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We come to the end of Joshua chapter 24 and it is here that I'm bringing you

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into a story that you have not been hearing week after week. Though I have

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been immersed in Joshua this past season you have not been. So I have to bring you

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up to speed a little bit. I want to start this morning by asking you a question.

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Is there a such thing as a happy slave? Is there a such thing as a happy slave?

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It seems like a oxymoron that you would say that there could be a happy slave.

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When I think of slavery I think of just a couple of different periods in history.

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I think of the Egyptians enslaving God's people and I think of them using

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an entire population of people for their physical labor with no pay. I think of

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Roman slavery and how people were treated as property and just like you

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would eat an apple and then throw it away. So also would you use a slave and

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then cast them aside. I think of the horrible American history that we have

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with chattel slavery in the transatlantic slave trade. Horrible times. And then I

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think also of the modern slave trafficking movement in the world where

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there are institutions that claim that slavery is actually at its peak now in

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our time. And yet we live in a free country and are pretty much unaware of a

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lot of these things that are happening all across our world. Is there such a

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thing as a happy slave? One of the most despicable things I think I've ever

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read is Frederick Douglass commenting on what is now called the myth of the happy

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slave. And the myth of the happy slave is a story that white plantation owners in

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the South would use to justify their enslavement of Africans. They would say

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when they're in the fields and they're working they would be singing. Right? We

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know those songs. We call them spirituals. You heard that before. They would be in

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the field singing. And so the white plantation owners would say these slaves

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are lucky to be in my keeping. Look how happy they are. Frederick Douglass calls

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this despicable. And in one of his quotes about the situation he says of it,

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they sang when they were most unhappy. And that was the true grace. Now I agree. Is

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there such a thing as a happy slave? My goal this morning is to convince you to

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fear the merciful God and joyfully serve him in sincerity and faithfulness. Let me

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repeat that again for those of you who like to write stuff down. My goal is to

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convince you to fear the merciful God and joyfully serve him in sincerity and

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faithfulness. The title of my message this morning is Joyfully Enslaved by

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the Merciful God. And I want all of us to recognize and to remember this morning

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that there is no better way to be happy, to be joyful in this world than to be a

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slave of Jesus Christ. I do think that there is such a thing as a happy slave.

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And as we look today in Joshua 24, we may see this together. I just want to

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summarize where we are in the book of Joshua. If you remember God has brought

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the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt. He has brought them through the

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wilderness through many trials. He has brought them across the river Jordan and

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they have begun a conquest of the land. At this period in the book Joshua, the

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leader of Israel who has trusted in the commander of the Lord's army to fight

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his battles for many, many years is at the end of his life. As he says he is

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about to go the way of all the earth. That means he's real old. So this is

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where we are at the end of the book of Joshua. The conquest is done. Not

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everything is finished in the land but the conquest at least is done. And it is

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here at the end that Joshua gathers all of the people of Israel. Look at me in

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the beginning of Joshua chapter 24. Joshua gathered all the tribes of

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Israel to shek'em. Now if you're paying attention and you're a good Bible reader

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you may think I think I've heard of this place before and you have. It's in the

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beginning of what you would do if you're reading the Bible in a year. You

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hit this pretty soon in the early part of the year. Genesis chapter 12. God promises

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Abraham as he is passing through the land of Canaan that he is going to give

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his descendants a land. And it is here at the very same place that God promised

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Abraham that now Joshua gathers the people of God. And it is here that he

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summons the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel and they

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present themselves before God. Now let me tell you here, presenting themselves

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before God, you may not catch that very quickly but that means that they are

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set up before the Ark of the Covenant. They're set up before where the Lord's

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presence was physically present in the world. This is where they are. They're

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in shek'em, they're before the Ark of the Covenant, and then verse 2, Joshua said

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to all the people, thus says the Lord. He employs a prophetic tone. He's talking

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on behalf of God. And if you just kind of glance through the rest of the verses

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there between the second part of verse 2 all the way through verse 13, this is a

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recounting of what we see in the Pentateuch. We see an overview of the

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book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, even Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. And he does

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it in very short words. That doesn't mean that you can skip all the stuff before

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this, but this is a summary of all that happened before. And it is after this

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recounting of history that we get to verse, let's see, chapter 13, or verse 13,

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sorry, 24 verse 13, I gave you a land on which you had not labored in cities that

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you had not built and you dwelt in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and

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olive orchards that you did not plant. Israel has gotten a very great gift. It

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is the Lord bringing them out of the bondage of slavery and into a land of

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freedom. Let's see what Joshua has to say. Now therefore, now that you're here,

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this is the end of my life. Look at all the Lord has done. Think about our history.

