Reading: Chapters 23 & 24.
Ill:
You know that you are getting old when:
• When everything that works hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.
• Your try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any.
• You look forward to a dull evening.
• Your knees buckle and your belt won’t.
• When your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.
• You sit in a rocking chair and can't get it going.
• You sink your teeth into a good steak and they stay there.
• You finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.
In our Bible passage this evening:
• Joshua is getting old, he knew it, everyday he felt it, in every bone of his body:
• He is fast approaching 110 years of age,
• But I want you to notice;
• That he is not senile and past it! In fact the very opposite he is very sharp, & wise!
• Yet Joshua realises that he is ready to die:
• Verse 14: “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth”.
• So being a good and wise leader; he calls two meetings.
• The first meeting, in chapter 23, is held with the elders and leaders of the people.
• The second meeting is recorded in chapter 24, and involves all the people of Israel.
• Before he goes, Joshua has something important to tell them about serving the Lord.
Knowing that he is soon going to die, Joshua wants to encourage Israel to stay true to God.
• He knows that the old guard,
• That is, those Israelites who knew Moses and Joshua are swiftly dying off.
• He knows also that a new generation is coming along that has only heard about the past;
• They did not see all the miracles and all the wonders that the Lord did for them.
• So before he dies,
• He wants to remind them of the God they serve.
Notice: The place Joshua chooses for this meeting:
• Chapter 24 verse 1 tells us Joshua’s takes the people of Israel to Shechem:
• Shecham was a city right in-between two Mountains; Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal:
• Mount Gerizim was designated by God as the mountain of blessing;
• (Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 29 & 27 verses 11-12).
• And Mount Ebal was designated as the mountain of cursing.
• Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 29 & 27 verses 13-26.)
This was a visual reminder to the people that they would have to make a choice!
• They could choose to serve God;
• The outcome of that would be blessing.
• But to reject God;
• Would mean that they would only experience cursings!
Quote:
“He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to.
It is the means that determine the end.”
Ill:
• Pavarotti relates how Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in his hometown of Modena, Italy,
• Took him as a pupil.
• Pavarotti also enrolled in a teachers college.
• On graduating from college he had to make a choice.
• He asked his father this question, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’
• "'Luciano,' his father replied,
'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.'
Pavarotti said:
"I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair."
Likewise Joshua is making the people choose:
• He does that symbolically by taking them between these two mountains,
• And he would do that verbally in chapter 24 verse 15:
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
(1). JOSHUA'S CONCERN (Joshua 23 verses 1-8):
• There are three things that Joshua was concerned about;
• Three fears regarding how the people will act once he has gone:
(a). He Fears Complacency (verse 6).
“Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left
Joshua is afraid that the people of Israel might begin to take the Law of God for granted.
• He fears that they might become complacent in their walk with the Lord;
• And begin to let things slide in their lives.
• Sadly, he was right,
• This is exactly what they did!
Ill:
• Several years ago a young Frenchman captured the attention of the world’s press,
• By walking a tightrope between the towers of New York's World Trade Centre (1350 feet high).
• A few months later, however,
• While practicing on a relatively low wire in St. Petersburg, Florida,
• He fell 30 feet and was injured. As he lay waiting for help,
• He reportedly beat his fist on the ground saying,
"I can't believe it! I can't believe it! I never fall!"
Quote:
“Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are.
The second is rejection of things as they might be. "Good enough" becomes today's watchword and tomorrow's standard.
Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new.
Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course -- downhill. They draw false strength from looking back.”
(b). He Fears Compromise (verse 7).
“Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them”.
Another fear Joshua possesses;
• Is that the people of Israel will decide to follow the dead God's of Canaan.
• He fears that they will compromise their standards and bow down to idols.
• Once again, it is as if he could see into the future!
• What he was afraid would happen, did happen!
Ill:
• In one of Aesops fables:
• He tells the story of a man with two wives,
• He was a middle-aged Man;
• Who had one wife that was old and one that was young;
• Each wife loved him very much,
• And desired to see him like herself.
• Now the Man's hair was turning grey,
• Which the young Wife did not like,
• As it made him look too old for her husband.
• So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones.
• But the elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure,
• For she did not like to be mistaken for his mother.
• So every morning she used to arrange his hair;
• And pick out as many of the black ones as she could.
• The consequence was the Man soon found himself entirely bald.
• Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.
Ill:
“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost,
For want of a horse the rider was lost,
For want of a rider, the battle was lost,
For want of a battle, the war was lost!”
(c). He Fears Commitment (verse 8):
“But you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now”.
Joshua fears that the people will not be fully committed to the Lord.
• He fears that their commitment will become slack;
• And that they will not cleave to the Lord as they should.
