Joshua's Farewell Address

I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this evening, and also those of you who are joining us online, welcome. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity again to come to worship in song, to study your word, Lord. Father, we thank you for your word that is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, Lord. Oh, Lord, may we treasure it, hide it in our hearts so we won't sin against you.

May it be deep-seated within our hearts, Lord, so that when we're faced with those different things that come up, that your word will just come by your Holy Spirit, come to our minds to encourage us in the ways of you. We thank you for that, Lord. You're worthy. Then there's this world system that we have to deal with, and so, Lord, we ask you to continue to strengthen us, to be able to trust you and look to you when we're faced with these different situations and situations that we're facing.

We ask you to strengthen us in circumstances that confront us, which are things that are not of you, Lord. We need your strength always to stand and having done all to stand, putting on the armor of God.

May we be seated in your kindness, your sovereignty, Lord. What you rule is always right, Lord. We thank you for that, for being so faithful to us, Lord. Don't leave us nor forsake us. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. Greater are you who is in us than he who is in the world. And thank you for that unmerited favor, Lord, willing to send your son Jesus to die in our stead.

Bless our time now as we, tonight, as Pastor Ryan teaches, anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word, Lord. And may we have hearts to hear, ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive that which you have for us tonight, and a willingness to yield to the leading of your Holy Spirit, and obedience, and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen? The Lord bless you.

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 23. Joshua, chapter 23. Tonight, we will finish up the book of Joshua as we see Joshua's farewell address tonight to the people. And that address is going to take on really kind of a couple of different things because chapters 23 and 24 are two seemingly different speeches that Joshua gives.

Most believe the chapter 23 is the one that Joshua gives. Chapter 23 is the farewell address that he gave to the leaders. And chapter 24 was the farewell address that he gave to the nation itself. I've titled it mildly different. I've titled chapter 23 as the instructions for the leaders and chapter 24 as his charge to the nation. But no matter how you phrase it, this is the end of an era.

And so we pick up in chapter 23, verse 1. And this is what it says. Now it came about after many days. When the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side. And Joshua was old and advanced in years. That Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers and said to them, I am old and advanced in years.

And 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 been fighting for you. See, I have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes with all the nations which I have cut off from the Jordan, even to the great sea toward the setting of the sun. The Lord your God, he will thrust them out from before you and drive them out from before you.

And you will possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you. So he starts off the beginning of chapter 23. His Pharisees. His Pharisees. He does very well address his instructions to these leaders by first of all reminding them of what God has done. Reminding them of the battles that God had fought. And it starts off by saying that it had been a long time

that they'd been in the land. Joshua was now old and well advanced in years. And can you imagine, I know we've talked about this before, but I always just think Joshua as he came to the end of his life and thought back on all of the things that he had seen God do. All of the things that he had seen God do. All of the miraculous things that he'd seen God do.

The plagues in Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea. The going up on top of the mountain with Moses twice and seeing God deliver the law to Moses in that most powerful way. Seeing all of the miracles as they went through the wilderness and seeing God part not only the Red Sea, but also the Jordan River for them to go across. And then all of the miraculous things that God did

and the victories that they had won in the process. The promised land. He had seen the majesty of God's power and he had seen the failure of man. The failure of man in their inability to believe the first time around what God was able to do. But through it all, his faith was built. His faith was strong and it continued to grow. And now as he's coming to the end of his life

to give these final instructions, he is reminded that this has all been God's work. Because notice what he tells them. At the end of verse three, I love this. He says, or verse three, he says, and 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 been fighting for you. And you know, I think each of us can look back on our lives.

No matter how long you've lived your life in the Lord, no matter how long you've been walking with the Lord, any amount of things that you've seen happen in your life, I think we have to sit back and go, that was God fighting. For me, that was God who was acting on my behalf. And the children of Israel were no different. As Joshua looked back on everything that had taken place, he could sum it up with this one phrase.

