The children of Israel, having
been delivered from captivity in Egypt by the Lord through
Moses, then wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And following Moses,
Joshua, a type and picture of Jesus, or Joshua, then led the
people across Jordan and into the promised land. And he gave
them victory over all their enemies and led them into that land promised
unto them. But having led the people, Joshua
himself, in the end of his book, spake unto the people and made
a covenant with them. And he recounts this in Joshua
chapter 24 we read, And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel
to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their
heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and they
presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the
father of Abraham and the father of Nacor, and they served other
gods. And I took your father Abraham
from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and
Esau, and I gave unto Esau Mount Saia to possess it. But Jacob
and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and
Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them.
And afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out
of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea. And the Egyptians pursued
after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. And when they cried unto the
Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought
the sea upon them and covered them. And your eyes have seen
what I have done in Egypt, and ye dwelt in the wilderness a
long season. And I brought you into the land
of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan, and
they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand,
that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before
you. Then Balak the son of Zippor,
king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and
called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not
hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered
you out of his hand. And ye went over Jordan, and
came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you,
the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I delivered
them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before
you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for
which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and
ye dwell in them, of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted
not, do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord,
and serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods
which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and
in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you
to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve,
whether the gods which your father served that were on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land
ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said,
God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.
For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which
did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all
the way wherein we went, and among all the people through
whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before
us all the people, even the Amorites which dwell in the land, Therefore
will we also serve the Lord, for He is our God. And Joshua
said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is an
holy God. He is a jealous God. He will
not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake
the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you
hurt and consume you. After that, He hath done you
good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve
the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people,
Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you, the
Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are
among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.
And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve,
and His voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with
the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in
section. So we see in this chapter how
Joshua rehearses before the people what God has done. Not what they did. Not the victories
that they have wrought as a nation. but what God has done for them. God found them in a far country. He found the father of Abraham
the other side of the flood and led him out and led Abraham out
unto Canaan. He delivered Abraham from serving
these strange gods and brought him to serve the one true and
living God in Canaan. then multiplied Abraham he gave
Abraham a son Isaac and then Jacob and Esau and Jacob and
his family would went down into Egypt but after many years in
Egypt the Israelites multiplied and came under bondage in Egypt
and God delivered them through Moses he brought them out from
the captivity of Egypt and from the strange gods of Egypt and
brought them into the promised land through Joshua and when
he brought them into this land he delivered them from all their
enemies as he says unto them I have given you a land for which
ye did not labour And cities which ye built not, and ye dwell
in them, Of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not
do ye eat. He tells the people, I've given
you all of this. I've brought you here. And I've
granted you victory over all those that opposed you. All those
who would have destroyed you. I've gone before you and paved
the way. And I've given you all this land,
this inheritance. I've saved you. And I've given
you a land to dwell in. I've done it out of mercy, I've
done it out of grace, and I've done it because I've chosen you
as a people, my people, to worship me and live before me. So the
great grace and majesty of God in his gospel is presented unto
the people and rehearsed before the people. Everything they have
is of God and his grace. And what Joshua says here to
the Israelites, Christ, Jesus, our Joshua, says in his gospel
to the people of God today, I've delivered you from this world,
I've delivered you from captivity, I've delivered you from worshipping
strange gods and I've brought you into a land. an inheritance, a land flowing
with milk and honey. I've brought you to dwell before
me. I've delivered you from all your
enemies through the Lord Jesus Christ and his death upon the
cross. through Him taking your place
upon the cross and taking your place under judgment to deliver
you from your sin, from death, from hell, from all these enemies
which would destroy you, your own sin, the condemnation of
the law of God against that sin, death, and hell and the devil
and all those that oppose you by delivering you from all these
things Christ Jesus our Joshua has led you out of this world
out of condemnation and into a promised land a land flowing
with milk and honey he's given you an inheritance and so Joshua
here to the Israelites says unto you having done all this then
fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth. Put away
the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood
and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And Joshua says, if it
seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom
ye will serve. Whether the gods which your father
served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods
of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell, But as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord. So Christ says unto you this
day, who will you serve? Do you serve me or do you serve
the gods of this world? Strange gods. He would remind his people those
whom he's delivered by his grace from death and condemnation,
those whose sins he has blotted out through his blood, he will
say to you, do you follow me? Do you love me? Peter, my disciple,
do you love me? You know that I love you, Lord,
said Peter. Then feed my sheep. Peter, do
you love me? You know that I love you, Lord.
