SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Faithfulness (vs 1-3).
(2). Hope (vs 4-5).
(3). Obedience (vs 6-7).
(4). Dependence (vs 8-10).
(5). Love (vs 11).
(6). Sanctification (vs 12-13).
(7). Reverence (vs 14-16).
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• On Wednesday I felt old,
• The reason I felt old is Penny and myself went to the hawk Conservatory,
• And in booking our tickets I qualified as a senior citizen discount price!
• It was a Catch 22 situation,
• I felt old ticking the box for a senior,
• But then I saved a few quid on the entrance fee!
Ill:
Signs You're Getting Old:
• The Gray-haired person you help across the street is your spouse.
• An "all-nighter" means not getting up to pee!
• You choose your cereal for the fibre, not the toy.
• You know all the answers, but nobody asks you any questions.
• You smile all the time because you can't hear a thing others are saying.
• "Getting lucky" means you find your car in the parking lot.
• You keep repeating yourself.
• Your back goes out more than you do.
• Lawn care has become a big highlight of your life.
• You're wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just your left leg.
• You have trouble remembering simple words like...
• You still have a photographic memory, but it no longer offers same day service.
• Your insurance company has started sending you their free calendar...a month at a time.
• You sink your teeth into a steak...and they stay there!
• You've seen it all, done it all, heard it all...you just can't remember it all.
• TRANSITION:
• In chapters 23 to 24: Joshua is old.
• He lived to a ripe old age; he was 110 (chapter 24 verse 29).
• Twice in verse 1-2 his age is emphasised and brought to our attention,
• Verse 1b: “Joshua was a very old man”.
• Verse 2b: “Joshua said to them: “I am very old.”
• And again, in verse 14: “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.”
The last two chapters in the book of Joshua.
• Contain Joshua’s farewell address to the Jews.
• He has enjoyed a long innings, a long life.
• And during those 110 years, Joshua has seen it all,
• Remember only Joshua and Caleb lived to see all of God’s miracles in Egypt,
• i.e. The time in the desert and the entrance into the Promised Land.
• So, Joshua is a knowledgeable senior, with a wealth of experience.
• We will see in this chapter from Joshua’s farewell address,
• Seven lessons of wisdom that will have a knock-on effect for you and me today.
• Those seven lessons are linked with seven key words.
(1). FAITHFULNESS’ (vs 1-3).
“After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.”
These three verses remind us that God keeps his promises!
• Joshua is about to die,
• And he wants to make sure that the next generation of leaders keep the faith!
• He reminds the people of all that God had done for them.
• After 400 years of bondage, struggle, and war,
• God has given the people rest from their many enemies,
• And he has given them their own land:
• In other words, God has kept his promise!
Ill:
God kept every one of His promises to the Jews (I have listed 12 below).
• i.e. He freed the Jews from Egyptian bondage (Ex. 7:6-11:10).
• i.e. He crushed the Egyptian army (Ex. 13:7-15:21).
• i.e. He defeated the Amalekites in battle (Ex. 17:9-12).
• i.e. He made water come out from a rock at Horeb (Ex. 17:6).
• i.e. He also transformed the waters of Marah to provide drinking water (Ex. 15:22-27).
• i.e. He then provided both manna and quail after they grumbled about their food.
• (Ex. 16:1-8).
• i.e. He provided meat when they grew tired of His manna (Nu. 11:4-6, 32-33).
• i.e. He then provided for them in the wilderness (Dt. 2:7).
• i.e. Near the end of their journey,
• He also caused the waters to gush out of a rock at Meribah.
• (Nu. 20:10-11; Ps. 81:16; 106:41; Isa. 48:21).
• i.e. He also guided the Jews by a visible pillar of light both by day and by night.
• (Ex. 13:21-22; 14:19).
• i.e. He even protected the Jews’ feet from swelling.
• (Dt. 8:4).
