DON’T GO OFF THE RAILS
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ.” - Galatians 1:6
“For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.” – 2 Timothy 4:10,
"No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." – Jesus (Luke 10:62)
Text – Joshua 23:1-16
Joshua is close to death. He’s a 110 years old. He gathers the leaders together – “…Joshua was old, advanced in age. 2 And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them: "I am old, advanced in age.” So begins his farwell address.
1. DANGER: The danger of association.
Buying into the culture’s beliefs: 7 and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them,
2. DUTY: The duty of obedience.
Do God’s Word; don’t just believe it: 6 Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses.
Stay focused on God’ Word: lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left.
3. DEVOTION: Hold fast to the one who laid the rails.
The victory is his: “1Now it came to pass, a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about . . . 3 You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has fought for you.”
The blessings are his: “4 See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. 5 And the LORD your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you.”
The strength is his: “8 … but you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 9 For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.”
The guarantees are his: “14 And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.”
YOU DON’T WANT TO GO OFF THE RAILS.
15” Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 16 When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you."