Then follow me. Do you follow strange gods? Or
do you follow Christ? And the people here to Joshua.
reaffirmed that they would serve the Lord God. They knew He delivered
them. They knew what He'd done for
them. They knew His grace upon them. And they promised that
they will serve Him. And Joshua reminds them of their
inability. He reminds them of their utter
inability to serve God or to even do that which they promised
to. He says, You can't serve the
Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous God, he will
not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake
the Lord and serve strange gods then he will turn and do you
hurt and consume you, after that he have done you good. God is
holy. You either serve Him perfectly,
you love Him perfectly, you never depart from Him, or He must judge
your iniquity. How can you do this? But the
people who knew God's great grace upon them, reaffirmed, we will
serve the Lord our God. He says, your witness is against
yourself. Joshua, Jesus, might today, as
it were, say unto the people of God, say unto you, O believer,
will you serve me? And you, like Peter, the disciple,
might say, yeah, I will serve thee, Lord. I love you, Lord. I'll not depart, but like Peter. We know, if we know ourselves,
that in our zeal to serve the Lord Jesus, we can deny Him. how easily we can fall, how easily
we can stumble. So like Joshua says unto the
Israelites here, Jesus was saying to us, but you're unable, you
can't, and you need to serve perfectly. And we're reminded
in this, that our ability to serve God, and not to turn to
the left hand or the right hand, or to turn unto strange gods
is not to be found in us. We don't have the strength. We
may say from a heart of faith, I will serve the Lord God, but
we can't stop ourselves stumbling. It's all His work. He will keep us. He will lead
us. He will make us to be faithful. He will keep our gaze upon Jesus
Christ. And He does this through His
Gospel. God presents unto His people,
unto the church, Christ. Christ and Him crucified. He
declares unto them His Son. And daily He says, Hear ye Him. Daily, their flesh would have
them turn to the left hand or the right hand. Daily they would
forsake the Lord their God, but God by His grace returns them,
and turns their gaze, and sets their gaze upon Christ, and says,
follow ye Him. So what of you? What of you? If Joshua stood before you this
day and said, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether
the gods which your father served that were on the other side of
the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell,
or the one true and living God, what would your answer be? Joshua will say, as for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord. And in Joshua's response there,
their believer is a promise and your only hope. Joshua, Jesus
the Saviour, says on behalf of his people, his house, as for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord. If you're part of my
house, if you're in my kingdom, If you're one of my people in
the church for whom I shed my blood, if you're mine, you and
I will serve the Lord. It's not in your strength. This
is not a command that you must go off and strive to achieve.
I'm telling you I've delivered you. I've led you and I will
keep you. We will serve the Lord. And yet we know historically
as we read of the Israelites, both immediately after they were
delivered out of the captivity of Egypt as they wandered in
the wilderness with Moses, As they followed Joshua, as they
continued in the time of the judges and then the prophets
and the kings, we know repeatedly that as a people they kept turning
to the left hand and the right hand, they turned to the other
nations, They'd wander off and serve the strange gods of the
nations around them. They'd marry into the nations
when they were commanded not to. They would go to this and
to that. So easily they went astray. And so often God had to draw
them back unto Him. And so easily do believers' hearts
turn to the left hand and the right hand. How easily we are
beguiled. by the strange gods which are
presented to us all around us and how easily our gaze is turned
aside from the gospel and from the one true and living God and
the one true Christ in the gospel that Joshua in the gospel how
easily our gaze is turned aside from him to behold strange gods
and we're fooled into serving these strange gods and worshipping
these strange gods and following these strange gods because those
that present them to us would say unto us of these strange
gods, lo, here is Christ. Lo, there is Christ. Here's the
gospel. There's the gospel. Follow this
god. Follow that god. They don't present
these strange gods unto us as obvious idols and obvious gods
that we should not follow. They come as deceptions. But just as Israel of old were
easily deceived and easily led astray, so the believer can be.
