MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL. KANSAS, OK
A. Last Sunday the Israelites had begun their invasion of the Promised Land.
Now today’s message begins some 5 years later as the invasion has come to an end. God has led them to victory after victory, & now the tribes are ready to scatter out & settle in their allotted portions of the land.
But before they scattered, Joshua summons them to one last great assembly. He is going to give them a farewell speech, & then turn the responsibility of leadership over to the individual tribal leaders.
In his farewell speech, Joshua reminds them how God brought them out of slavery, provided for them & rescued them time & time again during their 40 years in the wilderness.
Now that God has delivered the Promised Land into their hands, Joshua tells them that they have some decisions to make. He says, in Joshua 24:14-15,
“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.
“But 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.”
“Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!’
‘It 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.” (Joshua 24:16-17)
B. What an outstanding leader! Joshua challenged them to choose God, & set the example for them by saying, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” And they responded by saying that they, too, would serve the Lord.
But I want you to notice how Joshua reacted to their declaration. Joshua 24:19-22 tells us, “Joshua 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.’
‘If 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.’
“But the people said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the Lord.’ Then Joshua said, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.’ ‘Yes, we are witnesses,’ they replied.”
ILL. Let me read something written by Max Luccado:
"As I work on this manuscript I'm seated at a desk in a hotel room. I'm away from home, away from people who know me, away from family members who love me.
“Voices that encourage & affirm are distant. But voices that tantalize & entice are near. Although the room is quiet, if I listen, their voices are crystal clear.
“A placard on my night stand invites me to the lounge … where it states that I can make new friends in a relaxing atmosphere.” An advertisement on top of the TV promises that with the request of a late night adult movie my fantasies will come true.
"In the phone book, several columns of escort services offer love away from home. …On the TV, a talk show host discusses the day's topic, ‘How to Succeed at Sex in the Office.’
"Voices, some for pleasure, some for power, some promise acceptance, some promise tenderness, but all promise something."
C. With that in mind, let me call your attention to Deuteronomy 11:26 28.
God is speaking to His people & He says, "See, I am setting before you today a blessing & a curse. The blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today;
“the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God & turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known."
God is saying. "It's your choice. You can choose either blessings in your life, or a curse. If you want blessings, then keep my commands. If you want a curse, then disobey my commands & follow other gods."
As you read O.T. history, you'll find over & over again the people enjoyed the blessings of God. God gave them good harvests; their families were healthy & strong & God blessed them with children; God gave them wealth; they had peace & harmony in their society, & defeated their enemies.
But when they turned away from God, His curse fell upon them. Their harvests were not bountiful; plagues swept through the land & thousands died as a result. When enemies attacked them, they were defeated & carried off into bondage.
D. So we ask ourselves, "Why would anyone choose to be cursed? Why doesn't everyone pursue the blessing?" The answer, I think, is found in the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 7:13-14.
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate & broad is the road that leads to destruction, & many enter through it. But small is the gate & narrow the road that leads to life, & only a few find it."
Jesus is saying, "The road that leads to destruction is so broad & so enticing that many follow that road, even though they know it leads to destruction."
ILL. Did you realize that the 3rd Sunday in January was called, "Sanctity of Life Day"? The fact that we need a day to remind us that life is sacred speaks volumes about our society today.
It tells us that our society has come to the place in its thinking where we have to be reminded that life is sacred. It tells us that so many have changed the way they look at things, & have drifted so far away from God, as to think that life is something we can dispose of whenever we choose to dispose of it.
For over 40 years now, our nation has said that it is all right to choose whether we want to keep children or to abort them. The result has been millions of babies who have never been privileged to see the light of day.
ILL. Francis Schaefer wrote a number of years ago in his book, "How Should We Then Live?" that shortly on the heels of abortion would come euthanasia. He was not a prophet, but he told the truth.
Have you noticed lately how much discussion there has been about old people & whether or not to end life when the quality of life is deteriorating?
Society is reaching the conclusion that we're the ones to determine whether a person is to be born or not, & we're the ones to determine when a person dies. Sanctity of life is no longer a part of our thinking.
