God Keeps His Promises

Well, can we turn back to our reading in Joshua chapter 23.

Joshua 23 · chapter mention

Looking at this chapter this evening, we're going to think of the theme of how God keeps

his promises and how we see that with Joshua here in this chapter.

When you read through the scriptures, you constantly encounter the promises of God.

And if you were to have a wee challenge this evening, how many of the promises of God can

you think of in scripture?

If you were to start writing them down, you would probably come across a number of ones

that just spring to mind instantly.

But the more you go on and the more you go through scripture, the more you begin to see

just how many promises there are.

You think of the promises that maybe stand out in the early parts of the scriptures, the

covenant with Abraham, how God promised that he would have descendants as numerous as the

stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.

You have God's promise to Noah after the flood when he gave the sign of the rainbow, how never

again he would destroy the world in that way.

You have promises that a word of God to many of his people down through the generations promises

that he says, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Promise he gave to Joshua, as we'll see.

He promises to lead his people.

He promises us a savior.

He promises us the day of the resurrection.

He promises us that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again.

And it goes on.

So you start listing the promises of God and you see just how many they are.

And people have estimated by looking at scripture just how many thousands of promises they have.

If you start writing them on a little bit of paper, you would soon run out.

Even if you had an A4 jotter, you would run out of paper when you start noting down just

how many promises there are.

So we're constantly hearing the promises of God as we are reading through the scriptures.

And in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20, we are told this, all the promises of God find their yes in him.

2 Corinthians 1:20

That is, in Christ Jesus.

All the promises of God find their yes in him.

They're all fulfilled in him.

So when you think of the promises of God and how many they are, it's good to remind ourselves

of how faithful God is to us through all of his promises.

And it's good to remind ourselves, whether it's in our own experiences of how we have known God's

promises to us, or in the experiences of others, how we hear or see of God's promises,

helping and keeping people through so many different situations.

We think of even congregational fellowships like we have, and times when we meet together,

we speak together of the things of God and what he has done for us, and how encouraged we are to hear

of God's promises shown to others and then remind ourselves he's been faithful to us too.

But in some ways, here we are meeting with Joshua in this chapter.

And here he is, and he's speaking to the people of Israel, especially speaking to the leaders of Israel

at this point, but a message that would go out to all the people.

And it's a message of God's faithfulness to him.

And how, as he is looking back, he is able to see every promise of God has been kept.

Never has the Lord failed him.

We see it here in verse 14, where it says there,

God keeps his promises.

And some of the promises he has given have been already fulfilled.

Some of his promises are still ongoing, and some of his promises are still to come.

But whether it takes a short time or a long time, God keeps every one of the promises he makes.

And we see here Joshua is speaking as an old man.

His time on earth is coming to a conclusion.

But having led the children of Israel through so much, having brought them in to the promised land,

having seen the rewards of coming into the promised land,

his longing now, as he looks at the people around him, is that they will go on in the faith,

go on leaning and looking to the promises of God.

And that's his concern, as we see in this chapter.

He is speaking to the people here, warning them against complacency.

He's saying, don't forget the promises of God.

Don't forget how faithful God has been.

Don't forget what he has said in his word.

Neither forget the blessings that he has spoken about,

and neither forget the judgments which he has spoken about as well.

Because all of these things, they put demands on you.

And so it is with ourselves today as well.

That as we hear the promises of God, we have the promises of his blessings,

but the warning too of the promise of his judgment when we disobey his word.

Fear the Lord, he's saying.

Keep looking to him.

But if you turn away, you will suffer the consequences.

We often speak today in terms of a generation lost to the church.

And there is truth in that statement.

We look around and what we see around ourselves is there are people,

and especially maybe we see it in a certain generation,

are people who do not fear the Lord,

who have been turned away or who have turned away from God

through the appeal of this world.

And we think to ourselves how quickly things change.

And when you look at the experience of Joshua,

there's a reminder to us of this very thing.

Because as we're reading here,

we're reading of a generation who were trusting the Lord

and who were committed and looking to him and leaning on him.

And here as Joshua speaks, he is speaking into that situation.

But all you have to do is turn forward into the book of Judges,

in chapter 2.

We're going to read some verses from there.

