Joshua s final words to the Children of Israel Land Promise Made to Abraham God promised to give Abraham s descendants the land of Canaan Ge 13:14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you arenorthward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 "for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 "Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you." 1
Forever was Contingent on Obedience We may wonder about this word Forever Their continued possession of the land contingent on their obedience. Moses warned them about the contingency before he died! De 28:62 "You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63 "And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. Forever was Contingent on Obedience Even Joshua warned them of these same contingencies Jos 23:11 "Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God. 12 "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations-these that remain among you-and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, 13 "know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 2
Forever was Contingent on Obedience Jos 23:14 "Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. 15 "Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. Forever was Contingent on Obedience 16 "When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you." 3
The Promise was Fulfilled The fulfillment of this promise to Abraham took place during the life of Joshua and is recorded in Joshua 21 Jos 21:43 So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Shortly before the death of Joshua, he stands before the Children of Israel and makes what I believe to be one of the greatest statements contained in the scriptures Jos 24:15 "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. It made no difference to Joshua if any or all of the Children of Israel decided to forsake God. He was going to serve the Lord! 4
Does it matter to us what everybody else is doing? Or who they are serving? Are we going to allow the bad decisions others make cause us to make bad decisions as well? Joshua certainly wasn t going to! And this was not the first time he was willing to go against the crowd if need be When Joshua and Caleb returned from spying out the land, they tried to convince the people to believe God and go up and take the land. The crowd became so angry with them they wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb Joshua was the type person that was willing to serve God even when it was not the popular thing to do. The Bible is filled with examples of Godly men and women who made the decision to obey God when the majority decided not to. Noah built the ark Joseph was alone in Egypt David faced Goliath alone faced down the 450 prophets of Baal alone 5
made a very similar statement to Joshua s 1Ki 18:21 And came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 1Ki 18:23 "Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 "Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." So all the people answered and said, "It is well spoken." 25 Now said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it." 6
1Ki 18:26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, "O Baal, hear us!" But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made. 27 And so it was, at noon, that mocked them and said, "Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 1Ki 18:29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention. 30 Then said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 7
1Ki 18:32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." 34 Then he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; and he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. 1Ki 18:35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. 36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that the prophet came near and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 8
1Ki 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!" 40 And said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they seized them; and brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there. We could go on and talk about several others who stood alone for God Esther Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Daniel The Apostle Paul All of these stood for God when the multitudes turned away They would not follow the crowd 9
If we serve God, He will deliver us. The Apostle Paul gives uses himself as example to encourage us in II Timothy Paul was nearing the end of his life. He had been arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome to stand before Caesar He was released from his first imprisonment and went back to preaching the Gospel He was then arrested again and is waiting to be taken before Caesar the second time when he writes II Timothy 2Ti 4:16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 10
God will always stand with us when we want to do what is right and give us the strength to do it! 1Co 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. There is never a time in our lives when we have to do what is wrong. Serving God will cause us problems here in this life We may loose friends & family We may even suffer physical persecution But, The Lord will deliver us from every evil work and preserve us for His heavenly kingdom Just like he did the Apostle Paul!! We are not promised physical deliverance! It was a short time after the Apostle Paul made this statement that he was beheaded. Did God deliver him physically? No But he did deliver him spiritually to a home in Heaven. That is the deliverance we are promised if we serve God. If we will hold on in this life then we will receive an eternal reward. 11
2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Conclusion Do we want an eternal home in Heaven? Then we need to make the same commitment Joshua did! As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD! 12