And we cannot keep ourselves. We could say in boldness with
the Israelites here, yay, we will serve the Lord. But as Joshua
says unto us, you can't. You can't. You're unable. But if you're mine, I am my house, me and my house,
we will serve the Lord. If you're one of mine, I will
keep you, and I will lead you from these strange gods, and
you will follow me. In Isaiah chapter 30, We read this promise, thine ears
shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk
ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to
the left. Oh, what a promise to be given
to the children of God. Whenever you turn to the right
and the left, whenever there's a strange God presented unto
you that you're beguiled to follow, Whenever the religions of the
world around you come along and seek to lead you astray from
Christ and His gospel, there will be a voice, the Spirit of
God will say unto you, this is the way, walk ye in it. Not that way, not the left, not
the right, but this way, before Christ, before God. You see, whenever Israel turned
from the right path, whenever they turned from the way, whenever
they turned from following the one true and living God, it was
to turn to strange gods. They didn't merely turn away
from God himself and cease to worship. They didn't merely turn
away from the ways in which he would have them walk. but they turned to other gods
they weren't simply turning from the truth to the world and the
pleasures of the world and the riches of the world and the entertainment
of the world they weren't merely turning from the worship of God
to the world they were turning from truth to another religion
other gods another gospel they were turning from god to strange
gods that's what they kept on doing and that was their great
danger and that is the great danger
for believers as they journey through this world. Not that
we should turn from Christ to the world so much. That's obviously
a constant temptation. But the great danger is that
we turn to strange gods. We turn in our worship and our
religion away from the true Christ and the true gospel unto another
Christ and another gospel. We think we're still serving
God. We think we're still religious.
We're keeping away from the world and its ways. Oh, we haven't
changed. We're still chapel goers. We're
still church goers. We're still Bible believers.
We're still reading the Bible and praying and serving God. We still think we're walking
in the way, but no, we've turned from God to strange gods. That's what happened with Israel
of old. And that's the great danger.
for believers today. And that's why Christ will constantly
come in his gospel and say unto his people, this is the way. Walk ye in it. When you turn
to the right hand and to the left. The turning to the right
and the left is not a way from religion. It's turning unto strange
gods. and that's how why it is so easy
to turn because you think you're serving God you think this is
right somebody's telling you here's Christ and this is what
Christ would have you do and this is where Christ would have
you walk the danger at Galatia When the Apostle Paul had preached
the gospel to the Galatians and many had been saved, the trouble
they had was that others came in. Judaizers came in. Those that said they were believers
in Christ came into the church there and said, yes, you believe
Christ, but now you need to do this and do that. Now you should
be circumcised, like our fathers were. Now you should keep the
law as Moses gave it to us. Serve Christ, yes, but serve
him this way. Serve him by keeping the law.
Serve him by keeping his commandments. Serve him by being circumcised.
Serve him by cutting off the flesh and turning from the flesh
and the world and the world's ways and turning unto God. Consecrate
yourselves to God. Show that you're zealot for God. Turn from the world, obey the
law, walk in these ways. And the Galatians heard this
message and were beguiled by it. It sounded so right. But it was another gospel, as
Paul told them. And it was to turn to a strange
God. And how often we read in the
epistles of the turning of the church to this thing and that
thing and this belief and that belief, how some would turn to
the worship of angels. And as it were, fall down and
worship the messengers that God sends rather than worship the
God of which the message points them to. So some in the churches
today will hear great preachers and they'll hear the message
and be blessed by it, but they'll, as it were, follow the preacher
and not the one the preacher sends them to. Well, do follow
the preacher that leads you to Christ, but follow him as he
leads you to Christ. And should he start leading you
to the left hand or the right hand, you must turn from that
preacher and not follow him and turn to Christ. It's Christ's
voice we listen for. Yet there were those in Corinth
who said, I follow Paul, and I follow Apollos, and I follow
this one, and I follow that one. And some that were keen to appear
more spiritual than others that said, I follow Christ. And Paul said, I'd not have you
divided. You walk in the truth. There's only one way. This is
the way. Walk ye in it. So how subtle these gods are. Strange gods. And how often God
had to remind his people in the Old Testament to turn from the
strange gods around them and to worship only him. In the law
itself, in the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20 verse 3, God says,
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt have no
other gods before me. says there I am the Lord thy
God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the
house of bondage I've delivered you Therefore thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not have no other
gods before me. Yet how many strange gods there
are, which are presented unto us, which are so easily followed,
and we do not know it. There we are, thinking we follow
Christ. And we've turned to this God
and to that God. Strange gods, that's the great
danger. And that's why Joshua says, you
can't serve the Lord. You're unable, you'll fall, you
must serve him perfectly. But if you're one of mine, if
you're part of my house, we will serve the Lord. So Joshua made a covenant with
the people that day. And Christ has made a covenant
of which his people are a part. And he said, I will save them
with my mighty hand. And none of my children shall
depart. None of my sheep shall perish.
