Okay, this evening we have the
conclusion of Joshua, our study of the book of Joshua. We started
studying the book of Joshua back last spring in March. It's been
almost a year we've been studying each chapter, going
through each chapter and gleaning gospel messages through the book
of Joshua. Now, I'm entitling the message
this evening the last words of God's faithful servant, Joshua. These be his last words. What
a privilege we have to read Joshua's Farewell Address. That is the
message, the title of the message, Joshua's Farewell Address. And
it put me in mind of what the Apostle Paul, when he called
for those elders at Ephesus and how he reminded them everything
that God had done for them. Now, Joshua was God's faithful
servant. Our text says here in verse 29,
Joshua 24 verse 29, it came to pass after these things that
Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, the servant of the
Lord died being 110 years old. No higher title. can be given to any man, any
man who is a poor sinner, than the servant of the Lord. Now
this is more than just Joshua saying that he was a servant
of the Lord. This is the Lord saying, this
man was my servant, the servant of the Lord. A poor sinner, justified
in Christ, who found all of his salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's a high title. to be called,
especially to be called of God. Moses, the man of God, to be
a servant of God. Joshua, the servant of the Lord.
Even the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, was called the servant
of the Lord. Did you know that? In Isaiah
42.1, remember, God said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, and whom my soul delighteth. So it's a high title, a high
title. The apostle Paul referred to
himself many times throughout his epistles. He called himself
a servant of the Lord. More than he called himself an
apostle, he called himself a servant of the Lord. Now, it is a high
privilege for any sinner to be blessed of God, to be put in
the service of the Lord, and to serve the Lord. Willingly,
lovingly, to honor the Lord by serving Him, by believing Him,
and worshiping Him. Like the old bond slave years
ago, when he served his seven years, he could go free. But if he loved his master, He
could take that oath and serve him, not out of slavery and servitude,
but serve him out of love. And that's what it is with God's
people. We'd like to serve the Lord,
but we do so because we love him, because we want to. Now
we know from our studies through this inspired book, Joshua, we
know like all the Word of God that is inspired and given of
God. And we know that all Scripture
was given to teach us one lesson. Sixty-six books all have the
same lesson, and that lesson is how God saves sinners through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the lesson. There are
many different books and many different verses, many different
men, prophets, epistles, all these things, but they all teach
one lesson. how God saved sinners in Christ
by His grace. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. Now, that's not just talking
about moral living, it's talking about the righteousness of God
that's revealed in the gospel and it's totally two different
things. the righteousness of God that's
revealed in the gospel. Now we know from our previous
lessons through the book of Joshua, Joshua is a type and picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our faithful and successful
Savior, God our Savior. Joshua in name as well as office
is a personal type of the Lord Jesus Christ. called his name
Jesus. What is that name? Savior. And
that's what Joshua's name means. God, our Savior. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. Now, all through the Old Testament,
we see the gospel in type and picture. You remember those three
types I've told you about? I just mentioned the first one,
personal types. Joshua was a personal type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What we've also seen Through
our study throughout the book of Joshua, we've also seen not
only personal type, but providential types. Providential type. That crossing through the Jordan,
the way it happened, is a providential type of God bringing us into
the promised land of his heavenly Canaan by his will, his power,
and his purpose. When those waters parted, It
didn't happen naturally, it happened by the power of God and that's
the only way God saves us and takes us to his heavenly kingdom
is through the power of the gospel. So we see and we have seen personal
types, we have seen providential types, and then you remember
the third one? Third one, instituted types,
instituted type. And we've seen that as well.
The tabernacle was set up there in Shiloh, Joshua 18 verse one,
and we know the whole tabernacle, everything involved in that tabernacle
is all a picture of the gospel. Remember, we've studied that
over the years here, how that tabernacle was set up with the
holy place and the holy of holies. and the mercy seat and all those
things and the blood upon the mercy seat and all that's a picture
of the gospel. And then we've also seen another
instituted type in the book of Joshua, the setting up of the
cities of refuge. Remember those six cities that
were set up? Remember when we went through
that I pointed out that each of those names Each of those
names preaches unto us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the whole study in Joshua,
therefore, is a study of the gospel of Christ. Now, you can
read the history through this book of Joshua. And it's an interesting
history, but if that's all you see, you've missed the message.
