Take your Bibles with me tonight and turn to Joshua 23. Joshua 23. The story we are going to look at tonight is Joshua's final charge.

A lot has happened in this book of Joshua. God has brought the children of Israel over Jordan and into the promised land. God has given them the victory. First, at Jericho, God showed His strength in removing their biggest obstacle. Then, at Gibeon where the sun stood still, and then in a bunch of smaller battles where God provided the victory for Israel.

Israel came in and did the impossible. They drove out the many groups of Canaanites and took their inheritance. But it was really God who did it for them. God made the walls of Jericho to fall. God made the sun to stand still in the sky. God even rained rocks down on Israel's enemies.

Israel had to fight, but God brought the victory. And now in chapter 23, the fighting has been over now for decades. Joshua is now an old man, 110 years old, and he is about to die, and he wants to give Israel some final advice.

He does this in two speeches: One of them to the leaders in chapter 23 and one to the congregation in chapter 24 - then Joshua dies, and that is recorded for us at the end of chapter 24.

We aren't going to read both chapters, but I do want to read chapter 23 tonight and I'll cover what is said in chapter 24.

[!bible] Joshua 23:1-16 - KJV

1. And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
2. And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
3. And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
4. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.
5. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.
6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
7. That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the names of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
8. But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9. For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
10. One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
12. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
13. Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
14. And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
15. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
16. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.

God had given Israel remarkable victory, and God promised that He would continue to give them victory - but they could mess it up.

That's really the whole message tonight. That's kind of the theme of Joshua.

God gave them victory. As they followed God. As they claimed the promises. God gave them victory after victory. God kept His end of the bargain. God did what they could not do.

God took a ragtag group of slaves in Egypt, fashioned them into a people, and made them a kingdom with the best real estate on planet earth.

Remember what God asked Abraham? Is any thing too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14)

The answer is a resounding NO. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. If God is behind you, you are unstoppable. The giants of Canaan were nothing to Israel - they barely even get mentioned here. The walled cities came down without any violence - God did it.

God had given them victory - remarkable victory - and God wanted to keep given them victory - but that didn't happen.

What book comes after Joshua? (Judges). And what happens in Judges? Is Judges a book of victory or of defeat?

Was God any less powerful in Judges than in Joshua? Did something happen to God's power on that one page between Joshua 24 and Judges 1? Did God stop caring for Israel?

No. No. and No.

So what changed? Israel changed.

Again:

God had given Israel remarkable victory, and God promised that He would continue to give them victory - but they could mess it up.

So Joshua is an old man now and he wants Israel to hear one last message before he goes "the way of all flesh" - he wants them to hear one final warning. Basically, what Joshua says to them is "with God, you are invincible, don't mess it up."

He says this to them in chapter 23, then in chapter 24 he get's the leaders together again with more people and reiterates it. Chapter 24 is where the famous "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" verse is.

Then at the end of chapter 24, the people promise again to serve God, they make a memorial, and Joshua dies.

But I want to cover the meat of Joshua's warning tonight, and most of that is in chapter 23.

Look at verses 9-11 again:

[!bible] Joshua 23:9-11 - KJV 9. For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 10. One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 11. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

No one can stand before you. One man will chase a thousand. But take good heed. Be careful. Because you can mess it up.

This is the way of the Christian life. God gives us the victory. Amazing victory. God has cleared the way for us. He fights with us.

Just like Israel God has delivered us from the slavery of sin. Just like Israel God has given us a promised land of a faithful walk with Him. God has a blessed purpose for us and as long as we are with Him, victory is inevitable.

"If God be for you, who can be against you?"

Think about the thing right now that keeps you up at night. The thing that scares you the most. Think about your Jericho - and know that God has already given you the victory over it. If you follow Him - victory is assured.

He's already given you the victory. No outside force can take it from you. But you can take it from yourself. You can self-sabotage.

