Make sure you don't lose spiritual ground. If you're not moving forward, you're backsliding, that there's no standing still. You're listening to Bible teacher Ann Graham-Lotz on Living in the Light. And in part two of her message from Joshua's Last Words, today's encouragement for each of us is to keep working, but be busy about the Father's work. Here's Ann in her introduction from Joshua 22, verse 5.
Be very careful to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your soul. Because you know something, Joshua knew what Jesus, of course, told us. If you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength, everything else falls into place, doesn't it? That's where the obedience, if you love him, you'll obey him. If you love him, you'll trust him.
If you love him, you'll read your word. If you love him, you'll spend time in prayer. If you love him, you'll share the gospel. If you love him, you'll keep on working. If you love him, you'll keep on walking, right?
You'll keep on witnessing. The motivation is love.
So what will you do to make sure you don't lose your first love? Maybe it's something that's come into your life that has crowded out that love, because I think sin in the camp, that's one of the things it does. And when one of the dangers was that God said, I'll no longer be with you. You know, you will never lose our salvation, but we can think we've lost it. If the sin in our hearts is there and it's not confessed and we're toying with it in our attitude or thoughts or memories or habits or actions or wherever the sin is, you know.
And what it does is rob us of our love for Jesus. And I'm here to tell you whatever that sin is, I don't care the pleasure you get from it, how much you deserve it. it just isn't worth the trade-off because you can have the sin but you can't have the love relationship with Jesus. If it's forgiving other people, I'll tell you that's a hard one to do, isn't it? Especially when they've been as bad as they've been.
Cruel, unjust, some of them evil, and I just forgive them because I can't bear to lose my first love and I forgive them for his sake. And you know what? I take comfort in the fact that he's the Avenger. He's going to hold them accountable. He keeps the books.
He won't let them get by with it.
So vengeance is mine, says the Lord. He will repay. And I pray they come to repentance. But if they don't, I'll just leave that with them. But it sets me free to forgive them and to love them and to maintain my first love.
So it's critical as leaders that we lead from the heart that you love the Lord, your gods. And that's why you obey him and that's why you trust him.
So Joshua is saying, make sure that you maintain your love for Jesus, your obedience, your trust. And then he gives a little warning. Verse 14, you know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God has given you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled. Not one has failed.
and we know that, don't we? Just in what we have done together, the way we've served them together.
Now, we've had some disappointments and we've had some things that maybe were different, but God has kept his promises. I can stand right here and tell you, look you in the eye and tell you, for a fact, he's been faithful to me. And the promises he hasn't kept, I go back and look at them and either I misread them or I misapplied them or I was, you know, but there's some of those promises. They leap up off the page and he has kept his word to me.
So I know that. And then he says in verse 16, if you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, you don't trust him, you don't obey him, you lose your love, you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you. And I'm just going to give it this application. You will lose spiritual ground. You'll be like the leaf in Isaiah 64.
Do you remember the sin that caused the leaf to wither and blow away like chaff? And I think that's one reason the Apostle Paul said that he pummeled his body and he brought it under subjection lest after preaching to others or teaching others or leading others, he himself would be a castaway from service. And I think somehow he saw the danger that you could live in the past and you would know you could preach and teach, but if it wasn't from your heart, if you yourself weren't loving God and trusting him and obeying him, and developing and maintaining that personal relationship with him, then you could be like a leaf that withers and becomes like chaff, even though you've got a ministry going out there.
So it's just a little warning Joshua puts in there to make sure you don't lose spiritual ground. If you're not moving forward, you're backsliding, that there's no standing still. You're either going forward or you're going back.
So make sure you keep moving forward.
So as you look ahead, would you keep walking? Would you keep worshiping? And build in your life those disciplines that will enable you to maintain your obedience and your trust and your love. Because I'm going to tell you something. We never run out of God.
