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Thank you, Mr. Craig, sir, for those kindly words, and thank you, my brothers and sisters, for, as Mr. Craig has said, for your regular attendance at these meetings and the way you have endured unconscionably long meetings in the course of this week. No complaint has reached my ears. It may be, of course, that behind the scenes you've complained to your elders, and they have taken steps to deal with it on all future. But no complaints have reached my ears, and for making it so easy for me to work with you, to enjoy the word of God, I do thank you with all my heart. Now, this afternoon we read in the book of Joshua once more, this time in chapter twenty two.
Joshua twenty two. When Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, and said unto them, You have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, and have hearkened unto my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren as he spake to them, therefore now turn you and get you unto your tents, unto the land of your possession which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond Jordan.
Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which 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 cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went unto their tents. Verse nine. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the commandment of the Lord.
And we might be wise to pause there and take a special mel- mental note of that statement of Holy Writ. Like all the rest of Holy Writ, it is inspired. It is reminding us that these two and a half tribes were given their inheritance on the east side of Jordan by and according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. And when they came unto the region about Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by J- by Jordan, a great altar to see to. And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about Jordan, on the side that pertaineth to the children of Israel.
And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh to go up against them to war. The children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, unto the children of Gad, unto the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phineas the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten princes, one prince of a father's house for each of the tribes of Israel. And they were every one of them head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel. And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord, What trespass is this that you have committed against the Lord God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have builded you an altar to rebel this day against the Lord.
Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, for which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, although there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it will be, seeing you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. How be it, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass you over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us. But rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God.
Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing? And wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel, and that man perished not alone in his iniquity. Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, the Lord, the God of gods, the Lord, the God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know. If it be in rebellion, or if it be in trespass against the Lord, say thou us not this day that we have built an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it.
And if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, and as a purpose, saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, what have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and you children of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord. So shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. Therefore, we said, let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but it shall be a witness between us and you and between our generation afterwards, that we may do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, that your children may not say to our children in time to come, you have no portion in the Lord.
Therefore, said we, it shall be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you. God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.
A few words from chapter twenty three, from the address that Joshua gave to Israel and to their leaders in particular when he was old and well stricken in years. Verse six. Therefore, be you very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left, that you come not among these nations that m- that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves unto them, but cleave unto the Lord your God, as you have done unto this day.
For the Lord has driven out from before you the great nations and strong, but as for you, no man has stood before you unto this day. Verse eleven, Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God. The Lord give us good spiritual understanding of his holy word. And now, at long last, we have come to the final section of the book of Joshua. In common with all the other sections of this great book, the final section contains three major episodes.
The first of them is this episode relating to the two and a half tribes, their return to their inheritance and their building of an altar on the banks of Jordan. The second one concerns an address that Joshua delivered in his old age to the leaders of the children of Israel. And the third of them deals with the final address, final so far as we know, that Joshua gave to the elders and the whole nation before he died. Then again, in common with all the other sections of the book, the three episodes of this final section prove, when we get down to the detail, to have a major common theme, a major common objective.
And that objective relates to the service of the Lord, as have indeed the sections four and five. But now in section six, the theme of the service of the Lord is particularly taken up with the objective of maintaining the service of the Lord, if possible, uninterrupted all the way down the centuries. That at least was the objective put before Israel. That it was not always achieved, that every one of us will know. But on the other hand, here it was being placed before them, and provision made for them, that they might be able to maintain the service of the Lord without in- interruption down through the generations.
These three episodes are concerned also with the difficulties that might arise in the way of achieving that objective. For these chapters are nothing if they are not realistic. They haven't forgotten that all who set themselves to maintain the service of the Lord will from time to time find great pressures and obstacles in the way of their objective. So this afternoon, these three chapters shall talk to us at a very practical level about our serving the Lord, and about, uh, the difficulties that lie in the way of our service too.
