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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Grace and Truth Worth Re... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: I'd like to read some selections from the twenty fourth
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  Speaker 1: chapter of the Book of Joshua if you're unfamiliar with
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  Speaker 1: your Bible. The first five books are called by the
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  Speaker 1: Jews the Torah, which is the Hebrew word for law,
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  Speaker 1: Genesis to Deuteronomy, and the next book is Joshua, which
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  Speaker 1: really becomes the beginning of the historical section of the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament. And we've come to the last chapter of
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  Speaker 1: this book of history, Joshua twenty four. Then Joshua gathered
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  Speaker 1: all the tribes of Israel to shechhim and call for
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  Speaker 1: the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and their
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  Speaker 1: judges and their officers. And they presented themselves before God.
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  Speaker 1: Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. From ancient times, your fathers lived
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  Speaker 1: beyond the river, namely Terra, father of Abraham, and the
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  Speaker 1: father of Nahor, and they served other gods. And I
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  Speaker 1: took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and led
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  Speaker 1: him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his
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  Speaker 1: descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac, I gave Jacob
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  Speaker 1: and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to
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  Speaker 1: possess it, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt
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  Speaker 1: by what I did in its midst and afterward I
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  Speaker 1: brought you out. I brought your fathers out of Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: and you came to the sea. And Egypt pursued your
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  Speaker 1: fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. And
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  Speaker 1: when they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness
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  Speaker 1: between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon
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  Speaker 1: them and covered them. And your own eyes saw what
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  Speaker 1: I did in Egypt, and you lived in the wilderness
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  Speaker 1: for a long time. Verse eleven. You crossed the Jordan
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  Speaker 1: and came to Jericho. And the citizens of Jericho fought
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  Speaker 1: against you Amorite and the Perizite and Canaanite, the Hittite
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  Speaker 1: and the Jergisite, and the Hiwite and the Jebusite. Thus
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  Speaker 1: I gave them into your hand. Verse thirteen. I gave
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  Speaker 1: you a land on which you had not labored, and
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  Speaker 1: cities which you had not built, and you have lived
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  Speaker 1: in them. You are eating of vineyards and olive groves
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  Speaker 1: which you did not plant. Now, therefore, fear the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: and serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away
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  Speaker 1: the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and
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  Speaker 1: in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable
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  Speaker 1: in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves
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  Speaker 1: today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your
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  Speaker 1: fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods
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  Speaker 1: of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But
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  Speaker 1: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: The people answered and said, far be it from us
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  Speaker 1: that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.
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  Speaker 1: Verse eighteen. The Lord drove out from before us all
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  Speaker 1: the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land.
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  Speaker 1: We also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, verse twenty five. So Joshua made a covenant
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  Speaker 1: with the people that day, and made them a statute
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  Speaker 1: and an ordinance in Sheken. Joshua wrote these words in
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  Speaker 1: the book of the Law of God. And he took
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  Speaker 1: a large stone and set it up there under the
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  Speaker 1: oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. Joshua
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  Speaker 1: said to all the people, this stone shall be for
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  Speaker 1: a witness against us, for it has heard all the
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  Speaker 1: words of the Lord which he spoke to us. Thus
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  Speaker 1: it shall be for a witness against you, so that
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  Speaker 1: you do not deny your God. Then Joshua dismissed the
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  Speaker 1: people each to his inheritance. Came about after these things
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  Speaker 1: that Joshua, the son of None serving the Lord, died,
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  Speaker 1: being one hundred and ten years old. Now, our Father,
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  Speaker 1: at no other time of the week do we, in
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  Speaker 1: a gathering of this size, bow before the open word
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  Speaker 1: of God, as we do in moments like this. We
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  Speaker 1: submit ourselves to the authority of your inspired truth. We
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  Speaker 1: bow before you, our God, and we give allegiance to
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  Speaker 1: your will for our lives, claiming that it is best.
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  Speaker 1: But we are a stubborn people. We prefer our own way.
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  Speaker 1: We like the familiar comforts about us. We resist dealing
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  Speaker 1: with the things that please us, though they may be
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  Speaker 1: wrong in your eyes. And so I pray that your
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  Speaker 1: spirit will do a work within us to prepare us
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  Speaker 1: for the sowing of the good seed of your word.
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  Speaker 1: Find us willing to hear, quick to confess, and open
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  Speaker 1: to change in whatever area you may choose to invade.
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  Speaker 1: Some come to day as single parents struggling with the
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  Speaker 1: demands and requirements of rearing children without the help of
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  Speaker 1: a mate. They have their own particular needs. We pray
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  Speaker 1: you will meet them. Many come to day having never married,
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  Speaker 1: and as single men and women sit before you with
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  Speaker 1: another set of circumstances and needs and desires. We pray
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  Speaker 1: those needs will be met. Others of us come with
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  Speaker 1: partners in life, and with those responsibilities a whole set
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  Speaker 1: of needs unlike others, and each one of us with
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  Speaker 1: our own particular circumstances. You are the God of all grace.
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  Speaker 1: As we revisit again the truth of this ancient book,
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  Speaker 1: may we realize afresh its relevance and allow its impact
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  Speaker 1: to bring about the beginning of change. Whatever was written
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  Speaker 1: in earlier times was written for our learning, that we,
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  Speaker 1: through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
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  Speaker 1: Bring that hope to us today, as we see your
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  Speaker 1: grace manifested in a number of ways in this message
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  Speaker 1: that follows, show us today the value of our choices.
