Word of Salvation – Vol. 26 No. 20 – January 1981

 

Promises Kept And Promises To Keep

 

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Marten H. Woudstra on

Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:1-33

Josh. 21:45 & 24:24

Not one of all the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve and his voice we will obey.

Psalter Hymnal: 36; 446; 222; 482; 493

 

Congregation, Promises kept! That could be written as a title over the book of Joshua. It is a book which speaks of God's faithfulness. What God had promised hundreds of years ago to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob concerning the land of Canaan, that had now come to pass. Abraham himself had only seen it from a distance. He had been in the land but he had not owned it. The only thing he owned was a parcel of land to serve as burial ground for his wife. For the rest: he looked for the city which has foundations. His faith looked up to God and it looked forward into the future.

But now, look at the change. The Jordan river has been crossed. Jericho's walls have fallen. Ai has been conquered. Gibeon comes to ask for a treaty. Israel battles with an alliance of Canaan's kings, and Israel wins the battle. The sun and the moon fight on Israel's side. The LORD fights for Israel.

Yes, this is the message of this joyful book; this book is full of hope and confidence: God gives the land to his people. Only because he gives it is Israel able to take it.

When the fighting is done God tells Joshua to divide the land by lot so that each will know what is his. And so it is done: Judah goes here; Benjamin somewhere else; Ephraim, Manasseh and all the other tribes get their share of the land.

Now the land was more than just so many square miles of real estate. Israel knew that the land which it received was God's land. The land is mine, says God in Leviticus, and you are strangers and sojourners, with me. Israel was permitted to enjoy the land and to sit under fig trees and olive trees. But the believing Israelite knew that there was something more important than that. Just read Ps.16 and see how the Old Testament believer expresses himself about the lot he had received.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cupthou holdest my lotThe lines have fallen unto me in pleasant placesyes, I have a goodly heritage.

And a little later he exclaims:

Thou hast shown me the path of life,in thy presence is fulness of joy,in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

You see, the Old Testament believer at his best knew that behind the lot he received stood God, his God, the God of rescue and of salvation, the God who is with us in life and in death and beyond death. So when the lot had decided where each of the tribes is to go, the writer of Joshua calls our attention to the faithfulness of God. Not one of all the good promises God had made failed, so he says. It all came to pass.

We do not know exactly when the book of Joshua was written. Some think that Joshua himself wrote it, or at least most of it. Others believe it was written later. We need not settle that question. For one thing we know and that is what Paul tells us in the New Testament:

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Joshua's message is one of encouragement and hope. It is the message of the rest that awaits the children of God. The church today is the place where that rest is enjoyed. Joshua could not actually make the people enter into the rest that had been promised. That other Joshua, Jesus, led his people into Canaan in a way in which the first Joshua was unable to do.

Yet we would go wrong if we left the book of Joshua now and spoke only of Jesus. God's work is one. Jesus cannot be understood without Joshua, and without David and Solomon and Isaiah. Jesus becomes a big question mark if he is not what the Bible says he is: The fulfilment of all that the Scriptures have spoken.

Promises Kept. God is faithful. Not one of the good things he has spoken fails. It all comes to pass.

The years that now lie behind us were not always easy years. Individually you as Christian believers had to make a new start in a strange land. Old friendships and families had to be broken.

Yet in our hearts there was the silent confidence and the sure hope. God will not forsake his own. He keeps his promises. He has kept them by giving us the rest of the second Joshua which he acquired for us. And so, through many a trial, many a hardship, through suffering and at times defeat, there was the light that beckoned, the prospect of the safe harbor in the midst of the turbulence and the storm.

