Ultimatum of God

Reading of Joshua 7:1-13 and Introduction to the Sermon's Context

0:08 Now will you listen or follow in your Bibles as well as I read from Joshua chapter 7, the first 13 verses.

0:21 Joshua chapter 7, verses 1 through 13.

0:31 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing. The anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Avon on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and spy out the land.

1:00 And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up, and say, Make not all the people to toil thither, for there are but a few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men. And they fled before the men of Ai.

1:26 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, and they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. And Joshua read, And Joshua sent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and all the elders of Israel, or he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, and to cause us to perish?

2:11 Would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan, O Lord, what shall I say after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will compass us round and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do for thy great name? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face?

2:44 Israel hath said, Yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have even put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they are become accursed.

3:14 I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you. Ah, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing.

3:43 Thou canst not take away the devoted thing from among you. We are told in 2 Timothy 3.16 that all scripture is inspired of God, and all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. When Paul wrote those words, it had exclusive reference to the Old Testament scriptures which were available to Timothy.

4:13 And our concern in the study of this passage, for the passage of the Old Testament, in the past four Lord's Day mornings, this is the fifth, has been to extract from the passage the doctrine it contains, and to apply that doctrine for our reproof, for our correction, and for our instruction.

The Principles of Conquest and the Sin of Achan

4:36 We have seen that the setting of this passage is absolutely essential to an understanding of its message. In bringing Israel to the borders of Canaan, God is teaching his people that all of the conquest of Canaan will come on the basis of two fundamental principles. By the putting forth of the power of God on the one hand, and by the putting forth of an obedient faith by his people on the other hand. And the whole sum and substance of the message of the conquest of Jericho lies right here.

5:17 Jericho is conquered, not by military genius, but by the might of Jehovah. But Jericho is to be conquered in the obedient faith of the people of God. And what is true of Jericho will be true of Ai, and will be true of every town and city in Canaan. And therefore at any point, were God to withhold his sovereign power, there would be no conquest.

5:44 And God said the only thing that would cause him to withhold his power, would be the conquest of Canaan. And therefore at any point, his sovereign power would be the disobedience and the unbelief of his people. And so in that setting we have been studying the sin of Achan, its commission, secondly its fruition, and now for several weeks, its purgation. How did God go about purging this sin from Israel, which had crippled her in her ability to conquer?

Joshua's Prayer and God's Pronouncement for Purging

6:17 And we saw, that the prayer of Joshua was preparation for purging. Joshua's reflexive response upon the news of defeat was to fall upon his face, and to seek the face of God. And in that context, God spoke to Joshua. And now we are studying together the paragraph beginning with verse 10 and ending with verse 15.

6:43 In answer to the prayer of Joshua, preparation for purging, we have the, the pronouncement of God, the pathway to purging. Preparation in prayer, absolutely necessary. But prayer in and of itself is not sufficient. There must be activity born of that prayerful state, and that activity must be consistent with the pronouncement of God.

7:10 So we have the pronouncement of God to Joshua, which is God's prescription. God's, God's, God's, God's, God's directive for purging. I suggested last Lord's Day that there are five elements in this pronouncement of God. I will only mention the first three that we studied, and that will end our review.

7:32 There was first of all the command of God, get up off your face.

7:37 Time no longer to pray, but to act. There was secondly the rebuke of God. Wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face? And God rebukes him for this crying, in unbelief, this sinful element of Joshua's prayer.

7:55 And then there is the indictment of God in verse 11. Israel hath sinned, and the five distinct areas in which Israel was guilty of sin. They have broken covenant, they have taken of the devoted thing, they have stolen, they have deceived, they have put it among their own stuff. And so there was the command of God, get up.

The Ultimatum of God: Definition and Recipients

8:21 The rebuke of God, why are you praying thus? And then the indictment of God concerning Israel's sin. Now this morning we come to study together verses 12 and 13, which I am calling the ultimatum of God.

8:39 Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they are become accursed. I will not, I will not be with you any more except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you. Up, sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.