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  Speaker 1: Help us to know how to inculcate our children and
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  Speaker 1: our grandchildren with that same determination. May we model it
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  Speaker 1: before we preach it, and may we live it before
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  Speaker 1: we expect it of others, find in us hearts that
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  Speaker 1: have a deep and abiding respect for you and a
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  Speaker 1: hatred for sin the same time a desire to willingly
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  Speaker 1: make ourselves available to you at whatever time and in
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  Speaker 1: whatever way would please you. There are so many choices
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  Speaker 1: in so much of this comfort zone of our society.
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  Speaker 1: Remind us again of the value of walking with you,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of others about us. And now, Lord, from the
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  Speaker 1: abundance of what you have provided us through our work,
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  Speaker 1: the labor of our hands, investments, the blessing of abundance
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  Speaker 1: that is ours is a part of these great United States.
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  Speaker 1: We pause to release a portion of our treasure, reminded
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  Speaker 1: that you own it all, and we are really returning
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  Speaker 1: to you what you have entrusted to us. And therefore
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  Speaker 1: we do so gratefully, joyfully, generously, and the Holy name
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  Speaker 1: of your Son Jesus our Savior in God we pray.
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  Speaker 1: And all the people said, Amen. There's something terribly significant
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  Speaker 1: about the last words a person speaks before death comes.
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  Speaker 1: If you heard your mother or your father's words which
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  Speaker 1: were their last before they passed on, they have a
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  Speaker 1: way of impacting your life. They're never quite the same
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  Speaker 1: if you were in battle, and you watched a buddy
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  Speaker 1: die in battle. Perhaps his final words are submitted in
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  Speaker 1: your mind, almost like shrapnel in the brain. They stay
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  Speaker 1: with you, you don't forget them. In the scriptures, there
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  Speaker 1: are times when a person delivers his or her swan song.
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  Speaker 1: Paul's final words in Second Timothy have become beloved words
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  Speaker 1: to all of us. He wrote them from a dungeon,
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  Speaker 1: and the drop of the sword was only hours after
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  Speaker 1: he penned the words in Second Timothy. So when we
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  Speaker 1: come to Joshua, chapter twenty four, we come to the
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  Speaker 1: final words of an aging man. He's an old battle
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  Speaker 1: weary soldier, scarred in some ways, wounded seasoned over the years.
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  Speaker 1: I'm reminded of April nineteenth, nineteen fifty one, when an
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  Speaker 1: old battle weary soldier stood before the United States Congress
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  Speaker 1: and delivered his soul. President Truman had relieved him of
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  Speaker 1: his duties in Korea. Douglas MacArthur stood before Congress, and
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  Speaker 1: among other eloquent words, he said this, the world has
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  Speaker 1: turned over many times since I took the oath at
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  Speaker 1: West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished.
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  Speaker 1: But I still remember the refrain of one of the
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  Speaker 1: most popular barracks ballads of that day, which proclaimed proudly
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  Speaker 1: that old soldiers never die, they just fade away. And
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  Speaker 1: like the old soldier in that ballad, I now close
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  Speaker 1: my military career and just fade away, an old soldier
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  Speaker 1: who tried to do his duty as God gave him
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  Speaker 1: the sight to see that duty. I was, of course
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  Speaker 1: alive at that time as a young man, and I
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  Speaker 1: wish I could have been there to hear the speech.
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  Speaker 1: I remember my father referring to it on several occasions,
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  Speaker 1: since he was in such disagreement with the President's decision
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  Speaker 1: to relieve MacArthur of his responsibilities. Perhaps that was a
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  Speaker 1: turning point in our history of doing battle with the enemy. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: without getting into the politics of it, I think one
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  Speaker 1: of the reasons we all sit up a little bit
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  Speaker 1: taller and take notice that the man was an old
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  Speaker 1: soldier and bore the marks of many battles and the
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  Speaker 1: scars of many conflicts. Joshua was like that when he
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  Speaker 1: delivered his final speech. But he didn't just fade away.
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  Speaker 1: Joshua was sharp right up to the end, at the
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  Speaker 1: age of one hundred and ten, as he stood before
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  Speaker 1: the people and gave them the warnings that they must
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  Speaker 1: hear in light of where they found themselves. He was troubled.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that they were about to move into an
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  Speaker 1: era of abundance. Having fought for their survival over the
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  Speaker 1: last number of years, he was all too familiar with
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  Speaker 1: the tendency that there is in humanity, once to find
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  Speaker 1: oneself in prosperity, to sort of move into complacency, and
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  Speaker 1: ultimately to capitulate to the enemy again. And so he
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  Speaker 1: delivered his soul, if you will, And in doing so,
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  Speaker 1: he left a reminder for all of us, no matter
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  Speaker 1: what time in which we live. Before I look at
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  Speaker 1: Joshua's words, let me go back again in history. Even
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  Speaker 1: before MacArthur, our country was only about ten years old,
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  Speaker 1: not quite, when a man named Alexander Tyler brought him
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  Speaker 1: message that needed to be recorded and remembered throughout the
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  Speaker 1: rest of time. Unfortunately, many have never even heard of
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  Speaker 1: the man. He foresaw the moral and spiritual dangers that
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  Speaker 1: accompany success and prosperity and abundance. He knew the peril
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  Speaker 1: of complacency, and so he said. The average age of
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  Speaker 1: the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years these
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  Speaker 1: nations have progressed through the this same sequence, and I
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  Speaker 1: want you to remember the cycle. Think of it as
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  Speaker 1: a cycle from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith
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  Speaker 1: to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance,
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  Speaker 1: from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy
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  Speaker 1: to dependency, and from dependency again to bondage. Some wag
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  Speaker 1: was right when he said the only problem with history
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  Speaker 1: is that we never learn anything from history. We need
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  Speaker 1: to learn that cycle from history. Especially living in a
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  Speaker 1: country that is now past the age of the greatest civilizations,
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  Speaker 1: well over two hundred years old, Joshua found himself on
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  Speaker 1: the crest of a very vulnerable place. Listen to this,
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  Speaker 1: between great courage and glorious liberty, which would lead to abundance,
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  Speaker 1: and the very real problem of complacency. With complacency comes conceit.
