Persevering in faith in God's promises by Sam Reeve, 23 September 2007, Joshua 23,24 (Heb 10:19-25)

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Intro:
Change - how do you handle it? It can produce a lot of stress. There
are scales that you can check off on to work out how stressed you are.
Eg death of spouse -100; Divorce - 73, separation - 65, imprisonment -
63, Death of close family member - 63, holiday - 13, Christmas - 12,
etc. Add them up and if you get over 300, you will almost certainly
get sick. It's often at change points that we are vulnerable to all
sorts of things, not just physically, but spiritually too.

God's people are now settled in the land. There is mopping up to do,
in terms of finalising the driving out of the nations, but the overall
picture is that they have rest from their enemies, from all the
tension, aggression and danger that goes with war. It's been going on
for years, so it must be a huge relief that it's all over. The
temptation would be to think that the pressure's off, the danger's
over, so let's all relax. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Joshua, who is old and ready to make an exit, speaks one more time to
the nation that he has led in this startling conquest of the promised
land. They have arrived where they are entirely as a result of God's
faithfulness to his own promises. They have simply taken God at his
word and trusted him. Joshua wants them to keep on trusting this great
God. So he boldly puts the challenge to them.

There are 3 things that they/we need to do. 3 things that are involved
in persevering in God's promises.

1. Being aware of the dangers 23:1-16
There are things that we must do, and there are things that we mustn't
do if we are to persevere in trusting in God and his promises.

· Forgetting God's promises v1-6
The first danger is that we will forget God's word and his promises.
As at the beginning of this book, when they were on the edge of the
promised land, God reminded Joshua that God's word was not to drop out
of his reckoning, in fact God's word was to occupy his thoughts, it
was to be the subject of his speaking, and he was to obey it fully.
Joshua has done that. He is about to die, and he wants to pass on to
his leaders in this final speech, the things that are really
important. This is point 1. v6. Stick to God's word.

Some time ago I was talking with a Christian friend (not in WBC) who
was doing some things that were uncharacteristic, and fairly obviously
contrary to God's word. As we were talking, I asked him if he had
thought about what the Bible had to say about what he was doing. His
response was that he didn't really want to. He said to me "I guess you
can all that avoidance." You can, and it is!

We all indulge in this kind of thing. We don't want to seek out what
God says for fear that it will challenge what we are doing, and our
lives will have to change. But that is the very point of God's word.
It trains us, rebukes us, teaches and corrects us. If we avoid it, we
end up in trouble every time. That is why this instruction is not just
"don't forget it", but "be careful to obey it" - all of it. It's the
same kind of command that Jesus gives his disciples about discipling
others - "teach them to obey everything that I have commanded
you" (Matt 28:20)

· Forgetting God's people v7-13
The next danger that God warns them of is getting caught up with the
nations round about. Finding their identity with them and their gods
rather than God's people and God himself. Idolatry. They are told that
they must not intermarry with the nations round about. Their primary
relationship is with God and then with others who love and serve the
Lord. The issue here is not that you can't have friends who aren't
Christians - it's that we must not get caught up in serving gods who
aren't God (v7). People who are not serving the Lord are serving
someone or something else, and if our primary identity is with them,
then we will end up serving what/who they serve. In the 1960s there
was a spate of people who had been prominent in the Christian student
movement across Australia who ended up giving up being Christians. A
survey was done, and the largest single factor in them falling away
was that they had married someone who wasn't a Christian.

· Forgetting God's faithfulness v14-16
Joshua makes the landmark declaration here that "not one of all the
good promises the Lord God gave you has failed. Every promise has been
fulfilled. Not one has failed" (v14). God is faithful to keep his
promises - all of them. Not only his promises to give his people a
place to live and to bless them (as he has done fully), but also his
promises to deal with their spiritual adultery if it happens. They are
not to forget that. If they disobey and go after other gods, then they
can be sure that God will bring about all the things that He has
promised he will do in that case. His anger will burn against them,
and they will perish from the land that God has given them. Just as he
kept his promise to bring them into the land, so he will keep his
promise to remove them from the land.

2. Remembering God's faithfulness 24:1-13
In the second speech here in ch 24, the setting is more formal. The
leaders of Israel take their places - they present themselves before
God (v1). It takes place at Shechem. This is significant. 700 years
before, Abraham had arrived in Canaan after God had told him to leave
Ur. It was at Shechem that God had again revealed himself to Abraham,
and told him that he would give this land to him. Abraham had built an
altar there (Gen 12:6). Later, his grandson, Jacob, had brought a
piece of land here, and built an altar (Gen 33:18-20). Things have
gone full circle.

And now, here they are, the descendants of Abraham and Jacob, at rest
in the land of promise. Joshua sets out all that God has done in
faithfully fulfilling his promises. The evidence is stacked up for
them to remember and know. This is really important. Our Faith is not
something airy-fairy that is out there and not part of the space-time
framework in which we live. The God that we put our trust in is one
who has acted in history in real events (creation and redemption) that
unmistakably show us who he is and what he is like. Our faith is based
on solid fact. It is not fashionable to mention these things in our
post-modern world, but they are realities that stack up.