9:04 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, there is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. The ultimatum of God to Israel, the ultimatum of God to Israel, in this point of her history. Now you say, why use the word ultimatum?

9:28 What is an ultimatum? Well, defined by the dictionary, an ultimatum is a solemn pronouncement delivered in a mood of finality and inflexibility. In the negotiations between nations, it is usually a final offer or proposal, rejection of which brings, a breach of diplomatic relations, and often war. An ultimatum always has the overtones of solemnity, authority, finality, inflexibility.

10:11 We say to someone, that is my ultimatum. In other words, there are no more terms except those correlated with the consequences. And I feel there is no word in the English language better to describe what God delivers, to Joshua and the people at this point, than an ultimatum. Notice that note of finality.

10:30 I will not be among you anymore, except ye destroy the devoted thing. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing. God is throwing down his ultimatum to his people. Now then, consider as we think through the passage, first of all, the recipients of the ultimatum, and then secondly, the substance of the ultimatum.

10:59 To whom is the ultimatum delivered? And you will notice that it is delivered first of all to Joshua, and by inference the elders who were probably still with him before the ark, when God spoke, and the voice of God thundered this message to Joshua. God did not speak it directly to the nation. He spoke it first of all, to Joshua, the appointed leader of God's people, and to the elders, those subsidiary leaders of the people of God.

11:34 Now there is some significance in this. God is not arbitrary in his dealings. He is sovereign, but certainly not capricious or arbitrary. God must first of all convince the leadership of Israel of the seriousness of the issues at stake.

11:53 For it is a principle, it is a principle that is prevalent throughout the scriptures and proven in the history of the church, that rarely will a people rise any higher than its leadership. Sometimes the leadership may stand head and shoulders above the rank and file of those whom they lead, but rarely, rarely, rarely, rarely, will a people advance beyond their leadership. And therefore, if Israel is to be, the people who will deal seriously with this present dilemma at any cost, the conviction must grip the leadership

12:35 that this is the only course of activity, activity open to us. Joshua stood in that strategic place where God had made known before the whole nation that he was to be the legitimate successor of Moses. And the rank and file of the people desperately needing leadership, would look to Joshua, and if Joshua came forth with some other alternative, some other way to turn back this present impasse, some other way to turn away the spirit of defeat that had gripped the nation, certainly the people would have followed his leadership. And so God must break through to Joshua and the elders,

13:16 convincing them first of all of the seriousness of the situation and of the only pathway out of, that present dilemma. Then in verse 13, he delivers that ultimatum to the people. Up, sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, there is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel, thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. The word having entered Joshua's heart, is now to be conveyed to the rank and file of the people of God,

14:00 so that they too will come to the same conviction as their leaders, there is no other way open to us but God's way. No way to face the problem but the way revealed by the living God himself. And there is very precious and necessary doctrine in that simple little statement. In the fact that the ultimatum, first of all, came to Joshua and then to the people, it contains a word to us who are constituted leaders in this assembly or in any sphere of Christian work.

A Word to Leaders and Followers

14:38 Are you and I in the place where God can speak to us? What a tragic thing it would have been if Joshua were in any other posture at this critical point in the history of the nation of Israel, than a posture in which the word of the living God could come through to his own heart. Broken before the ark. Bless God for a leadership whose ears are open to the voice of God.

15:11 Blessed is a people who have leadership that is sensitive to the voice of God. And cursed be the people who have leadership with wax in its ears as far as the voice of God is concerned. And oh what a sobering word to us, who are leaders. I speak this word to my own heart as I preach it in your hearing.

15:38 I speak it to my fellow pastor. I speak it to my fellow elders. I speak it to our deacons. I speak it to every husband who has constituted the leader of his home.

15:49 I speak it to every father. I speak it to every teacher who has children in your care. Leadership is a terribly frightening position. The only person who has a lust for leadership is the person who knows nothing of the responsibilities of leadership.

