Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
All right, so today we're going to be in Joshua chapter 23 and 24.
I was just joking with Chris because I decided to do two chapters tonight
because 23 was a little shorter and then John Kratz, I guess, had already
prepared for Judges chapter one.
So he's two weeks from now.
So anyway, sorry, John, if you're watching this or you go back and listen to this.
But, uh, all in good fun.
It's pays to not be prepared sometimes two weeks in advance, but well, Jesse's
going to go, or no, no, John is going to, is John going to switch with Jesse?
I haven't seen Fred.
So we might get a switch, but yeah, there you go.
Cool.
So tonight we're going to do Joshua 23 and 24 and I have three main points
that I want to share with this, uh, section of scripture and they're all
going to be centered around covenant because so much of what we see in this
text is relating to God's covenant with Israel and therefore it relates
to God's covenant with us and so we walk in the new covenant and Israel
is walking in the, um, covenant with Adam and Abraham and Moses.
And so then there, then there was one other major covenant in there.
You guys probably know what it is.
The starts with the D before Christ, the Davidic covenant, and then we have
the new covenant, which is what all the believers in Jesus, as Christ says,
the Messiah are walking in today.
But so much of the themes within scripture as a whole and within
here center around covenant.
So we're going to talk about three main things.
Number one is covenantal cling.
Number two is covenant, covenantal catechism and then covenantal choosing.
So let's pray and then we'll jump into the text.
So Lord, we thank you so much for this evening.
Lord, we just pray that you would just give us a spirit of wisdom and
revelation as we look at this text, that whether we're looking at it for
the first time or for the 50th, you would give us fresh revelation.
Just breathe on your words, Lord, help us to just get to know you better
and that we would walk away knowing and loving you more.
Jesus' name.
All right.
So verse one, Joshua was charged to Israel's leaders a long time afterward.
When the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding
enemies and Joshua was old and well-advanced in years.
So you guys remember that the context of this is the Israelites had
been battling the people in the land and the Lord had been blessing
them with victory after victory because he had promised them this land.
And they're not fully eradicated the people of Canaan, which is modern
day Israel, but they have basically effectively subdued them and
they've subdued the surrounding peoples.
But as we see when we flip forward to judges, they don't completely
eradicate them or push them out of the land.
And the ramifications for that are that they begin to adopt the
practices of the pagan people in the land, which will eventually
draw the people's hearts away from God and draw their hearts to the
demons or the pagan Gods, which basically in the Old Testament, it's the same.
So Joshua, now he's old and well-advanced in years.
And Joshua was the disciple of Moses, if you don't remember.
And Moses was the guy who brought everybody out of Egypt.
If you've never seen the movie.
And Joshua summoned all Israel to all 12 tribes, its elders, heads, judges,
and officers, and said to them, I am now old and well-advanced in years.
And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these
nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.
Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes, those
nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already
cut off from Jordan to the great sea in the West.
So that would be the Mediterranean Sea.
The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your
sight and you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.
So we see here, it's, there's still a little bit of work to be done
in clearing the area of the pagan inhabitants, but the battle
has been effectively won as we see scripture before this has been
talking about the fact that, you know, the Lord has given Joshua and
the Israelites victory over the people of the land.
So it's, it's effectively done, but there's still a little bit of
work that they need to do.
So, um, that's what's going on there.
And he says, um, therefore be very strong to keep and to do all that
is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it, neither
to the right hand, nor to the left, that you may not mix with these
nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their Gods
or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall
cling, there's that word cling to the Lord your God, just as you
have done to this day.
And so few weeks ago when I was teaching, I think it was maybe
Joshua 15, somewhere nestled in the middle of Joshua, there was all
these place names and you could see within these place names within
the region of Canaan, or today it's like modern day Israel and the
West bank and Gaza, but within these areas, it had the names of
pagan Gods peppered in there all throughout there.
And so people would build a city and they would name it after a
pagan deity.
And so the land was just permeate permeated with so much, uh,
pagan ideas and philosophies and worship that the Lord is
worried that even saying the names of these pagan Gods will
lead the people to begin to want to go after these pagan deities.
Bless you.
So basically here is the first point, covenantal cling.
Okay.
Do not mix or cling versus six through eight.
