I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Joshua. Joshua. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. Joshua. Joshua. Joshua chapter 23. Joshua. The man that the Lord raised
up to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. Beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is speaking. He says in verse 1, verses 1
to 4, it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had
given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about that
Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for
all Israel and for their elders, for their heads, for their judges,
for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken
in age. And you've seen all that the
Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of
you. For the Lord your God is he that
hath thought for you. Behold, I have divided unto you
by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your
tribes from Jordan with all the nations that I have cut off,
even unto the great sea westward." Now, Joshua has come to the end
of his life. He's preparing soon to be taken
by the Lord. And he was moved by God's spirit
to put the people of God into memory of the great things that
they had seen of the Lord's good providence during the days of
their journey. And, you know, it's pleased the
Lord to often record the dying words of faithful saints, those
men that have women that have come by the grace of God and
they've been kept by the power of God. And the Lord obviously
has done so for the encouragement of His people, for the comfort
of those of us who remain according to God's good pleasure for a
while longer. And Joshua speaking, he says
in verse five, the Lord your God, he shall expel them from
before you and drive them from out of your sight. And you shall
possess their land as the Lord your God has promised unto you. Now, I want you to notice with
what confidence. And Joshua speaks of God's future
blessings toward those that he's everlastingly loved. Blessings
that find their foundation in those things that are past, that
we have seen. We're tried daily, and we know
that in the midst of those trials that we see in ourselves, we
ask ourselves this. Has the Lord kept us until today? I mean, things that we've gone
through, we've gone through trials in family, trials in sickness,
trials in finance, trials, just trials. Now let me ask you this,
are we sitting here right now? Has the Lord kept us? Well, sure
he has. Now let me ask you this, shall
he keep us tomorrow if he allows us to be? Is he? Look at verse 6. Be ye therefore
very courageous to keep and to do all that's written in the
book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to
the right hand or to the left. Now Joshua is exhorting the people
to be courageous, strong in the Lord, believe in God, admonishing
them to walk as believers, walk as a child of the walk, adorning
the doctrine. that you've been taught, walk
with diligence and regard with sincerity toward that which is
written in the law of Moses. Not for salvation, we know that
we're not saved by works, we're not saved by keeping the law,
but that which is written by Moses concerning Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said concerning
Moses, he's talking to some Pharisees that trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, trusted in their works, trusted in their,
just like the Apostle Paul. What did he feel concerning the
keeping of the law before the Lord converted him? He said,
I'm blameless concerning the law, blameless. The Lord said
concerning Moses, John 5, 46, for had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. So Joshua was telling
the people, he said, be diligent. Then he says in verses 7 to 10,
that you come not among these nations, these that remain among
you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause
to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto
them. Cleave unto the Lord your God as ye have done unto this
day. For the Lord hath driven out
from before you great nations and strong, but as for you, No
man shall be able to stand before you unto this day. One man of
you shall chase a thousand for the Lord your God. He it is that
fighteth for you as he hath promised you. He's admonishing the people. Avoid these unnecessary associations
with those who know not the Lord. That's what he's saying. I mean,
we live in this world. Now, we've got We've got jobs,
we've got people around. But the thing is, be cautious. Be careful. These unnecessary,
tight associations of those that don't know the Lord, don't love
the Lord we love. Be constant in cleaving to the
Lord, for He's driven out your enemies, fought our battles,
and He's given us the victory. And then Joshua says, verses
11, 13, take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves, that you love
the Lord your God. Else, if you do in any wise,
go back. and cleave unto the remnant of
these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make
marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they you know
for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out
any of these nations from before you. But they shall be snares
and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in
your eyes, till you perish from off this good land which the
Lord your God hath given you. Oh, the need that we all have
to be constantly exhorted. Love the Lord. Love the Lord. You know, you think, well, you
don't need to tell me that. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Spirit
of God has written this. Take heed unto Him. With all
your soul, love the Lord. Snares, traps, thorns are often
found when we disregard the exhortations of the Lord to be cautious in
our walk. I don't walk out of the house. I honestly don't. Except my wife
tells me, be careful. You know why? Because she cares. She cares. Be careful. She knows me. I'm prone to hurt
myself. Y'all seen me. My hand all bunged
up for a year and a half. Cut this finger here recently
and sliced this one up. Be careful. Be careful. This is what Joshua was to be.
