Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 16 – 21

•(Matthew 21/Luke 20 – If the rock falls on you…) (They don’t recall God’s love for them) Joshua is not trying to discourage them from following the Lord. I know it may seem like that. It may sound like that but that’s not what he’s trying to do…remember he is about to die and we have clues in this chapter that he is seeing things, false gods among them, idolatry, complacency towards the Lord, we have clues that he is seeing this type of commitment to the Lord which man you have to know this…is no commitment at all!

•And so he is not discouraging their faith, he is trying to lift the fog from their false faith that they might consider that light commitment is no commitment at all! Jesus did the same thing…Turn over to Luke 14 and look with me at verses 25 – 33.
•These are serious words. No nonsense words right? “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Did He say clear it all out and join a convent? Did He say sell it all and use it to buy building materials and build a nice little Jesus compound? Not at all! He said, “forsake.” This is a matter of priority…a matter of perspective and purpose!

•My job, my marriage, my family, my stuff, my day, my minutes, my hours, my life…for-the-sake-of-the-Lord…for He is higher. He is the purpose. He is the point! He is God, my Creator and my deliverer, my preserver, my eternal King…this is the reasonable reaction of a heart truly given over to the Lord. Anything less than that…hard teaching for sure but today is all I have…just like Joshua…anything less than that is light commitment and light commitment is not commitment.

•How does light commitment work in a marriage? How does light commitment work in a career? How does light commitment work in terms of the laws that we have? The answer to all of those things is that it doesn’t work! Why? Because it’s not commitment at all! If light commitment falls flat into failure in things pertaining to men then why on earth do we think that it works in things pertaining to God? Joshua doesn’t. Jesus doesn’t…

•God has saved you…He has served you…He has sustained you…and still today His love for you surges at all times…how could our hearts be so cold to Him as to serve other gods? Now let me tell you…commitment to God, just like commitment in marriage, just like commitment in your career, just like commitment to heeding the laws of the land…commitment to God…man it works. And it’s not cookie cutter in terms of conclusion…

•What it comes to…what a heart sees and experiences when it has forsaken everything to be in a committed relationship with Jesus. Why? Because you are not cookie cutter in creation! You are unique. One of a kind. Made with a specific, exclusive, particular design by the Master Creator! And so what you can have with the Father is special. Did you know that? All directly in accordance with the Word of God because God shows no partiality or favoritism (Romans 2) and there is no private interpretation of scripture (2 Peter 1) but within the confines of your relationship with Him know this. Your relationship with God is the only one like it…because there will only every be one of you created…

•I love Madison, I love Lincoln. They both live in my home. They both have rooms. They both have clothes. They both have toys and food. They both go to school. They both have friends and family and really everything about them is very much the same…especially my heart for them…and yet my relationship with Madison is sweet and specific. Peculiar and acutely special between she and I. And same for little Link. No one on earth will ever have the relationship that I have with her…or with him…including them, (relevant to each other’s relationship with me); see that?

•Just like that, what God has for you is wonderful and it’s only for you and yet so many live their lives and never know it…because they keep an open relationship with God. Uncommitted with lovers on the side…No, Joshua is not turning them from faith…because what they have now is not faith at all and he sees it…How? Cuz he has real faith…proven faith…He is turning them from inconstancy, inconsistency, dishonesty, disloyalty and ultimately, what all of those things eventually lead to…defeat. Joshua the loving leader, the caring father is trying to save them from future defeat…

Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 22 – 24

•Something is missing there for me. Joshua told them to do two things. Incline your heart to the Lord which means serve and obey Him, and yet Joshua also tells them to put away the foreign gods which are among you…See what I’m saying? Their response is somewhat inadequate…doesn’t match the command, doesn’t match the word of Joshua…see that? And so for me the implication is that this is yet still not full commitment which for them and us means nothing but trouble…

•Fast forward to Judges Chapter 2 Verses 3 and 4 and then look over at Judges Chapter 2 Verses 11 – 15…man why all this? This horrible stuff? Could it be, that all the way back here in Chapter 24 of Joshua, they half-heartedly committed to the Lord…I think so…

•I’ve said it a thousand times…faithfulness is required in the downtime to prove useful in the time of trouble…Foundations aren’t built in a storm! Being faithful is not a moment in time…it is a decision of the will, heart, mind and life…it is to be in a committed relationship with the Lord and to think that foreign gods are welcome because times are easy or times or hidden and then that when times get hard and temptation comes you can lean on your knowledge or understanding and that will get you through then you are greatly mistaken! You will quickly grow discouraged in the spirit and turn to the flesh and become the fool…precisely what we just read of this people…

Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 25 – 28

•I’m sure there were many to weep at the stone, there outside of the sanctuary of the Lord…remembering this day…

Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 29 – 33

•Moses was called the servant of the Lord and now Joshua is called the servant of the Lord and we read there that as long as he lived, Israel served the Lord. This gives me pause here…because shortly after his death, they are serving false gods…but as long as he was around, they served the Lord…maybe not fully committed individually, but for sure serving the Lord corporately…

•Made me think of my own life…do I tolerate service to false gods in my house? Not a chance. Can’t happen. Does not compute. Joshua called Achan out quick-like…as soon as he knew, and he dealt with the sin in the camp…examples like that led to a nation that served the Lord. What about at work? At church? Where I choose to go…while I live, me and my house, we shall serve the Lord…what about you?

•Are you a thermometer or a thermostat Sam asked…do you take the temp of the room or do you set the temp of the room? I believe to an extent, certainly in our own homes, definitely around our kids, we are all thermostats…what are you setting up? Life for the nation, for the church, for the group at work, for the home…or desperation and plunder and despoil?

•Joshua died and with him so did his power…and so the people turned and they turned quickly. Our Joshua died and with that His power came…He sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts, souls, minds, and muscles…that if we would allow Him to work, He could accomplish anything in us and through us…

•We church are at an advantage and if today you find yourself thinking that you cannot fully commit to the Lord then you are wrong…you just don’t yet know the power of God…Call upon Him, trust Him at His Word and you will find very quickly the power that you believe you lack has been with you since your first breath on this earth…because we are a privileged generation…