Israel had to know this. For things would not always be rosy. When Israel went to serve other gods, the enemy came and punished her. Don't you think that those who really loved the LORD would then read and re-read these words about the promises of God? What else was there to cling to? What else is there to cling to even today? Surely, we have overcome these early handicaps of making a new start in a new land. But what of the prospects of the future and what of the present? There certainly would be every reason to say; What of the future? What will become of us, and of our children and grandchildren? Tensions abound on every side. Mighty nations arm themselves to the teeth. And in the spiritual realm, how small and weak the Christian witness looks at times when we think of the bulwarks of modern learning, our schools and academies and universities. Let us not be blind to the many forces that seek to harm the church of God.

Yet, we may not lose courage. Certainly not on a day like this. Our own church may be seen as a small part of God's great work here on earth. He kept his promises in spite of much that threatened within and without. A generation of believers was born here and received the sign of his faithfulness in holy baptism. These have now grown and have filled the ranks of adult believers. They themselves have children of their own. Humanly speaking, it is impossible. What a chances to go wrong, to lose courage, to choose the ways of least resistance. But no, though it happened in the lives of some, there were many others in whose lives it did not happen.

Yes, we may speak not only of God's promises that were kept but also of those of men. Israel was given the land by God, yet Israel was called upon to take it. There was fighting to be done, faith to be exercised, fear to be banished. When Israel stood at Sinai, forty years before, they solemnly pledged allegiance to the LORD of the covenant: All that the LORD has told. us we will do, they had said. And at the beginning of the book of Joshua we again read: "all that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”

And so it went. Israel did show courage in the face of danger. And when one of them took of the forbidden thing, Israel struck down that man. God's promises are kept to people who keep their promises. Do we not read somewhere in the NEW Testament that Jesus coming to a certain city, could not do many signs there because of the people's unbelief?

No, I do not make of the covenant a fifty-fifty proposition. Half of it from God, the other half from us. The covenant is one of grace. And grace means to live from given things, to hold out an empty hand and ask God to fill it.

Yet the Bible knows of the new man who in principle at least seeks to walk in the way of God's law, who does not stand with scoffers, nor sit in the counsel of the ungodly, but his delight is in the law of God and on that law he meditates day and night.

Some of that is found in every good church. By the grace of God it has been found in this church. We also may speak of that goodness of God which worked itself out in the lives of men, woman, young people, who fought the fight, ran the race and strove for the crown of victory. Some already have received that crown, others are still reaching for it.

We may speak of fathers and mothers who sought to lead their little ones to Jesus. We may speak of children and young people who wanted to be different from other children and young people because the LORD was more precious to them than silver or gold, than good clothes and a fancy car. We may speak of elders and deacons who carried out their God-given task in humble and faithful service for God and kingdom. We may speak of ministers who preached the Word, catechized the young, visited the sick, comforted the dying, admonished the wayward,

Promises Kept: God kept His and we, with much weakness and human frailty kept ours.

But Joshua is not only the book of Promises Kept, it also clearly tells us promises to keep. It speaks of an inheritance that was acquired, but it also speaks of an inheritance that must be kept.

And the people said to Joshua: "The LORD our God we will serve and his voice we will obey.”

That is one of the most moving chapters in the Old Testament; perhaps in the whole Bible. Joshua is old. He calls the people together. He rehearses with them the great acts of God: the call of Abraham, the sending of Moses, the deliverance from Egypt, the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea, the crossing of Jordan, the granting of the land, a land on which Israel had not laboured, and cities which they had not built.

Then comes the solemn charge: Now then fear the LORD. Choose you this day whom you will serve. The people promise they will serve the LORD, for he is their God.

But then Joshua, apparently thinking that the promise is too glibly made, says these remarkable words: You cannot serve the LORD; for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.

Taken out of context these words are startling, almost forbidding. You cannot serve the LORD. He is holy. He is jealous, He will not forgive.

In other words, don't be glib about it. This is a serious matter. Be aware of what you are saying. When you promise to serve and love God be sure you know who the God is that you say you will love and serve. He tolerates no rival loyalties. He is holy and jealous. But we would not have it otherwise, really, would we?

