Passage: Joshua 24:1-33 Title: Promises, promises Big Idea: God keeps his promises, does everything to rescue us and calls us to choose him or not. Application: When things go wrong in your life who is the person you call? When your car breaks down, your home is broken into, you fall into debt or you receive heart breaking news. Who pops into your mind as the person you call on? When you hear you are pregnant, when you get that dream job or when have just had a tough day. Maybe it s a parent, or a spouse, or a really good friend or family member? We all have that one person we can call on no matter the situation. I want you to think about why you chose that specific person though, instead of a host of other choices that you had. My guess is that they have proven themselves to you. They have a track record of being that person to you.
Whether the chips were up or down they have proven themselves to be the person you can rely on and trust to be there for you. When you are in need of help or you have life changing news, you don t go to the closest shopping mall to tell random people. You go to the person/people you trust, who you know have your best in mind and want to help you or are ready to celebrate with you. This term we are going to be working through the book of Judges. A lot of us will be familiar with Judges, especially if you went to Sunday school as a kid. I know I thought the judges were so cool when I was a kid, especially Samson who was super strong. But reading through Judges as an adult I was shocked. Judges is the type of book that most people would not expect to find in God s word.
If it were made into a movie the people in charge of setting the age restrictions, might have to come up with a new one. Judges is a book that contains graphic violence and sexually explicit scenes. It is a book that really exposes sin, a life lived against God. Normally there are some good people around, a remnant or something, but in the book of Judges they are not mentioned. Judges is quite unique in this way. What this style helps us to see is that God is very big very, very big. God s love for his people and his faithfulness to them is incredible, it is enormous, it is almost incomprehensible. Judges exposes how utterly helpless we are without God. Even the mighty judges are only able to do what they do because of God. God who uses the weak to shame the strong and the foolish to shame the wise.
Tonight as we start our series in Judges, we start at the end of Joshua. This helps lay down a foundation for all that will take place. In fact as we will see next week, Joshua s death and the start of the judges period overlap. What we need to keep in mind as we work through Judges is that God keeps his promises, does everything to rescue his people and calls them to choose him or not. We start our Judges series off tonight by looking at the last chapter in Joshua. It lays down the foundation for what is to come. The first thing I want us to see tonight is that 1. God faithfully does everything for the Israelites Follow with me as I read the first few verses for us again, and take note of who is doing what as I read
24 Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and summoned Israel s elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the region beyond the Euphrates River, led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession. Jacob and his sons, however, went down to Egypt. 5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I defeated Egypt by what I did within it, and afterward I brought you out. 6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen as far as the sea. 7 Your fathers cried out to the LORD, so he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you. 9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse
you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he repeatedly blessed you, and I rescued you from him. 11 You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. Jericho s citizens as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hethites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites fought against you, but I handed them over to you. 12 I sent hornets ahead of you, and they drove out the two Amorite kings before you. It was not by your sword or bow. 13 I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. The Israelites are entering into the promised land. The land God promised to Abraham many years ago. It s a climax in the history of Israel. But before they enter Joshua, who took over leadership of Israel after Moses died, reminds the Israel of something very important. Joshua gives the Israelites a brief history lesson reminding them of God s faithfulness to his promises to Abraham.
This is seen in all that he does for the Israelites. They don t have to lift a finger. God does everything for them. They didn t earn his favour. They were idol worshippers, lost and heading for destruction. But God took Abraham out of the darkness and through God s promises to Abraham the nation of Israel is established. God instigated their rescue, and through his grace he has carried them to where they are moments away from entering the amazing land he promised them. What Joshua wants the Israelites to see is that they can trust God. He has proven himself, faithful and powerful, loving and merciful and full of grace. He is much greater than that person you were thinking of at the start. He is there for his people before they even know they need them while they are still lost and far from him. God single handedly does everything for the Israelites.
He even fights for them. He conquers great nations all by himself. There is nothing that the Israelites have done at all. Except maybe complain if you know the story. God has a super impressive track record, he is the one you want in your corner. God faithfully does everything for the Israelites. In the movie hacksaw ridge, many soldiers despised Desmond Doss, because of the stance he took on guns. They tried to get him kicked out of the army, so that he wouldn t have to go with them to war. They believed he would get them killed. Yet after the first few days up on hacksaw ridge everyone wanted Doss to be there with them. They wanted Doss in their corner. This is because of Doss s remarkable track record, he rescued and saved many men, going beyond the call of duty.
Doss even rescued enemy soldiers. He stayed when others left, he put his life on the line for others, despite how they treated him. Joshua reminds the Israelites that God is much better than Desmond Doss, anyone or anything else in our world. This truth remains the same today. God is the greatest. God faithfully does everything for us. We see this fulfilled in Jesus. While we were lost and living in darkness God sent his Son Jesus Christ to rescue us by dying for us on the cross. God s grace to us is seen through the death and resurrection of Jesus. God has single handedly won the greatest victory for you and me. Like the Israelites in the time of Joshua we need to be reminded of God s track record, of his faithfulness to us. God keeps his promises, he does everything for us.
We aren t entering a promised land, instead we are entering eternity with God in the new creation. We can trust God, we want him in our corner. As we move on we will see that this is a choice we all have to make. The choice to accept God and all that he has done for us or to choose someone or something else. What we see in the next section is that 2. The Israelites choose God over everything else After Joshua reminds the Israelites of how amazing and awesome God is, how faithful he has been to them he then calls them to decide who they will choose. Have a look at v14-15 with me 14 Therefore, fear the LORD and worship him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the LORD. 15 But if it doesn t please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship the gods your fathers worshipped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods
of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD. The logical conclusion is for the Israelites to choose God, he has proven himself time and time again to them. It s a no brainer for Joshua, he and his family are going to worship God. Worship is a response to what God has done. Worship is not something we are to do for God or offer to God from our side. Worship for the Israelites is in humbling themselves and praising God for all that he has done. Worship is the right response to all that we saw God doing in the previous section. Worship is exactly what God alone deserves. But it s not forced worship. God gives the Israelites a choice. A very interesting choice, I wonder if you picked it up? The obvious thing is to worship God.
