Open the Bible. Get the Word inside of you. Grow in Christ, trust His promises. Let the Truth keep you. Let His Word sweeten your meditation. Stop looking so much at people and look to the pages for real life that lasts. (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9)

Speaker: John Love
Sermon 12714
Date: 2024-05-08
Time: Wed 7:30pm

P. Love –

Let’s have a spicy night!

So, Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Amen. I hope everybody knows that. But
somebody texted me today. A brother texted me and said, have you got any good Mother’s Day
jokes? I said, no. I don’t have any. Not yet. I’ll probably, I’ll look for some. And he says well, I got
a pretty good one, and so I’ll share it with you tonight.

It goes like this. Three sons left home, went out on their own, and they all prospered. Getting
back together, they discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother. The
first one said, I built a big house for our mother. The second one said I sent her a Mercedes with
a driver. The third one smiled and said, I got you both beat. You know how mom enjoys her
Bible. And you know that she can’t see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the
entire Bible. It took twenty monks in a monastery twelve years to teach him. I had to pledge to
contribute $100,000 a year to them for ten years but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the
chapter and the verse and the parrot will recite it.

Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks. First son, Milton she said, the house you
built is so huge, I only live in one room but I have to clean the whole house. Marvin, she wrote
to another, I’m too old to travel. I stay at home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes and
the driver is very rude.

Dearest Melvin, she wrote to her third son. You were the only son who had the good sense to
know what your mother likes. That chicken was delicious! She couldn’t see very well! Yeah,
spicy chicken, too! All right. Father, enough laughter. Let us turn it into mourning at this point!
No! (Prayer).

If you would, you can open your Bibles to Joshua if you would like to. How many of you just,
honestly, how many of you use your Bible or do you look to the big screen? Still? Yeah, people
still bring their Bibles to church. Amen. I use the screen most of the time cause my sight is so
poor, but I still bring my Bible with me just in case anybody asks me do you have your Bible!

So, Joshua 1. Now, you know the background of the book of Joshua. Moses has died and now
the responsibility of leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land – Moses brought
them into the brink of the land. Now, it would become Joshua’s responsibility to lead them into
the land and to receive their inheritance.

When you stop to think about it, that is quite a task, isn’t it? Because you’re not talking about
Joshua and his immediate family. You’re talking about over 2 million ex-slaves that you’re going
to – you now have the responsibility to lead them into this land and to give them their
inheritance. It’s no small undertaking to say the least.

So, what would the instructions be from God to Joshua which would make this all possible
where he would be so to speak successful in this campaign bringing the children of Israel –
again – out of the wilderness once and for all and bringing them into the land of promise.
Well, three times he said to Joshua, only be strong and courageous in vs. 6, 7 and again in vs. 9.
But I want you to notice this even more than that. Vs. 6-8. So, again, what is, what’s the one
command that God gives to the commander of the people of Israel, Joshua, that is essential,
necessary, absolutely vital if they’re going to go in and this campaign is going to be successful?
Just one simple thing. Something that we have learned and we continue to learn throughout
our lives.

Read the Word of God. I mean really that’s essentially all he’s telling him to do. Read the Word
of God because like us, Joshua had a Bible. It was just the first five books of the Old Testament,
right? And they carried those books with them in the Ark of the Covenant. And everywhere
they went alongside them came those first five books of the Bible. I mean, apparently, those
first five books of the Bible, those books were everything they would need as far as God is
concerned for them to go into the land, inherit the land, possess the land, and begin to be
fruitful and multiply in their new land. That would be everything that they would need. Think
about that.

And then think about what God has given to us. Not just the first five books of the Bible but the
entire Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. So many exceeding great and precious promises
that you and I now have this great privilege to be partakers of God’s divine nature all because
of our Bibles. What a blessing.

It wasn’t enough – Joshua knew this and God was telling him this and expressing it to him over
and over again – it wouldn’t be enough for Joshua or the children of Israel to simply possess the
Scriptures which they did. The Lord wanted the Scriptures to possess Joshua.
I think some people are in possession of the Scripture but there is a world of difference being in
possession of the Scripture and the Scripture possessing us. It’s like the Word of God has to be
internalized. It has to become part of our souls. It has to be dwelling richly within our hearts
and within our minds.