16:10 Every other person would run from that awesome place if he could. And I would have run from the pastorate a thousand times were there not another hand to hold me. The awesome responsibility of leadership. May God speak to us as leaders at this critical point in the history of our assembly.

16:35 Insensitivity to the voice of God at this point may curse unborn generations. Failure to hear the voice of God now that we may lead our people aright may bring cursing upon unborn generations. Oh may God speak to us as leaders. But it says a word to you who would be considered the followers.

17:02 For the church is a body. The church is not just its leadership. Israel hath sinned. And it was Joshua's leadership that would bring them back to the place of blessing.

17:15 But it was a leadership that had to have an obedient following. And the scripture says remember them who are over you in the Lord who spake unto you the word of God whose faith follow. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them. In so far as like Joshua they in the presence of God received the word of God and come forth not with their own notions but as Joshua did.

17:46 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel every man who named the name of an Israelite must submit to the directions of his covenant God. Joshua did not come forth in the name of his own notions but in the name of his God. And any man who would not submit to those directives gave up the privilege of being called an Israelite. And my friend do you name the name of Christ?

18:12 Are you part of the visible body of Christ? Then the kingship of Christ is exercised as those in places of leadership speak unto you not their own notions but the word of God. And when that word is spoken you are to obey. Now it may mean as in the case of this particular directive some pretty nasty things that have to be done in the way of obedience.

18:43 To know that you are standing with fellow Israelites and amongst them is one who is devoted to death one upon whom your own hands will cast stones and to whom and his substance you may have to have the torch setting fire that is ugly nasty business. But when God speaks to his Joshua and his Joshua speaks to his people there is not for the Joshua's and the people to do. But as the old Methodist preacher said mind the Lord, mind the Lord. And dear ones I don't know what things God may speak to us in these days

19:26 but I am convinced more than ever as the spirit of prayer in some measure was given to your elders and deacons as they met to pray this past Tuesday that God has graciously brought the leadership of this assembly to the place where there is that sense of holy trembling in these days.

19:47 As so much is at stake in our future life as we think and pray and discuss about relocation and land and building and all of these factors and we are crying to God Lord don't give us one square inch of real estate or one brick of a building until all that you want to say to us we've heard and all that we must do is done that we may have such gifts in a way of blessing and not in a way of cursing. And dear ones I don't know what God's going to say to us and to you through us may be some very very nasty business

20:31 yet has to be done in this congregation. Are we going to obey the voice of God? Purging is never pleasant business. Many times it's nasty business but if it's God's business it must be done.

The Substance of the Ultimatum: Effect, Cause, and Prophecy

20:53 So much then for the recipients of the ultimatum. Now will you notice the substance of the ultimatum. And as that ultimatum is issued first of all to Joshua and then to the people notice its ingredients. As you can readily see it's an ultimatum that goes from effect to cause to prophecy.

21:16 Or to state it this way from root to fruit to prediction. From the outward circumstance visible to the eyes to the inward cause and then forward to the ultimate result. Look verse 12 Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies they turn their backs before their enemies. That's the effect.

21:42 That's the fruit. You can see it. It's obvious. They turn their backs.

21:47 Their hearts have melted and become as water. Now what's the root of that? From effect to cause. From fruit to root.

21:55 What's the cause of it? Here it is. Because they are become accursed. This phenomena Israel unable to stand Israel turning its back this fruit has this particular root.

22:11 Israel has become accursed. And God says my ultimatum contains not only a statement of the fruit and the root but also a prediction. And here it is. I will not be with you anymore except you destroy the devoted thing from among you.

The Effect and Cause: Israel's Defeat and Accursed State

22:33 Now let's look at those elements of this ultimatum in that order. The effect very obvious. Two things. They cannot stand before their enemies.

22:43 They turn their back before their enemies. They cannot stand that is they have no ability to conquer but added to this they will not even go down in noble defeat. No one ever faulted a soldier for standing his ground in his cause and dying in conflict with the enemy. But when a man turns his back and runs he shows the spirit of cowardice in the day of conflict and everyone looks upon him as a man less than worthy of the name of soldier.