Just the next book, the book of Judges, chapter 2.

Judges 2 · chapter mention

And you read there of the death of Joshua at verse 6.

And listen to what it says.

When Joshua dismissed the people,

the people of Israel went each to his inheritance

to take possession of the land.

And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua

and all the days of the elders who outlived.

Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.

And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord,

died at the age of 110 years.

And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-Heres,

in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gash.

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.

And there arose another generation after them,

who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

You see just how quickly it changed.

Joshua there in chapter 23,

speaking to a people who were trusting in the Lord.

And then another generation,

and they arise,

and they've got no word for what the Lord has done for them.

And in such a short space of time,

you see how quickly it changed.

When we look in our own history,

and we see our own nation,

even our own islands,

and we think of it like that,

how quickly things have changed.

And in many ways,

that can leave us feeling dismayed.

But it should also leave us feeling a bit of hope.

That just as things can change so quickly downwards,

so the Lord can so quickly change things

in the opposite direction as well.

And that is what Joshua is getting at here in this chapter.

Even as he's warning them of what is to come,

he is warning them to keep their focus on the Lord.

And so I want us to take these two things from this passage

this evening.

That the way that we see how God keeps his promises,

it's to think of keeping looking to God

and keeping leaning on God.

So looking to God first.

What was the situation at the time

that Joshua speaks to the people here?

Well, verse one makes it clear for us

the kind of situation it was.

A long time afterwards,

when the Lord had given rest,

to Israel from all their surrounding enemies,

they had been given rest.

God had given them rest.

It was a time of peace.

Joshua and the children of Israel

here were enjoying a time of peace.

God had given them rest

from all the enemies around them.

And they had come in to the promised land.

They were enjoying all that this land had to offer them.

They had been blessed in seeing God's promise of this land fulfilled.

But is this a good thing when it comes to going on in faith?

Is the best environment to grow in your faith?

Is the best environment to grow in your faith days of peace?

In some ways, we would say yes.

Because here we see they're enjoying this peace.

They're enjoying the promises of God,

reward of this land to them.

But there's also a danger.

And that is what Joshua is seeing here in his old age.

You read that just as he was rest in the land,

Joshua was old and well advanced in years.

Joshua had seen so much to this point.

He had seen so much through his life.

And now he's looking around and he's seeing the people around him.

And there's a sense here that he's sensing the danger

of what is beginning to happen in their lives.

He sees some things beginning to happen in their lives

and he doesn't like it.

So like a good leader, he sees and he feels his duty

as a leader of the people to point this out to them.

He's warning the leaders of Israel here to be on their guard for this

so they can warn the people who they are in charge of.

And this is him before he departs.

He wants to make sure that he leaves them on a good footing.

And what is the danger that he sees?

Well, as they have come in to the promised land,

there is still the remnant of nations around them.

Nations who have their people there

and nations who have their gods there.

And the danger that Joshua is seeing

is that the people are starting to look.

They are starting to look at what is around them.

It's so similar to the Garden of Eden once again almost.

They're in the promised land.

They've been given everything they need for provided by God.

Everything they need is there.

But they look beyond that.

And they look to what God has told them not to do.

Not to go and mix with the other nations.

Not to marry into the other nations

because this is going to bring a judgment on you.

But they begin to look.

It's in our nature, through our fallen nature,

through our sin,

to start looking at what we can't have

or what we shouldn't have.

A danger that still exists to this day.

So Joshua is afraid the people

are maybe taking God's word for granted.

Taking his blessings for granted.

And they're beginning to let their eyes wander

in different directions.

And they're becoming this kind of complacent people.

A little like what we looked at last week

with the church in Laodicea.

They were lukewarm.

They weren't hot.

They weren't cold.

They were lukewarm.

They're just stale.

And it's in that kind of situation

that things begin to go wrong.

So here are the people of Joshua's day.

They're becoming lukewarm.

They're starting to look elsewhere.

And this time of peace is not being good to them.

They're losing their edge.

You think of it in this way.

What happens to an army in a time of peace?

They can become fat and lazy, ill-equipped.

They lose their edge.

They're not ready for when a conflict,

for when a war arises,

unless they've kept themselves in shape,

unless they've kept themselves constantly in training.