The Lord has been fighting for you. It's what God had promised he would do before they came into the land. It's what God did when they came into the land. And as Joshua reflects on these years of God's faithfulness, the one statement he could say is God has been fighting for you. But not only that, God was not done fighting. God was not doing anything for them because he would continue.

Notice what it says in verse five. The Lord, your God, he will thrust them out before you. And he will drive them out before you. And you will possess their land just as the Lord, your God, promised. I'm reminded of that verse from Philippians that says, and we know that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. God had brought them into the land and it really had broken the back of the major enemies

that they had. But there was still work to be done. But the same God who had fought for them in bringing them into the land and keeping them safe in the land was the same God who would continue to drive out the inhabitants before them, drive out the Canaanites before them so that they could dwell in the land in peace. And knowing that it was God who had been fighting for them and knowing that it was God who would continue to fight on their behalf, he gives them four sets of instructions, four things that he wants these leaders to remember.

And the first is given to him. Notice what it says here in verse six. Notice what it says. Be very firm then to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses so that you may not turn from it to the right hand or to the left so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you or even mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.

Now, the first thing that he tells us, and the first piece of instruction that these leaders need to know is that they need to be firm to keep and do all that is written in the law. And I like that phrase that he starts off with because it reminds me of the phrase that God had given to Joshua very early on in the book of Joshua in chapter one. He told him to be strong and courageous, to be firm in his obedience to the word of God. And as he looks at these leaders, he says, the first thing that you need to know is that you need to be firm firm to keep all that is written in the law.

You know why you need to be firm in keeping everything that's written in the law? Because the tendency is going to be either to turn to the right hand or to the left. What does that mean? Well, if we turn to the right hand, it means we add to the law and we make it much more difficult than it needs to be. We become legalistic in the way that we live instead of simply living by the heart of what God has given to us.

Or we can turn to the left hand and live according to licentiousness and say, you know, God didn't. I don't really mean what he said. I think we can reinterpret it. I think we can understand that we've grown a little bit in our understanding and we're not to turn to the right hand and make it more difficult than it needs to be or to the left hand and make it less holy than it's intended to be.

We are to be firm in our understanding and our obedience to God. And along with that, he reminds them that they are not to associate with the inhabitants of the land, they are not to make covenants with the people of the land. Unless they bow down to their idols, because he knew because God had told him exactly what would happen if they did, if they did not drive out the inhabitants, if they instead associated with them, they would end up becoming like them. And may I say, brothers and sisters, in our lives as believers in Jesus Christ, living in this 21st century, his New Testament believers, sometimes there's still Canaanites in our land.

Sometimes we as individuals can look. At our lives and say, I spend too much time associating with the inhabitants of the land. And that's where my weakness comes from. And that's where my stumbling comes from, because I have refused to come out from among them and be separate. And brothers and sisters, in a world that continues to tell us that the best thing that we can do as believers in Jesus Christ is to assimilate

ourselves to the world, to make ourselves more attractive to the world. We need to instead. Those who will come out from among them and be separate and no longer associate with the things and the inhabitants of the land. So he tells them, be firm in your obedience to the law. The second one comes to us in verse eight. Notice what it says. But you are to cling to the Lord, your God, as you have done to this day, for the Lord

has driven out great and strong nations before you. And as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One of your men puts to flight a thousand for the Lord, your God, is he who fights for you just as he promised. The second thing he tells them to do is that they are to cling to the Lord, their God. Now, that word cling is kind of an interesting word in the Hebrew.

Literally, what it means is to adhere to like glue. The first time that this word is used in the Hebrew is in the book of Genesis. When God brings Eve to Adam and he says, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, that's the same Hebrew word that's given to us there. And so we're given the idea that our lives are to be clung to the Lord.

He tells these leaders the best thing that you can do is you should cling to the Lord as you have to this day. Why? Because God's been fighting for you. As a matter of fact, there's no reason why one of you should have put to flight a thousand people that happened because God fought for you and he will continue to fight for you. Your job is to adhere to the Lord.

