(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Alright, so we got two weeks left. We're on chapter 23 We've got one more week after tonight and we're going to finish out the book of Joshua with a great book Highlighting what the Christian life really ought to be about After you're saved after you come out of that wilderness You start fighting and getting into a lot of battles and now we're kind of wrapping things up Joshua's near the end of his life and he's giving instruction. Let's look down there verse number one It says and it came to pass a long time after that The Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age So they've had rest they've defeated their enemies. They're settled in they're in their inheritance Joshua's old he's stricken in age and it says in Joshua called for all Israel and for their elders and for their heads and for Their judges and for their officers and said unto them. I am old and certain age So he calls all these people together He calls all Israel but he calls all you know their officers and the rulers and all the people the judges the people that are kind of in these places of Authority and position over everyone and he's and he's going to give them this this last bit of advice and warning here verse number three says and you have seen all That the Lord your God hath done unto all these nation Excuse me, let me start that over verse three and you have seen all that the Lord your God hath done Unto all these nations because of you for the Lord your God is he that hath fought for you So he's basically recalling. Hey, you know what God did for you You know that God is able to defeat all of these people that were in the land before you That were greater and mightier than you and that he was able to put all of them Under his power under his hand and deliver them into your hand because of God's might and his power He's basically saying don't forget that like a verse number four he says behold I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes from Jordan with all The nations that I have cut off even unto the great sea westward and the Lord your God He shall expel them from before you and drive them from out of your sight and ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised you and he's bringing up the fact that God promised you to inherit all this land He's defeated your enemies already. You've received your inheritance and You know God's promised it to defeat them all don't forget that God keeps his promises and and near the end the book We're gonna get to another point about that But right now he's pointing out all the good things Then when God makes it a promise he stands to at verse number six be therefore very courageous To keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses That you turn not aside there from to the right hand or to the left now I want you to keep your place here in Joshua 23 and turn back to Joshua chapter 1 The very first book first chapter in Joshua because he's basically bringing things full circle in Joshua chapter 1 This is exactly what God told Joshua and now Joshua is telling the people the same Exact thing that many years earlier the Lord was telling Joshua to do look at verse number six in Joshua chapter 1 the Bible says be strong and of a good courage For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them Only be thou strong and very courageous That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest I mean that is almost word-for-word exactly what Joshua is now repeating Unto the Israel when as he's getting ready to leave and it's great words of advice. It's great words of Wisdom that Joshua has not only received from the Lord But he lived out in his life and he's seen the end and he's seen the good thing that God does and that God does keep his Promises and when God gave the law he gave a blessing and a curse and he says if you keep my law If you observe to do them you keep my commandments He's gonna bless you and he gave the promise even unto Moses before the children of Israel came into the land He promised them. Hey, I will make your enemies flee from you. One of you shall make a thousand run away They're gonna flee before you if you follow my commands if you follow my law if you do what's right I will be with you. I will fight for you. I will bless you. I will give you your inheritance I'll give you peace in the land. I'll do all of these things for you if You obey me And it's such a simple concept and it's it's it's interesting in in Scripture There's there's a few concepts that we just see repeated over and over and over and over and over and over again and how much we Fail at these Commandments and these these these simple tasks over and over and over again I think that's why we see him more frequently because it's just like we need to get this just drilled into our minds That we need to follow God and keep his commandments I mean look at like almost every book of the Bible practically you're gonna see you know in Ecclesiastes for this is the whole duty of man right fear God and keep his commandments in First John chapter 5 for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous Right Jesus Christ in the Great Commission They send them for teach all nations That they may observe to do everything that I commanded you, right Teach them to keep everything that he says teach everybody If we could just keep the Word of the Lord, I mean, this is this is a life lesson And you don't have to have the best memory to know this one Fear God and keep his commandments and that's basically what Joshua was saying at the end of his life This is the wisdom that he's setting forth. It's the same wisdom that he received from God it's the same wisdom that he took heed to observe and he's you see the whole life of Joshua played out and and he's he's probably one of the best examples of Someone who has maintained the faith and stayed the course through his entire lifetime There's a lot of people in Scripture that have had you know either very Serious pitfalls or they've