Last Words to a Nation's Leader, Part 2

Joshua summarizes in five principles what it is that are the key to blessing in your life. There needs to be a remembrance of his ways, obedience to his word, and number three, a severance from the world.

A sever from the world. Look at verse 7. In order that you may not associate with these nations. These which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them. Verse 12. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and inter with them, so that you associate with them, and they with you know for certainty that God will not continue to drive out these nations. Seven times Joshua speaks of these nations.

You can't walk with them. You cannot worship with them and you cannot wed them. You must not walk with them. You must sever your ties with these nations. If you don't, You will compromise. Folks, this is the message we don't preach today in the church. We don't sever ourselves from the world. We want to be like the world. We want to go where they go. We want to do what they do. We want to act like them. And yet, yet, every time we do, we become more and more like them. Joshua says, I don't even want you to mention the name of their gods.

Don't even bring up their names. Don't even put it on the table for someone to dabble in. Sever yourself from the world. Because if you don't, You will compromise. Folks, this is so important. If you're a parent, you have children, your children need to sever themselves from the world. If your grandparent needs to help train your grandchildren to sever themselves from the world, to be different. Than what's around them. A mind filled with the Word of God will be able to evaluate the society around it.

And that's why there needs to be a remembrance of his ways and obedience to his word so that there can be a severance from the world. When people go astray. or adopt a worldly lifestyle, you can bet that they have lost respect for the Word of God. Mark it down. When someone goes the way of the world, they have begun to lose respect for the authority of God's word in their lives. You know, six words define the Christian and their relationship to the world. Six words, mark them down. In the world, not of it.

Six words. In the world, not of it. E been on a boat? Been on a boat? Raise your hand. All right? Been in a boat? That's great. You're in the boat. Got the cargo in the boat. Got the passengers in the boat, everything's fine and dandy, right? Until you get the water in the boat. Once the water starts to get in the boat, a little bit of water, you might think, it's just a little bit of water. Let's say you spring a little bit of a leak. It's just a little leak. It's not a big leak. It's okay, we can put some duct tape over it.

After all, duct tape fixes everything. Put duct tape on it. All of a sudden, that little leak becomes a little bigger leak. So you get some more duct tape. And all of a sudden, the water gets in the boat, and the boat begins to sink. Begin to sink. As long as you are in the boat and not a part of the water, you stay afloat. But as soon as the water gets in the boat, you start to sink. And the Christian is in the world, not of the world. Not of it. Next week, I'm going to go home to Israel, my favorite place in all the world.

And I will stand on top of the hill of Oph, which is the city of David. And I will speak to those 40-plus people who will be there on that day. And I will point out to them, to my left and to the right, the Kid Valley. And just opposite the Kit Valley is a hill. It's called the Hill of Offense or the Hill of Scandal. Let me read to you about the hill of off.

1 Kings 11, verse number 1. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. From the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not associate with them, neither shall they associate with you. For they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. God didn't say, you know, when you associate with the world, you're going to turn them back to me, you're going to evangelize them and turn them to me. He didn't say that. What did he say? If you associate with the world, you will be like the world.

That's the way it is. Listen to this. Solomon. Remember Solomon? Man of great wisdom, son of David. Great wisdom, right? Solomon held fast to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned his heart a. He didn't turn his wives' hearts to the Lord. He didn't stand up and say, You know, we're going gather in the temple today, and we going to worship the Lord God, all my wives. Yo, down front. You're going to listen to the word of the Lord. He didn't do that. They turned his heart a.

For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. Had been. Remember, last week we talked about Caleb, how he fully followed the Lord with all of his heart. Six times that phrase is used of Caleb in the Bible, how he fully followed God. Here is Solomon, this great man of wisdom. This man who followed his father King David, and the commentary on him is that he had a divided heart.

He didn't fully follow the The Lord. Verse 5: For Solomon went after Asht, the goddess of Sidonians, and after Mil, the detestable idol of the Ammon. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done. You see, when you don't follow the Lord fully, guess what you do? You do evil in the sight of God. That's why it's so important that you completely follow God with all of your heart and not half of your heart, because you will end up doing evil in the sight of God.

You read on. Then Solomon built a high place for Kem, the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem. That is the hill of offense. That is the h of scandal or the mount of scandal. You look at that mountain.

It's filled with all kinds of homes today. I'm not sure I'd want to have my address, Lance Sparks, Nation of Israel on the hill of. Scandal or the mount of offense, you know, but that's where all these people live. And you look at that hill and you begin to ask yourself, What happened to this great man?

The son of David. And it says these words: Thus also he did for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Verse 9: Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because. His heart was turned away from the Lord the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Here was a man who had God appear to him twice. Twice, not once, not ever, twice. He still did not obey what God said. He still married wives of other nations. And God very clearly said, Don't do that. Now, how wise can this man of wisdom be?

Verse 10, and it commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you. and will give it to your ser. Obedience to the Word of God, severance from the world. That message can't be preached enough today. Are your children in the world and of the world? Or are they in the world and not of the world?

Our Lord has prayed in John 17: Lord, I pray that you'd not take them out of the world. But that you protect them while they are in the world. So our Father has prayed for us that He would. Protect us while we're here. But you know what? When we stop remembering what God has done and we stop obeying what the word of the Lord says, and we don't want to any longer sever our relationships with those of the world. We're in trouble, and that protection is removed as we suffer the consequences of our sin.

So important. We need to make sure that we are distinctly different than the people of the world. Our convers must be so clean and p. We must live lives of integrity, not hypocrisy. We must seek to honor God with all that we have and serve Him with all of our hearts. I know there's people out there who will say, Well, you know, Pastor, we've got to evangelize the world. How are we going to do that if we don't go to them? Let me tell you something.

Going to them doesn't mean you become them and you share the gospel. And if you go to someone and share the gospel with them and they don't receive the Lord, it's over. It's over. You move on to somebody else. Now you say, Well, I work in the world. Everybody I work with is an unbeliever. Let me tell you something: you stand strong for Jesus Christ and you do what God says, they're not going to want to be with you anymore.

They're not going to want to be with you. Not going to eat lunch with you. But then I'll be lonely. Be lonely for the sake of God. It's okay to be lonely. It's okay to be eating lunch by yourself and people laughing at you because if you're standing for Christ, because you pray to him and serve him and honor him and will not compromise the truth of God's word. That's okay. Nothing wrong with that. Because you know those people will respect you. They'll respect you because of your stand. They may not like you, but they'll respect your stand for the truth of God's holy word.

Sever from the world. Number four: allegiance. Allegiance in your walk. Verse number eight. But you are to cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. The word cling, same word used in Genesis chapter 2, verse number 24: when a man shall leave. What his parents and cleave to his wife To be glued to the Lord your God folks, that's uncond allegiance I sever myself from the world. Well, what do I do? I grab on to God. I grab on to the Lord my God. I hang on to Him. I am glued to Him. I hold firmly on to my God.

That's what I do. Und, uncond, unparalleled allegiance to my God. That's what it is. We are to cleave to Him. Listen to Psalm 63. Psalm 63, verse number 6. When I remember thee on my bed, I meditate on thee in the night watches, for thou hast been my help. In the shadow of thy wings, I sing for joy. My soul clings to thee. When you cling to God, the result is always joy. It is. See, you can't cling to God. If you're going to cling to something, you don't cling with one hand here and kind of hold on to the world here.

When you cling to something, you're grabbing hold. Both hands, both arms, both feet, all body. You are clinging because you don't want to let go. That happens when there's been a severance from the world. When you're all alone, out on an island, and you're all by yourself. Who do you hold on to? Who do you cling to? You cling to the Lord God. That's who you cling to. You grab hold of it. And the psalmist says there is great joy in that. Joshua says there is victory in that. Victory comes when you cling to the Lord your God.

The soul that clings to God, enjoys a marriage-like unity, and then attains joy and power like nothing else. Is that you? That's the way we need to be. Joshua was talking to the leaders. If you don't lead the way here, the people will not follow. So there needs to be, number one, a remembrance of his ways.

Number two, obedience to his word. Number three, severance from the world. Number four, allegiance in your walk. And number five, diligence in your Worship. Verse 11 says this: So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. Folks, that's what worship's all about. Loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. A diligence in your worship. You see, if you're diligent in your worship, you will not go after the other gods of the nations.

If you're loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you don't have time to even bring up the names of the gods of the other nations. You need to love the Lord your God and be diligent in all of your worship. Remember in John chapter 2, when Christ cleansed the temple, he drove out the money changers? You know, that's a very important lesson. We look at that and we forget the emphasis of that.

You know, we come to church and we think, listen carefully, we think that we enter the sanctuary, focus on the sp. This is not the sanctuary. You are not sitting in the sanctuary. You are sitting in an auditorium. You are sitting in a building with pews, four walls, and good lights. This is not a sanctuary. This is your sanctuary. This is the temple of the living God. Right? God lives here in your heart. He does not dwell in temples made with hands, he dwells in the hearts of his people. And you know, that's why we got to make sure that in the temple, everything is clean.