What did he say to them? “The book of this law shall not depart out of your mouth.” This was
his command to the commander of Israel because his life like our lives are to be controlled by
one thing, the Scriptures. Why is that important to us? Because this world is always, it’s always
changing. It’s always something new. There’s always something new coming down the pike that
fascinates people and causes them to wonder and question perhaps even the validity of the
Scripture.

But God says it’s imperative for you to open your Bible on a consistent basis because the more
you do that and the more the Word of God gets into your soul, the greater the impact you are
going to have in this world for Christ.

I have to share this with you. I read it. Two people. Greg Hawkins along with another woman,
Kaley Parkinson, did some research for a book entitled, “Move.” That was the name of the
book. They set out to find out what were the key factors for spiritual growth. Their question
was how to move out of a wilderness kind of experience into a promised land kind of
experience. Out of a weak faith into a life giving faith. Out of carnality into spirituality. And the
study was conducted – this is fascinating – by an independent market research firm.

This secular company had no agenda other than to earn the fees by an accurate analysis. And again,
a survey was taken in 1,000 churches and what they discovered surprised 1,000 pastors.
Now remember. The secular company that did the research, they didn’t have a dog in the fight.
They weren’t going to skew this at all. They didn’t have a bias one way or another. They were
just doing the research and this is what their conclusion was. They said nothing has a greater
impact on spiritual growth than reflection upon Scripture.

If churches could do only one thing to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow in their
relationship with Christ, their choice is clear. They would inspire, encourage, and equip their
people to read their Bibles. And that was the essence of their survey. That was the essence of
their research. Because we know this because thank God we have been in a ministry and many
of us here for decades and some not so long, but you’re in a ministry where the Word of God
takes precedence. Where the Word of God is proclaimed every time that you hear from this
pulpit.

P. Schaller is over the other side of the world and has been for the last several days in the
country of India proclaiming the Scriptures to those precious souls and we carry this Gospel and
hope to in the coming months, the summer months into all the world. What are we going to
take with us? Our friendship? That may be valuable.

Our personality? That could be helpful but it might not be. We’re going to take the Word of God because that’s what builds people’s souls. I think all of us by now we realize in this ministry you’re not necessarily going to learn how to be
slain in the Spirit in this church, but you will learn how to be filled with the Spirit so you can live
Spirit filled lives because that’s what we’re learning from the Scripture, right? I mean you may
not necessarily speak in tongues in this church, but I can guarantee you this: If you keep
learning from the Word of God, when you do speak, you will minister grace to the hearer and
you will edify the listener in Ephesians 4:29. These are the things that we learn and how do we learn
them? From the Scriptures.

The key to spiritual growth is not increased church attendance and please don’t misunderstand
me. Keep coming to church because the more you come to church, the more you hear the
Word of God. But it’s not just church attendance or involvement in spiritual activities. People
don’t grow in Christ because they are busy at church. They grow in Christ when they read their
Bibles and trust what God says through his promises.

And we know this to be a fact and I think what happens sometimes is all of the new things that
come into people’s lives have a way of distracting them from the one thing that we need to be
focused on and that is the Bible, the Word of God. And thank God for our Bible college and P.
Mat and the team over there that does such an outstanding job and all the instructors and
teachers that proclaim the Word of God and teach us the Scriptures. They deserve our applause
tonight because of all the great work that they do over there especially in light of the coming
graduation.

I mean we want the best days we can have here on the earth, amen. We want the most
glorious days. We want days that we sense the presence of God and we sense the power of
God and we sense that God is moving as he visits us and empowers us inwardly. How’s that
going to happen unless we engage with our Bibles. Meditate as God instructed Joshua to do day
and night. It’s like they were always in the Scripture. Always in their Bibles. Always rehearsing
God’s words. That’s what we need. We need the Word of God to be our guide. It’s got to be our
“go to” book when we have questions or doubts. It’s got to be the ultimate authority in our
lives and when it is, then our lives will carry that authority with us as we proclaim the Gospel
and share Christ with others.

