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Jimmy reflects on the book of Joshua, highlighting the unity among the tribes of Israel and Joshua's farewell addresses emphasizing faithfulness to God for blessings. He expresses concerns about the nation's moral state and potential divine judgment.
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Jimmy reflects on the book of Joshua, highlighting the unity among the tribes of Israel and Joshua's farewell addresses emphasizing faithfulness to God for blessings. He expresses concerns about the nation's moral state and potential divine judgment.
Listen to Joshua 23 First Farewell Address by Cross City Church MP3 song. Joshua 23 First Farewell Address song from Cross City Church is available on Audio.com. The duration of song is 41:04. This high-quality MP3 track has 32.643 kbps bitrate and was uploaded on 24 Sep 2025. Stream and download Joshua 23 First Farewell Address by Cross City Church for free on Audio.com – your ultimate destination for MP3 music.
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Jimmy reflects on the book of Joshua, highlighting the unity among the tribes of Israel and Joshua's farewell addresses emphasizing faithfulness to God for blessings. He expresses concerns about the nation's moral state and potential divine judgment. Well, good morning. Good morning. It's awesome. Good to see you and Cindy. Now, boy, whatever you've been doing, don't do it again. I used to tell Randy I was on a trip somewhere overseas when I was a pastor in Oklahoma. And I arranged to call back and talk to the church Sunday morning on the telephone. Randy always sat up in the balcony right there to the right of the pulpit. Always had a good time with Randy. But I told him that morning, I said, tell Randy whatever he's doing up there, quit it. So whatever y'all been doing, quit it. We're glad you're back and good to see you. And I want to thank Tom again for recording all these things. I don't know if y'all realize it, these lessons are going all over the country. And I get notices from people who are listening. And so thank you for doing that. It means a lot to a lot of folks around. And we're just grateful for you. Well, guess what? We're almost through Joshua. We've been in Joshua a long, long time. But we're going to finish it up next week. I'm going to do chapter 23 today. And I think John will come next week and do chapter 24. And then the next week, I'm going to be preaching at a little church out here in Southlake. And Brother Jack will introduce Hebrews. We'll start going to Hebrews. Great, great book. A lot of challenges. A lot of problems. Brother Jack's made sure I get all the problem chapters. So we'll see how that goes. Let him pass judgment on it. But we're looking forward to doing that. And thank y'all for hanging with us through all the judges. We've now come to concluding two chapters of the book of Joshua. The book began with an announcement of the death of Moses. And then the appointment of Joshua as his successor. And we have followed Israel all the way from that point. All the way from the journey of Israel from Egypt to the promised land. The book concludes with apparently unity among the tribes of Israel. Most of the loose ends have been properly tied up. Everything seems to be going well. And everybody seems to be happy among the tribes of Israel. That's sort of a miracle to get to that place. And the disagreement that they had over the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh was over. And their soldiers had come back from war. John had came marching home last week. And the cities of refuge had been set aside. And the Levites didn't get any settlement except they got 48 cities to govern. That's all taken care of. And the important thing through it all has been the faithfulness of God. Through every one of these experiences that the tribes have gone through. The land has been distributed. And the disagreements have been settled. And now we come to Joshua's two farewell addresses. Now chapter 23 deals with the first farewell address. And it probably took place at Shiloh although it's not indicated. Shiloh was one of the very holiest places for the Jews. So it makes sense that that's where he would have gathered the people and the leaders of the people together and given his speech. Chapter 24 is announced that it was given at Shechem. Which was also a very important city for the tribes. And so these two farewell addresses are similar but different. The first one is more pastoral. And in a sense is more genuine and more gentle rather. And he has Joshua, even though he knows he's going to die. He announces his approaching death in these chapters. His main concern is for the Israelites. He's concerned that they stay true to God. So he focuses on the responsibility of Israel to stay true to God. And in a simple short sentence, if they stay true to God, he'll bless them. If they don't, he'll spank them. And by the way, Ruth Graham told Billy Graham one day, if God doesn't judge America, he's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. We as a nation, we've never been a Christian nation in that all the citizens were Christians and we all behaved and did everything right. But we have always been one built upon Christian principles. Even the Supreme Court today holds court in a room where the Ten Commandments are displayed. That's the basis of our culture. And how long is God going to delay? I personally believe we're already under the judgment of God. How could we have killed 60 plus million unborn, pre-born babies and get God's approval? I mean, at some point, the integrity of God and the character of God is going to have to bring severe judgment upon us. And that's really the message of Joshua. And Joshua is concerned that the people, in fact, in chapter 24, he leads them to renew their covenant with God. And so he's so concerned. In essence, he said, look, whether or not you succeed and enjoy the land God has given it to you, it's up to you. You obey God, he'll bless, and you disobey, and ultimately he'll take you out of the land. And that happened. In fact, they did. The very thing that Joshua was concerned about, and he mentions a lot during the book and especially here at the very last, is that the people not disobey their covenant relationship with God. That's what he's concerned about. And he should have been, because everything he was concerned about happened. He was concerned that the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half Manassas on the east side of the Jordan River would be too close to their enemies and they would compromise and the enemies would take them in and they begin to compromise their covenant with God with pagan enemies. That's exactly what happened. And he says in these last chapters, if you do this, then I'm going to, you're going to be judged and you will be taken from the land. That happened. Oh, and in 1948, he brought them back, which he also promised to bring them back. Now, before we get too excited, I got an email today from a good friend about Israel is going to have a day here coming up pretty soon where they're going to have a hundred shofars blown at the same time in Jerusalem. And a lot of people are trying to tie that to end time events and all of this. And, you know, it would be really nice if that was the case. My reason not to believe that Israel is going to fulfill some end time destiny is Israel is a secular nation down and doesn't give a rip about the end times. It is a godless nation. It is not a godly nation. It is a secular nation. And so I don't know that I put any stock in that, but it would be nice if things were moving in a way that we can see the developing of end time events. And certainly we know that we are closer than we've ever been to the return of Christ. Now, everything that Joshua feared happened. And it's interesting, and you see the wisdom of the Holy Spirit when you move from Joshua to Judges, you're moving from the warning of judgment if there's disobedience to the reality of that judgment in Judges. Because Judges is just, it's a circle. It goes over five or six times. You have people rebel. God judges them. They repent. They're restored. Then they rebel. God judges them. That cycle continues seven times in the book of Judges. So everything that Joshua warned them about, we see Judges, it tells you why he spent so much time on that. Because they were going to do, they were going to compromise, they were going to turn away from God, they were going to deny their covenant. And so he was very concerned about that. So the first address, as well as both addresses, Joshua calls for all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers to come together. That's in chapter 23. Same thing is said about chapter 24. The second address there probably occurred at Shiloh. The second address is Shechem. And both of these cities were very important cities to the Jews. In fact, Shechem was the place where God promised Abraham that his decisions would inherit the land. It was also the place where Jacob constructed an altar in Genesis 33. It was also between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim where the Israelites renewed their commitment to the Lord, Joshua 8. It was especially holy ground for the Israelites. Both of these farewell addresses were at very significant places in the life of Israel. Now, this chapter begins a long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them. Now, we don't know how long that's been. But we do know this, Joshua says, Joshua was old, advanced in age. That's why he summoned everybody together and he said there in verse 2, I am old, advanced in age, and you have seen for yourself everything the Lord your God did to all the nations on your account because it was the Lord your God who was fighting for you. That's pretty well a synopsis of the whole book of Joshua. God's the one responsible for the blessings you've received. You possessed the land, but you didn't win it. God fought for you and God provided that land. God gave it to you. We don't know how long it had been, but we know it had been a long time. We know Joshua lived to be 110 years old, I believe, and he reminds the people that he is about to join his fathers. The end of his life is near, and yet he doesn't focus on his death. Instead, he challenges the people to live up to the covenant responsibilities to the Lord, to love him, to serve him, and to obey his commandments. Seven times in these two farewell addresses, he warns the Israelites about the idolatrous nations still left in Canaan, and he knew that the presence of those people still there, they were there by disobedience because God had told them to take care of them, remove them all, destroy them all, and