• i.e. Before the invasion of the Promised Land,
• He also defeated three enemy kings in Jordan. These included:
• The Amorite King Sihon (Nu. 21:23-31; Dt. 2:24-37).
• The Amorite King Og (Nu. 21:32-35).
• The Midianites (Nu. 31:7-11).
• TRANSITION: God keeps his promise!
• He traffics in truth. He is 100% dependable.
• Quote: Hymn: “Great is his faithfulness!”
APPLICATION:
Ill:
• Faith cannot be inherited,
• RE: Saving faith - God has no Grandchildren.
• You cannot inherit faith – you must choose Christ for yourselves.
• You cannot live off your parents’ faith.
• RE: Experiential faith –
• You cannot inherit faith, but you can catch it!
• My Christian life was shaped by men who dared to trust God,
• i.e. Full-time evangelists who saw God provide their finances and needs.
• i.e. Full-time evangelists who saw trusted God to provide for great big projects,
• God always came through!
Quote:
• Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission
• “God's work, done God's way, will never lack God's supply.”
(2). HOPE (vs 4-5).
“Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God
promised you.”
Because God keeps his promises, the people of God always have hope!
• Joshua reminds the next generation who will follow him,
• That he has, “divided to you by lot” these nations that remain.
• It now remained for each individual tribe to go and possess what God gave to them.
• And Joshua gives them the assurance,
• They will posses the land because God has…
• “Promised to expel these enemies, to drive them out.”
APPLICATION:
Ill:
• In the photo is a Bible, you have probably never seen this Bible before,
• It belonged to Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS FRSGS.
• Who was an Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.
• (1874 – 5 January 1922)
• On probably his most famous voyage to the Antarctic,
• His boat was crushed and destroyed,
• Him and the crew (27 men) lived on ice floats,
• For two years they sailed lifeboats hundreds of miles in terrible sea conditions,
• Climbed mountain peaks,
• And yet not one man was lost.
Now I tell you this story because, shortly after their vessel, the Endurance, was crushed,
• Ernest Shackleton urged his men to lighten their loads,
• And take only two pounds in weight of personal items.
• To illustrate this point, and to lighten his load,
• He tore some pages out of his Bible,
• And then left his Bible behind in in the snow.
• The pages from the Bible that he kept were,
• The flyleaf cover with the Queen’s inscription,
• The 23rd Psalm and a verse from the Book of Job.
• The Queen’s inscription from Psalm 107:24 reads,
• “May the Lord guide you through all dangers by land and sea.
• May you see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”
• The verse from the book of Job 38:29-30 reads,
• “Out of whose womb came the ice. And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hidden as with a stone, And the face of the deep is frozen.”
• Another crew member retrieved the Bible Shackleton had discarded,
• And he carried it home.
• It is now in the collection of the Royal Geographical Society.
• TRANSITION:
• Ernest Shackleton valued and found hope in the Word of God.
• And that is why he took some of it with him,
• He saw it as an essential and not an optional extra.
• Every Christian needs to seize their spiritual inheritance as revealed in God’s word.
• Every believer in Christ has a spiritual inheritance to claim!
Quote: Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3.
N.I.V.:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
AB:
“Blessed and worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ,”
• Now what all those blessings are, I don’t know, I am still discovering them.
• But I do know what our great three blessings are.
• Past: sins forgiven.
• Present: The gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Future: To be with Christ!
(3). OBEDIENCE (vs 6-7).
“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. 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.”
Note: The condition mentioned in this verse!
• That the people of God will succeed in fully possessing the land,
• But ONLY if Israel will walk in obedience to the word of God.
• There are no short cuts then or now!
Ill:
• Sheep dog and sheep -YouTube videos:
• Worst Sheep dog: https://youtu.be/p-9-3DtUzug?si=_T6T5EsAt6hCZPDk
• Best sheepdog: https://youtube.com/shorts/xkypm--Yhe8?si=wqUnD1mOZhjaALNu
• Sheepdogs obey (apart from Nelson!)