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Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him. Wait, I really thought Joshua that the

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Lord had brought us out that we might not be under oppression any longer. We left

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slavery only to end up here where you're calling us to fear another master

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and serve Him and not only to do that but to do that with some level of

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sincerity and faithfulness. That's exactly what he's calling them to do. How does

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he call them to do it? Let's continue. He says, put away the gods that your father

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served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And then we have this

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that may be on a billboard that you pass on the highway and the end of this is

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something that may be on a pillow in your house. Right? And if it is able to in

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your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. I've seen that

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on a billboard on the highway. Whether the gods of your father served in the

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region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now

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dwell. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. I just want to point out

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some interesting things here. Look at verse 15 and look very carefully. You

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have an if then phrase there and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord,

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choose. So if it's evil to serve, it's evil in your eyes to serve the Lord,

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choose. And what are they choosing between? Maybe you've never considered this

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before. Look carefully at your text. Choose this day whom you will serve.

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Whether the false gods that your fathers served across the river or the gods of

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the Amorites in whose land you now dwell. He's saying if you don't want to serve

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the Lord, if you don't want to serve this master in sincerity and faithfulness,

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then you can take your pick of the burning gods that I've left in your wake.

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Out of Egypt is a destruction of Egyptian gods. The tin plagues that rained fire

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down on Egypt destroyed the very idea that Egypt had any gods worth

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worshiping. And then as they are coming through the wilderness now to the land

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that God has promised them, they encounter the Amorites and they have gods too.

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And yet just like Jericho, they are burning. They're on fire. So God says if

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you're not going to serve me, you can choose your pile of rebel that you want

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to serve. Choose which one do you want? Which burning pile of idols appeals to

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you the most? This is the question that Joshua puts to the people. Fits evil. If

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you do what's right in your own eyes, if y'all are going to judges in the summer,

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that will be incredibly important for you moving forward. It starts out almost

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everyone and the people did what was right in their own eyes. And the Lord

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bring judgment on them. So this is what Joshua says. If it is evil, if you look

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at the good God and you call that evil, then you can take your pick of all of

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the worldly idols that you can choose from. And so he puts this choice to them.

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Which false gods are you going to serve? Verse 16, the people answer. I want you to

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listen to their response. For be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to

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serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up

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from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery and who did those great

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signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all

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the peoples through whom we passed and the Lord drove out before us all the

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peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the

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Lord for he is our God. Hmm. That sounds like a really great Sunday school answer.

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Ah, so good, right? Everything they said is true. This is what they responded to

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Joshua with. I'm going to paint the picture for you. There's an old man. He's a

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part of the old guard. He's been in his home and he's getting old. Maybe he's

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senile. Maybe he's less respected. Maybe there are new leaders emerging in Israel

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that are more favorable. Everybody likes them because they're relevant. They're

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saying messages that the people really like, but you got this old guy and we

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like him because he helped us conquer the land. But he's standing before us and

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he's calling us to make a choice between two piles of rubbish or the one true

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and living God. And what do they do? They give him exactly the answer that he

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wants from them. They think that by saying all of the right things that they

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are off the hook. Look at his response. This is how you know that this is true.

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But Joshua said to the people, you are not able to serve the Lord. Wow. What a

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what a stark contrast, right? Verse 14, serve him in sincerity and faithfulness.

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And then verse 19, Joshua says to the people, you are not able to serve the

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Lord. He's calling their bluff. They've said we'll serve the Lord. We'll do what

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you've asked us to do. Old man. And then Joshua responds, you're not able to serve

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the Lord for he and these are our problems today. For he is a holy God, a

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jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. Think if the

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gospel ended there, folks. Think about what despair we would be in if the

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gospel ended there. You are not able to serve the Lord. He's a holy God. He's a

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jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. Then he

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continues in verse 20, if you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he

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will turn and he'll do you harm and consume you after having done you good.