We can’t afford to chart our course with the opinions of people or the suggestions that come
from the culture. If you do, you’re going to make the same mistake that I read about the
farmer’s son.

The farmer said to his son one day, he said, son I want you to go out on the field as he worked
on the farm together with his dad. He said I want you to – what do they call it? Straight lines. I
want you to make the straightest lines in the field as you possibly can.

Okay. He said how do I best do that? He said what you do is select an object on the far side of the field and plow
straight at it. And later, when his dad came back and checked on the progress to see how things
were going, there wasn’t a straight furrow on the entire field. Every row was uneven and wavy.
His dad said, I thought I told you select an object on the far side of the field and plow toward it?
He said, I did. But that rabbit kept moving all the time. The point is clear. A straight line like a
straight life for a godly life requires an unmoving target. And that’s why the things of this world
do not interest us. They try to distract us. They are always crying out for our attention, but we
push them aside for something that is unmoving, the Bible. Our north star. That which we can count on.

The promises of God which are in Christ and in him are all yeah and amen. It’s got to
be the authoritative Word in our world. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, the first five verses he listed 19 characteristics of people, of mankind each of which found its roots in rebellion and self-absorption. And that’s
the culture we live in today. There’s no question about it. If you read 2 Timothy 3, it’s almost like
it’s a photographic picture of 2024 with what’s happening in our culture today.

So, how can we deal with that kind of self-absorption which tries to find its way in our lives as
well? You got to go back to the Bible, amen. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said this, but you should
continue following the teachings Timothy which you have learned. You know these things are
true because you trusted those who taught you. Since you were a child, he said, you’ve known
the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise and that wisdom has led to your salvation
through faith in Christ.

And then he went on to say that all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching. For
showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults and for teaching us how to live
right before God.

Notice what Paul said to Timothy. All Scripture. All Scripture inspired by God. Really? Can it be?
Can we trust that? The answer is yes. Think about it. Just think about your Bible tonight. I want
to share these things with you. I jotted them down. The Bible is remarkable in its composition.
How so? It has been – think about this – it has been composed over 16 centuries by 40 different
authors. Written by soldiers, shepherds, farmers, fisherman. It began with Moses in Arabia and
was finished by John on the Isle of Patmos. It’s been penned by kings in palaces, shepherds in
tents and prisoners in prison. That’s just its composition.

Would it really be possible for 40 different authors who didn’t know each other in some cases
writing in different languages in different centuries, separated by different countries by a time
as much as 1600 years to produce a book of a singular theme because behind them there was
one mind and one designer and that was God himself who inspired the Scripture. So, the Bible
is remarkable in terms of its composition.

But the Bible is remarkable in terms of its durability. It’s the single most published book in
history. You say, yes, but isn’t the Bible the most unread book in the world? The answer is no.
You say it’s not? What’s the most unread book in the world? It’s your car owner’s manual! And
how often do we refer to that? The index itself is as thick as a Bible.

So, think about it. The Bible. The most published book in history. Translated into at least 12,000
languages by an army of translators. It has outlived its opponents. Bibles have been burned by governments, banished from courtrooms, but God’s Word endures. They have sounded its
death hundreds of times but God’s Word continues. Isn’t that amazing?

I love the story. This actually happened during the second world war when the bombing was
taking place in the capital city of Poland – Warsaw, Poland. And almost every structure was
almost utterly destroyed. But when they came across this building and the building just
happened to be the Polish Bible Society, it had four walls at one time. Three of the walls were
knocked down because of the bombs that were dropped. One wall stood.

And on the front wall that stood against all the bombings that occurred in that great city, this is
what was read in front of it: “Heaven and earth shall pass away but the Word of the Lord will
stand forever.” And everybody saw that. I mean if that wasn’t a message from God. Look
around you. You see all of the rubble. You see all of the destruction. You see all of the misery
that mankind has brought upon himself, but the one thing you can count on, it’s your Bible. It’s
the Word of God. It’s his promises. They’re never going to let us down. Remarkable in its
composition. Remarkable in its durability.