The difficulty upon which chapter twenty two concentrates, simply put, was this. The tendency already visible in Israel in even in Joshua's day, the tendency towards unscriptural, unauthorized division of the nation, and unauthorized and unscriptural exclusivism. The difficulty on which chapter twenty three concentrates is the temptation among the people of God to worldliness of heart and to compromise with idols.
And the final difficulty, that on which chapter twenty four concentrates, is the difficulty of serving the Lord, because, as Joshua put it to his contemporaries, when they, with perhaps ill-considered zeal, says, oh yes, we will serve the Lord. Joshua turned on them and said, but ladies and gentlemen, you cannot serve the Lord. What, you serve the Lord? You cannot serve the Lord. Why not? For the Lord your God is a jealous God. And the jealousy of the Lord our God will exert some stringent and rigorous demands of those who would serve the Lord.
So that all those who set themselves to serve the Lord would be very well advised, first of all, to sit down and count the cost, as our blessed Lord Jesus advised us, to see whether, having begun, we have enough wherewithal to finish. Because serving the Lord is not just some pastime, some little hobby to be taken in hand when with nothing more worthwhile to do of a Saturday afternoon or of a Sunday. It's the serving of a God who is a jealous God, whose very jealousy will exert tremendously stringent demands upon those who would seriously serve him.
So that if we would continue serving the Lord, we must be prepared to face those rigorous demands. Tonight, God willing, we shall be dealing then with chapter twenty four and its tremendous challenge, choose you this day whom you will serve. But this afternoon, we concentrate upon the other two chapters, chapter twenty three and then briefly, oh, sorry, chapter twenty two and then briefly chapter twenty three. So then the first story we come to is the story of the two and a half tribes and the altar that they built on the bank of the River Jordan.
Let's consider, first of all, the facts and the motives that these two and a half tribes had in building that altar. For subsequently, they got themselves into a tremendous lot of hot water for building any sort of an altar like that. And we better understand, if we can, the motives that led them to do it. The scriptures tell us that the two and a half tribes were given their inheritance east of Jordan. So here, let us be clear in our minds from that verse that we read, and there are a multitude of others, that this inheritance on the east side of Jordan was given them not only by Moses, but as God's inspired word says, it was given them according to the commandment of the Lord.
And therefore, when Joshua dismissed them and gave them permission to go back to their inheritance on the east side of Jordan. They were but fulfilling the commandment of the Lord, according to this verse, and the express commandment of Moses in returning to their inheritance on the east side of Jordan. They had been given very strict, uh, commandments also to follow, do you see? Uh, they were told by Joshua that they were not to turn aside from all that was written in the book of the law of Moses.
Turn aside not therefrom to the right hand or to the left, so that you come not among these other nations, these that remain among you, do you see? They were not to do that. They were to walk in all God's ways, to keep his commandments, to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all their heart and with all their soul. So off they went with the blessing of the Lord bestowed on them through Joshua. And as they traveled, of course, they eventually came to the River Jordan, and there glad sight for their weary, war-worn eyes, they saw their inheritance at last, gleaming on the other side of Jordan, that lovely inheritance that God had given them.
When it was first given them, Moses had laid down a condition. He said, now look, you two and a half tribes, God has given you this inheritance here, but on this condition, you must not attempt to settle down into your inheritance now. You must build stockades, you must leave your wives and your children behind you, and you yourselves must pass over armed before the people of the Lord. You are to keep with the united armies of Israel, you are to join in their battle, you are to take the fight to the enemy, and you are never to give up and never to go back, not even to your inheritance, until the Lord has given you victory and given to the whole nation victory, until the Lord God has given rest to his people.
When Moses laid down the condition, the two and a half tribes said, very well spoken, Moses, we will do precisely that. We are prepared to leave our families behind, to go over Jordan, to go over in the vanguard of the army, indeed, and to fight with all our might and main and never give up the battle until the last enemy has been put down, and then and then only shall we return to our inheritance. And what they had promised Moses and what they originally promised Joshua, that this chapter tells us they actually did. They made no attempt to go back. They kept on the fight with the whole of the nation until every enemy was subdued and, uh, the land had rest.
