Introduction

Last week we looked at the key things that need to be in place for covenant succession to succeed within families. And we saw six things that almost guarantee that a vibrant faith will not be passed on from parents to children, to grandchildren, and to the succeeding generations.

Well, this chapter deals with covenant succession as well. But even though there is a logical relationship between chapter 23 and chapter 24, our chapter is not simply repeating the ideas of the previous chapter. And I want to apply the principles of this chapter to the issue of how it is possible to maintain covenant succession of a Christian country on the level of a country as a whole so that the country remains a Christian country generation after generation. And the answer in a nutshell is that every civic officer in every generation needs to make the choice given in verse 15. Joshua told the civic officers of this next generation,

And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

And you might think, "That should be an easy choice. One Nation Under God." Who could argue with that? That's our choice. We love that idea!" Ah, but God tests a country's loyalty by insisting on four things that must be punishable as crimes. And these are hard for Christians to swallow. That's why I call them tests of sincerity - which the previous verse talked about. The four things that must be treated as serious crimes are sorcery or witchcraft (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 20:27), blasphemy or cursing God (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 24:10-16,23), deliberate sabbath desecration (Ex. 31:14f; 35:2; Numb. 15:32-36), and worshiping other gods or enticing the nation to do so (Ex. 22:20; Deut. 13:1-19; 17:2-7; 18:20). Just four tough laws related to the first four commandments.

And some modern theologians who think those laws are too hard have said, "Well, in our nation we will only uphold crimes related to the second table of the law - in other words, the last six commandments." But here's the thing: if a nation doesn't have loyalty to the God of ten commandments (which is what the first table of the law is all about) there is no logical reason to follow the second table of the law, and eventually an entirely new law-system will replace God's law.

And I want to illustrate the truth of this with the most hated law in the Old Testament - the law against blaspheming or cursing God - which can receive up to the death penalty. The reason it had such a severe penalty was that if God can be cursed and tossed out as the highest authority in a nation, then the other laws designed to protect citizens' liberties evaporate. It is treason. It strikes at the foundation of the Christian nation.

And by the way, it's not as if there won't be new blasphemy laws. Blasphemy laws are inescapable, so you might as well get over it. There will always be some test of which god maintains your loyalty. It's almost guaranteed.

And let me use Scotland as an example. It used to be one of the most consistently Christians countries in the West up until recent years. But sadly, they broke their covenant succession as a nation. Scotland used to even enforce God's blasphemy law. That changed this year. Their Hate Crime and Public Order Act of 2021 became law on April 1 of this year (2024). That Act abolishes all previous laws punishing blasphemy against God, and replaces them with pagan blasphemy laws. What do I mean? The new blasphemy laws are called identity hate crimes. In Scotland you will now be in trouble if (for example) as a woman athlete you complain that transgender men who pose as women should not be allowed to compete in women's sports. That has now become hate-speech punishable at law.

Even liberal BBC gave a report that in the first week after Scotland's new legislation was enacted this past April, there were 7,000 accusations of hate crimes against people (in the first week!). This was immediately followed with 5,400 people facing active persecution, and 468 ending up in court in the first six months.

And examples like those in Scotland could be multiplied. I'll just give one more example from a different Western country. In Finland, Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen is being prosecuted for ‘hate speech’ simply for tweeting on Social Media Romans 1:24-27 and questioning why the leaders in her church were sponsoring an LGBTQ pride event. You might think that complaining about her own church violating the Bible should not be a hate crime. Surely standing for Biblical law within her own church would be tolerated?! But no, for the Finish civil authorities that is an unpardonable sin. Her legal battle has been underway for the past five years. ADF International is supporting her defense, which is now at the Supreme Court of Finland.

Now, I have deliberately brought up the most controversial civil law of the Old Testament upfront to get you to start thinking about why all the tough principles of this chapter are critical for covenant succession of the faith in any nation. According to this chapter renewing covenant with God is a test of whether we want true liberty or bondage. God in verse 15 gives civic officers a choice of what their ultimate authority will be. He tells them, "You can freely choose." But God does not give them a choice of the consequences. And the consequences of rejecting what the Bible calls God's "perfect law of liberty" include loss of freedoms, economic bondage, child sacrifice, endless wars, sodomy, mutiliation of children's genitals, and other horrible things that we have been seeing even here in America. You see, the other gods never give liberty; they always bring citizens into bondage. And verse 15 basically says, “Hey, if you hate the laws God has given, then don't complain about the increasingly tyrannical laws that you will be coming under. Submit to the God of life and liberty or submit to demonic authorities of death and bondage.” It's the only two choices that God gives to countries.

