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Soul Safety
Joshua 23
Promised Land Living in Problematic World
Sermon #21What do John Dillinger, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Cooper, Grace Jones and Marilyn Manson – all have in common? They were all at one time in Bible-believing churches. John Dillinger attended Sunday School as a young man but was kicked out and told never to return. Alice Cooper, who was born Vincent D. Furnier, and Grace Jones both grew up in pastors’ homes...Alice Cooper’s father was a Baptist pastor. In the mid 80's, a teenager named Brian Warner went to a Christian School and attended a youth group. He was sort of an awkward kid and the other kids excluded him, and he got turned off. Today we know him as Marilyn Manson.
Few people know it, but both sets of author Ernest Hemingway’s grandparents were committed evangelical Christians. In fact, his paternal grandparents were both graduates of Wheaton College and very close friends of Evangelist D. L. Moody. His maternal grandfather was such a godly patriarchal figure that his grandchildren called him “Abba.” Furthermore, one of Hemingway’s uncles was a missionary to China. Yet, Ernest Hemingway, after leaving his evangelical rearing in Oak Park, Illinois, became the worldwide emblem of the lost generation who said, “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead and there is no current to plug into.” He ended up taking his own life.
We cannot deny the fact: God’s people are prone...not to just wander, but to apostasy, to repudiation of all that they once said they believed and held dear.
New, exciting, fresh spirituality tends to fade with amazing speed. Those who were once faithful often repudiate all that they once espoused and held dear. None of us are immune from apostasy. Every church is one generation from spiritual infidelity. No wonder Paul warned, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (I Cor. 10:12, NKJV).These final chapters of the book of Joshua contain two farewell addresses by the old general, Joshua, to his people. Their central themes are worship, faithfulness and covenant loyalty. Every word and phrase comes right out of the book of Deuteronomy. But these are not new words and new ideas. They are old words and old truths that need constant repetition, exhortations designed to protect, preserve and safeguard the soul. Though the land had been conquered and possessed, danger still lurked. Joshua, as the old patriarch, plans for the next generation. Twenty years have passed since they first crossed Jordan and he is at the end of his life. But he is still concerned about the future. He wants his beloved people to have Soul Safety. The future is only guaranteed if they are faithful and obedient to God.
This though is not just for ancient Israel. This is for us, as believers, today. Just because we have come to Christ doesn't mean that we can coast along and fail to guard our spiritual life.
Like his predecessor, Moses, Joshua assembles the leaders of the nation. He presents them with two scenarios: Obey the Lord, and He will bless you and keep you in the land; disobey Him, and He will judge you and remove you from the land. These were the terms of the covenant God had made with Israel at Mount Sinai so many years ago. Years had gone by since the major battles had been fought and won. The land had been allocated to each of the twelve tribes. But this didn’t guarantee that the struggle was over. Each of the tribes must consolidate its own position in the land.
Contemporary Christians usually do not like the idea that life lived in relationship with Jesus Christ has its incomplete dimension. We want to come to faith in Jesus and receive life in Christ as a neatly wrapped package. The business of living one day at a time, in which we grow toward wholeness in Christ, frustrates us. We want quick, easy answers, a life free of problems and instant success. But the Christian life is a journey, not an event. We have to persevere, work hard and fight faithfully to remain true. It is not enough to start well, we must determine to be faithful and end well. It necessitates spiritual vigilance to preserve Soul Safety.
Joshua’s words are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. If we take Joshua 23 to heart, these words will protect us and help us keep our own hearts true. What was Joshua’s approach? How did he advise his people?
1. God’s faithfulness in the past motivates us to obey Him in the future. Paul Desjardins will always have a soft place in my heart. Twenty years ago, right after Bible college, I worked for Paul as a salesman for his commercial roofing company. I was working to pay off college bills before entering full time ministry. Shortly after Jane and I were married, a church in Danville, Illinois called us to serve on staff. At the time I was working on several contracts. One was a huge contract for a company called Thermofil but it had not gone through. The contract was over a $100,000. My commission would have been $5000.00. But I left the company before they signed the contract. Though I had been gone nearly a year, one day a check for $5000.00 came in the mail. Paul had sent me the commission for that job even though I had been gone from his company for a long time. He could have easily, and justly, never paid me any commission. I was no longer an employee when the contract went through. Paul Desjardins will always be my friend because I will never forget his kindness and generosity to me so many years ago.
That is the basis of Joshua’s argument for Israel to remain faithful, God’s goodness to them. Look at verse 3. God had given them victory after victory. He had given them this great land. They had not earned any of it. It was all of grace. How did a legion of slaves defeat the trained soldiers of Egypt? God. How did an army of shepherds defeat trained army after army, even coalitions of armies, in Canaan? God. It wasn’t magic which divided the Red Sea or the Jordan River. It wasn’t military strategy that brought the walls of Jericho down. It wasn’t their power that made the sun stand still. God had done it all. It was all because of His goodness. Aged Joshua knew that if his people remembered God’s victories and goodness in the past, it would help them be faithful in the future.
