Joshua's Call to Perseverance - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, Thou the risen of my God and King, Thou triumphs of His grace.

This is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey, trust and obey, For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away. Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear, Can remain when we trust and obey, trust and obey, For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, But a toil He doth richly repay. Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, But is best if we trust and obey, trust and obey, For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Then in fellowship suite we will sit at His feet, One will walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sins we will go, Never fear, only trust and obey, trust and obey, For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. I'm glad to have you with us today and I encourage you to write and let us know that you have listened. The mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. When you support the program, it's not only that you might be able to listen, but that others also are able to hear these messages from God's Word.

There are some that are infirm and unable to go out to church and look forward to the broadcast each week. I hope you'll pray that the Lord will use this ministry to the glory of His name. Today we bring you the second part of a message entitled, Joshua's Call to Perseverance. The text is in Joshua chapter 23 beginning with verse 1. And 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, for their elders and their heads and for their judges and for their officers and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age and ye have 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 fought for you. So Joshua is now in his old age.

He lived to be 110. We think these words were not long before his death. So as he calls the leaders together to speak to them, he talks about the past. He talks about their great victories. He talks about the great things that God has done for them. He talks about the present.

Now that you're here in the land, it's vital that you respect God's law and live as He has directed you. He also is concerned about the future. He's concerned that after His departure, the people will stay on course and not be led astray. So he addresses that and gives them clear instruction as to what their commitment and faithfulness to the Word of God ought to be.

And in his message, he brings something that's very basic. He first says you need to keep God's Word. You know what God has said?

You're to keep it. You're to obey it. Second thing He says is you are to cleave to the Lord. Not just to have a casual attitude that I'm serving God, but cleave to Him, cling to Him, stay close to Him. The third thing He says is to love the Lord. Certainly those admonitions are well for us to receive today, to keep God's Word, cleave to the Lord, and love the Lord. I hope that today's message will be a blessing to you. And then to give thanks for what He does for us on a daily basis.

Paul said, but my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Do you truly give thanks for every blessing that you enjoy on a daily basis? Do you think when you wake up in the morning, Lord, thank you for another night's rest?

On some nights you rest better than others, but the fact you've awakened in the morning and you've got another day ahead of you. Thank you, Lord, for the breakfast I was able to eat and the lunch and the supper. Thank you that I had a roof over my head. Thank you for the clothes I wear.

Thank you for every detail of life. My God shall supply all your needs. You know, when we have a deep sense of our own unworthiness and we think about how marvelous His blessings are, those things that we sometimes have taken for granted and overlooked become more meaningful and we go to the Lord thanking Him for it. And so first we find that Joshua is reminding the people of what God has already done for them and that's certainly important for us. Never to forget the Lord has done great things for us.

And then he goes on to bring a message for the present. The first thing he says is to do all that is written, once more referring them to the Word of God. They had been successful because they were obedient to God's Word. Now we go back to Joshua chapter 1 verse 6.

Here we find the message was right on this target from the beginning. Be strong and of a good courage for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

This was the message that was given in the beginning and Joshua is reviewing it once more. Now courage is sometimes thought of as doing something daring, doing something that others might not be willing to do. But courage in the context here is the manifestation of the strength that one receives because of adherence to God's law.

Here's courage. I'm doing what God commanded and therefore courageously moving forward in his service. Joshua was a faithful servant. He obeyed the commands of the Lord.

He believed God's promises and God worked on his behalf. Now some of the promises that God gives us are unconditional but some are conditional. Last week when we talked about the promises of God we focused mostly on unconditional promises. Promises that you can absolutely rely on because God cannot lie and he says this is what I will do and you can count on it. But in some cases he made promises that were conditional. In fact he did to Israel. He made a covenant with them and they agreed to it at Mount Sinai. They said yes.

We agree. We enter into this covenant with God. We understand that when we enter the land obedience is necessary and if there is not obedience there's going to be a problem. So their enjoyment of the land, it was by decree by God's covenant with Abraham that they entered the land.

That was unconditional as far as their effort but to enjoy the land, to stay in the land was a conditional promise. So in verse 7 specific instructions are given for the present time. That ye come not among these nations, these Canaanites that are still in the land, come not among them. 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. You see Satan entices people little by little. Let's make a compromise here.

