Dedicated to God
Notes
Transcript
This morning we are going to look at the last chapter of Joshua which is the sixth book of the Bible.
Joshua was the one who took over leading the Israelites when Moses died, and Joshua lead them into the Promise Land, he was one of the twelve spies that went into the Promise Land, but was only one of two that said the Israelites would be able to go in and defeat it. The rest of the spies were scared and would not go in.
Chapter 24 of Joshua, comes to the end of Joshua’s life, the Israelites have made it into the Promise Land and defeated all these different cities, different pagan kings, and have even divided up the land to the twelve tribes.
Joshua is at the end of his life and he is giving his last speech you could say, telling the people what they need to hear.
It is also some things that we need to hear today.
He begins by gathering all the elders, the leaders, the judges, and officers to Shechem to give his last speech.
Now Shechem has some significance, as it is the first place Abraham settles after leaving his father in Genesis 12:6
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
And then we see Jacob later in Genesis collect all the idols and things that the people had been using for worship, and bury it in Shechem, in Genesis 35:4
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Therefore, Shechem brings some significance to this time and speech that Joshua is about to deliver.
Joshua in verse two of chapter 24, tells the people thus saith the Lord God of Israel, letting them know that this is not his speech but it is from God Almighty.
He tells them that their forefather’s before the flood were wicked, but Abraham God took and led him through all this land and multiplied his seed. And that is how they came about, and how they ended up in captivity in Egypt through Jacob, and that He sent Moses and Arron to rescue them.
When their father’s cried out because the Egyptians were coming after them, God rescued them through the Red Sea.
He reminds them of the pagan people that He has defeated for them, and how He has protected them through this whole journey, and how He has supplied their needs.
He reminds them that it was Himself, God Almighty, the Lord God of Israel, that has given them the land that they now possess. And that they did not have to labor for what they have.
This gives us a background, to our text, it helps us to understand why God says what He says in the text this morning.
Therefore, if you are able, will stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Pray
I. Who are You Worshiping?
I. Who are You Worshiping?
Here we see a verse with the ending that is pretty familiar to most everyone, I see it a lot on shirts, wall hangings, posters, and bumper stickers, you name it.
But what about the rest of the verse and the verse before it.
Verse 14, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: Tony Evans says to fear God means to “take him seriously, rather than having a mere casual relationship with him and trying to keep him on the perimeter of life.”
Verse 14 continues there with put away the gods that your fathers served, this is likely a reference to the false gods mentioned in the Old Testament, but an idol isn’t merely a statue before which someone bows.
An idol is any unauthorized person, place or thing that a person looks to as a source of purpose, promise, or provision.
Therefore, an idol can be money, power, popularity, sex, influence, a person, and the list goes on and on.
You can only have one ultimate source to meet your needs - God.
Then in verse 15, Joshua states, if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, another words if you are not willing to give up those other things to be fully devoted to the Lord, choose you this day who ye will serve?
The very fist of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
God when giving the Ten Commandments gave this first, He said, thou, you, are not to have any other gods before me.
Then the second Command God tells us to not make idols, or worship them, and that He is a jealous God.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
We all say to ourselves, I do not have idols, or I do not worship idols, but anything can be considered an idol, Paul speaks about idolatry in Colossians 3, Idols can be things such as lust, sexual desires, greed, T.V. shows, hobbies, sports, our careers, our possessions, and even our families.
See something becomes an idol when we begin to place it in a higher importance than God, or we begin to worship it, or we begin to allow to take the place that God should be filling in our life even if it is just a small place, and not the full place of God.
Joshua continues in verse 15 with choose you this day whom you will serve?
He is telling the people you need to decide are you going to worship and follow God, or you going to keep the idols and pagan god’s of the past, and of the cities that we have conquered.
And for the famous part of the verse, Joshua says, As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Another words, yall do what yall want to do, but me and my house we are going to be faithful to the Lord, because we know who has provided our needs, we know who is in control of all things, we know who rules this world.
II. Will You Remain Faithful?
II. Will You Remain Faithful?
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
Joshua begins in verses 14 and 15 telling the Israelites that they can put away the false gods and idols and worship only the true God, the God of Israel, but now starting in verse 19 he tells them they will not be able to worship the Lord.
We must wonder which one it is, are we able to worship just the Lord God of Isreal, the True God Almighty or not, he tells them it is because God is a holy God, and because He is a jealous God.
We are told these to things previously in Scripture, first, God tells us that He is a jealous God in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:4-6
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
He also tells us that we are to be holy because He is Holy and we see that in Leviticus 19:2
2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
Chapter 24 begin with reminding the Israelites of all that God has did for them, but there was also a lot of times that the Israelites had failed God, had turned away from God, had started to worship false gods, idols, and sinned against god.
Joshua is telling the Israelites, that God has forgiven them over and over and over again, and now they are saying once again that they are going to dedicate their lives to God Almighty and worship him alone, but if they fell back into sin again like they have in the past their would be judgment, because God is a Holy God, and a Jealous God.
We have to remain faithful, the Israelites were surrounded by pagan countries, the temptations were everywhere, Satan was on the prowl.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
We are constantly up against the enemy, and he is always got his demons out to trip us up, to make us fall so that we are not working for the Lord.
We must remain faithful to the Lord.
III. Be a Witness against Yourself
III. Be a Witness against Yourself
21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord. 22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. 24 And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.
The people protest against Joshua, saying they can be faithful, they can worship the Lord and only Him.
So Joshua says, okay, you are witness against yourselves, that you are going to worship the Lord and only the Lord.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
We must all stand before Jesus one day and give an account for our lives, and how we lived them, and yes, that is even for us as Christians.
The Israelites said, we are witnesses, another words we take challenge if you will.
Then Joshua says, then get rid of the foreign gods, the idols, anythings that is not of God Almighty, and turn your hearts to the Lord God of Israel.
If we are going to be truly dedicated to God in our personal lives then we must get rid of anything that hinders or holds us back from God, if it is T.V. then we need to shut off our Cable, if it is Sports get rid of the sports package, if it is hunting get rid of the hunting gear, if it is fishing get rid of it, if it is Gaming get rid of the gaming console, if it is the Facebook or other online media get rid of internet, or get you a phone that does not have those capabilities, or just get rid of those apps, maybe you are just not in the Word enough, get the you-version app on your phone they have all kinds of Bible reading plans, and devotionals on there, and you can even set reminders so that your phone will alert you to read at the same time of day. You can even have it send notices to a friend, spouse or whoever, so that they can be your accountability partner to make sure you are keeping up with it.
But remember, God sees everything and you are a witness against yourself. Just as Joshua told the Israelites, we have to want to have the relationship with Jesus.
If we are truly born again, if we have truly accepted the gift of salvation, and allowed the blood of Jesus to cover our sins, and truly surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ then there should not be a problem with wanting to get closer to Jesus it should be a hearts desire every single day to want to grow closer to Him.
Are you dedicated to God, do you desire to know Him more each and every day, do you only desire to worship Him, God Almighty, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior?
If not, as we have a song of invitation, I would love to share with you have to have that relationship with Jesu Christ as Lord of your Life.