Fare Well… IF | Sunday, November 12, 2023

Amen. Praise the Lord! Thank you, Anthony and the worship team. That is good. Good morning, Cross Connection Church. You can be seated. Welcome! We're so glad that you are here this morning. It is, of course, a holiday weekend—an important holiday weekend—a day of remembrance.

Yesterday, I wanted to take a moment this morning to ask any current service members or others who have served in the armed forces here in the United States to stand for us for just a moment. We want to say thank you and express our gratitude. Thank you very much! We truly are grateful to you for your voluntary service. We appreciate it greatly. We know that there are those who have also given their lives for our freedoms to defend us, and for those here in our service, we are thankful for you this morning. We respect what you have done for our country. Thank you very much.

Also, many of you stuck around last week after our service for our chili cook-off. I did want to acknowledge that we had a winner last week: Mr. Malone, Ryan Malone. Where are you? There he is, back in the back! This is a new event, and we're going to do it again next year. You can make sure to plan between now and next year; you have 360 some days to prepare to dethrone Mr. Malone. I think he will try to defend his championship next year, so be prepared for that. It'll be a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to it.

Now, we are going to get into the Scriptures this morning. If you have your Bible, you can take it out. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one. We are in the Book of Joshua, nearing the end of that book. It is the sixth book of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. We are in Joshua chapter 23.

In this passage, chapters 23 and 24, there is a specific kind of teaching or a specific passage—a genre of Scripture—that is important as we look at it today. As I was reading through it this last week and thinking about Joshua chapter 23 and chapter 24, the close of this book, I thought of a question for all of you: How do you say goodbye? How does your family say goodbye? What are the goodbyes?

As we enter the holiday season, I wonder if any of your families are like mine. In my family, goodbyes are practically famous. The goodbye is not just something that happens at the end of an event; it is an event unto itself. In fact, a goodbye in my family, both my wife's family and my family, can take an hour. It begins in stages, and there is a process that can extend over a long period of time. Are there any other families like that here? Yes, some of you have famous goodbyes within your families.

We have come to the point of the Book of Joshua, which is like the goodbye point of this book in the Bible. The Bible contains some famous goodbyes, but they are not the kind of goodbyes where we say, "Until we meet again" or "We'll see you in the not-too-distant future." Instead, they are more final goodbyes. This actually falls into a genre of scripture referred to as the farewell genre.

As you go through the Bible, you encounter passages where one person recognizes that they have come to the end of the road, and they share their final words. This is the farewell genre. We see this with the great patriarch Abraham in the Book of Genesis as he gives his farewell and blessing to his son Isaac. Later, we have Isaac's farewell and blessing to his son, and then Jacob's farewell and blessing to his twelve sons, who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Closing out the Book of Genesis, there is a farewell address from Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, at the very end of the book. Before we came into the Book of Joshua, we spent several years going through the Book of Deuteronomy, which is essentially Moses's very long farewell address—much like the farewells within my family. King David, in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, also has his farewell and blessing to Solomon.

In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul goes to a town called Myus. We actually had the opportunity last month, with a group that was overseas, to visit the ruins of Myus. In Acts chapter 20, that is where Paul gives his farewell address to the elders of the church at Ephesus.

Then, in Second Timothy, the very last book of Paul's writings, we find a farewell to Timothy. As you look at these passages, you can't help but think of Jesus's words with His disciples that make up what is called the Passion Week of Christ. This week started with His triumphal entry, which we celebrate on Palm Sunday, and ended with His crucifixion on Good Friday and ultimately His resurrection.

During that period, as you go through all of the New Testament gospels, there is this passionate conversation that Jesus shares with His disciples. One of the most famous sections takes up the whole part of the Gospel of John from John chapter 13 through chapter 17. In these farewell conversations, there is a blessing given along with exhortations and encouragements.

Here in Joshua chapters 23 and 24, the last two chapters of this book, we find Joshua's farewell words. I think that these goodbye conversations, these farewell genres in the Bible, are important. One commentator writing on this subject observed that the genre of farewell speech in the Bible implies two important things. First, it assumes that older people have crucial things to teach younger ones. Can I get an amen? Second, it suggests that God's plan outlives us.