• While sheep are always prone to wander.
• TRANSITION: Obedience is a revolving theme is the book of Joshua,
• It was a revolving theme in the nation of Israel,
• And it is a revolving battle in the life of a Christian.
Joshua’s started his book with a call to obedience (chapter 1 verse 7).
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.”
• And he concludes his book with the same message.
• (chapter 23 verse 6-7).
• God’s people gave an obligation to remain obedient to God’s Law:
Notice: Joshua starts by bringing together all the leaders (vs 2).
“…summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them”.
• But these words are not for the leaders only,
• The leaders represent the people of God,
• And they were to go back and model and share this message with them.
• Notice to what they are to be obedient to.
• The standard of obedience is the Word of God (vs 6)
Ill:
• Once upon a time there was a little bird. He wasn't an ordinary little bird.
• He was a spine-tailed swift.
• Spine-tailed swifts have been clocked flying at 171kph.
• One day, he thought, "I'll be the best flyer in the country."
• So, he practised, and got faster, and faster, and faster.
• But he wasn't satisfied, he wanted to go even faster.
• So, he pondered the problem and came to a conclusion.
• He thought,
• "I know what's wrong. I'm too heavy. I need to get rid of some extra weight."
• He wasn't fat, and wondered what he could do.
• Suddenly, he realised he could be a lot lighter if he got rid of his feathers.
• So, he did. And guess what? Then he couldn't fly at all.
• TRANSITION: In trying to be good Christians,
• One thing we cannot jettison is obedience.
• If we do, then expect to crash!
(4). DEPENDENCE (vs 8-10).
“But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.
9 “The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised.”
Ill:
• In the children’s talk,
• The children guessed 7 items that stick, fasten join etc.
• (Peg, tape, Bluetick, hairclip, stapler, rivet, Velcro.)
• Think back to the first item – the clothes peg.
• The Main purpose of a clothes peg is to attach the washing to the line,
• So that the clean clothes do not get blown away and end up on the ground dirty.
• TRANSITION: Joshua’s command for the Jewish people was not complicated.
• It is simple hold fast, cling, stick, fasten yourselves to God.
Notice victory depends on clinging or hold fast to God.
Ill:
• Joshua mentor Moses had used that very tern, “Hold fast.”
• In Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 4,
• Moses told the people of God to “hold fast” or “cling” to God.
“But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.”
Ill:
• The word translated as “hold fast” in English (Hebrew word “davak”),
• Was first used in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24.
• Were we read those well-known verses often spoken at wedding ceremonies,
• “A man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined (“davak”) to his wife.”
Ill:
• In human family relations a child and their parents grow independent in time.
• Baby & parent – total dependency.
• Children – run off but always comeback - first steps of small independence.
• Teenagers – dependent but refusing to show it – won’t hold hands in public etc.
• Students – dependent – but make sure you keep the cheques coming in!
• Adults – independent – marriage own family etc.
• As Christians with our heavenly Father.
• It’s the reverse.
• We have to learn how to lean on God,
• The secret is to lean on him more and more and more!
(5). LOVE (vs 11).
“So be very careful to love the Lord your God.”
• True obedience does not come out of obligation.
• Instead comes out of love.
• In love we must work at it and say, “No” to that which will damage our relationship.
• God wants his people to be more than robots,
• He wants a relationship with them based on love.
Ill:
• Jesus made it very clear,
• When he was asked to identify the greatest of the Ten Commandments
• (Luke chapter 10 verse :27; Matthew chapter 22 verses 37-38).
“He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.”
• If you love Him with all your heart, mind, and soul,
• You will want to obey Him out of gratitude.
Ill:
• Meister Eckhart said,
• “Some people want to love God in the same way as they love a cow.”
• That might seem a strange choice of phrase,
• Especially as many of us live in the UK with no farming experience.