has promised. You cleave to Him. He fought
your battles. But then concerning being not
cautious, but be careful, the Lord Himself is a God worthy
of obedience. And then Joshua says something,
and here really, this is my text right here, verse 14. He says unto them, and behold
this day, I'm going the way of all the earth. And you know in
all your hearts and all your souls that not one thing has
failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake
concerning you. All are come to pass unto you
and not one thing has failed thereof. Joshua, he's standing
here, and as I said a while ago, with a marvelous thing to behold,
of the grace, the grace of God that would give him that calm
resolve and peace that's experienced, obviously, by a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we all know that there's
an appointed time to die. And we know that God's people
are subject to the same physical death that unbelievers suffer. But how often have we seen the
truth in the hour of a departing saint's passage into the very
presence of the Lord that they don't have that bondage of fear
of death. They've got God's Word. They
believe the Lord in the comforts of that hour. I've seen this
and many of you have. It's the most amazing thing to
behold a saint of God that dies in the Lord. There's a comfort, obviously
there's a divine application to the heart of the Lord's promise. Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. It just amazes me to see in that
hour, as that time gets closer and closer, of the anxiousness
of a believer to leave this world. And behold, he said, this day,
I'm going the way of all the earth. It just thrills me to read that.
I know that the scripture says for 2 Corinthians 5, 8, we're
confident. Apostle Paul says, I say in willing,
willing, willing, to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. He said, I'm confident of that.
Willing for that. These things we see right now
by faith and there's just, there's times and it just seems like
it's just a fleeting moment. You that know him, you know what
I'm talking about. Seems like just for a fleeting moment. that
maybe we just got a glimpse of it just that quickly, and then
it was gone. To hear these precious words,
Psalm 116.15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of his saints. Lord, I'm convinced Based on
your word, you said you'll never leave. You said that. You said
you'll never leave us. You'll never forsake us. In that
hour, in that time, and I, listen, I'm quite aware that right now
we're, somebody asked Mr. Spurgeon one time, he said, they
said, I don't think I have dying grace. He said, you think you're
dying right now? He said, well, no. He said, well,
then you don't need it. But in that hour, He said, I'm not going to leave
you. I'm not going to leave you. And I'm convinced that that which
is precious to Him in that hour is going to be precious to us.
That gives me some hope. That gives me some peace. He
said, I'm going the way of all the earth, and know in your hearts
and in your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the
good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you. All
are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."
Now, just for a minute, I'd like for us to just consider these
good things that Joshua spoke of good things that every believer
knows in his heart have not failed. He said, you know, you know it
in your heart, you know it in your soul. Not one good thing. Well, I know this, I know the
origin of these good things. I know the origin, the scripture
sets forth. The Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. No, no, not one good thing. James 170, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Now,
these good things, Joshua said, you know, you know that the Lord
hadn't withheld one good thing from you. No, no, no. What are these good things? which
the Lord will not withhold from them that walk upright." Well,
I can tell you this, they are all of the covenant blessings
that the Lord has been pleased to give unto His children. To all that He's everlastingly
loved. and chosen in Christ, all those
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, he may
withhold something that we think is good. I think I need this,
that, or the other. And if the Lord doesn't allow
us to have it, well, what did that mean? That mean that it wasn't good
for us. The things that we consider good,
if he doesn't give them to him, that was wisdom, that was kindness,
that was compassion, grace. I'm so glad there's some things
that I really thought I was going after, I was going to get it.
I didn't get it. By the mercy of God, I didn't
get it. It would have been for my harm. But these good things that we
know in our hearts that have never failed, that we have, Some
of them were given us before the world began and we only know
them, we know them totally by faith. Now listen to this, let
me tell you some of these good things that have never failed,
eternal things. We've got God's word on this,
these good things that happened everlastingly, eternal. Now listen
to this, Jeremiah 31 three, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. You know what? That's a good
thing. That's a good thing that God
would set his love upon a people. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Ephesians 1-4 we read all the
time. I love it. He has chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. The Lord told His
disciples, He said, you didn't choose me. I chose you and ordained
you. What a good thing that God would
set his affection on us and choose us in Christ. We're bound to
give thanks, 2 Thessalonians. I love this passage of scripture.
We're bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. That's a good thing. He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will, Ephesians 1. That God would adopt us. And He'd set His affection on
us, choose us in Christ, and make us His children. He made
us accepted in the Beloved. We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. Now how do we know these things? How this thing of election
and this thing of predestination and this thing of God's love,
how do we know that? It's in the book. It's in the
book. Joshua says don't, don't, Don't
fail to all the things that were written in the Law of Moses.