All whom the Father hath given me will I save. Consider some
of the strange gods around us this day, which might lead us
astray. Said briefly a few of them. Firstly,
there is a strange God in religion, in Christendom, in all the religions
of the world really, other than the truth. A strange God who's
worshipped and served by the works of men. A God that's pleased
by the works of men. A God whom we are told will bless
us if we do this or do that. If we do the right things, He
will bless us and if we don't, we will be condemned. If we live
a right, we will be saved. Practically every religion in
the world is about works. Live according to these rules. and you will get to heaven. Fall
down and you will fail. And yet the very clear message
that Joshua gives unto the children of Israel here, the very clear
reminder is that everything that they have received, every blessing
they have had from their God has been by grace. He did it
all. He delivered them. He delivered
them from serving strange gods. They didn't make a decision to
leave. Abraham wasn't deciding to leave
Ur of the Chaldees. There he was and God came unto
him and drew him out. The Israelites in Egypt hadn't
decided to leave. They were in anguish, yes, but
they were captive. They had no strength. They couldn't.
God delivered them. And none of them, who turned
to strange gods, could deliver themselves, God must come and
draw them back unto Him. He saved them by grace. And salvation
is always by grace, from start to finish. And everything else
is works. The religion of this world is
works. Everyone will tell you that you
must live like this, you must do this. If you keep the Ten
Commandments that Moses delivered, God delivered by Moses at Sinai
that Moses recorded in Exodus. If you keep the Ten Commandments
then you will be saved. Yet God gave those Ten Commandments
to show unto the Israelites and to show unto us that we can't
keep those things and that because we can't keep them we're under
condemnation. That God is a holy God and a
righteous God and we must keep the commandments perfectly, continuously,
every day of our life, every moment of our life, from start
to finish, without failure. And yet all of us have failed
from the very beginning. So the law wasn't given to show
us a standard by which we could live, a standard which we must
strive to keep, by which we might then be saved. It was given to
show us that we can't attain to that standard, we can't come
anywhere close to that standard. Joshua said unto the people,
ye cannot serve the Lord. For he is an holy God, he is
a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions
nor your sins. You strive to keep the law, you
strive to live by your own works, and yes you know you sin, yes
you know you fail, but you fool yourself to think that God might
forgive you your mistakes because of your desire to walk right. Oh well I'm trying to keep the
law, I'm trying to walk right, I know I don't do it perfectly
but God will forgive me because I'm doing it out of a good heart
and a good motive. I know I fail every day but I'm
trying. He'll forgive me but God doesn't
say that. He doesn't say that in the law
and He doesn't say it here by Joshua. He says he's holy. You must keep the law perfectly. Continuously. You must never
fail. God cannot forgive your failure. You may keep it right six days
of the week and fail on the seventh day and that's enough to damn
you. He can't forgive it. He's righteous and holy and just. Why do you fool yourself? that
God will forgive this sin and that sin just because you've
tried to do this thing and that thing are right. And yet many
do. They strive to justify themselves
before a holy God by their own works. and they fool themselves
that God will receive them because of their own works when the reality
is that God gave a law unto man to show man that he cannot walk
aright before him. He cannot be saved by works.
And how often does Paul declare this unto us in the book of Romans
and Galatians and elsewhere in the New Testament that we are
not justified by our works but by the grace of God through faith. He says in Colossians 2, 6, as
a reminder to the people of God, As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How have we received
him? Freely by grace through the gospel. God sovereignly chose to come
unto us in the passage of time and declare his gospel unto us,
to preach his gospel unto us, to preach it by his spirit and
by the voice of God, speak unto our soul and to say unto us,
yes, you're a sinner. Yes, you're guilty. Yes, you're
condemned. Yes, you're dead in trespasses
and sins. There is no hope for you, naturally
speaking. But, but I have given my son
as a sacrifice for sinners. But I have taken the iniquity,
the sins and the transgressions of my people and I have laid
them upon him. But I have judged him, judged
the sins of my people, judged their iniquity in Christ Jesus. I've slain him rather than them. And if you're brought to believe
on him, if you trust in him, if his blood washed you clean,
then you are forgiven of all your transgressions. And in him
you are righteous. I have made him to be sin, that
ye in him might be made the righteousness of God. You are saved by grace,
not by works. And this is how you receive Christ,
through his gospel, through this speech, through being brought
to believe on him and see him and see him dying in your place
and see the iniquity of your sins, see the depravity of your
soul judged in Christ and see His perfect blood wash you clean
and the righteousness of God set your account. How the Spirit
of God speaks peace and forgiveness into your soul and leads you
unto God. to walk before Him boldly, able
to say unto God that I've nothing in myself to bring, I've no righteousness,
I've no works that I can plead, but I can plead the blood of
Jesus Christ. Oh, receive me in Christ. We
receive Christ in the gospel by grace. And as Paul says, as
you've received him by grace, so walk ye in him. You were saved
by grace. You were chosen of God by grace. God chose you before ever the
foundation of the world was laid. Before ever you were brought
into this world. Before ever you were born. Before ever you
lived. Before ever you sinned and fell. Before ever you came
under condemnation. Before ever you did a wrong thing.