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It makes me think of the parable of the tenets that Jesus says in the New

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Testament. Jesus talks about a beautiful vineyard and the Lord puts

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servants in charge of the vineyard and he goes away for a time and then after a

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time he calls from the servants to provide him with the fruit of the land

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and he sends a servant to collect it. And what do they do? They beat the

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servant and they send him away and the Lord keeps sending over and over again

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all of these servants. Some they beat, some they kill. And finally the master

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sends his son. This is that picture right there. If, if you forsake the Lord and

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serve foreign gods, he will turn and he'll do you harm and consume you after

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having done you good. And so the people respond to this sharp rebuke from

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Joshua and the people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord. They

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double down on their promise. They double down. Then verse 22, Joshua said to the

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people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord

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and serve him. What's a witness? A witness is the other party that has to sign a

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document that is between two people. If you are writing a will, you have to have

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a witness to sign it, witness what you have done. And if it's ever called into

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question, that witness will be called forward to give a testimony about what

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actually happened. And Joshua says, you people are witnesses against yourselves

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that you have chosen the Lord to serve him. And they say, we are witnesses.

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They're not doubling down. They're tripling down. And so Joshua again, verse 23, he

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said, then put away the foreign gods that are among you. He calls them on the

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carpet. There's idols in your house. I know what's set up in the city center of

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your little town. I know what's there. I know that you have taken the false gods

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from these people that we have conquered. You have pulled from the rubble these

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idols and they're in your homes. Put away the foreign gods that are among you

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and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel. And verse 24, the people

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said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve and his voice he will obey.

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They're not doubling down. They're not tripling down. They are quadrupling down

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on their promise. So Joshua ratifies the covenant based upon their word. Verse 25,

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so Joshua made a covenant or a legal agreement with the people that day and

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put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem, this place where the Lord had

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promised this land to them. And they knew at this very place that if they

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forsake the Lord they would lose the land that the Lord had given them. And

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Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. He took a large stone and

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set it there under the terabinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. Maybe

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even the same tree is the oak from Genesis chapter 12 that God spoke to

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Abraham under. When Joshua said to all the people, behold, this stone should be a

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witness against us. You see the change up until this point it's been Joshua versus

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the people of Israel. And now Joshua takes responsibility for what his people

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have decided to do. This stone will be a witness against us. For it is heard all

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of the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore, it shall be a witness

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against you lest you deal falsely with your God. So Joshua sent the people away,

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every man to his inheritance. This is quite a story.

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There was a time, I was at youth camp speaking of youth retreat. I was at

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youth camp in Daytona Beach, Florida. And I remembered the theme. It was called

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Mosaic. And my youth pastor brought these little concrete molds. And one evening

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he told us that he gave us all these little like shards of stained glass. It's

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what it looked like. And he said, I want you to make a promise to the Lord that

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you're going to change when you get back from camp this week. And so he handed

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us all one of these little shards of glass. And he said, this is your reminder

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that you're going to keep to the promise that you hold. And so I remember

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sitting on the beach that evening with my group leader. His name was Nick. And I

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remember calling out to the Lord that I was never going to do the thing that I

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was currently struggling with. I remember. I remember what it was. And I remember

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holding on to that piece of glass. And I remember the next night going into the

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youth rally and then going up and putting my little piece of glass in the

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concrete, fresh concrete. And that was it. That's like this, like, yeah, I'm not

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going to do it anymore. And I got home and I think the first day I had already

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broken my promise. Making promises to the Lord is a weighty, heavy thing. And

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here we see Israel making a promise that they cannot surely keep. Joshua was

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right. In verse 19, you cannot serve the Lord. What do we do with this? What do we

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do with this story today? In the New Testament earlier, Alex read for us

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Romans chapter six. And in Romans chapter six, there are two alternative

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slaveries that we can submit ourselves to. One is slavery to sin, which leads to

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death. And two, slavery to righteousness or slavery to Christ, which leads to

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eternal life, right? For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is

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eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Today, a similar thing stands

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before us and Joshua calls us to think about it. Choose this day whom you will

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serve. Will you serve your sin, your idols, your own desires or will you serve

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the true and living God who died on a cross and rose from the grave? Joshua

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to presents a problem for us, though. And that is the problem that Joshua says

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in verse 19, you cannot serve the Lord. Why? Because he is a holy God. He is a

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jealous God. He will not forgive your sins. So what do we do with this? If you'll

