Dedication-4

DEDICATING/DEDICATION-IV—Joshua 6:15-27

The Task Of Dedication

Need:

We must remember that what we do, we do by & for the Lord God who has graced us with salvation by faith in Christ...

...We DEDICATE our lives & our surroundings to Him!

2Cor. 10:3-6—“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments & every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, & being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

The children of Israel were to dedicate the entire pagan city of Jericho—inanimate & animate—to the LORD.

Israel began the conquest of Canaan with the dedication of Jericho to the Lord.

God’s people are to begin God-given tasks by wholly dedicating/devoting them to the Lord.

How are we to devote/dedicate ourselves, our ministries, & our world to the Lord?

Some Recollections toward fully dedicating ourselves to the Lord.

Previously we’ve found that Dedicating you & your world to the Lord recalls/demands consideration of...

1. OWNERSHIP(:17a)

2. DEPENDENCY(:17b, 22-23, 25)

3. PURITY(:18a)

4—Dedicating you & your world to the Lord demands consideration of...

EFFECT(:18b)

Explanation:(:18b)Negative effect/Inadvertent influence/Collateral damage

:18b—“...“And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, & make the camp of Israel a curse, & trouble it.”

If the Israelites took of anything under the ban/dedication it would bring “a curse” upon the whole camp of Israel.

?Why?—

Because it would signal “trouble” in the camp in regard to a total dedication to their God. A ‘wavering’ dedication to this ‘new’ God(in the eyes of the heathen) upon their entrance to the land would present God as anemic & limited in the sight of those who did not know His transcendence, ability, holiness, & limitlessness!

Personally ‘nurtured’ sins—helping them prosper—can absolutely ruin everything for others—particularly those of the same faith!

If those sins are maintained & ‘fed’, if you do not give those sins up, then the world & your world suffers by your own stubbornness!

“Make”—Mws soowm OR--Mys seeym—Qal Perfect—1) To put, place, set, appoint, make—1a) (Qal)--1a1) To put, set, lay, put or lay upon, lay(violent) hands on, 1a2) To set, direct, direct toward—1a2a) To extend(compassion)(figuratively), 1a3) To set, ordain, establish, found, appoint, constitute, make, determine, fix, 1a4) To set, station, put, set in place, plant, fix, 1a5) To make, make for, transform into, constitute, fashion, work, bring to pass, appoint, give. Strong—a primitive root; To put(used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, & elliptically).

“Curse/Doomed to Destruction/Accursed/Under the Ban”—Mrx che’-rem OR--(Zech. 14:11)Mrx cheh’-rem—Noun Masc.—1) A thing devoted, thing dedicated, ban, devotion; 2) A net, thing perforated; 3) Have been utterly destroyed, (appointed to) utter destruction. Strong—physical(as shutting in)--A net(either literally or figuratively); usually a doomed object; abstractly--Extermination. Used 38X.?From—Mrx khaw-ram'; a primitive root; To seclude; specifically(by a ban)--To devote to religious uses(especially destruction); physical & reflexive--To be blunt as to the nose.

“Trouble”—rke aw-kar’—Qal Perfect—1) To trouble, stir up, disturb, make(someone) taboo.—1a) (Qal)--To disturb, trouble. Strong—a primitive root; properly--To roil water; figuratively--To disturb or afflict. Used 14X.

Argumentation:

Lk. 1:5-6—“There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, & her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments & ordinances of the Lord blameless.”

Heb. 13:17—“Obey those who rule over you, & be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy & not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

1Cor. 1:4-9—“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance & all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

2Pet. 3:14-18—“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot & blameless; & consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught & unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace & knowledge of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now & forever. Amen.