Joshua and Judges: Joshua's renewal of the covenant at Shechem before his death. Jos 24.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's renewal of the covenant at Shechem before his death. Jos 24.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

PSA 1:1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

PSA 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

 

PSA 1:3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season,

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

PSA 1:4 The wicked are not so,

But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

 

PSA 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

 

PSA 1:6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the wicked will perish.

 

JOS 24:14 "Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

 

Overwhelming grace demands gratitude, obligation, and obedience.

 

God has invited us into a personal, daily relationship with Him, which is incredible considering our fallen state.

 

Every person eventually asks themselves if they are obligated to their Creator. Fallen man is afraid but arrogant. Fear and arrogance seeks independence while it also seeks to be fulfilled and even admired in that independence. Fear and arrogance begins to hate that which exposes it for what it truly is. This is why the very insecure become tyrants over others if they gain power and authority.

 

Fallen man is afraid and arrogant, who seeks independence as well as self-fulfillment. God’s love must erase fear and bring peace through overwhelming grace and only in grace is there obligation.

 

A righteous man would always understand that he is obligated to his Creator in all things, but all men are born fallen and unrighteous. Left alone he will never understand his obligation to God, but God’s love revealed in grace through the person of Christ at the cross will remove his fear. It is only grace that shows obligation to a soul and not the straight reasoning that "he should be obligated." In other words, a believer may tell another person that he should be obligated to God because God created him and God has all authority and judgment, but this will not produce a minute of obedience. Only Christ will show a person that he is fulfilled and just fine the way he is in Christ and that through this grace gift of salvation the one who has faith in it will see his obligation and will not fear it, but rather rejoice in it.

 

COL 2:9-10

For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

But, this gift from Christ very often is met with fear from fallen man. Prior to this hearing of the gospel he has always fought for his own completeness which he likely understands was never fulfilled, and then to have it offered from another without cost is a severe blow to his pride that has developed from all his fighting. Even though he has not attained fulfillment he is quite proud of the scars he bears from trying, but then he hears that it is not his scars that matter, but those of another. Will he meet the gospel with utter defeat and faith or will he fear the insult to his ego?

 

God’s same love softens one heart and hardens another.

 

2CO 2:15-16

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.

 

Fallen man while desiring independence from God still makes for himself an idol. It is a god of his own making. He may even call it Jehovah or Jesus, but it is a counterfeit that is designed to fit his own desire. This is an amazing thing. Man seeks independence from God so he can be righteous unto himself yet he still longs to worship something. The explanation may be in what God has allowed to remain in man in spite of his fall - a desire for the eternal.

 

Why does man wish independence from God yet still long to worship something?

 

ECC 3:11

He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

 

This desire for eternity can be filled by faith in Christ and become the source of great happiness or it can continue empty and be the source of great misery, confusion, loneliness, helplessness, and despair.

 

JOS 24:14 "Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.