Joshua 23:1-16

To log onto UNITYINCHRIST.COM’S BLOG, Click Here

Share on Facebook

Joshua 23:1-16

“And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. 2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age: 3 and ye have seen all that the LORD hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you. 4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. 5 And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you. 6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right or to the left; 7 that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: 8 but cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day. 9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. 12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: 13 know for a certainty that the LORD you God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you, all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. 15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 16 When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath give unto you.”

Introduction: Your Work Is Not Done When You’re Old

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED627]

“Chapter 23 now, “And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.” (verse 1) now we’ve been told that about him once before. There’s at least 17 years between the end of chapter 22 and the beginning of chapter 23. So there’s a number of years involved here. Back in chapter 13, in verse 1, it said “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years,” now that was a long time before this. So if Joshua was old and stricken in years then, he must really look bad at this point, he’s like double-old and double-stricken here. It says ‘Joshua was old and stricken in age, he’s 110 years old here,’ you can imagine this old warrior, this amazing old warrior. And it says “And Joshua called for all Israel,” now he probably, I imagine gathered them to Shiloh, it’s not specific, in the next chapter he gathered them to Shechem, here it would seem to be Shiloh. “And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:” (verse 2) and they said, ‘We know,’ and he’s going to say ‘It’s time for me to go the way of all the earth,’ he’s going to say to them in this chapter, ‘it’s time for me to leave this world.’ And what memories this man has, from the days in Egypt, as a young man, seeing Moses. Did he know Moses before he disappeared? I don’t know that, Moses coming back, Joshua being there, seeing the Nile turned to blood, seeing the plagues come upon Egypt, seeing Goshen in sunlight and Egypt in blackness, that Joshua was there on the Passover night, and heard the cries as the angel of death went through. Joshua was there in that great throng headed out of Egypt, overloaded with silver and gold. He was there at the parting of the Red Sea, just imagine what this man had seen. And there are not many around him that have seen any of that. He had seen the manna fall, for decades. He’s seen the water coming from the rock, and had led the battle there [against Amalek]. He had seen the quail coming in at Kibroth-hatavah, he had turned away from Kedesh-barnea with a broken heart, wanted to go in with Caleb and take the land, 38 years of wandering after that. He had watched Moses walk up to Mount Pisgah, his mentor, his friend, a man that he loved. And he had led the children of Israel then into the Promised Land as an older man, the Jordan River parting, just think of his memories, and he says ‘I’m old,’ he’s looking at them now, another generation, what memories. He says “And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.” the Mediterranean, the entire land, “And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.” (verses 3-5) Isn’t it interesting, he says ‘the LORD shall expel, and you shall possess,’ he’s giving them this exhortation. He remembers no doubt back in Deuteronomy 31 where the LORD said ‘After you, Joshua, after you’re done conquering the land, the generations to come are going to turn away, and they’re going to turn to idols and I’m gonna drive them out of the land,’ Joshua, an old man, thinking of all that. Listen, he’s a hundred and ten years old, he’s not thinking ‘Man, my job is done, I’m going to spend the last few days in Club Med, then I’m lying down and going to heaven.’ No, he isn’t done. He is a treasure-trove of the faithfulness of God, from Egypt through the desert, through these conquests, he is this old man, and he is not done at all. Again, we mentioned several weeks ago, that George Mueller, at 71 years old decided to be a missionary, and traveled for 17 years, over 200,000 miles without a plane, 42 countries, over 4,000 sermons, and came back and settled down again when he was 87, and then till he died in his 90s, he preached six times a week or something, you know, cut his schedule way back [so I guess you’re not retiring anytime soon, Pastor Joe]. You read the journals of John Wesley, the things he did at 81 years old, at 86 he said “I’m grieved with myself,” because at 81 he said “My eyes are wearing out, and it bothers me, because when I sit down with the Scripture I can only read fifteen or sixteen hours before my eyes start to give out.” ‘At 81 years old I can only read the Bible 15 or 16 hours a day, then my eyes start to bother me.’ At 86 he said he was discouraged with himself, because he said “Some mornings now I sleep until 5:30 before I get up and start to pray.” Shame on me. And because you’re 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 here doesn’t mean your work is done, your-work-is-not-done, if you are breathing and you have a pulse and you’re walking around, the Holy Spirit wants your frame, he wants your hands to be the hands of Jesus, your feet to be the feet of Jesus, your tongue to be the tongue of Jesus, your heart to be the heart of Jesus, you are not done. And Joshua is a hundred and ten years old here, and instead of just laying down and dying, he calls these tribes together to give them an exhortation. He’s still ministering, still exhorting, still serving. He says ‘The LORD your God, he shall expel the rest of them, the one’s that remain, from before you, and he’s gonna drive them out of your sight, and you’re going to go in and possess the land. He’ll do the expelling, you do the possessing,’ which they failed at, “as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.”

Follow The Law & Don’t Fraternize With The Natives

Now listen, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right or to the left;” (verse 6) now look, back in chapter 1, he had been exhorted “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee,” God speaking, “turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper wheresoever thou goest,” (Joshua 1:7) now he’s telling them the same exhortation he had received many years before this. Look, you all should have here a life-verse or two. I have several, and they mean a great deal to me, and they probably wouldn’t mean anything to you, but there was a time in my life, and they were given to me, it wasn’t from a tape and it wasn’t from a Bible commentary, and they just came alive off the page and they were filled with meaning, and it was meaning that the Lord gave to it, before my heart and before my mind. And I will always carry those, they always mean something to me. And no doubt this old man, at 110, he quotes this verse from way back in chapter 1, because God had spoken it to him, now he’s saying the same thing to them these many years later. He had lived his life this way, “Be ye therefore very courageous” to do what? ‘to keep and to do all that is written in the Book, the Scripture, the law of Moses.’ Let me tell you something, in this world, and I’m talking to myself and to everyone here, you need to be very courageous, to keep and to do everything written in the Scripture, because that world out there is becoming more and more antagonistic to the things of God, and to his calling on your life, and to holiness and righteousness, and to moral purity, and to the standards of Scripture. And to keep those things this day, you need to be very courageous. And he says it here, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep” notice “and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;” and he himself had lived that way, “that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: but cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.” (verses 6-8) this old warrior. I wonder if he’s got a sword in his hand when he’s saying this, you know? “For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.” (verse 9) Why would you want any other God? Notice, “One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.” (verse 10) that’s a great verse, isn’t it? One man of you, one woman of you, shall chase a thousand, “for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.” and he’s thinking of the Captain of the LORD’s host that met him in the plains at Gilgal. “Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.” (verse 11) that’s the center, the heart. Now this (what’s coming) is scary, “Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations,” the idolatrous nations “even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you;” if you mix with them and marry them and accept their gods, God’s not going to drive them out from before you, “but they shall be snares and traps unto you,” that speaks of a trap that’s baited, you’re gonna be baited, if you compromise, and if you accept the standards of the culture that we live in, instead of the standards of God’s Word, that world is going to bait you, and you will be baited, snares and traps, he says it right here, secondly, “and scourges in your sides,” you will be wounded, and I could line people up to tell you, how often someone in our fellowship comes back, they got involved in something they shouldn’t have gotten involved in, their heart got involved, their physical being, and they come back broken, they come back wounded, God says it here, you will be baited, you will be wounded, and then he says, “and thorns in your eyes,” you will be blinded, “until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.” (verses 12-13) And I’m thankful we’re not perishing, we’re washed in the blood, but there certainly is a personal challenge to us, that you don’t want to wake up one day alone, and realize you’re backslidden. Because he’s not going to be with you. If you go out and hang with them, and fraternize with them, and accept their standards and their gods, he says ‘I can’t enter into that,’ you’re going to wake up one day, baited, wounded, blinded, you’re going to realize you’re alone, ‘and I’m not with you.’ A shocking experience.

Joshua Gives A Serious Warning To Israel

Joshua says “And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.” (verse 14) Joshua says this, ‘I’m going the way everybody goes, I’m going the way of all the earth,’ and so are you, and so am I, unless the Trumpet blows and we’re lifted out, airlift. But if the Lord tarries and we keep breathing, we’re gonna go in the way of all the earth. I’m thankful, aren’t you, that I’m not going uninformed, I know, that Paul says I’ve kept the faith, I’ve fought the good fight, there’s a crown of righteousness, I’m not going uninformed, I’ve heard from those who have gone, Peter says ‘I’m putting you in remembrance of those things, knowing that I must shortly put off this tabernacle,’ and he speaks about that. He says that he’s longing that we would have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God. I’m glad that as we go, we go with expectancy of an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, it fades not away. We don’t go uninformed. Again, the morning I watched my dad die and draw his last breath, I had several things that immediately came into my mind, one was, what does an unbeliever do? That is what it is all about, whatever is on the other side of that breath is what life is all about. [Comment: the various parts of the Body of Christ have differing beliefs about the “unsaved dead,” to read some of those views, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] Secondly, I thought, no parents should ever have to watch their child do that, just I was overwhelmed with the experience, and I thought how hopeless an unbeliever must be. Joshua says this day I’m going the way of all the earth. That’s why he’s exhorting them, that’s why he’s called them together. He’s going to say the final things, he loves them, he has concern for them, he has seen, he says ‘Not one thing has failed of all what God’s said,’ he says ‘I’ve watched it, from the Nile River turning to blood, I’ve watched it from the beginning all the way to now, and I’ll tell you, not one thing ever failed.’ And he says, “ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls,” that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? You know, it’s interesting, people can compromise and sin, and they can give you the most remarkable stories you’ve ever heard. But you know, that in their heart, and in their soul, they know. On Sunday morning, when there’s an invitation, some people respond, and the reason they respond is in their heart and in their soul, they know, and it’s inescapable. They know that what God has said is true. You know, and sometimes you feel like doing that in counseling, it’s just so much easier, ‘Don’t tell me that, in all your heart and in all your soul, you know that is baloney.’ You can’t do that, but I just, Joshua could do it. He says ‘You know, in all your hearts and in all your souls, where it’s undeniable, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you, all are come to pass unto you, not one thing has failed thereof.’ No excuses, you know it in your heart, you know it in your soul. “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.” (verse 15) Of course they were destroyed from off this good land [the ten northern tribes, comprised of Ephraim, Manasseh, Gad, Reuben, Naphtali, Asher, Benjamin, Zebulun, Dan and Simeon] by the Assyrians [in 721BC], [and Judah] by the Babylonians [and later the Roman Empire in 70AD and 135AD]. What he’s saying is, ‘Hey, God made you all these promises ahead of time, God told you if you walk in my Word, you keep my Word, if you don’t turn to the right, don’t turn to the left, you do this, I’ll bless you, I’ll bring you into the land, I’ll destroy all the nations before you, I’ll give you this land I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ and he said ‘Not one single thing has failed.’ But what that means is he’s faithful to his Word, and the other thing he’s said, ‘If you turn away, you’re going to be miserable, you’re my children, I can’t let you be out there living in sin, I can’t endorse that, I can’t bless that.’ He says ‘If you go, then know this, the other side is also true, the sword swings both ways, if you go out there and you worship other gods, God is ultimately going to drive from off the good land he’s given you.’ And he knew that in his heart, Joshua, and with his last breath he wanted to say to them, because he had seen all of God’s faithfulness from Egypt, through everything, and he wants to say to them, you need to walk with him, he’s given you victory, there’s nothing that fails of what the LORD says. ‘But know this, if you turn the other way, his Word will stand then, it also will not fail, and he’ll have to drive you from the good land that he’s given you.’ “When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.” (verse 16)