And now, at long last, they were coming to their inheritance. God had given it to them, and they had earned it by their fighting, and they saw its broad acres the other side. It must have been a marvelously enticing sight to warriors so stained with the toil of war. Just as they got to the river, some of them began to think. And you may say that they were ultra cautious or timid or something, but there it is, they began to think. And they said, you know, ah, before we cross this river Jordan, oughtn't we to take a precaution or two?
You know, they said, our brethren, they're very good fellows. Well, it isn't so much them, it's what might happen to their children in later generations, you see. I mean, you suppose what might happen if one of these days their children come to our children and they say, look here, you know, you have no portion in the Lord. We can't allow you to serve the Lord with us. You don't belong to us. Oh, why is that? Well, look at this River Jordan. The Lord has set this River Jordan as a boundary between us, and if you're the other side, you're the other side, and you're nothing to do with us whatsoever.
Please keep out. Don't you come up to Jerusalem or to Shiloh where the tabernacle is. We shall not allow you to take part. You have no portion in the Lord. Why? Because you live the other side of Jordan. They said, you know, if that ever were to happen, what a disaster that would be. Here we are being commanded never to interrupt the service of the Lord, and in our hearts we want to serve the Lord, but what a disaster. The future generations got it all muddled up and forgot that the Lord gave us this inheritance east of Jordan and cut us off from serving the Lord because we've gone and taken what the Lord has given us.
So anyway, they put their heads together and this came up with a scheme. They said, I know what, we know what, let's build an altar. We won't build it to offer sacrifices on. That's forbidden, of course, in Holy Scripture. We won't offer offerings on it, burnt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings, or any other offerings. Won't offer anything at all on it, but we'll just build an altar, and we'll build it to the exact specifications of the big altar of the Lord in the tabernacle at Shiloh. And what we'll do that for? Well, they said, so when, if ever, we hope it never happens, but if ever the children of our brethren come to our children and begin to say, look here, you're not belong, you don't belong to Israel, you're outside, you're across Jordan.
You have no part in the service of the Lord. We should say, but wait a minute, we do belong to the Lord. But look at the pattern of the altar. Judge it, my brethren, and see whether or not this altar here that we've built, is it exactly built to the specifications of the altar in the tabernacle of the Lord? And of course, they'll have to admit, oh yes, well, that is, that is the specifications, and we shall say, and how do you suppose we got to know of those specifications? We were there when they were given, you know. Moreover, we haven't built this altar to offer any sacrifice on it. We're not incipient heretics. We own only one altar, that is the altar of the Lord, the one place where the Lord has put his name there.
We own that altar, and that altar only. And we offer our sacrifices when we offer them on the altar of the Lord at Shiloh, or wherever the Lord might choose to put his name. We built this altar to prove it to you, that we love the same Lord as you do. We want to serve the Lord as you do. We want to keep his word as you do. And you have no right to say that we don't belong and to shut us out and exclude us. You say, surely their fears were a bit exaggerated. I mean to say, what Israelite in his senses would ever begin to try and cut off two and a half tribes of the people of the Lord like that?
Ah, but yes, gentlemen, you might so think, but it nearly happened, didn't it? Do you know, if you'll promise not to tell anybody, I'll tell you a secret. I was brought up by very godly men and women. They're in glory now. I praise God for their memory and the way they taught me Holy Scripture. But from them and a good many others, I received a rather a bad press about these two and a half tribes, the Reubenites, the Mena- the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh. You'll say, I was brought up, and I took it until I began to read Holy Scripture, I took it as God's truth that these two and a half tribes were a very doubtful lot.
World borderers they were, so I was told, you'll see. Who, well, if they were saved, were only just about saved by the skin of their teeth. And they oughtn't to have been dwelling in the other side of Jordan anyway. That was fault number one. They ought to have been pressing on across the Jordan west into the great inheritance, you'll see, absolute world borderers. And I was brought out to believe that the trouble was this, that when they saw the land east of Jordan and it was full of grass fit for cows and cattle, and they got a lot of cows and cattles, just like you have in a hawk hill, be careful. Uh, uh, they said, um, um, wouldn't that be nice, therefore very suitable for our cows and our cattle?
