff yourself to them. Compel them to come in. Now I'm going to really preach on the extent of the grace of God for sinners.

OK? I'm telling you ahead of time. All right? OK. You're afraid to say OK. A deacon's meeting was going on in a certain church. And they were looking at the statistics and they did not have a record of one conversion for that year.

A Church's Responsibility to Seek Conversions

You say that's impossible. Oh, no, it isn't. I've seen lots of churches like that. They're all over the place. Evangelical churches. Not one conversion. So the pastor said to the board of deacons, I think I should resign.

Then he asked them if any of them had tried to win one soul to Christ in the past year. None had. So he said, let us make a covenant that if the Lord cannot use us in the near future to bring some soul to Christ, all of us will resign.

Pastor and board. Now that's getting serious. You're getting quiet. But that's getting serious, boy. You start to get that honest and watch out. God will do something. They all agreed. Monday morning, one deacon arrived at his business, which he owned.

The first clerk that he met, he invited into his office, shared Christ with him. The man prayed and received Christ. He called in another. He also repented and received Christ. By that afternoon, before he closed, he had won 11 employees to Christ.

His first effort. His first effort. That Sunday, 30 men stood before that church to give testimony to their newfound faith in Jesus Christ, all won by the deacons of that church who had never led a person to Christ in their life.

Remaining Restless Until Others Find Rest

God is saying, you have something belongs to other people. What keeps us from it? Well, there's all kinds of dangers. He said to them, you can't rest. You've entered into your rest. That's great, but you mustn't rest.

You mustn't sit down and rest and enjoy your possessions until you share with these other people who haven't had theirs yet. But see, we do, though. We get so comfortable. We have a good church that believes all the right doctrine.

And we have a preacher that preaches the word of God. Hallelujah. And we have wonderful Sunday school teachers that teach the word of God. And a great youth pastor and wonderful music and financial stability because God is working in our lives and we're starting to give.

And we have missionary giving and all these wonderful things. And it's so nice. So nice. So nice. Whoa. Oh, yes. You say, I know why my preacher don't rock the boat. I'm going to rock it until somebody falls in the water.

You say, when will God be satisfied? Hear the answer from Joshua. You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest as he has done for you. And until they, too, have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them.

The words of Jesus, Matthew 24, 14, in this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached as a witness to all nations. And then will the end come. My friend, as long as you live on this earth and there is one lost person headed for hell, you're not finished.

You're not finished. You say, man, I wish that preacher was going to be 79. I wish he would just go and retire and rest and get out of my face. Bruce Wilkinson, who wrote the little book, The Prayer of Jabez, has gone so far.

And, of course, that's nothing to what God has used him in vast ministries, just tremendous ministries around the world. He wrote a book called The Dream Giver, which is sort of on the same style as Pilgrim's Progress.

How many ever read or heard Pilgrim's Progress? Yeah, so you've got the idea. Well, this book is this man leaves his city and he goes on a journey, the same as Pilgrim did, but it's a little different.

Leaving the Comfort Zone to Serve God

And I'm going to read two paragraphs of that book to you, and that's it. And I'm going to close. He says, not long ago and not far away, a nobody named Ordinary lived in the land of Familiar. Anybody relate?

A nobody named Ordinary lived in the land of Familiar. For the most part, not much happened in Familiar that hadn't happened before. Yuck. Ordinary thought he was content. He found the routines reliable.

He blended in with the crowd, and mostly he wanted only what he had. Until the day Ordinary noticed a small, nagging feeling that something big was missing from his life. And God began to put in his heart a dream to serve him.

So here's paragraph as he started out. Soon Ordinary was walking away from the comfortable center of Familiar, where almost every nobody lived. He was heading toward the border where almost no nobodies ever went.

Ordinary had never dared to walk this way before. But like every nobody, he knew that the farther you walked from the center of Familiar, the less familiar things became. He also knew that most nobodies who tried to leave the comfort zone of Familiar became so uncomfortable, they turned around and went home.

Yes, it would get us out of our comfort zone. Yes, we would find ourselves in something with which we're not familiar. And it would be a little nerve-wracking and upsetting to be doing things that we aren't quite sure we know how to do.

And that we think maybe other people should be better at. And, you know, it's all kind of unfamiliar and scary. But, my friend, you have something that belongs to somebody else. You need to share it with them.

Okay? Let's bow in prayer. And so, Father, do not let us, please, please, please, do not let us settle down in our comfortable, saved condition. But help us, with your help, with your guidance, with your direction, to start sharing our wonderful Savior with the people around us.

We pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen.