The Way of All The Earth - Louie Giglio

0:34 is that Joshua is trying to help us see the difference. I hope everybody can say this without me really needing to say it for us. between a profession of faith and the possessing or the possession of faith in Jesus Christ. I've said it so many times, but what a joy to say it one more time. I urge you to make a profession of faith in Jesus. The Bible says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. So professing faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord and believing in your heart that he is the resurrected King, that's how you get saved. But for so many people, the profession becomes sort of the whole deal. Yeah, I prayed a prayer. Yes, I walked down an aisle. I filled out a card. I'm a believer. But the profession of faith is just the doorway into the possessing of the faith that we now have in Christ. And Joshua is helping us see that, peeling back the layers on that. And today we're coming to the end of the journey. Chapter 23 and chapter 24. Look at the header in Joshua 23. Joshua's farewell to the leaders. After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel, this is so powerful, rest from all their enemies around them. Joshua by then a very old man summoned all of Israel. And he said to them, I am very old. You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake. And then he goes on to remind them of what the Lord has done and to challenge them in his last days. It's his farewell. And I just want to encourage us today, as we think about Joshua's farewell,

2:45 to think about your farewell. Now, I know there are a lot of young people in the room right now, and you're like, yeah, my farewell is so far out into the future, I don't even know when and where that's going to be. There are other people in the room, more in my demographic, and you're actually thinking about your farewell. But there's going to be a moment when it's not Joshua's farewell, it's your farewell.

3:08 And what Joshua is really wanting to encourage us today is when it's time for your farewell, will you have fared well? And he's going to help us see how we can do that today. He's giving us a roadmap to farewell.

3:29 Until our farewell. And no one seems too excited about that so far. Let's go. Okay, I'll take that. A few things I want us to see. Number one, possessing the promised land is a process. Now, we've talked about this through the entire collection, but I want to underscore it again. In other words, when we were born again in Christ, we got a birthright. If you're a believer, you have a birthright, and it is powerful. I mean, it is everything that now you have in Christ. Your birthright in Christ is potent and powerful. Look at the way Peter writes it in 2 Peter 1. He says, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.

4:30 Grace and peace be yours. in abundance, there's the promised land, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us, there again, we're receiving, everything we need. Can we say that together? Given us what? Everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, he is given, there is another thing we're receiving, us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires when you were born again you got a birthright you were given a gift you were given promise you were given the ability to participate in the divine nature of God that doesn't mean you're going to become God doesn't mean you're going to become divine at any point, but you can participate in the divine nature of God. It's a birthright. You have to lean into it. He goes on to say, for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith. So in other words, don't just profess faith, but possess faith. Add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control to self-control, perseverance to perseverance, godliness to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess, hello, these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they'll keep you from just living a life that said, I've made a profession of faith. And they will lead you to a life of actually possessing the miracle of faith. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that

6:36 they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. It's a process. So we're going to leave the collection here, but we're going to keep stepping into the promise of God. We're going to turn the page on Joshua, but we're not going to turn the page on the invitation to step into the divine nature of God. And participate fully in everything God has made available to us because of our birthright. We're going to possess it. we're going to send in our RSVP and say, I'll be there. Thank you for the invitation. I'm coming. I'm stepping in. I'm taking hold. And I'm taking hold of the promise and I'm jettisoning everything that is not in the promise. He said, it's a good and spacious land. It's flowing milk and honey.

7:41 It's got abundance. You'll settle there. You'll plant there. You'll harvest there. You'll serve and worship there. You'll be my witness there. You'll wait in expectation there. Oh, and by the way, the land's inhabited by intimidating people. And I want you to yarash, that's the word, the Hebrew word. I want you to possess it, to occupy it by driving out the previous occupants and possessing the land in their place. The second thing that jumps out at me as we close this collection is that possessing the promised land is a partnership. It's not only a process, it's a partnership. Here's what I mean by that. God has done his part. Now it's time for you to do your part. Now, no one preaches like this, so just give me a second. And I know it's really, you know, not the flavor of the day necessarily, but God has already provided for you the promised land. It's up to you to possess it. He's already done everything he can do through Christ to give you everything you need for life and godliness. Whether you live in it or not is not up to God.

8:45 Whether you live in it or not is up to you. And Joshua is making that super clear at the end of the journey. He is reminding them what God has done, but then he's also inviting them into what God wants them to do. Joshua 23 verse 6, he says, be strong, be very strong, be careful to obey all that's written in the book of the law of Moses. Now that's how we started Joshua. So beginning, be strong and obey. At the end, be strong and obey. Without turning aside to the right or the left, do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Now there's a little footnote here that I really don't have a ton of time to get into. But in many places in Joshua, it says they wiped them out. Wiped all of them. All the men, all the women, all the children, all the herds, everything wiped out. But a lot of theologians believe that that is a metaphor for God gave them complete victory. Not that God wants to wipe out every single living soul.

9:48 And we know that that wasn't the case because now we're at the end of Joshua and there are people left in the land. And now the choice is going to be, are you going to follow God? are you going to get swayed by the people that are still left in the land? You're going to have a choice in how you're going to live. Do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them, but you are to hold fast to the Lord your God as you have until now. Now, the Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations. To this day, no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routes a thousand because the Lord your God fights for you just as he promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

10:43 Now, this is where we all just want to say amen and let's have a wonderful afternoon. But unfortunately, there's a conjunction here. But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you. whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.

11:30 Can I get an amen? Like, whoa, what just happened? What just happened is that God said, I have given you a land. Now it's up to you whether you want to honor me or you want to go with them. And if you want to go with them, guess what? you're going to go alone and suffer the consequences of what you've chosen. possessing the promised land is a process, but it's also a partnership. And today is the day that we all need to stop blaming somebody else and take responsibility for our own lives. Because God's given you a choice today. And he's going to say that specifically to us in this text, choose you this day whom you will serve. And then Joshua says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

12:28 And God's asking you today, are you willing to surrender? What we want to do is we want to say, yes, 100% I want to surrender. So be it. God. Except for this one little area over here, which I've sort of carved out and made a deal with the devil.

12:52 Now, I didn't call it that because that sounds terrible. I just said, well, it's a weakness or it's a, you know, part of my family's history and story or it's not that big a deal. But there's this one area over here that I made a deal with other people living in the land.

13:12 And God is saying, surrender it all today. Surrender it all today. step in to the abundance of the promised land. Now for somebody in the gathering today, that's a small thing, seemingly. And for others of you, it's blatant darkness. And I just want to speak to you in love today. I want to shine light and love today into the darkness.

13:42 Is there anybody in this gathering that's made an alliance? he said do not ally yourself don't make an alliance don't enter into a pack don't go to the seance don't enter in to the darkness you don't need some other spirit to read you and tell you your future. Because you have the spirit of the living God. And for some of you, it's ancestral. It's been in your family. It was something about your grandfather, some organization, some agreement that was made, some oath that was taken. And you need to step into the light today and say, I break every curse. I break every lie. I break every oath. I break every generational deal that's been made with the darkness.

14:37 And I'm standing right now today, fully surrendering to God. because this is not about somebody else. This is about me. And it's time for you to stop blaming your dad. Stop blaming your grandmother. Stop blaming your neighbor. Stop blaming your spouse. Stop blaming that relationship that fell apart. And for you to say, if I'm going to possess the land, I have to understand I'm in partnership with almighty God and I've got to cut ties with the darkness. And I just want to call us to that today. I want to call us to cut ties with demon forces, with dark spirits, with the occult, with witchcraft. In Jesus' name. And to fully step into your promised possession, your inheritance, and your birthright.

15:44 I think the questions that kind of immediately loom are, what less have you just learned to live with? What lie have you given a seat at your table? what family pattern have you capitulated to? And all of a sudden the story is just, well, you know, you know my dad. You've met my granddad, right? Of course I've got an anger problem. Sorry.

16:28 It's just the way we are in our family. We're gossips, have been, and we're good at it. Always will be. We are the bitter people. Yep, you should have met my grandmother. Woo, bitter. My mom's bitter. I'm kind of bitter. My kids, looks like they're turning bitter. We're just bitter. It's just who we are.

16:59 What needs to be, or who maybe, is the question, needs to be evicted from your land. what dream or vision did God give you that you've let die? just to turn it the other way who do you want to become and like Joshua at his farewell what legacy do you want to leave the third thing I'd just like to lift up for us today is to possess fully our land, we have to consider that we're going the way of all the earth. it's a sober thought. Look how Joshua says it in verse 14 of chapter 23. He says, now I am about to go the way of all the earth. That's an interesting way of saying that, isn't it? I'm about to go the way of all the earth. And here's the thing. You're going to go the way of all the earth.

18:19 the small and the great are going the way of all the earth. We had some unexpected guests in our house. We haven't seen them, but they've been leaving little treats for us around the house. Anybody see what I'm talking about without me explaining it further? Or do I need to give more description about the little treats that are being left around the house, in the closet, in the drawer with the dish towels in it? Yeah. Gross. Yeah.

19:02 And so the other night, I was sleeping and I heard a scratching sound. Woke up just like that because I know these visitors are in the house. And they've been nearby where I'm sleeping because they've left little signs to say we were right here. And so I hear the scratching and I'm wide awake and I'm like, pitch dark. Can't see two inches that I can hear something. And I'm like, it's either in the wall or on the wall or in the ceiling maybe. Sound traveling down the wall, I don't know. So I quietly reach for my phone, get it ready. and then I paused for a minute just to let everybody know nothing bad's gonna happen. Then I turned the light on and there he was.

19:54 62 inches from my face. He's like, how do you know that? I got a tape measure out and measured it. And he was in one of the worst things that mankind have ever invented. He was in the glue trap.

20:16 Looking right at me. Saying, help me. It's 3 a.m. Shelly, sound asleep. It's just me and him or her. I don't know kind of what level tenderness you've got going on in life, but I was a mess immediately. I was like, I don't want you in my house, but I'm so sorry, bro. And now I have to do disposal. I'm not going to lay here the rest of the night and listen to this.

20:54 So I'm thinking, how am I going to do that? So I go outside and... put it in a big trash can. and I just honestly said, I'm sorry, bro. It's your time to go the way of all the earth. And I closed the lid. Two days ago, his friend went to wave all the earth. A couple of weeks ago, I was a part of a celebration of life service for a member of Shelly's family, a patriarch on her side of the family. And we had a service in a little town at church and the lunch at the fellowship hall.

22:01 And then just the family, about 25 or 30 of us, went to a family cemetery to the vaults that are on the back wall of the chapel there. And I shared this verse about Joshua going the way of all the earth and how all of us are going to go the way of all the earth. and then his son, this mighty, mighty, mighty man who's made a huge impact on my life and so many people's lives. His son walks up at the end and hands me the box.

22:41 And up until that moment, I've never held ashes before. And I hadn't thought about that instant. and all of a sudden there was a man in my hands. And I put that box we did in the vault. And there's only room in that vault for one more box. And that's it. That's all that fits in the vault. We drove away and I was struck by how heavy it was. And I went and looked it up.

23:41 And a man's ashes weighed four to eight pounds. The mouse and the mighty man. We are all going the way of all the earth. and Joshua wants to leave that just hanging there. as we think about possessing the land. in about our farewell.

24:22 And he wants to encourage us to farewell before we fare well. And then the last thing, Joshua wants us to stake our life on the belief that all of God's promises to us, to you, are going to come to pass. Look at the rest of verse 14.

