1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,920 OK, in light of the technical difficulties we've had already, 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,800 I just want to take a moment to pray against any others and get 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:09,920 our hearts ready for the Word. Would you join me one more time 4 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,520 as we pray? Lord, we are grateful to worship 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,920 you. We are grateful to be here and 6 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:21,160 we just ask for all distractions, everything that 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:26,840 could pull our attention and our eyes and our hearts away from 8 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:28,840 hearing what you have to say to us in your word. 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:34,720 I pray God that you would shield us from it and that God wherever 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,440 wherever we find ourselves in our journey with Jesus today 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,920 here God that we would be able to listen to what you have said 12 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:47,360 in a book we call the Bible a book you have given us a book 13 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,320 that you wrote so that we could know who you are. 14 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:56,720 It is yourself revelation to us so we could have hope, we could 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:02,400 be covered, we could be changed. And I pray God, you would change 16 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:04,040 us today. That you'd bring heat where 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,080 hearts have grown cold, you'd bring light where minds have 18 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,960 grown dark. God, would you speak to us today 19 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,800 in Jesus name? Amen. 20 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:12,440 Amen, Lord. Yes. 21 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,920 Protect the screen, protect the microphone, and make sure no 22 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,240 chairs get broken or nothing like that to God while you're at 23 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,480 it, You know what I'm saying? Hey, we're going to be in Joshua 24 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,040 chapter 23. That's page 197 of the Bibles in 25 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:25,600 front of you. If you don't have a Bible, 26 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,040 consider that your Bible. Now you can have a Bible. 27 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,120 It's just on the one and the seat in front of you. 28 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,640 Please generally take that and take that home with you. 29 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:34,880 We'd love for you to have a copy of God's work. 30 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,080 That's what we're talking about today is how to be loyal to 31 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,480 God's words. We've been in this book of 32 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,720 Joshua written by the title character Joshua, describing 33 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,040 what happened for as the Israelites left Egypt and 34 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,520 wandered the desert, how they crossed the Jordan River and 35 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,760 took hold of the promised land known as Canaan. 36 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,240 And for 23 chapters, we have been all around this theme of 37 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,640 land and victory and conquest. That's what the book of Joshua's 38 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,320 about. It's in your Bible with the 39 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,520 theme of land. But the book has an aim point. 40 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,520 It actually has a target that it wants to hit in your heart, in 41 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,480 my heart, in any heart. Who would read it? 42 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:17,960 And it's not just about land and victory. 43 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:25,440 The aim of Joshua is your loyalty, your allegiance, our 44 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:31,400 commitment to God, that as we read about people and nations 45 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,440 rising and falling in the Israelites marching forward, the 46 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,720 response in the reader supposed to be, Oh my gosh, I need to be 47 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,000 loyal to this God and to what he says because without it I am 48 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,200 hopeless. Without it, I am a fool. 49 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,200 Joshua's helping us see that our aim point needs to be loyalty, 50 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,640 and we're good at loyalty. When I was growing up, my 51 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,000 friend, his dad worked for Gatorade and he had like what I 52 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,400 would call the coolest job in the world. 53 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,080 Preston mentioned the salt director, which is a close 54 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,040 second, but this is first. He worked for Gatorade in the 55 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:10,200 90s and his job was to present the Gatorade High School Athlete 56 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:11,680 of the Year. He would go and give them that 57 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,800 award. So Gatorade would put him on a 58 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,400 plane and he'd go and fly and he'd meet this young kid from 59 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,160 Wilmette, Wilmington, NC, named Michael Jordan. 60 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,520 Yeah, he, he met Michael Jordan in the 80s and 90s. 61 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:22,680 Like, hey, why don't I give you this? 62 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,840 In the 90s, he got to meet Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning. 63 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,160 And this is my best friend's dad. 64 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,880 And I see pictures on the wall. I'm like, who are you? 65 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:34,120 Who are you? And and what what job is this 66 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,160 that you get to go parade around with athletes? 67 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,720 What would that meant, though, being a Gatorade worker, is that 68 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,080 he had to be loyal to Gatorade. So at times we'd go to 69 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,440 restaurants and he would go to go get a Powerade. 70 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:48,480 Like somebody would go get it. He'd go absolutely not, not, not 71 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:49,600 what I'm paying for dinner tonight. 72 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:51,520 We are not having Powerade. You'd go to their basement 73 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:52,240 fridge. Yeah. 74 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,400 Basements are a thing in Illinois. 75 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,120 You'd get there. And in their basement fridge, 76 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,520 there'd be no such thing as any Coke products of any kind 77 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:01,040 because Gatorade was owned by Pepsi. 78 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,520 So there'd be copious amounts of Gatorade. 79 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,920 No Coke, just Pepsi. I prayed for them on the on the 80 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,760 soda department because Pepsi's definitely inferior. 81 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,680 Sorry if you work for PepsiCo and you're here today, but the 82 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,760 reality was, is that his allegiance was to Gatorade. 