Remarkable in its prophecy. Its pages contain more than 300 fulfilled prophecies about the life
of Christ alone. Yet they were all written at least 400 years before he was born.
We would also get to know if the Bible makes a difference. Does it work? Do the teachings of
the Bible change us? Yes. And here’s living proof in these seats here tonight. If somebody says
how do I know the Bible is real? You should say come to church because all of these people,
they were the chief of sinners at one time. And now, they’re not necessarily the best people
that walk the planet but their lives have been changed. And they are no longer in jails but now
they are coming to church.

They are now no longer outcasts but they have been brought into
the family of God. They are no longer the offscouring of the world, but now they are kings and
priests and God’s children. Our lives are a living testimony of the validity and the reality and the
truth that the Bible is real. We’re living proof.

It set us free, hasn’t it, from guilt and shame. From fear, anger, lust. And it continues to do that.
Some people here tonight could say, I don’t know if it’s delivered me completely yet. I know, so
keep coming to church and keep hearing the Bible and stay in your Bible and don’t depart from
it. Don’t turn to the right. Don’t turn to the left. Let its words be on your lips all the time.
Meditate on it. Give yourself wholly over to it and your profiting will appear before everyone.
It’s a promise from God.

It has the power to shape us, impact our hearts and minds like nothing else. It’s only when we
allow the truth of Scripture to be the authority in our lives can you really know whether it
works or not. But when you allow the Scripture – you know, these days it seems like I’m hearing
so many people and they’re saying – I hear it all the time. Well, you know, I’m done with Christianity. I know people that did this in the church and they did that in the church and I don’t
think they were telling the truth. And they did some things.

Listen. Stop looking at people and start reading your Bible because people are going to be flawed. People are going to make mistakes. People are sinners that are saved by God’s grace. If you want to know who God is,
read your Bible. If you want to know the character of God, read your Bible. If you want to know
if God loves you and will never stop loving you, read your Bible. If you want to be, you know,
consistent and faithful in your life, read your Bible. It’s there. It’s the promises of God.

People say I have a Bible. I know but the question is, does the Bible have you? You possess one.
Let the Bible possess your soul. Because when we focus on the words of God, you know what it
does? It drowns out the roars of the winds of our culture. We don’t see them. We don’t hear
them. We, yeah we do. We march to the beat of the truth of the Word of God. And that orders
our steps and fills our minds. And yes, it is true. We learn to think with God.

Praise God!

Storms, they are coming. We know that. We’ve all had our share of them. Sorry to have to tell
you. There are more on the way for all of us. I’m sure of it. The winds will howl just like they
always do. Our boat which is maybe a picture of our lives may be tossed to and fro but we have
a choice. We always have a choice and our choice is clear from the Scriptures. We can keep
choosing Christ or we can choose the crisis.

I think when people get disillusioned, when Christians get disillusioned, it’s because they made
a choice. They choose the crises. Whether it’s their own crises or another person’s crises. They
choose the crises instead of choosing Christ. We make it our habit to choose Christ. Now, where
did we learn how to choose Christ? From our Bibles and from a pulpit that has faithfully and
consistently taught us. Our Bibles.

We’ll either heed to the promises of Scripture or the noise of the storm. It’s that simple. If
you’re just looking to get out of Egypt, well, then you’re only going to trust God to get you into
the wilderness. But if you want to get out of the wilderness and get into – for the children of
Israel we said it before. What was it for the children of Israel? It was a piece of real estate. But
what is it for you and I? It’s a real state of mind. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a way of living. It’s
how we make our decisions. It’s how we make our choices. It determines the path that we take
in life. It’s everything to us. And that’s because we want to live in the reality of those promises.
We want to live in a Canaan if you will. A real state of thinking. And if that’s going to happen,
the Bible has to be our “go to” book for life.

Again, I think the devil is working overtime these days with his megaphone and it’s doubt. It’s
disillusionment. It’s fear. And always speaking these things into people’s ears. And I think the
enemy’s voice is everywhere. It seems to be at an all-time high today like never before. All the
more reason that we would turn a deaf ear to all of those sounds and all of those voices and
again focus on the one voice.