• What he meant was this,
• You love a cow because of the milk and the cheese it produces,
• In other words, we love the cow for what it gives to us,
• Not necessary for the cow itself!
• TRANSITION: We all came to Christ for what we could get from him.
• We needed forgiveness, we need hope, we needed his love!
• But as we mature in faith,
• We should love him for who he is as well as what he has done for us!
(6). SANCTIFICATION (vs 12-13).
“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, 13 then 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.”
• Joshua’s command for the Jews to avoid entanglements with nonbelievers.
• In order to keep the Jews on their walk with God,
Ill:
• Solomon in the book of Proverbs (13 verse 20) wrote,
• “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,”
• In other words, those we spend time with influence us.
• David the Psalmist in his very first Psalm (#1).,
• Warned us against bad company and hanging out with the wrong type of people.
• TRANSITION: Joshua is reminding the people of the same principles.
• If you marry the pagans in the land,
• You will embrace their values and sooner or later their gods.
Ill:
• Solomon the wisest man who ever lived,
• Made this very mistake by failing to follow God’s advice.
• He had the brains but not the strength of character to resist a pretty face.
• Out of lust and desiring, he took 700 wives and 300 concubines.
• (1 Kings chapter 11 verse 3).
• And one of the saddest verses of the Bible is 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 4.
“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”
• TRANSITION:
• Sadly, many a Christian has been led astray, by a wrong relationship.
• That maybe boyfriend/girlfriend.
• That may be marriage.
• That me be a business partner.
• But when the Bible says be aware, “Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers. “
• (2 Corinthians chapter verse 14)
• It has good reason to say that!
Ill:
• With young people I used to illustrate it this way.
• If someone stood on a chair, and you asked them to pull you up,
• They would at best struggle, they may hurt their back or even fall off the chair.
• But if the person on the floor grabbed their hand and tried to pull them down,
• They would do so without much effort!
(7). REVERENCE (vs 14-16.
“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. 15 But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you to have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16 If 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.”
• Quote: They say that “Sour and sweet make the best sauce.”
• Joshua’s advice is both sweer & sour!
• Joshua reminded the people of God of the blessings that came with obedience.
• (chapter 22 verses 6-9 & chapter 1 verse 8-9).
• But when we disobey and live independent lives, then trouble follows.
Ill:
• True in any relationship.
• If a married man or woman has an affair – expect trouble to follow!
• Faithfulness and trust are vital ingredients to any relationship.
The people of God chose to enter a covenant (sacred agreement) with God.
• That agreement was twofold,
• God will bless them when they obey,
• And God will curse/punish them when they disobey!
Application:
• For believers in Jesus Christ, all our sin—past, present, and future,
• Has already been judged on the cross.
• As Christians, we will never be condemned for our sin.
• That was done once for all:
• But…God brings his discipline to bear in our disobedient lives.
• The Bible says that if he did not do this,
• He would not be a loving and concerned Father.
• i.e. Just as any wise and loving parent will discipline their own children,
• For their own good,
• So does our heavenly Father lovingly correct his children for their benefit,
Quote: Hebrews chapter12 verses 7-11
“Let God train you, for he is doing what any loving father does for his children. Whoever heard of a son who was never corrected? 8 If God doesn’t punish you when you need it, as other fathers punish their sons, then it means that you aren’t really God’s son at all—that you don’t really belong in his family. 9 Since we respect our fathers here on earth, though they punish us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to God’s training so that we can begin really to live?
10 Our earthly fathers trained us for a few brief years, doing the best for us that they knew how, but God’s correction is always right and for our best good, that we may share his holiness. 11 Being punished isn’t enjoyable while it is happening—it hurts! But afterwards we can see the result, a quiet growth in grace and character.”
• God is a heavenly Father and not a heavenly Grandfather.
• He will not spoil us, but he will when necessarily discipline his children.
• But only when we need it!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=qRvYPIztndTHv1OQvpf7khqbDyAyBjoy
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/7XcEqC9bsDI
