Farewell Joshua (Joshua 24) - Pastor Daniel Fusco

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the book of Joshua chapter 24 Joshua chapter 24 and as you open there you will realize that this is the absolute last chapter in the book of Joshua which means that assuming that I do not get long-winded more than usual at any point in the evening we're gonna be closing out the book of Joshua this evening and the the beauty of the book of Joshua of course is once again as you study the Scriptures what you'll find is that God is faithful the book of Joshua is all about God ultimately fulfilling the promises that he gave to Abram and we see it in fulfillment now in the life of the generation who Joshua led now if you think about that you realize that what that means is that God and the fulfilling of his promises isn't on our timetable and I think that's something that's very challenging for all of us God made promises to Abram and literally were four or five hundred years later and now those promises are coming into fulfillment and what that really reminds us of course is that in God's perfect plans with all that God is doing we might not get to play the part that we'd like to play in the story of his Redemption I mean you could imagine for the generation that wandered in the wilderness and died they'd be like oh man I was really hoping to go into the Promised Land but it wasn't God's will for that generation to be in that spot and really what it boils down to each one of us as do we trust God in His perfect plans to play the part that we're supposed to play and what I've learned is that in this generation most people don't trust that we want to be who we want to be we want to do what we want to do we want to accomplish what we think we're supposed to accomplish and we often don't think God whatever you want to do I'm game for that but the key is is you have to remember that gods for God it says in the scriptures and speaking poetically not scientifically necessarily that for God one day is as a thousand years in thousand years as one day that's a a poetic way of saying is God's timing is different than ours God experiences time differently than we do and so the reality for each one of us is to say God in the whole scope of what you're doing in all of humanity can I be the best version of the part that you want me to play by your spirit and if we're willing to be and do that then we will be faithful to the calling that God has on our lives you know I was talking with someone recently about some of what God has laid on our hearts as a church about about bringing people in the name of Jesus into some of the least most restricted countries in the world and someone saying well how is that gonna work and I said well right now there's no bridges in so maybe our job is to actually be under water putting the support structure that in a future generation someone can build the bridge to go in I don't like but if we don't go underwater and build the support structure that that bridge could be built on then at some point someone's got to go under there and do it so maybe that's our job maybe we're never gonna see the fulfillment of the vision the way we want to but that's okay as long as we play the part we're supposed to play and then listen that's not the most you know we often don't like speaking those ways because we want to accomplish what we want to accomplish but when you read the scriptures you realize that in each generation God was doing something you know and ultimate you think that there's thousands of years of God working in the midst of the Jewish people before God sent His Son Jesus so that's why John the Baptist could say something amazing like the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than every prophet who came before why because in that generation which Jesus walked among the earth and in our generation warm privileged position whereas there were people who looked forward to the coming of the Messiah I didn't even know what his name was and so for Joshua and for this generation that is now settled into the promised land now Josh was just tying up all the remaining loose here so look at what it says in Joshua 24 verse 1 it says then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God and Joshua said to all the people thus says the Lord God of Israel your father's including terror of the father of Abraham and the father of nahor dwelt on the other side of the river in old times and they served other gods and then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and I gave him Isaac verse 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau to Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess and to Jacob and his children they went down to Egypt and I sent Moses and Aaron and I played to Egypt according to what I did among them after when I brought you out and then I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came to the sea and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea and they cried out to the Lord and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt when you dwelt in the wilderness a long time verse 8 and I brought you into the land of the amorite who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan and they fought with Ulen but I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land and I destroyed them from before you and then balak the son of zippor king of Moab arose to make war against Israel and I sent and I called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you but I would not listen to Balaam therefore he continued to bless you and so I delivered you out of his hand then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho and the man of Jericho fought against you also the amorite the perizzites the Canaanites the Hittites the girgashites the Hittites and the jebusites but I delivered them into your hand I sent the Hornet before you to draw out which drove them out from before you also