Make a little change in my direction there and before long you've made a lot of changes. So the order is don't even make mention of the gods of these Canaanites. Don't even talk about them.

The more you talk about evil and error the more likely that you would be influenced by it. Don't serve them. Don't bow yourselves unto them. Idolatry is a great sin and it doesn't mean just bowing down to an idol that's made out of wood or stone. The idols of the heart. When you begin to desire the things of the world and your focus is on worldly things, it is idolatry. John concluded his first epistle in chapter 5 verse 21 by saying, Little children keep yourselves from idols. Oh how vital that we continue to search our hearts to be sure that we are not guilty of idolatry. That we haven't put our own comfort, our own desire for wealth or prestige or whatever it might be ahead of loving the Lord our God with all our mind, heart, soul and strength. So the first part of this message as to what Joshua wanted the people to consider after they had looked back to see what God had done for them, now at the present time here's the message. Do all that is written. All that's written. You can't be selective. You can't say well I don't totally agree with this.

I don't think this is practical for the present time. This must have been meant for another day. All that is written, all that's for us in God's word is to be believed from a doctrinal standpoint and practice from a standpoint of our daily living. Second thing he says is to cleave unto the Lord rather than being influenced by the pagans around you, cleave to the Lord. Verse 8. But cleave to the Lord your God as ye have done unto this day.

You've done that. Now I want you to continue. For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong. But as for you, no man hath been 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.

What a promise. One shall chase a thousand. Now that Joshua's going to be off the scene, the man who had led the army so successfully, somebody might be concerned with what are we going to do if there is something of an uprising of some of these Canaanites that are still living in the land. God's going to fight for you. He says one man will chase a thousand. You don't have to be concerned about having a big army. One man can accomplish a lot when God is with him.

And let's not forget that. We sometimes may be concerned about the lack of numerical strength, but if one person is walking by faith, obeying God, great and mighty things can be done through them. So he says, seeing that the Lord has blessed you, cleave to him. Cleaving to the Lord is more than lip service. It's more than just saying, well, yes, I love the Lord.

I believe God. But cleaving to him indicates a close walk with God, communion with God, daily fellowship with God, total dependence upon God. Do you recognize your constant need of him? Is it always uppermost in your mind? I am weak.

I'm subject to faltering and failing. I need the Lord. We sing the hymn, I need thee every hour.

And how true it is. Do you commune with him on a daily basis? One way that we cleave to him is by delighting in his word. Joshua made frequent reference to obeying God's law. That was a key to his success. He respected God's law. He obeyed God's law. He loved God's law. Psalm 119 verse 11 says, thy word of thy head and my heart that I might not sin against thee.

How do you do that? To hide the word in your heart is more than just a casual reading. More than reading rapidly and trying to keep up with some kind of a plan to get through the Bible in a short period of time.

Hiding the word in your heart means that you read it, you meditate on it, you pray over it. You pray that the Lord will bless by his Holy Spirit for it to be a part of you. Verse 24 says, thy testimonies are my delight and my counselors.

Where do you go for counsel? Where do you go to be able to cope with all of the speculations, all of the false teaching that's out there, all of the air that surrounds us in this ungodly world? Thy testimonies are my delight. I don't just go there because I feel like I've got this obligation. I need to read it every day and once I've heard through it, I feel like, well, I've got that accomplished.

No, I delight in it. I go to thy testimonies because I read of the greatness of God. It stirs my heart with greater love for him. I see the truth about myself.

I'm encouraged. I find blessing and peace in it, but I'm also warned and rebuked. So it's not enough just to know the word. We need to know the God of the word. A person could study the Bible, be very knowledgeable of a lot of the details of the things that are in it, but still not know much about God.

You want to know the word. You want to hide it in your heart, but you want to spend time with the God of the word. Verse 11 says, take good heed therefore unto yourselves that ye love the Lord your God. So that seems to be quite similar.

Well, certainly there's a close connection. He's first telling them that they are to cleave to the Lord and now increases that admonition by saying, love the Lord your God. Verse 11, take good heed therefore unto yourselves that ye love the Lord your God. Our human nature is weak. We can make all kinds of professions about what we love and how we want to serve God and how we want to honor Him. But if we know ourself, we know we're weak and we're subject to being influenced and led astray.