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hold your finger in Joshua chapter 24, but turn over to Romans chapter 12. If

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you know anything about the book of Romans, the book of Romans is a building

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argument all the way through and everything in Romans chapter one through

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Romans chapter 11 leads up to this declaration at the beginning of Romans

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chapter 12. And you probably know it well. This is how Christ has dealt with our

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sin problem that separates us from God. It says, I appeal to you therefore,

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brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living

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sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not

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be conformed to this world. Don't be enslaved to this world, but be transformed

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by the renewing of your mind by testing. You may discern what is the will of God,

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what is good and acceptable and perfect. What does presenting your bodies as a

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living sacrifice do before God? It makes you holy. The requirement that keeps us

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away from God. God is holy. Do you remember Isaiah standing before the

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presence of the Lord in Isaiah chapter six? He stands before and he sees the

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holiness of God and he says, Whoa is me. I am undone. I don't belong here. You

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see all this stuff around me. I am unclean and I dwell in the midst of a

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people with uncleanness. Holiness stands between us and God. And what does

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Jesus do for us? He makes us holy and acceptable. You see the bad news of

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Joshua chapter 24 verse 19, he will not forgive your sins. That is undone in the

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person and work of Jesus Christ because he lived perfectly on our behalf. So

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that we might have the righteousness of God. So if you are not a Christian here

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today, I would like to share with you that there are two things that stand

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between you and God. One is that he is holy and you are not. He is holy and

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you are not. Now you may not understand all that that has to do with anything,

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but here's the truth. You cannot as a sinner remain in the presence of God a

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sinner. You don't belong there. His holiness would burn you away. Holiness

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stands between you and God and two. Your sin separates you from God utterly.

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Ericasm is far too wide to be bridged by any good works. Anything that you can

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do with your hands, anything that you can make promises to. And this is why

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Joshua is so cautious in letting Israel make this covenant. He's not trying to

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trip them up because he doesn't love them. He's trying to get them to be honest

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with themselves about who they are before God. And all they're trying to do is

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make a promise that they can never keep. Friend, if you are here today and you

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are feeling like, man, I need to trust in Christ. The danger is far too great.

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The other reality is far too bad. If I just become a Christian, everything

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will be easier. That is also untrue. At the end of Hebrews chapter 11, the part

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that very few people read, it says, And what more shall I say for time would

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fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel and

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the prophets? And y'all will get to most of those in judges who through faith

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conquer kingdoms and force justice, obtain promises, stop the mouths of

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lions, quench the power of fire, escape the edge of the sword were made strong

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out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women

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received back their dead by resurrection and then the tone changes. Some were

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tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better

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life. Others suffered, suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and

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imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn into, they were killed with the

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sword. They went about off in sheeps, skins of sheep and goats and were

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destitute, afflicted, mistreated of whom the world was not worthy, wandering

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about in the deserts and mountains and in the dims and caves of the earth.

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Christian life is not all roses.

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But following Jesus meant that you got sawn into one day.

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This is no easy task to be enslaved to God.

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But it is the best reality.

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The reason that this is good news today and the reason that I would stand

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before you to preach this sermon is because I do believe that we do not

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serve a God who does not forgive sins.

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There would be no reason for me to stand before you today and just declare to

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you bad news.

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The title of my sermon today is joyfully enslaved to the merciful God by the

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merciful God.

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He is merciful to sinners because of Jesus Christ.

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These Israelites did not have any understanding of what God was going to

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provide for them, but all of them, if they trusted by faith in the promises of

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God that would one day be fulfilled by Jesus Christ would have been saved from

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their sins.

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These Israelites could have been saved the same way that you and I were.

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The only way to be saved is trusting in the promises of God, fulfilled in the

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person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in his resurrection.

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And this is the good news that is offered to them if they would have only turned

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and served the Lord if they had believed that he was merciful.

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They say it with their mouths here, but as y'all will find in the book of

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judges, they did not believe it.

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They turned from God and they served idols and they were punished and tested.

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God is merciful in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.

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He is not a vengeful master like the devil.

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He does not hate you.

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He loves you and he's calling you to serve him.

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He is provided away through his own work and by no work that you must do to

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provide away for you to serve him all the days of your life with joy.

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What does it look like to serve the Lord in joy?

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Two things here coming from our text, sincerity and faithfulness.

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Verse 14.

