Joshua 1:1-9 – A New Now – Bible study

Joshua 1:1-9 A New Now We are eight days into a New Year, and I am wondering how is it going so far? Very well I hope. However, most will find as the year progresses that the new year is pretty much the same as the old. There is a reason for that. It is because if we are doing the same things we did last year, we are going to have the same results that we got last year. Might I suggest that some of you may need a new now. While the New Year is still mostly ahead of us, lets look at how to get a one? I see several thoughts. To get a new now: I. \#2\ Lets let the past be the past. A. Notice Gods statement concerning Moses. 1. It is simple and straight forward. 2. God states that Moses is dead. 3. Gods statement is meant to mean that Moses is now the past. 4. God was saying that while He was not finished with Israel, He was finished with Moses on this earth. B. Some people have problems when it comes to keeping the past in the past. 1. Some people think that when you leave the past in the past, you somehow diminish the good past. a. That is not true. b. Putting Moses in the past did not diminish the fact that Moses has been a good man. c. In fact, in Gods kingdom, some would say that Moses was a great man. At the very least, we can say he was a man that God used greatly. d. Not only so, but Moses did great works. He lead Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. e. No, acknowledging that Moses is the past and even leaving him there, does not diminish him in any way. f. It only puts Moses good past where it belongedin the past. Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2. By the way, not only does the good past need to be left in the past, so does the bad past. a. I understand that some of you have had some problems in your past. (1) Perhaps you were mistreated. Perhaps you were abused. (2) No doubt we have all been hurt, perhaps even betrayed. (3) However, the past is just thatthe past. b. No Christian can be forced into a mode shaped by their past. (1) If your past can encourage and help you, use it. (2) If it cannot, forget it. It is the past. C. God Himself says we are not to let our good or our bad past overly influence our present. Instead, we are to focus on making our present right. 1. If in your past you were bad, get saved and forget it. Eze 18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. 2. But at the same time, dont let a good past make you think that God is not watching your present, because he is! 24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 3. What does all of that mean? a. It means that Moses, My servant, is dead. b. It means that the past is the past and whatever you want to accomplish, you have to leave the past in the past! II. \#2-3\ Lets start living new now. Josh 1:2 now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. A. The Jews were entering into a new land, under new leadership. 1. It was to be a fresh start for them. 2. It offered them an opportunity to have a new relationship with God. 3. All they had to do was leave the past in the past and start living new now. 4. That is exactly the same that God offers to you, Christian! B. I see two truths in that thought. 1. I see the beauty of now. a. The beautiful thing about now is that it just got here. (1) Perhaps last night, you committed some sins against God and others, but that is your past and you can now start new now. (2) Perhaps in the last hour, you have had some wrong thoughts of said some bad words. That is already your past and you can start new now.. (3) Maybe you had a bad thought in the last second but that is already your past and you can start new now. b. God knew that we would need some new nows so He gave us plenty of them. Every second is a new second. Every minute is a new minute. Every hour is a new hour. Every day month year decade. c. As long as you will leave your sin in the past, God offers you a beautiful now. 2. I see the power of new. a. The key to living now and getting different results is to live new. b. Dont get me wrong. Just having a New Year has no power to it, but having a New Year with God in control, does. c. New is Gods specialty. Re 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (1) The One upon the throne is Jehovah God. (2) That promise concerns you. (a) Unsaved person, God offers to make you new completely newright now. (b) Saved person, God is stating a fact. He is telling you what He has already done. He has already made you new. 2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (3) As God offered these Jews on that day a new life, so God makes that offer to every human being. d. There are some things that you must do to be new. (1) Being new starts with being saved. (a) There is no other way. If you are unsaved, you should know this. You have likely tried every other conceivable method. (b) To be new, you must see yourself as a sinner, see Jesus as the Savior, and surrender yourself to Him. (2) Being new requires that you believe and claim it. (a) I hear too many Christians saying things like, "I cant help it." "That is the way I was born." "I got that from my parents." (b) You have quit before you ever started. (c) You must put your past in the past and start new. (d) Those are the excuse lost people make. i. For them, it is true. ii. But for a Christian, that is an absolute lie. iii. Christians can be and do anything that God tells them to be or to do. Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. iv. Christian, you dont need excuses any more. v. You need to claim aa. your identity, Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: bb. Gods promise, cc. and salvations power. 1John 4:4 greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (3) Being new requires that you be strong and courageous. Josh 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous. (a) What I have said is that new is possible for every person but I have not said new is easy. (b) Getting the new land for the Jews certainly was not easy. i. It required fighting and working and changing. ii. Those things are not easy, but if you want different results this year, you will have to do them. iii. And you can IF you will be strong and courageous in the Lord. (4) Being new requires that you be obedient. Josh 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (a) Having a successful life always comes back to the same two things. i. Be saved. ii. Be obedient to Gods Word. (b) If you want the new, you have to do it Gods way for every other way is just a different pathway to the old results. (c) There are hundreds of pathways, religious, irreligious, academic, philosophical, and many others, but none of them will take you anywhere but to the old. (5) Being new requires Gods presence. Josh 1:9 for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (a) You cannot do this without God. That is true of the saved and the lost. (b) If you want new, you want Christ. Take Him today.