And think of it in a Christian perspective.

How do we use our times of peace

that we have enjoyed

or maybe even are enjoying just now in some ways?

Do we become lacy?

Do we become lukewarm?

Do we lose our edge?

Do we lose our focus

and start looking in the wrong places

instead of looking to and trusting in God?

Well, Joshua here is warning the people

to keep themselves in training,

to keep themselves in shape,

looking to God and his promises

and trusting in him.

He says in verse six,

be very strong to keep and to do

all that is written in the book of Moses,

or the law of Moses,

turning aside from it,

neither to the right hand nor to the left.

Don't start looking in different directions.

He's saying, keep your focus on God.

How often in the Bible

do you read a verse that says,

blessed are you in peace

for your faith will grow.

Can you find that verse

in the Bible that says that?

It's the opposite, isn't it?

It's the very opposite

that's true in the scriptures.

It's not blessed are you

in times of peace

for your faith grows,

but blessed are you

in times of persecution.

Blessed are you in adversity,

then your faith grows.

Matthew 5, verse 11,

Matthew 5:11

blessed are you

when others revile you

and persecute you.

And other all kinds of evil

against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad

for your reward is great in heaven.

Blessed are you

when you're persecuted.

James 1, verse 2,

James 1:2

counted all joy, my brothers,

when you meet trials

of various kinds.

For you know that the testing

of your faith

produces steadfastness.

Again, it's not in peace,

it's in trials.

1 Peter 1,

which we've been looking at recently,

says there,

in this you rejoice,

though now for a little while,

if necessary,

you have been grieved

by various trials.

So the tested genuineness

of your faith.

So it goes on,

more precious than gold.

It's in the testing

of your faith.

That's what keeps us

looking to Jesus.

So a time of peace

is a time

to keep ourselves

well trained,

on our guard,

not complacent,

and making sure

we're not looking beyond

what we should be,

but looking always

to the Lord.

We do this by looking

to the promises

of God,

to his word,

and how he faithfully

keeps,

and will keep each one,

the blessings

and the curses.

We should be standing

convinced

and challenged

by them.

So we look

to God.

The next thing we see,

the second thing we see here

is this leaning

on God.

So you think

of the situation

here of Joshua

when the people there

have been devoted

to God.

Well, think

of our own islands

here.

If everyone

in our islands

became a Christian,

the work

of the church

is done,

would there still

be a need

for the church?

I don't mean

in the sense

of the church

as the people

or the bride

of Christ,

but the church

in the sense

as it functions.

Would we still

need the church?

Can we not just

close the doors

of our churches?

If everyone's

a Christian,

why do we need it?

Well, if we think

the sole purpose

of the church

is evangelism

or reaching out

to the lost,

then we would say,

yes, that could be true.

But we would be wrong

because that is not

the case.

Part of our work

is reaching out

to the lost.

In many ways,

it's not the main part

because the main

part of the church

is to worship

God

and to praise

his name.

When you look

at verse 1

to verse 5

here,

Joshua speaks

of the peace

they have

and the blessings

that God

has given them

and the protection

he will show them.

But he doesn't say

job done.

He doesn't say

that's it.

We're complete.

We're finished.

What he says

in verse 6,

therefore,

be very strong

to keep

and do

all that is written

in the book

of the law

of Moses.

The people

are still

leaning

upon God.

The main purpose

of the church,

the people of God,

is to be together

worshipping him,

acknowledging

our dependence

upon him.

Just like

the shorter

catechism says,

man's chief end,

our first

great end,

is to glorify

God

and to enjoy

him

forever.

Joshua could have

looked around

and seen a people

who had peace

and were enjoying

the blessings

of God

and may be happy

to leave it at that.

But he sees

coming to faith

is not the end point.

It's just

the beginning.

We need to go on

in the strength

of the Lord.

And as Joshua

looks around,

he's concerned

that people

are starting

to lose sight

of this.

No faith

can be strong

if it's not

growing.

Just as Jesus

makes clear

for us

in John 15,

he says,

I am the vine,

you are the branches.

We only bear

fruit

through him.

So we are

starting to

come away

from him

we will

fade.

We will

lose

our fruit

bearing

capacity.

