“Our DETERMINATION for Victory!”
[Our Decision…Our Resolve]
TEXT: Joshua 23:8 & 24:14-18
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Praise the Lord!
We are still on course for VICTORY!?
In fact, VICTORY is ours as we move forward in what God has called us to be and do!
It is a…
NEW DAY WITH NEW DIRECTION!!!
If VICTORY is yours, say AMEN!!!
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Joshua 23:8, “But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.”
PRAYER…
INTRODUCTION:
We have been on a multiple month journey together; going through the Book of Joshua.
-We have seen Joshua, and the Children of Israel, go through a great many things…
And, of all that we have seen God doing here in Joshua’s life…
As well as, all that we have seen the Children of Israel doing, and actually growing into…
The foremost sentiment, and goal for them, is found in Joshua 23:8.
That verse says, “But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.”
The NLT says it like this…”But be faithful to the Lord your God as you have done until now.”
The KJV says to “cleave” to the Lord!
All along, God had desired for Israel…and all of human-kind for that matter…to be FAITHFUL to Him!
-To CLING to Him!
-To CLEAVE to Him and His Word!
-To be LOYAL to Jehovah God!
-To be DETERMINED to SERVE the Lord!!!
Oh, how would our world be different today if human-kind was FAITHFUL to the Lord our God???
How would our lives be different if we were always LOYAL to the Lord???
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Well, in Joshua 23, Joshua has evidently become very old, and knows that his time is drawing towards a close…
To think back on his life is interesting…
Joshua, the son of Nun, had a long and well-spent life.
-Even though it was one that started during the time of his people’s bondage under the hand of the Egyptians…
*We thank God that it did not stop there though!
-Yeah, Joshua’s life was coming to a close, but it was not in the same condition that it started in…
*It was coming to a close while in worship and service within the borders of the Promised Land!!!
-Not only that, but God has used HIM to lead Israel in defeating their enemies…to conquer the land…and to lay claim to their inheritance!!!
*What a way to spend a life!
A real conquer and victor, Joshua was…
Reminds me of what Paul was able to say in II Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith…”
-That Joshua did!
ILLUSTRATION:
Eric Fromm wrote in his book, Man for Himself, “To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable.”
Man, did Joshua ever live!
It would have been neat to do, and be what Joshua was…
Neat to have it said of us that we have been FAITHFUL!
To have it truly said that we have, ”…fought the good fight, have finished the course, have kept the faith…”
-Oh, that would be awesome!
But, to do so takes true DETERMINATION! DETERMINATION to serve the Lord with all that is within us…as long as we should live!
However…that is just what Joshua encourages the leaders to do in this farewell address to them…
-Joshua shares with them some words of encouragement, as well as, instruction in Joshua 23...
-All of which can be summed up by one verse in that chapter…
Joshua 23:8, “But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.”
Do you desire a life of impact and victory like Joshua’s?
•Do you aspire to lead of life that inspires others too?
•Do you hope to live a life that has more victories than defeats in it?
•Do you hope to be victorious in the Lord?
Then, do just what Joshua did, and what he encouraged the leaders to do in verse 8, “CLING to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day!”
That is the key, and it is just that simple.
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Now…I know that Joshua actually said a whole litany of things to these leaders, all of which were very important for them to hear and remember…
#1 - To remember what the Lord DID for Israel…
Going way back to God delivering them from Egypt, and even drowning the Egyptian army in the sea.
How God defeated the Amalekites who attacked them soon after their exodus.
Of how the Lord defeated all the enemies that stood in their way as they marched on towards the Promised Land…
Even, of how the Lord gave His people victory over all the nations in the Promised Land.
Also…
#2 - To remember what the Lord SAID to Israel…
Victories take devotion to the Lord, and His Word.
That is what Joshua and Israel did…that was a key to them being victorious.
God said to remain separate from other gods…not to inter-marry…and to cleave to Him.
Then…
#3 - To remember what the Lord would DO to Israel…
The Word of God is likened unto a two-edged sword in Hebrews 4:12…
-If we obey it, we will be blessed of the Lord, and He will help us.
-However, if we disobey it, we will find that God will chasten us until we submit to Him once again.
In any event, God is faithful and will never fail His Word.
So, to sum up what Joshua was trying to convey to them is that they are to:
•Keep God’s Word…
•Cleave to the Lord…
•And, to Love the Lord…
But to draw this into an even tighter focus, Joshua is saying to them that they are to: verse 8, “CLING to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day!”
DETERMINE to cleave to Him and to never let Him go!