83 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,399 His loyalty was to Gatorade. He was going to be committed to 84 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,560 Gatorade even it meant he didn't get to have a refreshing energy 85 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,520 drink at the at the gas station or at the ball field that their 86 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,680 family adopted loyalty to a drink. 87 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,800 Now, loyalty to a drink is one thing, but what God is asking of 88 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,200 us, what He's inviting us to really today is loyalty to the 89 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:45,200 living water of God's Word, the nourishment and the joy and the 90 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:52,480 energy and the vitality that comes from drinking from God's 91 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,360 words. Now, obviously, I'm speaking 92 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:57,960 metaphorically, not literally here. 93 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,200 There's no literal drinking of God's words. 94 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:07,400 However, I believe that is our invitation that Joshua 23 is in 95 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:13,120 our Bible so that we could see how to be loyal to God's words. 96 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,760 We're in Joshua 23, verse one. I want to show it to you in 97 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,160 three ways today, how to be loyal to God's words. 98 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,760 It says this a long time afterward, meaning a long time 99 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,760 after chapter 22, a long time after the half tribe of Manassas 100 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,920 and the other two tribes east of the Jordan River, after that 101 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,000 whole conflict thing where they're departed but united. 102 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,840 After that whole thing happened that we learned about last week. 103 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,400 After that happened, a long time afterward and indefinite time 104 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,000 later, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their 105 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,600 surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in 106 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,360 years, Joshua summoned all of Israel, its elders and heads, 107 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,320 its judges and officers. And he said to the leadership, I 108 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,520 am now old and well advanced in years, and you have seen all of 109 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,640 the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake. 110 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,080 For it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. 111 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,560 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your 112 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:09,960 tribes, those nations that remain, along with all the 113 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,560 nations that I've already cut off from the Jordan to the great 114 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,360 sea in the West, the Mediterranean. 115 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,240 The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them 116 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:23,320 out of your sight, and you shall possess their land, just as the 117 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:28,840 Lord your God promised you. Therefore, be strong to keep and 118 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:32,000 to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, 119 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,920 turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left. 120 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,800 How are we going to be loyal to God's words with these 6 verses? 121 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,120 I want to summarize it like this in an application point saying 122 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:47,200 it has defined loyalty as God does. 123 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:49,760 How are you going to be loyal? Well, you have to at least 124 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,160 understand you have to define loyalty as God defines loyalty 125 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,960 because we might have misdefinitions of loyalty, we 126 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,160 might misunderstand loyalty, and we might think we're being loyal 127 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:04,760 to God's words, but God actually has a way that He describes 128 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:06,800 loyalty to us right here in these 6 verses I think are 129 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:08,600 really helpful. Jot down this definition. 130 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,200 You'd like to take notes that loyalty is believing in God's 131 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,560 words to the point of keeping all of his words. 132 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,960 It's not just believing in them as a concept. 133 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,160 It's not just saying like, hey, that's a good book, He was a 134 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,040 good teacher. It's believing them to the point 135 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,080 of keeping God's words or another word for that is obeying 136 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,120 God's words. We believe in God's words to the 137 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,720 point of keeping all of his words, keeping every single word 138 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,840 that he has said. John 1415 says this, that if you 139 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,480 love me, you will keep my commandments. 140 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,360 Later in that same chapter John writes in verse 21, Whoever has 141 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,120 my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. 142 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,680 John 1510 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in 143 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,440 my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide 144 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:08,040 in His love. Keeping God's commands are a big 145 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:16,160 deal because God keeps God's commands that there isn't a 146 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,040 single promise he has overlooked. 147 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,560 There's not a single command that is undone that everything 148 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,120 that God says gets done. And Joshua, he is old in his age 149 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,560 here. Look back at verse one and 150 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,880 Joshua was old and well advanced in years. 151 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:32,960 We learned in the next chapter he's about 110. 152 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:35,520 Is that old? Yes. 153 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:38,760 Say turn your neighbor and say real old. 154 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,559 Yeah. I'm not trying to live to 111. 155 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,360 If I'm 110, right, He's 110. He's like, hey, I'm going to 156 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:45,880 tell you guys something obvious right now. 157 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,720 I am really old and well advanced in years. 