Moses wrote of Christ. He said, none of these good things
have failed. We believe God and we absolutely
put no confidence in the flesh. And we're convinced. Joshua said,
you know this in your heart. You know this in your soul. These
things haven't failed. Do you think any of these things
have ever failed? You think God's ever changed His mind on loving
His people? You think He's ever changed His
mind on them being elected in Christ? You think that there
very possibly could be some of God's elect that's, well, I know
that we're still here. I know God's got a people. I
know there's a remnant, Paul says, according to the election
of grace. And I know God's going to call them out. Maybe some
have not even been born yet. You think God's going to change
His mind on any of them? You think any of those good things
are going to fail? So there's some good things that's
happened eternally. But now there's some good things
that we know by faith, but we actually experience them in time. Now some of these things, His
eternal love and electing grace and predestination saved us. 2 Timothy 1 now, He saved us
and called us. Salvation was first, calling
second. All that before the foundation
promised us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But now in time,
Ephesians 1, 8 and 9. Whereat He hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He
has purposed in Himself." In time, some of these good things
that He promised eternally actually come to pass. And we actually
experience them. God's people are taught something. In time, He's enlightened us
to the mystery of His gospel redemption. He's enlightened
us. Something happened. Once I was blind, now I see. Once I was dead and trespassed
in sins and the Spirit of God comes in regenerating grace and
removes a heart of stone, gives a new heart, a new mind, a new
spirit. Like the Lord walked by, talking
about that, walking by and he said, I saw you when you were
in your blood. Your navel wasn't even cut. It wasn't salted. Nobody washed you up, swaddled
you. And I walked beside you and I
said, live. I lived. It happens. Just one day you just, you didn't
see it, you just couldn't see it. And all of a sudden God gave
you a new eye and you said, I see that. I believe that. Not one
good thing. This gospel is hidden to the
natural man. But now we walk by faith. Faith
in that which is promised beforehand. We experience it in time. And
I'll tell you another thing. Based on what He's done eternally
for us in Christ, Based upon His Word concerning that which
we've experienced right now in regenerating grace, we're convinced
that that which He hath promised, it's going to come to pass. And
we find rest right there. Do we not believe that by the
grace of God we're going to be kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation? ready to be revealed in the last
time. I believe, I believe that if
I'm kept, it's gonna only be by the grace of God. God's gonna
keep me. You that believe, do you know
this in your heart? In the last day, I don't know
when it is, but it's coming, in the last day, Here's what
I believe, and you that know it believe this too. The Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first. Those that died in the Lord are
coming out of the grave. I believe that. I believe that,
coming out of the grave. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet them
in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now, I believe
it. I believe God. I believe that.
I believe it. Based on what He said He did,
based on what He's done in time, and I've experienced in my heart,
I believe He's coming back. I believe that when the Lord
Jesus Christ, in John 17, He prayed in His high priesthood
prayer, He said, Father, I will, this is My will, that of all
those that You've given Me, that they be with Me where I am, that
they may behold My glory, that glory which You gave Me before
the world was, the glory as the Redeemer, the glory as the Mediator,
the glory as the Great High Priest. I believe that. I believe we're
going to be with the Lord and His glorious person. I believe it. And do we think
that the promise of God to divide the sheep in that great day,
all men are going to stand before him? And the scripture says,
he going to say to those on his right hand, the sheep. And I,
in my heart, my faith, I can hear it right now. Come, you
blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Can you imagine the
sheep of God that have come and heard the gospel with a new heart,
eyes have seen, ears they hear, and they hear those words and
they say, I remember hearing about that. And I'm experiencing
it right now. You that believe, You know in
your hearts that not one thing has failed of all the good things
with the Lord your God spake concerning you. That they're
all come to pass unto you, not one thing's failed. But as the Lord has promised
good to those that know him and love him, there's a warning in
the last, this chapter right here, verse 15, 16. There's a
warning. It's a warning to those who refuse
to bow. Therefore it shall come to pass
that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your
God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil
things, which he hath destroyed you from off this good land which
the Lord your God has given you. When you have transgressed the
covenant of the Lord your God which he commanded you and have
gone and served other gods and bowed yourself to them, then
shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you. And you
shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given
you." Listen, God is a just God. He's just. Now listen, I'm telling
you. as all these good things that
the Lord has promised, that not one of them has failed, to not bow, to not kiss the Son,
as He's revealed in these scriptures. To cling to, return to the gods
that cares of this world, to bow to them in heart, things
that all men, if not kept and regenerated by the grace of God
will do, there's but one end. Death, death. Brethren, friends,
hear the word of the Lord. That's scriptural, that's what's
scriptural. Hear the word of the Lord. Somebody says, well,
the Lord's gotta give us here. I believe you, that's exactly
right. God's gotta give me a new heart. That's exactly right.
What does the Lord command us to do? Hear the word of the Lord.
When the Lord came to Ezekiel, Ezekiel was out there in the
midst of dry bones. The Lord asked Ezekiel, Ezekiel,
what do you see? He said, I see dry bones. He
said, I want you to preach to those bones. Dry, dead bones can't hear. That's
irrelevant. Dead, lost sinners can't hear. Not of themselves. But what did
the Lord say? You preach to those dry bones
and you say, oh, you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. God
said, you preach to them. I'll cause them to hear. Hear
the word of the Lord. all that the Lord has promised
for those that love Him. Not one good thing has failed.
I pray God bless this to our hearts, for His glory and our
good. Amen.