the two kings of the am rights but now but not with your sword or with your bow I've 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 the olive groves that you did not plant now what's really beautiful here is Joshua's last meeting with the people take place at this place called Shechem and Shechem really has a huge history in the scriptures of course it was just a few miles north and a little to the west of Shiloh which was where the previous meeting that Joshua had with everybody and really what you find is that and Shechem you know Abraham responded and built an altar to God there in Genesis chapter 12 Jacob stopped at Shechem on his return and very the idols of his family that brought with them in Genesis chapter 35 the the Israelites set up an altar there in Joshua chapter 8 so it's got a rich history and really what Joshua does is he invites them back and he recounts pretty much the entire story of their history from about the book of Genesis chapter 11 all the way to the present day but what's amazing is I mean now if you've been studying with us here at Crossroads that's taking us about seven years to cover that ground and Joshua was able to do it in about twelve verses so there's a couple of things for us to see here now odds literally he hits all the major situations but really what this is and scholars make a strong case of this that really what you see here in Joshua chapter 24 is what you would call the usual parts of a covenant renewal if you read extra biblical literature from this time period it was very common for there to be a short preamble than a long historical prologue and then the stipulations between the covenant maker and the people who are supposed to keep the covenant and then a writing of the agreement and that's really exactly what this chapter is now the reason I bring this up is because God has an amazing way of taking things that are common and infusing that with brand-new meaning so the fact that this covenant renewal mirrors other covenant renewals that you can find at this point in history doesn't devalue it what it finds is that God uses the very basic things that everyone is used to and then he infuses it with fresh meaning let me give you an example it was very common in Jewish culture to celebrate the passover the passover seder where they had two cups of wine and the bread and the moths and all these different things but Jesus on what we call the the you know Maundy Thursday or the Last Supper there's all these different words that the church is used for it where he took the bread he said this bread is my body he took that cup you said this cup is the New Covenant in my blood for everybody who had done it for thousands of years they thought about the Passover lamb Jesus like watch lis that Passover line that's actually speaks of me you know the massa speaks of me - right and even the thing something like baptism it was very common in Jewish culture and in other cultures at that time when somebody was considered ceremonially unclean where they had done what they touched a dead body there was a flow of blood they would have to bathe before they were readmitted into the life of the children of Israel some people make a whole big deal about it it's just like I mean if somebody was blood you'd hope they'd wash before they come to your dinner table - amen so people get all freaked out about but it was like a basic health code which was unique in that culture but Jesus went when John the Baptist shows up but he begins baptizing for you know repentance sake and then Jesus and His disciples at the baptizing you know he was taking something that was common and infusing it with greater meaning and in the same way this covenant renewal is the same thing although this was a common covenant renewal they look a suzer entreaty would would be the way that they would call it more academically and he took the same stipulations and he just applied it to their lives but it means something greater so they're all together they're at Shechem and then Joshua begins to rehearse all the blessings of what God has done a historical prologue and really what you find in this is that he walks through the patriarchs he walks through the Exodus he walks through the victories on the east side of the Jordan and now of course on the west side of the Jordan and he walks through each one of them and the emphasis is on what God has done right the emphasis is not on what they did it's what God has done and here's a great question for you can you tell in a few paragraphs the story of God's redemptive history from the Bible can you say God did this and then called the dish and then God and do it briefly like can you get all the tops of the waves walking you from creation all through fall through all that went on through Redemption and then what God's will do that's how you know you know the Scriptures when you can take it you can explain it in a few sentences like when I was studying this I was really taken by how simply and succinctly what took us seven years to study was expressed and for the people who were there they knew these stories wise because it tells the faithfulness of God what God has done and my encouragement to you would be able to take these 12 verses and think about them and say hey this happened and this happened and God did this and God did this and all the way through the finished work of Jesus in the New Testament what was god of do you have the the grand scope of Scripture you know I love teaching the Bible verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book but the thing is when it takes you seven years to do something that Joshua could do in 12 verses sometimes you missed the whole story in the midst of getting into the nitty-gritty so what I would say is get into the nitty-gritty but also see it from cover to cover does that make sense like I always use the example to people that there's lots of ways to study the Bible you could take the