We are

always

leaning

on him.

So Joshua

here

is speaking

through

experience.

And once

again you see

in the history

of the nation

of Israel

that Joshua

was right

to be concerned.

And you see

that they didn't

heed the warnings.

They drifted

away

from God.

And is that

a concern

for the church

today?

Of course

it is.

And it

always has

to be a

concern.

We always

have to ask

is our

commitment

what it

should be?

And what

does our

commitment

look like

in the light

of God's

promises?

The promises

of blessing

and the promises

of judgment.

commitment.

Well what

does the

idea of

commitment

look like

to the

Lord Jesus

Christ?

How does

he describe

how our

commitment

should be?

Again there's

maybe many

places we

could look

but in

Matthew 10

Matthew 10:37

verse 37

he says

whoever

loves father

or mother

more than

me is not

worthy of

me.

And whoever

loves son

or daughter

more than

me is not

worthy of

me.

And whoever

does not

take his

cross and

follow me

is not

worthy.

of me.

What kind

of commitment

is the

Lord looking

for there?

He's telling

us so

clearly that

if he's

not our

main purpose

in life is

to worship

him then we

are losing

focus.

We are not

leaning on

him.

We are not

worthy of

him.

He speaks

of the

ultimate

expression of

love and

his willingness

to bear

his cross

and he

asks of

us to

take up

our cross

and follow

him.

Again it

speaks of

this burden

this weight

this persecution

this suffering

whatever it

is but that

we are to

take it up

and follow

him.

So how do

we describe

our commitment

to him?

Are we all

in?

Is our

heart fully

committed to

him?

What does

Joshua leave

them with as

he is about

to depart?

While he

leaves with

them the

very thing

that has

kept them

going.

He has

known every

promise of

God fulfilled.

Verse 14

that's what he

is saying.

And now I

am about to

go the way

of all the

earth and

you know in

your hearts

and souls

all of you

that not one

word has

failed of all

the good

things that

the Lord your

God promised

concerning

you.

Not one

thing of

God has

failed.

Isn't it

encouraging to

hear Joshua

speak in this

way?

It's like we're

entering into

him sharing a

word of

testimony, a

word of

encouragement to

us as God's

people.

And he's

encouraging just

as he was the

people then

ourselves today

to remind

ourselves again

and again that

every promise

of God is

yes in

Christ Jesus.

And to keep

our focus on

leaning on

these promises.

Verse 6

sums up the

way he has

lived his

life.

Therefore be

very strong

to keep and

do all that

is written in

the book of

the law of

Moses.

Where have

you heard

this before?

At the very

outset of

Joshua in

chapter 1 when

Joshua was

called to

lead the

children of

Israel.

What was he

told?

In chapter 1

verse 7 it

says only be

strong and

very courageous

being careful

to do according

to all that

all the law

that Moses my

servant commanded

you.

Do not turn

from it to the

right hand or

to the left

that you may

have good

success wherever

you go.

His experience

means at the

start that he

has enjoyed

through all

his years.

It's a very

testimony that

he is giving

to his people

as his time

on earth

comes to

an end.

The words

are almost

identical.

And we can

take these

words for

ourselves today

as well.

Joshua is

saying I

am about to

go but what

he says is

not one word

has failed

of all the

good things

that the

Lord your

God has

promised

concerning

you.

Therefore

he says

in verse 6

be very

strong to

keep and

do all

that is

written in

the book

of the

law of

Moses

turning aside

from it

neither to

the right

hand nor

to the

left.

Don't stop

looking to

God and

don't stop

leaning on

God.

So that is

what he is

saying to

us too.

To look at

the promises

of God.

To see how

faithful he

is in

having kept

them, keeping

them and he

will keep

them.

They bring

us protection.

They bring

us closer

to him

because they

are all

secure in

Christ.

Joshua

speaks as

one who

has known

it throughout

all his

days and

may we be

enabled to

hold fast

to the same

promises with

that same

attitude, being

strong, keeping

all that the

word of God

has commanded,

not turning

to the left

nor to

the right,

looking to

and leaning

upon our

Lord Jesus

Christ.

May God

bless these

thoughts to

us.

We're going

to conclude

by singing

theppone.