Now, in these two final addresses of Joshua I think there are four ways Israel could steal defeat from the jaws of victory. There are three ways they could fail even though victory was given to them and, by the way, they are three ways we too fail.

So let's write down three things tonight:

First,

1. God gave Israel the victory, but they could mess it up by not finishing the job.

Look at verses 4 and 5:

[!bible] Joshua 23:4-5 - KJV 4. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. 5. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

You see, Israel was inhabiting the land. They had been there for decades at this point. But their job wasn't done yet. They still didn't own all of it. They still hadn't driven out every enemy. The biggest ones were gone, God had taken care of them. But there were still others to be defeated.

So Joshua subdivided the land and said to each tribe - here is your land, you are responsible for driving out the last of the inhabitants. You have to finish the fight. Just as God has helped you with the big guys, God will help you finish this fight.

You see, God had given them the victory - but they weren't done. They still had fights to fight. They still had battles. There were still enemies that needed taken care of.

And the temptation for Israel - a temptation they ended up giving in to - was to say "We've done enough. We've fought enough. We've taken care of enough bad guys. We are just going to live and let live."

So they didn't finish the job. They didn't kill all of the Canaanites. Which is why the same people who are victorious in Joshua are huddling in terror in Judges. The same people who defeated Jericho and Gibeon are terrorized by the Philistines and the Amorites.

They probably thought - they are just little enemies. We've taken care of 90% of the Canaanites. What harm can they do? We are tired. They are just little.

But just as Joshua predicted, they became a pain and a stumblingblock to Israel.

Church, God has given us the victory over sin. We have been set free from the penalty of sin through Christ's death. We know that some day we will be set free from the presence of sin. We have been given victory over the power of sin here and now.

And most of us have seen God defeat the big sins in our life. The Jerichos are behind us. Maybe you were a compulsive liar before you came to Christ and God has given you victory. Maybe you were addicted to drink or to gambling and that is in your past now. You have seen God give you the victory over some big sins - the temptation is to say "you know, I've come far enough. I've done enough. I'm done now."

But church, little foxes spoil the vine. Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to stink. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

God has given us the victory - but if we rest and don't finish the job - we will mess it up. We have to avail ourselves of His victory until the very end.

• We can't let a little lust.
• A little anger.
• A little envy.
• A little bitterness.

We can't let any of those sins live in our heart - we have to finish the job God has started.

• Because a little lust turns into a big adultery and a messy divorce.
• A little anger turns into hitting our spouse or destroying our church.
• A little envy turns into jealousy and prejudice that keeps us from doing anything for God. It makes us joyless, powerless Christians.
• A little bitterness springs up and troubles us, and many are defiled.

We have to put off the old man. We have to mortify our members which are on the earth. We have to purge ourselves of the old leaven. We have to keep going and finish the job.

If you are still breathing there is still fighting to be done. If you are not yet in glory in a glorified body - then you still have to keep fighting your flesh. You don't arrive. You don't get to quit.

God had given Israel the victory, and God gives us the victory, but we can mess it up by not finishing the job.

Ok, so they had to finish the job. But look at chapter 23 again. Look at verse 7:

[!bible] Joshua 23:7 - KJV 7. That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the names of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

Look at verse 12:

[!bible] Joshua 23:12 - KJV 12. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

Joshua wanted them to know that God had given them the victory - but one thing that would mess it up is if they got cosy with the enemy around them.

They had defeated the Canaanites armies, but they could be defeated by the the Canaanite culture.

They could be defeated if they followed Canaanite customs, and were led into Canaanite marriages and ultimately, led into worshipping Canaanite gods.

So the second thing I want you to write down from this chapter is...

2. God gave Israel the victory, but they could mess it up by making friends with the world.

Joshua wanted them to know that if they got close to the Canaanites - that they would lose the power of God.

Look at verse 13. God said if you play cosy with the nations of Canaan:

[!bible] Joshua 23:13 - KJV 13. Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

That, by the way, is exactly what happened. That's what we see in Judges. That's much of what we see in 1 and 2 Kings.

Remember Balaam. Balaam knew that there was no way Israel could be defeated in the battle field - God was with them - but the Canaanites could defeat Israel with their women and their ways.

They couldn't kill any of them with the sword, but they could pollute them with wickedness and entrap them with their women and then God would kill them for them.

No army could stand against Samson - he could kill whole armies with the jawbone of an ass - no army could defeat him - but Delilah could.

Israel had been given the victory, but they could mess it up with their relationship with the world.

And church, the same thing is true of us as Christians. God has given us the victory. God is for us, nothing can stand against us. We have the victory!

But we can turn victory into defeat if we let ourselves get worldly.

"Greater is he that is in you than he that is the world" - but if you put the world in you, if you stop fighting against the world and start playing footsies with it. You can mess up the victory God wants to give you.

[!bible] James 4:4 - KJV 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Church, we are to be in the world but not of the world. We are like a boat and the world is like the ocean. We can float above the world with no problem. We can be in the world with no problem. But when the water gets in the boat. Then you have an issue.

When the world gets in us - when we start thinking like the world and acting like the world - listening to the worlds music, watching the world's entertainment, dressing like the world, talking like the world - before long the world will have taken over and we will be worshipping the world's gods.

Listen, some of your kids are going to come to you in a few years and they are going to say:

• I'm moving in with my boy friend. or
• You know, I think there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, and I think you are a bigot. or
• I don't think I need religion in my life anymore.

And you are going to think it came out of nowhere. But listen, it didn't come out of nowhere. It came out of your TV. It came out of the school you were putting them in. It came out of the music you played in the car. The magazines on your magazine rack. It came out of the friends they hung around with.

If you walk like a duck and quack like a duck and eat like a duck - might as well be a duck, and if you act like the world and talk like the world and watch the same stuff as the world, why are you surprised when your kids are just like "Let's just be the world then."

God has given us the victory - but we can turn victory into defeat if we don't keep going for God. If we don't finish the job He's given us. God has given us the victory, but we can turn victory into defeat if we let the world influence us.

Two down, two to go.

The third thing we can learn from Joshua's final speech is...

3. God gave Israel the victory, but they could mess it up by forgetting God's promises.

Look at verse 5 again:

[!bible] Joshua 23:5 - KJV 5. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

Notice that phrase - as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

Joshua was a man who lived by promises. The book of the law did not depart out of His mouth. He stood on the promises of God.

Look at verse 15:

[!bible] Joshua 23:15 - KJV 15. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

Again, Joshua pointed them to God's promises. This time to the negative promises.

Some of God's promises go like this "Follow me, and I will bless you." But those aren't God's only promises. God also has promises like this:

• "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth"(Hebrews 12:6)
• and "the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off" (Psalm 37:38)
• and "the wages of sin is death."

Those are God's promises too.

So Joshua was reminding them of God's promises.

If you look at chapter 24 Joshua brings the whole congregation together and rehearses for them all that God had done in the history of Israel. Joshua reminds them how God has kept his promises.

Whenever Israel was defeated, one of the things you can be sure of is that they lost touch with the word of God. They were destroyed for lack of knowlege. They had no vision of the law, and so they perished. Then some prophet or some priest would find an old copy of the Bible in a dust bin somewhere, and they would open it up and read it and God would bring revival through His word.

Church, it is the same for us - we have been given victory in Christ, power over sin, we have been given everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of God - but how do we get it? through "the exceeding great and precious promises."

Whenever we have sin in our life and it's having it's way with us, whenever we are living defeated Christian lives, we can be sure of one thing - we aren't living by the promises of God's word. We aren't reading the scripture like we should. We aren't listening to sermons as we should. We are not living by the promises.

We are in a battle and we will have the victory - but not without God's armor - and every part of that armor comes to us through the word of God.