And again, it's not hard to apply this to our lives as New Testament believers. The best thing that we can do is stay close to Jesus. The best thing that we can do is adhere to the Lord. Stay as close as we can to Jesus. Stay as close as we can to him, because that's where the place of safety is. I remember when my kids were very tiny and we'd go to things like the Arkalala Festival, where there's just people

everywhere and you want to make sure that they stay close to you. So you say, kids, stay close to dad so that I don't lose you. Well, my youngest daughter always took that very seriously. And she stayed really close to me. She would cling to me. I'm like, maybe not quite that close, but I like what you're doing here. But, you know, honestly, that's the best thing that we can do as believers in Jesus Christ,

because it's really hard to drift from the Lord when I am adhered to him like glue. And he knew. Joshua knew that the tendency would be to begin to drift from God for these for these Israelites who had seen God do such powerful things among them and stayed so close to God as they had to fully depend on him. Well, while they're in the land and no longer major battles to fight, the tendency would be to slowly but surely drift away from the Lord.

We're actually warned about this in Hebrews. We're warned about this drifting. And so instead, we are to adhere to cling to the Lord. The third command that he gives them, the third piece of instructions comes to us in verse 11. Notice what it says. So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations which remain among

you and marry with them so that you associate with them and they with you know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations from before you, but they will be a snare and a trap and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you, he says. Take diligent heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God. I like the way he starts off that command. And that's to to take diligent heed to yourselves.

In other words, attention to yourself. Now, sometimes we can become so introspective that we quit focusing on God. But there is also an aspect of introspection that's really important in our lives where we take a continual stock of where am I with the Lord? You see, this is how we keep from drifting is we take careful heed to our lives. Lord, do an inventory.

Show me where I've drifted from you. Show me if there's anything in me that I need to deal with because I don't want to drift. Take take careful heed to your life. And we take careful heed so that we will continue to love the Lord your God. How do we keep from becoming legalistic in the things that we do for that matter? How do we keep from becoming licentious in the things that we do?

How do we maintain the correct balance in the commands that God gives to us? Well, we always keep one thing at the heart of everything that we do in obedience to God and we maintain a heart of love. For God. You see, if I do things out of the heart of love, then it's no longer something that I have to do, nor do I try to figure out just how much I can get away with, because it's my heart's desire to follow God with everything in me.

It becomes a conscious choice that I make every day to say, if Jesus saved me from my sins, if he saved me from myself, then the best thing that I can do is follow him with all of my heart and give him all of myself, whether I feel like it or not. After all, I just want to show him all of the love in response to what he's done for me. And of course, if we don't take diligent heed to ourselves to love the Lord, our God, then we'll end up doing exactly what he says is going to happen. You need to know that if you don't do that and you go back and cling to the rest of these nations, well, he's no longer going to fight for you.

You see, if that's what the direction you want to go, he's not going to force you. But you need to understand that if you don't take diligent heed to yourselves and love the Lord, your God, and you fall back into these things, it will always be a snare to you. It will always be a thorn in your eye and a whip on your side. And so he he gives him that statement, take diligent heed to yourselves.

And the fourth instruction comes to us in verse 14. Actually, verses 14 through 16, I'll summarize in just a moment. Notice what he says. Now, behold, today I am going the way of all the earth and, you know, in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one word of all the good words which the Lord spoke concerning you has failed. All have been fulfilled.

Not one of them has failed. And it shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the threats until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given you. And so the final statement is this.

There will be consequences for trespasses. There will be consequences for trespasses. Did you notice what he said? He said, I'm about to go home to be with the Lord. But I can give you this one word of testimony. Not one promise of God has failed. Not one promise of God has failed. He's kept his word in everything. But you need to understand something. If he's kept what he said in all of the good things that he's promised,

you need to know that he'll keep his word and all of the cursings that he promised. Remember when they came into the land and they stood on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and they pronounced all of the blessings and everybody's blessings and then they pronounce all the cursings. Boo cursings, right? He's like, well, all the blessings took place. But if you don't obey, trust me, God will keep his word on all of the cursings.