23:21 Turning one's back in conflict always reveals one of two things. Either the odds are so overwhelming about concerning the possibility of victory that retreat is a wise expedient or it's personal cowardice. In either case that Israel should have come to this was such a tragedy. The living God of heaven and earth committed to their cause this God who said don't be afraid of your enemies every place that the sole of your feet treads upon I have given it.

23:58 What enemy is so imposing that God's people in the name of their God does not have the advantage. To see Israel turning its back is a declaration either the odds are too great we have no chance to conquer a wise expedient is retreat what a reflection upon the greatness of God. It's saying that the gods of the heathen armies are bigger than the God of Israel. Or it could have been personal cowardice and again what a travesty cowardice in the heart of a man who knows what the Israelites should have known from the victory of Jericho.

24:38 The God who is able to take the stupidest military means and conquer the most imposing military obstacles look over his shoulder and see the rubbles of the walls of Jericho. My friend when God begins to shroud the most courageous man with the most wonderful history of the dealings of God with him will be turned into a coward in a moment. He'll be turned into a shriveling coward in a moment. And listen, listen the church which has known its Jerichos

25:19 if that church becomes the object of the frown of that church will turn and flee with personal cowardice and with a corporate sense of defeat the odds are too great. There's the effect then God moves to the cause. Why is it that they've turned their backs? Why is it that they cannot stand?

25:47 Verse 12 says because they are become accursed. Verse 13 there is a devoted thing among you as a nation God says you are crippled because there is one amongst you who has grievously sinned and done the five things I have outlined in verse 11 transgressed covenant etc. Now as covenant breakers his blessing is turned to a curse even as God said he would do in the terms of the covenant. This should not have been a surprise to Joshua for God had explicitly told him and the nation

26:30 that this is what would happen. Will you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28 Deuteronomy chapter 28 beginning with verse 1 And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto me unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God blessed shalt thou be in the city blessed shalt thou be in the field blessed shalt thou be in the fruit of thy body and the fruit of the ground and the fruit of thy beast the increase of thy cattle the young of thy flock

27:14 blessed shalt thou be blessed shall be the basket and kneading trough blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out the Lord will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee and they shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways you see what God is saying he says when you go into conflict your enemies shall turn and your enemies shall be driven if he diligently obey me but now look at the curse verses 15 to 19 but it shall come to pass

27:58 if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee see the picture he says in the path of obedience blessings are going to run after you and overtake you and stumble over you everywhere you go blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing but he says you disobey me and the curses will track you down you can run you can hide but the curses will come and track you down and overtake you very vivid word pictures God is using here curse shall thou be in the city curse shall thou be in the city curse shall thou be in the city curse shall thou be in the field

28:41 curse shall be thy basket in thine eating trough curse shall be the fruit of thy body the fruit of thy ground the increase of thy cattle the young of thy flock curse shall thou be when thou comest in curse shall thou be when thou goest out now notice notice how this curse will come to evidence in military conflict verses 25 and 26 the Lord will cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies thou shalt go out one way against them and thou shalt flee seven ways before them thou shalt be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth and thy dead body shall be food unto all birds of the heavens

29:25 and unto the beasts of the earth and there shall be none to frighten them away God's promise for the conquest of Canaan was not an unconditional promise it was a promise conditioned upon the obedient faith of the people of God now this is the frightening thing to me the blessed nation becomes the cursed nation that nation chosen and beloved and called in sovereign mercy God now says they are become accursed because the cursed thing the devoted thing is among them now we know that in the overall

30:09 historical development of God's dealings he had not cast off Israel in that sense of finality that Paul treats of there in Romans 9 to 11 the very fact that he was speaking to Joshua and giving directions for the purging of sin shows that he was still their covenant God dealing with them but in their present ability to accomplish that which was presently revealed to be the will of God they were in that situation they were in that sense under the frown and the curse of the living God so the effect Israel is turning its back the hearts of the people melt like water Israel cannot stand