Bible if you want to get across the country you take a plane you travel about 30,000 feet you don't see everything but you see the big stuff right now if you want to get a little bit of a per dive you can drive across the country depending on how fast you drive and how many things you want to see that could take you a week two months depending on how much you want to see and then of course if you really want to see the country you can go on a bicycle take you even longer right and if you're really feeling saucy you could walk through the entire country right now each way you're seeing the country but you're seeing them from a different vantage point so I would encourage you when was the last time you had the Bible from cover to cover you guys have you read three chapters in the Old Testament one chapter in the New Testament every single day for 365 days you're gonna be the entire Bible I know it sounds like a lot but it's really not a lot and I could tell you that cuz I've done it many times if you really feel an extra spiritual read three chapters in the old - in the New Testament you'll get through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice five chapters you could read break them up - the Old Testament the morning or new test but in the morning Old Testament at night do it for a year you're gonna get there that's what you know you want to be able to see the grand scope of all that God has done and in the same way take some time to soak in a book when was the last time you just said hey I'm gonna just soak in Paul's letter to the Ephesians I'm gonna take one month per chapter I'm gonna memorize each chapter as I go you can see that part of the scripture differently not seeing it at 30,000 feet but seeing it at street level and internalizing it and the key is that we want to be able to see the whole story of what God has done and so as we go through this it's amazing and I'm just gonna pull mean literally it took me seven years to preach through all this so yeah we do want you to go home to see your families at some point today so I don't want a bit labor going back over all of it but a few things that I think is fascinating first I want you to notice in verse 2 your fathers including Terah the father of Abraham the father of a-arm dwelt on the other side of the river in old times and they noticed that they served what other gods now here's the thing abraham was chosen by sheer grace and not because he had some sort of a pedigree or he had a lineage that honored the God of the Bible and I want to just say this because oftentimes people have this mistaken idea that because I don't know Jesus I could never follow Jesus here's the thing everybody comes from somewhere but your history doesn't need to determine your future right so if you've never before served the God of the Bible the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God who sent Jesus to die on a cross for your sins if you've never before served him before he doesn't hold that against you it's time for you to serve Him now and I'll be honest with you I was one of those people who I grew up I was serving other gods and when Jesus called me to himself and I responded to that it doesn't matter where you've been Jesus is like well yeah you know you've been there you're not allowed to be part of my family so no I know where you've been I came to get you and I want to make you part of my family so it's always important to remember that Abraham the great follow the faith grew up worshipping idols Lisa's family did the the influence of his family was not something that was godly as we say wasn't holy wasn't worshipping the creator and sustainer God who we would know but that didn't matter to God because God called him right notice verse 3 then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river another than throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplies descendants and I gave him Isaac and Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau a he saw I gave the mountains of steer to possessor to Jacob and the children went down to Egypt also I sent Moses there and I played Egypt afterward when I when I did among them afterward I brought you out so you notice he goes through Genesis he goes to the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and they end up in Egypt like at the end of the book of Genesis and then I raised up Moses a tear and that's the beginning of the book of Exodus and then I deliver them on out so what you find is that there's a huge story there's a redemptive story that's going on here but once again you know there's a people say this all the time and I and I and I tend to agree with it that your testimony is a great thing for you to share now here's the thing I agree because God's story in your life is important to share but here's the thing most of us when we share a testimony we just brag about how sinful we were it's all about us in our garbage and not about who God is and what he's done does that make sense so I always tell people because I want you all to know how to share your testimony if somebody asks for your for your story be like Joshua make it brief okay everyone doesn't know yet for breakfast for every single day and they want the highlights but here's the thing use a lot of Scripture and tell them what God has done in your life not all the bad things you did because you know what it is you're in a testimony and someone's done they're going on and on you know and you know I would close down every bar and I'd bring home every woman and there's the whole thing and that was like and some people are like oh man I don't have a good testimony like that guy no you just weren't as nasty as they were you know and then by the time and so did somebody else about well well you know so-and-so like man I opened up every bar I don't even go home you know and then before you know it's all this flesh talking and you're like okay so really all we're doing is