158 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:50,560 And he's going to get all the leaders like, hey, I want to 159 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:52,440 give you like, a deathbed speech right now. 160 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,880 I want to tell you what I've learned over the course of my 161 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,520 life. And these are his last words to 162 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,200 the people of Israel after being their leader for a number of 163 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:01,400 years. He's like, hey, here's something 164 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,200 very important I need to leave you with. 165 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:06,800 And so in this farewell speech, here's what he starts with. 166 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:11,240 He says, and you have seen all of the Lord your God has done to 167 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,360 all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who 168 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:19,600 has fought for you. What's Joshua saying is that 169 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,560 loyalty to God, that according to God, loyalty is doing what 170 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:28,200 you said you would do, doing what is asked of you. 171 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,680 Remember, Joshua's a war hero at this point. 172 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,920 He actually has a good grid for what it looks like to have a 173 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:35,400 command and to go obey a command. 174 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:38,800 And so God has given him commands and he's done the 175 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:39,600 commands. And guess what? 176 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,040 He's watched God win. He's watched them God fight for 177 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,840 them. He is basing our definition of 178 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,480 loyalty off of who God is and how he is defined. 179 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,280 Loyalty, it's doing. It's not just believing the 180 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:57,280 words, it's doing and keeping the words you said The Lord our 181 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,560 God is loyal to his words. Not even one has been 182 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:06,440 overlooked. That every single command God 183 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,640 gives, no matter how insignificant it might seem, is 184 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,600 a significant one, no matter how much you might disagree with it, 185 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,320 is a good one. So loyalty to His words has to 186 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,560 start with understanding what loyalty is according to God. 187 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,680 Loyalty to God is not like how many of us follow sports. 188 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,600 Some of us follow sports, and this is OK in the realm of 189 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,280 sports, but stick with me here. Loyalty for many of you to 190 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,000 sports is what I would call a bandwagon sports fan. 191 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,720 That is not the way I operate with sports. 192 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,680 I just need you to know that there's no such thing as picking 193 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:45,680 A-Team for like a year then jumping to another team like 194 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:46,640 you. It's like a wife. 195 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,320 You get one team per life per sport. 196 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:50,280 OK? Like that's how I think about 197 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,680 sports, that you don't just get to jump. 198 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,520 There's no bandwagoning. There's a loyalty. 199 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,920 You have to be in the suffering like when the Bears win the 200 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,720 Super Bowl one day, hopefully next year when when that 201 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,120 happens, guess what? I have suffered for the sake of 202 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,000 the Chicago Bears. I have endured, I have cried. 203 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,200 I've done all kinds of because that's what a die hard fan would 204 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,600 do. And I think some of us were like 205 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,040 here today and we're we're hearing people like talk about 206 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,040 God and we're and we look at like religious people, like man, 207 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:20,400 they are so intense about following Jesus. 208 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,600 There's so intense about the Bible. 209 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,200 What if I told you that's actually how it's supposed to 210 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:32,320 look like that it's not meant to be a casual fanship. 211 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,160 It's most meant to be a loyal followership. 212 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,200 A die hard nature to giving your life to God. 213 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:46,960 A fan fits the Bible into their life and a loyal follower gives 214 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:54,200 their life to the Bible. If the Bible is just like, it 215 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,320 just kind of fits into your life, you you might put it in a 216 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,840 bio on a social media, you might have read it once or twice, but 217 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,320 it is not the orientation of your life. 218 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,120 Your life isn't arranged around God's words. 219 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:07,880 Listen to me. You're missing the point of why 220 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,000 it was given to you. It was given to you as a gift, 221 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,880 so you could know what God has said, you could know who He is, 222 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,200 you could know what He's done for you, and you could believe 223 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:17,920 His promises, just as the Israelites did. 224 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,200 We cannot treat God's commands as optional to obey. 225 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,960 We give our life to his words because he's demonstrated that 226 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,520 his words are good words. They're words for our good. 227 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,400 They're words for our pleasure, our delight. 228 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:46,360 They are good words for you. And so when he says to flee 229 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,520 sexual immorality, to run from it, to flee from all that he 230 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,480 calls sexually immoral, that's not overrated. 231 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,840 When God says do not be drunk, it's not. 232 00:12:57,840 --> 00:12:59,440 The next time, I'll take it easy. 233 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,560 Because we're loyal to his words, because we defined what 234 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:05,720 his words mean. We define what loyalty means. 235 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,920 It's keeping his words, what he's asked of us. 236 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,200 When the Bible says, this one caught me this week. 237 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,480 Do all things without grumbling and complaining. 238 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,120 Ouch is right. Ouch is right. 239 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:27,720 We define loyalty as God does. We see it as God sees it. 240 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,080 And guess what? It gives us a heart to keep his 241 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,400 words. And we won't do this perfectly. 