Renewing the Covenant

Today, on Renewing Your Mind… For many Christians, it's seeing throngs of people coming forward at an evangelistic beating to profess faith in Christ. But the Old Testament book of Joshua reveals another kind of revival, one that has great relevance for us today. Here's Dr. R.C.

Sproul. I've seen several churches that have developed a custom that I found somewhat fascinating. And the custom is this, that once a year they will have couples in their congregation who are married stand up and the minister reads their marriage vows again, and the couples retake their vows in church.

And I remember the first time that I saw that custom practiced, I wasn't quite sure how to respond to it because I thought, well, we've already made this vow as long as we both shall live, and the vow should be understood initially as being permanently binding, and we're seeing something that's going on in our culture where people are loose with their vows and their promises and bailing out of marriages with great facility. But the more I thought about it and then remembered how this fits with Old Testament practices, that really what was going on in this liturgy was what we would call covenant renewal. And that concept has a long history in the Old Testament because God doesn't just make a covenant with His people once, but there are several occasions in the Old Testament where the covenant is renewed. Now before we look at such a covenant renewal ceremony in the book of Joshua, let me add one other point to it, and that is there are many churches that are profoundly concerned for church renewal or are interested in revival or are interested in reformation.

But the question is what constitutes authentic renewal? What does a revival really look like? And what do we mean when we say when we say we're looking for reformation? Because if we look at Old Testament history, we see that there were significant periods of renewal, of revival, and of reformation in biblical history itself. But on each one of the occasions where these renewals or revivals took place, at the heart of it was a rediscovery and reawakening of the people's commitment to the terms of their contractual relationship with God. It was a return to the covenant. It was a return to the original promises that the people had sworn and the vows that were vows that were sacred vows that had been taken in the presence of a holy God. And it was a return to a commitment of obedience. We tend to think of revival in this day as simply an increase in spiritual conversions, which is certainly a very important thing.

I'm not opposed to that, God forbid. But what has to be revived in a revival is godliness, and that means a renewed commitment to obeying the Word of God. Jesus described it in these terms, if you love me, keep my commandments, because to be revived in one's soul is to be renewed in one's life.

And what that means, again, is we serve the living God, and we serve Him by obeying Him. Now, that's the basic pattern that we see in the Old Testament when the covenant that God had made with Abraham and then with Moses periodically is reviewed. Many, many months ago we did a series of lectures on the nature of covenants in the Old Testament, and I went over those parts that each covenant has a historical prologue and a preamble and it has stipulations and it has sanctions and all of that sort of thing. And whenever covenants are renewed, the relationship of the people to the Lord of the covenant is brought up to date. And now we're going to visit one of these covenant renewal ceremonies here in the book of Joshua. Let's look first of all at chapter 23, where we read at the beginning of this chapter that it came to pass a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about that Joshua was old and advanced in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, for their officers, and said to them. What we have here in chapter 23, briefly, is a summation of Joshua's swan song, Joshua's final oration that he gives to the nation.

Let's look at it. He said, I am old and advanced in age. You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you. For the Lord your God is He who has fought for you. And see, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribe.

And you have the right hand to the left. And then he goes on to outline certain promises. He said, The Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess their land even as God has promised you. Therefore, be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the right hand, lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you.

You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them. You shall not serve them, nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. And then he goes on again and gives the admonition in verse 11, Take careful heed to yourselves that the Lord your God. Or else, if indeed you do go back and cling to the remnant of these nations, these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go into them and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you, but they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. But behold this day, I am going the way of all of the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you.

All have come to pass for you, not one word of them has failed. Therefore, it shall come to pass that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God which He commanded, and have gone and served other gods and bowled down them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from the good land which He has given to you." Do you see what he's saying here? He's bringing things up to date, and he's saying, he's saying not one word that the Lord God promised has failed to come to pass.

And what's he saying? God made a covenant with you, and God has kept His covenant. And that covenant was a promise of His mercy and grace and the outpouring of blessings to you.

It has been actualized in the possession of this good land, and God will continue to give you all of these things as long as you remain faithful to Him. But rest assured, Joshua says, that if you turn away from this covenant, if you turn away from God, and you begin to cling to the pagan practices of this secular land that I have given to you, if you remove yourselves from the covenant of God, then God will be just as sure to bring His curse upon you and upon this land as He was in fulfilling the blessings. So do we see now the repetition of the basic terms of the covenant that includes the promise of blessing and the promise of curse, the do-well sanctions that are involved.

And it all centers and focuses upon the people's faithfulness to God, and that faithfulness is measured by obedience. Now, after this oration, chapter 24 gives us the record of the actual covenant renewal, and I want to turn our attention now to that. Chapter 24 says, Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, their judges, their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And then Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel. Now, what follows here, as I've mentioned on several occasions, is that in the historical prologue to the covenant, every time the covenant is renewed, the history of the relationship of God to the nation is brought up to date. Earlier covenants, remember, I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

But there's lots that have happened since the exodus. And so when the covenant is renewed here at Shechem under the leadership of Joshua, the exploits of God, the benefits that the sovereign Lord has poured out upon His people are enumerated and brought up to date. And so we read here, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to what I did among them.

And afterward I brought you out. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. And so they cried out to the Lord, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them.

And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness for a long time, and I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. And they fought with you, but I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you."

And then He goes and then He goes on to recount other conquests that God had given. Verse 11, Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Gergashites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Stalactites, and the Stalagmites. But I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them. You eat of the vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant." Now that is a reminder of the promise that God had made in antiquity. I will give you cities that you didn't build. I will give you produce that you didn't plant.

