The Weekly Pulpit Joshua 24:19-28 And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God… I. SOME OF THEIR DIFFICULTY WOULD BE FOUND ON THE SIDE OF GOD. "He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins" so as to fail to punish them. "He will turn, and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good." 1. If Jehovah is to be served at all, He must be served alone. There can be no possible rivalry between Him and any other claimants to be gods. We may think of three things that are ever pressing in our day to be gods with God — the luxury of wealth; self-seeking pleasure; mere mind knowledge. 2. If God is served at all He must be served in righteousness. God will search through and through every form of service offered to Him, and it must be sincere, it must be "clean every whit," or it cannot be acceptable to Him. The service of a holy God must be the service of intention and resolve, not of mere accident. It should be thought about, resolved upon, prayed about, made the most earnest thing in the whole life. II. SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES WERE FOUND ON THE SIDE OF ISRAEL. "Ye cannot." "Ye are too frail. Ye are too much exposed to the power of temptation. Ye have too serious inclinations to evil. You do not know yourselves, or you would not promise too readily. You do not fully estimate the influences of the past, or you would fear for your future." They who know themselves learn to pray, "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall have respect unto Thy commandments." (The Weekly Pulpit.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. |
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