"A Covenant Pledge" Joshua 24:14-18

Introduction

The Conquest of the promise land was over and the Lord had fulfilled the land promises that He had made to the children of Israel in the Abrahamic covenant.

As a matter of fact the book of Joshua tells us this in Joshua 21:45- “45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”

But Joshua goes on to warn the people that if they follow other gods that the Lord will strip them of the land if they violate the covenant (Joshua 23:14-16).

The covenant was conditional upon their obedience and faithfulness to the Lord.

Chapter 24 begins with Joshua giving the people of Israel a prophetic history lesson on the covenant fidelity of the Lord.

He tells them of the Lord’s covenant with Abraham and how the Lord worked to be faithful in giving Abraham descendents.

He then reminds them of how the Lord sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt and led them through the wilderness.

And eventually he reminds them of the faithfulness of the Lord in giving the physical promised land to them. It was the Lord that had brought about this success.

It is in light of this history lesson on the covenant fidelity of God where we see that Joshua puts a proposal before the people.

It is a proposal that challenges the covenant people of God to respond to His covenant fidelity with a covenant fidelity of their own as we see in verses 14-15. Look back at your text to verses 14-15:

I. The Proposal (14-15).

Verse 14 is full of imperative commands in the original language.

The first command is that they are to fear the Lord. This fear is a reverence that would promote obedience in their actions before the Lord.

This is why the second command to serve the Lord in sincerity and faithfulness naturally follows and even becomes more clarified as the third command is issued at the end of verse 14.

They are to put away the gods that their fathers served beyond the river and while in Egypt.

This proposal is one of covenant fidelity before the Lord. You see the implication is that even now in this post conquest state there is the ongoing practice of the worship of false gods.

And it is an inherited practice that the people embraced. Their forefathers did the same thing but now the Lord through Joshua was commanding the people to put away the false gods of their spiritual infidelity.

The practice of syncretism was often the problem with ancient Israel. They believed they could serve Yahweh and the pagan gods of their day. So it was common to mix religions or belief systems. This is tantamount to spiritual adultery in the eyes of the Lord and Joshua knew this all to well. Because he had seen what happened to the people in the wilderness.

He had witnessed the immorality due to the people adopting the pagan practices and worldviews of the godless people groups they encountered.

This is why Joshua leaves no room for middle ground in his proposal in verse 15. This is where he draws a proverbial line in the sand between good and evil. They can’t have it both ways, there must be a clear distinction and choice between Yahweh and the pagan gods.

And here, even at the end of his life Joshua declares his own decision for himself and his house. He declares without ambiguity that for him and his house we will serve the Lord.

Understand Christian that Joshua wasn’t being “wishy washy”, he was being emphatically clear before God right in the face of a people who loved ambiguity and the blurring of the lines when it came to their interpretation of all that it meant to be the people of God.

Christian moral relativism wasn’t just created in this age of post-modernism. Ever since the fall of man in Genesis 3 fallen man has been “fudging the numbers on what constitutes truth and morality”. This is not just a problem with the internal aspects of the human condition as individuals but the external aspects of the collective and cultural norms of people groups in society.

You see Christian, if there is only one God then His truth and His commands are all that really matter. But if that doesn’t set well with us we will attempt to tweak it to fit ourselves. Remember what Tim Keller has said: “If your God never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself”

Christian God created man in the image of God but fallen man creates gods in the image of man. But why does man do this? I suppose that man finds the false gods of his creative imagination more user friendly and accommodating to the human condition. Man would rather perceive himself more noble than he is in the eyes of his God.

We can see this in the response of the people. Look back at your text as the people respond to the proposal made by the Lord through Joshua in verses 16-18:

II. The Response (16-18).

This statement is not one of spiritual humility but it is one of spiritual pride. It may sound spiritual and noble but their assessment of their spiritual condition is inflated. “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods” (16).

They were already doing it. And we know this because the Lord through Joshua had just told them to put the false gods away and serve the Lord (14).

This is why Joshua appeals to resolve this day in which God you serve.

They were still on the fence when it came to covenant fidelity.

And they give their logic to their declaration in verses 17-18a. They base their sense of covenant fidelity upon the Lord’s deliverance of them from Egypt and the mighty display of power that was exhibited in the miracles. And the protection from enemies in the wilderness and in the conquest.

From this logic they derive the final conclusion in this matter at the end of verse 18: “Therefore we also will serve the Lord (Yahweh), for He is our God.”

They appeal to their own sense of resolved dedication and abilities in response to their experience of what Yahweh has done. Notice in their reflection they seem to leave all the failures of the past out. This is because their vision and understanding of Yahweh was tweaked to fit the prideful glory of their anticipated moral performance.

Conditional covenants with man being responsible reveal two things: The impossibility of man keeping it in and of himself and the infinite majesty and glory of God and His perfect righteous character.

Joshua tells them the truth though in verses 19-28:

From this two questions emerge in my mind.

First, why would God command things that man in and of himself is incapable of obeying?

Because in the dynamic of law and required obedience the condition of man is made clear and it leaves him hopeless with no place to turn but back to God for the sufficiency of His grace and mercy revealed in and through His covenant provision of Jesus Christ alone.

And the second question is, how then does Joshua make such a commitment as to declare “for me and my house we will serve the Lord” if they were all incapable of serving God?

I believe it is because Joshua is a type of Christ to come. Jesus would ransom a people for God to be children in the family of God. Jesus Christ as the ultimate conqueror would destroy sin and death and transform and quicken hearts by the Holy Spirit to be able to serve the Lord. Jesus did not just come to save us from the justice of God, He came to save us from us and the hamster wheel of our human performance as an attempt to validate ourselves before God instead of simply resting in His provision of grace to us in Christ.

Conclusion:

The ministry of the second Joshua tells us the truth. The Cross tells us how a Holy God responds to sin and the depth and horror and severity of it. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead tells us how fully and completely and absolutely sin has been atoned for in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Paid in full!

Joshua of Old recorded it in the Book of the Law of God and the second Joshua took the witness against us upon Himself “14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

Christian that is why the tomb was empty on the third day. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the quintessential declaration of the glory of Christ as the supreme conqueror who has triumphed over sin and death forever. And because of this our inheritance is secured and certain.

We are adopted into the family of God and His Holy Spirit lives in us. We will serve the Lord for we are empowered to do so as the redeemed of God.

When we sin we have an advocate with the Father the second person of the Godhead who pleads our case for us. Confess your sin and rest in Him. His grace is sufficient for us.

Unbeliever you must be born again! Believe the gospel!