There are other important things to consider when you come into the farewell genre in the Bible, but those are certainly worthy of consideration, especially in 2023. In the world and culture that we live in here in the West, we don't put as much stock or wisdom, perhaps, as we once did in age and experience, as past generations might have or as other cultures do. Maybe we should put more stock in that.

Certainly, the Bible does. We don't like to think of it very frequently, frankly, because it might be a little grim. However, it is important for us to acknowledge and recognize that there is a beginning point of life.

Beginning date and an ending date; we all will experience that. The statistics are staggering: 10 out of 10 people die. Like I said, we don't like to think about that. When you're in the first third of your life, you probably don't think about it at all, which is why so many younger people do so many foolish things. However, as life progresses, you begin to think about it a little bit more and assess life as you go on. This is wisdom.

In fact, the great lawgiver Moses is believed to be the author of Psalm 90. In Psalm 90, he says, "The days of a man's life are seventy years; if by reason of strength, eighty years." He continues, "So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." It is wise for us to acknowledge and recognize that there is a beginning date and an ending date to life. Even if the idea of the end is a little grim, it's wise to remember that it helps us frame our lives and recognize that there is a finite period of time to this life.

When we begin to think about that, we realize that life is short. Even if you live a long life, it still is relatively short, and we want our lives to matter. There is something in us that drives us to want our lives to have some sort of meaning. We are meaning-seeking creatures, and as far as we can tell, everything seems to indicate that this is unique to humans. It is unique to the human experience that we want our lives to matter and that we seek meaning.

I read a great article that illustrated this just yesterday as I was looking through some of the news feeds that I follow. There was an article that caught my attention because the title was "Why I Am Now a Christian," written by Ian Heryar Lee. Ian began her life growing up in a predominantly Muslim culture. In her teenage years, as she shares in this article, she was caught up in a radical form of Islam. After she left that culture and ended up in Europe, she eventually became, like so many people in the Western world in the 2020s, an atheist. One of the things that led her into this was that she saw what her culture, in its radical form, was bringing into the world.

The form of terrorism is a significant topic, and one of the things that she speaks of in the article is quite fascinating. She mentions that her former culture under Islam could not provide a viable alibi for why so many people from that radical Islamic group were led to commit such evil acts. As a result, she found herself drawn to atheism. However, the title of her article is "Why I Am Now a Christian" here in 2023.

In the article, she writes that atheism failed to answer a simple question: What is the meaning and purpose of life? It offered no ultimate purpose, no ultimate meaning, or end. This is one of the apologetic challenges that strong Christian apologists present to those who hold an atheistic, humanistic, or naturalistic mindset and worldview. Many of the people you will interact with on a regular basis—friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors—do hold that view. At the very least, they might identify as agnostic, stating, "I don't know if there is a God." They ask how we can know, which are viable and important questions.

They may not strongly assert that there is no God, although, in our culture over the last several generations, that has been a leading mantra. If you go back to the 1960s, some of you may remember the cover of Time Magazine proclaiming, "God is dead." This idea was taken from the great philosopher of the 18th century, Friedrich Nietzsche, who coined that phrase in a very interesting story about the madman running through the streets, declaring, "God is dead, and we have killed him. What shall become of us, the murderers of God?" He predicted that what would follow would be a century of bloodshed, and that is exactly what happened in the 20th century.

When you remove meaning and purpose from individuals, the consequences are clearly observable. We see it in people and in our culture, and it is well documented in the research of psychological sciences. The descent toward nihilism, hopelessness, and depression is ultimately what results. Why? Because we are meaning-seeking creatures. Every person, in their heart of hearts, wrestles with certain questions that the worldview or philosophy we receive from our culture, or that we develop over time, attempts to answer. These are important existential questions, including the question of identity: Who am I?

Origin: Where did I come from? Destiny: Where do I go after this? Morality: What is right and what is wrong? Then, the ultimate question that so many people are wrestling with is, what is my purpose? Why am I here? Is there an ultimate reason?

It is very clear that atheism can't answer that in any sort of affirmative way. It can't say, "Yes, ultimately you're here for a purpose." There are a lot of people who are trying to develop some sort of purpose within the atheistic movement in our culture. They suggest that you're here to continue on the species and to pass on some sort of information to the next generations, but that seems to fall flat for so many people.