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  Speaker 1: With conceit comes arrogance. With arrogance comes the breakdown of
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  Speaker 1: a whole set of character traits that caused a nation
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  Speaker 1: to become what it was. That is where Israel found itself.
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  Speaker 1: They were just around the corner from apathy, and he
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  Speaker 1: knew it, and of all things. Not only would they
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  Speaker 1: be tempted to fall into the arms of the gods
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  Speaker 1: of the people of Canaan, they would enter mary with
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  Speaker 1: the women of the heathen land. And that is exactly
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  Speaker 1: what they did, and that is precisely why they fell
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  Speaker 1: back into bondage. Joshua saw it all. There's something about
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  Speaker 1: age that provides one with that kind of perspective. You've
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  Speaker 1: gotten past all the hooplah, all the salesmanship, all the hype,
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  Speaker 1: and you realize, in light of the things you've learned
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  Speaker 1: in your past, that there are some warnings that are
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  Speaker 1: appropriate for the future. Your only concern is will they
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  Speaker 1: listen to somebody as old as you are as you
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  Speaker 1: tell them. We read that Joshua was advanced in years
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  Speaker 1: chapter twenty three of the Book of Joshua verse one,
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  Speaker 1: So we learned that he is old at the time
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  Speaker 1: he delivers this magnificent speech, an old soldier not yet did,
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  Speaker 1: but close to it. He's old. Second, he has a
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  Speaker 1: good grasp of God's grace. Verse three. You have seen
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  Speaker 1: all that the Lord your God has done to all
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  Speaker 1: these nations. For the Lord your God is he who
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  Speaker 1: has been fighting for you. He didn't give them a
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  Speaker 1: chance to put their thumbs under their suspenders and strut
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  Speaker 1: like peacocks, saying, look at all we have accomplished. He said,
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  Speaker 1: when you look back and see the spoils of war,
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  Speaker 1: remember it was God who dropped the walls at Jericho,
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  Speaker 1: who got you beyond Ai, who brought you into the
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  Speaker 1: land of Canaan, and has given you what you now enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: He's old and advanced in years. He has a good
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  Speaker 1: grasp of grace. The third thing I learned about Joshua
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  Speaker 1: is he's lost none of his past Verse six. Be
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  Speaker 1: very firm, then, to keep and do all that is
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  Speaker 1: written in the book of the Law of Moses, so
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  Speaker 1: that you may not turn aside from it to the
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  Speaker 1: right hand or to the left. Those are passionate words.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds like your granddaddy in an unguarded moment, when he's
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  Speaker 1: got you standing nearby. He says to you, as my
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  Speaker 1: maternal grandfather would often say, son, walk with God. Whatever
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  Speaker 1: else you may do, you walk with God. And that
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  Speaker 1: firm hand around my shoulder with a little shake, something
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  Speaker 1: about that shake that I remember to this day. And
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  Speaker 1: his passion produces relevance. His age results in our respect,
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  Speaker 1: his grasp of grace provides a perspective, and his passion
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  Speaker 1: gives him relevance. This is a man nobody wants to ignore.
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  Speaker 1: Stay straight, think strait, be disciplined. The hard days are
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  Speaker 1: in front of you. Now, why would they be hard?
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  Speaker 1: If the enemy is defeated and if they're able to
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  Speaker 1: move into all of this abundance, why would that be
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  Speaker 1: a difficult time? Because then the warfare becomes invisible. It
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  Speaker 1: is insidious. A philosophical war is always more insidious than
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  Speaker 1: an actual physical war. The report of the cannon, the
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  Speaker 1: throwing of the spear, the thrust of the sword, the
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  Speaker 1: holding of the shield. That's a simple kind of war,
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  Speaker 1: and it can be strategized on a piece of paper
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  Speaker 1: in the minds of those who are doing the fighting.
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  Speaker 1: But an invisible war is insidious. It attacks the mind.
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  Speaker 1: It becomes cultural and style and type, and before you
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  Speaker 1: know it, you are caught in the warp of it,
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  Speaker 1: and you're swept along in the current, not even knowing
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  Speaker 1: you're losing the battle at the very time you're existing.
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  Speaker 1: Joshua saw all of that. Because he's old. He has
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  Speaker 1: their respect, because he has a grasp of grace, He's
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  Speaker 1: given perspective on life, and because he has not lost
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  Speaker 1: his passion, he speaks with relevance. Before getting into chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty four, may I mention that it is my privilege
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  Speaker 1: these particular days of my life, and I have not
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  Speaker 1: taken them lightly. It has been my privilege from nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety four to the year two thousand and one to
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  Speaker 1: walk among a few giants. I returned to Dallas Seminary
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  Speaker 1: and be a part of the leadership of the school,
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  Speaker 1: and in doing so I returned to some of my mentors,
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  Speaker 1: those who taught me when I was a student in
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  Speaker 1: my twenties. I now have the privilege to see and
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  Speaker 1: to hear again in my sixties. It's a remarkable experience.
