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, let’s look at how to get a one? I
see several thoughts.
To get a new now:
I. \\#2\\ Let’s let the past be the past.
A. Notice God’s statement concerning Moses.
1. It is simple and straight forward.
2. God states that Moses is dead.
3. God’s 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 God’s 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 belonged—in 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 that—the 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, don’t 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\\ Let’s 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. Don’t 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 God’s 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 new—right 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 can’t 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 don’t 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. God’s promise,
cc. and salvation’s 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 God’s Word.
(b) If you want the new, you have to do it God’s
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 God’s 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.
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