• Once again, we see, from the history of the nation of Israel,
• That Joshua was right to be concerned.
Application:
Ill:
• When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions,
• He took a bold and decisive step to ensure the success of his military venture.
• Ordering his men to march to the edge of the Cliffs of Dover,
• He commanded them to look down at the water below.
• To their amazement,
• They saw every ship in which they had crossed the channel engulfed in flames.
• Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat.
• Now that his soldiers were unable to return to the continent,
• There was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer!
• And that is exactly what they did.
God’s people are to have that same attitude:
• We are to burn the bridges of sin in our lives,
• And press onto to that which the Lord has for us!
(2). JOSHUA'S CHALLENGE (23:9 to 24:24).
• In this section, Joshua challenges the elders and the people;
• To observe certain truths concerning God.
• His challenge is for them to look at what the Lord has done;
• And is doing in their lives.
• If they will just consider the Lord,
• They are more likely to live the right kind of lives!
(A). .To Consider God's Wrath (23: 9-16).
9“The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised. 11So be very careful to love the LORD your God.
12“But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, 13then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.
14“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 15But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD’S anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”
• While there are many challenges given here,
• The primary idea that Joshua is trying to convey is this:
• If you will serve the Lord, He will bless you.
• If you disobey Him, He will chastise you!
• The challenge in verse 11 in the crux of the matter!
• How Israel responded to the Lord, was a perfect indicator of her love for Him..
Application:
As a child of God, you have two possible ways of living your life.
• You can either live it within the confines of God's will and be blessed,
• Or you can live it outside the will of God and be chastised,
Ill:
• Quote: “This is going to hurt me more than it will you!”
• As an earthly parent disciplines their child etc
• Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5-11:
• As Children of God, he will deal with us as a parent should deal with a wayward child.
Every child in every family have a choice to make!
• Do they behave and so please their parents and enjoy their blessing?
• Or do they want to displease them and experience their chastening?
Ill:
Kathy; What she wants is not always what’s best for here;
• We have rules and principles she has to follow,
• So that she is not spoilt or grows up wayward.
(B). To Consider God's Works (24:1-13).
1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. 3But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5“‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.
8“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11“‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
• In this section,
• Joshua reminds the nation of all the many great things the Lord has done for them.
• In those twelve verses (2-13) that review the history of Israel;
• There are at least 19 references to what God has done for the Israelites!
• His challenge is for them to remember God’s goodness to them,
• His logic is simple; Who wouldn’t want to trust a God of goodness & faithfulness?
• So Joshua tells the people;
• Remember His goodness and you will be more likely to serve Him faithfully.
Application:
The works of the Lord on our behalf are a great motivator for service!
• When we stop to think of all He has done,
• It should challenge us to go deeper in our relationship with Him.
• Think of: how He died on a cross, so that we can live!
• Think about how he loved us when we were lost;
• How He came to us in our sins;
• How He called us unto Himself;
• How He saved us when we asked Him to;
• How He forgave all our sins and failures;
• How He adopted us into His family;
• How He has promised us a home in Heaven;
• How each day He has met our needs;
• When we walk in his ways.
• How He has never left us nor forsaken us,
• Even though, at times, we have forsaken Him.
• Think on His greatness and goodness toward you.
• Let those things be the motivator for you to renew you relationship with Him this day!
(C). To Consider God's Will (24:14-18).
14“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
• Joshua tells the people;
• That it is the Lord's will for them to clean up their lives and to serve the Lord faithfully.
• He makes the statement that he and his family will do just that,
• Verse 15:
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Notice Joshua's attitude toward the situation:
• He tells them what they should be doing,
• Then he tells them that regardless of what they do, he is going to serve God!
• Then in verse 16 the people also respond by expressing their desire to serve God;
• Because of His greatness and the way he has faithfully blessed them.
Application:
Ill.
• In Ancient Greece,
• To prevent idiotic statesmen from passing idiotic laws upon the people:
• Legend has it - that lawmakers were asked to introduce all new laws;
• While standing on a platform with a rope around their neck.
• If the law was passed, the rope was removed.
• If it failed, the platform was removed.
• It meant that those people committed to serious policy making; ever made laws.
• It separated the genuine true politicians, from the impostors, the non-committed!
• To follow there political calling;
• They had to put there life on the line!
Listen: God demands no less!
• He wants us to be committed, hot for the things of God!
• If we just play at Christianity, then we make him feel sick!
Ill:
Laodicea in revelation chapter 3 verses 15-18:
5“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! 16But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 18I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. And also buy white garments so you will not be shamed by your nakedness. And buy ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19I am the one who corrects and disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference.”