Is there any other God worth serving, is there any other god worth trusting for life and death, in health and sickness, in riches and in poverty, except the God who says, I am God and no one else. You are to have no other gods before me!?

Israel would not have it otherwise. Israel says to Joshua: Nay, but we will serve the LORD. Then Joshua urges them to put away the foreign gods that are even now among them. And he calls upon them to be witnesses against themselves that they have chosen the LORD to serve him.

And that is what Israel is willing to be: a witness against itself. This means, they are in effect swearing an oath to the promise they make: THE LORD OUR GOD WE WILL SERVE AND HIS VOICE WE WILL OBEY.

Then there is the renewal of the covenant, the writing of the covenant document, the setting up of a stone of memorial.

Memorial stones had been set up throughout the book of Joshua, in the Jordan, on the bank of Jordan, at Jericho which had to lie in ruins, at Ai and at the cave where the five kings had been caught. Here is the last and most important one of all the memorials. It speaks of Promises to Keep. Behold, says Joshua, this stone shall be witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.

Yes, there are promises to keep for Israel. Only if Israel keeps these promises is her future in Canaan secure. Otherwise there would be invasion of foreign troops, famine and plague, and ultimately expulsion from the land.

Let us be reminded not only of promises that were kept but also for those we must keep. The God we serve is still the same as he was in Joshua's days He is holy and he demands exclusive service. He will not share His honour with any idol whatever its shape or form may be.

He is worth serving. Promises made to him are worth keeping. True joy and happiness result when we devote all that we have and all that we are to him. Putting him second place next to our career, our family, our comfort and ease, is to deny him. Idolatry, so we have always confessed, is to put in the place of the one true God something or someone else in which to trust.

Calvinism perhaps more than any other expression of Christianity has sought to put God first. Calvinism has striven to pursue the honour of God. As Calvinists we have come to Australia for such a time as this. By the grace of God we already have kept promises and, so we believe humbly, Australia has benefited from that. But the danger of a narrowing of vision is present. Individualism which is rife in church and religious circles often makes us its easy prey. When that happens the Christian faith becomes solely something between God and the soul. The wider implications of the faith tend to be lost sight of.

Personal testimony tends to take the place of God's sure testimony. Yet, personal testimony is human, fallible, changeable. God's testimony is reliable and certain. God says of the children of believers, they are mine, and I want you to set them apart with the holy sign of Baptism. We prefer to say in response: But, Lord, are you, sure, why not wait till the child itself confesses you. Isn't baptism much more meaningful at that time? The answer must be: Yes it is, if indeed the Christian faith centres in what the Christian does and says and confesses. But the answer is no, if the Christian faith is saying "Amen" to what God does and says. Just read this last chapter of Joshua and see: It is God-centred first of all, and only then is it man-centred.

God first loved me, that is what all Christians deep down in their heart confess and believe. But Calvinists by the grace of God have said this more consistently than have other Christians. With Romans 5:8 we say, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

There are promises to keep. But thanks be to God, the keeping of our promises is done with the help of God who always keeps His first. If it were not so where would we be, where would we have been in the past?

We may even say: God's promises haven't all been kept yet. In Joshua's days God says: there remains yet very much land to be possessed (13:1). And so the next book in the Bible begins with the question: Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them? Then the LORD says: Judah shall go up. Behold I have given the land into his hand.

You see, that writer in Joshua who said that none of the promises had failed and that all had come to pass was an idealist. But the reality was such that there was need for further conquest. But God is there. Just as before he assures the people: I have given the land into his hand.

Our life as individuals, our life as a church, is lived under the promises of God.

The first Joshua led Israel into an earthly Canaan. The second Joshua, Jesus Christ, leads all God's people into a better Canaan, a heavenly. As pilgrims to that eternal destiny let us march together under the banner of Christ, having our eyes fixed on heaven and doing our work here on earth, keeping our promises to him and to reach other in the certain knowledge that He keeps his promises to us.

Amen.