Joshua starts to really charge the leaders of Israel and all
the people, and he uses this language cling, which the word
cling is also the same word used in Genesis chapter two for
when Adam and Eve were clinging together as husband and
wife, or you can add a famous expression, um, you will be
husband and wife and the husband will cleave or you
will leave the, or the verse about leaving the mother and
the father and cleaving or clinging same word there to
your husband or wife together.
So this idea that you will cleave together, that you
become one, there's two people becoming one and underneath
the covenant of marriage, this same idea is being used
with Israel and Joshua is using the same language that
become one with the Lord your God and cling to him in
covenant because he has rescued you from Egypt.
He has rescued you from the hands of all the attackers
along the way from Egypt to the promised land.
And within the promised land, he has rescued you and
he's been faithful, uh, to do what he's promised to put
you into the promised land.
And so the, the Lord is wanting to use this covenant
of language with us.
And this has really big implications for us too,
because the new covenant today is also a covenant of
marriage.
We can see this all throughout the new Testament.
Paul speaks about the deep mystery that is Christ
and the bride.
And he says, this is a profound, deep mystery that
we will one day as, as a corporate body be wed to
Christ and we are ought to, we ought to cleave to
him in covenant.
We ought to be attached to him and seek to seek
union with him.
And, and then therefore, as we will see in verse 12,
we are not to cling to the world, but we are
to cling to the Lord.
Let's just keep reading onto there and then we'll,
we'll continue on this idea.
So verse nine says for the Lord has driven out
before you great and strong nations.
So Joshua is kind of giving them some proof here
saying cling to the Lord because he's been good,
because this is his testimony that he has done
these things for you.
And as for you, no man has been able to stand
before you to this day.
One man of you puts to flight a thousand since it
is the Lord your God who fights for you just as
he promised.
This means like, if you're good at math, a
thousand people can put a million people to
flight.
10,000 people can put 10 million people to
flight.
How many millions would it take to put our
nation at flight?
Let's do the math.
What, like maybe 400,000?
Ken's good at math.
Yeah, there you go.
Exactly.
Right.
So, so this is an amazing, this is an amazing
thing.
And I think the Lord, it's probably a
ancient Near East idiom, but the idea is that
the Lord is with them in battle and that he
is supporting them in battle.
And that the reason they're winning all these
battles is because the Lord is behind them.
And we see this in Leviticus 26 verse seven
and eight and Deuteronomy 32 verse 30 that the
Lord promises this specifically as one of the
blessings that will follow the Israelites if
they maintain faithfulness in the covenant to
the Lord, if they uphold their end of the
bargain.
So we see that the Lord is basically saying,
hey, look, I promised you this and I delivered
this.
So verse 11, be careful therefore to love the
Lord your God for if you turn back and cling
to the remnant of these nations remaining
among you and make marriages with them so that
you associate with them and they with you know
for certain that the Lord your God will no
longer drive out these nations before you, but
they shall be a snare and a trap for you.
A whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes
until you perish from off this good ground that
the Lord your God has given you.
So with the Lord, what we see here is he wants
all of the Israelites.
He wants the Israelites entire love.
He wants all of their love.
What's the famous verse that the Jewish
people still pray today, three times a day?
Do you guys know?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your mind, with all your soul, with
all your strength.
And the Jewish people still pray this today,
three times a day.
And we see that even Old Testament saints
were praying it like Daniel was even
praying it three times a day in Babylon.
It's one of the reasons why he got thrown
in the lines then.
But the Lord is saying, I want you to love
me with your whole heart.
And that is something all throughout
scripture as well, that the Lord is jealous
for us.
We'll see this in the next chapter, that
the Lord is, he gets jealous.
And also like when I was in Turkey, I served
in Turkey as a missionary for a while.
And then I got married and Sarah and I,
my wife, we were serving there together
for two years.
But Turkish people are notoriously jealous
people when it comes to relationships.
It might just be maybe a Middle Eastern
thing, I don't know.
But American people, generally, we're
just so like chill.
And but like Turkish people, if they even
like at a gathering, like if they see
their, their boyfriend or girlfriend, even
just like chatting nonchalantly or passing
by another person of the opposite gender,
they immediately start to look and they
start to get kind of stressed out.