24:50 He says, now I'm about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled. Not one has failed. Now I think it's important as we're coming to the end of this collection that you don't be tempted to sum up your life by the season that you're in. So we're coming to the end and Joshua's got a big farewell for all of us. And we're thinking, man, this guy crossed the Jordan. This guy had faith. This guy saw all the cities come down. 31 kings were conquered. This guy had peace on every side. He left a farewell address and he was blessing all the people of Israel. What a guy. But do you know where Joshua started?

25:45 Joshua was born. Do you know where he was born? He was born in Egypt. In slavery, making bricks, or working in the fields of the Pharaoh. That's where he started. Not for a day, not for a week, not for a month, but for approximately 30-something to 40 years of his life until Moses showed up and led the people towards the promised land. But though Joshua had faith, the others didn't, and they didn't go into the promised land. So for the next 40 years of his life, he wandered around in a wilderness with people who didn't have faith. He was 80 years old when he crossed the Jordan River, took down 31 kings, that took a minute, and so now he's at the end of his life, the first time in his life that he's had peace on every side.

26:41 And he stands up to give a testimony and says, you know with all your heart and soul that every one of the good promises of God has not failed. He brought me from Egypt all the way to this place, and he's going to do that for you. Every promise of God has not failed. He is teaching us, Joshua, it is not where you start. It is where you finish.

27:11 It's not how you start. It's how you finish. He calls the people together and he says, okay, gonna lay it out there for you. You're gonna serve God or you're gonna serve these false gods or these other people around here? And they're like, oh, we're gonna serve the Lord. He goes, well, you better be sure. He goes, I'll tell you one thing. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people rise up and say, and we will serve the Lord. He says, oh, you better be careful with that because he's a holy God. And if you say you're gonna serve him and you go serve these other idols, you're gonna get the opposite of the blessing of God. You're gonna get the cursing of God in your story. So you gotta be sure. And they said, we're sure. No, you gotta be sure. We're sure. You gotta be sure. We're sure. He said, all right, we're gonna enter into an oath. And they do. And at the end of the oath, he puts a stone in Shechem, this very special place that we're gonna end with today.

28:06 And he says, this is a sign, a memorial, that we've taken an oath to God that we will not serve the gods of the people, but we will serve the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he's standing at Shechem. We're gonna see how important that is in a minute. He started in slavery. Now he's standing in a place of blessing. And he's saying to you today, it's not about where you start, it's about how you finish.

28:41 It was really powerful for me. I don't know any of you guys, but I was watching Fox News on Friday because David Chanley, our resident meteorologist, chief meteorologist at Passion City Church, was retiring after 42 years being on TV. So he's got his wife in the middle there, his daughters, his son-in-law, his three grandkids on the set with him. And they're the whole night, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, it's all about the whole family. It's about the story. It's about people giving testimony to his life, his skill, his character. and I'm just sitting there watching it all go down. And I thought, man, that's the picture, people.

29:37 And not necessarily when you retire, but how you're finishing. Shelly and I don't have kids of our own so we're not going to have a crowd like was there when we put those ashes in the vault where it was the children, the wife, the children the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren legacy but I'm thinking about what's the picture going to be like at the end who's going to be there and what impact is going to have been made? And will I be able to say every one of God's good promises, he came through on them all in the end. It wasn't about where I started. It was about where God brought me. Don't you want that story? And if you're breathing today, you still have the possibility of possessing your land. If you are alive today, you still have the opportunity to possess what God has already given to you as an inheritance in Jesus Christ. You can turn your story around today. You can start a new chapter of life today. And you can start building for what picture you want to see at the end of the day.

30:59 I was struck by how Joshua ended. It says in verse 28, this is the last paragraph of the whole book. Then Joshua dismissed the people, this is after the oath, each to their own inheritance. And he wants to do that today as we close out. He wants to dismiss you to your inheritance. Go live in it. Go enjoy it. Go plant and harvest. Go sow and reap. Go be a witness. Go serve and worship. Go take hold of your high country. And then after these things, Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath-Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. That's one of the tribes, one of the 12 tribes north of Mount Gash.