Recalling what God has done for us has a safe keeping and protective effect on us. We must learn to continually count our blessings, to continually reflect on the goodness of God.
A man who owned a small estate wished to sell it. Sending for a real estate agent, he asked him to write an advertisement describing the house and land.
When the ad was ready, the agent took it to the owner and read it to him. "Read that again," said the owner. The agent read the description of the estate once more. "I don't think I will sell after all," said the owner. "I have been looking for an estate like that all my life, and I did not know that I owned it!" Too often we sell out spiritually because we have forgotten what we have and all that God has already done for us!
Remembering what God has done for us in the past is a strong defense against apostasy. When we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love, we need to remember the victory won for us on the Cross and what it is like to be completely forgiven. We must recall God’s innumerable blessings.
2. God will always reward faithfulness. Why will you go to work tomorrow? You may like your job, may even love it. But if there was no paycheck at the end of the week, I doubt you’d keep going back.If pagans reward work...if they reward faithfulness, how in the world could we think that a just, gracious, wonderful God would short us! God always rewards faithfulness. It’s more than we can even fathom. The Puritan, Samuel Rutherford, said "One day in heaven will pay you, yea, overpay your blood, bonds, sorrow, and sufferings; it would trouble an angel's understanding to lay the account of that surplus of glory which eternity can and will give you."
What does it mean to be faithful? How unfortunate it would be if the only way people could tell that we were Christians was by seeing a fish symbol attached to the back of our car. Living faithfully as a child of God is much more than that. Joshua gives four instructions on what faithfulness entails.
A) Stay under God’s Word, vs. 6. It is unusual to meet someone who is backslidden, who is also consistently in the Word of God. That old saying so often penned in the front of Bibles is true, “This Book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this Book.”
Joshua charged them to stay under God’s Word because It would prevent them from being secularized and assimilated into the culture. Obviously, he meant more though just reading or knowing God’s Word but obeying It. Robert Coleman said, “Become a man of the Book. Let everyone you work with see how you love the Word of God.” Do you love the Word? Do those around you know it? Not from what you say but from how you live?
Submitting to the authority of God’s Word will keep our heads and hearts right. A warning sign of apostasy is lessening respect for Scripture. When people begin to stray or adopt a lifestyle not in keeping with the Scriptures, they simultaneously neglect God’s Word. They will embrace a defensive agnosticism, saying things like, “Well, there are so many interpretations–who can really know what the Bible says.” Sometimes their speech echoes that of the serpent in the Garden, questioning the very Word of God.
The brilliant pianist, Arthur Rubinstein, used to say that if he missed a day of practice, he noticed it in the quality of his performance. If he missed two days, the critics noticed. And if he missed three days, the audience noticed. If we are not under the Word, those around us know it. And we are setting ourselves for spiritual desertion.
B) Cling to God, vs. 8. The NASV translates this, “But you are to cling to the LORD your God...” What exactly does it mean to “cling to the Lord”? Gen. 2:24 describes marriage and uses the same word, “A man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave (cling) to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” We must cling to God in the way we cling to one another in a healthy marriage. It’s a matter of choice and determination. Clinging to God speaks of a profound closeness which, in effect, means a new unity–a oneness, It develops from realizing how much the other cares for us and desires a relationship with us. When we see this in our Heavenly Father, we cling to Him with the deepest devotion.
And the results are wonderful. First, clinging to God brings great joy. The Psalmist says in Psalm 63:7-8, “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” Then, clinging to God brings power and victory, vss. 9-10, “He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver.” A soul which clings to God, enjoys a profound marriage‑like unity, attaining joy and power, and is less likely to wander.
How do we cling to God? In the same way that we cultivate oneness in marriage: we must spend time with God. We must talk to Him and listen to Him. We must spend time in quiet and solitude. In the dark night of the soul we must reach out and grasp hold of Him and Him alone.
Sometimes when my children were small, they would wrap themselves around my legs, and I would drag them through the house. Nothing could make them release their grip on me. In the same way we are to cling to God.
C) Love God, vs. 11. Literally, it says, “take care for your very souls to love the Lord your God.” The people of Israel were to make sure that they loved God for their own souls’ sake. God’s children are to consciously turn the whole person toward loving Him, heart and soul. The truth is: love God and you will not seek what is inconsistent with that love. Love God and you will possess Him, and He will possess you. C. S. Lewis said it all when, three weeks before his death, he wrote to an eleven‑year‑old girl, “If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so.” Loving God is the greatest possible guard against apostasy. If we “are very careful...to love God,” we will be shielded from apostasy.
Loving God is our highest calling. It’s the very essence of the Law: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:4‑5). Loving God in your heart means much more than merely behaving correctly and doing the right thing. Our relationship with God is not held together by duty, contracts or rules. It’s a relationship bound by commitment, passion and wild abandonment of ourselves to another. This is how God loves us and His greatest joy is for us to love Him in the same way. Augustine said, "There can only be two basic loves, the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God."
D) Practice separation, vs. 12-13a. There is such a thing as reverse evangelism. The NASV renders this, “For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you...” Joshua cautions Israel against returning and clinging to the nations remaining in the land. The action of clinging (v. 12) corresponds to vs. 8. If you cling to the Lord, He will fight for you. However, if you do not, but instead cling to others, then God will not drive out these enemies.
Specifically, intermarriage is the concern here; it is not a matter of racial or ethnic identity. If Israel intermarried with the nations around them, they would ultimately end up worshiping false gods. This is always the concern when Christians marry non‑believers. That’s why Scripture teaches “spiritual apartheid.” Believers are not to marry unbelievers. This is not denominational. The Bible also does not prohibit interracial or cross-cultural marriages. This is spiritual. God is not concerned whether a Lutheran marries a Methodist. Believers though are only to marry believers.
Obviously, if believers are to only marry believers, then, it is wise to only date believers. A good rule of thumb is to only “date a potential mate.” If you could not marry the person, don’t window shop. It would be better to remain single than to marry an unbeliever.
But if you are here today and married to an unbeliever, I Corinthians 7 urges you to be faithful to your lost partner, to do everything you can to be a Christlike example so that you will have a sanctifying influence on your partner and children. Just as pathetic as a believer who intentionally chooses to marry an unbeliever is a believer who is married to an unbeliever and uses it as an excuse to be miserable, difficult, and even leave the unbeliever.
But Biblical separation entails much more than not marrying an unbeliever. Separation from the world is often a neglected doctrine in the church today. Scripture ceaselessly warns us to avoid anything that leads to spiritual compromise or accommodation. The believer in Christ is different, and this differentness must be maintained.
We are to be separate, distinctly and righteously different from the lost world around us. This means we must develop a Christian worldview, and also embraces specific acts and decisions. There are certain things as a believer that I simply can’t do, some places I can’t go, some things I can’t buy, some clothes I can’t wear, some attitudes I can’t let dwell within my heart... because God has called me to be separate from a lost and dying world. I am bought with a price and my life is not my own. Where are the lines? I’m not always sure. And this application of obedient separation in Christian experience is frequently difficult and sometimes agonizing (many of us tend to have a passion for either laxity or legalism). The tension though does not negate the demand. God does not take us out of this world but we must keep ourselves from the Evil One. And He will reward us for being a separate, holy people!
3. Spiritual unfaithfulness is usually a gradual process, v. 7. Apostasy is a process, not an event. It’s like the wife who was reminiscing as she and her husband drove down the road; “Remember when we would snuggle together as you drove? Remember how close we used to sit? Remember how you used to put your arm around me as you went down the road?” Finally, the husband looked over at her pointedly said, “I’m not the one who moved.”
Our tendency is to take relationships for granted. Look back to when you and your spouse were dating. You’d send each other little cards and notes. You’d talk on the phone constantly. For some of you, if your spouse got a card or note from you, they’d think something was seriously wrong. If you called to tell them you’re running late, they might pass out. Sadly, over time we have a tendency to take for granted those we love including God.
What Joshua warns of is a process. He pointed out that their disobedience would be gradual. First, they would just start associating with these nations. Then, they would start discussing their religious practices. Before long Israel would be worshiping the false gods of the enemy. Then Jewish men would start marrying women from these pagan nations. The lines of separation between God’s people and a decomposing world would be completely erased. And just imagine the folly of worshiping the gods of the defeated enemy!
Yet all of us feel the pressures from the world around us, trying to force us to conform (Rom. 12:1‑2). It takes courage to defy the crowd and stay true to the Lord. What we often miss though is the process of defection. It creeps into our souls and we don’t even know it’s there. It starts with little things like neglecting corporate worship or time in the Word or in prayer. We convince ourselves that it is only “once in a while.” We procrastinate on our giving, rationalizing that we’ll catch up later. It’s allowing some seemingly innocuous sin into our lives and refusing to deal with it...and the process of spiritual erosion has begun. There is no standing still in the Christian life. If you are not going forward, then you are going backward.
Please do not miss this...the Canaanites were dangerous, not as warriors with clubs and spears, but because of their influence. They influenced God’s people away from Himself, so God said they were dangerous. Anything that influences us away from God is spiritually dangerous.
Spiritual compromise is a gradual, insidious process. In the early church some Christians, to make a living, carved and gilded images for the pagans. Since they did not worship them or bow in their shrines, they saw no harm in producing and polishing such images for sale. Their reasoning was, “After all, somebody will do it anyway–and I have to live.” Replied Tertullian, the early church father, “Must you live?” Joshua and Tertullian joined in affirming that a believer has only one must, and that is to be faithful to the Lord.
4. Spiritual unfaithfulness always has serious consequences, vss. 12-16. Joshua’s words are not PC. He does not tickle their ears. The picture he ends with is unpleasant. And it’s frightening. That’s because the results of spiritual unfaithfulness are drastic. God will not dispossess the enemy but, rather, will allow him to remain as a source of constant frustration. Joshua makes use of four metaphors to describe how these enemies would function in the lives of the people. they would become a snare, and then a trap. The enemy would then be a whip on your sides. A whip is a scourge for chastisement. In Proverbs 26:3 it is compared to a rod for the back of fools. Joshua is saying that the enemies that remained would become a rod of discipline to be used by God against Israel. Finally, these nations would become a thorn in your eyes. A thorn is a prick or barb. The remaining nations would be a constant source of irritation, like a particle of dirt in the eye.
The principle is that if we do not drive out the enemies in the land of our souls, then the sins and habits of our flesh and the associated consequences will haunt us for the rest of our lives. If we allow them to live, God will no longer drive them out. The things that we love more than God, the things that we cling to and depend on will end up enslaving us and will be the cause of constant frustration and trouble. We cannot be neutral in the battle between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world. Either the saint or the sinner must prevail. The one who is not for Christ is against Him. A desire for peaceful coexistence will not cut it. The uncommitted will be destroyed. If we do not use the truth that God has given to us we will lose it and we will be overrun by the enemy.
How certain is this? Look at verse 14. To drive home the truth of these principles, Joshua reminds Israel that God always keeps His Word. The nation is already keenly aware that not one good word which the Lord had spoken has failed to come to pass, therefore, they can be assured that not one evil word will fail, either. If God's people are obedient, there will be blessing. But if they break covenant loyalty, then God's anger will burn against them.
Miseries and trouble would increase for Israel until they would be dispossessed of their land. Joshua did not contemplate any possibility of neutrality as he posed the choice to be made. It was either Israel’s God or the values of Canaan. So it is today. There is no middle course. “No one can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24). Sadly, we know from Hebrew History that Israel paid a bitter price for failing to heed Joshua’s warning.
The same is true for us. We cannot serve God and this world; we cannot serve the Spirit and the flesh; we cannot please the Savior and Satan. Like ancient Israel, we too must choose! The Word of God is like a two‑edged sword (Heb. 4:12): If we obey it, God will bless and help us; if we disobey it, God will chasten us until we submit to Him. If we love the Lord (Josh. 23:11), we’ll want to obey Him and please Him. Charles Spurgeon warned, “God will not allow His children to sin successfully.” In these final verses of chapter 23, Joshua points out the consequences of unfaithfulness; defeat, discomfort and disgrace.
Conclusion: During the Revolutionary War, a loyalist spy appeared at the headquarters of a British colonel, carrying an urgent message. General George Washington and his Continental army had secretly crossed the Delaware River that morning and were advancing on Trenton, New Jersey where that troop of British soldiers were encamped. The spy was denied an audience with the commander and instead wrote his message on a piece of paper. A porter took the note to the colonel, but because the colonel was involved in a poker game, he stuffed the unread note into his pocket. When the guards at the camp began firing their muskets in a futile attempt to stop Washington’s army, the colonel was still playing cards. Without time to organize, his army was captured. The battle occurred the day after Christmas, 1776, giving the colonists a late Christmas present, their first major victory of the war. The British colonel ignored the warning and was captured.
From reading on in the Old Testament, we know that the Jews ultimately ignored Joshua’s words and were eventually forced into exile. The Israelites were to understand with all their being that not one word of God’s promises had failed. That was not just true for them, it’s also true for us. Not one of His words fails. The blessings are immense for those who follow God. However, Joshua also reminds us of the tragedy of apostasy. It happened to Israel, and it still happens to believers today. It happened in the Hemingway family, the Warner family, the Furnier family. It has happened to people you know.
The result of apostasy is misery and great pain–for the person, for their family, for the church. Joshua wanted to steel the Lord’s people against the threat of apostasy. How? By remembering God’s faithfulness in the past and remembering that He will always reward faithfulness. We must stay under God’s Word, cling to God, love God and practice separation. We must be aware that spiritual unfaithfulness is a gradual process that always has serious consequences.
Apostasy brings misery. Faithfulness brings God’s goodness and blessing. “Know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (v. 14). In this farewell speech, Joshua outlined for his people the way to stand fast in the Lord. The instructions he gave are ones that we, as God’s people, must continue to follow.
Will you stay true? Will you be faithful until He calls you Home? Will you be part of helping Grace Church be faithful to our God?