And they're like, Oh, what's she doing?
And then they maybe get mad at her, him.
And then they're always wanting to know
like what their significant other is doing.
The Turkish joke is that don't ever date
a Turkish girl because then don't want
to know where you are at all times.
And even if you're in the bathroom,
they're going to want to know what
you're doing, right?
But I'll say that in our culture,
we're way more relaxed about like those
kind of things with guys in girls'
relationships.
It's I think it's good.
I think we have a higher level of trust
in general with people because I think
basically that's rooted in mistrust.
But what we see is that they're,
they are jealous over who their
significant other is talking to and
what they're doing.
And the Lord is jealous with us about
what we are doing with our hearts.
He's jealous with us as to what
we are, what we are looking at.
He's jealous with us about our speech.
And he and the whole purpose or the
gravity of his jealousy is to bring
us back into him in order to cling
and to cleave to him rather than
clinging and cleaving to the things
of this world or to or to any thing
or person that we would put in front
of the Lord.
So we see in verse 12 that Joshua
is telling the Israelites for if you
turn back, well, first of all, in
verse 11, he says, be very careful
and intentional, right?
Sometimes we use that word today
in modern dating times, like we're
being intentional, right?
Be very careful and intentional
therefore to love the Lord your God.
For if you turn back and cling to
the remnant of the nations, then
they will basically he's saying
they will lead your heart astray.
And and I think that's really
the Lord's heart throughout all
of scripture is that he desires
a people to be holy and to be
completely abandoned.
To himself to be completely
dedicated to himself, and he
desires our hearts to be
completely abandoned and
dedicated to him.
Because when you make a covenant
with somebody, like if you're
married and you get married and
you make a covenant with them,
it's a serious thing.
It is something that's not easily
broken.
That's kind of the point of
being married, is that it's hard
to get out of, right?
And the Lord is the same way.
The Lord made a covenant with us
and he's saying I'm seriously
wanting you to make a covenant
with me, but I need you also to
be serious and I need you to
love me with your whole heart
because he's loving us with his
whole heart guys.
One of the quickest ways to
become passionate and really
just to become passionate about
the Lord or become passionate in
love for for Jesus is to focus
on how much passion and how
much love God actually has for
us.
God loves us so much and he wants
us to love him so much.
We can never love like God
loves, but he wants that love
back and he wants that
reciprocated and he wants us to
cling to him.
And it's just so crazy to me
and this is why Paul calls it a
deep mystery that the church or
the people of God would marry
Christ at the end of the age,
the marriage of the supper of
the land.
And and yeah, it is really just
a mystery how this is going to
happen.
I don't know, but it has to do
with union with the Lord and
we'll have new bodies which will
be completely incorruptible and
and holy and somehow, you know,
will be one with the Lord in
eternity.
But the Lord desires us.
He desires us one to cling to
himself and two to not cling to
anything else.
Because think about it.
The way the Lord sees a divided
heart or the way the Lord sees
a heart that is not fully
devoted to him is adultery.
He sees it as basically his
people cheating on him and and
when that when that happens,
the covenant is is has the
opportunity to be broken if
it's not mended, if there's not
repentance there.
So anyway, the Lord desires that
we cling to him.
And Joshua is basically
charging the nation of
Israel saying, cling to the
Lord, be very careful that you
love him with his with your
whole heart and that you cling
to him and that you don't cling
to the nations.
And when we enter his, I think
it's just good to say, but we
enter this covenantal love with
grace by grace through faith.
And it's not like we have to
make ourselves beautiful before
God.
The Lord makes us beautiful before
him by his grace.
But we will see that in the
third section, there is a
choosing that we have to do and
there is something there and
that's also a mystery.
But I just wanted to mention and
I think it's good to say every
time that all this is by his
grace, there's no striving or
there's no working here.
Actually, that will just make
it that will make us fall into
more sin if we think we can
actually achieve union or
covenant with God on our own
strength.
But the Lord gives us that as a
gift.
But then after that, there are
things that we need to we need
to do and we need to we need to
follow.
So that's the first point.
Cling to God, cling to him and
cling covenantally, covenantal
clinging.
And it's if you've never thought
about this, that your relationship
with God is like a marriage or if
you want to be very exact and
precise, it's like being
engaged.