But I think sometimes he runs out of us. and we pour out, but he has to pour in. And I think there are times when we can dry up and not have something to pour out because we haven't been abiding. And using that example that Jesus did in John chapter 15 of the branch that abided in the vine, it was organically attached to the vine. And so the pouring in came from the sap that came from the sap into the branch right So if the branch for some reason had an obstruction then the sap was there but it couldn flow it couldn pour into the branch And I think sin disobedience, resistance, neglect, apathy, complacency, all the things that would grieve or offend or quench the Holy Spirit are things that can come into our lives and affect the flow of that sap.
So although God pours into us, could it be that our capacity to receive what he pours in is small because there's an obstruction? Getting rid of the obstructions that we might be filled with the sap, filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus said, you'll bear much eternal fruit and fruit that lasts. And we want to be fruitful. We don't have to try hard to be fruitful.
You know, I never saw an apple tree trying hard to have apples or a pear tree trying hard. They just do what they do. They stay planted. They have the water and the sun and the fertilizer, and then the sap comes up through the trunk and goes out into the branches, and the fruit comes in its season, doesn't it? And I want to have much eternal fruit that remains forever.
and in order for that to be I have to maintain a clean channel between myself and the Lord have to abide trusting and obeying and loving and incorporated in all that is that short accounts confessing your sin and not being so ashamed of it that you don't go back and tell him because he knows it He saw it. He heard it. Every time you go back to the cross like that, it's like radium on cancer. And the sin is the cancer, but you keep coming back to the cross and back to the cross, and you apply the blood again and again, and pretty soon it sort of dissolves that sin, and you can be freed from even the worst habits and patterns. But you just have to keep coming back to the cross and applying the blood.
So keep walking and keep worshiping, and thirdly, keep working. And now Joshua calls together the entire nation in chapter 24. And I just had to stop for a moment because he called them together in verse 1. He assembled them at Shechem. And Shechem was the place when God called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees and follow him in a life of faith.
And if he would, he would give him land and he would give him descendants through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Abraham left Ur and he went down to Canaan. and it says he arrived there in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham arrived in Canaan and where he landed was Shechem. And then he built an altar and he called on the name of the Lord.
And God spoke to Abraham and he said, Abraham, I'm going to give you this land.
So Joshua gathers all the people in this very special place that God had promised he would give to Abraham and his descendants. And this is now, what, maybe 500 years later? Oh, God keeps his word. God keeps his word. He's faithful to all generations.
and so here he gathers all these people together. It's also the place. We didn't look at this, but after they overcame Jericho and they sent the little troops up to Ai and they were defeated, Joshua got on his face and said, God, have you brought us in just to be defeated? And God said, get off your face. It's not a time to pray.
It's a time to repent. And they go through the camp, find Achan, find the sin that's in the camp, put him out, put him to death. And then they have the challenge of going back to Ai and to retake territory you've lost is very hard. And if you read that in chapter 7, I think it was in chapter 8, the military strategy was unbelievable and all the complications and they had to send every single soldier to Ai before they could take it. But they did.
And after they took Ai, and by the way, never again were they defeated in the promised land. They learned their lesson. But they went to Shechem after Ai and they built an altar and they gave praise to God for giving them the victory. And Joshua gathers them now in the same grassy amphitheater where Abraham had received that initial promise and where God had given them the victory after Ai and they had praised him and thanked him. And wouldn't you think that altar of stones is probably right there?
The same altar that, I don't know if it's the same one that Abraham had built, I doubt it, but the same one that they had after Ai and they could remember, look back, and remember what God had done for them at Jericho and Ai and all the things he had done for them now. And they knew the same God was going to help them in the present day. But as they looked ahead, they needed to keep working. And so Joshua calls them together in this very special place and tells them that basically working for the Lord is a choice. And I know you know that.
It's a choice that's compelled to me because of who God is. Verse 2, Joshua said to all the people, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. And now he puts his message to them in the first person. Eighteen times in this passage, he speaks in the first person. This is God speaking through Joshua to his people.
