Church of the Nazarene East Rockingham Campus

We are continuing in Part 7 of our teaching series through the book of Joshua.

Within the story of Joshua we read of the people of God encountering real obstacles to living out their faith in the Lord. Flooded rivers, fortified cities, and giant armies. real things that would cause any normal person to fear.

But what we see is that in the face of these challenges, is the power of God’s presence and his continued faithfulness to his people. That’s the story of Joshua, and that’s our story today.

Real challenges met with the real and true faithfulness of God.

Today we are in Joshua chapter 23 looking at the farewell address of a very old Joshua.

The battles are done for now and the people of God have rest. After 20-25 years they are finally getting to peacefully enjoy God’s gift to them of the promised land.

Joshua appears here as a very old man, gathering the leaders of Israel together to share his heart with them. These parting instructions are critical for future success of the people of God.

Joshua begins by remembering and reflecting on all that God had done for the Israelites in fulfilling his promise to his people.

While they did have rest in the land at this time, but there was still more territory for them to take possession of. Canaanites, the enemy nations, were still living in some farther regions of the promised land.

But they were not to worry- God would fight for them, just like he had before. God was faithful then, he’s faithful now, he will be faithful in the future.

All the people needed to do was remain faithful to Him- That’s what Joshua says next

Rather than associating with the other nations, the people of God are to hold fast to the Lord.

To hold fast to the Lord can carry the idea of two objects being glued or welded together. Relationally It speaks of loyalty and fidelity. It means to stay close, embrace, to hold on.

That’s the way Joshua is encouraging his people to be with their heavenly father.

The people of God had seen the blessing of embracing the Lord.

He gave them life and identity as his children. He brought them into this land over incredible odds, and even their own mistakes. God had fought for them, he had driven out powerful armies from their path.

He gave them power to do impossible things. One person routing a thousand. This is the picture of life holding onto God.

When you are superglued to the Lord, there is no enemy that can stand.

This is quite the contrast from life in relationship to the Lord.

Rather than the promise of God’s presence, his power, his plan for their lives, if his people turned away from him, they could be sure that it would not go well.

Listen to what Joshua says. If you turn away from the Lord, if you don’t cling to him and you go and embrace the ways of the foreign nations, the ways of the world.

They will become a snare for you.
This carries the idea of being entangled, confined, controlled, held captive by circumstances. Deceived.

It will be a trap-
Literally you will take the bait and be trapped. Stuck. Caught in their grasp.

They will be a whip on your back-This imagery is of scourging, like Jesus and Paul received.

They will be a thorn in your eye. A simple eyelash in your eye is enough to stop you in your tracks. Imagine a thorn.

This misery would be their path until they perished form the land God had given them..

All that God had done for them in giving them their land, all he miracles we have studied so far, they would forfeit, they would lose, if they chose to forsake the Lord.

Think of the enormous tragedy in that statement.

And it was their choice, Joshua loved them enough to warn them in his final words.

If you follow the story of God’s people after the book of Joshua, you wont get far until you see them making the very choice that Joshua warned them about.

They began to intermarry with the people who were still in the land. They picked up their values, took on their morals, and began to worship their gods.

And they were trapped, enslaved, beaten, suffered immensely, until finally a few hundred years after Joshua, they were completely removed from their land by the Babylonian empire. Just like Joshua said it would be.

They became glued and attached to the world, rather than embracing and clinging to the Lord and it cost them everything.


In verse 8 Joshua told the people to hold fast to the Lord.That whole idea of loyalty, embracing, sticking fast, literally being glued to the Lord.

That is the same word and the same idea in verse 12 when he warns them not be allied to the world. Don’t be glued to the world, to the neighboring nations.

The simplicity and clarity of this is striking. Joshua doesn’t mix any words, doesn’t sugar coat the truth. He says "you have a choice; you can embrace the Lord, being loyal to him and find life or you can embrace the world, be loyal to its values, and find misery and death.

Friends, as striking and tragic as that warning was for the people in Joshua’s day- it’s every bit as true for us today.

As Christians, we have a great inheritance of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and God’s presence living within us and going before us. But if we turn away from that, if we choose to embrace the world, we will set our lives on a course of misery leading to destruction. We become trapped, snared, beat down, miserable, on a pathway of destruction.

So i would ask you today, what are you "glued to"? What we give our lives to, what we embrace in this world is not a matter of opinion and preference, it's literally a matter of eternal life or death.