glorying in the horror show of our pasts and this testimonies about what God is done and listen what God has done in your life is what God has done in your life and don't be afraid to tell someone what God has done in your life because you know it's funny people could argue about the Bible and and and and they do you know but nobody can really argue about what God has done in your life now I'm not saying that your testimony is better than the Bible it's not the Bible is God's Word but the story broke I remember I was talking to a family member about this and he was and he was really you know he was well-read at being a skeptic but I was better read but that's a different discussion you know and so he was giving me all of his all of his things of all of his reasons why he didn't believe it and then I remember saying well I'm like well I can tell you that God just did this last week and he's like well that's rather subjective I'm like well what are you gonna say about what God did last week and I gave him all these things and he's like well I don't know what to say about that like we should think about that and it was funny though cuz it was like he he knew he couldn't argue the story of what God had just did so I love the fact that if you read the scriptures the number of times in the Bible that you get the story of God calling Abram ultimately the children of his were going to Egypt and gods deliver him from a mighty hand that gets rehearsed in almost every single book of your Bible so over and over and over again the story of God's Redemption in the history of the children of Israel is used as a reminder of God's faithfulness now here's the thing for you and I as followers of Jesus we have an even better story of God's faithfulness because you and I live on the other side of the finished work of Jesus on the cross and when you think about what's gonna happen next you have to remember that it is a fixed historical fact that God sent in Jesus and he lives perfectly he always did those things which please his father and Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world it was a Roman cross but he was put there by the Jewish people in cahoots with the Romans and death could not hold him because he didn't do anything deserving of death and he was resurrected from the grave and not only was you resurrected from the grave Jesus ascended bodily into heaven and a whole bunch of people saw it I wish there was cell phone cameras when that happened I always imagined can you imagine when Jesus was ascending into heaven Peter and John and and there I pull where's he going could you imagine that wouldn't that be awesome I mean and then the angels jump then it was like hey so uh minute Galilee why you staring at the sky right now this Jesus is gonna come back the same way he went and you could imagine like Peter be like OMG oh Sh you know like you can just imagine these guys with these cell phone cameras and then you could imagine they're posted on YouTube you like that's a fake that's you know computer animation we don't believe that thing but listen if you ever doubt if God is gonna be faithful to you in the future look what he's done in the past the cross shows God's seriousness about redeeming humanity about redeeming you and if God is willing to go to those lengths to redeem you then what are you worried about about the future why are you scared because God has already taking care of all the big stuff it's already finished but we have to learn how to preach the gospel to ourselves we have to learn how to remind ourselves of the story of what God has done and what's beautiful as we've studied from Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy and now through the book of Joshua be keep seeing that all of these things that went on they all point to Jesus in different ways don't they like Jesus said in to the Pharisees you search the Scriptures for in them you think you have life but they are those which testify of me so on every page of the older Testament or the three New Covenant even though really the New Covenant was at work in the Old Covenant just Jesus hadn't come yet all right everyone every single page you see type and shadow of the work of the cross the finished work of Jesus God's plan for the Messiah it's all right there for you now he rehearses what went on in Egypt how God delivered them at the Red Sea he goes through the fighting against the amorite so on the other side of the Jordan he reminded them of course of what had gone on with the Prophet Balaam where Balak had hey Balaam to curse the children of Israel he goes through all of the different things that have gone on then he remind of course you came into this problem but promised land here Jericho you conquered everybody and what I love here is really the fulfillment if you look at verses 12 and following he says I sent the Hornet before you which drove them out from before you also the two kings of the am writes but not with your swords or with your bow I have given you a land for which you did not labor in cities which you did not build and you will dwell in them and eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant now people argue about who the Hornet is you know and nobody really knows so some people say it was some insects of warfare God put give fear put fear upon these armies and that was the Hornets and the rabbi's say all sorts of really weird things about what the Hornet couldn't couldn't be so I'm not gonna speculate but I think what's beautiful is these verses or beautiful pictures of what God's grace is all about you get to dwell in cities that you didn't build you get to eat from vines you didn't plant you get to live in a blessing that you did nothing for and my friends that's what grace is all about the grace of God is the fact that you are acceptable in the beloved even though you did everything to thwart that except when Jesus sought you out you agreed to be a part of that and