And they came to Moses to ask if they could be possibly given this part of the country for their inheritance, seeing the Lord had given them victory over the people that occupied it, and the people that occupied it were now dead. And the Lord had given it to Israel. Wouldn't Moses consider allotting them that bit of the inheritance for their particular possession? My elders taught me that they are, that was their first mistake, you see, deciding these things on business grounds, like Lot who went down to Sodom because the grass was green. Till now. Yes. A- and perhaps if you didn't look at it any more deeply, you would agree with the conclusion.
Indeed, superficially taken, even Moses, uh, made a mistake, didn't he? That bright morning, or was it an afternoon, when the two and a half tribes first came to him and said, Moses, we have a request to make. He said, oh, what's that? They said, please give us this land the other side of Jordan. Oh, Moses exploded like a volcano. You evil men, he said. Wow, and when Moses blew his top like that, things were uncomfortable. You're going to repeat, aren't you, he said, you wicked race of vipers, you? You're going to repeat the sin that your forebears made when they refused to go into the land of Canaan. Are you going to repeat that apostasy all over again?
And Moses spoke to them very strongly that bright morning in the wilderness. It says something for the grace of the two and a half tribes that they let him have his say completely, didn't they? And when he had finished, they said, but Moses, we don't mean any such thing. We are not refusing to go into the promised land. We want all the land for all the people of God, Moses. And what more, Moses, we're prepared to leave our wives and children this east side of Jordan, and we're prepared to go over armed like the Lord commands it. We'll be in the very forefront of the battle, and we promise you now, Moses, we shall fight for the whole people of God and lead their armies into the conquest and never return to our possession until the Lord has given us perfect rest.
We are not refusing to go into the promised land. This is the bit of the promised land that the Lord may be pleased to give us. And when Moses said, heard that, he said, well, oh, well, ah, well, ah, well, if that's what you meant, you should have said what you meant to start with. Well, I had really. You should have meant, said what you meant to start with. I mean, if you're prepared to do that, then, then that's very good. The Lord bless you and give you this land only you carry on fighting. And of course, there's a lesson even there for us, isn't there? It would have been very serious if the two and a half tribes, in choosing to live east of Jordan, were refusing to go on and fight the battles of the Lord.
That would have been serious, wouldn't it? If you met Moses going out of the hall this afternoon, be careful. And Moses took you by the, the, the, the arm and said, tell me, my good man, tell me, my good woman, are you genuinely a believer? What would you say to him? Oh, pray God that we should be able to look Moses in the face and say, Moses, Moses, I follow after. I strain every nerve and every muscle.
I press toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. By God's grace, I am not of those who mind earthly things. My citizenship is in heaven. I press towards the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Not that I've yet attained, but Moses, by God's grace, I shall continue to press ahead and fight the battles of the Lord until pilgrim days are done. How else would you convince Moses that you're a genuine believer? You'll see to be saved and then settle down and give up the fight to make progress.
That not only injures myself if I do it, it will injure my fellow believers, won't it? It will discourage them. You know, it is in times when I'm discouraged and my legs begin to wobble and my hands hang down and I feel like giving up the race and the struggle. And then I see you, my brother, and I see you, my sister, and I see you forging ahead and fighting valiantly the Lord's battles in spite of tribulations and pressures galore, that it speaks to my heart, and I pull up my spiritual socks, and I say, well, well, well, if I can do it, I must then. Yes, your example weighs more than you think. We have none of us permission to give up fighting with the whole people of God and making progress until the Lord comes.
But if you judge genuineness by that criterion, then the two and a half tribes get a hundred first class degree. Joshua commends them in chapter one that they had fulfilled what they promised. Joshua commends them here now in chapter twenty two. they have fulfilled what they promised. They have marched and fought with the people of God until the Lord had given the nation complete rest. Only now were they returning to their inheritance. When they built that altar, they got themselves into trouble. For the other tribes heard about it, and they did a very typical thing. They didn't wait to come and talk quietly with the two and a half tribes and say, President, this is a rather novel thing you've done, isn't it?