gone a long ways and then didn't do so well at the end or they didn't do so Well at the beginning and you know and they they have some some more serious problems in their life But Joshua, we really don't see a lot of that We see him being Moses apprentice Moses, you know Right-hand man. He's there to minister to him. We see him having a lot of zeal and And given bringing the good report and staying faithful to the Lord and then we see him do you know? I mean he's made it's not that he was perfect He made a few mistakes, but overall Joshua is one of the best examples we can look to it How do I live my Christian life? And he warns here he tells the you know, the word of the word of the Lord is be courageous To keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law and I found that to be pretty interesting Why do we have to have courage in? Order to keep God's law. I mean it should be pretty straightforward pretty simple He's saying you need to have courage in order to do this Well, there's a few reasons why you go back to Joshua 23 if you want we're done in chapter 1 Why does it take strength? Why does it keep courage to keep all those written in the law? Well Oftentimes doing what is right which is keeping the law when you're doing what is right what God said to do and what God don't Not doing what God said not to do Often times will involve confrontation There are enemies there are battles to be fought So when you are standing up for what's right and just doing what's right Proclaiming the word of the Lord doing what God said to do You need to have courage because there's going to be opposite if there is no opposition You really wouldn't need courage You wouldn't need any guts to stand up and do something if nobody is opposing you I mean, it'll just make sense What do you typically see when people are trying to build up courage? What are they trying to do? Well, sometimes it's a guy trying to ask a girl out on a date He's trying to get courage because he's afraid of being rejected or someone getting ready for a fight Right, whether it be a boxer or for sports or in battle in war, right? People need to build their courage up and try to to gain courage to go out and do something Where someone's going to be resisting them? Someone's going to be opposing them? When the Bible says to be courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of law It's going to be because there are people who are going to oppose the book of the law And people are going to try to get you not to follow the book of the law Whether it be your own flesh or Other people literally just withstanding and trying to oppose the Word of God. It's out there That's why we need to be courageous in order to face these enemies face The battles have that confrontation and don't be afraid of it. I Don't know I mean there may be some people out there I find it hard to believe that actually enjoy Confrontation I've heard people say that before I've heard people say oh, yeah, but honestly, I think they're just trying to act tough When they say they really enjoy confrontation, I think they're just trying to say that because nobody enjoys confrontation No one just likes to have a whole like just just fighting in battles all the time I at least I mean it's foreign to me Okay, if it does exist, it's completely foreign to me because it's not something that's pleasant What do you typically want to do you want to relax? You want to have peace? You don't want to have to fight and struggle and have battles But the reality is that those battles exist. They're real. It's important You have to stand up and if you don't stand up to the to the wicked aggressors Then nobody will and then it's going to be even worse for you At the end of the day we need to have courage to stand up and to stand for the Lord we live in a sinful world and the It's not by our choosing to go out and start fights The fight will come to you just by keeping God's Word You be sure of that Why else does it take strength and courage to keep and to do all that is in the law? Well, it also takes a lot of humility To admit when you're wrong about something and then to submit to the authority of God You have to have the strength to admit that you're wrong you have to be willing to say wow, I actually did something that's not right and Sometimes that can take courage to do that It's easy to run and hide behind just this thought that I don't do anything wrong ever Right. I'm not wrong and justify yourself but When you're going to God's law, you have to recognize it as being the authority in your life And have courage to do that now God's law is different than the world because some people say well What do you mean you have to be? Courageous to keep and to do all is written in the book of the law and they they're approaching it from a mindset of like Why do you need courage to not kill Right. Why do you need courage to not steal? Of course. No, I don't think you do need courage to keep those Commandments and other Commandments that would be similar that basically is Is acknowledged by the world right That is not the the parts of the law that you need to be courageous in order to keep But God's law in its entirety is different than what you'll find in the United States or in Georgia or even in any part of the world for that matter, you're gonna have some areas where it lines up, of course But by and large God's laws is in many ways very different I mean think about the law contained things that it's not just the Ten Commandments There's a lot more than just that and specifically here when we're talking about the Old Testament law There was a lot of sacrifices and burnt offerings. Those are all part of God's law that is not something that the world teaches or observes to Bring a sin offering unto the Lord, but that was part of the law also getting right with God now We don't have those sacrifices specifically today, but we still ought to be getting right with God Doing good is part of the law So not only in the law We often think of just committing some