Even in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the Spirit of God was speaking. And seven
different times to seven different churches, what did the Spirit of God say? Let him that has an
ear to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Because it’s the Spirit of God that
speaks to us. Yes, he uses people. People that are weak and frail and sinful. Yes, it’s true. But as
long as they preach the Word of God. That’s what we need.

By the way, God doesn’t have any other choice. Because the last time I checked, every human
in the Bible acted very much like a human. And as far as I’ve been concerned in my own life,
every human has always acted very human. But that doesn’t mean they cannot be called of God
and chosen by God and raised up by God and used as God’s voice to proclaim his Word.
I mean, think about it. Two plus million ex-slaves coming out of Egypt.

Now, they were stuck in a wilderness for a long time but God is now saying, listen. If you want to get out of that
wilderness experience and you want to get into the land of Canaan which is my goal for your
lives, then it’s all going to come down to this: Heed my voice. Listen to what I have to say.
Colossians 3:16 says chew it, swallow it, speak it. Essentially. Align yourself with God’s Word. And
then, you can expect as he told Joshua, prosperity. Success. Not the kind of prosperity that
some people would have us believe we could have whether it’s monetary or materially
speaking.

That’s, that comes and go. And everything materially we all know it ends up in one
place, the dump. Right? So, God says I got something better for you. I got prosperity for your
soul. Didn’t John write that to one of his dear friends? He wrote, he said listen, I wish above all things
that you may prosper just like your soul prospers.

We’re into soul prosperity and you cannot get or experience soul prosperity without the Word of God dwelling richly in your heart. But when your soul prospers, everything else can be added unto you. All of those other blessings
can come into your life because they will not dominate your life. They will not dictate to you
what your life will be like. They will just be blessings because your life is hid with Christ in God.
And you feed that life on a regular basis through God’s words.

Joshua heeded God’s voice. And after God spoke to him this way, he said let’s go. Prepare
yourselves. No hesitation. He was a little, he was different from Sarah when she said – what did
she say when God said this is what I’m going to do? She said, sorry God. I am too old. Unlike
Moses when God first called him, what did he say? I can’t speak very well, Lord. You got the
wrong guy. Unlike the disciples who said, you know, there’s so many people here. There’s a
multitude of people and we don’t have enough food to feed them.

We learn a lesson from Joshua. A simple lesson but a profound one. One that we can carry
throughout the course of our lives. God said it. He gave us his Word. Just believe it. That’s all he asks us to do is to welcome it into our souls and what a difference it makes no matter who you
are.

Like I said earlier. You know, you might not get slain in the Spirit here but I guarantee you, you
will learn from the Scriptures how to be filled with the Holy Spirit and live a Spirit filled life
which empowers you to live an overcoming life.

You may not speak in other tongues but that’s okay. You will have what the Bible says is the
tongue of the learned. And when you speak, you will edify the listener and minister grace to the
hearer. We may not have a church where the song service lasts for 3 or 4 hours, and you might
get a five-minute devotional message, but you have a church that preaches the Word and in
some cases, would preach it for hours in a church service, in a Bible study, in a rap session
afterwards, in an after rap session and that is what builds our souls. And that’s what we need in
these critical hours that we are living. We need the Word of God.

Joshua, how are you going to do it? It’s got to be one of the greatest undertakings in all of
human history. God, by his hand, through his grace delivering his people out of their bondage in
Egypt but then getting stuck for about 40 years. No glorious days for them. No overcoming
quality of life. Just, you know, a meaningless, wandering spirit that dominated the whole nation
but now Joshua we’re going to get this done. We’re finally going to get this done. And this is
how we’re going to get this done. Read your Bible. It’s your “go to” book. It’s all you will ever
need.

Because when it’s all said and done and our lives come to a conclusion, you know what we’re
going to be left with? The Word of God that we’ve stockpiled in our hearts. Because heaven and
earth will pass away but his words will abide forever. Amen. Amen. Would you pray with me.
(Prayer)

 

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.