Israel did not do that. There still was land to be had. They possessed land, but there was more land that they could conquer. They never got rid of the idolatrous nations that lived within the land. And so here in chapter 23, verses 6 through 8, he gives them three safeguards from compromise with pagan nations, and these are good things for us to look at in our own lives. Listen to what he challenges them to do. Be very strong. Continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law so that you do not turn from it to the right or left, so that you do not associate with those nations remaining among you. Do not call on the names of their gods or make an oath to them. Do not serve them or bow in worship to them. Instead, be loyal to God your God as you have been to this day. So he says there are three things you have to do if you are not going to fall into compromise or if you are not going to choose to go and compromise. Three things. First of all, there must be a strong commitment to the word of God. We need to be very confident that the book that we have is God's holy word, and we don't worship the Bible. We don't have any altars built to the Bible, but it's in the Bible that we discover who we are, who God is, how we can be related to God, the gospel, and all that John talked about today. That's in the word. And Joshua was strong because he believed the word of God, and we must do that. Southern Baptists have always been people of the book, and the conservative resurgence was needed and inevitable because leadership at some point stopped trusting in the book and began to compromise the book. We know what it is like to drift away from the book, so there needs to be a strong commitment to the word of God. Whatever God says to do, we need to do it. I've told you many times, Carol Ann and I made our commitment to the Lord together, that if something happened to either one of us, the other one would continue to serve God and honor God. Whatever God said to do, we'd do it. We said, Lord, our answer is yes for the rest of our lives. Whatever you would tell us to do, whatever the question is, that's the answer. The answer is yes for us. And we've tried to do that all of our lives. If God impressed us to do something, say yes. There were times when we didn't like where we were going. As a pastor, we were called from San Antonio, Texas to Kansas City, Missouri. We didn't even have a day below freezing in San Antonio. They had lakes frozen, and they skated on the lakes for six weeks every winter in Kansas City. We had Palm Beach fabric, and we had to have parkas to get through the cold in Kansas City. We didn't understand our language. In fact, Carol Ann walked up to a snow cone stand up there out on the street, the little portable thing. And all she said was, I'd like three snow cones. And he said, you're from Texas, aren't you? I mean, we were in a foreign land. And you should have seen the faces of teenagers that our friends brought for lunch when we had pinto beans. They said, what is that? Those pinto beans. They said, I thought that was just for bean bags. And all gravy. You should have seen their faces. We offered them some gravy. I mean, we were in a strange land, and nothing appealed to us. We flew up there, and they put us in a motel down on Independence Avenue, which is about ten miles from the church in the south part of Kansas City. And it was the first weekend in May, 1965. And we were staying out there and driving out to the church. There was not a twig of green grass. There wasn't a leaf on the trees. It was the most desolate, barren place. We drove down Truth Avenue all the way down Highway 171 to the church, and there wasn't anything to like or say this is a good place. We're glad we're here. We came to the church, and the church didn't particularly love us. We didn't get upset with them because they didn't particularly love each other. And there was nothing there that appealed to us to go, except God said this is where you're supposed to go. We understood that. And we said yes, not because we wanted to go to Kansas City. We love San Antonio. We didn't want to go to Kansas City. But God said go, and we knew that. And so if we're going to get on with God in our lives, we're going to have to honor His Word and be obedient. Everything you will face in your life, God has already given you the answer in His Word. And Carol Ann is a heretic in this way, I guess. She puts her name in Scripture. It says you do this. She puts Carol Ann does this. But Scripture is intended for every one of us, and we must honor it. We must obey it. And as I said, seven times he spoke about these nations that would compromise him. So if you're not going to fall into compromise, there must be a strong commitment to the Word of God. Secondly, he said there must be a consistent, strong separation from the paganism around you. We are in this world, but we must not be of the world. And the problem with the church today in many instances is we are in the world, and we're of the world. Too much of the world is in the church. And it's rare to find a happy church. Did you know that? I mean, you ought to rejoice where you are now at this church, because whatever it's not, it is a happy church. I mean, we have a pastor who can't hear. We had a visitor come. This is unbelievable. We had a visitor come to visit. And she left after she came and