The Call To Resolve—part 3

The Call to Resolve—III—Joshua 23:1-16

Faithful/Called/Chosen/Elect/Determination

As an out of town man on his first business trip to Jacksonville, FL, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife’s voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on I-75. Please be careful!"

Herman said, "Honey, I don’t have time to talk. You wouldn’t believe it!, "It’s not just one car. There’re hundreds of them!"

Herman was faithful to maintaining his place on the interstate.

Christians likewise should resolve to continue in God’s way.

Joshua reminded Israel of the resolve required of God’s people/witnesses.

A particular resolve is required of God’s people/witnesses.

What must God’s people resolve?

What is involved in the witness’s resolve?

Expressions of Christian resolve.

God’s people must resolve to maintain God’s...

1. Advocacy(:3, 9-10)

2. Inheritance(:4)

3. Continuance(:5, 12-13)

4. Standard(:6)

5. Associations(:7)

6. Presence(:8)

7. Worth(:11)

8—Christian resolve maintains God’s PURITY(:12-13)

—Explanation:(:12-13)Influence/Commitment/Singularity

:12—“For if you ever go back & cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, & intermarry with them, so that you associate with them & they with you,

‘Impurity’—Sin reigns—Tainted with what is inconsistent with God’s design & purpose.

Notice how spouses—1 Christian other lost—Waters down the Christian’s commitment

1Pet. 2:11-12—“Beloved, I urge you as aliens & strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Titus 2:7-8—“in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”

Purity of good soil of Mat. 13:23—“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word & understands it; who indeed bears fruit, & brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, & some thirty.”

1Jn. 1:5—“And this is the message we have heard from Him & announce to you, that God is light, & in Him there is no darkness at all.”

James 1:17—“Every good thing bestowed & every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

Jas. 3:17—“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy & good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”

:13—“know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they shall be a snare & a trap to you, & a whip on your sides & thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”

—Argumentation:

2Cor. 11:2—“For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”

Mat. 6:24—“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one & love the other, or he will hold to one & despise the other. You cannot serve God & mammon.”

—Illustration:

Canned Spinach/Roach inside/Purity not Maintained

—Application:

?Your Resolve to Maintain God’s PURITY?

?Your Resolve a witness to God’s Call?

9—Christian resolve maintains God’s

VIGOR(:13)

—Explanation:(:13)Vitality/Willingness

“...know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they shall be a snare & a trap to you, & a whip on your sides & thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”

—Argumentation:

Mat. 13:18-23—READ—

Roadside-Rocky places-Thorns-Good soil

—Illustration:

Commercial greenhouse/Weeds, Pests & Fertilizer are consuming passions/All effect Vigor of Plants

—Application:

?Is Your Resolve to Maintain God’s VIGOR?

?Your Resolve a witness to God’s Call?

10—Christian resolve maintains God’s AWARENESS(:14)

—Explanation:(:14)Knowledge/Witness/Knowledge of God

“ “Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, & you know in all your hearts & in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.”

Awareness of God’s promises/follow-thru.

—Argumentation:

Deut. 30:11-14—“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us & make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us & make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “But the word is very near you, in your mouth & in your heart, that you may observe it.”