Worship - Watchful

Good morning. We do have a children's handout with questions and maybe an activity. Alan and Andy have them. If you didn't get one when you came in or your children didn't get one, raise your hand and we're happy to bring one to you just to help the children follow along as well as possible. If you're new with us, welcome. We are glad you are here. We're glad you have joined us. We walk through books of the Bible because we want to make sure we're submitting to God's Word. We want to hear what He says. And right now we're in Joshua. It's a historical narrative from the Old Testament. What we see here is God being faithful, as you heard Sarah read. now about to go the way of the earth, knowing your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things of the Lord your God has promised concerning you. He's brought them into the land, he's given them an inheritance, he's conquered their enemies. All the good things that God has said he would do, he's going to do. And now they're called to obedience. And what we see here in Joshua is that Israel, These particular Israelites, this generation, they're greatly blessed. And with that great blessing is a great responsibility. You see, they were not good enough to become God's people. God simply said, you are my people, even though you're not good enough. But when God asks, why do I love you? It's because I love you. It's not because I find something so attractive about you, Israel. His grace is what made them His people. His grace is what made them His nation. His grace is what brought them into this land. His grace is what gave them the inheritance. And now, we're going to hear a charge and a warning that says, if you want to enjoy all the gracious blessings that I have in store for you, you must obey. They don't have to obey to be blessed. They don't have to obey to receive grace. That's not grace at all. That's a reward. No, what they have to do is obey now as the blessed people of God so that they can enjoy all of those blessings. And I want to challenge us here, church, to go ahead and do some interpretation. We're blessed. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we are the blessed people of God by His grace. We have been given a greater inheritance than land. We've been given an inheritance to be called children of God, His own sons. We're blessed because the Father sent the Son to die so that we can be forgiven, to rise again so we can have new life. Now we're called to obey. See, all the blessings are ours because He's gracious, but if you want to enjoy those blessings, the blessing of assurance, the blessing of peace with God, the blessing of fellowship with other believers, you have to obey. And so that's how it relates to us, in that they're the blessed people of God that now have to obey in order to enjoy those blessings, and so too with us. Before we get into the story, I want to simply address those of you who are not Christians. You don't have to do anything with your own hands, with your own feet, with your mind. We oftentimes think, I'm just going to make myself a little better so God will love me better. That's not how it works. See, everybody who is a Christian can confess like Baylor did that she's a sinner. We're all sinners. There's nothing attractive about us to God who is holy and righteous and good. But he says, I'm gonna love you anyway. I'm going to send my son to die for you, to wash away all those sins. I'm going to raise him again so that you have new life. And what you simply have to do is believe in him. Believe that you need saved from your sins and that he is the one savior. And then you receive all the blessings. You're adopted into God's family. You get to call him Father. You no longer have to fear what happens at death. You know that God has declared you righteous and every sin's forgiven. But if you're not a believer this morning, you have to believe in what Jesus has done so that you can then start living and enjoying that life of obedience. Here's where we are in Joshua. We're seeing that they've been given all the blessings, and now we need to hear how they're going to live. And so I want us to see the passage in three parts. First, there's a reminder. That's verses 1 through 5. There's a reminder. He's going to first remind them all that God has done. Second, there's a charge. There's two basic charges. Be very strong to keep and to do all that is written. Verse 6. Verse 11. Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. He's going to charge them with how they're now to live. And then He's going to give them a warning. As sure as God has fulfilled every promise to give you good things, He will fulfill His word that He will discipline those who are disobedient. Let's look to his word. First, the reminder. We hear Joshua say, the Lord has given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies. Joshua's old, he's well advanced in years. And so we see him giving really a farewell address. Kind of a last word, a last charge. He's been leading Israel for many years. And now he's giving them a last and final word. And so let's just kind of do a recap of who Joshua is, because it's important to recognize how faithful he's been. And he's been faithful to God. First, he was a faithful servant to Moses. as God often teaches us, or always teaches, we have to follow before we lead. And here we see, we can look back to the Exodus and Deuteronomy and see Joshua served faithfully under Moses for the purposes of God's. He then was called to be one of the spies. There were numerous spies, but two of them went in, and they came back to Israel and said, no, okay, there's giants, but God's great. God's mighty. God's big. Don't be afraid of these guys. He had a faith in God that said, there's nothing that God cannot do. We can do what appears to be impossible. Then after Moses dies, God entrusts Joshua with a charge. You can go back to Joshua 1 and look at this. Be strong and