God will do everything that he said he was going to do. And unfortunately, a survey of the rest of the Old Testament will prove that that is absolutely 100 percent true. Now, a word for us as New Testament believers in Jesus Christ, we can no longer face the cursings because Jesus became a curse for us. Once you put your faith in Jesus Christ, he's already taken the curse upon himself.

So you are no longer subject to the cursings. However, God will keep his word and that he will discipline you as a son. And in the same way that he will bless you as a son, when you follow in all of his ways, he will also discipline you as a son when you fail to walk in his ways, no longer cursings. But there is discipline that comes. A good friend of mine that's a pastor says, you can choose your sin to cleanse.

And so he reminds them of this. And he leaves the leaders with with this message. Well, now we come into Chapter twenty four. And as we come into Chapter twenty four, he's going to give one more speech. Only this time, the entire nation will be involved. Notice what it says. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges

and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And so he calls them together to this place. Now, notice. It's not Shiloh that he calls them to, which is kind of interesting because the tabernacle at this point in time is at Shiloh. Instead, he calls them to Shechem. Interestingly enough, there were several events throughout the book of Genesis

that took place at Shechem, some good, some bad. But Shechem sat right in between in that valley between Ebal and Gerizim. So it provided a wonderful place where there was good acoustics for him to be able to present himself, give his speech to the entire nation. As he stood there looking over all of the people that were there in Shechem, the first thing he's going to do is he's going to rehearse the nation's history for them in a very short and concise way.

Notice what it says. Verse two, Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel. From ancient times, your fathers lived beyond the river, namely Tara, the father of Abraham, the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. Interestingly enough,

Joshua takes them all the way to the very beginning of the nation of Israel, to the very beginning of the first patriarch of Israel. And that's Abraham. He says, you remember who your fathers were before I called them out, that they lived beyond the river in that area and they worshiped idols. The tradition actually states that Tara was actually an idol maker himself.

And of course, Ur of the Chaldeans was known for its idolatry, an idol on every corner. And yet God called them from a place of idolatry to a place of worshiping the one true God. And he says, I called Abraham out and I brought him to the land of Canaan and I showed him the entire land. Not only did I show him the entire land, but I gave him a son. And I gave him that son,

Isaac, the promised one, laughter. Notice what it says in verse four. And to Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau and to Esau, I gave Mount Seir to possess it. But to Jacob and his sons or Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron and I played Egypt by what I did in its midst. And afterward, I brought you out and I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you

came to the sea and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. But when they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and he brought the sea upon them and covered them in your own eyes, saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time. Now, I appreciate the way that he puts this.

OK, so he reminds him of of the fact that Isaac had Jacob and Esau, interestingly enough, he includes Esau in this, which I think is kind of important because he would have been a neighbor at that point in time, the descendants of Esau would have been a neighbor at that point in time. He says, but to Esau, I gave Mount Seir, but Jacob and his sons, it wasn't time for them to have their inheritance yet. And they went down to Egypt. And of course, in Egypt, they grew into a large nation.

And then God sent Moses. And, you know, all of them all of a sudden start going, ah, Moses, right? And Moses was the one whom God used to deliver you from Egypt through all of the powerful miracles. And then I brought you to the edge of the Red Sea and the Egyptians. They followed you. But I put darkness between you and split up the Red Sea and you went through it.

I took all of the nation of Egypt out, all of the armies of Egypt out. And then I love this phrase. And then you wandered in the wilderness for a long time, right? He just summed up 40 years in the shortest sentence ever. Isn't that great? Isn't that kind of like God? That you can absolutely blow it for an incredible amount of time in your life. And to God, it's just one sentence.

And you screwed up for a long time. And then I did more amazing things. I think that should be a word to some of us. Some of us spend so much of our time remembering what we did wrong. And God's like, really? In my book, it's just that one sentence. And you're spending all of your time thinking about it. You're spending all of your time dwelling on what you did wrong.