God said, "You want my blessing, keep my commandments. If you want a curse, disobey my commandments."
PROP. I have just two points in this sermon. The first one says, "Freedom leads to slavery." The second one says, "Slavery leads to freedom."
I. FREEDOM LEADS TO SLAVERY
A. As you read the Book of Judges this week, you'll discover that the people of Israel were always struggling over whether to obey God's law or to disobey it.
Many times they chose to disobey, & when they disobeyed, the curse came. Murder, illicit sex, sexual perversion became rampant. Again & again there was violence in the land as they disobeyed God.
And the Book of Judges ends with these words, "In those days there was no king in Israel," no law. And because there was no law, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25) Can you imagine what a world like that would be?
ILL. We experienced such lawlessness at Los Angeles in 1992, at Miami in the 1980's, & at Watts in the 1960's. But maybe one of the clearest examples of lawlessness was “Black Tuesday,” Oct. 6, 1969, in Montreal, Canada.
On that day the Montreal police force went out on a strike. So, for 24 hours, Montreal, one of the larger cities of the world, was without law enforcement. That day was such a day of chaos that Canadians have called it "Black Tuesday."
In a 24 hour period, there were hundreds of robberies. A policeman & a burglar were murdered. Forty nine people were wounded. Well over 1,000 store windows were smashed as people looted stores, stealing stereos, televisions, radios, & wearing apparel.
One man, dressed in an expensive business suit was seen running down the street with a fur coat over each arm. While “respectable citizens” broke windows & stole merchandise from store fronts, thieves backed up to the back doors with trucks & hauled merchandise away by the truck loads.
“Black Tuesday” in Montreal, Canada, was a day of anarchy, of freedom from all restraints, because there was no authority, no enforcement of the law.
APPL. When we demand freedom to do as we want, the right to disobey God's laws & rebel against His authority, chaos is the result. And we’re seeing that today because many have rejected the authority of God, & no longer have ears that listen when God speaks.
But we're not the first people to act that way. Adam & Eve experienced the blessing of God when they kept His commandments. They experienced the curse of God when they disobeyed, & were evicted from the Garden of Eden.
ILL. Pharaoh also experienced the blessing & the curse. When he listened to the commands of God, the plagues were lifted. When he disobeyed God, more plagues came with even more terrible consequences.
B. Now it is 2014. Think about in how many areas we have rebelled against the authority of God in our society today.
1. We've ignored the laws of God. The laws of God set limits. The laws of God are restrictive. And because they are, we have decided not to listen to them, nor obey them. The result is that we're experiencing God's curse.
ILL. A number of years ago we repealed the blue laws that kept most retail stores closed on Sundays. Now I don't think the blue laws were necessarily good laws, except that they did one thing. They reminded us that the Lord's Day was a day for worship & rest. Retail stores & Malls were closed.
But a number of years ago those laws were thrown out. Today, for many people, Sunday has become their most popular shopping day, & retailers think, "We just couldn't make it if we stayed closed on Sundays."
SUM. Today the malls are open. The business world is humming. Or is it? Look around. Merchants are stressed out, working 7 days a week.
In the last few years we have had more major retail stores fail & declare bankruptcy than at any time in recent history. Could it be because we have ignored God, & are tasting the curse of God?
2. What about our schools? We've ruled God out of our schools. So today many schools have had to put up metal detectors to make sure students aren't carrying guns & knives & other weapons into the classrooms. Our schools are becoming more & more playgrounds of violence where students are shooting, killing one another.
3. We've ignored God's teaching in the area of drugs & alcohol. God's Word clearly teaches that our bodies are temples where the Holy Spirit lives, & we are not to abuse them in any way.
We've ignored that today, & drug addiction & drug trafficking & alcoholism run rampant throughout society.
4. We've ignored God in the area of morality. God teaches that our bodies are special & that the sex drive is a gift He has given us. He says, "You are to satisfy it in the bonds of marriage." And we've ignored that.
We have illicit sex today, extra marital sex, pre marital sex, & perverted sex. And because we have ignored the teaching of God in the area of morality we have AIDS & other diseases that take a toll on our bodies & even shorten our lifespans.
