Standing Firm in Your Convictions

Introduction

Here we are at the end of the book of Joshua.

Joshua had seen the Lord do so many wonderful things in his lifetime!

But there was one final thing that Joshua wanted to do. Joshua wanted so badly for the people of Israel to remember all that God had done for them.

Above all of this, he wanted the people to have a firm conviction to serve the Lord and to worship Him alone.

He knew that they easily went astray. He knew the danger of departing from the Lord. Joshua was there in the leadership circles of Israel when they saw the cloud of God fixated on the mountain but made a golden calf!

He was there when God gave Moses the instruction to take the land just to have the spies cast doubt.

He was there when God told Him to keep His commandments and not to turn to the right or to the left.

There is no doubt in my mind that Joshua was deeply convicted about the things of God.

If I were to ask you this morning what you were deeply convicted about, what would it be?

Conviction runs deeper than any emotion. Conviction takes us to greater heights than any accomplishment.

Conviction is God’s truth that has anchored itself in your mind and in your heart.

When we are convicted about the things of God, those convictions become transformative.

Romans 12:2 NKJV

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Ultimately, conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit combined with a healthy diet of God’s word.

I. Remind Yourself of God’s Grace

We’ve talked a great deal about God’s grace in recent days.

Grace is to get what we do not deserve.

This means that we get God’s goodness. We don’t deserve it, but becuase of His grace He gives it to us anyway.

Not only do we not deserve it, there is nothing that we could ever do to earn it.

That’s exactly what God is reminding the nation of Israel about here in Joshua 24

Joshua 24:12–13 NKJV

I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

When it comes to remembering God’s grace in our lives….

A. The Victories That He Has Won

Because it is by His grace, it is not we that have won the victory, it’s God that has won the victory.

v. 12 says, “It wasn’t with your sword or your bow that you won, it was the hornet that I sent before you.”

What is that hornet?

Some believe that it was literal hornets that God sent. Others believe that God sent fear and trembling and caused these other nations to lose. Whatever the case, God, by His mighty providential hand, reached out and drove the enemies of Israel to be defeated.

1. Not the Method, Not the Means, The Person

So often when we face battles and hills to high to climb. So often when we read the Bible stories of old. We get caught in the weeds and we start to wonder about the what instead of the Who.

We want God to work in our lives in the exact same way He has worked before, but when that is our attitude, we focus on the method and the means, and we forget to focus on the Person.

It is by the grace of God that we’ve won victories in our past. It is by the grace of God that we will win victories in the future. It is by His grace alone that we accomplish anything that has been accomplished.

To be strong in our convictions, we must remind ourselves of God’s grace, and give all the credit to Him for every victory that He’s won.

B. The Dwellings He Has Provided (13a)

Joshua 24:13 NKJV

I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them;

Is there anything in your life that you take pleasure in?

I can imagine those Israelites looking across the plains of Jordan. There they are reminiscing on all the victories that they’ve won. Thinking about all the beautiful cities that they dwell in. There they are and they are thinking, “We’ve done it. We live in such wonderful places because of all our hard work.”

But they did not build those cities. They didn’t raise the gates and hoist the flags. It was the Lord!

The focus of these two verses is the goodness of God.

It is because of His goodness that they are in the land. It is because of His goodness that the cities were reserved for them. It is by His goodness that they have all that they have.

This was God reminding the people of the promise that He made to them long ago.

Deuteronomy 6:10–11 NKJV

“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant

This is exactly how we live now.

The Promised Land is not a vision of Heaven. It is an illustration of what it means to live holy lives dedicated to the Lord.

That when we are dedicated to the Lord, we will be thankful for the things He has given us.

In the times when Israel forgot that those cities belong to the Lord, they became cesspools of sin.

Pride, jealousy, back-biting, desire.

Looking on those cities as something to be possessed instead of something to use to glorify the Lord.

When we fail to remember the source of our dwelling places, then we begin to make the dwelling places our sources of comfort.

Our Battle is Spiritual, and So is Our Pleasure

When we consider the grace of God, we need to understand that we find our pleasure in spiritual things.

Yes, they physical is good, but the physical is not the focus. The spiritual is our focus.

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Just as our war is not against flesh and blood, our pleasure is not to be found in flesh and blood.