And for me, it's just an asterisk in your entire story, because what's really important is all of the work of redemption that I did in your life. What's really important is all of the amazing things I did for you when I fought for you, quit dwelling on the mistakes and start dwelling on the faithfulness. Amen. And so he says, and you dwell in the wilderness for a long time.

Then, verse 8, I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, Ahog and Bashan, all those guys. They gave them into your hand and you took possession of their land. When I destroyed them before you, there was one bad thing you had to bring up. Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and summoned Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.

But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you. And I delivered you from his hand. Side note, have you ever noticed just how much Balaam comes up in scripture? Like he comes up way more than you would think that he would. It almost tells you that there's something about that story we should really pay attention to. Because not only is he mentioned multiple times throughout the Old Testament,

even in the New Testament, there's two or three times that what Balaam did, the doctrine of Balaam is brought up. And so that should tell us that maybe that's a story we should pay attention to the idiosyncrasies of so that we don't repeat not only the mistakes of Balaam, but the mistakes of the nation of Israel. And so he reminds them of that. He says, verse 11, When you crossed the Jordan and you came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Thus I gave them into your hand. Then I sent the hornet from before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites before you, but not by your sword or your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored, cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them. You are eating vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant. Now, I underlined some statements here.

And if you're an underliner, you might pay attention to these statements as well. The first one that I underlined was, but not by your sword or your bow. The second one that I underlined was, you had not labored and then you had not built and then you did not plant. Now, I thought that those were fascinating statements. And as I read through this the other day,

I just started kind of taking note of some things. And I took note of how many times in both chapters 23 and this particular section that we are reminded that the children of Israel had very little to do with the work that was done in bringing them into the land, giving them victory in the land. And even their fruitfulness in the land. It really was God's work.

All they had to do was walk in obedience. All they had to do was follow God's instructions and he took care of everything else for them. I started thinking about how this equates with Hebrews, where we are told to be diligent, to enter rest. So many of us think we're the ones that have to pick up our sword. So many of us think we are the ones who have to labor, that we are the ones who have to build,

that we are the ones who have to plant and we put so much pressure on ourselves to do all of the work. Meanwhile, God's sitting back and going, it's not by your sword. You didn't build it. You didn't plant it. You didn't labor for it. I did the work. All you did was walk in the victory that I provided for you. And too many of us get stuck on the treadmill of work.

But I don't like running outside. I don't like running outside when it's below 55 degrees. Right. I did this again today. I don't like running outside if it's below 55 degrees. I just I just don't. I don't enjoy cold weather. I hate this time of the year. Once Christmas is done. If we could go back to 65 and sunny, I would be completely content with that. It won't happen.

It never happens. But I don't like... So I'm running on the treadmill today and I'm watching. Luckily, they had Fox News on. And not something stupid. minutes, I got nowhere. I'm just really tired from it. And I was. I was sweating like crazy. I was worn out, right? My watch says I ran two miles. The treadmill says I ran two miles, but I didn't go anywhere. And you know, too many of us live our Christian lives just like that.

We struggle, and we strain, and we strive, and there's no rest, and there's no peace, and all you're doing is running on the treadmill. You're really tired. You're really worn out. And in your mind, you went this far, but really, you're in the exact same places when you started because you tried to make it the work you do. It tried to be something you were going to do.

And sometimes we need to step off of the treadmill of works and get out onto the track of grace and understand that God is the one who's working. All I have to do is walk. Walk in it. All I have to do is walk in everything that God has provided for me. And he reminds them of that. This was God's work, all of it, from the beginning. Abraham didn't call himself to the land of Canaan. God did that. Jacob didn't send himself down to Egypt. Jacob

tried not to go to Egypt. God did that. Moses wasn't the one who went to deliver the people. Moses tried not to go deliver the people. God did that. They couldn't figure out how to cross the Red Sea. God did that. They couldn't figure their way through the wilderness. Trust me, look at a map of their journey. God did that. They couldn't get into the land. God did that. And once they realize that all

you have to do is walk in the good works that God provides, boy, you get a whole lot more done that way. And he reminds them of that history that they had. But then he gives a charge, to the people. And the charge takes on two parts. And so let's look at that. Notice what it says in verse 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth

and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. If it's disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods which your fathers the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, I see two things that the charge that he gives to the entire nation takes on.