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What does it mean to be sincere?

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To be sincere is to serve the Lord with all of you.

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That word carries the sense of wholeness.

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In fact, you might think back to Deuteronomy chapter 6 where the Lord says,

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you will love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and strength.

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New Testament adds mind in there in places as well.

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So serve the Lord with all of you.

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There is no part of you that the Lord does not want in his service.

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All of you is required to serve the Lord.

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He will not share any part of you with any worldly pleasure or idea ever.

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Sincere.

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This is the posture of the heart before the Lord.

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Lord, you can have all of me.

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Do you remember Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6?

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Lord says, who will go for us?

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And he says, here I am, send.

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Not part of me, me.

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Send me all of me.

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So sincerity is to serve the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, strength.

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And then the second one is faithfulness.

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Faithfulness.

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Faithfulness.

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What does it mean to be faithful to a spouse?

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But to love them alone all the days of your life until death shall do you part.

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Right?

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It is the vow that I made to my wife many years ago that I would cling to her alone and no other.

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Faithfulness is serving the Lord alone.

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And who is Israel flirting with?

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Burning piles of idols.

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Things that the Lord had already defeated.

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And yet these are the two requirements for serving the Lord with joy.

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Serve him with all of you and be faithful to him alone.

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You cannot serve two masters.

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You cannot serve both your sin and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Be faithful to him alone.

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Serve him alone.

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Serve him alone.

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Now if I went to your house today I doubt that I would find idols sitting in a little sanctuary within your home.

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Our problem is not that we have little trinkets that we worship.

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Our problem is that we have a priority problem.

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That we put anything and everything before the Lord Jesus Christ.

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If your heart is a throne then there is war happening for that seat on the throne of your heart every single day.

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There is a battle going on.

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And there are lots of good things in this world that would seek to be a part of sitting on the throne of your heart.

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Maybe it's your spouse.

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Maybe it's your family.

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Maybe it's your job.

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Maybe it's the wealth in your bank account.

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There are many different idols that vie for the throne of your heart.

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And Joshua says none of them compare.

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They are all burning piles of rubbish in comparison to serving the Lord.

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So does it look like to be joyful in serving the Lord?

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We serve him with sincerity and faithfulness.

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The last thing that I'd like for us to see this morning is this witnessing rock.

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At the very end of the text.

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It's kind of strange that it's thrown in there.

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The witnessing rock is a reminder to Israel of the promise that they've made.

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But really it's a reminder because they're so forgetful.

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That rock stands as a testimony that the Lord is omniscient in those all things.

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He will never forget this promise that they made him on this day.

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That rock stands to remind forgetful human beings of the omniscience of Almighty God.

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That stone stands there to remind them that God is going to hold them to this promise that he's made.

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And he will be faithful to the covenant that he has made with them.

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If you do all that I have commanded you to do, long will you live in the land.

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If you fail to serve me and you go after other gods, I will remove you from your land.

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I will turn on you and I will harm you.

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This rock reminds us that God's omnipotence, omniscience, is not some far off idea.

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But it is close to all of us.

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There is nothing that you do that the Lord does not say.

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That day on the beach where I promised the Lord that I was going to do something.

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I'll be responsible for breaking that when I got home.

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But thanks be to God that Christ stands before my sin.

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I can live a joyful life and not this life ridden by guilt because God has set me free from the power of sin.

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And I can joyfully serve him with all that I am because he has paid the penalty for my sin.

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No longer is there guilt between me and my God, I can serve my master though imperfectly and he will rescue me from the power of sin and darkness and death.

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This is what it means to joyfully serve the merciful God as a slave.

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Throughout the book of Joshua there's this theme that runs of households.

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In the raising of Jericho, Rahab, the Gentile prostitute and her household, they're all saved alive because of her faith.

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In the initial defeat at AI everybody realized that somebody had sinned.

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And there was a man who had pulled a burning idol out of the wreckage and he'd hidden it in his tent.

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And he and all of his household were stoned and burned with fire.

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And then we get to the end here, Joshua, the leader of Israel, old man at this point.

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He says, as for me and my house, my household, we will serve the Lord.

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The question today stands for you. Who will you serve?

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Will you remain in your sin, trusting in your own works, trusting in these burning piles of rubbish to save you?

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Or will you trust in the merciful God?

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Bind yourself to him and love him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

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Let's pray together.