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  Speaker 1: There is something about the words of a ninety one
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  Speaker 1: year old doctor John Walverard, or an eighty plus year
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  Speaker 1: old doctor J. Dwight Pentecost, or a seventy five year
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  Speaker 1: old doctor Howard Hendrix that still makes me sit up
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  Speaker 1: and be quiet and pay attention. After all, there aren't
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  Speaker 1: many older than I, So it's a privilege to be
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  Speaker 1: around some who are. And when they speak, or when
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  Speaker 1: they warn or when they preach, no one takes more
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  Speaker 1: notes than I. They have a perspective on life that
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  Speaker 1: I want to learn from, and they have warnings about
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  Speaker 1: the future I want to remember. And when they speak
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  Speaker 1: of the cross of Jesus Christ and the price that
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  Speaker 1: was paid to take care of the sins of the world,
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  Speaker 1: and they still believe in at this age, I know
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  Speaker 1: a youngster like me, I got a lot of years
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  Speaker 1: to keep believing it and to keep preaching it because
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  Speaker 1: they stand as such stalwarts of the faith. And so
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  Speaker 1: is Joshua personally. I think he's been planning this speech
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  Speaker 1: for some time. I don't know when he started it.
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  Speaker 1: But great speeches or great messages are never prepared in
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  Speaker 1: a week or two weeks or even a month. Sometime
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  Speaker 1: they have been on the back burner and have been
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  Speaker 1: working in the mind of the one who will deliver
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  Speaker 1: them for months and months and months sometime years. And
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  Speaker 1: so when Joshua delivers his soul in chapter twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: he declares it before people who don't even realize what
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  Speaker 1: he knows will happen. They are so caught up in
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  Speaker 1: the ever present now they're not able to see with perspective.
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  Speaker 1: Like this old soldier who told him the truth about
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow in verses two through thirteen. Joshua looks back in
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  Speaker 1: verses fourteen through twenty four. Joshua looks at in verses
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  Speaker 1: twenty five through twenty eight. He looks ahead, past, present, future.
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  Speaker 1: When he looks back, the emphasis is on the grace
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  Speaker 1: of God. When he looks at the present, the emphasis
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  Speaker 1: is on the truth of God. When he looks into
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  Speaker 1: the future, the emphasis is on the commitment of the
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  Speaker 1: people to the grace and truth of God. So let's
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  Speaker 1: look back with Joshua. Chapter twenty four. He gathers all
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  Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel verse one, to a place named
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  Speaker 1: shch Him, And he called for the elders of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and for their heads, and their judges and their officers.
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  Speaker 1: And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said, here
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  Speaker 1: is the old soldier who has not yet died. But
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  Speaker 1: he has some final parting words of wisdom. And as
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  Speaker 1: is often true with those getting up in years, he
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  Speaker 1: begins with an old story, and he goes back. Remember
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  Speaker 1: none of them were alive at the place he returns to.
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  Speaker 1: He goes all the way back to their forefathers. He
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  Speaker 1: tells of the ancient times in verse two, that the
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  Speaker 1: fathers lived beyond the river. That's a reference to the
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  Speaker 1: river Euphrates, over where Abraham began, way back our father
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  Speaker 1: Abraham was there with his father Terra, and they served
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  Speaker 1: other gods. Easy to forget that as great a man
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  Speaker 1: of faith as Abraham became, he was born into idle worshiping,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: an idle worshiping family. So good place to pause and say,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: don't excuse your lifestyle because you come from bad roots.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, use it as a launching
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: pad into where into the way you should be living.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: He says, I admit to all of you our roots
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: go back to an idle worshiping day by the river Euphrates.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: And he says in verse three, I took your father
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Abram from beyond the river. I led him through all
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: the land of Canaan. Please observe the references to God.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: And I multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac marked
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the verbs verse four to Isaac, I gave Jacob, to Esau,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I gave Mountsir. Verse five. I sent Moses, I plagued
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Egypt into verse five. I brought you out verse six,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: brought your fathers out of Egypt. Verse seven. He is
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: the one who put darkness between you and the Egyptians
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: there at the Red Sea, and you saw what I
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: did in Egypt. Verse eight, I brought you into the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: land of the Amorites. I gave them into your hands.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I destroyed them before you. Verse ten INDs I delivered
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you from his hand. Verse eleven, I gave them into
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: your hand. Verse twelve, I sent the hornet. Verse thirteen.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I gave you again and again and again. I haven't
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: counted them, but it must be a dozen or so.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: First person singular, I personally did this for you. You
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: didn't do it. I've done it for you. That's called grace.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Grace is what God does for us which we cannot
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: do for ourselves, which we do not deserve and can
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: never repair. That's the story of our existence. If we
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: got what we deserve, we'd be in a lot hotter
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: placed than Dallas. It is a terrible thought to think
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: that God would give us what we deserve. He gives
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: us what we don't deserve, because Christ has earned the merit.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Because of what Christ has done, we placed in Christ
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: get the benefit of the sun. Lewis Perry Chaffer put
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it in these words, nearer, still nearer, nearer, I cannot
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: be for in the person of his son, I am
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: as near as he. Not a great line blessed nor
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: blessed I cannot be for in the person of his son,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I am as blessed as he. I'm inheriting the son's blessings.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: I am adopted into a family I didn't deserve to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: be a part of. I gave, I brought, I destroyed,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: I delivered, I sent, I gave. Look at that thirteenth verse.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: It's a great one. I gave you a land on
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: which you had not labored, and cities which you had