We're contracted or we're
covenanted on some level.
There's been a transfer.
There's been consideration.
So it can be a real contract.
There's a down payment.
We have the Holy Spirit, but
we're still awaiting Christ.
If that's too deep for you,
then you can just think of it
as we are currently in some kind
of covenant with with the Lord.
And but it's it's like a it's
like a betrothal covenant.
If you've never thought about
that, I just encourage you just
take time this week and think
about it.
Just ponder the deep mystery that
is God making a covenant with us.
And it's really amazing.
You think, why would he want
to make a covenant with me?
I don't know.
He loves us.
That's who he is.
But it is worthy of meditation.
OK, second second point.
Oh, I guess we'll keep reading.
So we are on verse 14.
And now I am about this is
Joshua speaking.
And now I am about to go the
way of all the earth and you
know in your hearts and souls
all of you that not one word
has failed of all the good
things that the Lord your God
promised concerning you all
have come to pass for you.
Not one of them has failed.
So this is also referencing
the above verses in verse 10
talking about one man puts a
thousand the flight and verse
nine for the Lord God has
driven out before you great and
strong nations.
Verse 15.
But just as all the good things
that the Lord your God promised
concerning you have been
fulfilled for you.
So the Lord will bring upon you
all the evil things until he
has destroyed you from off this
good land that the Lord your
God has given you.
If you transgress the covenant
of the Lord your God which he
commanded you and go and serve
other Gods and bow down to them
then the anger of the Lord
will be kindled against you and
you shall perish quickly from
off the good land that he has
given you.
And so this echoes
Deuteronomy chapter 28 and 29
and we're not going to read all
of it.
But in Deuteronomy 28 and 29
at the end of the Mosaic
covenant the Lord lays out
blessings for disobedience
and curses for disobedience.
And actually it's very
interesting.
There's a there's a cool book
if you want to dig into more
Old Testament context in history.
It's called the Epic of Eden.
It's a really easy read but it
basically details a lot of the
different covenants that were in
existence at the time of Israel
and the time of Moses.
And this covenant followed one of
those very specific templates of
where a king and a nation a
strong nation made a covenant
with a small nation.
And they basically the king would
give blessings for the faithfulness
of the covenant to the small
nation.
And as long as the small nation
was faithful they would receive
the blessings of the king of the
suzerain.
That's the technical historical
term for it.
But and then I think the vassal
the vassal state and the
suzerain state but they would
have yeah they would have a
covenant in agreement.
But then they said OK if you
violate the terms of this
covenant if you're unfaithful
then we're going to keep these
curses on you.
So this follows the template of
one of the what do you call it
covenants of that era.
So the Lord is using this
template to communicate to
Israel that hey I am your king
and hold fast to me.
You don't need to hold fast to
any other nations because I
will protect you.
And so within the whole
covenantal framework of the
Mosaic covenant that's a little
bit too.
We're not going to go any
further in that because it's a
little bit beyond the scope of
what we're talking about today.
But this would have been
something that was common in
the ancient world.
And I find that interesting as
well.
All right we're going to talk
a little bit about that later
too.
But all right let's keep going.
Chapter 24 verse 1 Joshua
gathered all the tribes of
Israel to Shechem and summon
the leaders or the elders the
heads the judges and the
officers of Israel and they
presented themselves before God.
And Joshua said to all the
people that says the Lord the
God of Israel long ago your
fathers lived beyond the
Euphrates.
Tara the father of Abraham and
of Nahor and they served other
Gods.
Then I took your father Abraham
from beyond the river and led
him through all the land of
Canaan and made his offspring
many.
I gave him Isaac and to Isaac I
gave Jacob and Esau and I gave
Esau the hill country of seer
to possess but Jacob and his
children went down to Egypt and
I sent Moses and Aaron and
plagued Egypt with what I
did in the midst of it.
And afterward I brought you out
then I brought your fathers
out of Egypt and you came to
the sea and the Egyptians
pursued your fathers with
chariots and horsemen to the
Red Sea and when they cried to
the Lord he put darkness
between you and the Egyptians
and made the sea come upon
them and cover them and your
eyes saw what I did in Egypt
and you lived in the wilderness
a long time.
