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“Joshua's Final Words” • 2.16.14 •
Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We have come to the final section of the book
of Joshua, in which the book's name sake speaks. The last two chapters of
Joshua contain his only purposed speech.
- Not only that, these are his last words
recorded from the final day of his life, adding greater purpose and offering
greater clarity into the mind of this incredible man of God.
- We have seen God work on Israel's character
in chapters 1-5. He has worked
through their conflict in chapters 6-12.
He has defined their coregency in chapters 13-22.
- Now, He establishes them in Joshua's counsel,
here in chapter 23 and 24. We'll take this chapter in 3 parts.
Joshua's final words begin with his
I. Confidence In God (v.1-5)
II. Call For Israel's Courage (v.6-13)
III. Caution Against Failure (v.14-16)
Text
I. Confidence In God (v.1-5)
• Joshua
23:1 : "Now it came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all
their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age." : Most commentators note that a 13 to 17 year gap has passed from
the end of chapter 22, to the
beginning of chapter 23. Joshua has
lived a very full 110 years.
- Joshua is lucid and strong enough to stand
and speak to the people of Israel, a people that he served with his own life,
about the pressing subject of their proper relation to their God.
- He had been born in Egypt and worked as a
slave for most of his young adult life. God brought Moses into his life and
everything changed.
- He became an assistant to Moses and then walked
around the desert with him for 40 years. Now, just a few decades after that, he
is a retired and decorated general of the Lord's army!
- There are no enemies left to fight. All that
is left to do is sow into the community has defined his life.
• Joshua
23:2-5 : "And Joshua called for all
Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their
officers, and said to them: 'I am old, advanced in age. You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these
nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has fought for you. See, I have divided to you by lot
these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the
Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea
westward. And the Lord your God will expel them from
before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land,
as the Lord your God promised you." : The leaders of Israel had all be assembled together and Joshua
stood as the elder among the elders. He had been their leader and now, God will
lead Israel through them.
- When Moses died, there was a clear leader who
stood out. Here, there isn't. The eldership will be responsible for their own
territories before the Lord.
- He reminds them that it was God who had
dispelled the nations. God had fought for their sakes. He had affected their
current condition.
- You and I may think it subtle and unnecessary
to say, but this is vital for all who consider God's work. No matter the human
vehicle, it is God who works through an individual servant!
- Joshua was a great man and the tendency would
have been to consider themselves lost for having lost his leadership, but you
could not pin Israel's success upon Joshua!
- This is why he tells them the plain truth:
Give glory to God who has done these things for you and who would continue to
fight on their behalf!
- Joshua had announced their allotment and God
would now expel their enemies before them, to drive them out of their sight.
- They were to do their part in sending out the
remaining population of Canaanites and as they did, their confidence was that
the Lord would make their cooperative efforts effective.
II. Call For Israel's Courage (v.6-13)
• Joshua
23:6-8 : "Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is
written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the
right hand or to the left, and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you.
You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear
by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this
day." : Please notice the word
"therefore" in verse 6. It
speaks of a consequence of what has just been shared.
- God has done all the work of removing nations
from before them and would continue to help them complete the task before them.
- Therefore, be very courageous to keep and to
do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. The end is guaranteed,
but courage is still necessity.
- Even the most ardently faith filled person
requires courage to follow the Lord.
- It takes courage to keep that which has been
written. The Holy Spirit refers to our standing guard over and preserving the
place of the written word in our lives.
- This world is not a safe place to keep the
Word of God in! Most of us will be personally ridiculed for our attention to
the book by family and friends.
- Nevertheless, keep, protect, preserve the
place of God's word in your life. Guard it! Be sure that it has priority, so
that it may be the vehicle of blessing that God intends it to be in your life!
- When God calls you to take on a new habit
pertaining to godliness, take it on, sacrifice for it! Alternately, when His
Word reveals what is restricted, give it up!
- It takes courage to give up our perceived
control and our supposed need for the sake of obedience to the Lord! They are
to be courageous to keep the word and to do the word!
- It's no use to you if you have a mental
assent to God's Word but not a corresponding action.
- It's no good to you to know what sin is and
then not to repent of it! It doesn't matter if you feel good about a certain
passage, if you never seek to see it applied and lived out!
- Note the words together: To do ALL the word!
For the Israelites, the whole word was the book of Moses. We have that, as well
as the rest of the Bible!
- Our spiritual success is tied directly to our
love for this book and the discovery of ALL that it speaks to us!
- I do not shy away from the fact that this
church will always seek to teach what the Word already says.
- Our messages will come out from the Bible,
not be found in the Bible. There is a profound difference! We seek to uncover
what is already there, not prove a case by pulling parts out.
- Some would say, "But isn't it all
biblical?" Is it? Can I remove the parts that I like and ignore the parts
that I don't and still have a "biblical" message? Hardly!
- We consider this whole book to be a whole
piece of communication. Neglecting some parts of it for what appears to be lack
of relevance or interest is a fool's game to play!
- Yes, some of the word we find easy to comply
with. Those parts which agree with how we are already living are easily
assimilated. But there are some parts we would dispense with!
- It takes courage to do ALL that is written!
Everything that is applicable to us either in practice or principle is our law
of love, our command!
- Why are we to be so diligent in our
commitment to His Word? First, there is a tendency to sway. Dedication and
commitment are never naturally forged; They are fought for!
- Our own sinful nature beckons us to follow
what feels best at the moment. Soon we are carried away. We need to be diligent
in our commitment not to turn to the right or to the left!