30:54 because they become accursed God is frowning and God is committed to fulfill the terms of the covenant just as God could not be respected as the true God if he didn't bless when covenant terms were fulfilled he would cease to be the true God if he didn't curse when covenant terms were broken he was committed both to cursing and to blessing now then notice the prophecy the third element in the ultimatum from effect to cause and now he looks ahead and he gives a prophetic utterance and it's found in these words of verse 12 Joshua 7 12

The Prophecy: God's Withdrawal of Presence and its Implications

31:36 I will not be with you anymore except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you or in the words of verse 13 thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the devoted thing from among you put the two little phrases together I will not be with you you cannot stand before your enemies when God was with Israel in the sense of the putting forth of his own divine sovereignty and power to accomplish victory actively going before them to conquer Israel was invincible because God is invincible that's the whole lesson of Jericho

32:19 when I am with you there's the ark they had not only the box but they had the God who dwelt above the box and God is saying when I am going before and in the midst of my people mighty walls of Jericho are nothing to me and the walls fall flat but now this God says you cannot stand before your enemies if I withdraw my presence should God cease to be with them in the sense of the mighty putting forth of his arm they will have had it no past blessings could compensate for a present absence of God

33:01 AI ended by looking to the rubble of Jericho and clapping one's hands and saying wasn't it great in the good old days that Israel is with the armies of Israel in the midst of AI past blessings will not bring present conquest and listen nor will the present symbols of the presence and power of God automatically mean that we have the symbols the reality which those symbols convey God didn't say I'll come and take the ark away you can have your old ark

33:44 but you won't have me with it remember what happened one time when Israel thought you know we got the ark boy we got God and so when the ark came back into camp boy they had a hallelujah meeting brother they really went downtown that day shouting it up and whooping it up even the Philistines the heathen heard it and said what's happened the ark is back and they trembled they said well their God must be back if the ark's back their God's back they went out fearful to battle and they found them pushovers they ran right up why Israel thought if we have the symbol of his presence we have his presence no matter how we act and God said I'll teach you a lesson or two oh dear ones do you see the gospel application of this do you see the application to the church of Christ

34:28 what a frightening prophecy for God to make to any assembly of his people I will not be with you you may have the memory precious though it may be of past triumphs you may look as it were to the dust of the stones of the walls of your Jerichos but you'll run before your AIs and you may have all the symbols of my presence you may have a place of formal worship you may have public exposition you may have the ordinances but if you don't have me there'll be no conquest no advancing in true sanctification no conquering the hard hearts of men in a God blessed evangelism no extension of the kingdom of Christ

35:11 one of the most frightening ultimatums in all of scripture is this that is given at this point in Israel in Israel's history I will not be with you the divine presence removed because of sin left with nothing but memories of what his presence did in the past and symbols of what his presence was and could be in the presence left with memories and with symbols that's all my friend this is one of the saddest saddest commentaries on many a church it's left with nothing but memories and symbols

Corporate Judgment and the Frightening Reality for Churches

35:54 and God is God now let me qualify this because this is a delicate matter and I do not want to be misunderstood listen carefully I am not saying that the Lord Jesus will ever forsake his church on earth no no he said I will build my church the gates of hell shall not prevail against it lo I am with you always even to the end of the age no matter what happens in men and nations the rising and falling of governments one thing we know for certain there will be a church on earth until Jesus comes again that much we know I am not saying in the second place that our Lord will ever forsake

36:39 any individual Christian so that he utterly withdraws his spirit from him Ephesians 4.30 says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed not unto the day we fall out of grace but we are sealed unto the day of redemption now follow closely I am not saying because the Bible gives me no warrant to say that Christ will ever utterly forsake his people upon earth or that Christ will utterly forsake any one of his children but what I am saying is that the Lord Jesus in judgment for sin will forsake specific congregations of his people and his realized powerful presence