offense as being part of God's law Right you break a commandment by doing something you shouldn't do that's a that's a that's a sin of commission But there's also sins of omission where you don't do something that God Commands you to do because that's also part of the law God tells you to do something then you need to do it if it's you know There are aspects of God's law that are like that too like with the sacrifices God says hey if you sin you need to do this and if you don't do that, then it's a sin unto you Sin upon sin, right Doing good is part of the law. The Bible says thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's a that's a quote Oftentimes people will say he was attributed to Jesus Christ in the New Testament But he's just quoting the Old Testament Leviticus chapter 19 It says thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself That's something that's always been part of God's law that he wants us to do and that that involves actually doing something You know one of one of the examples that Jesus gives of keeping that commandment is The the you know, the Good Samaritan Or the the guy that fell by the roadside and he'd been attacked by robbers and he was left to die And you've got the Levite and the priest that that don't do anything to help him out They just pass over on the other side of the street. They don't want to deal with them. They don't even want to look at him Right, and then the Samaritan comes along and he helps him up and he gets him out His whole on his meal and he brings them to the inn and he pays the innkeeper and says, okay You'll feed this guy take care of them take care of his wounds and I'm paying the bill whatever is left, you know No, I'll come back and I'll pay you the rest And he says that's the guy who was a neighbor to him. That's the guy who who showed him love and That's that's just one example of how we ought to be and when you don't have that heart and when you're not Loving your neighbor You know, and I'm not talking about just just a drunk coming up to you and asking you for money that you have to give Them money. This is someone who was in need Legitimately in need because they got robbed and helping them Right, but but I'm not going to go into detail on how you apply that apply that how you feel how you think is right in your life To be neighbor unto people and and to love your neighbor as yourself It's pretty simple though you put yourself in the position of The other person and and see how you would want people to treat you The Bible also says in James 4 17 therefore to him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to him it is Sin, so there's another sin of omission When you know to do what's right? You know, you should do good and you don't do it You're sinning by not doing something You say yeah, but I didn't I just didn't do anything right? I just I didn't go and break your commandment and and committed adultery By an action. Yeah, but but your inaction can be sinned too and breaking the law So that's another aspect where it can take courage to keep God's law and to keep his commandments by going out and actually doing something and getting involved and getting in a Situation that you see. Hey, I need to do good here. I need to do something right? I need to help this person out and inject yourself and do a situation instead of just Passing by the other side of the road and not doing something to help people out Doing right Is Not always easy choice either and another reason you need to have strength is because doing what's wrong is tip Tends to be what's easier, right? It's easier to do what everybody else does We're creatures of habit we're creatures of looking at you know What everybody does as a society as the norm and just kind of fitting in and going along as sheep I think that the the Bible reference of calling people sheep is is a pretty good reference and you know everybody wants to say I'm not a sheep I'm not a sheep but You know, I hope that's true but in many ways it's not true I mean we as people you still will succumb to different ways of being a sheep And that's the way God made us now We have to be careful not to just become some sheep over some false Shepherd or whatever people trying to lead you astray in a wicked way, obviously, but We have a tendency To just do and go with the flow and do what other people are doing to not stand out Why because it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to go against the flow. Everyone's going this way Well, I'm gonna go that way too, and I'm just gonna fit along and go along Well, if you're gonna be keeping God's law Oftentimes you're gonna have to stand out. You're gonna have to stand separate. You're gonna have to go against the flow Say well, no, I don't care. I don't care if Everybody around me is going out to the bar to go grab a drink. I'm not gonna go Yeah, but they're you know, people are gonna notice you're not you know, where did where did he go? What are you doing? I don't care I'm gonna do what's right and that's you know, that may be a silly example But there's so many examples like that and it affects people it affects your thinking What what am I gonna do if I you know people if I don't do something people are gonna notice It's a common thought that people have But if we're gonna do what's right and especially when it comes down to moral decisions things you have to decide Well, I'm not even gonna be around wicked people. I'm not gonna it shall not cleave to me right, I Don't care what everybody else does When people ask me every about the game or sports or whatever and I'm not saying watching sports is a sin I'm not saying that but there's other things that I do with my time That well, you know what if I do that's gonna make me stand out So be it I spend my day in church on Sunday, I Spend my time out soul winning And you know what you ought not to be ashamed to tell people you go out so winning either Don't be ashamed of doing something good. I don't care if it sounds weird or abnormal or people look at you