Ultimately, it's a twofold charge. Number one, he says to fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. The first has to do with a condition of their heart, that they were to have that fear in reverence for God, but that they were to serve him in sincerity and truth. And I love those two words that he uses, sincerity and truth, because you can

fear the Lord and you can serve him, but that's not just what God wants. God wants sincerity and truth to be a part of us. As a matter of fact, if we were to continue on through the Old Testament, and really even if we came to one specific spot, that I can think of, you would come to the book of Hosea. And one of my favorite parts in the book of Hosea is chapter 10, where he says, your heart is divided. Literally, it's insincere,

because sincerity means undivided. It's exactly what God wants from us. He wants an undivided heart. And the problem with the children of Israel is that from this point on, they will have some good moments, but we'll find when we get into the book of Judges, that those moments, they're short-lived. And they struggle with a really big word called syncretism,

where they want enough of God to feel good about themselves, but enough of the world to enjoy themselves. They want enough of God to know that they've done the right thing, but enough of the world to make their flesh happy, enough of idolatry to make their flesh happy, which is why Joshua starts off this charge. The first part of it is to serve the Lord in sincerity, in truth. God just wants us to be real. He wants our devotion to him to be undivided and to just be

real with the Lord. He says, fear him and serve him in sincerity and truth. The second part of the charge that he gives is that they need to choose who you will serve. Now, I don't know how many of you have anything along these lines in your house. I think I have a rock. The front of my house that says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But it's become really kind of a battle cry for a lot of us, right? Hopefully something that we

live our lives by. And it's not just the picture on your wall or the rock in front of your house or the, you name the thing that you've got. Because when Joshua gives this charge, I don't think he was like, you know, it's going to make a great decoration someday. This statement that I make. No, I think he was crying this out as loud as he could. Listen, whether or not,

it seems good to you to serve the Lord, you decide. You either choose to serve the Lord or choose to serve all of the gods that you used to serve. The gods that are beyond the river, the gods that you served in Egypt, the gods that the Amorites serve. But whatever you guys decide to do, Lord, but you need to make a choice. And sometimes I think as a church, as the Western

culture church, we need to say, choose who you're going to serve. And if you're not going to serve the Lord, quit saying you are. Because too many churches right now want to have it both ways. They want to be able to have the name of God on their church, but have nothing to do with them inside of it. And too many people live their lives like this. Too many of us live our lives, not wanting to truly make a choice.

Here's the problem. If you don't make a choice, you've made a choice. Because you're not going to serve the Lord. You're not going to serve the Lord. You're not going to serve the Lord. either you will choose to serve God or you will automatically choose to serve your flesh. You will automatically choose to serve the idols around you. And make no mistake about it, all of the

fleshly things that we love, understand, they're idols. They are gods that we serve. And no man can serve two masters. He says choose who you're going to serve. Now the people respond to this charge and they respond rather quickly to this charge. Of course he tells them get rid of all your idols and all that kind of stuff. But notice how the people respond. Verse 16.

The people answered and said, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us all the way in which we went. And among all the peoples through whose midst we have passed, the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, the Amorites who live in the land. We will serve the Lord for he is our God. Oh, this had

to have made Joshua's heart happy, right? We'll get to his response in just a moment. It's not going to be what you think it's going to be. But they're like, how can we forsake God? You have rehearsed for yourself the history of everything that God has done for us. Far be it from us to serve any other God. I want you to notice how Joshua responds to them. He says, verse

19. Then Joshua said to the people, you will not be able to serve the Lord for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm. And consume you after he has done good to you. Now, can you imagine giving an altar call, right? I give an altar call, let's say, right? All these people come forward. I want to serve Jesus,

right? And I'm like, you can't serve Jesus. You can't handle the truth, right? That would not be the way I would respond. And yet that's how Joshua responds. Why? Why does Joshua respond? This has bothered me. The first time I ever taught this was when I led college ministry as a 22-year-old kid that didn't know, come here from Sycam about anything. Right? And I remember coming to this chapter and being like, well, that doesn't seem right.

