Text: Joshua 23
Key Verse
Joshua 23:11
Theme
A real love for God will keep you from all manner of sin and harm.
Introduction
As I mentioned last week, in these closing chapters of the book of Joshua we are no longer dealing with the conquest and division of the Promised Land.
- In chapters 1-12 we saw the conquest of the land.
- In chapters 13-21 we saw the division of the land.
- In chapters 22-24 we see the dwelling in the land.
Today, we are looking at Joshua’s Exhortation to Israel.
Verse 1 of the chapter tells us that the events of chapter 23 occurred quite some time after the events recorded in chapter 22.
At the end of chapter 21 we find that great declaration of God’s faithfulness to fulfill all his promises in giving Israel the Promised Land, victory over their enemies, and rest round about them.
Chapter 22 followed on from those events with the record concerning Joshua’s dismissal of Ruben, Gad, and half of Manasseh from the military duties of the conquest and then the subsequent misunderstanding regarding the altar built by Jordan.
In our study last week, we took the theme One God – One Altar – One People and noted that today there is still only one God and one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, and in him we are all one people.
For our study this morning we will take the following chapter divisions:
- The Occasion for the Exhortation — Vs 1-5
- The Instruction in the Exhortation — Vs 6-11
- The Warning in the Exhortation — Vs 12-16
The Occasion for the Exhortation
Joshua 23:1-5
The Farewell of Joshua
Joshua was now an aged man, having lived to a ripe old age.
Verse 1 of the chapter points out that Joshua’s exhortation was given a long time after God had given Israel rest.
It is impossible for us to know just how many years transpired between the division of the land and the death of Joshua; however, we know from chapter 24 that Joshua was 110 years old at the time of his death.
Joshua 24:29
“And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.”
We know that Caleb was 85 years when he took Mount Hebron from the giants there. Many people assume that Joshua and Caleb were probably similar in age which would mean 25 years passed between the taking of mount Hebron and the death of Joshua.
Joshua called all Israel together because he had some things he wanted to say to them before his death.
Joshua announced his condition to the people, making it clear that he didn’t expect to live much longer. Joshua was a man of faith who wasn’t afraid of or trying to hide from the reality of death.
While doorknocking, I once encountered an elderly man who told me he was attending this social group where, I believe, a psychiatrist was trying to help them learn how not to fear death. He refused to hear the gospel because it required him to face the reality that he would die one day.
For those who are saved, death holds no fear.
Psalm 23:4
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
The Testimony of Joshua
Remember What God Has Done
Joshua reminded Israel to remember the destruction of these nations.
The children of Israel had entered a land that was full of enemies all around and God had brought them to a place of “rest round about” (Joshua 21:44).
What Joshua was saying was, in effect, look around at the nations God destroyed so that you could have this land for your inheritance, number them all and be thankful.
“Count your blessings name them one by one.”
Remember the Power of Our God
Joshua wanted them to remember that it was God who fought for them in the conquest. There was to be no room for self-congratulation. It was a work of God from start to finish and without God’s presence going before them, Israel could not have conquered the land.
The conquest truly was a testimony of God’s power. A people who had no fortresses, no siege equipment, and had just travelled for 40 years as nomads in a dessert were able to overcome the greatest armies in the region, destroy their cities, and establish themselves as the primary inhabitants of the entire region.
Only the power of God could have accomplished that!
Remember What God Has Given
Having directed their gaze heavenward, Joshua now reminds them of the nations that have been allocated to their inheritance but have not yet been conquered.
This was a practical way of saying, “Look back at what God has already done for you, now with God’s help, go forward and conquer the rest of those heathen nations.”
Remember that God has already given them into your hand, so what are you waiting for?
The Old Testament, including the book of Joshua, involves a lot of looking back at what God has done and taking courage for the future.
I know that we ought to be able to take God at his Word and trust that he will fulfill everything he has promised, but it can often be reassuring for us to look back over the time when we have clearly seen God’s hand at work in our own personal lives and take courage from that to trust him for the future.
Remember What God Will Do
Joshua was able to confidently tell that that they would be successful in conquering these other nations.
Joshua had the same confidence in God that Caleb had.
Joshua 14:12
“Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.”
The whole basis for the conquest was “Israel can’t but God can.” And the whole basis for the Christian life is “I can’t but, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Phili 4:13)’”
It has been rightly observed that the Christian life is a miracle from start to finish.
- Salvation is a miracle work of God.
- Sanctification is a miracle work of God.
- Prevailing prayer invokes the miracle power of God.
- Walking in victory over sin comes only through the miraculous power of God, as we walk in the Spirit.
No one can life a life that is pleasing to God unless they are walking in the power of God, the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead, and the only power by which we can live the crucified life, as Christians.
The Instruction in the Exhortation
Joshua 23:6-11
Cleave Unto the LORD Your God
Keep the Word of God
Joshua’s first word of instruction to Israel was a command to follow God Word without exception.
Joshua’s command to Israel, here at the end of Joshua’s life, is strikingly similar to the command God gave Joshua before he began the conquest.
Joshua 1:7-8
“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
We have noted this theme in other passages but it seems quite clear that Joshua was passing the baton to the next generation and saying, “Keep following God just as I taught you to do while I was with you.”
Their keeping of God’s law as to be without exception.
Notice that he instructed Israel to “keep and to do all.”
The word “keep” means to safeguard, or hedge about.
Israel was to protect the purity of God’s commandments and to obey those commandments without exception.
There are no shortcuts in obedience to God. You cannot pick and choose the areas in which you will be obedient. Only full obedience will please God.
Keep Away From Sin
They were not to mingle with the ungodly.
If Israel kept and obeyed God’s commandments it would help to protect them from being tempted to mingle with the heathen nations around them who lived in rebellion against God’s Word.
They were not to adopt the practices of the ungodly.
The ungodly practices of the heathens were to be rejected, especially the religious practices.
The idols of the nations that Israel did not conquer became a constant snare to Israel and resulted in long periods of backsliding followed by invasion by a foreign army as punishment for forsaking the LORD God.
If they would keep God’s commandments and do them it would keep, or guard them from going after heathen Gods.
When Israel became slack in their worship of God, sinful practices and idolatry were right around the corner.
Cleave to the LORD Your God
They were to cling to the LORD as they had done up until Joshua’s death.
The word “cleave” means to cling to, adhere to, or catch by pursuit.
The idea is that they were to adhere to God and His commandments so closely that nothing could pull them away or distract them from following God.
The antithesis to clinging to God is clinging to paganism, worldliness, ungodliness, and any other thing that is not supposed to be a god in your life.
I want to give you a thought to illustrate the problem here:
Imagine your life is like a ship which is afloat on the sea of life. When trials and temptations come and when circumstances arise in your life than would bring you grief, pain, or discouragement, those things are like winds in your sails and waves at the bow. Now, a ship that is properly anchored will have no trouble staying put through the storm gale, but a ship that has not yet been properly anchored is at the mercy of the storm and is driven wherever the storm would take it.
The one Christian who is clinging to God will be able to remain steady no matter what life’s storms may throw at them, but the Christian who has stopped clinging to God is bound to be tossed by the prevailing winds and maybe even sunk by life’s burdensome waves.
But “we have an anchor that keeps the soul, steadfast and sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Saviours love.”
Love the LORD Your God
Joshua 23:5-11
Love for God Produces Deliverance
While Israel followed the LORD, they had victory over their enemies and God gave them peace and rest round about them.
Love for God keeps us under His blessing. As our love for God motivates us to walk in his will, we find that there is no greater place a blessing for us than to be in the will of God.
Many Christians are afraid that, if they go all in for God and really surrender to Him, He will make them poor and miserable.
When that is our concern, it reveals that our chief priorities are selfish. There are far too many “things” that Christians have a greater desire for than their desire to please God.
- They would rather have a high-end job with a six-figure salary and work 6 days a week for it than get involved in the work that is closest to God’s heart, which is soul-winning.
- They would rather be loved by their work colleagues and peers than live a life that is approved unto God.
- They would rather offend God through their sin and compromise with the world than risk offending the world by holy living and separation from sin.
If you go all in for God, God will not allow you to miss out on anything that is good for you, and that’s a promise.
Psalm 84:11b
“…no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
To be continued…