was criticizing the church. She said, even the pastor can't even hear. He may be like my mother who, when she got hearing aids, she kept saying, what's that noise? And it was the rustling of the newspaper she was reading. She never had heard it before. John maybe doesn't want to hear everything that people say, but he reads lips, so he does well. You'd never know it otherwise. Energetic, powerful in his messages. We're blessed to have a church like that. And it's a loving place. When church is over with, it's hard to get folks to go home. But we need to have a strong separation from the world about us. And third, there must be an unrelenting obedience to God and a fervent love for the Lord. What Joshua has done, and what is true with us, he has just let Israel know that their entire future rests upon their obedience to God. One thing God can't bless is sin. So compromise He can never tolerate. And nothing we can ever do is going to please Him if there's sin in our lives. Bertha Smith, the little missionary who lived to be 100, all the preachers at the convention dreaded Ms. Bertha because she'd stop them if they were in a prayer meeting. She stopped one of our prominent pastors and said, you're not praying right in the middle of this prayer. She just stopped him and said, you need to pray right. She always talked about us keeping short accounts with God. Don't let a sin, you know, don't go to bed mad and don't let a sin go unconfessed. Keep short accounts with God. We have to have this relationship with God. That's what Joshua was telling me. It's up to you. God fought all your battles and you think you're somebody. You need to realize that's the only reason you're in this land because He put you here. You need to have a strong commitment loyalty to Him. And in verse 14, He expresses where He's coming from. He says, I am now going the way of the whole earth. And you know with all your heart and all your soul that none of the good promises your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you. Not one promise has failed. Amazing. The first farewell address was more pastoral. He was encouraging them to be true to their covenant relationship with the Lord, warning them against the inevitable consequences of disobedience and rebellion against the Lord. This first address in chapter 23 presented two alternatives to the people. Their faithfulness to the covenant with the Lord would result in the blessings of God and stability in the land. Their disobedience would result in God's judgment and removal from the land. Two choices. Two options. Two different alternatives. Either be faithful to God and He'll bless you or if you're unfaithful and rebellious against Him, judgment will come and you'll be removed from the land. Those were the terms God made with the covenant He made with Israel at Mount Sinai and the same terms when Moses presented them to Israel at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim in the plains of Moab. It's really very simple. Obey God and He'll bless you. Disobey Him and He'll chastise you. And the same thing is true today. Remember back in Numbers when Moses was talking to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half Manassas who decided they wanted to settle down on the east of Jordan. It was a great place to raise cattle and livestock and they had an abundance of it. They said, we'll just stay here. You all go on and take Cana. We'll just take our inheritance here. And so he told them very simply, if you don't go across Jordan and help the other tribes get their inheritance, then you not only won't get this inheritance, you'll lose your inheritance in the land. Now, pause just for a moment, a little capsule here. That says that God had a place for Reuben and Gad and west Manassas in the land. Because if they didn't go and fight, they would not only lose the land that they wanted, they would not have their inheritance in Cana. So God had a plan for all the tribes to be in Cana. But the tribes of Reuben and Gad, half Manassas, chose to live across the river. It finally pleased those in Israel who were concerned about it, but it never pleased God. He never sanctioned it. He was never for it. In fact, you go back and look, it says Moses gave the land, Eliezer the priest, they agreed to give the land. It never says God gave the land to them. Moses and Eliezer gave the land to those tribes. And Joshua, though, focused on the people possessing the land because the task was not completed. The pagan influence still remained in the land. There were some places where the nations were not driven out. They still dwelt among them. And he knew that the compromise would come if they did not get rid of the people in the land. As long as they were there, they were going to be compromised. And in these farewell addresses, Joshua reminded the people, both chapters 23 and 24, what God had done for them, all that God had done for them, what God had commanded them, and what God would do to them if they did not remain true to their covenant relationship. Even though he is addressing the people in a pastoral way, there's stern warnings found within here of what will happen if they don't stay true to the Lord. In fact, verses 15 and 16 of this 23rd chapter say, If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them, the Lord's anger will burn against you and you will quickly disappear from this