31:57 Thank you. Israel, the people, served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel. And a little bit of a left turn or a right turn. And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.

32:44 We've journeyed through this entire book with Joshua and Caleb and the people and we get right to the end and we're going to bury Joseph's bones. get ready what is that about do you know what that's about okay let's just do a quick history all started with abraham god called him from his land to a land he did not know and said i'm going to make you a father of a great nation and i'm going to lead you to a place a promised land abraham had the promise but didn't really get the opportunity to fully possess the land. Not in this life. His son was Isaac and Isaac's son was Jacob, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Jacob had many sons and one of his sons was Joseph, you know, Joseph with the technicolor dream coat. He had a vision that God was going to use him in a mighty way in his life. Unfortunately, he told his brothers and they didn't like it. So they decided to kill him. Threw him in a pit. You know, leave him for dead. Then they thought, hmm, let's sell him to these gypsies that are going by. Make some buck. So they sold him. The gypsies took him to Egypt and they sold him into slavery in Egypt. This kid's in his adolescence, hated by his brothers, almost left for dead, sold to these gypsies, sold now to a guy named Potiphar, one of the rulers of Egypt, where he's falsely accused and then thrown in jail and then forgotten in the jail. Some dream he had, but at the end of it all, God raised him up and put so much favor on his life that he became second in command in all of Egypt. And in a time of famine, his foresight had saved the entire nation from starvation and the nations around.

34:44 his family Jacob and the other brothers had to come from their country to Egypt to get food and when they did they realized that the guy they sold to the gypsies was running the show and they were like oh this is not gonna go good but Joseph said to them one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. Don't be afraid. This is the last section of Genesis. I am in the place of God. In other words, just tipping my hand a little bit here, he's saying all of God's promises will come to pass.

35:29 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I'll provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph stayed in Egypt along with his father's family. He lived to be, interestingly, 110 years. And he saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Now Ephraim was one of his sons. Remember, the plot of land was in Ephraim, one of the tribes. the tribe descendant from Joseph, his son Ephraim. And he got to see Ephraim's descendants to three generations. Also the children of Mekir, the son of Manasseh, were placed at birth on Joseph's knees. And then Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die. I'm going the way of all the earth, but God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land, out of Egypt, to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, God will surely come to your aid. And then you must carry my bones up from this place. In other words, when you go to the promised land and he's going to take you there, make sure you carry my bones.

36:50 So Joseph died at the age of 110. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt, but very quickly turn the page to Exodus chapter 1 verse 6. Now Joseph and all of his brothers and all that generation died but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful. They multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king to whom Joseph meant nothing came to power in Egypt. Look, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and And if war breaks out, they'll join our enemies and fight against us and leave the country. So they put slave masters over them to oppress them. And for 400 years. Israel was enslaved in Egypt until Moses came with a word from God, let my people go.

37:54 And off they went. And as they went, guess what went with them? The bones of Joseph. Probably close to ashes by now. And when the Red Sea parted and Israel went through on dry ground, guess who also went through on dry ground? Joseph did. He went through the Red Sea into the promised land, cloud by day, watched over by fire at night, saw miracles of God. And when they finally came to the Jordan River 40 years later, and the waters rolled back when the priests put their feet on the edge, guess what? They carried Joseph into the promised land. They put his bones down and when they camped at Gilgal and stacked up those rocks of remembrance, they came back to the camp after Jericho and Ai and he could hear the sounds of the victory of God giving the people what he promised. And now that there's peace on every side, guess what? Joseph, it's your time. So we're going to take you to the plot of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver. And we're going to bury you right there in the promise of God. Hundreds of years later, they buried Joseph on his dad's plot a land that he had bought in advance when he came into Canaan and pitched his tent in Canaan.

39:36 It wasn't fully possessed yet, but he had faith. And he said, I'm going to make my home right here, but I don't want to just take the land. I want to do it right. So he paid a hundred pieces of silver for the land. and right there in Shechem in such a blessed place in the story of God's unfolding history