that's what grace is Grace is that you get to live a life that you don't deserve and that you live every single day with tremendous gratitude for the fact that what you're experiencing has nothing to do with you see the problem with humanity and the reason people struggle with putting their faith and trust in Jesus and I'm sure there's some of you who are hearing this right now you're watching this on TV or watch this on the internet or you're here one of our physical sanctuaries you're like why would I ever want to believe in Jesus when I don't get to add anything to it because I don't like a free lunch but the thing is is you can't add anything to your salvation like all we bring to our salvation is our need of salvation like all we bring all I brought to the equation was rebellion against God and me getting to live under God's grace filled with his spirit having the Bible open to me by the Spirit as we study it together all of that is a gift the ability to use gifts within the body of Christ within the world at large guess what those aren't gifts that we developed on our own the natural capacity was given as a gift the passion to cultivate that gift that's also given as a gift and any effectiveness is also given as a gift so we are left if we think through the lens of the Spirit through the eyes of grace what we begin to realize is that the only thing we should be doing is ourselves before the god before the Lord and saying thank you for so great a salvation and what was the last time you were willing to dwell there I think it was Amy Carmichael the great missionary to India she wrote this little book called if and it was like on every page it was just an if-then statement you know and and one of those it was kind of like burned in my heart if I loved any place other than the dust at the foot of the cross then I know nothing of Calvary's love think about that let that land for a second if you love any place except the dust at the foot of the cross then you know nothing of Calvary's love what that means is when you realize what the cross is all about God's love and God's holiness where it meets together in the person of Jesus and you realize that although you have no rights no even you don't even have a lottery ticket to be able to have any access to anything there and God says I'm gonna bestow my life upon you Oh what did I do to deserve it actually didn't do anything to deserve it actually you are infinitely not deserving of this and be like if if your four year old went into your house and painted all the walls with modern art and not only did you not reprimand them you're like here here's a chocolate cake - I mean think about it that's what the cross is that's what grace is and if you're here today and you put your faith and trust in Jesus then you are living in this all that God has bestowed upon you you did nothing to deserve any of it so all you could do is say Lord thank you for so amazing grace thank you for so great a salvation thank you for the finished work of Jesus I mean that's why John Newton penned that most famous hint of Amazing Grace as he was thinking about his life as a slave trader when he came to know Jesus that he realized all the atrocities that he was involved in and all I could write was Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that would save a wretch like me I once was lost and now I'm fat I once was blind and now I see and each one of us stands in the same place maybe the details of your rebellion were different but God is allowing you to live in the midst of blessings they didn't have anything to do it sometimes especially in our culture we want to deceive ourselves to think we did I remember when someone they were like ma'am this was a young teacher and someone said man Preston you're a really good teacher and I remember I started being like yeah you know I got so I was like feeling that I'm like yeah I mean like preaching all these Bible studies and I'm working on the craft and I'm listening to guys and I'm like stealing their lines and you know all this stuff and I remember this older gal looked over me she said pastor Daniel as she didn't mean it like she wasn't like kind of she wasn't trying to cut me off at the knees cuz she was the sweetest buttons you know she'd have a mean bone in her body but I heard that and it kind of leveled me cuz I was like oh yeah and then I felt like the Lord's Iten you know your mouth I gave that you that your mind I gave you that any insight you have into the scriptures the fact that you even wanted to study that I gave you that and I inspired that word you know there's that if you got anything good going for you I gave it to you and I was like oh I better get over myself and you guys can all judgement like yeah you better get over yourself who's go and that's true but listen we all gotta get over ourselves amen whatever gifts and talents you have they're on loan from the Lord and you're gonna give it an account for that stewardship that's what grace is all about now from the rehearsal of the history of the children of Israel by the time we get into verse 14 we start to see what the responsibilities of the people who have received grace our look at what it says verse 14 now therefore fear the Lord serve Him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father's 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 yourself this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father's served which are on the other side of the river or the gods of the amorite s-- in whose land you dwell but as for me in 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 verse 18 the Lord drove out from before us all the people including the amorite who dwelt in the land we also will serve the Lord for he is our God verse 19 but Joshua said 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 you've done after he has done you good and that people said to Joshua no but we will serve the Lord so Joshua