I'm only going to have time to give an incredibly fast overview of these 28 verses, but they give key principles for covenant succession within a nation or country. So let's dive in.

Each generation needs to covenant with God (v. 1)

Verse 1 says,

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

The previous generation of civic officers had made a similar covenant with God, but the point of this verse is that every generation of civic officers needs to renew covenant with God. Psalm 2 is a prophecy of New Covenant times under Christ, and it commands all rulers to kiss the Son (in other words, to enter into covenant with Son) or perish under His wrath. And America was not given an exemption. All rulers must renew covenant with God generation after generation. The fact that a nation started out Christian (as ours certainly did) will not keep that nation Christian. A requirement for office should be that the leaders renew covenant with God in a concrete tangible way.

Here's the point: adopting a religion is inevitable in any country - it will either be the true religion of the Bible or some form of the religion of darkness.

Remembering the historical foundations for covenant succession (vv. 2-13)

And the reason this seems so odd to Christians today is that they have completely forgotten the history of America. The book of Judges said that the same thing happened within two generations of this chapter. They forgot the historical foundations that Joshua is going to lay out here in verses 2-13. So let me remind you of some of our own history that modern Americans have forgotten.

The early history of America was that of a Christian country - not a perfect country, but a country that saw themselves as being thoroughly committed to the God of the Bible. And I could give you hundreds of quotes from the early years of our country, but I will just start with one. As late as 1905, our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, said this (and he said it in his state of the union address). He said,

There are those who believe that a new modernity demands a new morality. What they fail to consider is the harsh reality that there is no such thing as a new morality.

There is only one morality. All else is immorality. There is only true Christian ethics over against which stands the whole of paganism. If we are to fulfill our great destiny as a people, then we must return to the old morality, the sole morality.…

All these blatant sham reformers, in the name of a new morality, preach the old vice of self-indulgence which rotted out first the moral fiber and then even the external greatness of Greece and Rome.¹

That opinion was not considered strange on those days. Later he said,

Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure ourselves what that life would be if these standards were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves.²

When you forget your history, it is easy to be duped into embracing pluralism - out of niceness. But being nice to the enemies of Christ means that they will come back to bite you. Why? Because of the demons behind them who hate Christ and who move civic officers to undermine the laws of Christ. So Joshua spends twelve verses reciting the history of their nation and why it thrived and was blessed when it was committed to God and why it did not thrive when it was not committed to God.

Ancient history - the call of Abraham (vv. 2-4)

He starts with ancient history in verses 2-4. This is the call of Abraham.

The Gospel must reach people (v. 2)

Verse 2 shows how the Gospel reached into the darkness of an utterly corrupt culture and redeemed Abraham and his family and servants. It says,

And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.

Don't ever despair when you see darkness all around you. The Gospel has over and over again radically changed individuals, families, civil officers, and even nations. Sometimes nations were converted by the Gospel almost overnight. You can think of the king of Tyre in the days of David, or Nineveh in the days of Jonah, or Nebuchadnezar, Cyrus, and Darius.

Sometimes it requires a fresh start (v. 3)

Anyway, in this case, God decided to give a fresh start. And let me remind you that things are not as bad in America today as they were where Abraham lived. Verse 3 says,

Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.

What came from this Gospel that saved Abraham and his large retinue? Blessing upon blessing. In fact, God promised in Genesis 22:18 that in Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth would eventually be blessed. In fact, our first Chief Justice in the Supreme Court, John Jay, told the nation how foundational the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the success of a nation. He said,

The Bible will also inform them that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; that this Redeemer has made atonement “for the sins of the whole world,” and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits are of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve.³

He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and he gloried in the Gospel's relevance to the success of nations. The enemies of Christ love to vilify the Gospel because it starts by showing them how sinful they are, and people prefer to think well of themselves. But the Gospel is the only basis for any group (even a traveling nation like Abraham's multiplied descendants) to have liberty, joy, prosperity, and all of God's blessings. And our founding fathers knew that. Indeed, you can find statments by various levels of civil government for the next 100 years or more that mention the Gospel as being the absolute foundation to our nation's success.

For example, in explaining why a Sabbath breaker could be rightly prosecuted in 1846, the Supreme Court of South Carolina gave as a part of its reasoning that Sabbath breaking is a denial of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that to deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ is destructive to the foundations of a nation. You ought to read the whole court decision. But I will just quote the part that shows that the Gospel of that Supreme Court was the true Protestant Gospel. The court decision said,

The Lord's day, the day of the Resurrection, is to us, who are called Christians, the day of rest after finishing a new creation. It is the day of the first visible triumph over death, hell, and the grave! It was the birth day of the believer in Christ, to whom and through whom it opened up the way which, by repentance and faith, leads unto everlasting life and eternal happiness!⁴

That's the true Gospel. In any case, that decision of the Supreme Court of South Carolina is a marvelous example of a court being totally committed to the first table of the law in civics - even the controversial tests of our loyalties we started with in the introduction- like Sabbath breaking being a crime. It understood that if you don't have the first table of the law, you don't have the second table.

God rules over countries (v. 4)

Verse 4 reminds them that whether it is Esau's descendants in Seir or Joseph becoming governor over Egypt, it is God who gives countries to various people.

To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

God provided countries for both, and yet subsequent history shows that both wandered from God's blessings into bondage. Covenant succession of a Christian nation is never automatic. Any time Christians abandon God's laws, they embrace bondage. That happened to Esau's descendants and it happened to Jacob's descendants - but it only happened after a period of incredible prosperity in Egypt. It is critical that officers in civics be required to acknowledge God as the giver of all good things - including peace, economic prosperity, geographic boundaries, etc. They owe God their freedom, and they owe Him their allegiance.

History from 67 years ago - Deliverance from Egypt (vv. 5-7)

Joshua then jumps over 430 years of history in Egypt to a time in Egypt when Israel was suffering. They had become slaves to the Egyptians. And the reason they had become slaves somewhere in that 430 year period (we are not told when) is that God is in the habit of using pagan governments to discipline His people. He is more interested in the church's holiness than He is in their comfort. And to set this in context, these verses are just reminding this generation of what had happened 67 years earlier. Let's look at each verse.

Remembering that God knows how to bring nations down when they become tyrannical (v. 5a)

The next reminder Joshua gives is that God knows how to bring nations down when they become tyrannical. Verse 5 begins, "Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them." Previously Egypt had a godly ruler - Joseph. But by this time Egypt had become a God-hating country, and with plague after plague he brought Egypt to utter ruin. You cannot read through the prophets of the Old Testament without seeing time and time again that God raises up pagan countries as His tool of discipline and then He brings those nations down themselves. And the history of nations show nations rising and falling just as God determined it. And from the founding of our country through the early 1900s there have been numerous civic officers who have sought to remind America that we can receive judgments from God just as surely. But they also called for prayer and fasting for the union of states because they also knew that when we humble ourselves, God can send those same judgments upon our enemies.

Remembering the privileges of being redeemed by God (v. 5b-6a)

But then Joshua cites the privileges that Israel once again enjoyed through the Gospel. The last phrase of verse 5 and the first phrase of verse 6 describes his redemption.

Afterward I brought you out. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt...

What a joyous occasion that was. The Gospel brought them out of slavery. But God knew that Israel was still not ready to trust Him in all things. So he ensured that the Egyptians would chase them - to the destruction of the Egyptians and to the strengthening of Israel's faith.

Crying out to God when tough times come (vv. 6b-7)

and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 So they cried out to the LORD; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time.

He reminds them of this history to show that they could not deny God's hand in politics. But he ends with the last sentence of verse 7 to remind them that Israel's constant whining, complaining, and lack of trust ensured that they would wander in the wilderness for a long time - forty years to be exact. It never pays to short-circuit the principles in this chapter. But crying out to God in America during tough times was a constant refrain during times of war, famine, and other disasters. In fact, states and the country as a whole frequently called for days of repentance, prayer, and fasting. They knew that reversal of hopeless situations did not come by simply voting in better civic officers to be their savior; it came from God alone.

History from 20 years ago - Victory over enemies (vv. 8-13)

But in verses 8-13 he jumps up to more recent history - their victory over their enemies in Canaan somewhere between 15-20 years before. I’m going to side with the scholars who say 20 years.

Remembering that possessing a land is a privilege from God, not a right (v. 8)

Verse 8 reminds them that possessing a land is a privilege from God, not a right. It says,

And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

It's easy for countries to begin to think that they are invincible and that they can do things on their own. But history reminds us that this has never been true. God raises up nations and He casts them down.

Rejecting demonic curses on the land (vv. 9-10)

Then in verses 9-10 he reminds them that demonic curses are real, but that God can protect us from such demonic curses.

Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.

I'm reminded of the demonic curses that some witches recently brought against President Donald Trump. I'm no fan of Trump, but God does listen to His people when they cry out for protection of their civic officers. And I'll just quote from non-Christian sources so that you don't think that it is Christian wackos who are making this up. The Toronto Star newspaper reported that a group of roughly 100 witches have been trying to cast spells on Trump, and so far have been unsuccessful.⁵ ABC News outlet reported that witches have claimed that their spells against Trump aren't working like they usually do. One of the witches stated, "Therefore he has a shield, a flimsy one of course, but a shield nonetheless (I am trying to figure out a way to create spells that can bypass that, but it's difficult)."⁶ Another witch posted on Reddit, "I hate to say this, but don't do magic against him. He has a form of protection surrounding him that feeds off of magic done against him. You will have better results if you focus your magic on helping his opponent or protecting yourself and others." On a site called WitchesVsPatriarchy, one witch said, "doing spells directly against Trump are not as effective as we might hope as he seems to have some kind of protection around him."⁷

You might think that these Satanists don't really have any powers, but they do have powers, just like Balaam did. You cannot ignore the power of the occult. It is real. But Jesus is more powerful. And when Christians pray their hedge of protection around people, it can overcome that occult power. But I would encourage us to pray for more than just protection for Trump. We should pray for His salvation.

Securing a mono-cultural (i.e., Biblical) but not racist country (v. 11)

In verse 11, Israel had declared an all-out war against the religious pluralism in the land. Keep in mind that God had no problem with the Canaanites in terms of their racial backgrounds. In fact, He saved several of them. But their religions would not be allowed within the country. God was intent on having a mono-cultural country, which is quite different from a mono-racialism. Verse 11 says,

Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand.

Why did God have them war with these nations? Because those nations were at war with God. God was quite willing to redeem and include a Canaanite Rahab, a Moabite Ruth, a Hittite Uriah, and numerous other famous Israelites who were once pagans. God was not racist. But he was mono-cultural - which means that our culture must flow from the Bible. And that's exactly how America's Supreme Court defined it in their 1892 case of Church of the Holy Trinity v United States. And I'm bringing all these quotes up just to show that the principles of this chapter were not considered weird back in their day. This is 1892. The Supreme Court said,

Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian... From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation. [And after giving numerous examples of a Christian mono-cultural consensus the Supreme Court goes on to say:] There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning; they affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons: they are organic utterances; they speak the voice of the entire people... ...in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity, as a rule of their faith and practice... We are a Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity, and not upon the doctrines or worship of those impostors [and the imposters the court was referring to were pagans. It went on]... If we pass beyond these matters to a view of the American life as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs and its society, we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. Among other matters note the following: The form of oath universally prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty; the custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer; the prefatory words of all wills, "In the name of God, amen"; the laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath, with the general cessation of all secular business, and the closing of courts, legislatures, and other similar public assemblies on that day.⁸

And the court gave ten pages of detailed proof of these assertions that America was composed of many nationalities, but had only one culture - a Christian and Biblical culture. That was in 1892. Was our mono-culturalism perfectly Biblical? No. But it illustrates that rejecting immigrants today who actively fight against Biblical culture is not a strange or oddball idea. Let me show what happens when we don't kick out of our country the modern Canaanites with their abortions, sexual mutilations, child sacrifice, and other abominations. The Biden administration has been bringing millions of these anti-Christian pagans into our country on purpose. Who has come in? Let me give you some examples.

There is the Tren de Aragua gang. It originated in Venezuela and has expanded operations in the US, engaging in activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, and human smuggling - including the sex trade. Members have been apprehended in various states, including Texas and New York. But the Federal government has been allowing them in. It's insanity. But it's consistent with the choice that the Biden Administration has taken on verse 15. His administration does not want the God of this chapter to rule over them.

What about the other gangs pouring over the border?

There is the Barrio Azteca gang that has been flowing in from Mexico. They are involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and violent crimes. They have a significant presence in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

There is the La Línea gang that has been streaming into the country. They are known for drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnappings. you will notice the similarities of crime in these gangs. It’s because of similar demons that are behind them.

There is the Mara Salvatrucha gang (otherwise known as MS-13). This international criminal gang is involved in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, and violent crimes. By the way, drugs - pharmacaea, is one of several gateways to the demonic, and always has been. If you have been involved in illicit drugs, or occult tattoos, or other gateway activities, you may need deliverance from demons. Anyway, back to this gang, like the other gangs, they routinely engage in exploiting women and children for labor and sex trafficking. Engaging in brutal murders is often a part of gang initiation rituals. MS-13’s official motto is “Mata, roba, viola, controla” (or kill, steal, rape, control). It’s demonic to the core.

These are the modern Canaanite criminals that need to be cast out of America. And this has nothing to do with race. I have no problem with Christians from other nationalities immigrating over here.

Why do I bring this up? Well, it is because there is a lot of debate nowadays on what the requirements for immigration should be. Sure the Bible allowed free travel in and out of the country, but it didn't give citizenship to criminals. There were politicians who were trying to give these illegals voting rights. And despite the Bible guaranteeing that these demonic strongholds pass on to the third and fourth generations, they are conferring automatic citizenship to babies born to these illegals.

There is also debate on whether our nation should be mono-cultural or multi-cultural. It is my contention that the only way a Christian nation can remain a Christian nation generation after generation is if we get those two things right: proper immigration and mono-culturalism.

Trusting God's providence (v. 12)

But it is not as if all America's problems are hopeless. They are serious, but not hopeless. Let me start with the seriousness of the situation. As Doug Wilson recently pointed out, God not only brings these kinds of things as judgments for sin, but the sin itself is a judgment from God. It is giving the nation up to a depraved mind. It's letting the nation see the inevitable consequences of their bad choice on verse 15. All kinds of irrational sins are going to result. Romans 1 outlines what happens when a nation rejects God and opts for pluralistic laws of the Canaanites. God lets them taste the horrible fruits that always result from doing that. He says in Romans 1:24, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves." Don't think our nation is facing judgment. No. It is experiencing judgment. The Wokism, the LGBTQ movement, abortion, murder, etc. is itself God's judgment for rejecting the earlier Christian mono-culturalism of our country's history. Romans 1:26 repeats the same thought, saying, "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature." So that is the seriousness we are facing in America. We are currently under God’s judgment. We are not waiting for it; we are under it.

But are we in a hopeless situation? No. No. Not at all. We can trust that God's providence can remedy this situation if the church itself will once again embrace the principles of this chapter (without embarrassment) and cry out to God. In verse 12 it says, "I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow." God can use insects. He can use lab-leaked viruses, bacteria, nuclear bombs, and other disasters to cause paganism to die off. But why would He bother to do that if the church itself is not committed to true Christian covenant succession within the nation? That's why I am preaching on this. At least we can repent of the sins of our nation, commit ourselves to Biblical civics, and call upon God to send repentance to our nation.

Seeing national prosperity as a gift from God (v. 13)

In verse 13 Joshua reminds them that they must see national prosperity as a gift from God. It is something God gives and can withdraw.

I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

God can cause the wealth of the wicked to be stored up for the righteous. In fact, He has promised to do that in Proverbs 13:22; Isaiah 60:5,11, and other passages. But the civil leaders must once again believe that we are truly at God's mercy on whether He will do so or not. The liberties of our nation were a gift from God, and we are fast losing those liberties. On panel three of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC it says,

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.⁹

Newt Gingrich gives evidences that Thomas Jefferson had by this time ditched his Deism and recognized that moment by moment any nation is in peril if it does not see its safety as a gift from God that can be taken away at any moment. Civic leaders must once again believe this truth.

The imperatives for maintaining a mono-cultural (but non-racist) nation (vv. 14-15)

In verses 14-15 he once again reiterates the imperative of maintaining a mono-cultural (but not racist) country.

Be committed to having "one nation under God" (v. 14)

First, in verse 14 he calls these leaders to be committed to having one nation under God - the motto that is still on our money.

“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!

Difficulties if there is no fear of God (v. 14a)

The first phrase calls them to have a fear of God. And if they don't willingly gain that fear, God can bring unbelievable calamities upon America to help them regain that fear. He calls them to "fear the LORD." Not just any Lord, but all capital letters LORD is the way the New King James Version translates Yehowah, the name of the God of the Bible. And in early America all three branches of government made it explicit over and over again that it was not the God of Mohammed, but the God of the Bible that our nation was committed to.

The nation must see itself as serving God (v. 14b)

Next, he calls them to see themselves as servants of Almighty God. He says, "serve Him." And is that not what Romans 13 calls all New Testament era civil magistrates to do? Yes. It says that magistrates are to supposed to be God's servants to you for good. And God alone can define what is good. And there are still a small handful of civil servants who see their ultimate authority as being God, and that they are servants of God for the good of their citizens. They are far and few between, but we need to pray for them, encourage them, and support them.

The nation must sincerely embrace the truth of Scripture (v. 14c)

But this civil service for God can't be pure sloganeering to gain the Christian vote. Joshua tells them, "serve Him in sincerity and in truth." God recognizes hypocrisy for what it is, and it means nothing to him when hypocrites appeal to God; nothing. He is not talking about lip-service. He is saying that for covenant succession to happen in a nation, civic officers must truly be Christians. Some people wonder if some of the quotes from Supreme Court Justices are just hypocritical ways of throwing bones to Christians. But most were not. For example, John Jay, the first Supreme Court Justice, said,

In forming and settling my belief relative to the doctrines of Christianity, I adopted no articles from creeds but such only as, on careful examination, I found to be confirmed by the Bible.¹⁰

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."¹¹

"It is true that the law was given to Moses, not however in his individual or private capacity, but as the agent or instrument, and by the authority of the Almighty. The law demanded exact obedience, and proclaimed: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” The law was inexorable, and by requiring perfect obedience, under a penalty so inevitable and dreadful, operated as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ for mercy."¹²

But John Jay was explicit that he didn't get his ideas from any source other than the Bible. This is not weird stuff. This is the kind of stuff that our country was (however imperfectly) committed to. And that long history stands as a rebuke to our current laws.

There must be religious antithesis (v. 14d)

But Joshua goes on to say that these civic officers must maintain a religious antithesis. It's not enough to stand for God and for His law. You also need to stand strongly against counterfeit gods and counterfeit laws - like Initiative 434. Verse 14 goes on to say,

and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!

Wow! Some of them still had these gods? Yikes! Well, Joshua warned them that you can't be blessed by serving God alongside other authorities. And various generations of American politicians have sadly been a mixed bag. That's why America has had its ups and downs. Foreign gods and their foreign laws (like the laws of the United Nations) need to be cast off the shoulders of America so that we can regain our liberty.

Calling them to consecration (vv. 15-23)

So he calls them to total consecration to the Lord in verses 15-22. And I have rephrased the central theme of these verses by way of questions:

Do you understand that choices are always made between gods in a nation, and it is imperative that the right choice be made (v. 15). I.e., a state religion is unavoidable; make sure it is the right religion.

First, Joshua in effect asks them, "Do you understand that choices are always made between gods in a nation, and it is imperative that the right choice be made (v. 15). I.e., a state religion is unavoidable; make sure it is the right religion." He tells these civic officers,

And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

God gives nations a choice of which authority they will submit to, but as I mentioned earlier, He doesn't give them a choice of consequences. The choice outlined in verse 15 is always being made by civic officers. They are either serving the true God in their civic actions or they are serving some other god - in other words, a demon.

Do you really have the resolve to be faithful to the Lord? (vv. 16-18) They get it.

The next question I have put in your outlines interprets verses 16-18. "Do you really have the resolve to be faithful to the Lord?" At least on this day they did. They get it. The text says,

Josh. 24:16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

These civic officers are covenanting with God. They are making the decision to be totally consecrated to Him.

Do you really understand what you are doing in covenant renewal? (vv. 19-23)

The next question I have in your outlines is my interpretation of what is going on in verses 19-23. "Do you really understand what you are doing in covenant renewal?" These aren't just words; this is serious stuff. I've broken it up into sub-points.

Are you really convinced that you can't do this on your own? (v. 19a)

First, "Are you really convinced that you can't do this on your own?"

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD...

He is not denying that they can serve God by His grace. What he is saying is that it will be impossible for them to serve God as He has called them to do unless they rely on His grace. You on your own cannot serve God. You will fail on your own. You will mess up.

How much do you know about the holiness of God and His judgments? (v. 19b-21) They get it

The next question is, "How much do you know about the holiness of God and His judgments?" And apparently, they get it. They know what they are getting themselves into. Joshua says,

...for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD!”

They understood the consequences of rejecting God, and they were serious in consecrating themselves to Him.

Are you knowledgeably entering into this covenant? (v. 22) They get it

The next question is, "Are you knowledgeably entering into this covenant?" And they affirm in the positive. They know both the cost and the blessing. Verse 22 says,

So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!”

This is all covenant language. They are renewing covenant with God just like the previous generation did.

Are you willing to put away foreign gods? (vv. 23-24)

The last question I put in your outlines is, "Are you willing to put away foreign gods?" There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ as a nation. And the Great Commission calls us to disciple nations, not just individuals. The cost outlined here requires rejecting the paganism of our culture. Verses 23-24.

“Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

They were swearing total loyalty to God - something that has only been given lip-service in my generation. I started this sermon by mentioning Christians who only want the second table of the law. They don't like God's penalties for embracing occult symbols. They don't like God's penalties for blasphemy or Sabbath breaking. But those are tests of our sincerity. And the tests are so few compared to the tests that pagan law gives. For the most part God's law is so freeing that it is almost libertarian, but without the tests given in God’s exposition of the first table of the law you can't logically have the second table of the law. It's logically impossible. And previous generations in America totally understood this. I've already mentioned various courts upholding penalties for violating the Sabbath, and that the Supreme Court of America approved of that since we are a Christian nation. Let me read an example of a state court opinion that upheld penalties for blaspheming God's name. This was one of the other tests.

In 1811, James Kent, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, rendered the following opinion for the whole court. This is an official Supreme Court of New York opinion. First I'll read the summary:

The defendant was indicted … in December, 1810, for that he did, on the 2nd day of September, 1810 … wickedly, maliciously, and blasphemously, utter, and with a loud voice publish, in the presence and hearing of divers good and Christian people, of and concerning the Christian religion, and of and concerning Jesus Christ, the false, scandalous, malicious, wicked and blasphemous words following: “Jesus Christ was a bastard, and his mother must be a whore,” in contempt of the Christian religion … the defendant was tried and found guilty, and was sentenced by the court to be imprisoned for three months, and to pay a fine of $500.¹³

The lawyer who brought the charges on behalf of the State said,

While the constitution of the State has saved the rights of conscience, and allowed a free and fair discussion of all points of controversy among religious sects, it has left the principal engrafted on the body of our common law, that Christianity is part of the laws of the State, untouched and unimpaired.¹⁴

I'll just quote part of the court's longer decision.

Such words uttered with such a disposition were an offense at common law... Christianity was parcel of the law, and to cast contumelious reproaches upon it, tended to weaken the foundation of moral obligation, and the efficacy of oaths.

...whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government.… the authorities show that blasphemy against God and … profane ridicule of Christ or the Holy Scriptures (which are equally treated as blasphemy), are offenses punishable at common law, whether uttered by words or writings … because it tends to corrupt the morals of the people, and to destroy good order.

Such offenses have always been considered independent of any religious establishment or the rights of the Church. They are treated as affecting the essential interests of civil society.…

We stand equally in need, now as formerly, of all the moral discipline, and of those principles of virtue, which help to bind society together.¹⁵

As we said at the beginning of this sermon, if you throw out the first table of the law for civics, you will automatically have other gods dictating other blasphemy laws, and as this court rightly said, it will bring about the destruction of good civil government. The blasphemy laws in America are now embedded in Wokism and its hate crimes.

The next generation covenants with the Lord (vv. 25-28)

In any case, the next generation gets it, and they enter into covenant with God in verses 25-28.

Civil officers must sign a written covenant (v. 25)

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

First, it was a written covenant that any citizen could read and hold those civic officials accountable to. The New American Commentary says,

This covenant bound the people in a strong commitment to serve and obey only Yahweh their God, as over against the gods of the Canaanites or any other foreign gods. He established (“drew up”) the terms “for it”...: the decrees and laws.¹⁶

So it was first a written covenant.

Second, the literal rendering of verse 25 is that they cut a covenant, which involved the civic officers taking an oath over an animal that had been cut up. The symbolism of it was, "May what happened to this animal happen to me if I break covenant with God." In other words, it is accepting God's curse if they abandoned the covenant.

Third, as Nehemiah 9:38 and other passages show, the leaders would sign the covenant document.

Fourth, those covenants always involved an oath.

Now, you might think, "Surely we can't do that today." Well, now that Christ, the final Sacrifice has come, we can't cut up an animal. That's true. But we can cut covenant on the basis of Christ's final sacrifice. Either He bears the curse for us or we bear the curse. Nor was this serious covenanting with God a foreign thing for various states in the Union. I'll give you one example. Here is from the older Constitution of the State of Delaware.

Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust … shall … make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: “I, _________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”¹⁷

Similar covenants and oaths of office are found in the older Constitutions of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Hampshire. Again, what Joshua was calling for used to be as American as Apple Pie. We have slid a long ways from that.

Civil officers must have an objective basis for a Christian nation - the Bible, not simply natural law (v. 26a)

Next, Joshua made sure that they were committing to the Bible itself - an objective standard. It was the Bible, not simply natural law. Natural Law is a rubber nose that can be twisted and perverted by magistrates because it is so subjective. No, this was an objective standard. Verse 26 begins, "Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God." The Book of the Law of God was the Pentateuch - the first five books of the Bible- the only portion of the Bible that they had until Joshua was written. They were to recognize that it was the Bible, not simply nebulous natural law, that was to guide their affairs.

And I could give you hundreds of quotes that show that this was not seen as weird by our founding fathers or by many officers in all three branches of government in the USA. Yes, there were those who wanted to inject natural law (you know, the laws of nature and of nature's God), but if you read their writings you will see that they interpreted those laws of nature as being consistent with Scripture and defined by the Bible. They were not contrary to the Bible. And many others said that Scripture alone was sufficient. I'll just give you two quotes.

The first one is a sample from the state of Massachusetts. In 1802, Judge Nathaniel Freeman gave the following instructions to the members of the Grand Jury.

The laws of the Christian system, as embraced by The Bible, must be respected as of high authority in all our courts and it cannot be thought improper for the officers of such government to acknowledge their obligation to be governed by its rule.…

[Our government] originating in the voluntary compact of a people who in that very instrument profess the Christian religion, it may be considered, not as republic Rome was, a Pagan, but a Christian republic.¹⁸

And I will give one example from the Federal Government. In 1950 (five years before I was born) Harry S. Truman gave the following admonition at the Attorney General's Conference on Law Enforcement Problems in the Department of Justice Auditorium in Washington DC. And the organizations present included the Department of Justice, the National Association of Attorneys, the U.S. Conference of Lawyers, and the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers. Now, it is possible that some of them might have thought he was weird, but without shame, he boldly told these civic officers,

The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days.

If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State!¹⁹

Well, that's where we are right now, right? When you reject what James 1:25 calls "the perfect law of liberty," it's only a matter of time when the state will embrace tyranny. And President Harry Truman knew it.

It is helpful if civil officers make a public and visible sign that they will follow the Bible (v. 26b)

In any case, in order to maintain a memory of this event, Joshua established a monument. Verse 26 continues,

And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

The stone or monument was placed where God's people would regularly gather so that civic officers and citizens alike would know what they had committed themselves to. This too used to be done in early America. There are monuments testifying to the early commitments our Federal Government made to God and to the Bible in several places. Newt Gingrich points out that the National Monument in Washington, DC, had a covenantal ceremony when the cornerstone was laid, and inside the capstone was placed a Bible alongside of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They saw those three things as needing to be together. Without the Bible you will not have an objective knowledge of what the natural law written on the hearts of man even is. Other carved tribute blocks on the Washington Monument are inscriptions such as "Holiness to the Lord," "Search the Scriptures," "May Heaven to this union continue its beneficence," "In God We Trust," and "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it," and many other godly inscriptions.²⁰ Of course, there are a few engravings that aren't consistent - again showcasing why it has been difficult for America to maintain covenant succession. Like many of the good kings of Israel, we have always had some mixture of inconsistency. But we were a Christian nation.

The buildings of the Supreme Court are covered with reminders of where we have fallen from. One of the most striking images is Moses with the Ten Commandments - and with both tablets of the law in his hands. This imagery of Moses can be seen in several other places. Of course, in one of them you also see a carving of Confucius and Solon on either side of Moses, also illustrating how our nation has not been consistent in its claims to be a Christian nation.

We have testimonies to the commitments that our nation has broken on every piece of money we pull out of our wallets. Every piece of money testifies why we deserve judgment - not just for the theft of inflation, but also for the fact that the slogan on our money is a lie. It still says, "In God We Trust." All of these things testify against the way our states and federal government have broken covenant with God. But for a long time those monuments were reminders that civil officers could appeal to in order to remind the people that following God's laws is essential to survival of our country.

And that is what Joshua wanted to happen in Israel. He placed this testimony in a prominent place where no one could ignore it without it being a deliberate ignorance.

The conclusion of the covenant (vv. 27-28)

And then he tells them in verses 27-28

And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

We have countless such witnesses in our country that testify against not only the nation, but (more importantly) that testify against the Christians within the nation who continue to apologize for the Bible, and to be embarrassed by the Bible, and who refuse to bring the Bible into public discourse. Don't expect the nation to renew covenant with God when the church itself has rejected the laws of God. Don't expect Nebraska to have covenant succession when it is Christians who were embarrassed to bring God's Word to bear, or to uphold abolition of abortion (as God's law mandates), and instead opted for the Canaanite compromise - Initiative 434.

The words of this chapter are hard to accept in our day and age. But if we are to see our nation continue to prosper, it will not be enough to cut the deficit, trim government, or do away with the deep state. Sorry. Good as those things are, they are not adequate to patch the holes in a sinking ship. And I would say that most of those things are God's judgments anyway. This chapter is a call to repentance and to renewing of covenant with God. That’s what I am praying for. That may seem impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. And we need to place our faith on what God says is possible, not simply on what we think is possible. Let's at least be like Joshua and say that even if everyone else rejects God's covenant, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" Can you say "Amen"?