What have you done this for? No, no, no, no, no, didn't wait to ask. It was to the rest of the tribes so self-evident that this was a wicked thing. This was a departure from what always had been done before. That without consulting the two and a half tribes or even interviewing them, girded themselves to war to go and destroy the two and a half tribes. Just you imagine it. And they, their true brethren in the Lord. And they came, yes, because it did seem to them to be a very wicked thing that these men had done. But what have you built an altar for? Don't you remember what happened at Baal Peor when the whole nation apostatized and went off offering other sacrifices to other gods upon other altars.
What do you think you're doing? When the foolish in Israel went after Baal-Pahor and built themselves other altars and sacrificed to other gods, like you are now going to do, God brought his judgment upon the whole nation. What are you doing? They said, don't you remember what happened with Achan? Achan was forbidden to touch the devoted thing, and he went and took it, and he perished not alone in his sin. The whole nation was involved in his folly, and God had to judge the whole nation. With high indignation, the rest of the tribes came with their swords bared, ready to slaughter the two and a half tribes, and were just explaining to them why they were going to do it, because in their judgment they were utterly a- apostate and evil.
The fears of the two and a half tribes hadn't been groundless, had they? Once more, the two and a half tribes waited until the rest had had their say, and when they finished, they said, well now, brethren, let's tell you quietly what the real situation is. And to put your mind at rest, we have no intention of offering any sacrifices to any other gods. Do you get that? Secondly, may we point out to you, we don't even intend to offer sacrifices on this altar here to the Lord God. That is forbidden in Holy Scripture.
There is only one altar, and it's with the tabernacle in Shiloh. And my dear good brethren, said the, said the two and a half tribes, we intend to go up always to the altar at Shiloh, to the place where God has put his name, just like you do. And the Lord knoweth. And they repeated it twice because this is the first and basic thing, isn't it? They were acting before the Lord. The Lord God of Israel knows. Oh my brethren, they said, the Lord God of Israel knows our hearts, why we've done it for this reason.
We said to ourselves, you know, it could be that in the course of the years, misunderstanding arise. Your children might come to our children and say, look here, you've no part with us. We can't allow you in the tabernacle of Shiloh. Why is that? Well, you don't belong to us. What do you mean? Well, look where you are. You're the other side of Jordan, and God has put Jordan as a border between you. Who said that? Was that scripture? Well, of course it wasn't. God had never put Jordan as a border between them. Ah, but here were these folks manufacturing ideas that had no biblical basis, no explicit scripture, but just using common sense and making unbiblical deductions and setting down borders to keep some of the tribes out and thinking it was goblins.
And so that's why we did it, brethren, they said, so that if ever it should happen, look, it's even begun to happen now, we may have an answer ready to prove to the rest of the people of God that we genuinely want to serve the Lord every bit as much as they do. And so, having explained that they had no intention of offering sacrifices on that altar, they explained the reason. They said, we built it so that we can say to any that would dismiss us as being schismatic or sectarian or something, we can say to them, well, gentlemen, well, my brethren, we say we're schismatic, but behold the pattern of the altar of the law.
We want to obey that as much as you. As I read those far-off stories, I say to myself, Gooding, my good man, suppose anybody were to accuse you of being schismatic. What would you say to them? Suppose anybody were to accuse you of being sectarian. What would you say to them? And how would you prove you weren't? I think, in my heart of hearts, I, I, I might even adopt the same device as the Two and a Half Tribes. I would say, my brethren, I'm far from perfect, but pray look, behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord.
So what do you mean? Well, we have no literal altar now, do we? On the other hand, we do have an altar where they who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, and the altar stands for us as a symbol of the great sacrifice of our blessed Lord. God help me that my life be conformed to the pattern of his cross and sacrifice. Yes. First of all, doctrinally, the pattern of the altar, according to Hebrews chapter ten, precisely the point, perhaps, that these two and a half tries are making in their symbolic language, even more clear for us as Christians.