37:19 will raise and shim I have New Testament warrant for saying that Jesus says to me to that church in Ephesus in Revelation 2.5 I have somewhat against thee thou hast left thy first love repent or I will come and take thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent I will no more be with you except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you Revelation 2.15 the warning that comes

38:03 to this specific church so thou hast some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans repent or else I come to thee quickly and will make war against them with the sword of my mouth Jesus says I am going to have war with this particular church chapter 3 and verse 3 remember therefore how thou hast received and it is here and keep it and repent if thou shalt not watch I will come as a thief thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee and I don't believe that's referring to the second coming it's a coming of Christ in judgment upon a particular church

38:47 chapter 3 and verse 16 he says I'm about to puke you thou art lukewarm and then I'll preach you like the man preaches vomit and he never does that to any one of his individual children whom he loves he chastens and rebukes but he says of this church I'll spill you out I'll vomit you I'll wretch because you bear my name but you've so grieved me by your sin of lukewarmness

39:29 that I can no longer tolerate you as of I understand I tell you dear ones those are frightening words and as I think of this assembly and I think of my own place of responsibility and leadership I ask the question Lord what is it that has made this place such a haven for so many what is it humanly speaking that has made it the place where this one and that one can say lo I was born there and I believe if there's one thing that's the common denominator of any of you have any idea of what's going on here I know some of you don't but there are a number of you do

40:13 has it not been this simple little thing that the living God has deigned to draw near in the midst of this gathered people coming in from the outside you've been forced to say in the words of 1 Corinthians 14 25 God is of a truth and you've sensed there was something more upon memories something more than the mere symbols of God a bible a preacher a pretty little building hymn books pews you've sensed that God has been here my friends listen to me almighty God withdraws his presence

40:56 because the accursed thing is tolerated amongst us we'll have nothing but our memories and we'll run before one AI after another and that can be done while you build a big church and have a success image in the eyes of the world it has nothing to do with what men can judge as success it has solely to do what God judges what an ultimatum many a church has been like a Samson

41:41 shorn of its strength and those sad words and he wist not but Samson had one advantage that churches don't it only took him a few minutes he wist that the Lord had left him for when he shook himself as before he found himself powerless before the Philistines and before long his eyes were gouged out and as he woke each morning to a dark dark day as black as the midnight he was reminded I've been shorn of my strength but the tragedy is churches can be shorn of their strength

42:25 and all around them they see what they think are the evidences of its power look at our attendance records look at this and look at that my friend as long as the Mormons are growing by leaps and bounds and the Jehovah's Witnesses are growing by leaps and bounds and building buildings and congregations those things prove absolutely nothing because with all your building and all your promoting and all your evangelizing and all your salesmanship evangelism one thing I coerce God to do

43:09 is to shine the light of his countenance upon a people if he's grieved because of sin you can't do it only he can lift up the light of his countenance only he could sovereignly choose to go forth with his people Israel and when he issues the ultimatum and says I will not be with you God meant it if God ever says to us I will not be with you he's not fooling may I speak a word to you children to illustrate this

43:51 what comfort would it give you to know that your daddy and your mummy were in the house but you could never look at them nor talk with them nor feel the warmth of their arms around you and feel the comfort of daddy's strong shoulder and mummy's soft breast as you lay your head upon them you had every assurance that they were in the house somewhere but you could never see them never commune with them never feel the warmth of their love how would you kids feel you'd say well they may as well be dead if I can't commune with them

44:35 if I can't have fellowship with them if I can't have them love me wouldn't you feel that way kids you see what comfort is it to a Christian to know alright the Lord will never leave his people he's promised to be with them I will never leave thee nor forsake thee what comfort can it be to know that he abides with his people forever if we don't see the face of the king if we don't feel the warmth of his presence can you feed upon the mere promise in the general sense that he's forever with his people does your heart crave your experimental commune with your God

