P a g e | Joshua 23-24

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Joshua 23-24

Good evening church, it is great to be here with you all tonight.

Tonight we will finish the Book of Joshua, as we look at this great leader's final address.

As we see with every hero of our faith, they die off, and God's story continues.

Joshua is 110 years old, and he has lived a great life.

His journey started in bondage, in the rigor of slave labor back in Egypt.

Joshua witness the great deliverance by his God, through Moses out of Egypt.

Joshua over time became Moses' assistant, and he was found to be a man with great faith in his God.

He along with eleven other spies were sent ahead into the Promise Land, and only he and Caleb trusted their God enough to forge ahead into the promises of God.

But the naysayers were too many, and God punished this nation, and sent them wondering the deserts for 38 years...

Joshua was made a leader through servanthood during the those years of wondering in the wilderness.

And at Mount Nebo, Moses passed the mantle of leadership to his assistant Joshua before he died.

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Joshua then led a great campaign of conquest through Canaan, but his career was not without error.

He was defeated at Ai, because he failed to seek the Lord, and the camp of Israel was defiled by Achan's sin.

He was also made to look the fool, when the Gibeonites came with trickery and deceit, and duped Joshua into making a treaty, once again without seeking the council of God.

Now, what makes Joshua a great leader was not that he was faultless, but that he learned from his errors, and after Gibeon, Joshua led a very successful war campaign.

God was Israel greatest warrior, and Joshua allowed his God to lead the way.

Through meticulous obedience to God's leading, Joshua found success.

And all throughout these two final speeches, Joshua will plead with the people to remain obedient.

We will see Joshua, is a humble man, and is not using his great success to build a legacy for himself, but he will give all glory to God, and make it very clear that it was God all along who brought the nation this far.

Joshua never allows himself to be the central focus here.

He will give two separate addresses, the first will be to the leaders of the nation, possibly at Shiloh or maybe

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at his home in Ephraim, the second address will be in chapter 24, and it will take place at Shechem, and all the tribes of Israel will be gathered to hear his final words.

Joshua will clearly spell out for those who come after him that they could expect blessing if they obeyed the Lord.

But we will also see Joshua is not going to sugar coat anything for them, and he will make it very clear that their God will judge them for any disobedience.

The terms were clear through Moses, and the God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, keeps His end of the covenant even with the new generation.

Now, Joshua motivated the nation to obedience, they have experienced many years of blessing through their zeal for the Lord, they have tasted the sweetness of victory, that God has brought about.

Joshua wants to somehow keep the momentum going, even after he is gone.

So let's get into it and look at the first 5 verses of Joshua 23.

Joshua's Farewell Address

23:1 Now it came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. 2 And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their

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heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them:

"I am old, advanced in age. 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. 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.

Notice Joshua makes it clear, he is old, and Joshua is still burdened for the people of God.

He reminds the leaders of all that they have seen God do with their own eyes.

They have seen that God send the hornet before them, and God sent hail from heaven to put fear and dread into their enemies.

Joshua has divided the land, according to all that God had determined.

And the tribes will go in and expel the remnants of enemies left in the land.

Everything God has promised them has and will come true.

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But Joshua is old, and it is time for him to hand the mantle off to the leaders of the nation, they will bear a special responsibility to lead Israel in obedience to God, and to maintain spiritual faithfulness to the Lord.

Joshua will not raise up a leader after him, it will be a joint effort of all the leaders of Israel, to keep this path of obedience.

God was their true leader, and they needed no man to lead them.

The leaders will have to lead Israel into taking what is left of their inheritance, and keep them from getting complacent in their duty to the Lord.

They must pass on the testimony of what God has done among them, or else the next generation will be swept away by their own desires, and fall into sin.

This is the greatest need for Israel, and these leaders have an enormous responsibility.

Joshua gives them the same encouragement he received when the mantle was passed to him next...

6 Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, 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, 8 but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God, as

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