If our worldview cannot adequately answer the questions of identity, purpose, origin, meaning, morality, and destiny, then we tend to descend into a whirlwind of hopelessness, nihilism, and depression. I believe, and I am more convinced of it than ever, that if we want our lives to matter and have meaning, it is wise for us to consider some of the parting words of individuals that we find in the Scriptures, in this farewell genre of the Bible.

We can learn from Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, Paul, and Joshua. One of the things that becomes clear when you consider these passages is that the good life—though different people frame what that is—has conditions attached to it.

Point number one, if you're taking notes: The goodbyes of the Bible reveal that we can say farewell if we apply the wisdom of revelation. That "if" is very important. It is one of the clear things that comes forth from these passages. There are conditions that, if met, lead to human thriving, meaning, and purpose—these things that we are very much seeking as human beings. I think we are actually hardwired by God, created by our Creator, to seek these things. He wants us to search for them because ultimately, they are only found, I believe, in one place.

Chapter 23 and chapter 24 will be discussed next week. They provide us with some principles and considerations that can help lead us into a life where we fare well if we apply these teachings.

In Joshua 23, beginning at verse one, it says, "Now it came to pass a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies roundabout, that Joshua was old and advanced in age." Joshua called all of Israel, including their elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, "I am old and advanced in age."

Joshua is coming to the end of his life, and the children of Israel have had rest for a period of time in the land that God had promised to their father Abraham over 400 years prior. When Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, he was roughly 80 years old. If you look at the end of Joshua chapter 24, you'll discover that he is now 110 years old. Simple math tells us that he has been leading them for about 30 years. Many Bible teachers believe it took about five to seven years to take possession of the land and really begin to have rest as they divided it among the different tribes.

They have been in the land and have had rest from their enemies for about a quarter of a century. Joshua knows that the end of his life is approaching, so he calls everyone to gather together. They likely came to a place called Shiloh, where, for the first several hundred years of Israel's presence in the Promised Land, the Tabernacle was located. This was the place where they would come to meet with God and offer their sacrifices.

As he gathers all the people together, Joshua says, "Listen, I am old; my time is short." In verse three, he reminds them, "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." He continues, "See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan and all the nations that I have cut off as far as the Great Sea westward. The Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out from your sight, so you shall possess their land as the Lord your God has promised you."

Joshua reminds the people, as they gather together, that this is probably the last time they will hear what he has to say. He has some parting words and exhortations to remind them of important truths.

In the land, because the Lord your God is He who has fought for you. Furthermore, this land that you have been given has been given to you as an inheritance. In other words, what was given to you was not because of your power or your strength. You didn't take it because of your military might, your war plan, or all the weapons that you had. You received this by God working by His grace; He graciously gave it unto you. He fought for you and brought you into the land. I've divided the land to you, but ultimately, it is God who has given this land to you.

Now, I don't know if you noticed, but in verse four, there's kind of a landmine for this very moment in our culture. After the last month of everything that has gone on, notice that it says in verse four, "from the Jordan or from the river to the sea." Have you heard that recently? That is the mantra of many who have risen up in the last month after the violent attacks that happened on October 7th. There are people throughout Europe, especially; we've seen it on our TVs there in London in a big way. But even in our own country, there are many people saying, "from the river to the sea."

What does it say? Does anybody know? "Palestine will be free." It is the mantra of those who have a very strong anti-Semitic bent to them. It is the mantra of Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups who say that this region, from the river to the sea, is exactly what the Bible says is their place, and the Jewish people need to be expelled from the land.

Now, if anything, world news over the last month has revealed just how ill-informed people are as it relates to history. This is 3,400 years ago. I've been to what is called the land of Israel five or six times, and one of the things you see very clearly in Israel is that it is just one big archaeological dig from north to south, east to west. I mean, just about everywhere you put a shovel in the ground, you're going to find some sort of evidence of history past. One of the things you see quite clearly is that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—those who are referred to as the Jewish people—have been there for a very long time, going back some 4,000 years.

What we see in our culture right now is just a lack of understanding of history.

Ancient history goes back 3,400 years, but even recent history, considering what has happened since the 1890s, reveals many different events that have occurred in that land. Unfortunately, people don't really know much about what is going on there now. Because emotions are so high and people are so angry, there is no possible way to have a coherent conversation about any of these issues. If you try to engage, you can expect to be shouted down.