The Greatest Danger For Israel Back Then Is Our Greatest Danger Now

Joshua, a great leader. He’s saying your greatest danger is not military, and it is not economic, Joshua is telling them the truth, the greatest danger is spiritual and moral. The failures there will bring every other thing upon you, the greatest danger to you as a nation, he’s saying to these people gathered around him, is not military and is not economic, it is spiritual, it is moral. There’s certain things we want to take note of here, listen. In his warning, he’s honest, first of all he says, there is the possibility of going back, he said that, look up in verse 12, “Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:” he warns them, don’t do that, there is the possibility of people doing that, you know people that have, a nation can do that, we’re talking about that, and an individual can do that. [Comment: Look at the entire history of the two kingdoms, after they divided in the days of Rehoboam, the ten tribed Kingdom of Israel to the north, and the Kingdom of Judah to the south, they ended up doing verses 11-12 of Joshua 23. The marriage of king Ahab of the kingdom of Israel, he married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess who was the head priestess of Baal, look at their long history, leading into captivity and ultimate deportation from the Promised Land. See and read through this entire Old Testament history series beginning at https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html] And I’m so thankful we’re under a better covenant, I’m so thankful that God wins that wrestling match in the long run, but the danger here, he’s saying, you may go back. Secondly, he says, there are problems of going back, there’s the possibility of going back, in verse 12, and there’s the problems of going back, snares and traps, you’re going to be baited, you’re going to be wounded, you’re going to be blinded, you’re going to loose your vision, you not going to see spiritually anymore, there’s the problems of going back. And there’s the perishing from going back, from off the land, he said you’re going to perish from off this land. You know, this is what God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all of his Word has come to pass, not one bit of it has failed, here you are, but sadly, here are the possibilities, there’s the possibility of turning back, there’s a possibility of loosing the blessing and having problems, there’s the possibility of perishing, there is the possibility of defeat, of discomfort, and of disgrace. That’s what he says to these people, theirs is the possibility of defeat, discomfort and of disgrace.

Victory Is In The Word Of God & Spiritual Separation

Victory, on the other hand, for them, for us no doubt as a nation or as individuals, victory, he says is the Word of God. Verse 6, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left” first exhortation is, you have an open book test, you have the Word of God, you have it. Don’t turn away from it. Secondly, he says, separation, he says in verse 7, “that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them” don’t mingle with them, light and darkness don’t mingle, Paul in 2^nd Corinthians chapter 6 tells us much about this. What common ground is there, if you’re going out and hanging with your old unsaved friends, you should be there as an evangelist, you’re not there to fellowship with them, because you have different values morally, you have different values spiritually, you’re not there to smoke dope with them or drink with them or get involved with them anymore, you should be there to tell them about the love of Christ. But you can’t find fellowship with them, because theirs is rooted in darkness, they’re blind, they don’t see the light. So he says the separation is a quality, if you’re yielded to the Word of God, if you’re not turning to the right or to the left, separation is part of that, you have the Word, you have separation. And then he says affections, that you love the LORD your God, and it’s about time, you know. Do we spend time with him? Or do we have a little breadbox on the morning table where we pull out one verse and read it, that’s our devotional life? You know, the problem I have with devotions, plural, as a concept is that’s not the issue, the issue is devotion. My wife doesn’t want to have devotions with me, she wants devotion. And it’s an all-day thing, believe me. She doesn’t want me to say to her ‘Honey, I’ll meet you in the morning, from 6:30 to 7 every morning, it’s when we’ll talk, it’s when we’ll get the day squared away, we’ll have devotions, and I’ll brag to everybody about it, I have devotions every morning.’ Then when she tries to talk to me the rest of the day ‘No, no, no, no, every morning.’ It’s about time, it’s about time, give him the mornings, give him the afternoons, you’re driving in your car, turn your phone off [which should be off while you’re driving] and your radio off once in a while. Sit somewhere where it’s quiet, listen, spend time with him. Our nation, the nation that we live in, how it’s changed. John Quincy Adams said “The first and almost the only book deserving universal attention is the Bible.” “The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible.” Abraham Lincoln said “All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated through this Book, but for the Book we could not know right from wrong, all things desirable to man are contained within it.” Abraham Lincoln. Woodrow Wilson said “The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation, of the meaning of life, the nature of God, the spiritual nature and need of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and of salvation.” Andrew Jackson said, “Go to the Scriptures, the joyful promises in it, what it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.” Calvin Coolidge said this, very important, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them [he’s talking about the foundations of our nation], the foundations of our society and of our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.” “If the teaching and the truths of Scripture cease to be universal in our country, it would be impossible to maintain the government and the standards that our founding fathers had in their heart.” Listen to this, Harvard University, 1638, “It took only 18 years from the time the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock until the Puritans, who were among the most educated people of their day, founded the first and perhaps most famous Ivy League school, their story today is etched today in the story of Harvard, they said ‘After God had carried us safely to New England, and we had built our houses, provided necessities for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate to our posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, we when our present minister shall lie in the dust, we establish this, Harvard College’s first president and tutors insisted that there could be no true knowledge or wisdom without Jesus Christ” we’re talking about Harvard, folks, this is why Joshua was worried, how many generations does it take to change, listen, this is 1638, “Harvard’s president and tutors insisted, there could be no true knowledge or wisdom without Jesus Christ, and but for their passionate Christian conviction, there would have been no Harvard. Harvard’s rules and precepts adopted in 1646 included the following, Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life,” this is in the precepts of Harvard, the rules of the college, things have changed, haven’t they, “Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, every one shall seriously by prayer in secret, seek wisdom of him, everyone shall so exercise himself in the reading of the Scriptures twice a day, that they may be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of language and logic, and in practical and spiritual truths. According to reliable calculation, 52 percent of the 17^th century Harvard graduates became ministers.” Yale, by the turn of the century Christians in the Connecticut region launched Yale as an alternative to Harvard, many thought Harvard was turning too far away and too expensive, and they observed that there had been the spiritual climate at Harvard which was not what it was, that was in the 1700s, how fast was it changing. Princeton, this school originally called the college of New Jersey sprang up in part from the impact of the First Great Awakening, it also retained its evangelical vigor longer than any other Ivy League school, in fact Princeton’s presidents were evangelical until at least the turn of the 20^th century, probably the end of the 19^th, as also it tells us Dartmouth the same thing. Even at Penn, however, an evangelist played a prominent part, when Philadelphia churches denied George Whitfield access to their pulpits forcing him to preach in the open, some of Whitfield’s admirers among them Benjamin Franklin decided to erect a building to accommodate the great crowds that wanted to hear him [Comment: old Ben yet remained an atheist or agnostic, not sure which, but his mother is in my family tree], the structure they built became the first building of what is now the University of Pennsylvania, and the statue of Whitfield now stands in a prominent place on the campus.