- How is that accomplished? There is only one
way: A steady, healthy diet of God's Word! I need to hear it preached. I need
to read it. I need to speak about it with others. I need to practice it!
- When that becomes my practice, then it's
awfully difficult to stray to the right or the left!
- God calls us to walk after Him in a straight
line, with our eyes resolutely forward, focused on Him, trusting Him for
whatever provision you might seek in the moment.
- The other danger is compromise. Israel was
not alone in the land. The influence from the Canaanites remained. Their
"worship" ceremonies were simply flesh fantasies inspired by demons!
- Joshua tells them not to even mention their
names, as the association would no doubt conjure images that would be sinful
for their minds to consider!
- Certainly, they were to have no other formal
relationship to them, either to swear by or to serve! They were to hold fast to
cling onto the Lord.
• Joshua
23:9-13 : "For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as
for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a
thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you,
as He promised you. Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Or else, if indeed you do go back,
and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make
marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out
these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and
scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good
land which the Lord your God has given you." "Look at how God has worked for you! These Canaanites were
greater than you, stronger than you and none of them were able to stand before
you to this day!"
- Nobody in their right mind could look at
Israel with natural eyes and believe for a second that their army was in any way
comparable to the armies of the Canaanites!
- Yet, one Israelite caused a thousand
Canannites to flee because that one man had God's presence following with Him!
He had his hands up, but it was the fist of God that they ran from!
- "Israel, do you want that to continue in
victory? Guard yourselves! Love the Lord your God and nothing will change!"
They would have continued success.
- It staggers me to consider how many I have
seen who decide that sin is greater than this! Why would anyone choose
differently? The consequences would be severe if Israel turned back.
- What does Joshua mean? In Egypt, and even in
the wilderness at some point, the people had worshipped other gods.
- Amos 5:26
speaks of the people carrying and sacrificing to the images of Sikkuth and
Chiun, gods who represented Saturn, in the wilderness.
- They were not going to go back into the
wilderness physically, but back mentally. One doesn't need to be in a idolatrous
land to have an idolatrous heart.
- If they joined themselves to the Canaanites
that remained and intermarried with them, making a family of the two cultures,
God would no longer drive the nations out.
- God's response was conditioned to their response.
If the people of God allowed the Canaanites to remain, then God would cease to actively
work on their behalf!
- The people had already allowed the Canaanites
to remain as a labor force, which was one step away from friendship and then
only a short step from family!
- And perhaps, the beginning of their
relationships would be good, but they would eventually become destructive to
the people of God. "They SHALL be snares and traps to you."
- It's not a possibility. It will happen! Some believe
that they are the exceptions to the rule. When a Christian yokes themselves to
a non-Christian, this "shall" be the case!
- You'll be trapped like a bird, having been
baited by whatever fleshly desire that this relationship fulfilled. What a
picture!
- If you return to that way of life, where you
exchange the glory of God for your life for an image that you create, you are
falling into a trap and being baited like an animal!
- You might be satisfied for a little while,
but when you want to come back to the Lord, you'll be greatly hindered, not
even realizing that your leg is caught in the death trap!
- Joshua continues, saying that the Canaanites
would be like scourges on their sides and thorns in their eyes!
- A scourge is whip used by a slave driver. The
NLT uses the words "thorny brambles" to refer to the type of thorn
that would be in the eye.
- One might say, "The Canaanites will
eventually be a pain in your side and an irritant to your eye!" It's
interesting that God picks some sensitive body parts to exploit here.
- The side and the eye are two of the most
sensitive parts of the body! The enemy that they allowed to remain would be
like this to them. This is why they needed courage to complete their task.
III. Caution Against Failure (v.14-16)
• Joshua
23:14-16 : "Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you
know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of
all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you;
not one word of them has failed. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things
have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful
things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. When you have transgressed the
covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you,
and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of
the Lord will burn against you, and you
shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.'" : What a way to describe death! Going the way of the earth!
- This is where everyone on earth is headed.
Death has a tremendous success rate. Some like Joshua, will know the very day
of their death. Most will not.
- What is Joshua doing on the day of his death?
Exhorting the body. Encouraging the people of God. Warning them to follow after
the Lord! What an example! We are never done until we are done!
- On that day, he spoke with confidence and
reminded them of what they knew. There was not a doubt in their mind that God
had brought every good promise to pass!
- Not one thing has failed that God has spoke
to you. Not one! His promise from God had been fulfilled. Everything had come
to pass, not one item on the agenda failed!
- But that also worked the other way. Joshua
has been warning them about their involvement with the nations that remained.
- There were also promises that God made which
were harmful to them in nature as well. His faithfulness to love them also
proved His faithfulness in chastising them!
- God had brought them into this life in Canaan
and He would take them out if they disregarded His word to them!
- His great love and favor are pitted here
against His great wrath and anger! If they went after other gods and worshipped
them, His promise of wrath would be just as true as His promise of love!
- Indeed, they would perish quickly from the
promised land, which we know historically was the case. Today, when you decide
that you know better than God, you are asking for trouble!
Conclusion
- You and I can
be confident in the Lord. He will work on our behalf as we simply obey Him.
That obedience requires our resolute courage in the face of discouragement and
weakness.
- Israel's
history survives as a cautionary tale of what happens to God's people who fail
to drive out their enemies. I pray we have the wisdom to see that it doesn't
have to be so for us.
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