Then I brought you to the land
of the Amorites who lived on
the other side of the Jordan
they fought with you and I
gave them into your hand and
you took possession of their
land and I destroyed them
before you then Balak the son
of Zippur king of Moab arose
and fought against Israel and
he sent and invited Balaam son
of Beor to curse you but I
would not listen to Balaam
indeed he blessed you so I
delivered you out of his hand
and you went over to the
Jordan and came to Jericho and
the leaders of Jericho fought
against you and also the
Amorites the parasites the
Canaanites the Hittites the
gurgishites the Hivites the
Jebusites and I gave them
into your hand and I sent the
Hornet before you which drove
them out before you the two
kings of the Amorites it was
not by your sword or by your
bow I gave you a land on which
you had not labored and cities
that you had not built and you
dwell in them you eat the
fruit of the vineyards and all
of orchards that you did not
plant.
So this brings us to our
second point and I call this
the covenantal catechism you
could also just call it I
wanted to use a C you could
also just call it the
covenantal gospel or the
covenantal chronicle so this
is the way that they would
preserve the good news of
salvation to the Israelites as
they would they would repeat
the story and we see many
times if you read Leviticus and
Numbers and you read through
some of the probably more
classically boring sections of
Scripture what you'll see in
there is you'll see and it's
not boring if you actually dig a
little bit but on the surface
is boring but what you'll see
in there is remember me the
Lord your God who brought you
out of Egypt and all the things
that they would do in these
feasts and the Passover and
with Pentecost and all the
different Jewish feasts would
be to reenact a certain part of
their history and their future
and it basically they would kind
of reenact these things but one
of the main themes that they
had to reenact was during the
Passover feast they would
remember that the Lord their
God brought them out of
Egypt and delivered them out of
slavery and into freedom and
this is one of the key themes
that the Lord does in our
life too he takes us out of
the slavery and the bondage of
and he brings us into freedom
in Christ and this was this was
the good news and this was the
fate the story of the
faithfulness of God back there
for the believers of this time
and the ancient people the
people in the ancient near east
they were storytellers they
would tell their stories and
with their stories it would
have a have a meaning and a
message in it even we see this
in the New Testament when
Steven is getting stoned we've
been studying acts but right
before Steven gets stoned the
gospel that he preaches is
literally to start with Abraham
and then go basically
scene by scene what's recorded
for us there is quite a lot
but he may have gone into more
detail but he's basically
saying our father was Abraham
and God gave the promise of
the land and the messiah to
Abraham and then Abraham had
Isaac and Isaac had Jacob
and he goes all the way down
the line and this was what
they would tell their children
and one other thing is
genealogies were very
important to the ancient
people and so those genealogies
that we find boring if you
were a Jewish person at that
time the genealogy would be
one of the more exciting
pieces where you would try to
go and you would find your
ancestor you would say oh this
is my ancestor and that was
his father and his father and
his father and so the line or
the continuity of this good
news of the gospel was something
that was catechized amongst the
Jewish people you wouldn't
and catechize just it means
like to teach or to kind of
like repeat or say it back
I'm not exactly sure if
that's the official term of
catechism but I grew up
performed so you know
Westminster catechism and all
that so yeah it was
something that they would
teach to people and the people
coming out the people coming
out of Egypt and into the
Promised Land it's a metaphor
of coming out of sin and
being free of of your sin
and receiving salvation and
then walking in the new life
in Christ coming into the
Promised Land and for us as
well it's helpful to just
meditate on those themes and
those ideas that the Lord is
faithful and that he does save
and bring us out of Egypt and
into the Promised Land and one
other thing even here people
say oh well the Old Testament
doesn't have have much grace
in it you can look at verse
twelve and it says after and
I sent the Hornet before you
which drove them out before
you the two kings of the
Amorites it was not by your
sword or by your bow and I
gave you a land on which you
had not labored and cities
that you had not built and
you dwell in them you eat the
fruit of the vineyards and
the olive orchards orchards
that you did not plant and
the Lord is just providing for
them time after time after
time and he's letting his
hand go before them and this
really is a picture of the
gospel it's a picture of what
Christ does for us is that he
goes before us he's preparing a
room for us he's preparing a
place for us John 14 Christ
says I'm going away and I'm
going to prepare a room for
for you and he's building
us a house in the Jewish
sense he's building a house
for his bride the Jewish
people would do that back in
the day so this this section
speaks of the covenantal gospel
that God is a faithful covenant
keeper and that he is the one
