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 3:1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

 

O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against me.

 

PSA 3:2 Many are saying of my soul,

"There is no deliverance for him in God."

Selah.

 

PSA 3:3 But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

 

PSA 3:4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice,

And He answered me from His holy mountain.

Selah.

 

PSA 3:5 I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.

 

PSA 3:6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people

Who have set themselves against me round about.

 

PSA 3:7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!

For Thou hast smitten all my enemies on the cheek;

Thou hast shattered the teeth of the wicked.

 

PSA 3:8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;

Thy blessing be upon Thy people!

 

Joshua makes a firm point that words are just words if they are not backed up by faith. Any proclamation is useless if it is not carried out.

 

JOS 24:19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

 

JOS 24:20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you."

 

They must be sure to know that they cannot serve God in words only. Any idols must go, from house and from heart. Only the grace of God and faith gives the power to remove idols.

 

There are a number of situations that would cause a person to serve God in words only. They may be forced to go to church or are at least expected to go. It may be peer pressure from a family or neighbor or group or community. It may be that the person thinks it will bolster their marketability in business or in a relationship. It may be that a person thinks others are watching him and expecting it. We could likely think of many more reasons.

 

ISA 29:13 Then the Lord said,

"Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

 

A great example of this is the phylactery and the mezuzah.

 

DEU 6:8-9

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

 

Both are derived from a misunderstanding and misapplication of this passage.

 

ISA 29:14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed."

 

ISA 29:15 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?"

 

ISA 29:16 You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made should say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

 

This passage is quoted by our Lord to Pharisees and scribes who worshipped God in word but not in their hearts. In their hearts they only worshipped themselves.

 

If a person claims to worship God and has even created his own human way to worship that convinces him he is walking sanctified, but in his heart he does not know or love God, he is a hypocrite.

 

MAR 7:1 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together around Him when they had come from Jerusalem,

 

MAR 7:2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.

 

MAR 7:3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders;

 

MAR 7:4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)

 

MAR 7:5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?"

 

MAR 7:6 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

 

'This people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

 

MAR 7:7 'But in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

 

MAR 7:8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." 

 

MAR 7:9 He was also saying to them, "You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

 

MAR 7:10 "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death'; 

 

MAR 7:11 but you say,' If a man says to his father or his mother, anything of mine you might have been helped by is Corban (that is to say, given to God),'

 

MAR 7:12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; 

 

MAR 7:13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."

 

JOS 24:19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

 

"He will not forgive" - nasa = to bear up or lift up, i.e. God will not remove the consequences of idol worship, both the natural consequences as well as divine discipline.

 

JOS 24:20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you."

 

JOS 24:21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the Lord."

 

JOS 24:22 And Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

 

"We profess and ratify once more all that we have said."

 

"witness against yourself" - no believer has to take an oath before another so as to be praised or condemned by them for success or failure. What others see is inconsequential. We examine ourselves and bear witness against our own walk with the Lord.

 

No person is assigned to monitor you. We are to judge ourselves fully.

 

1CO 11:31

But if we judged [epikrino = thoroughly and completely judge] ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.

 

Because fallen man is a liar, we require witnesses when contracts are made or to verify a person's testimony. This is not necessary in the spiritual life, and in fact, in the church age, because of our completeness in Christ, we no longer have any vows. Each believer stands before God with whom he has to do. He has to discern for himself if he is in fellowship with God or walking in darkness.

 

MAT 5:34

"But I say to you, make no oath at all…"

 

MAT 6:1

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

 

HEB 4:13

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

 

JOS 24:23 "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel."

 

This entreaty could not be given more repetition. It is emphasized. The worship of idols is in the heart as is the worship of God. Such repetition indicates that the heart must be regularly checked.

 

1CO 11:31

But if we judged [epikrino = thoroughly and completely judge] ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.

 

Deu6:4-6

 "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart;"

 

JOS 24:24 And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice."

 

JOS 24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

 

Joshua completed the covenant with them that day. This conclusion of a covenant was really a solemn renewal of the covenant made at Sinai when the law was first given, like that which took place under Moses in the steppes of Moab just before his death.

 

If they will listen to the voice of the Lord and heed His commands, making proper sacrifices when they sin, and love Him and their neighbor, which with a knowledge of the truth will not be difficult, then they will prosper in the land and the evil of the foreigners through the demon worship will not infect them.