But if they don t want to they can worship the gods they worshipped from where Abraham was called, or the gods from their current location the gods of the Amorites. The choice is between two gods who don t deserve worship. These gods are just like the Israelites, they have done nothing. God has conquered them both easily. God has done everything therefore he alone deserves their worship. Yet we get a little hint that these gods are already receiving the worship of the Israelites. The hearts of the Israelites are torn between these gods. Yet look with me at v16-18 16 The people replied, We will certainly not abandon the LORD to worship other gods! 17 For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through. 18 The LORD drove out before us all the peoples,
including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the LORD, because he is our God. The Israelites choose to follow God. It s hard to ignore the evidence of the previous section. The Israelites acknowledge God s amazingness and awesomeness it s pretty hard to ignore. The Israelites make the right choice, yet have a look with me at Joshua s response 19 But Joshua told the people, You will not be able to worship the LORD, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions and sins. 20 If you abandon the LORD and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you, after he has been good to you. Joshua seems to be really harsh. The Israelites have done a good thing, they have done the logical thing to choose God above idols. Why does Joshua seem so grumpy?
Joshua wants the Israelites to understand what they are committing to. It s a huge decision, one that requires thought and reflection. It s like a business contract, or a home loan, or a marriage document. It s a huge deal, with consequences for not doing what you promised to do. It must bring a change in their hearts. Joshua wants them to know that there are very real consequences for choosing God half heartedly. Yet in v21 the Israelites insist on choosing God above all else to worship him and him alone. To state the seriousness of their decision Joshua mediates a covenant between the Israelites and God. God is faithful to his promises and the Israelites promise to worship him alone as a result. They promise to obey God. A stone is set up as a witness against them if they deny God. This section is the backdrop to Judges.
The end of Joshua seems to end on a high. But there are warnings for us that everything is not as great as it seems. The Israelites seem to be in a good place, they choose God over everything. They promise to worship and obey him, but they were unable to comprehend the gravity of the situation. That is why Joshua warns them to make sure they realise what they are committing to. The last few verses also act as a hint for what is coming. Joshua dies, Joseph s bones are moved and Eleazar the priest dies. All these deaths signify the end of an era. The tension in the unfolding true story of the Bible is raised. Will the Israelites stay true and faithful to their promises to God? Feel free to read ahead in this term. We won t be able to cover everything in Judges, so it would be good for you to read through it.
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, I would be happy to chat and engage with you. Next week as we head into the book of Judges we need to remember that that the Israelites chose God. Which on the one hand is a super easy choice to make. God is faithful and does everything for them. On the other hand it s a really serious choice, one that requires thought and reflection. It s not like choosing your outfit for the day or what you are going to have for breakfast. As we work through this book together we must fight the temptation to judge the Israelites and make ourselves the heroes. If we want to compare ourselves with anyone in the book of Judges, we are the Israelites. They serve as an example to us.
Tonight we need to challenge our own hearts as we look at the Israelites. The lesson to learn is the difference between true repentance and something you think is a good idea. Repentance is a 180 degree turn around. Armies would use it in their drills. The soldiers would be walking one way and they would shout REPENTANCE! Then the soldiers would turn around and go in the opposite direction. The Israelites are saying the right things in our section but the warning is are they living it out. Rather, will they live it out? That s what they promised to do, when they said they would worship and obey God. That is the same promise we make when we recognise that through Jesus God has done everything for us. That Jesus death has dealt with all our guilt and shame. That we no longer have to fear Jesus return, because Christ has won us the victory. Jesus rose from death victoriously and he offers us the same.
An eternity in the new perfect creation in perfect relationship with him and God, who we can now call father. God faithfully won us the greatest victory, when we didn t deserve it and unable to earn it by ourselves. Jesus, God s only Son has done everything for us and he calls us to choose. He calls you and me to choose him, which is to choose life, forever life, or to choose yourself and your own gods, which is to choose death, forever death. It s a simple decision on the one hand, but on the other it s a massive one to make. Everyone has made the choice to follow Jesus or not to follow Jesus. The great news is that if you haven t yet chosen to worship and obey Jesus because of all he has done for you and God who remained faithful to you there is still time. There is still time to repent, to turn away from you old way of living against God.
Repentance is not coming to church, or serving people, or going to life group or singing passionately. Those are good things, but you can do all those things and not live for Jesus. Repentance is not feeling bad about sin, or feeling guilty or doing everything that you can to stop sinning. Again good things but not repentance. Repentance is turning away from yourself towards Jesus your saviour. It is trusting in him alone for everything. It is not continuing the same way. You draw closer and closer to Jesus, it won t always be easy, it requires sacrifice and struggle. But it s worth it because Jesus has done everything for us. Repentance is a choice to follow Jesus over everyone and everything else. It is in response to all that Jesus has done for us. If you haven t turned to Jesus yet, tonight is a good night to do so. Turn around from heading to death tonight.
Turn around and follow Jesus, head towards life. Jesus longs for you to turn to him, but as we saw in our passage it s your choice. What you will receive is eternity, the salvation of your very self. There is nothing greater, nothing more satisfying. Rejection of Jesus will result in death and suffering in a life filled with hopelessness and loneliness. You have heard so many times what I have said tonight, The God has given us everything through Jesus Christ his only son. God alone can rescue. Tonight who or what will you choose to worship?