How Have Things Changed In America?

The idea is, how have things changed in our nation? In the last hour, while we were here, 456 children were beaten, molested or abused by their parents. In the last hour 114 kids ran away from home, and 3 out of 4 girls will sell sex to survive, in the last hour 46 girls under the age of 19 received an abortion to end an unwanted pregnancy. In the last hour 600 children became victims of a broken home, in the last hour as we sat here. Tonight in America 40 percent of children in this country will go to sleep in a house where there is no biological father, we’re the world’s leader in fatherless families, we lead the world in abortion, 1.2 million divorces a year, there’s three times more adult bookstores than there are McDonalds in America. What is happening? What is happening? And how quickly a nation can turn away. The greatest threat to us today is not military or economic, it’s spiritual and it’s moral. The Bible says the might of a nation depends upon its righteousness, and sin is a reproach to any people. And believe me, I’m not taking either side here. [I think he’s talking politically, which I agree with, because due to political tribalism in America now, many churches in America are dividing up, close Christian friendships being split apart because of who has what political affiliation. Our affiliation, politically too, ought to be in heaven, and the soon-coming Kingdom of God, not in any particular political party.] I just heard a quote from Margaret Thatcher the other day where she said “the problem with socialism is socialism, and the problem with capitalism is capitalists.” she said “Under socialism socialists eventually run out of people’s money, and under capitalism a small group of people end up with all the money, she says at least there’s money, but there’s a small group of people that end up with it.” You know, human government is not the answer, and I’m an American and I’m a patriot, and I love this country. But we need to pray for Revival, we need to pray that if God is gracious, there might be a Great Awakening that sweeps this land one more time before Judgment comes. And I need to pray it starts with me, and you need to pray it starts with you. Don’t look at me, the whole country’s not waiting for me. [see https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/RestorationAndRevival.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/REVIVAL.html] Because we know in our hearts and in our souls, who we serve, who he is, what his Word is, and there will not be one good thing of all the promises he made to us fail, not one thing, not one thing. And you may get Social Security when you’re 62 or 65, you might retire, but not from serving him [I retired at 62 so I could work on this web-ministry fulltime, and today on my 75^th birthday I’m still transcribing and adding to this site]. Ask John Wesley, ask George Mueller, ask so many here that are in their 50s, 60s, 70s that are still serving, still asking every day for the Lord to give them direction. What a great, great opportunity lies in front of us, spiritually. Amen? Let’s stand, let’s pray, we’ll have the musicians come, we’ll sing a last song together…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Joshua 23:1-16, given by pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]