Choose to Serve the Lord

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Joshua chapter 24. We're going to talk about the covenant at Shechem. The covenant at Shechem. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. You want some coffee? You're right. You want a coffee, Nathan? Yeah. Oh, okay. What? Okay, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We pray that you would please help us as we read your word to understand it. Please apply it to our lives. Let us love you and follow in your ways. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, Joshua chapter 24. We're gonna read the first 28 verses.
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and their heads, for their judges and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, 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.
What river do you think that was? Euphrates? Euphrates, good. 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. To Isaac I gave..." You know Isaac's two sons? Good. Jacob and? Esau Jacob and Esau good to Esau.
I gave the mountains of seer to possess But Jacob and his children went down to Egypt Also, I sent them Moses and Aaron and I plagued Egypt according to what I did among them Afterward I brought you out. How's that for a brief couple hundred year history?
I 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. So they cried out to Jehovah, 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 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, because I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land. And I destroyed them from before you." Alright, so we have now they've been delivered out of Egypt. So that's what that section is. And they defeated the Amorites.
Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you.
Also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canazites, the Hittites, the Gergizites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them all into your hands." Okay, so what were all the ites, see? But the Paris yeah, you remember the parrot parasites or parasites parasites First well, I sent the Hornet before you which drove them out from before you also the two kings of the Amorites and 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 the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant." Alright, so in a covenant, Judah, in a covenant, this is called the historical prologue. Right, so before you establish this agreement, this covenant, you give the history of the parties.
Right, so who's the higher one in the party and who's the lesser one in the party? God. God's the higher one in the party and who's the lesser? Judah. Israel. That's right. Good. Now, now, therefore, so what are the conditions of the covenant? What are they supposed to do now?
Therefore, fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth. and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 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 land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Probably the most famous above the kitchen phrase that people have on Christian homes, right? So this is the condition of the covenant, right? So God's done all these things for you. So what's the call? Since God has done all this, what are they supposed to choose? They've got two things they can choose from. What is it? Not doing what He told them to do with it. Yeah, right. Oh, you got a runny nose. I think you're getting tired. Yeah. So you either serve the Lord or you serve the idols, right? Make up who you're going to serve. The God who did all these things for you or serve their idols. Yeah. Right.
Joshua says, but as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord, right? This dude's like 120 years old and he's still he's still like made of fire is awesome. So the people answered. What do you think they answered, Judah? Yeah, that's how they answered.
"...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 at our sight, and preserved us in all the way which we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites, who dwell in the land." We will serve the Lord, for He is our El. For He is our God. He's our ruler.
Right, so how do the people respond? Do they want to serve their idols? They start with a hallelujah chorus. Okay, yeah. But Joshua said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord. What? You cannot serve the Lord for He is holy. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God.
He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins if you forsake the Lord and serve other 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, right? It's like Joshua's challenging them, right? You can't serve Him, He's holy. You turn away from this, He's gonna judge you. And what do you think, what do the people say to that? No, they say, no, no, we will serve the Lord. So Joshua said to the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses.
Now therefore, he said, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord your God of Israel. And all the people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Then Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us. for it has heard all these words of the Lord which he spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.
So, let's go ahead and talk about this. What do you think you're called to do? We're just gonna jump to that. What do you think you're called to do from this? Let's just kind of talk about it generally that way. Let's see. Serve the Lord. Yeah, serve the Lord, good.
The Lord's done amazing things for us, but can we serve him perfectly? No. No, I think this is the beauty of the new covenant, right? And also, I also figured out that we can't get to God except through Christ, because we can't get to God except through Christ. Yeah, yeah, we can't get to God except but through Christ, right? And so this is Christ who's, right, as we think about Jesus being the better Joshua, Jesus being the better commander of God's people, we're able to say, hold on, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, right? We're part of Jesus's household, a household of faith. And so we follow him. You ready to pray? I think Judah's ready. I think Judah's done. All right, let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for the joy of your salvation. We thank you, Lord, that you indeed gave us your son who did love you and serve you perfectly. Father, we rest in his perfect righteousness. And Father, we pray that you would please help us to love you and walk in your ways. Please, Lord, let us not be filled with pride. Let us put away our idolatry and cling to your Son, following after you. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. See you next time. You wanna say bye, Judah? Bye! See ya.