who will provide and supply
all of their needs and all of
their the things that they
need yeah so all right let's
keep going
verse 14 now therefore fear the
Lord and serve him in
sincerity and in faithfulness
put away the Gods that your
fathers served beyond the
river and in Egypt and serve
the Lord and if it is evil in
your eyes to serve the Lord
choose this day whom you will
serve whether the Gods your
fathers served in the region
beyond the river or the Gods
of the Amorites in whose land
you dwell but as for me and
my house we will serve the
Lord and the people answered
far be it from us that we
should forsake the Lord to
serve other Gods for it is
the Lord our God who brought
us in our fathers up from the
land of Egypt out of the house
of slavery and who did these
great signs in our site and
preserved us in all the way
that we went and among all
the peoples through whom we
passed and the Lord drove out
before us all the peoples of
the Amorites who lived in the
land therefore we will also
serve the Lord for he is our
God but Joshua said to the
people you are not able to
serve the Lord for he is a
holy God he is a jealous God
he will not forgive your
transgressions or your sins
if you forsake the Lord and
serve foreign Gods then he
will turn and do you harm and
consume you after having done
you good and the people said
to Joshua no but we will
serve the Lord and Joshua said
to the people you are
witnesses against yourselves
that you have chosen the
Lord to serve him and they
said we are witnesses he said
then put away the foreign
Gods that are among you and
incline your heart to the
Lord the God of Israel and
the people said to Joshua the
Lord our God we will serve
and his voice we will obey
so Joshua made a covenant
with the people that day and
put in place rules and
statutes for them at Shechem
and Joshua wrote these words
in the book of the law of
God and he took a large stone
and set it up there under the
Terribinth that was by the
sanctuary of the Lord and
Joshua said to all the people
behold this stone shall be a
witness against us for it has
heard all the words of the
Lord that he has spoke to us
therefore it shall be a
witness against you lest you
deal falsely with your God
so Joshua sent the people away
every man to his inheritance
so here the third point is
covenantal choosing
we have a choice put put
before us the Lord does not
force us to serve him
Joshua and this is Joshua's
bit reenacting the
Moses Joshua was Moses's
disciple and so Joshua saw
Moses do this where Moses
charged the people of Israel
after the repeating of the
law which is that's what
Deuteronomy means after the
law was repeated to Israel
at the end of the book of
Deuteronomy
Moses sets the same choice
in front of Israel and he
says I've set before you today
life and death and this is
specifically if you want to
look it up Deuteronomy 30
verse 11 through 20 and
Moses is basically saying the
same thing and Joshua is
just repeating what Moses is
saying he's charging the
people of Israel to choose
the Lord and there's
choosing is is also a mystery
because you know we know that
the Lord is sovereign this is
the age-old debate of you
know is which one is right
Calvinism or Armenianism
right if you're familiar with
those terms I'm sorry for you
if you're thanks for the joke
thanks for the laugh appreciate
that but if you aren't
familiar with those terms
basically it has it's the
debate that has to do with
the free will of God right
a free will of man and the
sovereignty of God how much
of it is God how much of
it is us does the Lord mark
us and predestinate us for
heaven and hell before the end
of time or are we do we
somehow play a part in
in that right that whole
discussion which I'm not
going to get into but no
matter which side you fall
into which can't you fall
into I grew up reformed it
was a good reform church
uh reformed
Charismatics that's not
something you come across
every day it's kind of like
a gay republican I guess
now it's getting more common
but basically what they
taught us was that you know
the Lord is the one who
chooses whether or not
you go to you know
or he's whether or not
you go to heaven or hell
depends on the Lord but also
um they were really good at
teaching us about how
our choice mattered so
yeah this is this is a bit of a
deeper topic which
you can get into just a little
bit but no matter which side
you believe in both sides
believe that you have to
choose and philosophers
debate over different words
if you go and try to read
Jonathan Edwards book I think
it's called like the free will
of of man or something
the volition of man
I don't know it's a long book
you know that one Chris
you have to read that in
somewhere seminary or something
but anyhow
basically the first like
20 pages he's just defining
what he means by free will
and what he what he defines
by choice
so basically philosophers
say there's a difference
between free will and choice
but no matter which side
you come down on
if you're on the reform side
and you believe you know
God is sovereign
and that he basically
is willing everything
that's happening in the earth
in that camp
you still have to choose
the Lord
whether it's you doing it
or the Lord doing it
you have to choose
that's what we see in scripture
but if you are come
from more of the other side
where you think
there's more of man's free will
and it's still by God's grace
you don't save yourself
in either camp
you still have to choose the Lord
does it make sense?