However, it is very clear what we find in this passage. The opening words of Joshua's Farewell Address reveal a truth that I hope you will think about and perhaps meditate on a little this week. Point number two, if you're taking notes: all that we possess, just like the children of Israel taking possession of the Promised Land, is ultimately a gift of God's grace. This is what Joshua reminds the children of Israel.

Remember, I mentioned that the farewell genre passages of the Bible—from Moses, Joshua, Jesus, Paul, and others—provide important truths that can help us move into a fulfilling life. This is one of those key truths: all that we possess is ultimately a gift of God's grace. Where do we find that in this passage? Joshua says to the people, "This land you possess because God has given it to you as an inheritance and because He fought for you to take it."

The children of Israel taking possession of the land under Joshua was miraculous. Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, I highlighted this as we went through it, because God, through Moses, told them they would go and dispossess nations mightier and greater than themselves. Here was a group of people who were formerly slaves for over 400 years and then wandered as wilderness dwellers in tents for four decades. They entered the land with no military experience, hardly any strength or power, and no fortifications to guard themselves. They were just a group of people who dwelt in tents.

Then God went before them, and they were able to overtake nations mightier than they. It should not have happened. If it had been solely based on their strength and power, they could not have taken possession. Therefore, everything they now possess in the land is evidence of God's grace, strength, and power. Joshua reminds them that everything they possess is because of God.

God has been gracious to you, and if we are going to begin to step into a life where we farewell, we need to grasp this essentially important truth. A theology of possessions and wealth has to begin at this fundamental level. I don't think we can ever fully apprehend or understand wealth and possessions, or use them in a correct manner, until we reckon with this truth. It is a truth that we find in a number of places in Scripture.

I would lay it out like this, beginning with Psalm 24:1, which says, "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." God is the one who made everything that we see and even those things that we cannot see or comprehend with our senses. God made all, including you. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; He owns everything. It's all His, including your life and my life. Ultimately, He is the Creator, and He has the right to all things.

Furthermore, in the New Testament, it says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17). All these things come down from the Father of Lights. So what does that mean? It means that He owns everything, and everything I possess, He has given to me as a gift of His grace. If you want to begin to experience the abundant life that God ultimately has for you, to fulfill the purpose for which He created you, it begins at the place where we start to lay hold of these truths: God owns everything, and everything that I have, He has given to me as a gift.

In Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses goes further and says that even your ability to earn wealth is a gift from God. Your capacity, your abilities, your talents, and the experiences that you've gained—all of that has come to you from God. You shall remember that the Lord your God, it is He who gives you the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).

1 Peter 4:10 says, "As each one of us has received a gift, we ought to share it or minister it with one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." You see, when you begin to unfold these truths that Moses is, or I'm sorry, that Joshua is kind of touching on here in the opening words of Joshua chapter 23, it becomes clear how we are to view our possessions and wealth.

You begin to realize that God owns everything. As Creator, He has given us gifts, blessings, wealth, and possessions out of His grace. All the different things that we have are according to His common grace. We are not ultimately the owners of these things, though we tend to think that they are ours, and we act like that. Even from a young age, we resemble those seagulls in the movie "Finding Nemo" that keep saying, "Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine."

If you're a parent, you see this with your kids very early on. You don't have to be convinced as a parent that we are born sinners; you see it very quickly. Some people argue that we are fundamentally good and born good, but those people often don't have kids and have never spent time with children. When you have them, what do you begin to see? You give a little two-year-old, who can hardly communicate at all, a toy, and what do they do with that toy? They claim it as their own.

We have to instruct them out of that mindset if we want to experience fullness and fare well in this life. We need to begin to grasp these realities: God owns all, He has blessed me according to His grace, and I am a steward of the things He has given to me—my time, my talents, and my treasures. In other places of Scripture, we discover that we will give an account to Him, the owner of all, for how we have used this life and all of its resources.

The conditions for success are clear. We need to begin to understand these truths. One of the ways we express that we are grasping these realities is by having a lighter hold on our possessions. This lighter hold is revealed in our willingness to give to other people and to share those things. As ministers, we have received a gift, and we minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

So, Joshua continues here: God has given you this land. God has blessed you with rest from your enemies. He says, "I have led you into the possession of this land and the division of this land to all of the tribes." Verse six states, "Therefore," underline, highlight, and put an exclamation point next to it. Therefore, because of this, because God has graciously blessed you and given you all...