good land He has given you. And that's exactly what happened. Within a few years, they've been taken into captivity and they disappeared from the land. What he is saying very simply is that this is decision time for the Israelites. They have to renew their covenant with God and not dilute true worship with pagan influences. There could be no neutrality. They must commit to faithfully follow the Lord. Now, this kind of raises an issue that we at least ought to look at briefly. When do we decide to fight? When do we decide to resist heresy? When do we decide to deal with compromise? At what point? The Baptists faced that decision nearly 50 years ago. But it's still a battle that every generation has to fight and it's never finished. It's never done. When is it right for us to rise up and to resist whatever evil is around us? There is a time when that's necessary. And for us as Southern Baptists, it was when within our ranks there became a swell of people who not only did not trust the Word of God. Many of our colleges were teaching things that were heretical. We had to resist that. It was not a preacher fight arguing over who was in control. It was a theological issue of what is right and what is wrong. Now, you've heard me say many times, I'm not smart enough to be depressed. Life is really not complicated to me. My dad put it this way, if something is bad, you ought to be against it. If it's good, you need to be for it. That's pretty simple. And it translates very easily into life. You hear something doesn't sound right, let folks know it doesn't sound right. We have to remain confident in our relationship with God. That's what Joshua was saying. You're going to hear a lot of new things, a lot of strange things, but you need to trust God's Word and you need to be true to the covenant relationship that you have with Him and not compromise at all. Moses referred to Cana as a good land. And in this chapter, Joshua reminded the people three times that it was a good land that the Lord gave to them. It was a good land. And the enjoyment of the land was now contingent upon the Israelites loving and obeying God. God had given it to them. It was a good land. But now they were responsible for keeping the relationship and let them enjoy the good land they had. And the same is true for us. John's talking about redemption and justification and all those terms of our salvation. And those are important things for us to relish and to keep at the forefront of our minds. It's a good place to be to be in the hands of the Lord. He is faithful to His promises. Joshua's journey that he traces through Joshua tells us that God always keeps His promises. And we can trust Him. And Joshua is telling them this because it's His goodbye message. What would you tell your kids if you knew you would never see them again? It would be pretty important, wouldn't it? A dying man's last words are important to hear what he had to say. Joshua says here towards the end of this chapter, I'm now going the way of the whole earth. My life is spent. You know all the promises of God have been fulfilled. Not even one of them has failed. And we all are coming down. There are not any spring chickens in here. I mean, we're all in too many drills. You know, we've had six senior adults die in the last month. I haven't done all the funerals, but I've participated in about three or four of them. We're dying. Surprise! When we were born, we were born and we began dying. That's kind of a sobering thought. Every day, something in us, you know, you ask the folks that study the body, every day so many things die and every day so many things have started over again. We're in the process of dying and living and giving and taking. That's the process we're in. And Joshua understands this. So he just tells me, I am going the way of the whole earth. I'm about to go. I've bought my cemetery plot. You know, I'm going to make my final arrangements. I want to leave something for you. Serve God and He'll bless you and disobey Him and He'll punish you and you'll be gone from the land. That was important for them to hear. It's His final words. His last words. He wanted them to understand that the land belonged to God, not to them. God's ownership is emphasized in this farewell address. And if Israel did not maintain the covenant relationship with God by driving out the nations that still resided in Canaan, then those nations would be perpetual torments for Israel. Verse 13, Joshua described the presence of these pagan nations as a snare, a trap for you, a sharp stick in your sides and thorns in your eyes until you disappear from this good land He has given you. That's a pretty awesome warning. Pagan land will be snares and traps, sharp sticks in our sides and thorns in our eyes and we'll disappear. That's about as severe a forecast as you could get. He wanted them to understand. God had been fighting for them. And He put them in the land. But they were occupying the land, but it still belonged to God. Oh, by the way, God bought us. Paul told the Corinthians, you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and your soul, which are His. We belong to God. We don't belong to ourselves. You talk about a motive for doing things to keep you healthy. You belong to God. Don't mess it up. Don't misbehave. Don't marginalize who you are. You're the only one God ever made like you. You have a DNA that's