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.
Eph. 5:25-27—“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church & gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify & cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy & without blemish.”
Rom. 16:17-20—“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions & offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, & avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, & by smooth words & flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, & simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”
Php. 1:3-11—“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains & in the defense & confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more & more in knowledge & all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere & without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory & praise of God.”
Lk. 6:35—“But love your enemies, do good, & lend, hoping for nothing in return; & your reward will be great, & you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful & evil.”
2Cor. 6:17—“Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”[Num. 16:26]—Though we are to love our enemies, we are to be wise enough to love the enemies of the Cross differently than our own brothers & sisters in Christ!
1Cor. 7:16—“For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?”
1Pet. 2:11-12—“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners & pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Mat. 5:14-16—“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp & put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, & it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works & glorify your Father in heaven.”
1Tim. 5:19-22—[To Timothy—a pastor]—“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. I charge you before God & the Lord Jesus Christ & the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.”
Php. 2:12-16—“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear & trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will & to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining & disputing, that you may become blameless & harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked & perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
If you are NOT living up to your commitment to the Lord, then others in your sphere of influence/effect, pay a high price for your spiritual disregard/frivolity. Your sphere of influence/effect is very often much larger than you want to believe!
Ex. 12:13-15——[Regarding the Passover]—“‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; & the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial; & you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”
Mat. 16:6—“Then Jesus said to them[His disciples], “Take heed & beware of the leaven of the Pharisees & the Sadducees.”.....“How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?--but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees & Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees & Sadducees.”
1Cor. 5:5-11—“deliver such a one[who gloried sexual immorality] to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice & wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity & truth. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person.”
Illustration:
My explorations in the cow pasture near my boyhood home/The cows had three creeks which flowed thru their pasture/The pasture was bordered on one side by the larger Crane Creek, which two smaller creeks flowed into/The cows would drink from the smaller creeks/They would gather in the creek but only one or two cows would ever get to drink clean water/Because: the two cows farthest upstream would always muddy, defecate, & urinate in the water!/All the cows downstream got tainted water!/EFFECT
Yadkin River runs by Salisbury, NC—Notorious for Fish kills from the multiple fabric mills built along the river—producing a tainted, toxic effluent/ I suppose they built them along the Yadkin River because it is naturally a ‘red clay runoff’ river & only rarely has a visibility of more than a few inches/EFFECT
Cigarette Smoke/Taints clothing & structures/Most smokers are ‘nose blind’(to borrow a phrase from a TV commercial)/My wife’s has an aversion to cigarette smoke/By the smoker’s being ‘nose blind’ they force the smoke & smell upon others/EFFECT
Throw or drop a rock into still water—It’s ripples effect the entire surface many times larger than the specific area first effected/EFFECT
Application:
?What is the overall EFFECT of your Dedication to God?
?Are you truly Dedicated to God?
?By & For Whom, do you do what you do?...?Yourself or the Savior?
CONCLUSION:
Action:
Dedicating you & your world to the Lord recalls/demands consideration of...
4. EFFECT(:18b)
1. OWNERSHIP(:17a)
2. DEPENDENCY(:17b, 22-23, 25)
3. PURITY(:18a)
Pt# 4 only! Presented 05/26/2019pm to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SW(SE Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
Pts. 1-4 Presented 04/09/2000pm to:
Providence Baptist Church
975 Providence Rd.
Whigham, GA 31797
