Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 1 – 3

•Joshua will challenge the nation Israel in just a moment. He will call them to purity and to untainted worship of the Lord. And we will see clues in his address later in the chapter that lead us to believe that they had already begun to forget the Lord…certainly as you continue the story into the Book of Judges it only takes 26 verses for them to fall flat. In verse 27 of the first chapter of the Book of Judges we see Israel disobeying the Lord…

•But before Joshua issues the challenge, he reminds them of God’s faithfulness with a brief history lesson and that’s a good thing to do. Often we face hard circumstances and we lean upon what we know is true…that God is with us. That He is for us. That He will not begin a campaign of unfaithfulness with us! (How ridiculous) That’s good and we should lean upon truth but it’s also good to remember what God has done in your life already. What He has brought you through, where He has brought you to and spend some time remembering…

Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 4 – 13

•Three times we read, “I gave.” (Verses 4 and 8) Three times we read, “I brought.” (Verses 5, 6 and 8) In this moment of remembrance of what God has done we heard, “I took, I multiplied, I sent, I plagued, I destroyed, I delivered,”…and finally, “I have given.” The mighty works of God but what did we hear about the people? It’s interesting as I went through this and underlined everything that God did and circled everything that man did…here’s what we heard about what they did…

•They went. They came. They cried out. Their eyes saw. They dwelt. They possessed. They did not labor. They did not build. They did not plant. So very interesting! All of God’s actions are primary and driving…they are the cause…all of man’s actions are secondary and following…they are the effect. So Joshua is reminding them…God has done it all! All we have done, to get where we are…with all that we have and such a legacy of might and strength and conquest and victory…all we ever did as a people…was follow Him.

•And so he reminds them…that God is the deliverer…and we are the benefactor of God’s faithfulness however in a moment he will unpack for them that God’s faithfulness and goodness and perfection will not allow Him to change and therefore the legacy and the strength and the conquest and the victory are assured only in the following of Him…outside of that, expect the opposite because God is good, all the time…never changes, never deviates from goodness and therefore His deliverance is not relative to man…it is constant. He delivers those who love Him and He defeats those who hate Him…impossible not to…

•And so for us, in our circumstance that maybe we face, maybe you face today, remember God’s faithfulness…remember that He delivers…two times we read that but interesting in the Hebrew its two different root words…one word used in verse 10 and another in verse 11, both translated “delivered.” Here’s what’s cool and why I point this out. The first occurrence means, “rescue,” or, “save.” The implication is from something. The second occurrence means, “set,” as in, “I have set.” The implication is I have brought you to something.

•And so above it all, overshadowing it all, underlying it all…remember that God has delivered you. Wherever you are, whatever the circumstance, He sustains! He has rescued you from eternal loss, eternal panic and defeated the power of sin in your heart and life…and He has set you firmly upon the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Underneath it all…that surety stands. (You may or may not stand with it – your choice) And so even if your mind blanks in terms of God’s past performance or maybe the situation is completely new or completely horrible…a neat little message filed away in the crevices of the verses tonight…A warmth from the Father…He will deliver you and in truth, He already has…

•One more thing…throughout the entire history we were just given…not a mention of Israel’s unfaithfulness. See that? Not a word. How unlike God our dark hearts are…that we dwell on and think on and even mention the past short comings of our loved ones…God doesn’t do that…He simply states what matters…His faithfulness, His cause and the people’s effects…Jeremiah 31:34 God says, “Their sin, what sin?” His heart has always been to forgive and to release…always…throughout the Old Testament…seen right here tonight if you look for it! It was simply accomplished through Jesus Christ! How encouraging that my sins are forgiven and they are forgotten fully, cleansed fully in the power of the cross and resurrection of Christ!

•So…MOVE ON! The truth about why you can’t love them or forgive them or quite being so mean to them is because you’re heavy with your own sin…you need to receive the heart of God…and love will simply flow man….

Joshua Chapter 24 Verses 14 – 15

•Notice a theme? Any word in there repeated a few times? You got it! That word, “serve.” Joshua repeats it seven times in three verses…and here’s the thing…after what we just read…after what he just went over…how God delivered to them land for which they did not labor, cities which they did not build, and vineyards and olive groves which they did not plant…the natural response would simply be to serve Him!

•Something dumb, but welcome to me. That word, “abad,” is used 293 times in 263 verses. 293+263=556. 556 * the number of man…or 6…so “serve” * man = 3,336. 3,336 looks to me like the correct order in terms of the word “serve.” 333 first…then 6. I know it’s dumb…but man we get it backwards don’t we? God is God. Has done so very much for us in that He gave us His only Son…and yet somehow we many times aren’t compelled to respond correctly…to serve Him…

•Joshua makes a proclamation here. Put away the foreign gods…so there must be some creeping in…and serve the Lord. Choose today…and you might say…nah…I say duh…whether you know it or not…you’re choosing…so how do you know? Joshua hid the key for us…three little words found in verse 14…

•“Fear, sincerity, and truth.” Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters…” but boy we try don’t we…? Joshua says choose today…serve the enemy…or serve God…with fear (honor and awe), with sincerity (integrity), and in truth (sureness). It just makes sense…the darkness is not worthy of your service man…

•And the implication of what he says next is that even if he goes it alone…he will…