Jesus died in the flesh so that we could have spiritual life.

When we make the emphasis of our life on the temporal, on the physical, then we begin to lose sight of those things that really matter.

What are the things that matter?

The things that matter are those things which accomplish God’s will and make us more like Christ.

Ephesians 4:17 NKJV

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

How should we walk?

Ephesians 4:22–24 NKJV

put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Righteousness and Holiness - Neither one of these things originate on the outside of the body. These things originate in the heart. To be holy is a matter of the heart. To be righteous is a matter of the heart.

By His grace, God has given us everything that we have. When we begin to focus on the dwellings of life instead of the Giver of the dwelling, our minds become darkened, our hearts become conceited, and instead of having a sincere conviction for the Lord, we have a sincere conviction of our own will.

C. The Food He Has Given

Joshua 24:13 NKJV

you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.

When we think of the vineyards, we need to think of God’s Kingdom. In the New Testament, Jesus shows that the vineyard represents the nation of Israel.

It also depicts God’s faithfulness to the nation Israel.

There was a time when the people starved and had nothing good to eat.

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 NKJV

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

God does not want us to forget this…that while the food we have is good, there is nothing that can replace His truth.

That if we want to have spiritual vitality, we must be constantly reminded of His grace and the food that He has given us.

This food is His word!

By the grace of God we have the nutrient rich food of His word.

II. Fear the Lord in Sincerity and Truth

Joshua 24:14–18 NKJV

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of 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.” So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

A firm conviction begins with the fear of the Lord.

Look there in v. 14 to see what it means to really fear the Lord. It says, “put away the gods your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt.” - That simply means to love Him. When we really love something or someone, we won’t do anything to compromise that love and relationship. God says to Israel, “If you love me, show me with your action. Be loyal to me!”

What does it take to fear the Lord?

A. A Conscious Choice

In v. 15 Joshua tells the nation of Israel to “choose whom you will serve”!

If fearing the Lord is a choice, then there are some things that it cannot be.

1. Motivated by Unholy Desire

When we relinquish our rights as citizens of Heaven to selfishness and unholiness, we are doing what the Bible says, “returning to our bondage of sin.”

Galatians 5:1 NKJV

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

As people of God, we can willingly sin. Once we sin, we are allowing ourselves to be slaves of that sin.

We can also do this while claiming to work for God. We can say that we are doing things for God but our motivation is not love for Him, our motivation is selfishness and unholiness.

2. Accomplished Through Terror

God will never coerce you into doing His will. He will never force you to love Him because that’s not true love. True love is always a willing exchange.

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

When we are terrified, we are powerless, we are not motivated by love, and we are not motivated by sound reason. Instead of allowing truth and love to be our guide, we allow desperation to be our guide.

Joshua could have ordered every tent in the place to be seized and searched. He could have ordered that anyone who did not come forward with their false gods to be killed. Joshua could have use some kind of emotional persuasion to convince them of their sin.

He didn’t do those things. He said, “Make a choice”

So that’s what God tells us today, “make a choice.” Don’t be a fence riding Christian.

B. A Consecrated Heart

The people say in response there in v. 16, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord!”

What they are saying here is that they are willing to consecrate themselves to God.

Consecration means to be separated and used for a special purpose.

If we are going to stand strong in our convictions, we must be set apart for the work of God.

To be consecrated is not a half-hearted endeavor. This is not something that we can just plainly say. To be consecrated means that there is no place we won’t go, no function we won’t perform, no preference we won’t lay down for the sake of God’s will.

To be totally consecrated is not just a total abandon of ourselves, but it is a total embrace of God.

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Blackaby writes, “Too many people ask, ‘What is God’s will for my life’ when they should be asking, ‘What is God’s will?’”

The truth is that we can get so caught up in doing things right that we forget to do things right. We get so caught up in doing things the way that they must be done, that we forget to be obedient to how God is telling us to do it.

But when we are consecrated to God, we voluntarily submit to His will in everything we do, even when it doesn’t seem right to us.

C. A Clear Direction

In v. 17-18 they say, “we won’t ever return to Egypt! We will serve the Lord and He alone!”