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: not built, and you have lived in them, and you
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: are eating of vineyards and olive groves that you did
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: not plant. I think of it as moving into an
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: area full of model homes, and they don't cost you anything.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Take your pick. The Amorites and the Jbusites and the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Parizites all lived in these homes, and we've driven them out.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Now you have the homes they built. You drink from
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: wells they dug, you eat from vineyards and groves they planted.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: You're enjoying the life they put together for you. And
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: I've given it all to you. Now watch out. You
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: don't have any mortgage, you don't have any reason to worry.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: You're about to drive the enemies away from you, and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the Lord says, now's the time to pause and reflect
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: on my grease. It's like John Newton wrote, amazing grace,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I once was lost, but now I'm found twas blind,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: But now I see through many dangers, toils and snares
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: I have already come. It's grace that's brought me safe
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: thus far, and grace will bring me home. That's what
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the first thirteen verses are teaching us. As I look back,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I see the grace of God. Never ever, ever forget
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: the grace of God. I don't care if you move
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: into six or seven figures or more. I don't care
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: if you become the celebrity in your world of expertise.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Never forget the grace of God. As the Prophet put it,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: do not forget the pit from which you have been dug.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Remember the simple days, Remember the wicked, sinful days. Remember
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the debauchery of your nature and the filth of your past.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: And now you see yourself where you are today. Gratitude
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: is the only response that's appropriate. A grateful heart is
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: a strong defense against the devil's temptation, wrote Warren Weersby.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: It's all of grace. Never ever, ever forget the grace
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: of God. Never forget the grace of God. It'll make
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: you grateful. It'll remind you that you didn't build a house,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: you didn't plant the vineyard, you didn't dig the well,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: you didn't provide the land, you didn't beat back the enemy.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: God did it. You didn't save yourself at salvation, and
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: you haven't kept yourself saved since salvation. God did it.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Then God is doing it now. And it's all of grace.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: with it. Be bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: oh my soul, and forget none of his benefits. And
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the first benefit is He forgave you all your iniquities,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: not some, not most, not a bunch, not the worst ones.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: All your iniquities He forgave Why Because He is a
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: God of grace. He gives you what you don't deserve,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: what you can never pay him back. For what you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: haven't earned or merited, You've gotten it. And therefore there
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: is one response, a grateful heart. It's always appropriate, how
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: easy it is to think I have made myself great.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I have built this business into what it is. I
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: have provided well for my family. I am the one
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: who has deserved this, because I have worked so hard.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: When you are one heartbeat from death, take it from me.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: It's true, one heartbeat from tomorrow and eternity. It's all
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: of grace. A people who understand the grace of God
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: lived their lives not in pride, but in humility. Let
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: me show you a story, Daniel, chapter four. Let's blow
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the dust off this great old prophet Daniel, and let's
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: pull out the story of a man named Nebucadnesseer Daniel
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: four verse twenty eight. Daniel has already told the old king,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: you need to remember that God is the sovereign God
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: of heaven, and you need to bow before him and
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: receive the salvation that he offers you. And Nebu Cadza
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: thought about it for a year and turned it all off.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Look at verse twenty nine. Twelve months later he was
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: walking on the roof of the royal Palace of Babylon.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: The king reflected and said, is this not Babylon the
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: great which I myself have built. Can't you see his
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: chest sticking out, I myself have built this as a
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: royal residence by the might of my power, for the
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: glory of my majesty. Wat's thirty one. While the word
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: was in the king's mouth, you could just the words
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: still in his mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: King Nebuchadnezzar, to you, it is declared sovereignty has been
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: removed from you. You will be driven away from mankind,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: In seven periods of time will pass over you until
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: you recognize the most highest ruler over the realm of
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes immediately. You know,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: God is a longside offering God, but there's a day
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: when he says, that's enough. Like a dog on a clothesline,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: remember our illustration, and he gets the attention. When you
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: put that lish on the clothesline, you've come to the
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: end of the lish. You're going no further. Immediately, Nabuchadnezzar.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Immediately the word concerning you was fulfilled. He was driven
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: away from mankind. He began eating grass like cattle. His
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: body was drenched with the dew of heaven. Look at this,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: It reminds you of the of the old Howard hughes
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: till his hair had grown like eagles feathers, and his
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: nails like birds claws. Imagine that like a beast in
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: the field, nails growing like corkscrews, and hair like eagles
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: feathers wild for how long? Perhaps seven years? Verse thirty four,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest verses in all the scriptures. I'll
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: try to stay on the floor when I delivered it.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: But at the end of that period I noticed the
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: change in pronoun He says to Daniel, let me have
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: the pen. This is my testimony. I Nebukudnezzar, raised my
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me. And
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I blessed the most High, and praised and honored him
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, And all
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: he does according to his will in the army of
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: one can stop him or say unto him, what are
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: you doing? This is nebukad Nezzar seven years earlier, said
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: I built this place, my resume, my kingdom. Listen to
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: me having another it's curtains. Seven years later, isn't it amazing?