Why on earth would Joshua have responded like this? And I battled with this for a long time. I battled with why this doesn't even make sense why Joshua would respond like this. Wouldn't he be like, let's all covenant together. Now he starts off by giving him a warning, right? You know why? Because he knows people. See, here's the thing. The longer you work with people, the more you know people.

That's why now that I've been in ministry for 20 years, I understand 100% why Joshua said that. I'm like, that makes sense to me. Because they're like, we're going to do everything. We're going to follow God. He's like, no, you won't. You know why? Because he knows people. He'd been around them. This was not his first rodeo. It reminds me of a statement that

is given about Jesus in the Gospels that says, all these people were coming to follow Jesus. And I think it was Matthew, might have been John, that said, yeah, there you go. And he said, they believed in him, but he did not believe in them. You know what that means? That means people like to make commitments. They don't like to keep commitments. People like to say they're going to do

something. They don't like to really do something. Because when it comes right down to it, as J. Vernon McGee would say, when the rubber hits the road, people have a hard time really doing what they say they're going to do. And man, in the moment of emotion, it sounds great. That's why New Year's resolutions, New Year's goals always sound great on January 1st, maybe

December 27th when you started thinking about it. And then comes January 5th, right? And you were like, never mind. I like snacks, right? Because it sounded good in the moment. But now reality sets in. And now the reality of commitment sets in. And we have to understand something as believers in Jesus Christ. 100% God's work in our lives, but we still have to walk

in it. That means every day you have to make a decision. And the decision that you have to make is today I will walk with Jesus. Through His grace, by His power, through the strengthening of His Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will walk with Jesus. But it has to be a daily decision. Sometimes a moment by moment decision. The older I get, the more I sit back and wait when somebody

tells me how excited they are in their walk. Oh man, I'm really growing. Things are really happening. I'm like, okay, well that's good. Keep walking. Keep walking. Because you know what? I want to see fruit. I want to see fruit from people before I get as excited about them really making commitments to the Lord. Because for too many years, I've seen people come say, I am going to follow God with all of my heart. And I

would be like, oh, this is so amazing. And then all of a sudden they would stop and it would destroy me. I would be like, what? But you made this commitment. And while it's still hard for me, unfortunately, I've come to expect it a little bit more. Because I know what Joshua's talking about here when he says, you can't. Because God's a holy God. And you need

to understand. You need to count the cost. That's why Jesus told His disciples, no man who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is worthy of the kingdom of God. And that's the kingdom. You see, you won't hear that in most churches because everybody wants to fill the pews. Everybody wants to fill the seats. But I'm here to tell you right now, my goal is

not to fill the seats. It's to make disciples, which is what Jesus wanted to do, which is why we have to understand the reality of commitment. And so Jesus, or so Joshua told him, interestingly enough, Joshua and Jesus, not totally different names. And so Joshua told him, he said, you can't. You can't because you need to understand the consequences of your decision. Notice what it says in verse 21. The people

respond, though, you know, they were offended. They're like, what? The people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord. You know what I think Joshua thought of? Now, this could just be me. Do you remember when the law was given on Mount Sinai? And God spoke the law, right? Like they all heard it audibly. And they all said, we will obey. And 39 days later, they built a golden calf, right? You know that's in the

back of Joshua's mind as he's saying that. And so Joshua said, no, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said, you're witnesses against yourselves. Verse 22, that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him. And they said, we're witnesses. He said, now, therefore, put away the foreign gods, which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the Lord, your God. The people said to Joshua, we will serve the