5. God teaches that we're not to murder, or even to think hateful thoughts. Yet today we have violence graphically portrayed on TV & movie screens. We see it again & again body parts flying in all directions. And the result is more violence in our streets.
The curse of God. "When you disobey my commands," God says, "you will experience the curse. If you obey my commands you'll experience my blessing." Freedom from all restraints inevitably ends in slavery to sin.
II. SLAVERY LEADS TO FREEDOM
The other side of this sermon is that slavery leads to freedom. In Galatians 5 are some revealing words about this subject. I encourage you to go home & read that whole chapter.
Vs. 1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, & do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
What is the "yoke of slavery?" It is sin. Through Jesus Christ you have been set free from your sin, therefore you are free.
Vs's 13 15 say, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting & devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Vs's 19 21 list some of the acts of the sinful nature. As you read that list you discover that every one of them will enslave you. Every one will cause you to be a slave. Every one of them will cause you to bear a burden.
But when you read vs 22 to the end of the chapter, you read about the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness all of those set you free.
CONCL. I don't think the choice could be clearer. You choose today between a blessing or a curse. God says, "If you want the blessing, keep my commands. If you want the curse," & I can't imagine anyone who does, "then ignore my commandments."
The road is narrow, but it is worth traveling because it is only there that you will find freedom, salvation, & life eternal. This morning if Jesus Christ is not your Lord & Savior, would you surrender your heart & life to Him & find the freedom that He offers?
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
ILL. Let me begin this morning by reading some words from Max Lucado:
"As I work on this manuscript I’m seated at a desk in a hotel room. I’m away from home, away from people who know me, away from family members who love me. Voices that encourage & affirm are distant. But voices that tantalize & entice are near.
"Although the room is quiet, if I listen, their voices are crystal clear. A placard on my night stand invites me to lounge in the lobby where I can make new friends in a relaxing atmosphere. An advertisement on top of the TV promises me that with the request of a late?night adult movie my fantasies will come true.
"In the phone book, several columns of escort services offer love away from home. An attractive gold-lettered volume in the drawer of the night-stand beckons - the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. On the TV, a talk-show host discusses the day’s topic, `How to Succeed at Sex in the Office.’
"Voices, some for pleasure, some for power, some promise acceptance, some promise tenderness, but all promise something."
ILL. A few years ago the creator of the TV series, "Civil Wars," was being interviewed. He was concerned because his new series had not achieved the ratings he had hoped. When asked why he thought that was the case, he said he felt it was because network television was not on a level playing field with cable TV.
When asked what he meant, he said, "On network TV we cannot be explicit in depicting sexual acts. We cannot be explicit when using language. We cannot be explicit in showing scenes of violence. And because of that, network television just cannot compete with cable TV."
But he was hopeful, & predicted that it wouldn’t be long until we’ll be seeing on network television even more nudity & sexual acts & violence than what we’re seeing now, & hearing language such as we’ve never heard before.
A. With that in mind, let me call your attention to Deuteronomy 11:26-28.
God is speaking to His people & He says, "See, I am setting before you today a blessing & a curse. The blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God & turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known."
God is saying. "It’s your choice. You can choose either blessings in your life, or a curse. If you want blessings, then keep my commands. If you want a curse, then disobey my commands & follow other gods."
As you read O.T. history, you’ll find time & time again the people enjoyed the blessings of God. God gave them good harvests; their families were healthy & strong & God blessed them with children; God gave them wealth; they had peace & harmony in their society, & defeated their enemies.
Whenever God’s curse fell upon them, the harvest was not bountiful; plagues swept through the land & 10’s of thousands of people died as a result; when enemies attacked them, they were defeated & carried off into bondage.
B. So we ask ourselves, "Why would anyone choose the curse? Why doesn’t everyone pursue the blessing?" The answer, I think, is found in the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, vs’s 13 & 14.
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate & broad is the road that leads to destruction, & many enter through it. But small is the gate & narrow the road that leads to life, & only a few find it."
Jesus is saying, "The road that leads to destruction is so broad & so enticing that many follow that road, even though they know it leads to destruction."