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: He says, I am nothing and he is everything. I
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: had nothing, and I thought I was everything. I now
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: realize that whatever is mine I have from the hand
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: of a sovereign God, who graciously has granted it to me.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: That's what Joshua wants for these people back into Joshua
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: twenty four. That's what he wants them to see, and
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: so he moves from the past to the present when
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: he gets to verse fourteen of chapter twenty four. Now, therefore,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: when you read your Bible, pay attention to tensies the past,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: the present, the future. Look at verse fourteen. Now therefore,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: this is now two commands. Number one, fear him, fear
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and number two, what serve him. It's right
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: there in the text. Take your pencil circle the words fear, serve.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: I'll give you a couple of definitions. Fear is a wholesome,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: worshipful respect for God accompanied by a hatred for sin.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: A wholesome worshipful respect for God accompanied by a hatred
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: for sin. How about serving him? To serve is a
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: willing available obedience based on love and devotion. When I
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: serve him for his glory, I am willingly available, obeying
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: him out of love and devotion. By the way, that's
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: the key word. From here on, It's used fifteen times
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: in the balance of this passage. Serve him, serve him,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. Now,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: let's see what Joshua said. Fear the Lord and serve
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: him in sincerity and truth. Now this is going to
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: surprise you. And put away the gods which your father
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Stop.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Some of them are still worshiping idols. They're still hauling
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: around the idols from their past. So I'm not sure
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I believe. Well, look at what he says, put away
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the gods which your father served beyond the river and
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: in Egypt. Some of them dragged the idols from Egypt
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: and all the emblems of their idle worship. Some of
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: them still had gods that had been given them by
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: their parents, who got them from their parents, who got
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: them from their parents. They had them in their tents,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: They hid them in secrecy. They were idle worshiping people,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: some of them. Charles Spurgeon writes, Joshua knew that the
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: people who surrounded him, while ostensibly serving Jehovah, were many
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: of them secretly worshiping the ancient idols of their Mesopotamian fathers.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Some of them also harbored the Egyptian emblems. Some had
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: even fallen into the worship of the gods of the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: people whom.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: They had displaced.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: These are idol worshiping Hebrews who haven't yet broken the
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: habits of their past. Before you cluck your tongues at them,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: may I add that there are perhaps no more idolatrous
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: people on the face of the earth than the American Today.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: We just hide the idols and we put other names
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: on them. I don't know what idol you wrestle with
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: or struggle with, but it very likely is a battle
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: when no one else is around. We make our reputations
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: into idols. We turn our homes into idols. Our vehicles
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: can become our idols, and other expressions of materialism. There
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: is nothing wrong with having any of these things. Something
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: is wrong when they have us, and when they have us,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: they become idols. Some have our children as our idols,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: or our grandchildren become like idols, and we hold them
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: closer to our hearts than we do our very God,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: and we hide that we never called him an idol.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: And they're all so right. We have our secret sins
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: that we cultivate, like the worship of an idol. If
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: the secret sins of this flock could be known by
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the others of this flock, we would all be scandalized,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: just as if the secret Idols could be known by
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: all the other Hebrews, they would have been amazed. I'm
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: sure when Joshua said this they were shocked, especially realizing
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: that they weren't the only ones. This is serious information, folks,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: but it explains why Joshua says what he does in
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: verse fifteen. Make up your mind, and he treats him
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: like adults. Verse fifteen. If it is disagreeable in your
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves today
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: whom you will serve. If what I am clarifying doesn't
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: seem right to you, then let me tell you it's
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: your move. You make a choice. Notice he does he says,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: do it today. We don't break with idols slowly. We
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: break with idols in a moment of time, at a
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: time of decision. It's like a stake we drive in
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: our lives, and we look back from that date we
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: say that was the day I determined. It's the same
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: old story with an addiction. I face the fact that
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: is an addiction, and I call it that, and I
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: don't deny it anymore, and I don't hide it. I
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: say I am guilty of that, and I have psychologists
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: tell me all around. That's the beginning of recovery, the
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: admitting of the wrong. Today, face it. You've got a choice.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Who are you going to serve, Whether the gods which
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: your father served, which were beyond the river, are the
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: gods of the amorights who are living around you in
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: whose land you were living. But as for me and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: my house, says this old soldier, scarred by time, we
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: will serve the Lord. Spurgeon says, a man's own personal
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: testimony or example is eloquent beyond the power of words.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I agree with him. It's not just something I'm saying.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you we are going to serve only him.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: These people Their response is just incredibly good. Problem is
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: it was too quick verse sixteen. The people answered and said,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: far be it from us that we should forsake the
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord, our God,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: is he who brought us out of our fathers, out
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: of the land of Egypt. They repeat the history and
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: they say verse eighteen, the Lord drove us from drove
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: out from before us all the people's, even the Amorites
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: who live in the land. We will serve the Lord.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: He is our God. Yes, sir, that's us. We're gonna
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: do it right. Joshua's response may shock you, but remember
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: he's one hundred and ten years old. Like an old
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: seasoned pastor, he doesn't fall for all that flattery. Notice
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: he says to them verse nineteen. Joshua said to the people,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: you will not be able to serve the Lord. I
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: don't go there. I said today. I didn't say immediately.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: You've got twenty four hours to think this through. You're
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: jumping at this because it sounds so right, and you
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: want to all jump on the band raised his hype.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: But he says, you will not be able to serve
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: the Lord. He's a holy god, he's a jealous God.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: He will not forgive your transgression or your sins, meaning
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: if your heart is not right, if you forsake the
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Lord and serve for in God's and he will turn
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: and do you harm and consume you after he has
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: done good to you. The people said, no, no, no,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: but we will serve the Lord. Still not convinced, Let
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: me show you why you think. But Josh, you've kind
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: of gotten to be a crotchety old man now that
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: he's turned one hundred and ten. Look at Exodus nineteen.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Go back to Exodus. I want you to see moses situation.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: This is somehow sort of humorous as well as tragic.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Keep you from crying, you can laugh. Exodus nineteen. Moses
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: called the elders together verse seven, and set before them
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: all the words which the Lord had commanded him. Now
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: look at the people's response. It's the same bunch verse eighty.