242 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,440 We will do this progressively. We'll never get to the point 243 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:36,960 where we perfectly obey all God's words. 244 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,400 Thanks be to God for Jesus, who kept every word God has given 245 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,080 him so that we don't have to keep it perfectly. 246 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:44,520 But guess what? We will do it increasingly. 247 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,600 We will be increasingly loyal to God's words because we've 248 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,280 defined it as God defines it. We will see like how Joshua did 249 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:55,680 that. We could be like verse 6. 250 00:13:55,680 --> 00:14:00,000 We would be very strong to keep and to do all that is written. 251 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,560 Now up until this point, the Canon of scripture, the the book 252 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:06,080 itself was just Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and 253 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,360 Deuteronomy. So he's saying, hey, go, go, 254 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:10,840 obey all that God has written, but guess what? 255 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,680 He's written a little bit more for us now and it's closed. 256 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:15,240 This is this is the Canon that we have. 257 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:16,680 This is what we're intended to follow. 258 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,240 But maybe this week you would search, you would search and you 259 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,080 would ask and you go, hey, what is God asking me to do? 260 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,680 What's the next step of obedience he's asked me to take? 261 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,360 And I think if you want to be like Jesus, you want to be 262 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,040 conformed to the image of his Son. 263 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,520 If you want to be like God in that way, guess what? 264 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,400 You're going to be a person who's faithful, who's loyal in 265 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:40,440 keeping what God has said to do. That's the first thing. 266 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,040 The second thing, if we're going to be loyal, and this is the big 267 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,840 point, this is where I think the text is really centering. 268 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,400 It's the emphasis of what, chapter 23? 269 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:51,760 It's this idea that we're going to cling to God's words like our 270 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,200 life depends upon it. We're going to cling. 271 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,600 We're not just going to keep and define God's word as God defines 272 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,160 loyalty. We are going to cling to God's 273 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,040 words like our very lives depend upon it. 274 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,320 Like if I were to throw you into the Mission Impossible scenario 275 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,160 where the clock is ticking and the bomb is going and one of the 276 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,320 characters is talking you through how to defuse the bomb, 277 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,040 how would you hang upon every syllable that they said in 278 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,320 defusing the bomb? Cut the red wire or the green 279 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:21,000 wire? Oh, the red wire. 280 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,240 OK, double checking the red wire. 281 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:23,640 Yes, the red wire. OK, we're gonna cut the red wire 282 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:29,360 now. That's how serious clinging to 283 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,680 God's words is. This word that we're going to 284 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,720 find together in this section of the text. 285 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,360 This word clinging, it's the idea of gluing your ear to the 286 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,000 word of God. It's sticky. 287 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,880 It's Velcro. It's binding. 288 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,120 Look at what the Bible says in verse 7. 289 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:49,640 We're turning aside from it, neither to the right hand or to 290 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,120 the left, but that you may not mix with these nations, 291 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:54,560 underline that. We're going to come back to that 292 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,440 in a second, remaining among you, or make mention of the 293 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,920 names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down 294 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:07,680 to them. But you shall cling to the Lord 295 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,480 your God, just as you have done to this day. 296 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:17,560 One man of you puts to flight 1000, since it is the Lord your 297 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,600 God who fights for you, just as he promised you. 298 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,160 Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. 299 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,080 For if you turn back and cling to the remnants of these 300 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:31,240 nations, there's that word again remaining among you and make 301 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,240 marriage with them. So if you associate with them 302 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,960 and they with, you know for certain that the Lord your God 303 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,840 will no longer drive out these nations before you, that 304 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,160 there'll be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides 305 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,600 and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good 306 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,440 ground that the Lord your God has given you. 307 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:54,640 Do you see the situation here? The severity that, that right 308 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:56,000 now they're, they are clinging to God. 309 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,440 So God is fighting for them. But there will be a moment where 310 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,640 if you are not clinging to God, He stopped fighting for you. 311 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,800 That in pride you oppose the God of the universe himself. 312 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,119 And so he's asking us. He's calling us to clinging to 313 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:15,839 the very words of God. Clinging is interesting to me. 314 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,640 It that word cling, It's the same word used in Genesis 315 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,079 chapter 2 and it says a man shall leave his wife and mother 316 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,720 and cling to his wife, that he should leave his father and 317 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:26,880 mother. Excuse me, I said wife and 318 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:27,480 mother. That's weird. 