absolutely unique. There's nobody in the kingdom of God, nobody on earth that's not important to God. And the death of Christ, the redemption that we have, the justification that we have in our salvation is a reminder of how much God loves us and also a reminder that He owns us. You can say Lord, but you can't say no, Lord. If He's Lord, then you need to respond yes to Him. You can say Lord. Jesus talked in Matthew 7. Many have said, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in Your name, prophesied in Your name? Jesus said, and I will say I never knew you. You can say Lord, but you can't say no, Lord. If He's your Lord, then you need to be reminded that He owns you. And that puts how we behave, and how we take care of ourselves in a whole new perspective because we're taking care of what God owns. And that's why when the resurrection comes, we'll have new bodies. Can't wait. This was about worn out. I mean, after the pace of this last week, I could hardly walk when I got ready to find the card. I had a hard time this morning. Things just wear out. But God is the One that gives us new life, and the new life will grow into a new life when He returns. And every day. Some days we'd have no clouds, so I kind of rest well because He said He was coming in the clouds. So if we don't have any clouds, then we know He's not coming that day. But we have beautiful clouds here. And Carol Ann and I enjoy talking about how beautiful the clouds are and being reminded that someday Christ is going to return. And there will be a new Jerusalem come down out of heaven. Now this is just me. This is not anything theological that you can count on. This is not inerrance. I happen to believe heaven is going to be on earth. Think of how beautiful this world would be if there was no sin. If roses had no thorns. There were no battles. There were no wars that would devastate land. There would be no drones that would drop bombs and destroy and kill people's lives. It's going to be a wonderful world where God will be in control and He'll establish His kingdom. And after a thousand years of God Himself providing a perfect environment, you will know how deeply ingrained sin is in human nature. The people will still rebel against God and fight against Him and try to overthrow. And the battle of Armageddon will occur when you stand on the Mount of Megiddo and look out over this wonderful valley in Israel. Military strategists tell us it's the world's perfect battlefield. They're going to line up in the valley of Megiddo to fight God. Armed. Millions. To fight. Jesus is going to say, and it's over. That's it. But still, still man would choose to rebel against God. That's how evil is deeply ingrained in our lives. And that's why God cannot stand. God is a holy God. And the holiness of God, in the simplest terms, means God is different from us. We're not holy. Only He is holy. When we get saved, our unholiness is presented to God and in exchange, we get His holiness. His righteousness. He who had no sin died for us so that we who had no righteousness could receive the righteousness of God. We can be saved through the grace of God. But we always need to be reminded that every day, for those of us who know the Lord, God owns us. So we ought to pay attention to what He wants us to do. Wouldn't you like to find an investment that would never go down, that would always increase, say 50% a year? That would be pretty good, wouldn't it? Well, we can't do that. But we know this, that God is holy, and He presents His holiness to us. And if we'll obey Him, He'll make us to be like Himself. That's a wonderful prospect for this life and the life to come. So Joshua, in a nutshell, is God is going to keep all of His promises, and now it is up to us to be faithful to the covenant that He made when He saved us. And He'll bless us. But if we disobey and rebel, He'll bring judgment. And the people will disappear from the land of what He promised. And sure enough, that happened. And the Israelites were taken into captivity within a few years after this. And so we come to the end of a book that's about our lives. It's about our journey in faith. There are many challenges we have as believers as we grow and mature in our faith. And it's also about the history of Israel and how God led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, provided the wilderness, fought and won the land for them. And God provided all of these things for them. And now He expects us, because of His goodness, to obey Him and to maintain the covenant we have with Him. Well, it's been a good book. Brother John will finish it up for us next week. And in record-setting time, I am through. And we're going to go and pray. It's quarter to eleven. Aren't you grateful for the Word of God and the fact that something written centuries ago is still relevant to us today and God's presence is in it and fulfills us and blesses us. Thank you, Father, for Your love and grace. Thank You that not one promise You've made to us has failed. You've always kept Your Word. God, forgive us for doubting it. Forgive us for resisting it. Forgive us for rebelling against it. But thank You that we belong to You and You will care for us and guide us through this life and bring us home safely when Jesus returns. And we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.
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