ILL. The 3rd Sunday in January each year is called, "Sanctity of Life Day." The fact that we need a day to remind us that life is sacred speaks volumes about our society today.
It tells us that we have come to the place in our thinking where we have to be reminded that life is sacred. It tells us we have so changed the way we look at things, that we have drifted so far from a Godly position, as to think that life is something we can dispose of whenever we choose to dispose of it.
So we have a special day just to say, "Look, people, remember that life is precious, that it is a gift of God & since God has given it, God is the only one who has the right to take it, not us."
For more than 30 years now, our nation has said that it is all right to choose whether we want to keep children or to abort them. The result has been millions of babies who have never been privileged to see the light of day.
ILL. Francis Schaefer wrote a number of years ago in his book, "How Should We Then Live?" that shortly on the heels of abortion would come euthanasia. He was not a prophet, but he told the truth.
Have you noticed lately how much discussion there has been about old people & whether to end life when the quality of life is no longer desirable?
ILL. As you know, Dr. Kevorkian is dubbed "Dr. Death" because he has been assisting people in committing suicide, & Betty Roland has written a book on how she assisted her mother in taking her own life.
Society is reaching the conclusion that we’re the ones to determine whether a person is to be born or not, & we’re the ones to determine when a person dies. Sanctity of life is no longer a part of our thinking.
God said, "You want my blessing, keep my commandments. If you want a curse, disobey my commandments."
PROP. I have just two points in this sermon. The first one says, "Freedom leads to slavery." The second one says, "Slavery leads to freedom."
I. FREEDOM LEADS TO SLAVERY
A. Go back & read the Book of Judges, & you’ll discover that the people of Israel were always struggling over whether to obey God’s law or to disobey it. Many times they elected to disobey, & when they disobeyed, the curse came. Murder, illicit sex, sexual perversion became rampant. Over & over again there was violence in the streets as they disobeyed God.
And the Book of Judges ends with these words, "In those days there was no king," no law. And because there was no law, "every man did what was right in his own sight." Can you imagine what a world like that would be?
ILL. Just look at Los Angeles in 1992, or Miami in the 1980’s, or Watts in the 1960’s. Or how about Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 6, 1969?
On that day the Montreal police force went on strike. For 24 hours, Montreal, one of the larger cities of the world, was without law enforcement. That day was such a chaotic day that Canadians dubbed it "Black Tuesday."
In a 24-hour period, one policeman & one burglar were murdered. Forty-nine people were injured or wounded. There were hold-ups & robberies. In total, over 1,000 store windows were broken as people looted stores, stealing stereos, televisions, radios, & wearing apparel.
One man, dressed in a fine business suit was seen running down the street with a fur coat over each arm. While respectable citizens broke windows & stole merchandise from store fronts, thieves backed up to the back doors with trucks & hauled merchandise away by the truck loads.
Black Tuesday in Montreal, Canada, was a day of anarchy, of freedom from all restraints, because there was no authority, no enforcement of the law.
ILL. Can you imagine a baseball game with no umpires? With no rules, no regulations? "I get 10 strikes, you only get 3. Where are we going to put 1st base? How many outs do we get?" Everything would be flexible & total anarchy would prevail on the baseball field unless there were rules & regulations & people to enforce those rules.
APPL. When we demand freedom to do as we want, the right to disobey God’s law & rebel against His authority, anarchy is the result. We, in our time, have rejected the authority of God almost en mass, & no longer have ears that hear when God speaks. We’re almost deaf & ignorant of His commandments.
ILL. We’re not the first, though. Adam & Eve experienced the blessing of God when they kept His commandments. They experienced the curse of God when they disobeyed, & were evicted from the Garden of Eden. The curse of God was on them throughout the rest of their lives, & is still on the human race.
ILL. Pharaoh experienced the blessing & the curse. When he listened to the command of God, the plagues were lifted. When he disobeyed God, more plagues came with even more terrible consequences.
B. Now look at today, & think about the many areas in which we have rebelled against the authority of God in our society.
1. We’ve ignored the laws of God. The laws of God set limits. The laws of God are restrictive. And because they are, we have decided not to listen to them, nor obey them. The result is that we’re feeling God’s curse.