45:14 today in my courts is better than a thousand ah because in the courts of God he saw the face of God Absalom was brought back from exile but it says he saw not the face of the king for two whole years he dwelt in the king's palace but never saw the face of the king until finally it got to him he said I've got to see the king's face you read about it in 2nd Samuel chapter 14 and no true Christian can go along with merely knowing he's in the king's palace without seeing the face of the king

45:54 he can't go forth to war without knowing that Israel's God is with him you see it was this conviction born deeply into Joshua to his heart that God meant what he said that there was this prophetic element of the ultimatum I won't be with you unless the devoted thing is destroyed that made Joshua adamant in obeying the divine directives for purging may I say it is this that by God's grace is going to make your elders adamant and inflexible in the administration of whatever discipline is necessary in this assembly as long as God has us amongst you

46:39 to care for you and to rule as nasty as the task may be we are not knowingly going to allow a grieved God to depart because we don't like the nasty business of exhortation, rebuke and discipline it was this that prepared the nation for remember this took the whole cooperation as we'll see next week God willing the cooperation of the whole nation in this purging that's why God didn't simply say to Joshua Joshua here's the man go find him out he wanted the whole nation committed to the principle of purging that the whole nation would say if we do not find and destroy the accursed thing

The Gracious Promise within the Ultimatum and Call to Repentance

47:23 we as a nation are done and oh that that conviction would descend upon us this morning as a congregation that there be no free loaders amongst us but all of you committed Lord God if you leave us we are done Lord show us whatever would grieve you and cause you to turn away and by your grace we will deal with it and thank God there's one more element in the ultimatum and that I can close on this note do you know that this ultimatum contains a wonderful ray of hope a precious promise you say Pastor Martin you're reading the same Bible I am I don't see any promise

48:07 well you look again it's amazing how the eye of faith can find the ray of hope when it's looking for it do you see it look at it he says I will not be among you and the next word is except he destroy the devoted thing from among you look at verse 13 thou canst not stand before thine enemies until he take away the devoted thing you kiddies listen to me again suppose your mother or dad says to you look we will not give you any more

48:49 allowance unless you make your bed faithfully every single morning now that's an ultimatum it says allowance will cease if you don't make your bed but you know what else it says it's a promise if you do make your bed you're going to continue to get your allowance the ultimatum contains a promise the same way if they said no more watching your favorite television program until you pick your dirty socks off from the floor and put them in the hamper what they're saying is if you pick your dirty socks up you can continue to watch your favorite television program

49:34 if it's good for you and they're exercising discretion as parents ought to so you see we use this type of terminology constantly in our everyday parlance so God is giving a promise in the midst of this solemn ultimatum there's the silver lining in that dark thunderhead of God's ultimatum he says I will not be with you except indicating I will be with you if you will not conquer until but you shall conquer when you deal with the devoted thing and this contains a most vital principle most of God's ultimatums

50:18 are gracious calls to repentance whoever had a more stern ultimatum to deliver than Jonah the prophet he didn't even have three points to his sermon one sentence forty days and you've had it imagine going around the city and that's all you've got for a sermon forty days and you've had it none of it shall be overthrown forty days none of it overthrown what happened they received the ultimatum went down upon their faces cried to God for mercy and later on it comes out that Jonah had a sneaking suspicion that that's exactly what was going to happen and that's why he didn't want to go to Nineveh that's why he was under his gourd pouting

50:59 he says I knew a merciful God like you and if you blessed it in soberdom they'd cry for mercy and Lord in the eyes of the heathen it might look like you're a fickle God because I came preaching judgment and you end up showing mercy you see the prophet was more fastidious about God's reputation than God was he says I knew thee that thou wert a merciful God he sure did or he wouldn't have been alive he'd have still been in the whale's belly by now just a bunch of bleached bones I knew thee that thou wert a merciful God he sure did because he knew God's dealings with him

51:43 and you see that again and again the pronouncement of judgment is a gracious call to repentance saying that God is willing to hear the cry of the penitent and so Joshua knows in the midst of this ultimatum I will not be with you except I will not go forth until he lays hold of his ray of hope confident that if the accursed thing is destroyed if the sin is judged then the presence of God shall again be manifested oh dear ones this gives me great encouragement as I think of our life as a church that we have a grace

