Tuesday Feb. 14, 2023

Hello friends, I pray your Valentine's day has gone well. Laura and I have never really celebrated this day too much...but my son and his wife, this is their first Valentine's day as a married couple, so there are some expectations...on his end.
Today I am going to finish up this series on hermeneutics. We will look at the last 2 points. If you have not read my last 3 entries, I would encourage you to do so, as this one builds on those. Just as a reminder, here are the steps:
1. What did the text mean to the original audience?
2. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?
3. What is the theological principle in this text?
4. How does our theological principle fit with the rest of scripture?
5. How should individual Christians today live out the theological principle?
Let's do our final analysis of: 
Joshua 1: 1-9
1 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2 “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous; [b]be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may [c]have success wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may [d]be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will [e]have success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Let's answer question 4 and 5.
How does our theological principle fit with the rest of scripture?
How should individual Christians today live out the theological principle?
In my last entry I pointed out a couple of theological principles that fit within our passage in Joshua. The principles are:
God keeps His promises and God honors obedience
For our passage in Joshua, these last two questions are pretty easy. Let's look at question 4 first.
How does our theological principle fit with the rest of scripture?
Are we able to confirm the principles of "God keeps His promises" and "God honors obedience" throughout the rest of scripture? Are there other verses or stories that support our principles? Well, if you know anything about the Bible, the answer should be a resounding YES! God always keeps His promises and God honors obedience. I don't have the time to do a deep-dive on the subject of God's promises and how He honors obedience, but let's look at a couple of scriptures that confirm our hypothesis.
Psalm 19:9-11
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. 10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.
In regard to God honoring obedience, there are many scriptures that confirm this truth. This passage is but 1 of them. If I were writing a sermon on God honoring obedience, this is one I would use. All throughout the O.T. and N.T. we see God affirming obedience, with the promise that obedience will bring its own reward, in due time. I suppose if we want to believe this, we must address the first principle...does God keep his promises. After all, if God does not have a record of keeping His promises, then being obedient is of no consequence. So, does scripture confirm that God keeps His promises?
Again, I could use many examples to prove this principle, but for now, I'll use one from later on in the book of Joshua.
Joshua 21:43-45
43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not [m]one of the good promises which the Lord had [n]made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
The Bible makes it clear that our God is a God that keeps His promises! God promised Abraham that his offspring would become a nation; God promised that He would send His son, to die for the sins of mankind, that promise was fulfilled. God promised that Jesus will return one day, for an obedient Bride...we can be sure that God will keep this promise!
Let's quickly answer the last question in our hermeneutic journey:
5. How should individual Christians today live out the theological principle?
If we desire to truly live for the Lord, we must believe that God keeps His promises and that God honors obedience. I would argue that the overriding theological principle here is that God keeps His promises. As I pointed out earlier, if we do not believe that, then why are we being obedient? While Sam was growing up, there were times that I broke a promise. I never did this lightly, but I would make a commitment to him, then have to break it, for whatever reason. If a parent does this enough, the child will learn that mom or dad can't be trusted. When that happens, their behavior will change (for the worse) over time. The opposite is also true, if a child completely trusts their parents, a strong bond will develop over time. Thankfully, our Father has a 100% proven track record of keeping His promises. We can live this principle out by having faith...even when it may appear that God has broken His word, we must believe that He hasn't. As a matter of fact, God cannot break His word...it is against His very nature to do so. We must trust and obey (just like the old Hymn), in spite of our circumstances.