DETERMINE to honor the Lord with your lives and to trust and obey Him!
The key for success and victory in each of our
lives it to CLING unto the Lord!
To CLEAVE to the Lord, and
to SERVE Him with all that we have!
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Now, this would seem to be an easy request…to CLEAVE to the Lord and to SERVE Him…
In fact, you would think it would be a natural reaction for them!
After all, God has blessed them so greatly!!!
-Joshua reminded the whole of Israel of this in Joshua 24…
It should be easy, because after all, God had blessed them by:
•Choosing them…
•Delivering them…
•Guiding them…
•Giving them their land…
With all that, couldn’t they SERVE the Lord with gladness?
Wouldn’t they want to CLEAVE to the Lord…be FAITHFUL to Him…and be LOYAL to Him and His Word?
-This would seem like a natural and easy reaction to a God who has been so very good!
What about you?
What has God blessed you so very well with?
We just cam through Thanksgiving, and we should have some of these blessings fresh on our minds…
-We have a home…food…family and friends. Jobs…provisions…
-Foremost, we have the Lord!
ILLUSTRATION:
I am reminded of the words of that song, “Look What The Lord Has Done”
Look what the Lord has done, Look what the Lord has done. He healed my body, He touched my mind, He saved me, it was just in time. I’m gonna praise His name. Each day is just the same. Come on and praise Him! Look what the Lord has done!
Can’t each of us say the same thing?
LOOK what the Lord has done for me!
Listen to all the good things God has done for us!
Even of how He has brought us through the bad.
Now, doesn’t He deserve your FAITHFULNESS?
Doesn’t He deserve your LOYALTY and love?
Doesn’t He deserve your life of SERVICE to Him?
Doesn’t He deserve all the praise due to His name?
ILLUSTRATION:
C. S. Lewis said it like this…”I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes, the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”
And, that is just what takes place in our hearts…
And, what should be taking place within the hearts of the Israelites, as Joshua sets the standard for gratitude, and as he sets the course for the future of Israel…
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Yet…with all this working to their advantage, Joshua still feels the need to press for a commitment and decision from the Children of God.
-He wants them to decide, once again, to live wholly for the Lord!
-And, for them to remain steadfast in that commitment!
-To SERVE the Lord, not just today; but always!
So Joshua presses the people for a DECISION,
and for DEVOTION to that decision.
POINT ONE: DECISION!
Joshua 24:14-18, “’Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. [15] And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
[16] And the people answered and said, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; [17] for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. [18] And the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.’”
Joshua made it clear that the people of Israel had to make a DECISION to serve the Lord God of Israel.
-There could be no neutrality.
-That is true for each of us…
*We have to make a DECISION with what we will do with Christ in our lives. Yes or no.
Each of us have to make this kind of DECISION because it is one that must be answered in totality.
-We can’t serve God & mammon as it is put in Matthew 6:24.
-You can’t serve two masters…you will either hate one, and love the other; or visa versa.
-There is no living on the fence here…
Now, you might ask, “Why ask for such a decision Joshua, this seems like it would be a no-brainer. After all, they just went through all this battling with the Lord’s help.”
Well, there were some who need to make this choice because they would then have to get rid of the false gods that some of them secretly were worshiping.
-Yes, even after the great experience of the Exodus, some of the Jews still sacrificed to the gods of Egypt…Leviticus 17:7; Amos 5:25-26; Acts 7:42-43 & Ezekiel 20:6-8…
*Old habits die hard…as they say.
-Jacob had given this same warning to his family in Genesis 35:2…
-And Samuel would give the same admonition in his day in 1 Samuel 7:3...
So yes, even after all of what they have experienced in the Lord, they have to make a choice.
So it is with some in the Church as well…
You have to make a final choice, and DECISION about serving the Lord.
-But, with all that the Lord has done for us…why wouldn’t you want to???
With his question, Joshua wasn’t suggesting that the people could choose to worship the false gods of the land, and God would accept it.
No, no. There was no other option but to serve Jehovah!
And, being a wise and spiritual man, Joshua knew that everybody must worship something or someone, whether they realized it or not, because humanity is “incurably religious.”
-So, if the Jews didn’t worship the true, living God; they would end up worshiping the false gods of the wicked nations in Canaan.
-His point was that they couldn’t do both.
ILLUSTRATION:
It is like the old saying that goes, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”
So, what are you standing for?
Who do you stand for?
I pray that it is the Lord Jesus Christ!
The DECISION…
The ball is in their court now.
And, the people assure Joshua that they want to worship and serve the Lord God of Israel only…and they gave their reasons.