You've missed the purpose of God giving this book, because
it's all to preach to us the gospel. The things that are written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we might see the
gospel in Christ. The whole study in Joshua, the
study of the gospel, how we have the victory, how we have the
victory over sin, hell, death, and the law through the Lord
Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. You remember Paul writes,
thanks be unto God who has given us the victory. He's given us
the victory through, through what? What's the rest of it?
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason we have the
victory at all, because of Christ. Now, I want to consider a few
thoughts from the conclusion of this study in Joshua 24. The first thing is in verse 14
and 15, Joshua declares unto the people that he and his household
They were going to serve the Lord without reservation, without
hesitation. It was a noble resolution worthy
of our imitation and may God give us grace to do just that. He says in verse 13, I've given
you the land, I've given you the cities, I've given you the
vineyards, I've given everything to you. I planted them, I built
the city, I did all these things and I gave them to you. Now, he said, verse 14, now therefore,
fear the Lord, 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 the Lord. Verse 15, if it seemed evil unto
you to serve the Lord, then choose you this day whom
you will serve. Now he's not giving them a choice
of serving the Lord or not. He's giving them a choice. The
command is serve the Lord. But if you don't want to serve
the Lord, okay, you can go ahead and make a choice among all these
other gods. 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 God of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, according
to the command of God, we're going to serve the Lord." We're
going to serve the Lord. Now, isn't that a noble resolution?
As for me and my house, oh, by his grace, we are going to serve
the Lord. Joshua's words of instruction
are good words for us to follow. Notice he says in verse 14, now
therefore, fear the Lord. And this is not a slavish fear,
this is a reverential fear. Fear the Lord. To fear the Lord
is to reverence Him. It is to honor Him. It's to worship
Him. Notice it says to fear the Lord. It is to believe Him. Holy and
reverent is His name. You remember from Genesis 22,
When Abraham and Isaac went up to Mount Moriah, and God told
Abram to offer up his son, and they had the wood, the fire,
the knife, Isaac wondering, where's the lamb? As he puts Isaac, binds
him and lays him on that altar, draws back his hand to take his
son's life, and Isaac wondered all the time, Dad, where's the
lamb? Remember, God stopped him, said, do no harm unto the lad. And here's what he said. Here's
what the angel of the Lord said. Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that you
fearest God. Fearing God has a whole lot to
do with believing God. Seeing thou hath not withheld
thy son, thy only son. Those who fear the Lord in a
reverent, reverential way, fear the Lord because they believe
him. They look to him for all of salvation. So he says, fear the Lord, Fear
the Lord, that is to believe Him. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And then he says, if you fear
the Lord, then serve Him. It just kind of follows, doesn't
it? If you fear Him and believe Him, then the desire in your
heart is to serve Him in sincerity, not hypocrisy. Not hypocrisy. You can't serve the Lord in hypocrisy,
can you? He knows your heart. Then serve
him in sincerity and serve him in truth. He said you shall know
the truth and the truth will set you free. And he doubles
down on this. And he says in the last part
of verse 14, serve ye the Lord. Serve ye the Lord. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in sincerity and in truth, in
spirit and in truth. Now, what an honor God has bestowed
upon every believer to have a desire not only to fear him, but to
serve the Lord. Serve the Lord, not out of fear,
not out of fear of the curse of the law, not out of fear of
punishment, Not even out of promise or reward, but out of love, out
of love, out of gratitude to serve the Lord. You see, the
love of Christ constraineth us. Now, if we are brought by his
grace to fear the Lord, And if he's put a desire in our heart
to not only fear the Lord, but to serve the Lord, then this
will follow naturally. Put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of the flood and serve the Lord. Put away all forms of idolatry. Now, oftentimes, This thing of
idolatry is a subtle thing. It's not like we're going to
build a six foot statue of stone and bow down to it like they,
I remember when I was in Mexico visiting our missionaries, some
of those religious statues in those different Catholic churches
there, they were so rubbed on and kissed by the people that
people just almost wore them out. And you think, how could
anybody be so ignorant and blind and dumb? Well, that's just what
we are by nature. We're idolaters. But if God has
given us his sincere fear of the Lord in our heart, and has
caused us in our heart to truly serve him in sincerity and truth, It'll come to us in a most powerful
way to put away all forms of our former idolatry and religious
works and count them just as they are, as Paul said, dung,
ruined, lost, and may win Christ and be found in him. Now, the
same is true of us today. We are to worship the Lord our
God and put away all forms of false hope. all forms of refuge
of lies, and worship the only true and living God. Those who embrace what the apostle
called another gospel, which is not another, and another spirit,
those who embrace a false gospel are cursed of God. Paul said
again, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be a curse. Though we or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached,
let him be a curse." You see, there's just one way to worship.