Every Jewish priest stood daily, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices that can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Behold, my brothers, the pattern of the altar. Do you hold that pattern? There's a lot in Christendom that don't, do they? They have turned the Lord's Supper into a sacrifice.
And day by day and week by week, they repeat the sacrifice, which is a veritable abomination in the eyes of God. What pattern do you have of the great sacrifice of Christ? You'll say, Mr. Preacher, it is done once and for all. This blessed man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down. The work complete, in virtue of which God is able to assure every believer that their sins and iniquities will he remember no more.
How this is basic, isn't it? And as the years go by and Christendom becomes more and more and more confused, oh, how we need to hold to the biblical doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You hold it, you hold that pattern, you say that's absolutely fundamental in my experience of God. I was a sinner deserving hell. My only hope of eternity, eternal salvation is this, that Christ died, and thank God he died once. Once in the end of the age he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and now he appears in the presence of God for us.
Presently he shall appear again the second time without sin unto salvation. This is absolutely basic to salvation, basic to all the people of God. Oh, I'm so glad you hold it. I wish you could see in my heart. I'm not boasting now, for this is not my goodness, but could you see in my heart I should say to you, my brother, my sister, behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord. I too believe it. He died for me, and he offered a sacrifice once and for all. I need no other sacrifice. I need no other plea. It's enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
Well, if you hold it and I hold it, we're one there, aren't we? Oh, behold the pattern of the altar. Ah, yes. For now, I must ask you to listen to Paul the Apostle. My brethren, he says, don't you let anything be done in strife or vainglory, will you? Alas, how often amongst the people of God, the service of God has been brought into disrepute because of the strife and the division and the unbiblical division and the unbiblical exclusivism.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, very God of very God. Oh, see the pattern of the altar. He humbled himself and became a servant, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross. Oh, behold the pattern of the Lord, my brothers, my sister.
When shall I be able to follow it? I wish I could say, look at my heart and see the pattern reproduced in my heart and in my thinking. Oh, far short I come. God help me. God help you, my brother and sister, to maintain the pattern of the Lord. It's sometimes possible, isn't it, to stand for what we feel is truth, like the rest of the tribes did when they came to fight the war against the two and a half tribes, and in the very process, break the pattern of behavior that our Lord Jesus himself has placed.
The pattern of the altar, when it comes to things practical. You cannot eat the table of the Lord and the table, table of demons. For God is a jealous God. If we would have enjoyed the benefits of all that his great salvation brings us, the table of the Lord brought to us through the sacrifice of Christ, then we must see to it that we stand clear of idolatry.
Or if we don't, the Lord's jealousy will judge us and chasten us until we come to a better frame of mind, and as believers learn to be loyal to him. So therefore, the thing that will keep the Lord's people together, is if you, my brother, and you, my sister, and I, by God's grace, seek to maintain ever the pattern of the order. In chapter twenty three, the difficulty was a different one.
Not an internal danger within the people of God, but an a danger external to them. Joshua pointed out that at this stage there was much land to be possessed, there were enemies still breathing and alive, still having to be conquered. And therefore they were to be careful. And they were to be careful lest, instead of going on fighting the enemy, they settled down and compromised with them, and then intermarried their daughters with their sons and vice versa. They were to be careful not to go off and serve other gods, nor to love them.
They were to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Danger number two is the temptation to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with idolatry of the sort that we serve other gods. We love the world. In biblical language, we would put it like this, wouldn't we? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
There are, as you know, in the first epistle of John, three aspects of the world. There is the world, of course, in its hostility, that is John, one, John chapter three. Don't be surprised if the world hates you. It hated the Lord. It will behave like Cain did towards Abel from time to time. Then there is the world as that great mass of weight that makes it difficult for a believer to keep the commandments of the Lord. His commandments are not grievous, but the world is such an enormous pressure that it often makes it difficult for a believer to keep the commandments of the Lord. And in that respect, John encourages us that we have within us a power that can overcome that dead weight of the world's pressure.