-The Lord had delivered them from Egypt…
-He has brought them through the wilderness…
-And, He has taken them into their Promised Land!
(The first half of Joshua’s address [Joshua 24:1-13] had made an impression on them!)
Joshua had declared that he and his house would serve only the Lord in verse 15…
And, the people said, ”We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” Verse 18
To SERVE. SERVICE.
They choose to SERVE the Lord…and this is the whole key in this section of Scripture…
-In these few verses alone that word, “serve” is used 8 times…depending on the version that you read.
In any case this idea “to serve God” means to fear Him…obey Him…and worship only Him.
-It means to love Him and fix your heart upon Him…
-To obey Him because you want to and not because you have to.
That is God’s greatest desire from you and from me.
Won’t you chose to SERVE the Lord?
Won’t you make that DECISION???
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Praise the Lord…they made the right choice and said what we hoped they would.
But, “talk is cheap” as they say…
That is where step two comes into play…
POINT TWO: DEVOTION!
Joshua 24:19-21, “Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. [20] If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.’ [21] And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord.’”
Talk IS cheap…so…
A DECISION must be followed-through on in order to make it a life-changing decision.
After all, in generations past, they had made the same DECISIONS…
When the former generation had met the Lord at Mt. Sinai, they had said, “And all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do!’” - Exodus 19:8
-However, it was only a few weeks later, and they were found worshiping a golden calf!
-So, Joshua knew that it was easy for the people to promise obedience to the Lord, but it was quite something else for them to actually do it. They had to live it.
Joshua comes on strong here, but his stern words were meant to curb their over-confidence and make them look honestly into their own hearts.
In essence, Israel was “married” to Jehovah, and He would not tolerate any rivals in their hearts.
-Exodus 20:5 tells us that God is a jealous God…and a holy God.
-He could never permit them to be divided in their loyalty.
*Just as a husband and wife are faithful to their marriage vows and jealously guard their mate’s affection, so Israel and the Lord had to be faithful to each other.
*So it is with our relationship with the Lord too…
Joshua warned them what would happen if they didn’t get rid of their idols:
-They would eventually forsake the Lord, and then He would have to chasten them.
-They would lose all the blessings He had so graciously given them in the Promised Land.
-So then, their great need was to cleanse their hearts of allegiance to other gods and to incline their hearts only to the Lord!!! -Joshua 24:23
-If they persisted in their hidden disloyalty, they would be punished for their sins.
And it was THREE TIMES that the people affirmed their desire to serve only the Lord…
Joshua 24:16-18, 21 & 24
“We will serve the Lord and obey Him!”
And Joshua took them at their word.
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So that they wouldn’t forget this solemn covenant with Jehovah, Joshua wrote it in the Book of the Law.
Then, he set up a large stone as a perpetual witness to their agreement.
-The last of nine memorials mentioned in the Book of Joshua.
And now, their DECISION demands DEVOTION from them.
Now, a great thing is said of Joshua’s leadership here…
Joshua 24:31, “And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel.”
But, at the same time, there is a sad thing stated…
-The people do fall away from their commitment.
The elders who had served with Joshua guided the nation after his death, but then the people went astray and began to disobey the Lord and worship the false gods of the Canaanites. -Judges 2:6-15
Then, we ask, “Why didn’t the next generation know the Lord and what He had done for Israel?”
Because the people of Joshua’s generation failed to keep their promise and teach their children and grandchildren to fear and serve the Lord!
Then, God kept His promise and chastened His people…
-First by bringing other nations into the land…
-Then by taking the Jews out of their land; the Northern Kingdom to Assyria and the Southern Kingdom to Babylon.
But one day the Lord will re-gather His people Israel and establish them in their land! -Isaiah 11-12; 51-52 & Ezekiel 36:24
Then “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” Habakkuk 2:14
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AS WE CLOSE:
Friends, that is the decision that is proposed to each of us today…
“…choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…”
You must make a DECISION; but further, you have to DEVOTE yourself to that choice.
Victory is all of ours…if we choose to live for and obey the Lord.
-God will keep and preserve you.
-God will guide you in the Promised Lands of life!
Will you CLEAVE to God?
Will you be LOYAL to Him?
Will you be FAITHFUL?
Then, will you DEVOTE yourself to following through on this DECISION?
-I know that we are doing well today…
-But I also know that the enemy will do his best to destroy what God has begun…
-So, you will have to be vigilant.
You will have to be DETERMINED for Victory!!!
Joshua’s whole intent was to get Israel to ”…cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.”
That is just what God would have for each of us to do today as well.