ILL. A number of years ago we repealed the blue law in the State of Texas. Now I don’t think the blue law was necessarily a good law, except that it did one thing. It reminded us that the Lord’s Day was a day for worship & rest. Retail stores & Malls were closed.
But a number of years ago we threw that law out. Today, for many people, Sunday has become their most popular shopping day, & retailers think, "We just couldn’t make it if we stayed closed on Sunday."
But God says, "Six days shalt thou work. On the seventh day you shall rest." God made us & God knows what our bodies require, & He knows that we need to rest or we do not function well.
ILL. My first ministry was in a farming community. Most of the people I preached to week after week were farmers. Now farmers have precious few days to get their crops in. They recognize that whenever the sun shines you need to make hay, because if you don’t work when the sun is shining, you may not get your crops in. So there was always a struggle when the sun shone on Sunday between going to church, or working in the field.
There was one farmer who refused to work all?day Sunday, even though that was the day when it seemed like the sun would shine the most. All of his neighbors would get out in the fields early Sunday morning & work all day.
But he said, "Year after year we’ve compared our crops, & mine were higher & stronger, with more bushels per acre than any of those other farmers who worked on the Lord’s Day. I’m convinced God honored the fact that I came to worship Him." And he still gives his testimony that when you honor the Lord’s Day & make it sacred & holy, God will bless that.
SUM. Today the malls are open. The business world is humming. Or is it? Look around. Merchants are stressed out, working 7 days a week. In the last few years we have had more major retail stores fail & declare bankruptcy than at any time in recent history.
Could it be because we have ignored God, & are tasting the curse of God?
2. What about our schools? We’ve ruled God out of our schools. So today we have to put up metal detectors to make sure students aren’t carrying guns & knives & other weapons into the classrooms. Our schools are becoming more & more playgrounds of violence where students are shooting, killing one another.
3. We’ve ignored God’s teaching in the area of drugs & alcohol. God’s Word clearly teaches that our bodies are temples where the Holy Spirit lives, & we are not to abuse them in any way.
God’s Word clearly teaches that no drunkard will ever see the inside of the Kingdom of Heaven. We’ve ignored that today, & drug addiction & drug trafficking & alcoholism run rampant throughout society.
4. We’ve ignored God in the area of morality. God teaches that our bodies are special & that the sex drive is a gift He has given us. He says, "You are to satisfy it in the bonds of marriage." And we’ve ignored that.
We have illicit sex today, extra-marital sex, pre-marital sex, & perverted sex. One result is that a terrible plague is sweeping across our land, because we have ignored the teaching of God in the area of morality.
5. God teaches that we’re not to murder. Even to think hateful thoughts is murder in the mind. Yet today, we have violence graphically played out before us on TV & movie screens. We see it again & again - body parts are flying in all directions. And the result is more violence in our streets.
The curse of God. "When you disobey my commands," God says, "you will experience the curse. If you obey my commands you’ll experience my blessing." Freedom from all restraints inevitably ends in slavery to sin.
II. SLAVERY LEADS TO FREEDOM
The other side of this sermon is that slavery leads to freedom. In Galatians 5 are some revealing words about this subject. I encourage you to go home & read that whole chapter.
Vs. 1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, & do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." What is the "yoke of slavery?" It is sin. Through Jesus Christ you have been set free from your sin, therefore you are free.
Vs’s 13?15 say, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting & devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
Vs’s 19-21 list some of the acts of the sinful nature. As you read that list you discover that every one of them will enslave you. Every one will cause you to be a slave. Every one of them will cause you to bear a burden.
But when you read vs’s 22 to the end of the chapter, you read about the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness - all of those set you free.
CONCL. I don’t think the choice could be clearer. You choose today between a blessing or a curse. God says, "If you want the blessing, keep my commands. If you want the curse," & I can’t imagine anyone who does, "then ignore my commandments."
The road is narrow, but it is worth traveling because it is only there that you will find freedom, salvation, & life eternal. This morning if you’re here & Jesus Christ is not your Lord & Savior, would you surrender your heart & life to Him & find the freedom that He offers?
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