so there's a difference
in what I see as
free will and choice
and so
I'm gonna debate that later
if you disagree
but my point in general
is just trying to say that
we all have to choose
your theology
doesn't get you out of choosing
doesn't get you out of
actually performing
and so I asked my pastor
at that time I was like
well why do we preach the gospel
because we were more
in the sovereignty camp
and why do we pray
and why do we do all these things
and he answered me very bluntly
he just said
because the Bible commands us
the Bible commands us
to do these things
and so yeah
in our church we're not
we're not reformed
and I think Calvary Chapel
doesn't necessarily
take a position on it
is that correct?
yeah but
what we see is that
no matter what you believe
you have to choose
you have to obey
Jesus says that
if you obey me
then that's proof
that you love me
and so what Joshua here is saying
is basically choose life
choose life
don't get caught up in
the high level philosophical arguments
you have to obey
you have to choose God
and it's do you actually love him
do you want to serve him or not
because he says as for me
in my house
we will serve the Lord
and so I think
I really appreciate
the Protestant
and reformed tradition
for all the scholarship
and all the books
and all the thinking
that it's brought
but I think sometimes
we should take that
but then we just
take the Bible simply
and just do it
and don't think too deeply
about everything
that is being commanded for us
we can think deeply
and thinking honor is the Lord
and doing good theology
and scholarship
definitely honors the Lord
but there's a doing
and a choosing
that is required
of the faithful
and those who want to be
covenantally clinging to the Lord
we have to choose him
covenantally
and so the question is
are you gonna
are we choosing the Lord or not
and many of us
we're believers
we're in the Lord
we're faithfully serving him
but still every day
there's a choosing that happens
we choose to do the right thing
we choose to love the Lord
we choose to pray
we choose to come to Bible study
we choose to read our Bible
we choose to love our spouses
we choose to love our kids
we choose to serve in our communities
and all of this choosing
it doesn't
and doing
it doesn't take away
from the grace of God
but James says
if you have faith
but no works
you actually don't have faith
and so the choosing
and the actually the doing
and the works
proves that we actually have love
and everybody knows this
right like if you say
I love my wife
or I love my you know
girlfriend
but you don't treat them
well the people in your life
and your wife
girlfriend
boyfriend
husband
they know
they know that your actions
and your words
aren't lining up
and the world
the world loves this criticism
like the biggest criticism
in my opinion
that the world has
for the church
is that we're all talk
that we're hypocrites
and they just
they just love to point that out
well also not realizing
that they're judging us
by our standard
which is another topic
but let's be
let's choose the Lord
let's be covenantal doers
and let's choose
to love the Lord
and serve him all of our days
I love that verse
that says
as for me in my house
we will serve the Lord
right that's a famous one
a lot of
you maybe have it in your house
I know
I think my parents have it
in their house
but as for me
and my family
we will serve the Lord
and this is just a good reminder
that
it doesn't matter
what other people
are doing necessarily
we should pray
for other people
we should
try to reach them
with the gospel
but what are you doing
what are we doing
with our
with our love for God
are we choosing God
are we growing closer
in covenant
in covenant love for him
or are we are we drifting
a little bit
from the Lord
and every day
we have to wake up
and make that
make that decision
and it I think
it's just really cool
what Joshua does
he just charges them again
and it's almost like a renewal
of the vowels
the vows
not the vows
the vows
of covenant marriage
right
some people do that
after years and years
they renew their vows
and they do it
with witnesses
and it's a beautiful thing
and that's a picture
of what Israel is doing here
is they're renewing
their covenant vows
to the Lord
and just to wrap up
verse 29
after these things
Joshua the son of Nun
the servant of the Lord died
being 110 years old
and they buried him
in his own inheritance
at Timnath Serah
which is in the hill country
of Ephraim
north of the mountain of Gosh
Israel served the Lord
all the days of Joshua
and all the days of the elders
who outlived Joshua
and had known
all the work
that the Lord did for Israel