52:25 who will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever he knoweth our frame have we provoked him by our personal sin by corporate sin are his present dealings with us the first beginnings of the frown the beginning of the raised eye then let us not be swallowed up with discouragement as we cry to him to search us but let us be filled with that hope that faith and confidence that he will go forth to do for us and through us what is necessary to the accomplishment of his saving purposes and I close with this note to you who are outside of Jesus Christ

53:10 Almighty God commands you to repent but that's not a law command that's a gospel command the very fact that he commands you to repent shows that he delights in repentance but repentance is meaningless unless there's a God willing to forgive the God who commands you to repent is the God who has sent his Son into the world on behalf of sinners and he issues an ultimatum and he means it kiss the Son lest ye perish from the way kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish that's the ultimatum but do you see the ray of hope in it

53:53 if you do kiss the Son he will not be angry and you will not perish for he that believeth on the Son hath life oh dear sinner don't you tempt God to see if he really means his ultimatums he means them don't you mistake the gracious threads in the fabric of his ultimatum for rottenness in the fabric as though his ultimatums will just disintegrate as a puff of nothing no no the day of judgment and the reality of eternal hell is a constant reminder that God means his ultimatums

54:37 the wicked shall be turned into hell he that believeth not shall be damned oh friend that ultimatum now is suffused with grace seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and to our God for he will have mercy and will abundantly pardon and oh Christian am I speaking to someone whose conscience has been very active in these past days and as God has been dealing with your Babylonish garment and with your wedge of gold and your shekels of silver the implications of coming clean

55:22 I mean really coming clean not a surface dealing sins that like an iceberg have gathered tremendous bones and just the surface is poking up through the surface of the water I don't mean exposure of the surface that is poked through but conscious of that great mass that lies beneath the surface unseen by husband, wife, father, mother brother, sister, pastor, elder, deacon but known to your own conscience and known to God some of you have been wrestling with such issues in these days as we've been going through this series have you? have you? my friend listen God means what he says

56:04 I will not be among you except he destroyed the devoted thing you want to go on with just memories of what it once was when the presence of God was a reality when the power of God was a living experience you want to go on living on memories oh yeah you've got your Bible and you have your devotions and you come to church it's all symbols my friend there's no reality and you know it if you were to try to pray this afternoon for even a solid fifteen minutes your words would bounce back in your own ears and mock you and it's been that way not because of a present discipline of desertion there is such a thing in the Bible

56:47 but because of the long range pattern of declension and my friend it's going to be that way except you destroy the devoted thing but you say pastor the devoted thing has become so large I don't care what it is and I care not what it costs you to deal with it I will not be with you except you destroy the devoted thing but thank God He will be with you if you destroy the devoted thing for he that confesseth and forsaketh shall obtain mercy may the ultimatum of God come through to us today in all of its sobering authority

57:31 and in all of its gracious promise and encouragement let us pray God as we attempt to place our faith in you and as we attempt to place ourselves where Joshua was on that day and as we make an honest effort to hear as he heard those solemn words I will not be with you except he destroy the devoted thing

58:13 he cannot stand before your enemies until he destroy the devoted thing oh God give us that sense of awesome dread that must have been Joshua's portion and yet give us we pray that sense of hope and encouragement that also came to his heart Lord God don't allow any of your children to go on like Achan thinking that you can be fooled and that sin can be covered for you have said be sure your sins will find you out

58:57 for we ask for any unconverted amongst us this morning Lord sober them with the ultimatum that he that believeth not shall be damned except he repent ye shall perish and driven to despair Lord show them then we pray the gracious promise contained in those very words that cause the fear knowing that you delight in mercy oh God in all the ways that you delight in mercy that we need this living word that we've considered this morning seal it to our hearts we pray for our corporate good for our individual good

59:41 and above all to the eternal praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen