08.31.2014 The Fulfillment of the Promises in Christ

We are closing down Joshua this morning – we’ve been going through this since the beginning of summer…

Joshua 24: 11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus I gave them into your hand. 12 Then I sent the hornet before you and it [f]drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

As we come to the close, we see that, for Israel, the land of Canaan – the land of Israel, was all a gift – they did not earn or deserve it – God gave it to them by His grace – and He gave it – cities they didn’t build, vineyards they didn’t plant – this is grace upon grace – a picture of our salvation. Just as Israel received this as a gift from God, so we receive God’s salvation. In no way did we earn or deserve it. For us, all of our salvation is accomplished in Jesus on the cross. It is about God giving His son and His blood being shed for our salvation. The punishment we so deserved, Jesus took on the cross. Our relationship was restored and we received the gift of eternal life on the cross.

This incredible gift of salvation on the cross – the foundation is our forgiveness of sins – and now we have the promise of a hope of eternal life – the promse of heaven. That is the foundation – the importance of God’s grace – but that is not all there is – about our salvation. Forgiveness of sins and going to heaven is foundational, but we often miss the continuningness of our salvation. The gospel, when understood, should transform our lives. It not only saves us, but transforms us. And if we truly understand the gospel, we cannot but help to begin the process of being transformed.

The problem – many do not experience that part of the gospel. They experience the forgiveness of sins and the going to heaven, but itseems to stop there.

Joshua 24: 14 “Now, therefore, [g]fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and [h]truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the [i]River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

There is still a decision – a choice to be made – by all of us who come to faith in Christ – and that decision is, will we walk in the grace we have received? Will we really choose to be His disciples? Will they serve God and worship God?

They were to put away the gods – they had other gods with them! Still! At this point! And a decision – an active choice – a purposeful decision must be made. If we do not purposefully choose – even as those who come to Jesus - if we do not choose to follow Him in obedience, we will naturally drift and begin serving other gods. That is how it worked for Israel and that is how it is for us. Bob Dillon said – you’ve gotta serve somebody – and Jesus said – You cannot serve two masters – that is where that song came from – and if we don’t purposefully choose, we will drift away.

Jesus also said, if anyone is to come after me – he must deny himself daily – so not only was there that decision 35 years ago – but daily.

And it doesn’t take long for Israel to go astray – the very next book. We are not in danger of bowing down in front of a statue, but in front of money, stature, pleasure, fame, and even good things – work and career. Those are good things – but we are in danger of bowing down to it. Family. Family is a priority, but it is not to be worshiped.

When we don’t choose daily to follow Jesus – those things that are priorities become god to us.

The divine conspiracy

The disciple/apprentice of Jesus – a good way to think of it – an apprentice needs to be around the professional – as recognized by the new testament is one who has firmly decided to learn from Jesyus to lead his life as Jesus Himself would lead it.

Whatever that life is – an architect, carpenter, engineer, father, wife, and as bst they know how – they are making plans, taking the necessary steps, progressively rearranging their affairs to best do this – to be a follower of Jesus.

Joshua 24: 16 The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of [j]bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

What they do – and this is critical – in making the choice – they recognize all that God did for them. It is not like Jesus driving us with a whip. But it is God giving gift after gift – so follow me, so you can have abundance and experience all that I have.

They get this part – when we daily choose to follow Jesus – they don’t bemoan, Oh, I’ve got to live my life as a Christian – but it is being engaged with Jesus, helping us to do what needs to be done!

This is Joshua’s strange response – not that you want him to be a pastor!

Joshua 24: 19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.”

These people always say the right thing, but don’t always do what they say. He knows they won’t start now. Israel fails. They just fail – you know the gospel of Mark? There is only one thing the disciples do that is positive. Follow Jesus. All the other times, all they do is fail! It is amazing! What you see, starting in Judges, they go in with a high, and then there is a dip – and then a rise, and then a dip. And then you get to David and it goes way up here, and then you get to the bottom for a long time.

Even Noah – found favor in the eyes of the Lord – gets off the ark – sacrifices animals – and then gets drunk and naked!

Abraham – a friend of God – what is the deal with Hagar? What is a ‘friend of God’ doing having a child with his wife’s maidservant. Twice he goes into the land and gives his wife to the king and says she is his sister.

Moses had anger issues. Killing people. Punching rocks.

David! Jesus is called Son of David! But think about it – the big ones? Committed. Adultery and murder.

21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

23 “Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will [k]obey His voice.”

The tendency is toward unfaithfulness – that we as Christians need to purposefully choose daily, or we will do the same. We see the same things in Christians’ lives that we see in Israel. He mentions the foreign gods – They want one foot in God’s world and one foot in Canaan. We want to be with God, but there are just some things about the world that are just too good to let go of! At least they appear that way.

For us – two little things – and probably many more – If we are to follow Jesus faithfully, we will need to limit media in our lives! We live, that is one of the big gods of our lives – an all-consuming thing – coming in so many different forms – TV/Movies/Phones – we have media everywhere. This is not a law with rigid specificiations – that is wrong. But what I am saying – if we understand what it means to follow Jesus and we understand that He wants to have a relationship with us.

A disciple or apprentice is someone who comes alongside a person to become like the person – and do what He does.

If we want to do that – there is just not enough time to be consumed with all forms of media.

For me, it is television. I don’t get on the internet much. It is just mindless time. We need that sometimes – but if our desire and hunger is to be like Jesus, we need to spend time with Him. We have so many minutes spent with work and family – God doesn’t want you to neglect those – so it squeezes your free time – and some of that needs to go to being with Him – in all the ways we need to be with Him – not just at church or bible study – it is being alone with Him.

For the follower of Christ – one who triest o be like Jesus – Jesus was an example of ultimate generosity – He gave everything – completely and ultimately. And we are called to do the same – to live lives of generosity. Our need and love for money and things hinders that – hinders us from becoming people of ultimate generosity – it is not how much you give but the manner of giving it. It is not the amount you give – is it the way jesus gave? The widow’s penny was more than the rest.

Corinthians says we need to give not under compulsion – but out of joy. A great sign of ultimate generosity? The good Samaritan. He goes to the person, picks him up, takes him to the hotel where he will be cared for and gives money to take care of him – and will pay whatever the need. The ultimate giver meets the need as he is able.

Ultimate generosity goes all the way to meet the need to the extent that it is genuilnely able to do so.

We neeed to use money and things to serve people – rather than the other way around!

Matthew 15: 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

Remove the gods you have in your midst – those tell us where your heart is!

With our mouths, we seek external conformity. With our hearts, we should seek internal transformation. IN Jesus’ day, they had external conformity – looking like a follower on the outside but not on the inside. It is the most treacherous condition to be in. The ones who forsake it all are ones Jesus was able to work with. The ones who had it on the outside – Jesus said – you clean the outside, but the inside is dirty – what good is it to look good on the outside?

How do you clean the inside of the cup?

They didn’t get inside. They did not work on the inside. They focused on saying the right things, but not on being the right person. Having the right views – but not if the heart and person are not right on the inside.

Jesus said – you say, do not murder – I say – deal with your anger! A lot of people can go without murdering – but can you keep from being angry?

Ezekiel 36: 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

2 Cor. 5:17

Yes, it is a process, yes we will still fall, but this is something we can begin doing. We have been renewed, regenerated, experienced new birth – yes, there is an already/not yet aspect to it –

Next week, we will talk about our baggage – but we have in us the ability to be transformed.

Luke 6: 43 For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, [a]on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 The good man out of the good [b]treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from [c]that which fills his heart.

Matt. 12:33

Jesus makes us fruitful – taking a thornbush and making it a grapevine. We don’t just look like a cluster of grapes on a thornbush, he transforms us.

43 For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, [a]on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 The good man out of the good [b]treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from [c]that which fills his heart.

“Jesus knew we cannot keep the law by trying to keep the law”

“they focused on the actions the law requires”

This is a really hard thing to learn – we are in the process of learning it – let’s pray.

God, if you could take Israel and give them the land and great blessings, there is hope. In Christ, you have given us so much more than a piece of land – but a new heart, soul, and new person – and out of that heart can flow a new life.