And so we're ready to hear the warnings. Paul said in Romans 7 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? Do you know that your flesh is weak? He went on to say in verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? It's hard to imagine the Apostle Paul having that kind of struggle, isn't it? We think of him as a man of strength and great leadership, but he was still a human being.

He still had the old flesh to deal with. And how often you may have cried as he did, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then Hebrews 3 13 gives us an admonition. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. I want to say that to people who profess to love God. Say that to Christians because it's possible for one who is a child of God to temporarily depart, go down the wrong path. Take heed, be careful, be alert that you do not go in the wrong direction because of an evil heart of unbelief. And then Joshua goes on in verse 12 to say, Else if ye 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 to you know of a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you. But they shall be snares, now get this, if you fail to do what I'm telling you, the Lord will no more drive out these nations. They will be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

Oh you see that's a dark picture isn't it? I'd hope to get some encouragement here today. Well the encouragement is that you love the Lord and that you cleave to him and this kind of disaster is not going to occur. But he said if you fail, then I'm going to drive you from the land. And these heathen will be traps and snares and scourges and thorns in your eyes.

Painful situation to describe is it not? It's very much again like the words of Peter, 1 Peter 2-11, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul. All kinds of lusts, all kinds of sinful desires, war against the soul. And if you allow them to build up in your mind, you can be telling yourself what I'm thinking isn't harmful as long as I don't go down that path. But if you begin to think of that which is evil, before long you may be pursuing it. So he says abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And then there was concern for the future.

After talking about the past, admonishing them concerning the present, concern for the future, Joshua gives a solemn warning. Verse 14, and behold this day I'm going the way of all the earth and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of 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.

Isn't that marvelous? Everything that God promised he's done. So you ought to be encouraged and stirred to want to follow and serve him. So he emphasizes the faithfulness of God as being a strong motivation for service and that ought to be a strong motivation for us. When you see how faithful God has been in spite of some of our stumbling and faltering, he's been faithful. Psalm 36 verse 5 says, thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.

Aren't you glad to know that God's faithfulness is beyond description? Verse 15, therefore it shall come to pass that as all good things are come upon you which the Lord your God promised, so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. Verse 16, when ye 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 ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you. For a vivid contrast, because of God's faithfulness and blessing you have come to possess the land, but when you rebel, when you disobey, when you worship false gods, when you're guilty of idolatry, I'm going to drive you from the land. And there are warnings for us. This isn't just talking to a people of olden times.

The same principle is for us. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31 says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God. God will chastise his people severely, not because he hates them but because he loves them, because his purpose is to transform them and change them. So the greatest call to perseverance in serving God is to consider his faithfulness, his faithfulness to us. That should stir our love for him. Remember the Lord has done great things for us and that we should continually give thanks.

So think about Joshua's message. Three things are vital. Keep God's word, cleave to the Lord, love the Lord.

Pretty basic isn't it? I like to delve into some of the deeper things of scripture. This is pretty deep when you try to apply it. Going to keep God's word, that's not trivial.

That's not something just easily done. It requires the enabling grace of God, his blessing and help every day. It requires cleaving to the Lord and loving the Lord. This is Joshua's call for perseverance. He knew he was at the end of his journey, but he wanted to know that this nation would continue on course.

And he first calls the leaders and then when we get to the next chapter we say he called the rest of the people and he's speaking to them. I'm soon going to depart, but I want you to remember these vital truths which are so necessary for your future good here in the land. So may we receive these admonitions and apply them in our own life that we may persevere to the glory of his name.

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas. Joshua's call to perseverance. He reminds them it is by God's power that they have been able to conquer and live in the land. But in order to remain there they must walk obediently and look to God for their support. May we heed the various calls to perseverance found throughout the New Testament. That we might continue to follow the Lord, heeding what Joshua said to cleave to the Lord and love the Lord.

I hope that you will write us till next week at this same time. May the Lord richly bless you all. By faith it is brought nigh, when that illustrious day shall rise and all thine armies shine. In robes of victory through the skies the glory shall be thine.