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: Just the fathers of these others. All the people answered
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: and said, all that the Lord is poken, we will do.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: That's a little extra there, a little swind all slant
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: to it. All he spoken, we will do, we will
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: do the So Moses takes the promise of the peace
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: people and goes back up the mountain. And he's gone
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: forty days, count them, not even a month and a half.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Forty days. Look at chapter thirty two, he's been gone
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: less than two months. And I want you to see
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: these people who said we will do it no matter what.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: You're gonna see these people as they really were. Thirty
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: two Verse one Exodus thirty two. Now, when the people
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: saw Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: people assembled about Aaron and said, come, make us a
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: god who will go before us. As for this Moses,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: we don't know what's become of him. We need a god.
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: So Aaron said, not on your life. No. Aaron's a
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: preacher that loves to tell people what they want to hear.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: So he says, good idea. Tear off the gold rings
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: which are in the ears of your wives and your sons. No,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the sons were wearing ear rings. Just thought I'd throw
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: that in, and your daughters bring the ears to me.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: And all the people gripped off the gold rings that
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: were in their ears and brought them to Erin. He
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: took this from their hand and Aaron fashioned it with
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: a graving tool and made it into a molten calf.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: And they said, this is our God, oh Israel, who
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: brought you up from the land of Egypt. These are
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: the people who said we will serve Lord. And then
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I got this molten calf is in front of him.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: So in the meantime, God says to Moses, do you
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: know what's happening down there? These people have made an idol?
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: And Moses trucks down. You know, he comes down the
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: mountain and he confronts Aaron. You've gotta hear Aaron. Look
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: at verse twenty one same chapter. Moses said to Aaron,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: what did this people do to you that you brought
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: such great sin upon him? Aaron said, do not let
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: the anger of my lord burn. You know the people,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: they are prone to evil. For they said to me,
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: make a god for us, who will go before us?
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: For this Moses, the man who brought us from the
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: land of Egypt. Will We do not know where they
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: what will become of him? And I said to them,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: whoever is in the gold, let tear it off. So
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: they gave it to me, and I chewing the fire,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: and out came this cab it's a miracle. Cab just
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: tossed in the hair rings and out came the cab. Right.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: That is why. Joshua in chapter twenty four says, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Holy this is not time for a revival meeting, Holy folks.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: Let's just very solemnly think this through. We're talking rest
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: of your life. We're not talking about a religious service
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: on television. We're not doing something to make everybody have
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: a little feel good moment. This is life changing decision.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: You choose today whom you will serve? Now watch Joshua
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty two, Chapter twenty four, Verse twenty two,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: Joshua said to the people, you are witnesses against yourself,
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: that you've chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: And they said, we are witnesses in other words, Joshua says,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: you mean business. You serious? Uh, We're serious. You're going
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: on record. Well, we're going on record. You ready to
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: put that in writing? Ready to put that in writing?
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: You know. It's kind of the difference when you go
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: to a car lot and you kick tires. I like
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: that car man, that's great. Whoa take that for a drive?
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Sealsman says, you like it. Yeah, I like that. You
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: drive it and come back in you like it? Yeah?
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I like it. Man, that's great, that's cool. It's a
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: great car. You want to buy it? Yeah? Yeah, Okay,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: come into my office. Well wait a minute. If I
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: come into your office, you're gonna chain me to the
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: wall and make me write my name down on a
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: piece of paper. Suddenly, it changes, doesn't it. You mean
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: I gotta write down that I will actually buy this car,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: that I will put my name on the line. You
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: mean it's like in writing. You mean like I have
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: to pay for it. That's what you're saying. Yeah, put
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: your name on the That is what this verse is saying.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to go on record and say that, that's
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: what you're gonna do. Watch the response. We are witnesses.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are in
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: your midst, are in your midst, and incline your hearts
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: to the Lord, the God of Israel. People said to
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Joshua for the third time, we will serve the Lord,
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: our god. We will obey his voice. And Joshua says,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: let me draw up a covenant. Let's put this in
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: writing down right there. He made a covenant with the
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: people that day and made for them a statute and
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: an ordinance in Shechem. Got it. But that's not all.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: Joshua wrote the words in the book of the Law
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: and Watch. He took a large stone and set it
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. Do you know that they have done
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: an excavation at Shechem and that archaeologists have found at
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: the site of Shechem a large limestone pillar that may
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: very well be identified with the memorial referred to here.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: In fact, Joshua goes on to say, this stone shall
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: be a witness against us, for it has heard all
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: the words of the Lord which he spoke to us.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Thus it shall be for a witness again you, so
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: that you do not deny your God. Every time you
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: pass by Shekham and you see that pillar, it'll be
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: like that grave marker above your daddy's grave, you be
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: reminded of those words. It'll be like you're signing on
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: the line that you're taking on the mortgage of this home.