These things, therefore, be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn from it to the right hand or to the left. You shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. Why? For the Lord has driven out from before you the great and strong nations. But as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.

Therefore, because of all this, because He has fought for you and graciously blessed you, take careful heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God. What was it that brought Joshua and the people of Israel into the land to possess it? What was it that gave them good success? It was not their military might; it was not all the weapons and armor that they had. It was not their expertise to wage a land battle and come in and conquer. None of that mattered. In fact, everything that had happened in the conquest of the land reiterated continually that you have no strength in and of yourselves and that your God is good and has blessed you.

From the walls of Jericho falling down to the long day of Joshua in Joshua chapter 10, it was just a constant affirmation that you have no strength in and of yourself, but your God is good and He has blessed you. He has given you this land. Now, why did He do that? If we understand the larger story of the Bible, going all the way back to the Book of Genesis, we understand that God had called a people—the descendants of Abraham—to a place, the land that He promised them, which we now call the land of Israel.

He had called that people to that place so that He might bless them in that place and that through them He might extend that blessing to all people in all places. Through whom? Through the descendant, the promise of Abraham: Jesus. You see, God had a bigger purpose and plan. The descendants of Abraham and the land of Israel were important in His plan of salvation for all peoples. He blessed a people in a place to make them a blessing to all peoples in all places through Jesus.

Now, does He still have a plan for Israel in the future? I think He does. That's how I read the Scriptures.

The number of places is a study for another day, and I've only got 13 minutes, so I can't get into it. However, it's always so important for us to keep in mind that God called and selected a people to a place to bless them in that place, so that He might use them to be a blessing to all peoples in all places through the Messiah. That's His plan of redemption, and that's what He continues to work out.

God brought them into the land, blessed them, and fought for them in spite of their weakness and smallness. Now, Joshua says, "Now that you're here in the land, you need to be very courageous." Courageous to do what? To stand strong and build big fortresses? To develop a great army? No. In fact, God had told them back in Deuteronomy that He didn't want them to do that. He didn't want them to have a king because if they had a king, he would multiply wives.

We might look at that and think, "Oh, what a pagan guy," but there is a reason for this. The king would multiply wives as part of political relationships and alliances with other nations. The king would establish a league or a compact with another nation, and as part of that, he would give their king a wife. If he had a large household of wives, a harem, that was an indication that he had good strategic alliances. So what was God saying? He was saying, "I don't want you to live like that. I'm going to be your protection."

He also said He didn't want their king to multiply horses. Why? Because then they would put their trust in the size of their army and the ability of their military. God said, "I want you to trust in Me." That was the purpose behind that.

So, Joshua says to be very courageous—not to build up your army, or to build up your strategic alliances, or to build up your fortifications. Be very courageous. Verse 6 says to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Do not turn from the right hand or to the left, because that will make you successful.

If you were with us at the beginning of the year when we started Joshua, these words might be familiar to you. In Joshua chapter 1, God spoke this to Joshua after the death of Moses. Joshua chapter 1, verse 1: "After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses's assistant, saying, 'Moses, My servant, is dead. Now therefore arise and go over the Jordan River, you and all this people, to take the land.'"

Verse 3: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you." Verse 5: "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life."

Will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage.

Verse 7: Only be thou strong and very courageous, so that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

God's word to Joshua is now Joshua's word to the people. God said to Joshua, "You're going to come into this land, and every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I will give it to you." Not because of your military might, or your experience, or your awesomeness, but as long as you trust in me and follow me, I will bless you.

Now Joshua says, "I'm about to die. You're here in the land. Make sure you maintain and continue to do what it is that we did to come into this land in the first place."

Point number three: Success and prosperity result from meticulous adherence to and application of God's word. This is true for Israel 3,400 years ago, and it's true for you and me today. Freedom, rest, success, and prosperity are not necessarily the result of our determined strength to resist the forces of this world. Instead, it is the determined strength and will to follow the Covenant of God faithfully.

Victory over the enemies of the world, the flesh, and the devil in this world is not ultimately by our strength and determination, but by our faithfulness to follow God, to not turn to the right hand or to the left of His word. So Joshua says to the children of Israel, "Be courageous to follow God's word. Don't turn to the right hand, don't turn to the left."

Verse 12: "Or else, if indeed you do go back, know for certain." Verse 13: "That the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you."

But they shall be snares and traps and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from the good land which the Lord your God has given to you. Remember, we can fare well in this life if we apply the wisdom of Revelation. I encourage you to do a study on the promises and blessings of God in the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New. There are so many of them. In fact, there are books called "God's Checkbook of Promises" or "All the Promises of the Bible," and you can go through and see promise after promise after promise with God promising to do wonderful things and bless His people.

These promises are not just for the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but for all those who are grafted in by Christ Jesus. The promises of God are abundant. Yet, if you take the time to look at these promises, you will find that many of them are conditioned upon certain "if-then" requirements. If you courageously and faithfully follow God and His word, then you will have good success. However, if you do not, if you go back, or if you turn to the right hand or to the left, then the Lord will withdraw His blessing, His protection, His provision, and His presence from you. Consequently, you will fail, falter, and fall before your enemies.

This is the blessings and the cursings of Deuteronomy chapter 28, which we went through before we came into Joshua. Moses says in his farewell speech to the people, "If you do this and this and this, then these are the blessings that will come before you." A thousand shall flee at the sight of one of you. You will be blessed as you go out and blessed as you come in. You will be blessed in your storehouse and blessed in your fields. All these things will be blessed. But if you depart and turn away, then you will be cursed. The curse of God involves the removal of His protection, His presence, and His provision from you.

This creates what is referred to by theologians as the Deuteronomic principle, which builds the entire basis of the rest of the Old Testament. You will see it put into practice clearly because next year we will get into the Book of Judges in January. When we get into Judges, you will see the case study of Israel no longer walking in the way of God. In Judges chapter 2:10, it states, "There arose a generation who knew not the Lord nor the works that He had done for Israel," and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

Right in his own eyes, the rest of the Book of Judges is just story after story of Israel's defeat and failure. Much of the rest of the Old Testament is the pitiful story of Israel's defeat and failure whenever they would depart from God, and their blessing whenever they would turn back to Him. All these things were written for our instruction, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, upon whom the ends of the age have come. We might learn from these things and take heed when we think we stand, lest we fall (1 Corinthians 10:11-12).

Wisdom, as I said last week, is the greatest form of wisdom: learning from the mistakes of others. Notice the words in verse 13: "Know for certain." This is the certainty of the promise and the result of unfaithfulness. If you turn away, Joshua says, you will experience destruction. Joshua continues in verse 14, "Behold, this day I am going the way of all the Earth," which means he is about to die.

He reminds them, "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 has spoken concerning you. All have come to pass; not one word of them has failed." All the good things that He promised have not failed. As you have followed faithfully, God has fulfilled His promise and His word to you. Therefore, know this: if He has been good to you as you have followed faithfully, it shall come to pass that as all the good things have come upon you, which the Lord God has promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the harmful things until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given to you when you have transgressed the covenant.

At the end of verse 16, it states that the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you. One great Bible teacher, Warren Wiersbe, writing on this passage, said that having assembled the leaders of the nation of Israel, Joshua presented them with two scenarios: obey the Lord, and He will bless you and keep you in the land; disobey the Lord, and He will judge you and remove you from the land. I don't think it could get any more simple than that. Moses spoke this just as clearly to the people.

Israel, right before he died in his farewell address, said in Deuteronomy 30:15, "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Love the Lord your God, walk in His ways, and keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you."

However, he warned, "If your heart turns away" (Deuteronomy 30:17), "you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days." He called heaven and earth to witness against the people that day, stating, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days. You may dwell in the land which the Lord spoke to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."

I can't emphasize this enough: success and prosperity result from meticulous adherence to and application of God's Word. Yes, this is the Old Testament; this is the Old Covenant. This was a message spoken to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the Jewish people, the nation of Israel. You are not them; you are not under the 613 commandments of the Jewish law. You are not under the Old Covenant; you are under the New Covenant.

However, God has not changed; His Word endures forever. This reality, call it the Deuteronomic principle as some theologians do, or call it sowing and reaping, is a very clear principle given to us in the Scriptures. If this, then that.

Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, concluded His great teaching in Matthew 7:24 by saying, "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall because it was founded upon the rock."

How many of you want a life that will endure life's storms? Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them...

There is a certain form of teaching that is veiled in the Bible and called Christian. It suggests that when you become a Christian, you will not experience storms in life; instead, you will be healthy, wealthy, wise, and everything will be wonderful. However, all of that is a load of nonsense.

If you want a life that will endure the storms that will come, you will experience them. Jesus said, "Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken them unto a wise man who built his house on the rock." The rain will come, and the floods will come, but that house will stand because it was founded on the Rock. In contrast, verse 26 states, "Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell; great was its fall.

In His farewell address, which began in John Chapter 13 and continued through John Chapter 17, Jesus says in John 13:17, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." The obvious question would be, "What should I do?" The answer is found in the Scriptures. If you want to know what to do, you have to open this up.

Sadly, in our culture, we have Bibles in every color and every size, some with small print and some with large print for those whose eyes don't work as well anymore. We have different versions and all kinds of ways to access it, yet these Bibles often sit closed in many people's houses, collecting dust. It is like the Creator's manual for your life.

"How shall I then live?" He gives us principle after principle on how we ought to live and use this gift called life. The blessing, as Jesus puts it in John 13:17, is conditioned on doing. If you want to know what it looks like when you do not follow what God ordains or calls us to, all you have to do is open up the Old Testament. Next year, we will explore the Book of Judges, which provides an abundantly clear case study.

Case study point number four: defeat, oppression, tyranny, and exile are the ultimate outcomes of disregard and disobedience to God's word. That's the storyline of Judges. I think, at this present moment, for our culture, it is an important book for us to consider. That's why we're going to look at it next year.

Sadly, we are guilty of many of the same things that the Bible identifies as ruinous to a people and a culture. I could forgive you for thinking, at this point, "Wow, Pastor, that's really helpful and hopeful." But this is what we see when we open up the pages of Scripture: righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a reproach to any people. By our own efforts, we have very little hope of doing any better than Israel did during their time of the judges or during much of their pitiful history recorded in the Old Testament.

At this present moment, we are following the same script and playing the same tune as they did. Why should we expect there to be a different outcome? You might say, "Well, because this is America, and we have the Constitution. Don't you know we were built upon the Judeo-Christian values of the Scriptures?" Yes, yes, yes, I know all that. But don't kid yourself. If this, then that. There have been many great nations and great peoples who have faltered and fallen.

Our only ultimate hope—and I think we need to hear this and grasp this—is that 2024 is going to be a crazy political season. We are all going to be tempted to think, like every other person in our nation, that if we just get this person in office, everything will be okay. I hate to break it to you, but that isn't going to work. I was talking to someone recently who was looking at all the crazy things going on in the world. They said, "If only we just had a leader that..." and this person listed out this, this, and this. I said, "Do you realize you just described the Antichrist?"

Our only hope is Jesus Christ. Point number five, I'll close with this.

Amen. Christ alone has the power to defeat death and liberate us from the oppression and tyranny of sin. Only Jesus Christ can do this, and we need to remind ourselves of this truth. You are going to have a lot of conversations with people, maybe even this week, but especially as we approach November of 2024. You will encounter many who are selling hope, hope, hope, and change, or whatever it was a number of years ago. It's the same thing that comes around all the time; it's packaged in a different suit with a different color tie, but it's the same old story. Our only hope is Jesus Christ because the ultimate problem is sin, and only Jesus deals with sin that brings death.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, I pray that You would help us to hold that reality firmly in our minds. We are all tempted to think that there is hope in something else, but Jesus, You alone are our only hope. I pray that You would not only hold that strong in our hearts and minds, but that You would fill us with the boldness to share that with others. As we sang that song at the end of the worship time prior to me coming up here, Lord, help us to not be ashamed of the good news of the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In the Gospel, Your righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

God, give us the boldness to share that with people because that is increasingly a countercultural message in 2023 and 2024 in the United States of America. It is hard to imagine that this is now countercultural, but God, help us to have the boldness to share the truth and the good news of salvation. Lord, help us to be ambassadors of that message. We pray this today in Jesus' name, and all those who agreed said, "Amen." Let's sing to the Lord.