I Can't But I Will Part 1

Joshua 24:19–21 NLT

Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.” But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”

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The concept of can’t

We all like to be granted permission to our every request...

My daughter is four…she gets what she wants more often than she doesn’t

THE MOST RESTRICTIVE WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - NO

My daughter is four…she gets what she wants more often than she doesn’t

Every once in a while I have to introduce her to a word that she hates.

NO

Often the “no” is attached to what I won’t allow…but every once and a while the negative outcomes are attached to something greater than a won’t

Chasing the moon at mom and dad’s house...

It wasn’t possible

The no was attached to a “Can't.”

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Funny Illustration - What Can’t Be Done

Things that CANNOT be done

You Can’t...

Count Your Hair

Wash your eyes with soap

Draw a square without any lines

Walk while you’re standing

Slam a revolving door

Un-crack an egg

Un-burn a piece of wood

Count to infinity

Teach a legless man to tap dance

Breathe with your tongue out (You can do this.)

Unfortunately, there are just some things in life than cannot be done.

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Famous Last Words - Joshua’s final speech

In Joshua chapter twenty-four we are brought into an important narrative between Joshua and the people he is leading.

This is the scene taking place towards the end of the movie.

We’ve seen some crazy scenes over the course of this film

Walls fall into the ground

A million people walk across dry ground at Jordan

God elevate a simple servant to a leader for the ages.

God rewards faith

This is Joshua’s last address to the people

He is basically reminding them that they must choose who they are going to serve

Joshua was establishing the fact that one cannot serve the God of heaven and maintain their commitment to the false gods of earth

We may not have idols but that is because we have evolved to the place that we are our own idol.

Joshua is making the case that the people of God must make a conscious decision to walk in the will of God.

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Joshua wasn’t a motivational speaker.

Joshua doesn’t follow the rules for effective communication...

He doesn’t present to them a gospel of possibility

He doesn’t tell them how much better they can be if they will only decide to follow God.

No, Joshua chooses a different route, he tells them that they cannot serve the Lord because...

God Is Holy

God Is Jealous

God Will Not Forgive unrepentant Sin

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Compromise in Caanan

The context we are enjoying today is vastly different than that of Joshua…but the God who is ruling remains the same.

We are able to find some loose parallels between ourselves and the nation of Israel in this address..

We too live in a generation that is reaping the benefits of the the miraculous.

This address was given from Shechem, a land in Canaan (THEY WERE STANDING IN THE PROMISE)

It was a miracle that they were even standing there to listen

It would have been nearly impossible for them not to believe in God.

They were the most susceptible to compromise when what they were fighting for became familiar...

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When Miracles become mundane

We can stand in a miracle long enough that it becomes mundane...

The presence of the Holy Spirit is a miracle

The salvation of non-jews is a miracle.

We are all the recipient of a miracle to some degree

The reception of a miracle carries with it the necessity of a choice...

Will I settle into my current level…or will I let my miracle give birth to a new mission...

Yesterdays experience does not equate to today’s obedience.

In the same way that the Israelites had to make their own decision as to who they were going to serve, you and I have to make the same decision.

I will go a step further and let you know that as impossible as it was for the Israelites to serve God, it is equally impossible for us to serve God today.

We live in a generation saturated by sin…increasingly so every single day.

It is not harder to live for God as far as what is required from us, it is just easier to sin than it used to be.

It is so easy in our current context to feel like we are bombarded from every side with the impossibility of being a biblically integral and

But in spite of Joshua’s convincing submission look at the response of the Israelites.

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I can’t but I will

Joshua 24:21 NLT

But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”

I like the resolve of the Israelites...

He just told them why they can’t do it..

He gave them some solid reasons..

They said…we know…but we will.

I like it when the people of God get a little bit of an attitude.

Is there anyone else who likes to get a dose of holy rebellion every once and while...

I’m not saying that you should be hater driven…but something happens when I’m told I can’t accomplish something.

Over the next few weeks we are going to tap into the resolve of the Jewish people and let it become a declaration in our heart.

I Can’t…but I will.

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The reasons they can’t

Joshua didn’t just tell them they couldn’t but he gave them some reasons...

Joshua 24:19 NLT

Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

The first reason that Joshua gave them that they couldn’t serve the Lord is that He would not forgive their rebellion and their sins.

Today I want us to consider the main reason many people don’t serve God.

I Can’t serve the Lord because I can’t be forgiven.

I want to quickly look at a passage in the New Testament to unpack this aspect of our resolve.

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Matthew 27:38–44 NLT

Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way.

We aren’t given much information about the two men in this passage beside Jesus.

We know they are thieves

This tells us They are only concerned with theirselves

This tells us They are not commited to doing things the right way

This tells us They have looked for short cuts and are paying the price for that decision.

More than likely this was not their first offense…you don’t see many public crucifixions for first time petty theft.

In the same frame with these two thieves we see the savior of the world suffering in a gruesome way.

He has been falsely accused…corruptly sentenced…and brutally beaten.

He is unrecognizable at this point due to the severity of his beating.

We don’t find a crowd who has granted him sympathy based on his wounds.

We find a group of people who are ridiculing him and making fun of him all the way to the end.

In the midst of the jeering crowd…we see two individuals who use some of their last breaths to join in the mockery of the son of God.

those crucified with him..ridiculed him in this way.

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This is what hopeless looks like

You don’t find a much more solid picture of hopelessness than these individuals surrounding Jesus.

Sentenced to death

Dying for crimes

Ridiculing the son of God in the midst of carrying out their sentence.

Their fate seems all but sealed…hell seems a foregone conclusion for them.

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There are some of us that could relate to the hopelessness of the thief.

We’ve committed repeated wrongs

What was a instance of surrender

Turned into a few instances

Turned into a pattern

Now we feel that we have a decided fate because we can’t seem to break the chain of addiction.

This man has robbed…cheated…stolen…and now is making fun of the son of God...

His fate seems sealed…but then he learns something of the character of the man being crucified next to him.

Luke 23:32–34 NLT

Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

As the criminals were being crucified

They wrestled

They cursed

They threatened

They belittled

But as Jesus is being crucified

He forgives

Somehow in the midst of this mans pain and suffering, he has a moment of clarity in which he hears the offering of forgiveness to the men who are executing Jesus.

He must have thought to himself...

If he can forgive them, I wonder if he can forgive me.

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A change of action by the thief

As they hang Jesus on the cross, the other thief begins to go back into the same old tirade

But the contemplative thief says “STOP IT” “we deserve this, but he doesn’t"

Luke 23:42 NLT

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

The translators put a period there as if this is an imperative statement.

But I don’t believe this man is in a position to be making demands

I believe this was a question and a request.

Is there any way that you could remember me?

Is there any way that I could be forgiven?

Could my fate could be changed?

All he did was ask the question...

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It is my goal today…to simply get someone to ask the question they’ve never asked before...

Could I possibly be forgiven?...

Luke 23:43 NLT

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Forgiveness had been negated for him…He was going to die…And in dying as a thief meant dying and going to hell..

His fate was final, but then he heard the son of God say “FORGIVE”.

You may relate to the thief in that forgiveness doesn’t even seem like an option for you.

It doesn’t matter how broken you are...

It doesn’t matter how dark your secrets.

It doesn’t matter how many times you have fallen short.

FORGIVENESS IS FOR YOU...

But you can know that if he can declare forgive them from the cross..He can certainly declare it from the throne.

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There is zero reason that you should be able to be forgiven…but our God is so good…that even when you can’t be forgiven…you can.

You simply have to choose it.

Corri Ten Boom

Clockmaker from Holland

Had been arrested for concealing jew in the Holocaust

Ravensbruck guard

I Can’t Be Forgiven, But I will