The reason I would serve the Lord is because he said, Ann, I want you to serve me. And, you know, after I argued with him for a while, and I gave him so many different excuses, and it boiled down to him saying, and it was from Revelation chapter 3, I've opened a door for you, nobody can shut. I want you to walk through that open door. And I told him all the reasons I couldn't. And it boiled down to you either walk through it and call me Lord or you don't and I won't be your Lord anymore.
And so I just said, you know, yes, sir. And you walk through the open door because Stephen Alford said, if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. and so when he calls you into service actually at that point you have no option we serve because he says so and so joshua in the first person is telling the children of god that they are to keep working because god says so it a choice because of who god is and it a choice that clear in verse 14 now fear the lord and serve him with all faithfulness Throw away the gods That stop you They had gods? 20 years or 30 years after they had come into the promised land, they were already into idolatry? What a shocker.
Wonder what they were. Busyness? Can our families be a God? And our ministries be a God? And our comfort and the plans we have for our children?
What are the gods that we've collected along the way? Throw away your gods. They just can't be anything else. And it's really a call to abandon ourselves to God. Abandon ourselves to service.
Lord, here I am. I just lay myself down. You can help yourself to anything. You can help yourself to everything. Throw away the gods, he says.
The choice is clear. Verse 15. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. And it's a clear choice. You either abandon yourself to serve the Lord or what?
For me, it wasn't an option. I don't believe he wants to be tacked onto our lives. You know, it's like everything we do, we worship him, and out of our worship flows our work, so that everything we do becomes our service. All that we do is serving the Lord, but to do it with intentionality and keeping one eye on him and one eye on what we're doing, and that we might do it with the idea that we're serving him because he says so. The choice is clear.
The choice is contagious. And you all have given testimony to this. Very precious. Because he says at the end of verse 15, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's Joshua saying.
Regardless of what you choose, I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to abandon myself to him. I'll make my life available. verse 16, then, and I just underlined it, then, when Joshua said, I'm going to serve the Lord, then the people said, far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt from that land of slavery.
They were looking back, and he performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey, and among all the nations through which we traveled, we looked back and we've seen what he has done. And then verse 18, we've looked around and the Lord is driving out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land.
So as we look ahead, Joshua, we too will serve the Lord because he is our God. And Joshua's choice to serve the Lord was contagious. And there's something when I saw Miss Johnson and the way she served the Lord, and I saw my mother and the way she loved the Lord, there's something contagious about it, isn't it? We want that. I want that, you know, might not know quite, but I want that.
And it's contagious. Who's looking at you and saying, I want that. I want what you have. Because your worship and your walk and your work is so intermingled and coming, bubbling out of a heart of love for Jesus. And they want that.
Increasingly, at the end of the age, that kind of life is going to stand out. People within the church, outside the church, you will stand out. I started to say like a sore thumb, but it's not a sore thumb. Like a shining light, like a beacon in the night. You will stand out.
And that choice is contagious. But I want you to look at the way Joshua responds to them. Because they've said twice, we will serve the Lord. We'll throw away the other gods. We will serve the Lord.
Giving him the very answer he wanted. And Joshua said, verse 19, no you won't. You're not able to do it. And so you wonder, were they just emotional? And sometimes you can make a decision in a group when everybody is saying the same thing and we've all been praying together and we've been reading the Bible together and we've been sharing together and we're in this beautiful place and we all come to the same conclusion and we all just say it, you know, because it's an emotion of the moment.
And did he know that was it six weeks after they entered the promised land and had escaped Egypt, they were worshiping the golden calf? And was it a year after they left Egypt that they were begging to go back, wanting the leeks and the garlic and the pleasures? And so he says, you know something, if this is an emotional response, don't even go there because you're not able to do it. I love the verse from Jude. and the last verse was one last two verses were ones that mother had written in my first bible and now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and we can't keep this commitment only he is able to see us through to the end every day i pray lord help me endure to the end and not just endure like somehow but triumphantly that we can live for him in a world melting down that we can be that shining light.
But we can't do it on our own. I can't do it just because I decide to do it. It has to be the Holy Spirit in me that gives me the power and the enabling to see it through to the end, to be faithful to the end.
So he says, people, you can't do this. You're not able. But the people said to Joshua, no, this is the third time. We will serve the Lord. and again and again they were saying we want to make this choice we're going to serve the Lord the choice is compelled because God is our God and it clear and we made it and it contagious we want what you have Joshua And so at that point there was nothing left except to make a covenant with them and to offer them a covenant to enter into.
And so Joshua, after 100,000 people had all shouted in unison three times, we will serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord. Then Joshua says, all right, in verse 23, on that day, verse 23, now then Joshua said, throw away the gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. And that phrase struck me because service, working for the Lord comes from the heart, doesn't it?
And so he didn't just say, reschedule your priorities or make your checklist or it was yield your hearts. And if your heart is fully yielded, then God puts his Holy Spirit there and will see you through to the end and keep you faithful.
So yield your hearts. You say we're going to serve him. First things first, throw away the gods. Give him your heart. And then Joshua said, all right.
On that day, Joshua made a covenant for the people. He couldn't do anything else. He had led them out of the wilderness. He had led them through the Jordan, led them into that place where God wanted them to be. He had led them to overcome the enemy stronghold of Jericho, been defeated at Ai, took Ai, took every other city that was before them.
He had gotten them settled in the promised land, and now he was getting ready to leave. This was his last word, and he wanted to make sure that they continued, as they looked ahead, they continued to walk with the Lord and worship the Lord and work for the Lord. And you know the most interesting thing, very encouraging, they did. These people, after Joshua left. All of his days, they did.
This generation did.
So I wonder who out there will be walking with the Lord and worshiping the Lord and working for the Lord because of you and the challenge that you give them. But at this point, he was challenging them to make a life's commitment. This wasn't just a decision of the moment. It was not just tacking God on. It was just not a response to a seminar.
It was a lifelong commitment for the rest of my life until I see you face to face, Jesus. I make the choice to keep walking and to keep worshiping and to keep working for you.
So that's my challenge to you. As you look ahead, we don't know what the world holds. We don't know what our health holds. We don't know what our family holds. We don't know.
But we don't have to know God knows. We just have to know him.
So would you make that commitment? He is worthy, worthy of all that we can give him, the lamb who was slain, worthy of all honor and praise and glory and every life. The only regret I have is I only have one life to lay down.
So would you make that commitment, enter into that covenant? Look ahead. Make sure there's nothing obstructing his pouring in, something that would block the flow of that precious oil. And then would you make the commitment? It's a choice that's compelled, because I believe this is God speaking, compelled by who he is, and it's a clear choice, and it's a contagious choice, and it's a choice that actually is a covenant that you make before God to keep walking don't neglect your Bible reading your prayer life I'm speaking to myself sharing it with others keep worshiping, abide in Christ trust him, obey him, love him keep short accounts with him and then would you keep working?
Jesus said in Matthew 24, it would be good if that servant, when the master comes, finds her so doing, busy about the Father's work.
Now here's Anne with this final word. Jesus is coming, and I believe he's coming soon. Time is running out when believers will lose any opportunity to work for him on earth. Jesus said, As long as it's day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.
When the night comes, either at death or the rapture of believers, our work on earth will cease. Five minutes before that takes place, what will you wish you had done differently in your life? Will you wish you had taught that Sunday school class or opened your home for a Bible study or a neighborhood prayer group or gone on that mission trip, or made yourself available to your church for any service needed, or written those notes of encouragement to missionaries you always meant to write, or started a worship service in the rest home where you visit your elderly parent. What will you wish you'd done at that too late time? Whatever it is, just do it now before it's too late.
To help and encourage you in your work for the Lord, we invite you to annegrahmlotz.org. It's a great opportunity to further read, study, live by, and love God's Word. You'll find Ann's daily blog, her messages, Bible studies, books, audio, and video that will enhance your study, your going forward that Ann spoke of today. And plan to join us again for Living in the Light.