319 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:33,480 Father and mother and cling to his wife that it's that same 320 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:34,960 word. It's that level of covenant, 321 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,920 that level of promise, that level of relationship that we're 322 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,640 clinging to one another. We are clinging to God's words 323 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,280 like in a marriage and clinging is for a party of 2, not for a 324 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,520 party of three. We do not mix. 325 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:51,280 Do you see that verb in your Bible there? 326 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,400 Look back at verse 7 that you may not mix with these nations 327 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:00,000 that God takes seriously who we marry for this reason, because 328 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,880 the person that you share a bed with is the person you share the 329 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,000 most beliefs with. The person you share a bed with 330 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,440 is the person you're going to raise kids with. 331 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,280 The person you share a bed with is a big deal to God. 332 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,680 That is because it's going to inform your perception of who 333 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,160 God is. And so he doesn't want the 334 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,720 Israelites to not marry because of they're from another nation 335 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,840 or anything like that. It's because of their beliefs 336 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,080 that they're going to worship idols and they're going to make 337 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,920 them, serve them and bow to them and listen to them and live for 338 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,720 them. And God knows that that is the 339 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,800 way of destruction. It'll destroy your life. 340 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:37,480 So he says, hey, do not go marry these other nations. 341 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,760 Do not mix with them like this. He echoes it in the New 342 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,120 Testament that as a believer, we are not to marry an unbeliever. 343 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,880 In fact, listen to me, college students and single people in 344 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,880 the room do not if you are a Christian, do not marry an 345 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,440 unbeliever that bluntly, I'm going to say it. 346 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,280 Do not do it. Do not start dating an 347 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,200 unbeliever. Do not start considering 348 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,640 marriage an unbeliever that God would call that foolishness. 349 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:11,480 They will steer you towards idols, and idols are things they 350 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:12,560 get. They're good things that often 351 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:15,600 we make God things. And they have ears but can't 352 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,200 hear you. They have eyes but can't see 353 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,680 you, hands but can't help you, feet but can't walk with you. 354 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:28,320 Why would you turn to them? And if God is a thing you're 355 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,440 clinging to most in this world, why would you cling to someone 356 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,160 else who's not going to help you cling to Him? 357 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,000 Because we need to cling to Him and His words like our lives 358 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:43,520 depend upon it. Clinging is for a party 2, not a 359 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:45,360 party 3. Clinging is also not weird. 360 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:48,080 It's wonderful. Here's what I mean by that 361 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,240 clinging. I think some of us think of like 362 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,600 the Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn movie with the stage 5 clinger. 363 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,680 When we hear that term, we, we think of people who are overly 364 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,480 attached. We think of people who are like, 365 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:04,400 wow, there's they're a clinger. They're sticking to me a little 366 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,400 too much. They're the, I can't get rid of 367 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:08,720 them. They are a little bit too much 368 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,720 to deal with. Clinging has a bad connotation 369 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,920 because of over attachment. But listen to me, you can't 370 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,400 overly attached to God. You can't it's actually 371 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:20,840 impossible. He's the best thing for your 372 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:21,840 life. The closer you are to him the 373 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,880 better you are that the nearer you are to him the better your 374 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,400 life goes. But we can detach from God. 375 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,520 We call this self-reliance or independence. 376 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,920 Like, INDEPENDNT, like independent DJ Khaled would be 377 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,200 the best. Like we think to ourselves, man, 378 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,720 I would just be better if I wasn't clinging to God, if I had 379 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:50,480 no one to cling to. And that's where it gives. 380 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,400 The third thing, clinging is not optional. 381 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,040 You are going to cling to something. 382 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:57,560 You're like, yeah, I'm not clinging to God like you're 383 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,440 talking about, Brandon. I'm not, like, married to God in 384 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,560 this way. I'm not taking him serious 385 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,200 enough. Sure, but I don't know that I 386 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:05,640 have to because I'm not clinging to anything else. 387 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,680 Incorrect. Look back at the Bible with me, 388 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:14,360 verse 8. But you shall cling the Lord 389 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:16,160 your God, just as you've done to this day. 390 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:17,960 For the Lord your God is driven out before you. 391 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,400 Great and strong nations. Jump down to verse 12. 392 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,560 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations 393 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,320 remaining among you, and make marriages with them, verse 13, 394 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,000 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive 395 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,440 these nations out from you. What's the text implying here? 396 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:37,920 That verb is used again for a reason. 397 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,440 It wants you to see that clinging is not optional. 398 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,640 You will cling to the remnant or you will cling to the Redeemer. 399 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,720 You will cling to something. Your heart was made to worship. 