funny It's okay It's actually very normal it's actually something that God commanded us to do there's nothing wrong or weird about it It's weird to the world I Understand that you may not want to bring it up to somebody because you don't want to stand out because you just want to go Along with the flow what do you know what sometimes in order to do, right? You got to have the courage to just say no, this is what I do There's a lot of power and do and what's right also it actually helps your testimony out tremendously It's way better for you to be known among your peers For doing what's right just in general and just being able to not care about what they say Because I'm just gonna live a certain way and try to do what's right and it's not about Boasting or braying or lifting yourself up or have a holier-than-thou attitude over anyone else. It's just about being Faithful to the Lord not being ashamed not being embarrassed and being willing just to say this is what I do and have no problems with that and By having that type of a stance and that type of an attitude. You know what maybe someone will make fun of you Maybe someone will mock you. Maybe someone will ridicule you but you know what someone else might also think Well, that's pretty interesting. I've never heard of anyone that's done that before Oh that person looks like they actually really believe what they what what they believe they actually believe the Bible They're actually into it unlike anyone else that I've ever known in my life Maybe I'll go talk to that person. Maybe I'll go ask him about it Those situations happen, but they don't happen if you don't put yourself out there It's easier to do what everyone else does it's easier also to gratify the flesh It's easier to do what everyone else does it's easier also to gratify the flesh When it comes to keeping God's law keeping his commandments you need to have the courage and the strength To say no the strength to overcome your flesh that wants to do something that's wicked that wants to put the the world's eye Candy in front of your eyes that wants to take the second the third and the and the gaze on The the scantily clad person out there that's drawing your attention. You have to say no To gratifying your flesh and to overcome that and say i'm going to do what's right I'm going to keep the law of the lord. I'm going to have courage and i'm going to have strength to do what's right And finally they have the strength it's easier just to give in and stop fighting Just to stop that resisting do whatever like I said go along with doing what everyone else does Stop resisting the flesh that makes it real easy But that also gets you into trouble And it's going to bring way more damage and hurt into your life Which is why joshua's saying be strong have courage Even when you're weary, even when it's been a long life or a hard time Stay with it God knows what's best for you God gives you commandments for a very good reason because he created you He knows the way that we tick. He knows the way we operate. He knows the way our flesh works. He created us He knows the way our minds work he knows what our needs are he knows everything about us which is why he gave us instructions Don't do this don't do this don't do this It's not good for you But I want to do that god don't do it We're like the little kids They see the the glowing Circle coil On the range And they're real young. Wow, that looks cool Look how bright that is. I like that orange because that's that I want to touch that. I want to grab that. I want I want to see that closer Don't do that son. Don't do it. Stay away. It's going to burn you. It's not good for you. Don't You got to do it, right Usually only have to do that once I I did that Not on the range They don't even have them anymore. So the young kids probably won't even know what i'm talking about But cars used to come with cigarette lighters And you would push them in you push the button in on the cigarette lighter and then when it got hot enough it would pop out So I would I took that one day I was looking at it would have all these little coils and it's all orange And I don't know what I was thinking obviously I wasn't thinking but I was just like wow And I stuck my thumb right inside that thing and I got circles Thankfully it didn't just like Totally destroy my thumbprint. I actually have a regular thumbprint now, but yeah, that wasn't fun at all It wasn't nearly as cool I thought it was going to be by touching that But I remember that I never did that again God's law God knows us. He knows what's not right for us. I didn't understand that at the time. I figured it out. Unfortunately the hard way We need to get to the point to to where we could just trust god and say well god said it Then i'm just that's good enough for me I don't need to experience it for myself. I don't need to experience What the bible says about alcohol and getting drunk for myself Like proverbs 23 says that I shall behold strange women and thy heart shall utter perverse things I don't need to go out and get drunk to figure that out Especially young people take take god's word for it. Just listen to the bible It's going to destroy your life It will damage you hurt you destroy you destroy relationships Don't be deceived by the people that want to tell you how cool it is Satan likes to put everything up on the billboard and make it look glamorous and make it look fun And oh how cool it is to go be in this state of mind where you could Stumble around and knock into things and laugh like a fool And fall on your own on your face and and wake up in your own vomit Don't be deceived Get the truth from scripture god knows what's best for you in every single situation Just trust him it's good for you So Going back to joshua 23, let's look at verse number seven The bible says that you come not among these nations these that remain among you Neither make mention of the name of their gods nor cause to swear by them neither serve them nor bow yourselves unto them But cleave unto the lord