said to the people you are witnesses against yourself that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve Him and they said we are witnesses now therefore he said put away the foreign gods which are among you and then kline 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 as so Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statue and an ordinance in Shechem now what's fascinating here is once they recount God's amazing faithfulness their responsibilities that they should fear the Lord they should serve him with sincerity and in truth and they should put away all the idols from only serve the Lord so really what as God has been faithful to the children of Israel all the children of Israel have to do is respond to God's faithfulness and be faithful to him right and Joshua keeps coming them and saying listen whatever you do don't be unfaithful to the Lord right and they're like absolutely we are gonna serve the Lord and then Josh was like well you better put away all those idols that you guys got and like we will do it we're only going to serve the Lord oh we would only serve God definitely definitely definitely and you notice how Joshua isn't buying it right now the reason what's it's sad because Joshua's actually speaking to them prophetically because by the time you get to the book of Judges what's the most common phrase in the book of Judges anybody know the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord they went after other gods no here's the thing you and I need to learn how to radically trust God and be radically skeptical about ourselves that's what we have to write that down do you trust God radically and be radically skeptical of yourself because the children of Israel were presumptuous they assumed that because God had been so faithful to them they were definitely going to be faithful to him just in the same way the Apostle Peter was presumptuous when Jesus said listen before the crow you know that before the crow the rooster crows three times you're gonna forsake me or twice and the forsake me three times it feels like no way Jesus what do you know you don't know what you're talking about I'm always gonna be here with you I'm gonna die for you and before you know it what happened to Peter you think I don't know the man there's a little slave girl and he's like I never really met the guy right because he presumed that he was better off that he really was you know and then you think about things like it says in the scriptures like the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it listen your capacity for evil knows no end and I know we love Jesus and we're always gonna be there for Jesus but let's just be honest most of us are just super unfaithful to the Lord it's like we love Jesus until the cute guy shows up and that cute guy says oh I think you're so cute and then before you know it you're not following Jesus for a season or man Jesus is awesome until it's a big party I'm going to the rave out in the in the desert you know gonna go to Burning Man I mean listen the Burning Man just think of the name that's all you need to know right but go to Burning Man is gonna have some crazy experience and then you're like oh yeah I just love Jesus somewhere else so I can go to have this experience or I love jeez I'm not gonna be faithful to Jesus until there's a lot of money that I can make if I cut a couple corners right so the human condition is that we are radically unfaithful by the time you get to the the profits they're constantly calling out the children of Israel on spiritual adultery so much so that one of the prophets actually God asked him to marry a prostitute as a living letter to the children of Israel this is your your you'll give yourself out to anybody who you think will bless you but I'm still not done with you yet so here's the question for each one of us what are the idols in your heart Martin Luther said it now listen I quote Martin Luther not because I agree with everything Martin Luther said there's not a lot of really great things but you realize if you read anybody you gotta chew on the meat and spit out the bones does that make sense so I know we live in a day and age god forbid you you know I've had someone say to me I can't believe you quoted this person you know this person believed this and there's none like look all truth is God's truth and so someone said it's good I'll quote him on looking I believe everything they said the only thing I believe in totality is the Bible everything else actually means a loss that makes sense and I say because people freaked out quote Martin Luther Martin Luther like taught us so much but he had a lot of things he was totally wrong about like his view of Jewish people totally wrong his view of the communion table totally wrong I believe you know what I mean but I'm gonna quote him anyway because he was totally right on this piece he said that the reason the Ten Commandments begins with I am the Lord your God you shall no other Lord's gods before me he said because the human heart is of idol factor and the reason you'll break all the other of the commandments is because you end up breaking the first one first like if you violate that god is your god that's the only reason you'd kill somebody it's the only deal from somebody it's the only reason you would violate the Sabbath in that culture because really what you're saying is I don't trust God because I don't trust God I'm gonna do this this I want to covet my neighbor's stuff all this up it all begins with breaking the first commandment so really what he's saying is that the Ten Commandments unpack a human heart idol problem but the thing is is although we live in a different culture people are exactly the same all of us have them we have the propensity to want to be unfaithful to God so that we can do other things and what I love about this is if we learn how to radically trust the Lord and we don't have to be really skeptical