400 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,600 It was made to attach. And so you will find something 401 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:53,680 to attach to. It might be someone or 402 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,520 something. The something might be status, 403 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,240 it might be wealth, it might be your work, it might be a 404 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,640 relationship, it might be something, but you will find 405 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,960 something to attach to. And God is saying, don't cling 406 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:10,480 to that, don't attach to that, don't glue yourself to that. 407 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,400 It leads you to a place you don't want to go. 408 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:19,240 Hurt and heartache, devastation and brokenness. 409 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,040 The only hope we have is clinging to God and His words. 410 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,400 That independence from God has a cost. 411 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,560 So I would just ask you today, like where in your life, because 412 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,440 you're evaluating your own leadership of your life. 413 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,800 When you've self LED, you haven't appealed to God's words 414 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,520 to lead you. You haven't appealed the sound 415 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,840 counsel to lead you. Like where has that gotten you? 416 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,400 When you've just listened to your own heart and your own 417 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,040 mind, has it gotten you to good faces and places? 418 00:22:54,700 --> 00:22:58,020 My bet is, is that the more you look at your life and the more 419 00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:00,820 you look at leadership decisions you made for your own life. 420 00:23:01,060 --> 00:23:06,300 And if you kept that pattern up, it would get you to a bad spot. 421 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:11,680 I was listening to comedian talk about this. 422 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,560 He said, man, I'm a bad leader of my own life. 423 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,160 I think I'm wise. I think I'm smart. 424 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,320 And then I make a decision and it blows up in my face. 425 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:28,720 That's what independence gets. You cling to the words of God 426 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,960 like your life depends on it. What do you cling to besides 427 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,680 Jesus? What is the thing that you cling 428 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:41,120 to, that you hold tightly, that you've glued yourself to, that 429 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:45,840 you're known for? Part of loyalty to God's words 430 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:50,680 is being known as a person who clings to them like our life 431 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:57,600 depends on it. So when you are clinging to God 432 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:01,480 like your life depends on it, why is it then that you're 433 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,120 clinging to Him? Search your heart. 434 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:07,240 When you do cling to God, it's because a crisis hit. 435 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,320 Is it because things aren't going your way? 436 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,160 It's because your comfort got rocked a bit. 437 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,000 That's a gift from God to help you cling to Him. 438 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:22,240 Good preaching and. When you're not clinging to God, 439 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,080 why not? What is it that you're looking 440 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:30,440 for? We need to cling to God's words 441 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:36,080 like our life depends on them. Third and finally, Joshua is 442 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,240 going to help us see that if we don't cling to God's Word, 443 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:45,120 there's a warning that if we don't cling to them, if we don't 444 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:49,800 keep them, if we abandoned them, we will watch everything fall 445 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,880 apart. How to be loyal to God's words? 446 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,920 It's not abandoning them. It's not putting them on the 447 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:02,400 shelf. It's not putting them as a part 448 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,920 of our life, it's giving our life to his words. 449 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:13,200 Verse 14 and now about to go the way of all the earth. 450 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,240 I'm 110. I'm a geezer. 451 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,000 I'm ready to die. And you know in your hearts and 452 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:23,360 souls, all of you, that not one word has failed. 453 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,480 Of all the good things that the Lord your God has promised 454 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:34,680 concerning you, not even 1.1 drop one iota. 455 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,480 Not a single promise of God has failed the Israelites. 456 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,280 He's wiped out and given them the good ground He promised 457 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,800 them. He's beaten walls and warriors. 458 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:49,720 There's nothing that can stand against him. 459 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,920 Not one of the promises of God has failed concerning you. 460 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,960 All have come to pass for you. Not one of them has failed. 461 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:02,320 But just look at verse 15. Just as all the good things that 462 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,440 the Lord God has promised concerning you have been 463 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:09,200 fulfilled, watch this, so the Lord will bring upon you all the 464 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,400 evil things until He has destroyed you from off this good 465 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:13,560 land of the Lord God has given you. 466 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:18,000 If here's the condition, if you transgress the covenant of the 467 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,520 Lord your God which commanded you, and serve other gods and 468 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:24,280 bow down to them. Then God's anger will. 469 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,120 Be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off 470 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:29,600 the good land that He has given to you. 471 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,040 This too. Is a promise from God. 472 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,080 A sobering. 1A Heavy one, but a real one. 473 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,320 It would be unloving of me to not tell you about this other 474 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,720 promise that if we transgress, if we sin against God, guess 475 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:53,560 what? Destruction would come, death 476 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,760 would come, the anger of God against sin, the justice of God 477 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,600 against sin would come. But listen to me. 478 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,440 The love of God has revealed something better. 479 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,720 Joshua's in the front of your Bible because it's foreshadowing 480 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,920 for us, the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, that Jesus name, 481 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,440 Yeshua. It's it's another version of the 482 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,200 name Joshua. And so this chapter is saying, 483 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,080 Hey, here's the what of his warning. 