your god as ye have done unto this day that word cleave is is a great word It's actually very interesting because the word cleave in the english language can have two different meanings It's actually two different words With two separate definitions, but they're spelled and they sound exactly the same Because you could have the word cleave that means like to split or to divide Is one definition of the word cleave you think of like a meat cleaver You're you're breaking up meat you're pounding it separating it But in this context and it is in in my other context cleave means to stick to or to to join yourself to You know, the bible says that the husband and wife, you know that these that the the man shall leave father and mother So there's your dividing and cleave unto his wife who's he's joining himself to her and and they're going to be joined together in union And the bible says here that we need to cleave unto the lord your god. I also like that word because it's um Very descriptive words a very very appropriate word teaching you that it's you know, it's not just like walking with the lord You're cleaving unto the lord. You think of like clinging and just just just holding on to with everything that you have cleaving unto the lord And he said and this is the wisdom he says like don't you know all these other nations that are around you Don't even make mention of their gods Don't bring it up cleave unto the lord. The lord is good Don't get bitter against god. Don't get angry with god Keep his commandments and cleave unto him love him cling to god With everything that you have with all of your might he says as you have done unto this day We need to be reminded of that Cleave unto the lord your god. Let's keep reading here verse number nine For the lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong But as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day and he gives him a reminder. Why? Why should you cleave unto the lord because he's good because he's fought for all of you for defeated all your enemies He is good to you The problem is when people get into sin and get disobedient to god and then bad things happen to them And then they go and blame it on god But if we can just follow that real simple Command just hey keep god's commandments love them cleave to them He'll fight all your battles for you look at verse number 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand for the lord your god he it is that fighteth for you as he hath promised you Take good heed therefore unto yourselves that ye love The lord your god verse 12 else if ye do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these nations Even these that remain among you and shall make marriages with them and go in unto them and they to you Know for a certainty That the lord your god will no more drive out any of these nations from before you But they shall be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes Until you perish from off this good land which the lord your god hath given you now verses 12 and 13 here are contrasting You know cleaving to god with cleaving to the world Because you have a choice you can cleave unto as you're saying here the nations that are around about you Cleave unto them unto their ways unto their culture unto the unto their gods Unto their light unto everything that they look to or you could cleave unto god Only one of them is going to be good for you Don't be deceived by The outward appearance by the by the the facade the the fake appearance that that People want to throw out there Oh, yeah, you could You can commit sin. You could have this fun in the flesh and and nothing bad's gonna happen to you and it's all still okay It's a lie, it's fake I don't care if someone's saying some god said that Don't be deceived by that whatever it is that your wicked hour wants to follow Don't be deceived into thinking that see the contrast again of being, you know cleaving to god versus cleaving in the world Is another thing we have to understand and what I think many people fail to understand in our in our weird Judge not type of society where christians are being christians like us Are being told oh you're not loving You know You're not loving you're so judgmental We're just trying to do what the bible says when the bible says cleave unto the lord when the bible says hey when joshua said Keep his commandments Not just joshua when the new testament says the same thing keep the commandments of the lord This is the love of god that you keep his commandments We are trying to be loving We love god first and foremost So if I love god first So if I love god first I'm, not going to disobey god By someone else's definition of being loving to someone else And I'm very careful with my word saying by someone else's definition of that because other people many people will define being loving as Promoting sodomy that's loving No, that's not loving that's very damaging that's hurtful or you know, that's obviously an extreme example But there's so many ways people say. Oh, that's not very loving to to call Some derelict on the street a drunkard That's what they are A lot of times people need to hear the truth and not just be lied to and patted on the back and told everything's okay It actually is loving because if people just keep trying it's like the person that You all probably have some example of this someone who gets bailed out every time they get into trouble There's always someone there a parent a relative or or a friend or whoever that's always there Just just getting them out of trouble and they never really experience Any recompense for what they do that's bad And they continue down that same path until ultimately they have to hit like rock bottom It's not loving to continue just feeding Someone's bad behavior It's way more loving just to tell them You're wrong You need to stop doing that and i'm not going to support you in doing those things But we can still love the people of the world without cleaving to them We love them by helping we love them by bringing