Overcoming the Giant of a Divided Heart | Joshua 24
Overcoming Giants • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Meet our candidate.
Alex Pulido is our candidate for the Associate Pastor position. He will preach at all three services on Sunday, March 3, 2024. We will offer a Q&A time with the congregation at 9:30 AM in the Main Sanctuary. If the Lord were to confirm Alex for the role, the next step would be to have a congregational vote at our annual meeting on April 7, 2024.
Alex is originally from Mexico, and Julie is from Michigan. They currently live in Michigan.
Alex and Julie have been married for sixteen years and have four children.
He understands the dynamics of immigrants living in the USA. Alex and Julie are both bilingual.
He has an M.A. in Christian Ministry from Liberty University. He has a heart for missions and outreach.
He is currently volunteering, preaching, and teaching at a Spanish-speaking church.
Pray
Today we arrive at the end of our sermon series Overcoming Giants: 7 Keys to a life of success and transformation.
Today we arrive at the Giant of a Divided Heart.
I believe that the first and the last chapters of Joshua (1 & 24) are the most quoted verses found in Christian home decor:
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Joshua 24:15 “Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Perhaps you have one or both at your house. Great verses!
The words found in Joshua 24:15 are part of a larger portion of the book of Joshua
Overview of Joshua 21-24
Chapter 21: The Lord is faithful to his promises.
Chapter 22-24: Love the Lord and serve him faithfully.
Chapter 21: The Lord is Faithful to his promises
Chapter 21: The Lord is Faithful to his promises
There is a lot of geographical references made in Joshua 14-21. It makes you wonder how all these geographical locations have to do with our spiritual transformation.
The answer is found in the closing verses of Joshua 21:43–45 “43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”
What comes next is a call to respond to God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Love the Lord and serve him faithfully (Ch. 22-23)
Love the Lord and serve him faithfully (Ch. 22-23)
The beginning phrase for chapters 22, 23, 24 begin with the phrase, “Joshua summoned.”
Each time Joshua summons God’s people he calls them to respond to God’s grace.
Joshua 22:5 “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.””
Joshua 23:11 “Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.”
Joshua 24:14–15 “14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””
Joshua 21-24 is a picture of the gospel. We are called to respond in light of what God has done.
But, there is a giant that wants to divide our love and devotion for God. I call him, the Giant of a Divided Heart. You can understand more of how this giant operates in Joshua 24.
I want to spend the rest of our time in Joshua 24.
In Joshua 24:1 we read that Joshua summoned (third time) all the tribes of Israel along with all the leaders (the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers) in Schechem.
Joshua 24 are the word of a man who has come to the end of his journey in life. We would benefit greatly to hear these words, for I believe, they contain the secret for a life of success and transformation.
Joshua wants to address one thing and one thing only on this third and final meeting with God’s people: choose carefully whom you will serve. Another giant that the Israelites, and us, will have to face is the Giant of a Divided Heart.
The Giant of a Divided Heart
The Giant of a Divided Heart
Distinctives
It’s perpetually undecided.
It’s perpetually undecided.
Joshua says, “Choose this day whom you’ll serve.” It’s a call to make up their mind.
Joshua draws the proverbial line in the sand. There are only two options.
We see something similar in 1 Kings 18:21 where we find the prophet Elijah confronting God’s people at Mount Carmel: “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
It has been said that the most miserable Christians are the ones who want the best of both worlds: one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the world.
The Giant of a Divided Heart says, “Lord Jesus, I will follow you but I also want to follow and serve other things that offer joy, security and satisfaction.”
Half-hearted Christians are miserable Christians.
“But as for me…”
A second distinctive…
Loves feeding on a buffet-style religion.
Loves feeding on a buffet-style religion.
Listen to Joshua’s words again in v. 15, “Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.”
Joshua says, “Choose this day whom you will serve; you can either serve the Lord God or the gods of your fathers. But you cannot do both.”
The temptation for the Israelites is to start mixing elements of other religions with their own. This is called syncretism.
Syncretism is dangerous!
Exodus 23:31–33 “… for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
The easiest way for me to explain syncretism is that it works like a buffet: I’ll take some of this and some of that.”
The motto of buffet-style religion is “do what’s right for you and works for you.” In other words, “Create you own morality based on your personal preferences.”
Every generation of God’s people faces the temptation of syncretism.
“In our desire to be “with it” or contemporary in our practices and beliefs, we yield to the temptation of being conformed to the patterns of this world. We accept pagan practices and ideas and seek to “baptize them.”” (The Reformation Study Bible).
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites wanted the best of both worlds. We see what happens when individuals and a nation goes with a custom man-made religion: “Follow your heart” and “Be true to yourself.”
Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
A buffet-style religion is a custom man-made religion which is exactly what the enemy wants.
Possesses an unclear identity.
Possesses an unclear identity.
This is a logical consequence. A divided heart fails to know its true identity.
When the heart is divided, you won’t know who you really are.
You can’t decide what team you’re on.
You don’t know what uniform to put on.
You act single even though you are married.
You have two sets of friends that you keep separate.
You have two vocabularies depending on where you are.
You know how to fit in wherever you happen to be.
You are like the proverbial chameleon, changing your colors so you will always blend in.
Living with a divided heart messes up the mind eventually. When you join the devil’s team, you won’t feel comfortable going back to the Lord’s locker room at halftime. (Ray Pritchard, The Undivided Heart)
How to overcome the Giant of a Divided Heart
How to overcome the Giant of a Divided Heart
First
Let the gospel be the fuel and the engine of your heart.
Let the gospel be the fuel and the engine of your heart.
Joshua summoned the nation of Israel at Shechem (A very significant place).
Genesis 12:6–7 “6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”
Now in Joshua 24 we see the offspring of Abraham seeing the promised fulfilled.
Joshua says in v. 14, “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.”
“Therefore” connecting the previous verses.
Abraham
Joshua 24:2–3 “2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.”
The Exodus
Joshua 24:4–7 “4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out. 6 “ ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time.”
The Promised Land
Joshua 24:8–13 “8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’”
Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him with sincerity. This is the only appropriate response to God’s grace.
We see a similar pattern in the NT. One example is found in Romans.
Romans 12:1–2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Let the gospel be the fuel and the engine of your heart.
Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Make Jesus your ultimate treasure
Make Jesus your ultimate treasure
Joshua 24:14 “14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”
Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Israelites responded to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:19–20 “19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.””
We are not able to serve the Lord on our own power and strength.
Conclusion:
Joshua 24:23 “23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.””
A prayer of surrender: Psalm 86:11
A prayer of surrender: Psalm 86:11
“Unite my heart to fear your name.” (ESV)
“Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.” (MSG)