Lord, our God, and we will obey his voice. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day. It made for them to serve him. It made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. He took a large stone and he set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all

the people, behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord, which he has spoken to us. Thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny the Lord, your God. Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance. I just want to point out one thing, and that's what he says in verse 23. He says, now,

therefore, put away the foreign gods, which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. I think that's kind of a fascinating thing because they're just declaring their obedience. And yet, what does Joshua tell them they need to get rid of? Their foreign gods. Now, why did Joshua tell them to get rid of their foreign gods? Because

there were foreign gods among them. And then it made for them in their declaration of their obedience to the Lord. There was foreign gods amongst them. And I have a question for us tonight. Are there foreign gods among us? I mean, I know we're all here. I know we're all here a lot. But are there foreign gods? Are there idols that need to be gotten rid of? Are there things that we

have dealt with, things that we have allowed, things that we have put up with, things that we have grown accustomed to in our lives? And while we're saying, I'll follow you with all of my heart, there's still a foreign idol that needs dealt with. Only you and Jesus can answer that. But it is something I think that we should search our hearts with. Because Joshua, right after

that, says, then put away your foreign gods and incline or lean your heart towards the Lord. And so they make a covenant. And now we come to the end of an era, the passing of an era. Notice what it says in verse 29. And it came about after these things that Joshua said, and Joshua said, and Joshua said, and he said, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, he

died, being 110 years old. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gash. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua and had known all the deeds which the Lord had done for Israel. Can I just say that's maybe one of the greatest testimonies of somebody's life that you can imagine. That for a leader, for them to be able to say all the

days that this leader was alive and leading the people, they followed the Lord. What a beautiful testimony to the leadership of Joshua. But now at 110, passed away, home with Jesus, and undoubtedly heard, well done, good and faithful servant. Now verse 32, it says, now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt at Shechem, and the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money. And they became

the inheritance of Joseph's sons. Now it's kind of interesting that they've waited this long to bury Joseph's bones. Can we all agree with that? But remember, this is a fulfillment of one of the very last verses in the book of Genesis. Chapter 50, I think it's like verse 25, somewhere in that general range, because the last thing that it says is that Joseph told them, when you go back to the land, when God

visits you and takes you back to the promised land, take my bones with you. Matter of fact, tradition states that he was never buried in the land of Egypt. His tomb, or his coffin remained above ground so that when God took them back, they could take those bones back with them. And that's exactly what they did. And now that they are at rest in the land, so was Joseph at rest in the land. And then verse 33, and Eliezer,

the son of Aaron, he died. And they buried him in Gibeah of Phinehas, his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim. And so all those leaders, all the ones that had seen the faithfulness of God, well, they're all gone. And now it's time for a new generation to take over. And in a couple of weeks, we'll see exactly how they did. But boy, what an

amazing testimony, isn't it? What an amazing testimony to the faithfulness of God. And so let's look at this story real quick, real quick, 5,000 foot view of the timeline. So you have God creating humanity, sin comes in and brings the fall of man. But with that fall comes the promise of redemption. God, in order to preserve the faithfulness of God, in order to

preserve the human race floods the earth because there was so much decay that took place that God needed to start over for a fan with a family. And that's exactly what he did with the family of Noah. And then through Noah, there was a son named Shem and through Shem came a descendant named Abraham. And Abraham became the father of a nation by becoming the father of a son named Isaac. And through Isaac came Jacob and through

Jacob came the 12 patriarchs and through the 12 patriarchs, you know, the 12 patriarchs. And through this, the nation exploded within the land of Egypt. They were brought back from the land of Egypt into the promised land. And now they're settled in the promised land, holding on to the promise that through this nation would become a Messiah who would become a blessing to all humanity. And so we'll see how the nation grows within the

promised land. Amen. Would you guys bow with me? Father, we come to you and we thank you, Lord, for this story, the story of redemption. And we thank you, Lord, for this story, the story that lays out here in the Old Testament. But Lord, the story also of the admonition that's given to us. These things were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the world has

come. The ends of the time has come. And so, Lord, may we take this instruction and apply it to our lives as New Testament believers. May we learn the lessons that we need to learn so that we can become the disciples that you want for us to be. Father, we praise you for this. We praise you for this. We praise you for this time. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be

blessed.