· Forming God's people v1-5
The first thing that he talks about seems at first to be a history
lesson. A history of their roots - how God worked in Abraham's life,
and his descendents. There are 2 significant things here. Firstly that
their great father - Abraham, was an idol worshipper when God got hold
of him. He worshipped other gods beyond the river - he was outside the
people of God and beyond the place for God's people ('beyond the
river'). Secondly, God chose him and gave him descendents - the sign
of God's blessing. In all this it is God who is active. "I took...", "I
gave...". It is God who chose them to be his people. He took the
initiative. He constantly reminds Israel of this, throughout their
history. They are not his people because they are powerful, or smart,
or great, or good. They are his people because God chose to set his
love on them, and for no other reason. Jesus repeats the same idea
with his disciples in Jn 15:16. "You did not choose me, but I chose
you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last".

· Saving God's people v6-13
The next thing in this history lesson is that God saved them. It is a
fact of their history (Joshua can remember it!) that God miraculously
rescued them from oppressive slavery in Egypt. They were done for for
sure, when they hit the Red Sea and the Egyptian armies were catching
up with them. But God rescued them again. In the desert, Balaam tried
to curse them, but God made him bless them instead (v8-10). Over an
over again they were in strife in the desert, on their way to the
Promised Land, but God rescued them every time, even from their own
stupidity. And finally he has brought them safely into their own land.
Even though they have been part of the battles, it is God who has
delivered this land into their hands. He has rescued them and brought
them safely home. He is demonstrably on their side, even though they
don't deserve it.

The NT takes up these same ideas - in fact all this points forward to
the permanent choosing and rescue that Jesus brings about. Paul tells
us in Eph 2 that we were dead on trespasses and sins, sold out to the
gods of this world, or more accurately, enslaved by the god of this
world, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, and following its
desires and thoughts. We were disobedient, objects of wrath.
Spiritually enslaved, done for (v1-3). Then in v4,5 he tells us about
the great rescue plan. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus
(verifiable facts from history), we are rescued, forgiven and made
alive. The Israelites looked back to the rescue from Egypt and the
giving of the Promised Land. We look back to the cross and the empty
tomb and see that God is demonstrably on our side, even though we
don't deserve it. In fact we deserve the opposite - he did it while we
were his enemies.

3. Responding in faith 24:14-33
Joshua calls on them to respond to God's evident goodness and
faithfulness. He has chosen them, he has rescued them, he has given
them rest from their enemies. Can they now relax? Yes and no. The call
to follow is a continual one, since the call of the world and our own
sinful hearts is to drift off and go our own way is continual this
side of heaven.

· Choose v14-18
Joshua realises that this is a crucial point in their history. They
are God's people in God's place. Will they stay under God's rule -
loving serving and obeying him? That is the question he puts to them.
He challenges them to not go back to the idol worshipping that was
before Abraham, beyond the river, and in there own history in the
desert beyond the river (v14). Joshua faces them with the stark
choice. He is putting it to them that if they end up worshipping
idols, it's a choice. It's the same with us. If we are reduced to
having our car, or our home, our money, our position and power, or
some relationship or pleasure as the thing that takes central place in
our lives, that will be the result of a deliberate decision to do
that. If God is to be, and stay, number one in our lives, that also
will be the result of a deliberate decision that we make over and over
again, as we face changing circumstances, new temptations, changing
relationships, new challenges.

Joshua makes a very clear statement of his own intentions. As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord. He's prepared to go it alone.
Like the bloke who wrote "I have decided to follow Jesus" (an Indian
prince who became a Christian, apparently), who said "though none go
with me, still I will follow", Joshua is prepared to keep serving the
Lord if he is the only one doing it. He's not into the whole peer
pressure thing. He's 110 yo now, and he has done that all his life,
even when it endangered his own life. When the 12 spies came back from
spying out the promised land and he and Caleb disagreed with the
report of the 10 and the people were ready to kill him, he stuck to
his guns, because he knew that God had promised that they would take
the land, even though it was humanly impossible. He never sided with
the crowd. Even Moses failed, and didn't end up entering the promised
land, but Joshua didn't. He put his money where his mouth was, and he
challenged his people to do the same. He led from the front.

· Commit v19-27
Joshua pushes them further. He challenges them that they are not able
to serve the Lord. It's not just a case of standing up and saying that
we'll follow him. It must be backed up by daily obedience and
proactively serving the Lord. The people swear black and blue that
they will. Joshua sets up a stone as a reminder - a memorial, a
witness. This is the equivalent of writing in the front of your bible
today I decided to follow Jesus or serve the Lord in evangelism, bible
translation or some other ministry and sign it and date it. It's to
keep us honest. We are told to present ourselves as living sacrifices
to the Lord (Rom 12:1). The problem with living sacrifices is that
they keep crawling off the altar. We need to keep ourselves honest
before the Lord and fair dinkum in our commitments.

· Persevere Heb 10:19-25
What Joshua is calling on them to do is to persevere in following and
serving the Lord. It's the same for us, this side of the cross, except
we have the Holy Spirit to empower us to do it. The writer to the
Hebrews draws our attention to the fact that we have a great High
Priest, who has given himself for us. He's cleansed us by his own
blood. His sacrificial death in our place has bought our freedom from
sin and guilt. In view of this, he says v23-25.
2 things:
a) Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.
b) Spur one another on to love and good deeds.

We can't do this alone - we need each other and we need to help each
other.