Listen, as people of God, we have to have a clear direction. We must know that we are walking towards Heaven with all intentionality and with all boldness. We will do what God asked Joshua to do, we will not turn to the right or to the left, but we will walk straightway towards Jesus Christ, modeling our lives after Him.

III. Find Your Strength in God

Joshua 24:19–22 NKJV

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!” So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!”

Do you see what Joshua does here? He challenges them!

He wants them to be sure that they are serious about their conviction. He wants to make sure that they fully understand the commitment they are making.

We are really good at over committing!

A. The Seriousness of Our Commitment

When we say yes to Jesus, it’s not a commitment for the faint of heart!

We always have to remember that Joshua was there when all the people of Israel said, “We will serve the Lord and Him only!” Then, after about 40 days, they made a golden calf and said, “This is your god who brought you out of the land!”

Now, I’ve seen some generational slides, but 40 days might be a record! From crossing a sea on dry ground to making a golden calf is a big jump!

Yet, in every page of the Old Testament I can see my sin nature rising up in me.

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” - John Owen

We have to know that when we make a commitment to the Lord, we are making a solemn oath. We are entering into a covenant with Him and that is not something that He takes lightly.

B. The Requirement of Our Commitment

Joshua 24:23–24 NKJV

“Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

If we would stand here together in this service, and we were to make a commitment to the Lord, but we did not cast out the golden calves from among us, we are in danger of what we know as being backslidden.

When the Bible talks about putting something away, it’s not talking about talking about it. It’s not talking about having a pity party and wishing things were better.

The Bible is talking about a very serious word, repentance.

1. What is proper repentance?

Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action

It’s not just intellectual knowledge that you’ve done something wrong, but it is practical obedience to the Lord.

a. Proper repentance is no longer being attracted to sin

This is something that runs against the grain of our common theological practice. In our minds we say, “every one sins, it’s impossible not to sin, therefore if I sin it’s not that bad.”

But when we sin it is bad. When we sin it shows a lack of a repentant heart. It may be that we will never be perfect, but for the Christian, even though we sin, we feel as though that sin has crushed our inner being.

The closer we get to the Lord, the more that we grow in spiritual maturity, the more that sin crushes us.

b. Proper repentance means to render satan powerless

Ephesians 4:27 NKJV

Give no place to the devil.

James 4:7 NKJV

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

When we get to the place where we think to ourselves, “My sin isn’t that bad” what we’ve done is we’ve given satan an avenue of destruction.

Any ammunition is good ammunition to the devil!

The Bible teaches us that by submitting ourselves to God, by killing sin, by living in repentance, we are delivered from the power of the devil.

c. Relying on the Strength of God

Jesus Himself, when He was tempted in the wilderness, raised up the shield of faith and then drew the sword of the word.

Ephesians 6:16–17 NKJV

above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Faith simply means “to trust”. The shield of faith is raised when we get away from self-reliance and self-confidence and we totally embrace the confidence of God.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God.

Psalm 119:11 NKJV

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

Every time you go to Sunday School. Every time you sit under preaching. Every time you open up the Word of God, the Spirit of God etches that word into your heart. And at times when you need it, that word comes springing out of you like a spring of life.

I can’t tell you how many times I have sat in church or I have listened to others preach, and for some reason what they said that day etched itself into my heart. And I didn’t know, but the Lord knew, that the days were coming when I would need those truths to carry me through!

In times of waiting and in times of need, the devil will come slithering up and he’ll begin to whisper those lies of unbelief. But, when it comes down to it, if we will take up that shield of faith, if we will get out our sword, we will make it through.

I can know that I am living a repentant life when the trials of life come but I don’t abandon the Lord my God. Not because I am strong. But because in my weakest moments, the strength of God comes pouring out of me. Pretty soon, once we mature, we learn to live in weakness so that the strength of the Lord can always shine through.

Conclusion

What is the greatest conviction that I could have today?

It could be a deep conviction that Jesus is the Son of God.

It could be a deep conviction that you are relying on Jesus to take you home.

But I think that the most needed conviction that we need in our world today is that the Bible is the Word of God.

The book of Joshua ends with a call to follow the Lord, it also began with a call to follow the Lord.

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Friend, if our convictions are revealed by the actions we take, how deeply in love are you with God’s word? How deeply does your prayer life run?