the light we love them by bringing the truth The bible says that the truth is then and you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free You get true liberty and freedom through the truth And if you love people you want them to be free too, and that's what we do We love people we want to bring them truth, but you know, we're not going to do we're not going to cleave Unto them in their ways onto the lost world We're not going to cleave to them We're going to love them. We're going to bring them the truth. We're going to cleave unto god And that's why he even brings up here not making marriages with them in verse number 12 he says else if you do in any wise go back and cleave under the remnants of these of these nations Even these that remain among you and shall make marriages with them and go in unto them and they to you basically saying you're just you're just totally intermingling and and and getting involved with to the point of you know cleaving unto The world just the wicked world the heathen out there the unsaved world We live are supposed to live our lives separated sanctified unto the lord and that's what he wanted his people to do We need to cleave to god because you can't cleave to god and to the world you can't have both You're gonna cleave to one or the other So Let's keep reading here verse number 14 Bible says behold this day. I am going the way of all the earth And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things Which the lord your god? Spake Concerning you all are come to pass unto you And not one thing has failed thereof and and I love that about our god that every single thing That comes out of his mouth will come to pass And we could we could trust that Let god be true, but every man a liar look at verse number 15 Therefore it shall come to pass that as all good things are come upon you Which the lord your god promised you? So shall the lord bring upon you all evil things until he have destroyed you from off this good land Which the lord your god hath given you When you have transgressed the covenant of the lord your god Which he commanded you and have gone and served other gods and bowed yourselves to them Then shall the anger of the lord be kindled against you and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given you given unto you And he closes out this chapter he starts off Telling him all the good things Keep the law of the lord cleaving to god. He's going to make a thousand of you flee from before you He's blessed you he's given you this land. He's fighting your battles for you Everything he said that was good. He performed all of it every single thing He promised you all these things and he kept his word because you listened because you obeyed But just as much as he will do all these good things unto you you better make sure That he will not let a word drop and fail either of all the bad things that he said he would do when you Just turn your back from him and start worshiping other gods and go the way of the devil. He says you better be 100 sure that he's not going to let that slide He didn't let anything slide on the good things And he definitely won't let anything slide on the bad things either turn to Deuteronomy chapter 11 Joshua 23, I mean this is really just a recap Of of other of many other places we see in scripture of these same exact principles And it's coming at the end of joshua's life And we need to be reminded and when I see things in the bible when I see them repeated It just makes me think you know what we need to hear these things over and over and over again, even if they're really simple And I don't care if you you've been saved for decades and and and you know a lot of bible I know a lot of bible. We all need to hear these things I mean if god's repeating them multiple times in scripture. Guess what it needs repeating It is important. We need to be reminded of this stuff Deuteronomy 11 it's just so interesting though. I mean even you you'll be able to see from reading joshua 23 compare it with deuteronomy chapter 11 Look at verse number 22 The bible says for if ye shall diligently care for the good things that are in your heart All these commandments which I command you to do them to love the lord your god to walk in all his ways and to cleave unto him Then will the lord drive out all these nations from before you and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves Every place where on the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours from the wilderness And lebanon from the river and the river euphrates even under the uttermost sea shall your coast be There shall no man be able to stand before you for the lord your god shall lay the fear of you And the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon As he hath said unto you behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse A blessing if you obey the commandments of the lord your god Which I command you this day and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the lord your god But turn aside out of the way which I command you this day To go after other gods which ye have not known and it shall come to pass when the lord thy god hath brought thee in Unto the land whether thou goest to possess it that thou shalt Put the blessing upon mount garism and the curse upon mount ebal Are they not on the other side jordan? By the way where the sun goeth down in the land of the Canaanites which dwell in the champagne over against Gilgal beside the plains of mori For ye shall pass over jordan to go in to possess the land which the lord your god giveth you And ye shall possess it and dwell therein and ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments Which I set before you this day And you think about that that's in deuteronomy 11 deuteronomy is the second giving of the law It's just another repeat of the law. So we've got this repeated here in deuteronomy He's repeats basically summarizing the law and then we have joshua again going back and summarizing what god already said in the law of moses The second