484 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,040 We need to keep God's words the where of his warning? 485 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,640 Like where do we need to keep God's words everywhere. 486 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:25,160 Why do we need to keep God's words? 487 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:26,600 Because we're going to cling to God's words always. 488 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,280 We're going to cling to something else and we cling to 489 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,120 something else. It's going to lead us to a place 490 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:32,640 we don't want to go. And if we are clinging to God 491 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,080 everywhere, keeping his words, then when do we need to do that? 492 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:42,960 He's saying right now. Because he has a who? 493 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,080 For this morning in mind, and it's you and me. 494 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,000 That if we abandoned. God's words we will watch 495 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,920 everything fall apart. The next book in your Bible is a 496 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,240 book called Judges. And judges. 497 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,160 Chapter 2, verse 10, Here's the next generation. 498 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,960 Here's what it says. And there arose another 499 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:08,480 generation who heard this speech from Joshua after them, who did 500 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,520 not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel. 501 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:16,040 That it can go that. Quick that this generation can 502 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,480 know God, and the next generation can miss the mark 503 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,120 entirely. They don't even know who God is. 504 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,160 It can happen that quick. And the reason that happens is 505 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,600 because our loyalty to God's words can come to an abrupt halt 506 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,600 in our life. We can stop being loyal in an 507 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:38,320 instant. We can abandoned them. 508 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,080 And watch everything fall apart. The book of Judges is a warning 509 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,560 for all of us, saying, hey, if you abandoned God's word, here's 510 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,240 what's going to happen. Everyone's going to do what's 511 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,360 right in their own eyes. Meaning there is. 512 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,640 No definition of truth, there's no definition of justice, 513 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,360 there's no definition of right and wrong. 514 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:02,920 There's just anarchy and chaos. Sounds a little bit like 2026 in 515 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:08,800 some ways. That's what's going to happen. 516 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,840 If we don't keep God's words, it's going to happen for our 517 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:13,520 kids in the world that we're building for them. 518 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:19,640 If we do not bow to the Word, if we abandoned God's words for 519 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,920 other words, listen to me, that's what's going to happen. 520 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,320 And I don't want that. World I don't want to raise my 521 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,800 kids in a world that where people bow to the world instead 522 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,480 of the word. That that's actually who? 523 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,680 We are as a church family that we are a people. 524 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:36,960 Guess what that went? That's why we're bold with the 525 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,760 Bible is that when the Word and the world disagree, I'm going to 526 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:45,200 pick what the Bible says. I will not abandon what God has 527 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,080 said. You will not abandon what God 528 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:47,680 has said. Why? 529 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,280 Because we're people who are loyal to God's words. 530 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,520 We're going to explore them. We're going to devour them. 531 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,440 We're going to eat them. We're going to chew on them. 532 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,880 We are going to read them and learn them and know them. 533 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,000 We are going to have people who grow in God's Word together. 534 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,080 We won't abandoned. This book ever. 535 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:07,800 And if we do, permission to fire me? 536 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,720 It's just the way. Of how God wants us to live our 537 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:16,800 lives. Depend upon it. 538 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,120 What I think is interesting. Here in the text, is it, like I 539 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,840 said, it is foreshadowing Jesus Christ and Joshua. 540 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,640 Here he's saying he's on his deathbed and he's exhibiting 541 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,960 loyalty to God's Word so that we could understand that Jesus was 542 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,880 loyal onto his deathbed as well. Don't you see the wonder of it? 543 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,920 Jesus's loyalty to God's words never faltered. 544 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,960 It never failed. His righteousness actually paid 545 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,360 for all the times we're going to be disloyal to God's words. 546 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,640 You aren't going to keep God's words perfectly. 547 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,240 You are going to struggle, you are going to sin, you are going 548 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,120 to suffer. You are going to experience all 549 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:53,440 that the fallen world has to give. 550 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,720 But guess what? You have a Saviour who is loyal 551 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,520 to God perfectly. You have a Christ, you have a 552 00:30:58,520 --> 00:30:59,440 Messiah. You have. 553 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,320 Good news is that you don't have to be perfectly loyal to God's 554 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,880 words because there was somebody who was for you and he went to 555 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,080 your place on a cross to die for your sins. 556 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,600 He rose again, conquering sin and death forever, all so that 557 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,800 you could be counted loyal before God. 558 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,440 That even the most disloyal among us, the ones who have 559 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,320 sinned the most and been disloyal the most to God, listen 560 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,880 to me. You could be called. 561 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,560 Loyal. Not because of anything. 562 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,280 You've done, but because of what he's done. 563 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:30,800 His. Deathbed was not the end. 564 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:34,680 He's not dead. He's alive. 