Before ever you shook your fist at Almighty God. Before ever
you wandered astray. God chose you by grace. And He offered up His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, at the cross 2,000 years ago, before ever
you were brought into this world. And He judged the sins of His
people, and if you're His, He judged your sin in Him, 2,000
years ago. And in the Gospel, He comes unto
you and says, I've done this for you. And He delivers you. and He delivers you by His grace
and He sends you forth as one who is forgiven, one whose sins
are blotted out, one who has been delivered from every transgression
and every enemy. The accuser of your soul might
come along and say, but has he not said this and has she not
done this? And God will respond, they are
forgiven, they are not guilty. and you continue to live by grace.
So Paul exhorts, just as you receive Christ by grace, so walk
ye in him, walk in grace, not by works, not seeking to please
your God through your obedience, through your work, through your
righteousness, for you know you have none. You know you couldn't
be saved by them and you know you have none. Everything you
have received and everything you are and everything you are
now and in the future is by grace, is a gift of God. Any introduction
of works at any stage is to turn to worship a strange God. A God who will receive your works
and bless you because of them. But our God has done it all and
He receives the works, as it were, of His own Son, not of
man. And those works are the works
of faith. He sees his Son. He sees Christ
and he sees how Christ went to the cross and laid down his life
for his people. He sees the faith and the trust
and the belief of Christ in the Father and in the Covenant. which
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit made before time. He sees the faith of Christ and
is well pleased that his Son was willing to go into the darkness
of the cross, into the abyss, to go and as it were plunge himself
into hell, into hell fire and torment for his people. And because
Christ did this by faith, God receives him. and sets the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ to the account of all those for whom
Christ suffered. But if you're to turn to a God
or a Jesus that you think will bless you because of what you
do, your zeal, your prayer, your Bible reading, your church attendance,
your righteousness, then you've turned from this God and turned
from this Christ and turned from this Gospel to a strange God. Secondly, there's a Gospel and
a God of free will. Many will preach unto us what
they call the gospel of Jesus. They'll preach unto us a Jesus
whom they say has died for all mankind and is there to be received
if you but will. He's done it all they say. He's
died upon the cross for everyone. He loves everyone. He loves you
and he desires that you should be saved. But he can't save you
because it's your decision. He's not going to force you,
you must decide. He's done all He can, He's died
for the sins of the world, He's died for all mankind, He loves
everyone, He wants everyone to be saved, but you need to make
a decision for Him. So they present unto us a God,
a strange God, a strange Jesus, who's no God at all, because
this Jesus has done so much, but ultimately cannot save anyone. He's subject to their will, their
acceptance of Him. Only will they be saved if they
agree to be saved. Is this your Jesus? Is this your
God? Is this your impotent God? Or do you believe in a sovereign,
all-powerful God, an omnipotent God? A Christ that delivered
his people through the power of his right hand, who did everything
it required to be saved. The Christ who in John says,
I have power to lay down my life and to take it again. I laid
down my life for the sheep. and none shall pluck them from
my Father's hand, none shall take them away. Do you believe
in a sovereign God and a sovereign Jesus who not only died for his
people but brings them to hear the gospel and brings them by
the power of the Holy Ghost to be born again and to believe
that gospel. A Christ that gives them life
in the new birth and gives them faith to believe in God. A Christ
that does it all. Or do you believe that you must
make the decision and he can't affect it? Or Paul says in Romans 9, it
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. It's God that decides if you
will believe. It's God that wills it. It's
God that said I'm going to deliver them. They've decided to run
away. They've decided to turn to strange
gods. They've decided to stay in their
sin. But I love them and I will turn
them. I will turn them unto me. I will
deliver them from their sins and I will preach peace unto
their soul. And he comes unto us who are drowning. drowning
in our sin, drowning in our hate of God, and He delivers us. And we will gladly say, once
He's delivered us, that I didn't choose Him, He chose me. And
I know it's not of Him that willeth, because my will was set another
way. And I know it's not of Him that runneth, because I was running
another way. But it's of God that showeth
mercy, because that's how He found me, He showed me mercy. Likewise John in chapter 1 says,
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. But who received
him and who believed on him? Those who were born, not of blood. nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man but of God. Those that God came to in
the gospel and caused by the power of the Holy Ghost to be
born again, to be risen from the deadness of their sin and
to live again by the power of God, given a new life by God. because Christ had died in their
place and taken away the death that reigned in them and brought
unto them eternal life. He who is the light of God and
the life of God gave himself that the dead should live. Or
do you serve a sovereign God? A sovereign Christ? A powerful
Christ? Or do you turn and worship a
strange God of free will? A Christ of free will? Thirdly, there is a strange God
of Popery and all that is like Popery. Oh how many errors there
are in the Catholic Church and in its advocacy of a Pope. But one fundamental error that
sits in this church and in many like it is the idea that there
is a mediator between God and men that is a man. The idea that
the Pope or the church which he represents can mediate between
fallen sinners and Almighty God. And we don't just see this in
the Catholic Church and in the Pope, but we see it in so many
other places. How the Church is held up to
be the means by which people are saved, and how the men in
the Church, or the rulers in the Church, are then put on pedestals
that you can't be saved except through this man or that man.