time from deuteronomy going back and just saying hey cleave unto the lord keep his commandments do what's right? He thought it's prudent to just repeat that scripture again Philippians 3 1 the bible says finally my brethren rejoicing the lord to write the same things to you To me indeed is not grievous But for you it is safe We get repetition in scripture You're going to get repetition we need repetition in scripture and why am I bringing this up? Well, one of the reasons is because as i'm saying don't don't get to a point And get puffed up in your mind to think that you're above and beyond these things and I understand what it's like to go to churches where you feel like you're not getting fed Right Where the preacher is not really going very in depth into scripture And you know, they're they're they're really not doing a lot of feeding But wherever you're at whatever church you're a part of You need to humble yourself First of all to keep attending there whether it's this church or another I mean I if people say that i'm not feeding them well enough. Oh fine. I mean, I don't I don't agree, but still if that's the way that you feel Don't let that attitude though trump and get you out of church go to another church Find another one where you feel like you're going to be fed. That's fine. That's great. Go ahead and continue to grow But wherever you're at if you're not going to move to a better church Then you need to stay put and you need to stay humble And even if you're hearing things that you feel like you already know When you have the attitude of I don't need to hear this you absolutely need to hear this You absolutely need to hear it because you need to be careful and take heed Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall because you think you're standing just fine you don't need any of this stuff That's the time to pay more attention I have a real life example from someone that was telling me that he was getting sick of all these places that he went to They're trying to find a good church and he always hearing all the love of god love god stuff But you know what? He said he said that's exactly what I needed at that time I didn't even realize it. He just needed to shut up sit down and listen And and be taught by someone who's who's just I mean whether or not it's what you exactly want to hear What do you like and you know? Just listen from someone preaching the word of god Obviously someone that's that's saved and has the word of god, but listen to the man that's that's preaching you the word of god Even if they're not teaching your favorite doctrines We need it all the word of the lord is good Hear hear what god is saying hear what the bible's saying we need to receive this again After long life Joshua lived a long life lots of battles lots of fights lots of excitement Lots of victories, right? Joshua goes back to his advice of just saying Keep the law of the lord All the wisdom that you can accumulate from being an apprentice of moses Learning from moses learning from god learning at the tabernacle learning through life's lessons Learning and everything that he's done. He's at the end of his life. He says keep god's commandments Cleave to the lord just trust in him. Just just just do that You'll be good He reminds them of the blessing of the obedience versus the curse of disobeying and You get the choice And honestly, though we do we do need to hear both. We need to hear about the blessings of god And all the good things all the reasons why we should Trust in the lord and keep his commandments. Why because he's going to fight for you He's going to help you he'll be there for you. He's going to lift you up when you fall Amen, that's great. I love to hear that. It's encouraging But we also need to hear Guess what? son When you go back and start disobeying god It's coming He changed he scourges every son whom he receives All of them because he loves you and he doesn't want you going the wrong way. Guess what? You're gonna get a beating We need to hear both Do right get a blessing instead of doing wrong and getting a beating simple life lessons What'd you learn in church tonight Listen to god and do what he says So I can live a good life not a bad life very simple very simple instructions Now performing how to do those things That's where we have the problem So Be strong have courage Don't don't be so influenced by the world around you And if you are influenced be influenced to bring light into the world around you that should be your influence see the world And say I want to help these people I'm going to help them by bringing them. Jesus i'm going to help them by bringing them the word of god And and in so doing you'll be keeping the commandments And if god be for you who could be against you? As have a word of prayer dear lord. We thank you so much For being with us. We thank you for all of the good things That you do for us dear lord and all the battles that that you win and the victories that we get to share with you and uh lord, I also thank you for all of the all of the um The curses all the the bad things that you will bring our way when we stray from you and stray from your word and the reason why I thank you for those things your lord is because if we didn't have those things happen, we might just completely go off the deep end And we need those reminders sometimes just like my children need the reminders to to not do Uh the bad things and and to be brought back into doing what's right dear lord, and I thank you that you love us enough To to discipline us when it's necessary to bring us back into the into the right way God, we love you. I pray that you please bless our church help us to just keep this very simple simple Thought this very simple command of being able to keep your commandments lord help us to learn them and know them and and love them And just apply them in our life every single day dear lord. Give us the strength. Give us the faith Give us the courage that we need to just stand firm in your words in jesus name we pray. Amen