565 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:39,560 He kept his word again, and on the third day he was raised 566 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,960 according to the scriptures. And right now he is ruling and 567 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,440 reigning and calling to many of you right now, saying, guess 568 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:46,960 what? Come be loyal to me. 569 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,800 Come be loyal to my words. Come, cling to them. 570 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:50,480 Come keep them. Come do them. 571 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:52,960 Because that is the hope of every single human heart. 572 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,080 God is calling you. Today he's drawing you in and 573 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,240 he's saying, listen to me, cling to me. 574 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,400 Stop clinging to your work, Stop clinging to your status. 575 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,760 Stop clinging to the words of that podcast and start clinging 576 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:12,960 to my book. Be known as. 577 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,960 Being loyal to that above all else, that's one of the best 578 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,920 reputations you can have, is a person who is loyal to God's 579 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,840 words. That people can guess. 580 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,160 What you're going to think about things. 581 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:27,400 Why? Because they know you're loyal 582 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,240 to the book. That you've pledged. 583 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,720 Allegiance to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that you 584 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,640 committed your way to Christ. You cling to Christ above all 585 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:42,840 else. And that means you won't. 586 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,560 Abandoned them because he won't abandoned you. 587 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:53,000 Immanuel Kant, the philosopher, says this, that the existence of 588 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,600 the Bible as a book for the people is the greatest benefit 589 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,680 which the human race has ever experienced. 590 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,920 Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity. 591 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:16,360 Don't belittle your. Bible, pray and ask God for you 592 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,480 to crave it. To be faithful. 593 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,920 To it to. Find areas where you're. 594 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,400 Not obeying and keeping it, He'll show you. 595 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:29,880 My pastor growing up. He would say often when he'd get 596 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,280 into the pulpit, he'd say this is my Bible. 597 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,640 I am who it says I am, I can do what it says I can do, and I am 598 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,080 going where it says I'm going to go. 599 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,280 This is my Bible. This is my. 600 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,440 Bible, Why don't you? Actually, why don't you grab 601 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:46,880 your Bibles? Whether it's on a phone or on a 602 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,160 Bible, let's say it together, This is my Bible. 603 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,480 I am who it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. 604 00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,760 I'm going where? It says I'll go. 605 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,560 Let's be loyal to it. Let's pray, Lord, thank you for 606 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,240 your book. Thank you that it's a book for 607 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:10,440 us, that it isn't just for us for now, but God is your words 608 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:14,480 that are enduring forever. Then in Psalm 1. 19 You say that 609 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,679 the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul that the 610 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:21,960 testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, but the 611 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,159 precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the 612 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:30,400 commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes that the 613 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,679 fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever, that the rules 614 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:36,400 of the Lord are true and righteous. 615 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,840 Altogether more to be desired are God's words than gold, even 616 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,040 much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of 617 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,679 the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant 618 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,840 is warned, and keeping them there is great reward. 619 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,719 Who can discern their own heirs? God, declare us innocent from 620 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,120 our hidden faults. Keep us back from presumptuous 621 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,000 sins. Let them not have dominion over 622 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,840 us anymore. Then we shall be blameless and 623 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,880 innocent of great transgression. Let the words of our mouth and 624 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,880 the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O 625 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,480 Lord, my rock and Redeemer. God, will we believe in God's 626 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:17,560 words like that? That if somebody were to offer 627 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,760 us a pile of gold or a pot or a pile of Bibles, we take the 628 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,840 Bible because we believe in the value in the treasure of it. 629 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:28,440 It would be the thing we cling to, our security and our rest 630 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,920 and our joy wouldn't be in our bank accounts or our follower 631 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,000 counts, but it would be in the reality that there's a God who 632 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,640 has spoken and that he has been loyal to us. 633 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,840 He has been faithful to us to give us a book where we can know 634 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,160 Him and love him and cherish him. 635 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:49,520 God, would you be our treasure. And would your words. 636 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:55,920 Not just collect dust on our bookshelf, but would we actually 637 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,280 cling to them? Like a rock. 638 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,400 Climber climbing the side of a wall, free soloing. 639 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,560 Would we hold them fast? Hold them strong? 640 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:11,880 God. Would you hold? 641 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,080 Us in the meantime. Until that day when we're. 642 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,000 Made perfect and perfectly loyal. 643 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,320 We'll be faithful. We'll be loyal because you're 644 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:22,640 worth it. So God help us to not just 645 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:24,600 believe that these are your words. 646 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,200 But would we keep them? In Jesus name, Amen.