It's not a result of your labor. Other people have put all of the labor in to produce this, which I am now giving you freely. Then in verse 14 of chapter 24, we come to the pivotal moment where we read, now therefore. Remember, I'm trying to get us to become accustomed to noticing the word therefore, because the word therefore serves as an important transition word. It calls attention to what has just previously preceded the word, and then therefore points to what?

To a conclusion, a conclusion that is to follow from that which has just been rehearsed. And so after Joshua gives this update, this renewal of the historical works that God had done on behalf of His people, he now challenges the people with an appropriate response, with a logical conclusion, a reasonable service that is a response to what God has done. Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord.

That's the conclusion, and that is the challenge of every covenant renewal. Serve the Lord. It's not just be converted to the Lord. It's serve the Lord. That's what real revival is, service to God.

That's what authentic renewal brings. That's what Reformation is all about, when people are not only converted, but they are mobilized, and they are committed to worshiping God. That's the fear of the Lord, praising God and adoring Him, and then serving Him in their lives. Then he says something strange in verse 15.

Perhaps the most—it's an introduction to the most famous part of this chapter. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose lands you dwell. Now look, I'm asking you to make a solemn, sacred commitment of renewal to the terms of this covenant, a covenant that was not made with you originally. It was made with your ancestors, and you now have the opportunity to become the heirs of this covenant. You now have the opportunity to participate in this covenant, but maybe you don't want to.

Maybe it seems an evil thing to you to have to serve the Lord. And so I'm putting it before you today to make a choice. If you want to serve the gods that you left on the other side of the Jordan, go ahead.

If you want to serve the gods that still are being worshiped here in Canaan, go ahead. But today you're going to have to make a decision. Today you're going to have to choose whom you will serve. Now sometimes I get a little bit nervous about the way we call people to decision. We tell people to decide to believe in Christ, and I don't think anybody can make a decision to believe something. If they don't believe it, they don't believe it.

If they believe it, they believe it. You can't decide, you know, by crossing your fingers and taking a deep breath and say, well, I believe that's true, if in fact you don't believe it. I don't think you can decide to be born again. But you can decide to be obedient. You can decide to serve the living God. And that's the choice that is set before the people of Israel on this day. This is not a call to spiritual conversion. It is a call to obedience.

And He said, it's your choice. You can serve the gods here. You can serve the gods on the other side of the Jordan, or you can serve the Lord God of heaven. And so choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Here's godly leadership. Joshua didn't say, I'm going to put a yoke around your neck and force you to serve the living God. That's your choice. You decide to serve Him or serve whatever you want to serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Now what's fascinating is the response of the people. So the people answered and said, listen to this answer, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. We also will serve the Lord will serve the Lord for He is our God. And what does Joshua say? Joshua said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God.

He is a jealous God, and He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done you good. And the people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said then, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve Him. And they said, we are witnesses. And Joshua said, okay, then put away the service to other gods. Live according to your vow. If you do, you will live. If you don't, you will perish and this land will be taken from you. Choose this day whom you will serve. That charge is just as relevant today as it was when Joshua first gave it thousands of years ago.

And on that note, we conclude Dr. R.C. Sproul's 10-part overview of the Old Testament book of Joshua. We're glad you could join us here on the Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. It's a privilege to bring you these programs and to provide you with trustworthy teaching from God's Word. For those of you who have supported this ministry financially, I want you to know just how much we appreciate it. Your giving not only helps us continue these broadcasts, but it fuels outreaches like Ligonier Connect and Ask Ligonier, our published resources like Table Talk Magazine and the Reformation Study Bible, also our national and regional conferences. And as our way of saying thank you for your donation today, we'd like to send you Dr. Sproul's teaching series on Joshua. It's available on MP3 CD and includes lessons on Joshua's biblical leadership, Rahab's faith and conversion.

It also features practical lessons on the consequences of disobeying God and what it means to trust Him in trying times. Call us today to request this series. Our number is 800-435-4343.

You can also give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. And as a reminder, this is the final day that we're offering this series for a donation of any amount. Young Christians today face a variety of attacks on their faith, and it's vital that they're prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within them. That's why we're featuring the Always Ready Youth Conference. It takes place Saturday, September 18th at St. Andrew's Chapel on the campus we share with them here in Sanford, Florida. We want to equip young Christian men and women to defend the faith and provide them with answers to some of the most common attacks on the Christian faith. It's also a great opportunity to meet like-minded believers from across the country and build lifelong friendships. That's the Always Ready Youth Conference, Saturday, September 18th here in Sanford, Florida.

To find out more, log on to ligonier.org slash events. Next Saturday, we'll begin another series by Dr. Sproul, The Hard Sayings of the Apostles. But as we close today, R.C. has a final thought for us. We finish now with our brief overview of the book of Joshua. But if there's any lesson to be learned in it, it is that the book of Joshua that recounts this period of history in Israel's full history is kind of a microcosm. It's kind of a taste of the whole history of the relationship of God to His people. It is the history of a God who keeps His promises, of a God who does every single thing that He promises He will do. He gives His blessings freely to people who don't deserve it in the first place, and then calls them to loyalty, to faithfulness, and obedience, warning them that if they violate that trust, He will remove His blessings from them and from the land.

You know what happened later. These people who stood there and solemnly promised to follow God and said, far be it from us ever to move away from this covenant, those people couldn't wait to embrace the pagan practices of the culture in which they found themselves. And that danger is at the door of every Christian. I've seen those little door plates that people affix in their front doors that say, quoting Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That is my prayer for you, that you and your house will be numbered among the faithful.