What God said to the Church at Laodecia, he says to us tonight:
• If things are not right recognise it, confess it,
• Come back to the Lord and start again the right way!
(D). To Consider God's Witness (24:19-24).
• Joshua makes a strange statement to the people.
• He tells them that they are not able to serve the Lord!
19Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”
“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
Joshua reminds the people that talk is cheap:
• He is reminding them that the Lord does not just hear their words,
• He also witnesses their lives;
• He is reminding the Israelites that they cannot serve the Lord on the one have hand,
• And still serve false God's on the other!
• If they do, then judgment will accompany such an action.
• Again, the people proclaim their desire to follow the Lord.
• Joshua is simply saying;
• According to your own words, so be it!
Ill:
• A Haitian pastor wanted to illustrate to his congregation;
• The need for total commitment to Christ. He used this parable:
A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000.
• Another man wanted very badly to buy it,
• But because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price.
• After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price;
• With just one stipulation:
• He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
• That would always be his to use.
• After several years, the original owner wanted the house back,
• But the new owner was unwilling to sell.
• So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog,
• And hung it from the single nail he still owned.
• Soon the house became un-liveable,
• And the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor’s conclusion:
“If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.”
(3). JOSHUA'S COVENANT (24:25-33).
(A.). It Involved A Great Stone (24:25-28)
25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. 26And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.
27“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
28Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
• Before Joshua dies, he erects a great stone as a monument;
• To the fact that the people have sworn to follow the Lord.
• Thereafter, whenever they passed by that place they would remember;
• Their oath and be certain that their lives were pleasing to the Lord their God.
Application:
• We do not erect stone markers to memorialise our oaths to the Lord,
• But we have at sometime made promises to the Lord.
e.g.
• At conversion, some of us:
• Promised the Lord that you would faithfully serve Him all the days of your life?
• At key times in our Christian lives we have made the same or similar promises;
• Which in short hand say; “Lord take my life, it’s yours to use!”
• Unlike you and me, God never forgets;
• He expects us to keep our side of the bargain.
Ill:
Breaking of bread
• I gave everything for you!
• What are you giving for me?
(B). It Involved Some Grave Stones (24:29-33).
• This book closes with three funerals.
• These funerals speak to us today.
(1). The Gravestone Of Faithfulness (29-31).
29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 30And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.
• The first grave stone that is mentioned is that of Joshua himself.
• His tombstone spoke about the faithfulness of God to His people!
• God had used this man Joshua to bring the people in the Promised Land
• And God had used Joshua to lead the people in the right way.
• Through the life of Joshua,
• God had proven Himself again and again and again, to be a faithful God.
(2).The Gravestone Of Fulfillment (verse 32).
32And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.
The second gravestone mentioned;
• Belonged to a man who had died many centuries before in the land of Egypt.
• While Joseph was on his deathbed,
• He made the following prediction;
• Quote: Genesis chapter 50 verses 24-26.
24“Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come for you, to lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he vowed to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to lead us back to Canaan, you must take my body back with you.” 26So Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Several hundred years later:
• A grave is dug, a coffin is lowered;
• And the remains of a body are placed in the ground.
• What was requested hundreds of years before.
• Is fulfilled in these verses.
The lesson here is that:
• We serve a God who is able to make;
• That which seems impossible a reality for His children, Eph. 3:20.
• When He makes a promise to use and bless you, then he can, if you will serve Him,
• You can always count on Him being able to do just what He has promised!
(3). The Gravestone Of Finality (verse 33).
And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
• The last gravestone marks the gave of Eleazar.
• He was the son of Aaron the first High Priest. His grave is the grave of finality.
• The death of Eleazar marks the changing of the guard in Israel.
• All the old timers are gone!
• All those who came out of Egypt and out of the wilderness have passed from the scene.
• All those God used in such a mighty fashion are dead.
• Now, it is time for a new generation to pick up the mantle of service;
• And do something for the Lord.
Application:
• It is a shame for those of us who remain;
• When old soldiers of Jesus, pass from this scene to glory.
• But, it is an even greater shame when those who are left behind;
• Do not lift the mantle and carry on for the Lord.
Question:
• Is where are the Joshua’s for today?
• Who is carrying his mantle?
ill:
• (Blow the dust off) Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 23-30.
• In verse 30 God speaks out and says:
30“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31
• What tragic, sad, pathetic, tragic words,
• “I looked for a man (Just one)…..but I found none!” (one of the saddest verses in Bible)
• In Ezekiel's day: "I found none".
• In our day Question: What would God have to say regarding you?
Remember:
• 2000 years ago, God looked for a man to stand in the gap,
• He found Jesus.
Quote 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5:
“5For there is one God and one mediator (go-between, middleman, umpire) between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.”
