Joshua 24:1-28

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 sheum the Covenant at sheum let's have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into God's word can I have some you want some coffee you're right you want coffee Nathan no oh okay W what okay let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we pray that you 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's name we pray amen all right Joshua chapter 24 we're going to read the first 28 chapter or 28 verses then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to sheam 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 Tara 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 uh 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 um Jacob and good Jacob and can't remember Esau Jacob and Esau good to Esau I gave the mountains of seir 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 but good all right 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 thep 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 all right so uh so we have now they've been delivered out of Egypt so that's what that section is and they defeated the amorites then baleo the son of zapor King of Moab arose to make war against Israel and sent and kill and called balam the son of beor to curse you but I would not listen to balum 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 canites the Hittites the gites the hi hivites and the jebusites but I deliver them all into your hands okay so what were all the [Music] iy thees the par yeah you remember the par parasites or parasites parasites parasites parasites verse 12 I sent the Hornet before you which drove them out from before you also the two Kings of the amorites not with your sword or with your bow I have given you a land for which you did not labor in cities which you did not build and you dwell in them you eat The Vineyards and Olive Groves which you did not plant all right so in a covenant Judah right 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 Israel that's right good uh 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 uh 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 the things for you so what's the call um since God yeah since God has done all this what are they supposed to choose they've got two things they can choose from what is it uh not doing what he told them to do what yeah right oh you got a runny noise and 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 the 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 of fire is awesome uh 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 in 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 L for he is our God he's our ruler right so how do the people respond do they want to serve their [Music] Idols they start with A Hallelujah Chorus okay yeah but the but Joshua said to the people you cannot serve the Lord what huh 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 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 is challenging him right you can't serve him he's holy you turn away from this he's going to judge you and how do you think the people what do people say to that no they say no no we will serve the Lord so Joshua and the 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 sheam 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 the 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 uh let's go ahead and talk about this right what do you what do you think you're called to do we're just going to 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 right the Lord done amazing things for us but can we serve him perfectly no I think this is the beauty of the New Covenant right also I also F Christ because we can't get God except through Christ yeah yeah we can't get to God except but through Christ right and so this is this is Christ who uh right as 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 yep I think judah's ready toay 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 uh let us not be filled with pride let let us put away our idolatry and cling to your son following after you in Jesus's name amen may the Lord bless you may you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and we'll see you next time you want to say bye Judah bye see you