You must have the blessing of the priest. You must have the
blessing of the Pope. and how they subtly come in and
they use scripture and they use truth and they use justification
to justify putting man in the place of Jesus Christ. This is a strange God who's approached
in this way. God says there is one God and
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He's our mediator between God. He is our savior. And if Christ,
by His Gospel, speaks unto your soul by the Spirit of God, yes,
by a preacher, but by the Spirit of God, for a preacher can't
save you. It's just words from a man. God
must speak by His Spirit, through His Gospel. He must come unto
you, and He comes unto you through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ. Is He your God? Is he your mediator? Or have you been deceived to
turn from Christ alone unto the mediatorship of men, or the Pope,
or the church, or rules and regulations and institutions that come in?
How men have built up churches, denominations, congregations,
and set up edifices in them, set up their confessions of faith
and their rules and memberships and systems and said that you're
not truly saved unless you're a member of this church and you
can't be a member of this church unless you agree to these things
and you can't be amongst us and know that you're saved unless
you go this way and that way and how they supplant the truth
of God in the gospel with the words of men. they construct
confessions of faith which sound right in many ways but ultimately
introduce works and the will of man and the mediatorship of
men and the churches and memberships and confessions of faith between
sinners and the saviour. They put things between you.
You can't be saved unless you're baptized in our church, by our
means, by our ministers, by our system. That's the only way you
can have assurance that you're saved. If you're not doing these
things, then we can't give you any hope that you're saved. It's
oh so subtle, but it's to worship a strange God. Fourthly, there's
a strange God of idolatry, which we see in many churches, like
Anglicanism and the Catholic Church, and so many others, where
everything is outward. where they have their great churches,
their great buildings, their stained glass windows, their
priests, and their systems, their robes, and their hats, and their
offerings, and their sacrifices, and their Eucharists, and all
the different means and forms that they bring in as part of
their religion. Everything's outwards, and it's
all idolatrous. Oh what a return to the Old Testament
outward form of the Levitical priesthood when God has plainly
taught us in the New Testament that those things were a type
and a figure and a picture all pointing unto Christ and all
given to Israel for a season. But when Christ came that all
came to an end. The old covenant, the old priesthood,
the old worship, the old temple, it all came to an end because
it was all simply a picture of Christ. And yet these modern
churches since have brought it all back in. They've brought
back the buildings when God has said He doesn't dwell in buildings
made with stone. He dwells by faith, by the Spirit
of God in the hearts of His people. His church is the people, not
the buildings. You aren't in the house of God
when you go to a particular place or a particular building. How
often people will say, here we gathered on this Sabbath day
in the house of God, like it's a building, like it's a place,
when the gathering is for the people to gather. Oh, how wicked
these churches. Ah, they introduce their great
buildings and their great stained glass windows and their... their... altars at the front of the church
and their priests gowned in certain ways all mimicking the old testament
ideas and they're not pointing to Christ and they've taken away
from the simplicity in Christ and the simplicity of the gospel
and put all these things in the eyes of the people and oh how
people are beguiled by them they like to go to church and they
like to see the authority of the priest and they like to feel
like they are walking in the right way and doing the right
things at the right times. Oh how they're taken in by these
things. But all this outward worship
is nothing more than wood, hay and stubble in God's eyes and
it will be burnt up on the last day. There's nothing in it. So
every Sunday you go to church and in the week you go to church
and you read from this book and that book and you use this prayer
book and you attend Eucharist and you do this and you do that
and you've been baptized or you've been sprinkled or you've done
this and you've done that. You've done all the right things
and men can see you've done all the right things. But God looks
upon the heart and you can do all these things when there's
nothing in your heart but sin. Like the Pharisees, you make
good the outside of the cup, when inside it's filthy and stinking
and you know it. Oh, what a strange God this is.
What a strange God to turn to all these outward things, when
God says of his gospel that it's inward. It's an inward reality
of the new birth that you need. Paul says of his gospel, our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance as you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake. It's the inward reality
you need. You need these words not just
in the head, not just on the page, not just the forms. You
can throw all the forms out the window, what you need to hear
is the Gospel, by the Holy Ghost, in power and in much assurance.
You need to see Christ inwardly. You need to know him. You need
to walk before him. And to turn to that which is
outward in any sense is to turn to a strange God. Briefly, there's
a strange God we see in the charismatic movement, in the various different
forms it may have taken down through the ages. Oh, how people
like that which is outward, that which is emotional. That which
they feel demonstrates signs and wonders. How they love to
see something miraculous. How they love to have the emotion
in worship. This is like strained fire before
God. They don't come in the simplicity
of Christ, bowing before Him by faith. They've got to be stirred
up. They've got to be entertained. They've got to feel like there's
life in the meeting, which they conjure up through music and
entertainment and dance and song. And it's all fleshly. It's all
outward again. It may seem like life, they say,
oh, but it's life. We don't want dead churches.
We don't want all this dead, dry doctrine, they say. We want
to have a lively meeting. But there's no more life in their
meeting than there is in what they decry as a dead meeting.
There's no more life. They can be deaf in outward words
that is so biblical, but it is not of God. And they can be deaf
in the most lively, entertaining meeting, filled to the brim,
thousands in a great hall, all singing away, all assured of
their salvation, and they're all dead because God's not there
and God's not in it. If they have not the gospel and
they have not Christ, it's dead, it's carnal, it's of the flesh,
it's strained fire. God's reaction to those that
bring strange fire is to strike them down dead. In Numbers and
26 you will read of Nadab and Abihu who died when they offered
strange fire before the Lord. These are strange gods. God will be worshipped in spirit
and in truth. in the truth of the gospel and
the life of the gospel in the spirit not in truth only in the
written word in the dead letter and not in spirit that doesn't
accord with the truth and a liveliness which is not in accord with the
truth of the gospel but in spirit and in truth and to turn to one
or the other without them both united is to turn to a strange
God. Sixthly and lastly, there are
strange gods today of rationalism and humanism and turning to the
mind and the intellect. There's a strange God in Christendom
that says as long as you believe these things, these points, if
you accept this doctrine and that doctrine and that doctrine,
then you're saved. And there are those who study
the scriptures and study the Bible and study theology and
go to theological courses. and read theological books and
they come to turn from this thing and that thing and they can reject
Arminianism and embrace Calvinism and embrace this and embrace
that and embrace election and all these doctrines that they've
got oh so right but it's all just in their heads. It's all
just what seems rational and logical to them. They weigh up
every point and every argument and they dismiss those that seem
to have the worst arguments and they come to this agreement and
that these are the right things to believe. But it's just in
the head and it's not accompanied by the Spirit and by life and
by reality. Faith, God-given living faith
is not mere mental assent to truth. Man by his own wisdom
knew not God and knows not God. You can't come to God simply
by study. And those that do, you will find
are hard-hearted because wherever they are in their study and their
ideas of what is the truth, they reject every error that they've
rejected in the past. All those that saw other things
in the past are cast out. And then when they come to a
new idea, Those that are in present agreement with them that don't
embrace their latest idea is also cast out and then they come
to another idea of what should be and what is and then you're
cast out also and they keep on moving on this journey of finding
fault with this and finding fault with that and come into their
greater and clearer idea of truth but it's all in the head. which
is why they have no love for the people of God and why they
can reject genuine believers whom they should love simply
because they don't see everything that they think that they should
see. And this heart attitude, this attitude comes because it's
in their heads. Man by wisdom knew not God. You
won't come to God simply by knowledge. simply by study and to think
you can is to worship a strange God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians,
for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. You must hear the gospel by the
Spirit of God. You'll never come to the truth
by your own wisdom. Man by wisdom, the world by wisdom,
knew not God. How will you be saved? How will
you be delivered from these strange gods? By the foolishness of the
preaching of the gospel. Oh, it's tiresome to sit under
preaching. It's tiresome to hear this man
saying these things. This is God's means to save.
He will present unto you Christ by preaching Him. And He will
send unto you a preacher with this message. And it's your only
hope. Everything else is to turn to
a strange God. And many of these gods, as we've
said, are so subtle. So subtle. Many will get you
at the point of truth and they'll come in like the Judaizers at
Galatians and they'll say, well, yes, we believe election. as
it were. But then they'll tell you that
the atonement of Christ was sufficient for all mankind but it's only
efficient for the elect. He loves everybody, he died for
everybody, but only the elect are saved. And actually they
undermine the atonement and they make it that Christ died for
all and wants all to be saved, desires all to be saved, and
ultimately is those that decide for him that are saved. These
deceivers, though they claim to believe election, actually
believe the same as those that preach free will. They believe
in a Christ that died for all, loves all, desires all to be
saved, but can't really save anybody. Because they must make
the decision. Yet these would say that they
believe in election and believe in the atonement. But Christ
says he laid down his life for the sheep, not the goats. And everyone for whom he laid
down his life will be saved. He saves everyone for whom he
died. And the power to save is in his
hands. These deceivers will say that
we're saved by grace. But then they'll bring you back
under law. They'll say Moses leads us to Christ because we
can't keep his law. But when we come to Christ, then
we must head back to Moses to be instructed in our walk. Then
we are given the law to teach us how to live the Christian
life. And yet God says, that the law was a schoolmaster unto
Christ and when faith has come we're no longer under a schoolmaster.
God says throw out the bondwoman and her child. God says turn
from Sinai unto Zion. Once you've come to Christ, once
you've come to grace, you walk in Christ and you walk by grace
and you turn not to the left hand or the right. These deceivers will also say
that the law is the express image of God, it tells us God, it reveals
His glory and His person, therefore we must walk in it. But God tells
us in Hebrews that the Son of God is the express image of God. He's revealed Himself through
Christ, not the law. And there's nothing in Christ
that is insufficient. You don't need to turn to the
law in addition to Christ. when Christ is the express image
of God and yet this is how they squeeze these things in. I've
heard these men say that the law is the express image of God
and they take the exact phrase from Hebrews 1 that speaks of
the Son of God and use it of the law. How subtle and deceptive
they are. This is all to turn to a strange
God. It's subtle but it's strange. And the thing is is that people
turn to these things, turn out of the way unto these ways, unto
these strange gods, believing that they are turning away from
the world, away from sin, to walk in the truth. They are turning
to the Lord to try to avoid turning to sin. They think that they're
serving God by this, when actually they're turning away from the
all-sufficiency of Christ. turning away from trusting him
and believing that he's able to keep them from falling, turning
away from faith alone in Christ and walking in Christ by faith
and turning to their own strength and they think they do God's
service in these things but they've turned to a strange God. Christ tells us in John's gospel
as a warning and as a pointer to these things that the days
are coming when they think they will do God's service when they
put you to death. He says, these things have I
spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They shall put
you out of the synagogues. They'll get you out of their
church. They'll say, don't come here and preach your message.
You're not preaching that gospel here. The time come if that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. They'll
say you're antinomian for saying you're no longer under the law.
They'll say you're troublous, you'll bring people into lasciviousness,
you'll cause people to live as sinners. They'll put you out
of their churches, they won't let you preach in their churches
because they'll cast names at you and they think they're doing
God's service. And Christ says unto you who
are so cast out, so rejected, you're mine and this is the way. Walk ye in it, turn not to the
left hand or the right, this is the truth. Oh foolish Galatians
who've bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before
whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth crucified
among you. This only would I learn of you
receive you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. Are you so foolish? Having begun
in the spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh? Don't listen
to these. and their strange gods. Let them
cast you out. Let them close the doors of their
synagogues and churches to you. Walk ye in this way. Follow the one true and living
God. Micah gives us this wonderful
picture. This wonderful reminder of who
our God is. Who is a God like unto thee? that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,
he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in
mercy. Our God, the God who saves, the
Lord Jesus Christ is a God that pardons iniquity. He forgives
sinners. He delights in showing mercy
and though they fall and though they stumble and though they
turn to the left and the right and turn to these strange gods,
He'll bring them back. And He'll keep them and deliver
them and watch over them. He delights in showing mercy. Who is a god like Antony? He's
sovereign, he's all-powerful, and he will not and he does not
share his glory with men, with man, with any man. He says by
grace, by mercy, through faith, salvation is all of God from
start to finish. He chooses whom He shall save. He chooses how He shall save. He chooses when He shall save
and He chooses where He shall save. And if you're His, He will
come unto you at a time of His choosing. at a place of his choosing,
through his gospel, by his Spirit, and he will say unto you, Behold
my Son, choose this day whom ye shall serve. Will you serve
the gods of the world around you? Will you serve the gods
of religion around you? Will you turn away from Christ
alone, or will you behold my Son? and know that He's done
everything to save. He'll say unto you, this is the
way, this is the way. Walk ye in it when you turn to
the right hand and when you turn to the left. This is the way. Amen.