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: And every time you go back to the deed and look,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: you see your name on the line. It'll be a
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: reminder so that you will not deny your God. He's
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: looking into the future, saying, this will hold your feet
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: to the fire. They said, we'll sign it, And so
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: Joshua dismiss the people each to his inheritance that came
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: about after these things. Joshua, with the son of Nune,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: the servant of the Lord, died one hundred and ten
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: years ode. I got three applications for us, three words
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: of counsel. But we look back to the past, we
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: see God's grace and we are grateful for it. Amazing grace,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: Those are words of gratitude from John Newton. We look back,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: we see the grace of God. We see the Cross.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: We see our coming to trust in Christ as Savior
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: and Lord, and we are grateful for what God has
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: done for us in Christ. When we look at the present,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: here's the second. When we look at the present, we
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: hear God's truth and we are challenged by it. We
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: are grateful for his grace. We are challenged by His truth.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: As today, you're already in your mind turning over an idol,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: an addiction, some wrong, some misguided, something that has become
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: for you more than a thing. It's become for you
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: a treasured possession that has no business in your life.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: We're challenged by the truth that we are hearing when
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: we look into the future. Here's the third. We remember
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: our commitment, and we are strengthened because of it. We
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: will this day, as of this day on serve only
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: our God. We will make that decision now, and we
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: are strengthened every time we return to it. When I
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: began this series on changing wayward wanderers into worshipers, you
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: may recall I talked about the battle that's going on.
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: No one ever becomes worshiper having wandered for so long
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: without a fight, the conflict rages. It was John Chrysistom
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: in the fifth century AD who said, you are but
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: a poor soldier of Christ. If you think you can
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: overcome without fighting, and suppose you can have the crown
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: without the conflict? Am I a soldier of the cross,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the follower of the lamb? And shall I fear to
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: own his cause or blush to speak his name? Are
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: there no foes for me to face? Must I not
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend of
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: grace to help me on to God? Sure I must
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: fight if I would rain increase my courage, Lord, I'll
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: bear the toil and endure the pain supported by thy word.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: That's a fight. That's a fighting anthem. Interesting in our day,
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the so called musicians of the faith have taken their
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: scissors and cut the militant hymns out of the hymn book.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: Not in hours, thankfully. But warfare is not the kind
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: of thing we people of peace like to think about,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: which means therefore we lose the insidious battles regularly. You
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: who have children know what I'm talking about. When I
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: talk about a fight. You who are standing for a
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: standard that's different from those in your neighborhood, know what
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about. I want to talk about this fight.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you we eliminate the militant side of the
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: Christian faith and we must abandon the Cross, because that
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: was a battle royal where he fought the enemy in
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: one and Satan knows he's defeated because at the cross
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: he was doomed to a lake of fire prepared for
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: him and his demons. I read recently about a pastor
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: who was attending a court hearing protesting the building of
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: a large or no shop near his church and a
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: local public school. The battle got pretty heated, and the
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: lawyer leaned over and whispered to the pastor, the lawyer
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: of the poor no shop argument. He said, I'm a
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: little surprised to see you here today, Reverend, as a shepherd,
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: shouldn't you be out there taking care of the sheep?
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Pastor responded, today I'm fighting the wolves. Are there no
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: foes for us to face? Must we not stem the flood?
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Is this vile world a friend of grace to help
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: us on? Too? God? Choose you this day whom you
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: will serve? You make no choice. I'll tell you what
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: it is. This is no time for neutrality. Just as
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: Joshua was facing a people of abundance, so do I
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: every Sunday compare to this world around us. We are
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: abundantly blessed. Nothing wrong with a blessing. Nothing wrong with
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: abundance if it was earned honestly, and if the right
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: kind of giving is going on in our lives. Nothing
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: wrong with abundance. It's just dangerous. It's just dangerous. As
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: any teacher or principle of an affluent school will tell you,
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: it's just tough to handle kids that are affluent it's
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: tough to raise a family when you've got plenty. It's
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: tough to live for God when life is easy and
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: you can hide the idols, and there's not an old
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: soldier who keeps hammering away at stuff that needs to
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: be dealt with. I'd like us to bow our heads
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: for a few moments, Just for a few moments, just
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: close your eyes. I know what time it is. Just
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: quietly sit before him. If you've never come to the
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, what in the world are you waiting for?
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: There has never been a better time. The message could
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: not be clearer if you have not met Him at
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: the cross by grace and understood that He has paid
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: the entire price in full for your sins. Today is
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: the day to come to him. Today is the day
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: of your choice. You wait till tomorrow, You'll have a
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: hundred other things that will convince you that's a higher priority. Today.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: You need to choose whom you will serve and fear.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: It may be the need for prayer with someone about
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: this particular idol that has held you long enough come today.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: It may be the ending of an affair that is
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: sapping your energy and strength and will soon take your money,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: having already taken your morals. Today's the data end it.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: Today's the day to stop it. Maybe just indolence, just complacency,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: having backed off the responsibility of being a good parent,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: holding your ground, loving and disciplining your children God's way.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe today is the day to choose. Today we turn around,
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: Today's the day we make that decision. I plead with you,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: don't put it off. And so, Father, we thank you
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: for delivering to us through your word, another pointed and
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: needed message. Thank you for the process that is involved
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: and humbling us as you change us from wanderers into worshipers,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: as we finally decide to quit skating and to go
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: deeper and to seek the heart of the Living God
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: and to become intimately acquainted with Him in depth. Thank
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: you that it all begins at the cross, and thank
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: you for bringing us back to it over and over again,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: for the relevance of your word, for the timeliness of
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: the challenge for this message. Today, we give you thanks.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: We worship you.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: We praise you, O, Holy God, through Jesus Christ, our
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: Savior and Lord, and all God's people said Amen.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: The preceding message grace and truth worth Remembering was copyrighted
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 3: in two thousand and one, two thousand and two, and
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 3: twenty nineteen, and Recording was copyrighted in twenty nineteen by
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 3: Charles R. Slindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 3: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited