Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-09-19

Text Of the Lesson. Joshua xxiv. 1928.
Memory Verses, 22-24 - Golden Text,
Joshua xiv. "a Commentary by the
Rev. ID. VI. stearns.
a. Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and
serve Him In sincerity and il truth
Joshua had fulfilled lii mission and had
now come to the end of his sojourn il the
mortal body, being about 10 years old
(verse 29). He assembled the people at
Shechem, and calling for the elders and
judges and officers he reminded them Of
all the Lords goodness and faithfulness
and earnestly exhOrted them To serve Him
sincerely. Serve ~ the Kew word to this
address. 1t il found in some form at least
II times in our lesson, and suggests very
strongly TO us that we are saved in order
to serve Him who saves us. See Ex. iv, %,
90; Thess. i, 9; IL Chron. xxx, II. We
are also TO serve always in the fear Of the
Lord, which includes q practical aequaint-
ance with Him and profound reverence
and cordial affection for Him (ProT. /, ";
TX, 10)
Is. ''As for me and my house we viii
serve the Lord" 1t is evident from this
eAAA NAAD EANAl1AAAz fNA1C AlleAl AlEL ullIt--
tors beyond the river Or. W were idola-
ters- From such as these Abram was
called out. God does not compel. but He
sets before Us the right and the wrong,
drawing us strongly to the right by His
Holy Spirit, yet leaving us To choose. The
leaders, like Joshua, must make the choice
first, for the people cannot be expected to
choose the good If the leaders do not If
all teachers and preachers were as decided
and whole hearted for God as Joshua there
might be less worldliness in many places.
We are all too apt to consider what others
do and follow them We should have
Joshua's spirit of whole heartedness for
God regardless Of others The race IL to
be run looking unto Jesus" which inn
plies looking away from all else (Heb. xii,
1, p.
1918. Therefore will we also serve the
Lord, for He is our God. " This is the
conclusion Of the peoples reply to Josh
ua's words. They acknowledge that the
Lord their God brought them out OF
Egypt, preserved them I'D all the way and
brought them into the land Therefore
they should certainly serve Him, ana not
other gods. Their fathers had however,
made as good resolutions as these at Horeb
when they said, All that the Lord hath
spoken viii we do" (Ex. xix, 81, but they
broke their promises in a few weeks and
were found worshiping a golden calf The
law which Is holy and just and good can
not help lib because the flesh il % weak
(Rom. viii, 81.
10, 90 "And Joshua said unto the peo-
pie, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is
an Holy God He is jealous God" They
could not serve Him in their own strength.
They could not serve Him and others, too
(Math. vi, 24). The people Of an Holy God
must be a holy people GIev- xix, 2; *, 2,
26; xxi s; II Pet j, 15 rs; Isa. Vi, s; Rev iv,
Sd. Just seven times j. God called a jealous
God. Besides this verse see Ex- *, B; xxxiv,
IA; Deut. iv, 24;v, Q; vi, Is; Nah. i, g. Com
pare Jas iy, 5, r. v, margin. The word
translated Jealous" is the same word that
is also translated bought or "purchas-
ed" so that the thought in jealous is
simply that Of claiming what il rightfully
His own We are not our own, but bought
with d price, that He may be gloritied in
us. We are people for His own posses
sion II Cor. vi, 1g, 20, Titus ii, IA, r. V.)-
We are to serve Him with a perfect or
whole heart Il Chron- xviii, 81, with hu-
mility (Acts Xxx, 19,) } with gladness (Ps. c,
81 WIN AAE AllllAAl AAADil- Htf anu lO-4-
tinually (Dan. vi, 16, 2O). OF ourselves
we cannot do this, but Christ can, and a
Christian should be able to say truthfully,
III live, vet not I, tut Christ nveth in me''
(Gal ii, 2O). 1t j. written of Him, 1.-THE
Son Of Man came to minister, " IL am
among you as He that serveth, . ''If any
man serve Ne, him will My Father honor"
(Math. Xxx, 2S; Luke xxi, %; John Xii,
26). When we are fully yielded to Him
according to Rom xii, 1, O. He will work
in Us both to will and To do (Phil ii, IS;
Heb. xiii, 21l.
21. "And the people said unto Joshua,
Nay, but we will serve the Lord They
seem very sincere and determined by His
grace to serve Him, and we find that they
did serve Him all the days of Joshua, and
of the elders that Outlived Joshua, who had
seen the great works of the Lord that He
did for Israel (vcrse 81; Judg ii, -.
22 ''And Joshua said unto the people,
Ye are witnesses against yourselves that We
have chosen you the Lord To serve Him.
When we take stand for the Lord, it
must Of necessity be against ourselves, for
we are by nature against God, The carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it Is not
subject to the law Of God, neither indeed
can be- (Rom. viii, -. Our Lord also
said, liz any man will come after Me, Let
him deny HIMSELF tNlath. xvi, 24l. From
beginning To end of the Christian life i'd H.
u continued stand against self for God.
Even Christ pleased not Himself (R0m.
XIV, 81. He never sought His own will, nor
His own glory (John vi, IS; viii, 50), nor
did He ever take credit to Himself for
either words OF works John XII, 49; xiv,
Christ, " Not !, but the grace Of God
(GaL ii, 20; Cor. XIV, l0)- Sce also Ill
Cor. iv, III.
23 Now, therefore, put away the
strange gods which are among YOU and in
cline your heart unto the Lord God Of Is
rael " The idols, the old man, the weights
and besetting sins, are to be put away,put
off and laid aside (Eph. iv, p; Heb. xii,
/, p, and eyes and heart must BE- ever unto
Him we must De very sincere and truth
full through and through, for He desireth
truth i'll the inward parts and under
standeth all the imaginatiOns OF the
thoughts Of the heart FPS. Ii, s; / Chrun-
xviii, 9; Sam. xvi, y. Here again we
are helpless and must pray Incline my
heart unto Thy testimonies. "
a. "And the people said unio Joshua,
The Lord our God will We serve and His
voice will We obey" The faithful servant
has only To be willing and obedignt'
usa j, 19) iii order tO be pleasing unto his
Master. 1t L. ours to be wise enough to
hear only His commands and faithful
enough to do them; He viii see to all the
results and SUCCESS, as He counts it, Is
sure. There are many voices today, but we
must take good heed to hesir only His voice