A Good Soldier Is Submissive – Part I

Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday morning, Aug. 15, 2004, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.

A GOOD SOLDIER IS SUBMISSIVE – PART I
By Michael D. O’Neal                   Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church                    Albany, Georgia
 

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Scripture Reading: Joshua 1:1-10

Text: Joshua 1:8

Joshua 1:8 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.

Introduction: PREPARE FOR WAR IN 2004! We who are saved are saved by grace through faith, not of works of any kind. However, now that we are saved we are at war, with the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I am asking God to help me to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I am asking God to help me to enlist Christians into the Lord’s army and to train them to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

In order to be a good soldier, you have to learn, among other things, to obey orders.

I love this passage in Joshua. God told Joshua that they were to be given land, but the indication was that it was not to be taken without a fight:

Joshua 1:4-5 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Three times in the passage God told Joshua to be strong and courageous. In our text, the Bible says that success comes from obeying the word of God. In the previous verse, God told Joshua to do as he was commanded by Moses, and in the next verse God told Joshua that he was being commanded by the Lord. We need to recognize in New Testament times that we are to be submissive to God’s word when it is preached, as in obeying the direct commandments of the Lord:

1 Corinthians 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

A GOOD SOLDIER IS SUBMISSIVE

I. A GOOD SOLDIER IS SUBMISSIVE TO THE CALL

2 Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

A. We are called to salvation but we must choose

B. We are called to be saints but we must choose

C. We are called to be soldiers but we must choose
As soldiers, we are called
1. To service – lifetime
2. To stand
3. To suffer
4. To success

II. A GOOD SOLDIER IS SUBMISSIVE TO CORRECTION

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

A. About his appearance

B. About his actions

C. About his attitudes
1. Toward superiors
2. Toward orders (more in next point)

III. A GOOD SOLDIER IS SUBMISSIVE TO COMMANDS

Matthew 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

A. About serving God in church

B. About stewardship

C. About separation

D. About the scriptures

E. About seeking God in prayer

F. About soul-winning