so I think that's so cool
verse 31
it says that
everybody there
who said yes
we will serve the Lord
that Joshua charged
all of those people
at least it says
yeah
says all the elders
at least
who outlived Joshua
and all the people
who were
but essentially there
the leaders of Israel
they all stayed faithful
to the Lord
throughout that period of time
I think that's just so
so amazing
and I wonder if
if they made that
like a ceremony
or something
each whatever
a couple years
or whatnot
if the people of Israel
would have actually
stayed more faithful
to the Lord
because what we see
if this is the pinnacle
of the story
up until that point
of the Israelites
taking the promised land
and Moses
passing the torch
to Joshua
and Joshua
giving the charge
what we see
after Joshua
passes away
is we see
the downward trajectory
of Israel
basically all the way
until the prophet Samuel
so Judges is just a mess
you guys
probably heard of
the cycle of sin
in Judges
and it's
it's rebellion
it's punishment
it's God raises up a judge
and it just goes over
and over again
and then there's some sort of
kind of effort
for revival
but it just
goes around
and around and around
and we see this
all throughout Judges
and you guys are faithful attendees
so we will go through it together
but one thing I wonder
and this is just to close
but this is not really a point
but it's more of just
something I've thought about
over the years
is like why
why did Judges
follow Joshua
and I noticed that
Moses
he specifically was investing
in Joshua
to raise him up
but I don't see
and that's not to
put it all on Joshua
because maybe he was
but I don't see a person
that Joshua
was investing in
to raise up
necessarily
as like a leader of Israel
and maybe he was discipling
or he was teaching the elders
and to his credit
there was faithfulness
until all the elders
passed away
faithfulness to the Lord
but whatever happened
the link between Moses
and Joshua
because if you look at
Joshua's life
there's not that many verses
that talk about Joshua
but Joshua was basically
in the tent
of meeting night and day
he was a worshiper
and he loved the Lord
so much that
he wouldn't depart
from the tent
so he really loved the Lord
and he took that seriously
and he learned from Moses
and so I just wonder
who was Joshua teaching?
Who was Joshua discipling?
And I don't know
I'm not gonna blame him
because I'll meet him someday
you know
but there's some kind of breakdown
between Joshua and Judges
there's some kind of breakdown
and maybe it had to do with
they were very centralized
and Moses was the top dog
and then he discipled Joshua
and they were still pretty centralized
and then everybody kind of spread out
in their camp
and they had the different tribes
and settlements
and they you know
it was more of like
an eldership clan type of thing
I don't know
all the details
but one thing is that
was it a discipleship failure?
Was there a failure to
not disciple the people of Israel
in the correct way
to continue to repeat
the covenantal gospel
or to repeat the call
to cling to the Lord
and not cling to the other nations
and to not put the choice
in front of people
because we don't see
we don't see that much
in all of Judges
and even throughout
the Old Testament
at one point
they lose the book
they lose the law
and then they find it again
and then they weep because
this is much later
but they weep because
they haven't been
putting it into practice
and so I don't know
maybe there just wasn't a culture of
discipleship
or a culture of
really passing down
the story and the legacy
and yeah in our
in our day
and in our lives
let it not be said
that we don't pass the torch on
to the next generation
and I'm not specifically
making that point here
but I've just always thought about that
since I started studying
the Bible seriously
of what caused the downfall
of Israel
and the Lord does say
my people suffer
because of a lack of knowledge
and it could possibly be that
oh yeah vision
a vision from the
from the scriptures
but yeah let's pray
and then I have a few questions
if you guys
are up for hanging around
Lord thank you so much
we just pray that
you would just do something
with this word
Lord we pray that
you would just transform us
transform us into your image
we want to become like you Lord
and we want to walk in a manner
that's worthy of the calling
that you've given us
and Lord we thank you for this
and bless
rest of the night
Jesus Amen
Thanks for joining us
at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God
and discuss His word
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be blessed
and have a great day