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The Danger of Complacency
Joshua chapter 23
Israel had known many battles, many bad days, remember the defeat at Ai, and remember how they were fooled by the Gibeonites?
Yet they had many wonderful victories, time had taught them many wonderful lessons as they attended God’s training school of life.
Now they had reached a relatively peaceful time, a time when they could enjoy the blessings of the Lord.
Joshua 23:1 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.
They were enjoying a time of rest, a time when they could reflect on their labours and thank the Lord for his wonderful provisions, they had to a certain extent possessed their possessions.
It is true that when we receive times of peace and tranquillity that often we can become lax and slack, our commitment and devotion to the Lord can slip.
There is the danger in the midst of spiritual blessing to forget about the Lord.
Deut. 8:13-14 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; [14] Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
When things go well, we forget about the Lord.
The following was prayed from an Ethiopian believer.
Almighty God from the depth of my heart I plead with thee to send us trouble, when our king was exiled we met in secret and worked in harmony. Now we have peace in our land, we baptise in the daytime we are not beaten, we meet and pray but we are beginning to grow careless in our zeal for thee, jealousies creep in and spoil the harmony, we are selfish in our ambitions. Dear Lord send us more trouble that we might forget about ourselves depend on thee, and have no time to become selfish and jealous of our fellow Christians.
Perhaps that’s how Joshua felt, so he calls together the leaders of the nation here in chapter twenty-three. He has some advice for those in authority, but all of us would do well to listen to Joshua’s admonitions here.
Joshua was not a pessimist but a realist he recognised the danger of complacency.
He reminds them of God’s Unchanging Standards.
Joshua 23:6 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;
What was Joshua told at the beginning of this book?
Joshua 1:7-8 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. [8] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
What did Moses say?
Deut. 5:32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Yes if we want to really enjoy God’s blessings and not become slack and lax keep to this book.
God’s unchanging standards.
2. Bind themselves to the Lord.
Joshua 23:8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
The word cleave was used of a man cleaving to his wife it means adhered to or stuck to.
Joshua encourages them to stick close to the Lord, don’t let anything come between you and the Lord.
Joshua wanted them glued to the Lord, so often we are glued to some book, some magazine, glued to the T.V. set or glued to some hobby. We need to be glued to the Lord, cleave unto him.
Book of the law.
Bind to the Lord.
3. Beauty of love.
Joshua 23:11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.
Would the Lord have to ask you what he asked Peter?
John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
Oh Joshua feared that the love they had for the Lord would grow cold.
Deut. 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: [5] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Joshua recognised the danger of complacency.
He reminds them of God’s unchanging standards and then he tells them of:
The unstoppable slide.
Joshua reminds them of the consequences of forgetting about God’s standards.
yes you are enjoying a time of rest, a time of blessing but if you neglect the things of God, the word, the walk and the love, you will find yourself on an unstoppable slide.
Joshua 23:12 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:
If they neglect these things they will find themselves in the wrong company, soon there will be marriages among them, and the nation of Israel will loose that distinctive character of being God’s people, they will have an ineffective testimony.
Joshua 23:13 Know for a certainty that the Lord your 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.
God had blessed them with much might and power, he had fought their battles, they had experienced the power of God working in and through and for them, but if they neglect the things that Joshua had mentioned, they will become powerless, weak believers.
Joshua 23:13 Know for a certainty that the Lord your 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.
Instead of the freedom and liberty that they now enjoyed, they once again would find themselves in bondage, just like they were in Egypt.
Sin would master their lives, they would become ensnared and trapped.
Dear child of God, turn away from this book, cleave to something other than the Lord, let your love grow cold, and you will find yourself ensnared by the world the flesh and the Devil.
Joshua could see trouble ahead, complacency could set in because they were enjoying a relatively peaceful time.
2 Tim. 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Joshua 23:13 Know for a certainty that the Lord your 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.
Scourges and thorns, painful will be the experience of those who walk afar off from the Lord.
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
CH Spurgeon said, " the Lord will not let you sin successfully."
One can be doing so well, have covered so much ground, become a conqueror, perhaps feeling that they have made it they sit back and become slack.
Joshua 23:13 Know for a certainty that the Lord your 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.
The good land that you have won could be lost!
Joshua was concerned about God’s people, they had been victorious, the land was in their possession, God had blessed them.
Would they remember the Lord, or would they become slack in their devotion?
What about you and I?
What about your meditation?
Joshua 23:6 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;
What about your devotion?
Joshua 23:8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
What about your affection?
Joshua 23:11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.
We have considered the unchanging standards and the unstoppable slide, but praise God, there is help for we have:
An unfailing Saviour
Joshua didn’t leave them with instructions and say get on with it, he left them with some great encouragement.
Joshua 23:14 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.
"That not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake"
Joshua directs them to an unfailing God.
Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails.
You might as well get thee behind me Satan,
You shall not prevail,
Because Jesus never fails.
Joshua 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Zeph. 3:5 The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
Many times in life you have experienced failure, and many times you have witnessed things or people who have failed you and sometimes this causes us to forsake the Lord and fail him, how sad when we remember that no matter what fails, - he never fails.
Genesis 47:15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
Money fails, there are some problems which money cannot remedy, money cannot buy peace or bring any comfort.
But God never fails!
Lament. 3:22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Not one thing that he has said will ever fail, make money your God and it will fail you miserably when you really need help.
Job 19:14-20 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. [15] They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. [16] I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. [17] My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body. [18] Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. [19] All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. [20] My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Job discovered that all he ever loved failed him when he needed them most.
Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
The Lord never fails he never lets you down.
David had fallen into sin.
Psalm 38:4-6 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. [5] My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. [6] I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
He found out that in his own strength he could do nothing.
Psalm 38:10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
What did David cry?
Psalm 38:21-22 Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. [22] Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.
What did he say in Psalm 27?
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Our strength fails, but the Lord is the strength of my life, he never fails.
2 Cor. 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Philip. 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Praise God for our unfailing saviour.
Eccles. 10:3 Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
If we try and work things out through our own intellect, at times it will fail us.
James 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
His wisdom never fails.
Col. 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Money fails; he gives us riches that will never fail.
Friends fail us, he is a friend that will never fail us.
Strength fails us, he gives us strength that will never fail.
Wisdom fails us, he gives us wisdom that will never fails.
He is a refuge that never fails.
Psalm 142:4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
David could find no refuge, no help, but praise God we have a refuge in Christ that will never fail us.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
What an unfailing Saviour we have.
Joshua 23:14 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.
Joshua reminds them of God’s unchanging standards.
He warns them of the unstoppable slide.
He encouraged them because of the unfailing saviour.
This was Joshua’s final message:
Joshua 23:14 and, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth:
There are many death bed messages we could look at, Jacob, Paul and David for example.
The greatest of all the Lord Jesus and his upper room ministry.
John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
He left them an example of humility.
John 13:4-5 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. [5] After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
He left them an expectation of hope.
John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. [2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
He left them an encouragement to help.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
If we look not only at Joshua’s message but the Lord’s we find the remedy for complacency.
Follow the Lord’s example, look for his coming again and yield to the Holy Spirit.
Let me leave you with Solomon’s words.
1 kings 8:56, "According to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised"
Praise God truly, he faileth not, may we not fail him.
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