And when God teaches us the gospel, we want nothing to do with false
religion, do we? It's anathema. Away with it.
It's a scourge. I don't want anything to do with
it. Run from it. Now, verse 15, Joshua declares
that he, as for me and my house, and this is by the Lord's purpose,
by the Lord's grace, we will serve the Lord. If it seemed evil to you to serve
the Lord, you go ahead and make a choice among all these pagan
idols and you serve them. But as for me and my house, We're
going to honor God. We're going to fear Him. We're
going to serve Him. We're going to worship Him. We're
going to honor Him. If it seems evil to you, Joshua
was saying to the people, or wrong to you, to serve a true
and living God, you pick and choose among the false gods who
you're going to worship, Dagon, Baal, or Ashtoreth. Joshua said,
that's for me and my house. We're going to serve God. We're
going to serve the Lord. You see, men left to their own
will, which is not free, it is in bondage, but people like to
talk up this free will thing. They even name their churches
free will this and free will that. But men left to their wicked,
depraved will will only choose which poison he is pleased to
die with. He will only choose which idol
he is pleased to die with. Left to himself, he won't choose
the living and true God. Will he? Our Lord said, no man
can come to me except the Father which sent me, draw him. Left
to ourselves, we'll never fear the Lord. Left to ourselves,
we'll never serve the Lord. Left to ourselves, we'll never
believe the gospel. Never. Left to ourselves. Faith is a gift of God, is it
not? You see, we only believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ because, now listen to this. My brother Nybert says
this all the time and I'm beginning to understand what he's saying.
We believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ because we
have no choice. We have no choice. When he does
that work of grace in our heart, we have no choice but to believe
the gospel of God's grace. To believe his truth, thy people
shall be willing in the day of his power. We believe according
to the working of his mighty power. Now, if you do so, if
you're blessed to do so, to serve the Lord and to fear the Lord
and bow and love the Lord, it's only because he first loved you. If you're blessed to God to seek
the Lord, It's only because he came to seek and to save that
which is lost. We only seek him because he sought
us. We only bow to him because he
chose us in that covenant of grace. That's right. We seek
him only because he sought us. And by his grace, when he works
in our heart and causes us to serve him, Our Lord said, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should bring forth fruit unto eternal life. Our faith is the
fruit of his choice for us. I'm glad he made that choice
because if he didn't, I'd never choose to believe the gospel.
But when he works in us, He brings us to this end, we have no choice
but to bow to Him and surrender. Our faith is the fruit of His
choice. Faith is the sovereign gift of
God. Now, here's some examples of
what this thing we call saving faith does. Faith and conduct,
as my dear pastor used to say, Faith and conduct always go together. I got a letter from him today,
and he said to tell everyone, hello. So, hello. But here's what saving faith
does. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. I've got some examples here.
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is
on the Lord's side? Let him come to me." And all
the sons of Levi gathered themselves together. Faith and conduct cannot
be separated. You remember from 1 Kings chapter
18 when we studied over there Elijah on Mount Carmel facing
down those prophets of Baal, you remember the story? Elijah
came and all the people said, how long halt you between two
opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him. Follow Him. Well, if Baal, but
if Baal, if he be Lord, but if Baal, then follow him. And the
people did not answer a word. Elijah's saying the same thing
Joshua's saying, as for me and my house, we're going to serve
the Lord. You remember the rest of that story, Elijah killed
those false prophets, lined them all up, 750 of them, killed every
one of them. You see, it's grace and grace
alone. You remember another story? We
studied this too in the book of Ruth. Here's what faith does
and here is how faith acts. When Naomi was getting ready
to leave the land of Moab and go back to her place in Judah,
and she told all them girls, you just stay there. Do you remember
what Ruth said? She said, Entreat me not to leave
thee, or to return from following after thee. For whether thou
goest, I will go. And where you lodge, I'll lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. As for me
and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. We're going to
serve the Lord. Where you die, Ruth said, I'll
die. I'll be buried, and the Lord
do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and
me." What's Ruth saying? Same thing Joshua's saying. As
for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. Now that's
the resolve of faith, and that's how faith sees things. Now, here's
the second thing. The people said, verse 16 down
through 18, the people answered and said, God forbid that we
should forsake the Lord. Now Paul used that phrase a lot,
doesn't he? God forbid we should glory, save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The people answered and
said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other
gods. And the Lord our God, He it is
that brought us up out of the and our fathers out of the land
of Egypt from the house of bondage, which did those great signs in
our sight and preserved us. He brought us up. He preserved
us all these years, those 40 years in the wilderness. He brought
us across Jordan into the land of Canaan. The Lord drove out
the people, all the enemies, the Hamorites. Therefore, we,
will we also serve the Lord For He is God. Now, they keep repeating
this. They keep repeating it. And the
people, look at verse 21. And the people said unto Joshua,
Nay, but we will serve the Lord. Down in verse 22. You are witnesses against yourselves
that you have chosen you the Lord. to serve him. And they said,
we are witnesses. Again, down in verse 24, the
people said unto Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve. And his voice, we will obey. Strong, strong words. Now, people
often say right and good things, but do just the opposite. Now you're going to see as we
try, Lord willing, start a study in the book of Judges, that after
Joshua died and those elders died, after those leaders were
gone, the people reverted right back to the ways of idolatry. So sad. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. It's a good thing to
say, we will serve the Lord, but it's a whole nother thing
to do it, to do it, to honor God. Now, verse 19 and 20, I
wanna consider this for just a minute. And Joshua said unto
the people, And they said, we're going to serve the Lord, we're
going to fear Him, we're going to honor Him, we're going to
worship Him. And Joshua said to the people, you can't do it.
You can't serve the Lord. He's holy. He's a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will
not forgive your transgression nor your sin. Now, if you just
lift that verse out and just lift it out of the contents of
what's being said, it'd leave us with despair, with despair. Now, verse 20, you gotta consider
that if you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, if you
forsake the gospel, is there any other way to serve him? No! Then He will turn and do
you hurt. No more mercy. And He'll consume
you after that He had done you good. Nothing but judgment for
those who walk off and forsake the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let's consider a couple
of things here. He says, first of all, you cannot
serve the Lord. Now, He says, first of all, he's
holy. Too holy for us to approach without
a proper mediator, without a proper substitute, without a proper
sacrifice for sin, without a savior. We can't serve the Lord apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through me. God's too holy for us. Too holy
for us. We have to have a mediator, an
intercessor. And we have that in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. And then he says, secondly, he's
jealous. The Lord deserves a complete devotion, complete commitment
and trust. He will not share his glory,
honor or worship He will not have a competitor. He will not
have a rival in our heart. A total surrender. As Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. He said
in another place, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above. God is jealous. He's jealous
of his glory. And then he says, thirdly, he
will not forgive your transgression and your idolatry, nor your sin. Exodus 34, the Lord said, he
will by no means clear the guilty. Not without a suitable sacrifice
for sin. Not without Christ crucified
as the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. Thank God we have
a substitute. Thank God that He did put away
our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. But the warning here, remember
I've told you over the years, God gives us promises lest we
despair, warnings lest we presume. He said, if you forsake the Lord
and serve strange gods, don't expect mercy, expect judgment. He'll turn on you and he will
do you hurt. If we forsake the gospel of Christ,
as it says in the book of Hebrews, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sin. Don't look for another sacrifice
for sin. Christ is the only one. If you forsake him and walk away
from him, there's no more sacrifice for sin. Now here's what's being
taught. Exactly what the Lord was teaching
us in Matthew 6. You cannot serve the Lord with
a divided heart. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve two masters. There's just one master. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will pan out. All these things will work out.
All these things will be added unto you. There's nothing but
judgment for those who forsake the gospel of Christ. There's
no mercy. You forsake the mercy house?
You forsake where mercy is found? What do you expect? Judgment. Judgment. He that believeth on
the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. Wrath. Wrath of God. Wrath of
God upon you. Now I've got a couple of minutes
left. In conclusion, we see a covenant made. A covenant made. The people said, we will serve
the Lord. Joshua says, you've chosen to
serve the Lord, now you serve Him. And the people said, we
will serve the Lord. And the people said, verse 24,
the Lord our God, we will serve His voice, we will obey. So Joshua
made a covenant, verse 25. Our God is a covenant God. Our
Joshua has made a covenant, ordered in all things. In short, he's
assuredly a covenant. He's a sacrifice of a covenant.
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them
a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Joshua wrote these words
in the book of the law of God and took a great stone, set it
up there under an oak tree that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall
be a witness unto us. For it hath heard all the words
of the Lord in which he spake unto us. And it shall be therefore
a witness unto you, lest you deny your God." You remember
he said, if you deny me, I'll deny you. If you be ashamed of
me, I'll be ashamed of you. The people said, oh, we're going
to serve the Lord. What a blessed, blessed determination
to serve the Lord, to forsake all others, and to cleave only
unto the Lord. You remember we studied in Romans
12, I know you remember all these things, right? I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. That's only reasonable, is it
not? To serve the Lord. And Joshua made this covenant.
He wrote the words upon a stone. An old saying, you know, those words
were written in a stone. Yes, they were. That means they
don't change. like the giving of the law of
God written upon two stones by the finger of God, unchanging
as God himself. His word does not change. What
he writes and what he says is forever. Our God is a covenant
God. The mercy we receive are covenant
mercies through the Lord Jesus Christ. His character is unchanging
and his word is unchanging. He said, I am the Lord. I'm the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
He said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never
pass away. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. His promise never changes. I
like what David said upon his deathbed, although my house be
not so with God, yet he is made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation, all
my desire, although he make it not to grow. Now I often wondered
about that statement. He makes it not to grow. It doesn't
need any improvement. It doesn't grow. It's perfect.
It's a perfect covenant. Christ is a surety of the covenant.
Hebrews 7, by so much with Jesus made a surety of a better covenant.
He's the savior and sacrifice of the covenant, the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep to the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. And then he says, amen.
Now, may the Lord be pleased to make this resolve and surrender
and commitment in our own heart and soul to serve the Lord. May he work that in us, to serve
the Lord. In whatever way, in whatever
way we have different gifts and different things the Lord gives
each and every one that's placed in the body of Christ, wherever
the Lord, whatever he's given us to do, Do it. Serve the Lord
in whatever way, and do so all the days of your life. As Joshua
said, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.
We're going to follow Him. We're going to honor Him. Like it said of Caleb, who wholly
followed the Lord, that's what I want for you. And that's what
I want for me, to follow the Lord. My sheep hear my voice,
I know them, and they do follow, they do follow me. Well, that's
been a good study. May the Lord bless it.