Everything that is born of God overcomes the world. This is a victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. But in chapter two of John, it's the world, not as hostile, nor as a dead weight, it's the world as glamorously attractive that's after our hearts, to take our hearts away from the love of a father. I don't know about you, but when it comes to explaining what the world is, it seems to me that many folks have a difficulty.
I know less than the others. What is worthy? If you want to think me flippant, I don't mean to be flippant. I tell a story that has a serious intent. But in my youth, it was a thing that in my assembly exercised the elders naturally so. How could it not, when the scripture so plainly tells us, love not the world? It was when we came to deciding what the world was that we ran into a few difficulties. In my extreme youth, I remember it was thought a typically worldly thing if a lady came to the Lord's Supper, or to any meeting for that matter, with light colored stockings on.
For in those days, they all wore black stockings, or the most daring wore brown stockings, but nobody ever wore, you know, I don't know how you call them, but those light things. That was thought to be worldly. And when some young woman once came, there were cries of horror, how worldly she was wearing white stockings. But fashions changed, and presently all the ladies were wearing these kind of light colored stockings. But fashions changed again, and in London the height of fashion was to wear black stockings. And one day, I do remember, there came a young lady from London down to my sleepy town and into my beloved assembly, and she got black stockings on.
Said the ladies, how worldly she is. So somehow, black stockings that were once the very opposite of being worldly had somehow become worldly. I don't know the chemistry of it, and I don't trouble to think it through. Of this, I'm sure. That worldliness in its essence is not in things, is it? We deceive ourselves if we think it's just deciding on the right color stockings that will make us unworldly. You can be dressed in the most somber fashion if that's what you think is unworldly, you care. And if your heart be away from the Lord, you can be as worldly as worldly can be.
Worldliness does not consist in things, does it? It's when we take the lovely things of life, no harm in them themselves, the good things of life, and we let those things so absorb our hearts that instead of our enjoyment of them leading us nearer the Lord ever to thank him, and more rigorously and devotedly to serve him. We let those things, lovely in themselves, devour our hearts' affections and take them from the Lord. You can't get two pints of milk in one pint bottle. You cannot simultaneously be loving the world and loving the Lord.
You see, I could let my studies, couldn't I? No wrong in them, I do it to earn a living. I can let my studies so absorb me, my fellow brother. Until I loved it, till it drew my heart away from the Lord, or I should be as worldly as worldly, though my stockings were as black as black could be. And I could let my farm, couldn't I? And I could let my business. I could let my anything. Good in itself. But simply minister to my own desires, set it up as a great thing in life, my great objective in life, and little by little, my heart's love for the Lord diminish and wax cold.
That's worldliness. Love not the world. Use it as God gives it, and love it. See to it that in your heart of hearts there reigns one supreme to whom you give your love absolutely, and your love to any else as subject to him. The Lord use his word to speak to us, that we may take it and ponder it again.
Determined that our behavior shall be controlled, not by patterns of thought that we have received unexamined, but as we love the Lord, examined again in the light of his holy word, that we might see that we have explicit command of holy word for what we do and for what we avoid. And now the time is late. Shall we pray? We thank thee, Lord, for thy word. For when we read it, we perceive that thy people in ancient time were, as thy word says, of like passion as we are, so that the lessons thou didst teach them, thou dost still teach us through thy holy inspired word.
Save us, Lord, from impetuosity. Save us, Lord, we beseech jumping to conclusions. Save us, Lord, from losing our love towards thee or allowing our love to run cold. Help us, we beseech thee, to love thee not only with our hearts but with our minds. And in our day and generation, that we may be men and women who examine thy holy word and seek therein, thus saith the Lord, for all we do. Pass us now with thy blessing. Bless us in our many places tonight, as shoulder to shoulder we seek to preach thy gospel. Add thereto thy blessing, we do beseech thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