about ourselves then when you look in your heart and you see what the propensity Tzar then you're not too proud to presume that you're not making bad decisions because of those propensity see Jesus did not submit himself to mankind she knew what was in them and that's true for us as well so we listen we always say here crosses that we're all in process and that's why we're a place of grace so no one's judging anybody here but listen you got idols in your heart so do I we have the propensity to be unfaithful to God for other things and if we say Lord will you show me what are the objects of my affection that vie for that place of primacy in my heart that only you deserve show me what those are so that I can understand what they are and I can do battle against them I think we would all do way better that makes sense see the children of Israel are sure like me and Myles we're gonna serve the Lord we're not gonna serve anything else than josh is like whoa really are you sure he says listen cause a jealous God he's like if you make this commitment and then you become unfaithful gods is not gonna let that slide he cares too much and you know obviously like when he it's hard to not talk about God's jealousy and his holiness now Oprah Winfrey grew up going to church she said that she doesn't believe in the God of the Bible because this idea of God being a jealous God as a mate is horrible and our idea of jealousy is literally somebody who's out of control enraged but don't forget before it said that God was a jealous God said he is what kind of a god holy God so the jealousy that she has in her mind about who God is is divorce from holiness which gives you the wrong view of jealousy does that make sense here's the thing because God is holy he's distinct he's other his jealousy is actually part of his perfections like I give an example and it's a poor example but if my bride then came to me and said you know Daniel I just don't love you anymore I love somebody else and you know I just want to go and be there now praise God she's never said that I hope she never does she won't you know but if she said that to me I'm like hey no big deal have fun right does that mean that I loved her ever no means I don't love her at all don't care about her don't care about our family at all now if that happens and I fly into rage and I hack her up into little pieces I'm just got to work at all the angles of the analogy I'm not playing I'm okay but if I do that that is rage and jealousy but that is unholiness does that make sense so God's holiness leads to his jealousy and God's holiness and jealousy is of the highest virtue see God is committed to you and because he's committed to you he cares he doesn't want you to go and squander your life and squander the relationship that he bought for you at the cross and his jealousy is a holy and a righteous jealousy and it's important for us to remember that and so we have to make sure that we cast down those idols in our hearts so will you allow God to show you this this is something that buys for a place of utmost importance what I find with like for some of us our idols are things that are just completely wrong right like there's full-on rebellion you know what everyone knows it but what I find within the people of God oftentimes is our idols or good things that we make to be the most important thing which actually makes them bad things like if you put your spouse above Jesus then guess what your spouse is your idol if you put your kids above Jesus guess what your kids are your idol no that's why Jesus would say unless you hate your father and your mother and your wife and your child and your lands and you can't be my disciple he's not saying he wants you to eat those things he's saying that nothing can take the place the first place in your heart other than me that's what he say and he's using provocative language to get at it so what happens for many believers as you take something that's good and you elevate it to a place of utmost importance or that where you'll choose that over choosing faithfulness to Jesus and that becomes an idol in your heart which you build your identity around so if it's your marriage and your marriages and all that you thought it would be you're devastated if your kids if it's all about your kids and your kids don't live up to whatever standard you have then it's devastating now if Jesus is first place if things are not going well it was still hurt but your identity isn't found on those things that's found on Jesus so it takes some of the sting out of extract Lord this did not go the way I thought it was going to go this hurts but you are called and you are God and Jesus is the rock that he wants our identities to be built on really our life is hidden in Christ so the the children of Israel they they ratified this covenant they made statue and an ordinance there and Shechem and then this book closes look what it says in verse 26 says then Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God and he took a large stone he set up there under the oak tree that was by the sanctuary of the Lord and Joshua said to all the people behold this stone shall be a witness to us for it has heard all the words which the of the Lord which he spoke to us it shall therefore be a witness to you lest you deny your God and so Joshua let the people depart each to his own inheritance so the people left they set up this memorial stone there in Shechem right and again it was they wrote that covenant down and they said this is what it is and then this book closes with three burials so faster than that this is where it has like what it says verse 29 now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of nun servant of the Lord died being 110 years old and they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Serra which is in the mountains of Ephraim on the north side of Mount geish so and it says Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua in all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua who had known all the works of the Lord which he had done in Israel so Joshua dies he dies at 110 he's buried there in his inheritance in the land of Ephraim and we're told that because of the leadership of Joshua that not only did the children of Israel serve the Lord all about Joshua's days but all the elders of the people who outlived Joshua it's a great reminder that godly leadership brings life and health to a people all right by the time you get to verse 32 it says the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt they buried at Shechem in the plot of ground which Jacob had brought from the sons of himura the father of Shechem for 100 pieces of silver and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph so what's fascinating here is really Joseph asks of this you can read about this in Genesis chapter 50 of course where Joseph wanted his bones to be buried in the promised land took a lot some faith Joseph like look I'm gonna die here in Egypt but when God delivers you I want you to take my bones out of here I want you to bury him in the promised land and what I love is that the children of Israel honored this so Joseph ended up getting buried in this burial ground that was set up that Jacob had already bought and Joseph's bones were there and then of course it closes with an Eleazar the son of Aaron died and buried him in the hill belonging to Phineas his son which had given to him in the mountains of Ephraim so the third Vario was the high priest Eleazar he was the son and the successor of Aaron right so really what we find here is that now at the end of the book of Joshua Joshua the son of nun the leader of the children of Israel since the death of Moses he dies right Eleazar the high priest the successor of Aaron now he dies and of course Joseph's bones are buried in the promised land as he had hoped and asked the people who promised him so what you find now as the book of Joshua draws to a close is that now this second generation after Moses and Aaron Joshua Eleazar have now passed from the scene and we move into a new season in the life of the children of Israel but this is what I'll say as we close the book of Joshua together we've seen as we moved from Genesis into Exodus and into you know into the the books of Moses and then obviously we moved into the book of Joshua the benefit of godly leadership and how the people were blessed now this is what I will say I believe God calls all of us to be called the leaders not just some of us God wants to raise up this generation to be a unique generation it's so much easier to complain about the world that we live in than to rise on up and live subversively assault and light it's so much easier just to bloviate about how bad things are than it is to walk with Jesus rise up and make this world a different place because of our faith and I believe that God is inviting each one of us to grow and become a leader like Joshua like Moses like in Eleazar like an Aaron like a Miriam like a Phineas like a Caleb we see so many examples in the scriptures of godly men and baldy women who stand up and rise up and live different and God does unique things and I don't want you to think for one second not for one second that you're not supposed to be that kind of a person I don't want you think that that's just a story for people in the Bible but you are somehow led off the hook listen be the person that Jesus died and rose again that you forsake all other allegiances and fear the Lord and serve him only and see what he'll do it doesn't matter where you've been it doesn't matter what your parents did wrong all that matters is that you follow Jesus and you allow Jesus to rise raise you up to become the person that you were destined to be before the foundation of the earth because our Bibles tell us that you've been saved by grace through faith not of works lest anyone should boast that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in what that means is before you were even a twinkle in the twinkle of your parents twinkles God had a plan for you and you can either let this world tell you who you are and aren't or you can trust Jesus and let him tell you who you are and you walk in that and what I love about the Lord is the world tells you who you are and then pigeonholes you but God says this is who you aren't any empowers you my spirit so if you're here today and you're a follower of Jesus already listen you're a follower of Jesus so following the past is what it is trust him with your past you honor him and you walk with Him in the present and you have hope for the future but you know he's got this thing but if you're here today and you've never before put your faith and trust in Jesus God wants to save you he wants to redeem you he wants you to live in a place of grace where you get to experience a life that you never deserved and he's not asking you to do anything to deserve it he's asking you to simply reach out your hands and receive the free gift that he wants to give you and don't think for one second I know right now in some of your hearts the enemy is saying yeah that's not true for you maybe for these other people not you that's why it is for you there's enough power in the cross of Jesus Christ to save everybody of every generation no matter where they've been there's enough power there and I believe that Jesus has been drawing some of you and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to respond to that invitation by receiving His grace by surrendering your life to Jesus by confessing his life in his death in his resurrection and allowing God to impart that life to you let's bow our heads and our hearts as we pray together [Music]

Channel: Crossroads Community Church

Views: 1,816

Rating: 4.8666668 out of 5

Keywords: Crossraods

Id: J9OW8LEr-Bo

Length: 53min 29sec (3209 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 10 2018