courageous. Trust my promises. Be strong and courageous. Trust that I will fight for you and with you. Joshua leads them to receive the land that God had promised Abraham 500 years prior. So three basic conclusions about Joshua. He's been a man who followed God's appointed leaders with Moses. He's been a man who trusted God's Word, strong and courageous. He's been a man who has led Israel according to God's Word. And now he's going to give his final words. And notice how much he points back to what God has promised. what God has done, what God has commanded. This is a model of a Christian leader. Now let's look at what God has done. Let's look at verse three. I am old, I am well advanced in years, verse three, and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done. He wants to remind them, never forget how you came into this land. Do not forget what God did to get you here. We've received this land, verse 5, just as he promised. So let's just ask real quick, what have these people seen? Well, first, they saw God part the waters of the Jordan, dry up the land underneath so that they could pass into the promised land. They saw that and experienced it. They've seen that great miracle. Second, they saw God knock down the walls of Jericho with wind instruments. It's an amazing miracle. There was no fighting. There was marching and a blowing of a horn. God did an amazing thing. There was no battle. It was simply a victory. God then conquered many kings and their armies. He's given them the land, cities already in place. They didn't have to build cities, they took cities. God has done mighty and amazing things. And what they have to always remember, God is faithful. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. This is a reminder that we can never get past As believers in God, we never get past simply trusting what God has said. Now we see a little bit of the focus that he's gonna get into next with verse five. The Lord your God will push them back, those people who are still in the land, and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess as he promised. We've heard numerous declarations in Joshua. You have rest from war. All the kings that were gonna be a threat to you, all the kings that were gonna come against you, God has conquered. You've seen it. You've seen the sun stand still so that you could conquer all the enemies. But there's still inhabitants. And these inhabitants, even though they don't have mighty swords and spears and shields, they're extremely dangerous. Because as we're gonna see in a minute, they will tempt God's people to worship other gods. It's more dangerous to worship another god than to die. These people are still dangerous. They're going to tempt Israel. And so Joshua is giving them the clear reminder of what God's done so that they will keep fighting. And so notice something, that rest doesn't mean you stop fighting. The rest here is a rest from war, but yet they still have to be obedient. The rest means they continue to fight with confidence because of what they've already seen and done. Now let's go to our second point, which is going to be much more of our focus, because he focuses, he explains more of verse five. And really we see two charges here, as we've already said. Verse six and verse 11. Be strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. And then verse 11, be very careful. And as we look at it, I want you to see verse six. Be strong to keep and to do all that is written. Do not intermarry. Do not mix with those nations. Cling to your God. Do not go worship and bow down to their gods. Love the Lord your God. Do not let these people be a snare and a trap. I think what Joshua is saying is the best defense is a good option. Get rid of that thing that's going to tempt you the most. Don't let it linger there and pretend you're not going to be tempted. You have to remove it. Proactively pursue God and remove the things that so entangle your hearts is a New Testament way of saying it. Now I wanna see here that these two charges, they're two essential parts of worship. Obey and love. These are the two essential parts to worshiping God. We obey God, we love God, and these things cannot be disconnected. So let's look at this first charge. Be very strong, primary focus, to keep and to do all that is written. Notice where strength is found. Strength is found in looking to God's Word and saying, what it says is what I must believe and what I do. We oftentimes think strength is somebody who's able to kind of get the gut to withstand, to stand in their own power, whereas this is saying, no, someone who's really strong is someone who recognizes they are weak and trusts God. The only way you can actually be strong is to first say, I am weak. As Baylor's testimony says, in your weakness, I demonstrate how strong I am for you, and that's how you become strong. It's only till we turn to God and say, I am in need, that you can actually become strong. Because if we look at what scripture says, we're weak. We're constantly being pulled to do things we shouldn't do and to worship that which we shouldn't worship. But God says in your weakness, I'll actually make you strong if you turn to me. Strength begins with humility and calling out, help my unbelief. If we look at verse seven, we see where strength is. I'll come back to verse six here in a moment, but the strength they need to find from God is very clear in terms of the particulars, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them. God is saying, do not mix with these folks. If you let your heart turn to loving them, you're going to love their gods. In verse 13, they're a snare, a trap. See, Israel, they're supposed to be a separate kind of people. Because God says, I'm holy, be holy for I'm holy. They're supposed to be distinguished, not because they're more attractive or they're stronger. No, they're supposed to be distinguished because they say, God's called us. God's made us somebody new. God's given us his commands. Now we get to rejoice in them. But they have to obey. Now, here's always the fun question. What parts of God's word should I obey? It's a fun question because we literally all ask this question. Maybe not that direct. But what parts should I obey? And thankfully, Joshua is very clear. All that is written. Don't turn the left, don't turn the right. All. We do not get to pick and choose which are our favorite parts. We do not get to pick the shoes that we think are most important. God's people say God has said it, therefore it is important. Last week we looked at the principle no means no. No adultery, no deception, no hatred. This week, all means all. Every word. Now, I actually love this quote. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. The problem I have with that quote is usually when somebody quotes it, we're disagreeing over an essential. When somebody uses that, you're usually disagreeing over if it's essential or non-essential, and so I kind of want to challenge us. We don't get to choose which words are essential. If it came out of God's mouth, if God said it, we need it, and we can only obey it. You see, when we try to distinguish which words might be essential versus non-essential, we're pretending we're God. We're pretending we're in control as to what commands are actually more important than others. No, God is God. We have this facade, we masquerade as if we're worshiping when we think there's essential and non-essential, but yes, in all things charity, but if it comes out of God's mouth, the God who says you're alive, the God who says you're declared righteous, what he says is essential. One of the problems we often have, and hear me say we, is that we like to choose how we're going to follow and obey God. We all have our own little sacred rooms that we try to pretend that that's off limits. But God says, no, I sent my son to die for you, all of you, all of your sin, so that I can have all of you and all of your worship. No, we need to do what we oftentimes tell our children. We need to obey quickly, obey fully, We are God's children. It's a privilege, a privilege to obey Him. We shouldn't be slow to repent. We should seek to fully obey. We should delight in the law of God because we know it's good. Now maybe you're sitting there and you're saying, no, this is all Old Testament, right? He's talking about Deuteronomy. I don't have to obey Deuteronomy. There's some things in Deuteronomy you don't have to obey. But Jesus says in Matthew 28, Go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. We have a master. When we're baptizing Jesus Christ, we're saying, I'm dead to that old life, and now I'm no longer pretending to be the master, because when I chose sin, it was my master. Now I'm gonna say, no, Jesus is my master. All means all. Not just the parts we like. He's God, he's our master. Some of the commands that are most weighty. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Again, all means all. Love your neighbor. Love your brothers in Christ. Love your enemy. We don't get to choose who we don't love. That pretty much covers everybody. We're supposed to be committed to the well-being of others. We're supposed to be committed to worshiping God with all of our being. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we obey him. You are God's child by grace. You get to obey him. Now, something I want to challenge with, you don't ever retire from obeying him. It's not something we retire from. It's not something you stop doing when you go on vacation. It's not something you have an excuse from doing because your life's so busy. Everybody's life is busy. We're supposed to be obeying him at all times, in every way, according to everything he has said. Now, I want us to see something. Notice how we keep and obey God's law. Notice how we keep it. Look at verse eight. Do not mix with those nations, but you shall cling to the Lord your God. You're to hold tight. You're to keep as close as possible. This is like when you're on a zipline. You're going to hold on to that bar as tight as possible because if you don't, you die. If you go skydiving, you're making sure all those straps are tight. You're making sure everything's connected. You're wanting to kind of make sure, have you done this before, the guy who put the pack in? You wanna make sure that that life-saving device is tight and correct. It's like you're walking in an evil and perverse world where there's an enemy prowling around seeking to devour you. It's like your sin is crouching at the door and its desire is to destroy you. See, we're in a world of danger, folks. that the temptations that come from outside of us, the lies that are surrounding us, and worst of all, the sin that's always self-deceiving us. Cling to God. Hold tight to God so that these snares, these traps, these idols are avoided. If you have a difficult time battling temptation, I wanna give you what is oftentimes the diagnosis that causes this. If you have a difficult time fighting temptation, you're probably looking at sin, wrong, or God, wrong. You're usually thinking sin isn't as destructive and damaging and evil as it is, or you're looking to God and you're saying, he's not as good as he says he is. Because if he was good, why wouldn't he let me have this, which I really like? See, the problem is we look at sin and we think, well, that can't be that bad. This guy, I know, does it. It seems to, I seem to enjoy it. So we don't look to sin, and we don't see how destructive it is. We don't see that it's going to drag us straight into hell. So we don't avoid it. You see, those who cling close to God, they recognize how damaging and destructive sin is. Everyone I know who's ever had a pornography problem, finally moved past that when they realized that that sin was shaping and forming their brain to think in a way it was not designed to think. It's perverse, and until you see how corruptive and destructive it is, you don't cling to God and say, get me away from that snare and that trap. See, we cling to God when we see how dangerous sin is. I wanna stay as far away from it as possible. We cling to God when we see how good and loving and righteous and perfect and beautiful God is. So I ask you today, if you're not clinging closely, what sin are you enjoying too much? What sin is there that you're not recognizing is corrupting, perverting, and destroying? Because let's just face it, in our pride, we try to rationalize, I can stay in control here a little bit. No. Jesus makes it very clear, if you choose sin, it is your master. If we choose God, he is our master, and he frees us from the power of sin so that we can cling closely to him. Let's look at verses nine and 10. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations, and as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. Man of you, one man of you puts to fight a thousand since it is the Lord your God who fights for you just as he promised. Now we love saying God's my friend. God's my ally. Even better we can declare God is our father. He has a love for us that is fatherly and he fights for those he loves. It's a fatherly love that says I'm gonna provide for you and I'm gonna protect you. But let's go back to what we're just thinking of. God fighting for us is only helpful if we think we're in a fight. That great declaration, God fights for you, is only helpful if you really believe you're in a fight. You see, we do have peace with God. He's declared us righteous, but we don't live in peacetime. It's wartime. There's still an enemy prowling. Our sin is still deceiving. We're still in wartime. So we don't get to sit back and enjoy the comforts and delights of being at peace with God without fighting sin. There's two ways to look at this warning that I want to look at with regard to Joshua because they actually don't hear this charge. They don't hear the warning, they're going to disobey God. And I believe there's two basic reasons. One, they were lazy, and two, they were full of lust. They were lazy and they had lust. First, they don't go out and they don't keep fighting. They look around and say, well, you know, the cities God gave us, that's good enough, we don't have to remove these people. That's hard work. We kinda wanna, we wanna start having our holiday here in the promised land where there's plenty of milk and honey. They don't realize that there's still an obedience demand and command from God. They don't realize there's still a fight. They don't realize there's a dangerous idol that's going to lure them away from God. They're lazy. We need to be careful of being lazy, for longing for the comfort life. Second, there's the lust. They will lust after the women. They will lust after their gods. We must deny those desires that seem to feel so natural, but are so opposed to the will of God. We have to deny ourselves in order to follow Christ. Let's briefly look at the second charge. First charge, obey everything that God has said. Do not turn from it. Do not intermarry with Him. Cling to God, He fights for you. This is dangerous. Stay close to God. Verse 11, be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. This word love is confusing because we use it in so many different ways, right? We love our spouses and we love cheeseburgers. That same word being used for those two things is confusing, but it's true. We love and we connect somewhat of a feeling to it, and that's true. There's a feeling to love. But most of all, what God says about love in his word is that it's a commitment. It's a promise that we make that we keep. It is a service. It has to have action. It says, I'm going to prioritize you. Love is not something you do casually. It's a commitment we keep even when we do not feel like it or we're afraid it's not going to be well received. See, loving God's supposed to be prioritized in every way. It's not just giving Him your morning. It's not just giving Him your evening. It's saying, God, I want to be conformed all day to what you want me to do because your will matters. We're supposed to love God. Jesus repeats this very command. But in the New Testament, we actually have a different foundation for it. You can look to 1 John and you can hear the great declaration, we love God because he first loved us. We love God because he first loved us. This is the foundation of love. We know he loves us because he sent his son to die for us. There is no greater love than someone who would lay down his life for his friends. We have received the greatest love because the greatest being God laid down his life for us even while we were sinners. Our love for God is built on this love. It's a consequence of it. He loved us while we were sinners. It's not because we're worthy. God loves us while we're still sinners. He loves us in the most lovely way, and now He calls us to love Him. He says, I'm going to save you from loving all the things that are so unlovely, while you're unlovely, so that you can now begin to love that which is truly lovely and delightful, Himself. So that's the foundation of love. The fruit of love, I'm gonna choose one because we were in 1 John, we'll stay in 1 John. If you love me, Jesus says, in the Gospel of John, rather, you will keep my commandments. The fruit of love is if you love me, you will keep my commandments. We cannot say we love God if we don't actually obey everything Jesus says. We make ourselves a liar. And one of those great commandments is love your brothers. This is why it's important as disciples of Jesus Christ to love God, to obey God, to cling to God, to commit to loving others. The church is supposed to be marked as a people of love who love according to God's word and action. Now let's look to our final point, verses 14 to 16, the warning. Verse 15 is the key transition to this section, but let's set it up with verse 14. I want you to hear what he does. I'm about to go the way of the earth. He's gonna die, Joshua says. I'm going to die. And you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God has promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you. Not one of them has failed. There's a lot of repetition there. I think he's making a point. God has promised so many good things, and everything he has promised, it has come to pass. You should have no reason to ever doubt God's word. What he said he will do, he always does, and he alone can do it. Look at verse 15. This is terrifying, just to prepare you here. But, just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, So the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things Until has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God Which he commanded you and go and serve other gods and bow down to them Then the anger the Lord will be kindled against you and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he's given you Back when we were in Deuteronomy, we heard these. There's blessings and there's curses. Again, Israel isn't chosen because they're more obedient than everybody else. They're chosen because of God's grace. But now that they're God's people, His name is upon them. He says, I'm going to give you all these good blessings. Here it is. Obey these commandments and you'll have all the great blessings you could ever dream of. God expects their allegiance. He expects their worship. And just as sure as you have seen God be obedient to His own promise, that you've seen God keep all those promises, not one word has failed, just as all those good things have come about, know for sure He will bring His judgment, He will bring His wrath. God is a just God. Joshua is warning Israel because he's seen their tendency at Mount Sinai. He's seen them while God and Moses took their time on the mountain. They decided they were gonna become too quick. They decided they'd build an idol. He's seen them over and over again be tempted to worship idols, and so he's given this warning. Do not transgress the covenant. Do not bow down to another god. Because all the blessings that God wants to give you, he's going to take them away and he's going to bring his judgment. And a passage in the New Testament that is similar to this is found on page 901 if you're using the Pew Bible. It's John 15. I do not believe this passage teaches that you can lose your salvation. Not all of the Israelites were saved. If there were some other idols, they're not in the saving faith covenant. They're simply in the National Covenant. But here we are, and I want to give us this teaching from Christ. John 15, page 901. Because it does give us a similar warning. I am the true vine, Jesus says, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is It is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Jesus is divine. He's the source of every blessing. When we believe in Jesus, we're united with Jesus, and every blessing that God desires to give us is ours. But to enjoy those blessings, we have to actually abide in Christ by faith and obedience. He's warning here. The Father is the vinedresser. He cuts away the fruitless vines. He cuts away those who are not truly abiding and bearing fruit, but those who are bearing fruit, he prunes so they bear more fruit. God does bring judgment. And if somebody is not bearing fruit, it's clear they're not truly abiding in Christ. We look again, verse 10-11. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This should terrify us to ask ourselves, where's the fruit? Am I abiding in Christ? Am I clinging to Him who is the source of every blessing because I'm so terrified of sin so that I'm bearing fruit? Because God is just. He sent his own son so that he could justify us. That's how serious his justice is and his wrath is. He knew he would have to bear our sin. And now as we look to Christ and we want to make sure we are in Christ, we abide in Christ, we should be asking, where's my fruit? A fruitless Christian really isn't a Christian. Saying I love Jesus, but yet not loving the other brothers and sisters Jesus has purchased, it's a lie. Jesus says, keep my commandments. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. We cannot separate. Faith is what unites us with Christ, and obedience is what lets us have assurance that we are in Christ. This is a warning to us, like Joshua is giving to Israel. By God's grace, We believe in Jesus Christ. By God's grace, we will bear fruit. And I want you to see something. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. I think the hardest obedience is the happy obedience. You can fake quick obedience. You can even fake full obedience. You can't fake happy obedience. When we see God in His goodness, when we see God in His love, when we see God and we hear His law and we know it's coming from a good God who loves, it brings a joy. It brings a happy obedience that bears more fruit and more fruit. Friends, this is what we should be longing for as God's people. As God's people, we should be asking, God, let me see my weakness so that I can look to you and find strength in your word. Help my unbelief so that I can see what sin and how it's so dangerous. I can see Christ and I can cling to him and trust him. And I can be joyful because I know his word is good. I can trust it and I can obey it because his grace is sufficient. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for these hard, challenging words. We thank you that you warn us of our sin. We thank you that you give us commands. We thank you give us reminders. Help us to see constantly that your word is full of promises, that you love us, you'll take care of us, you keep us, your grace is efficient. Help us to see your commands, that we can depend upon you so we can obey them and glorify you. Help us to hear the warnings. so that we keep ourselves as far away from those sinful temptations as possible. We thank you that you are the God who keeps us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.