Everything is pure. There's nothing going on there that's going to defile the name of God. Because if that's the case, beware of the Lord. Taking a whip and scourging you from the inside out because that's the temple of the Spirit of God. And that's why there needs to be diligence in your worship, a complete adherence to the word of Almighty God. He needs to have the supreme place in your heart. And the leaders who lead this nation need to know that. You do this, you're blessed. But listen to this.

This is so good. Joshua says know with certainty. You can take this to the bank. This is as good as gold. Know it, mark it down, indelibly etch it on the forehead of each child that you own. Know for certain this is what's. going to happen if you are not remembering God's ways, obedient to His Word, if you are the kind of person that does not sever yourself from the world and become diligent in your worship. You know for certain three things will most certainly happen. He says The Lord your God will not cont to drive out these nations.

If you don't do this, you're going to go down, number one, to defeat. You'll lose. He's already said it's the Lord your God who fights for you, right? Three times he says, The Lord your God fought for you, the Lord your God fought for you, the Lord your God drove them out. Their whole life has been about God driving out the enemy. It's all about what the Lord has done. But if you don't do these things first, let me tell you something.

The Lord will no longer do that. If he doesn't drive them out, you are left to your own devices. You are left to your own operation in the flesh. You're left all by your. And you will lose because you cannot win without God. Christ said, without me, you can do nothing. He didn't, without me, you can do some things. He didn't say, without me, you can do, you know, okay, you'll make it. He says, without me, you can't do anything. You need me. And these people needed to understand that they would go down to defeat if they did not cling to their God and love him with all their heart and remember what he said and obey what he said.

They'll go down to defeat. Number two, not only will you go down to defeat, you will be distressed. He says this. No was certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations out from before you, and they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord Your God's giving you. I mean, he was very dramatic in what he said. You ever had a thorn in your eye? Not very comfortable, very uncomfortable.

They've been whipped. He's taking them back to their slavery days. Remember what it was way back in Egypt? You will be distressed. You will be discomforted. You will have absolutely all kinds of turmoil. Personally, in your family, all throughout your life, distress will come upon you. Defeat will come upon you. And lastly, disgrace. Disgrace. Verse number 16. When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which he has given you.

I mean, everything was about the good land. Everything was about Canaan Everything was about the promised land. It was all about the promise God gave to Abraham years ago. And if you don't do what God says and you don't obey what He says, and you go the way of the world and attach yourself to the nations around you, guess what?

You will live a life of complete disgrace. Because the good land that God promised you, you will not have. You will not have. You listen to that, you think, wow, okay, that makes sense. Makes good sense. Well, it makes good sense to me until Joshua dies and says this. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the territory of the inheritance of Tinnath Here, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done. For Israel. Remember, the basis for blessing begins with the remembrance of what God has already done. And there arose a whole new generation here in Judges chapter 2 that did not know what God had done. How did they not know? Mom and dad didn't tell them. That's convicting, isn't it? Listen to this. Verse 11. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their father, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them.

Thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and As. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken, and as The Lord had sworn to them, so they were severely distressed. Just like Joshua said. You will go down to defeat.

You will be sorely distressed because you will ultimately be disgraced before these nations. And that's exactly what happened. The bas of blessing did not mean nearly as much to them as the cost of compromise. And they lost. And when you read the Bible and 2 Chronicles 36, you know, 2 Chronicles 36 is the last chapter in the Hebrew Bible. Last chapter. You know how it ends? The Hebrew Bible ends with the destruction of the temple on the Temple Mount and the nation of Israel going into Babylonian captivity.

That's how the Old Testament ends. Why? Because the sins of the people had polluted, polluted that holy city. They were a disgrace simply because they would not remember what God said. And because they would not remember, they would not do what God said. And because they would not do what God said, they would not separate themselves from the world. And when they didn't separate themselves from the worlds, they had a divided allegiance between God and Baal. And therefore they could not be diligent in their worship.

And they went down to defeat, they went down into distress, and they disgraced. the name of Almighty God as well as themselves, because they would not remember what God had done. This is a monumental lesson for us as the people of God in this generation. May God give us the grace to want more of the blessing than the cursing. May God give us the grace to desire to follow Him more than anything in all the world, that we might experience victory in our lives, j in our lives. Instead of distress, discomfort, defeat, and disgrace.