Joshua 24:14-15, 19-22
The Five Greatest
This is one of the great passages of the Bible for it sets before us
the important two choices of life \\#14-15\\. At this point, Israel
made the correct choice but it will not be long until they change
their choice.
\\#19\\ Not only so, but Joshua also pointed out the difficulty in
trying to serve God. It is not impossible but it is almost
impossible! Why? Because to serve God requires complete and permanent
submission. To follow God has never been a part-time duty. It
requires laying it all on the line.
\\#20\\ And Joshua went even further to tell the people what would
happen if they did not choose God. He would do them HURT.
It is my belief that American has made the wrong choice. I believe
America has chosen other gods and turned away from the Jehovah of
the Bible.
1. I do not come to this conclusion based on a single action
America has done but based on a trend of actions that America
has been making over a long period of time.
2. All of this relates to nations but for a nation to turn from
God, its people must also be turning from God. We are some
of those people.
This morning, as I have time, let me ask and answer five questions
about America.
I. What is America’s greatest sin?
A. There are many sins that America has committed.
1. We have removed God’s commandments out of our schools and
government buildings.
2. We have removed prayer from most every public venue.
3. Even inside many of our church, we have ceased to teach
concerning sin, righteousness, and salvation.
4. Our people are addicted to sex, drugs, alcohol, work,
hobbies, and entertainment—and much if not most of our
entertainment is blasphemous and anti-God.
5. We slay the unborn and make our weak in morals, mind, and
body servants to the government and slaves to the flesh.
6. We have rewritten the laws of nature and marriage.
7. The sacred has been reduced to the silly and the silly has
been exalted to the sacred. Right has been declared
wrong and wrong has been declared right. Light is
treated as the darkness and the darkness is treated as
light.
8. For each one of these sins and for many others, American
should bow our heads in shame, but I do not think any of
these are our greatest sin.
B. I believe that the greatest sin America has committed is that
we refused to glorify God.
1. It is interesting that glory is used in some form or
another almost 500 times in the Bible, but many of us
have very little idea what it is.
a. The most obvious answer is that glory is the radiance,
the glow, that comes off of God’s person.
(1) That is, God gives off a light that is called His
glory.
(2) However, God’s glory is not JUST a radiance.
b. God’s glory is an outward manifestation of God’s
goodness and worth.
(1) That means—if you could see God—you could see
God’s goodness and worth as it radiates off of
Him.
(2) So God’s glory is not just a glow. It is who God
is.
(3) One cannot separate God from His glory. God is
glorious because He is good and worthy.
c. By the way, I don’t think God is brighter on some days
and dimmer on others.
(1) Why? God’s glory does not vary because God’s
goodness and worthy do no vary.
(2) God is always good and always worthy so His glory
is always so very bright.
(3) In fact, it may be that the reason \\#Ex 33:20\\
tells us that no man can live is because God’s
glory is so bright that human flesh cannot look
upon it.
2. God is very jealous for His glory.
Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my
glory will I not give to another, neither my
praise to graven images.
a. And while God has not "given" is glory to anyone, God
does put it on display.
b. God has created a circuit if you please for His glory
to be seen,
(1) God’s glory runs through His creation, all of the
world and through every living thing.
(2) And as with every circuit, a circle is formed and
that which is running through the circle is
supposed to return to its origin.
(3) So you and I are part of a big circle and we are
to be giving God the glory that He has allowed
to pass through us.
c. Woe to the person that attempts to redirect or steal
God’s glory!
(1) Whenever a person or nation attempts to keep or
glorify something or someone other than God,
God gets very upset.
(2) That is why God hates…
(a) idol worship,
(b) false worship, or even
(c) no worship.
(3) Those who do so are not giving God the glory that
is rightfully His.
(4) God call this blasphemy and America is guilty of
great blasphemy!
(5) We are allowing false religions, wrong religions,
and no religions to take God’s glory.
3. By the way, there are other ways of stealing God’s glory.
a. Denying God’s existence
b. Saying things about God which are not true
c. Attributing God’s goodness to another
d. Ignoring God’s goodness
e. Even saying God’s name in an unflattering way
4. As America become more bold to blaspheme God’s name and
person, we steal more of His glory.
a. This is the greatest of all sins.
b. God will not allow it to continue forever.
II. What is the greatest effect of America’s sin against God?
A. Again, there are many effects.
1. The things that God placed into this world to bring Him
glory are failing.
2. Everything God created, He created it to display His
glory.
3. As the glory passing through them diminishes, they are
less able to do what God put them there to do.
B. For example, the church is failing.
1. The church was placed on this earth to glorify God, but as
we cease to do that, our effectiveness, our abilities,
our power diminishes.
2. The church today is too worldly, too prayerless, too
Wordless to glorify God.
3. I am throwing any stones at you that do not also hit me.
4. American Christians today are more worldly than lost
folk were 50 years ago.
(a) You would not have caught the unsaved of 50 years ago
dressing like some of the Christians of today.
(b) This is true of our entertainment, our vocabulary,
our dating habits, our voting record, our work
ethic, and more.
(c) You can say things like, "They just didn’t know any
better" if you want, but the truth is that they had
more power with God in those days than we have
today!
(d) People are quick to say, "God doesn’t care about
those kinds of things" when ALL of the evidence says
He did and He does.
5. But it is not just our living habits. It is our spiritual
habits as well.
(a) Do we devote more of our time to the world or to
Jesus?
(b) Take a test. To be fair, eliminate the time that you
spent at work or school and then figure up how much
time this week you spent in worship verses how much
time you spent in the world. Add church, prayer,
Bible reading, meditation on the things of God,
witnessing—even add the time you spend doing
physical labor for God. Is it even 10% of the time
you spent living and enjoying the world?
C. Other things are failing as well.
1. Peace and goodness are failing.
(a) The amount of peace and goodness we have on the earth
are directly related to the glory this world is
channeling back to God.
(b) America has lost its peace and goodness.
(c) Do you have any idea how many mass shootings America
has had in 2016?
(1) As of April 1st, there have been 86 mass
shootings in 91 days.
(2) There have been 292 wounded and 124 killed.
https://massshootingtracker.org/data
2. Health is failing.
(a) Every year there are new diseases.
(b) We ask, "It is immunizations? our diet?"
(c) It may just be that we have chosen the wrong god!
III. What is America’s greatest loss?
A. Discernment - The ability to sense truth.
B. Discernment has two levels, the secular and the spiritual.
C. In the secular world, we call discernment understanding.
1. People today lack the ability to connect the dots between
cause and effect.
2. People don’t see debt as a danger not only to our personal
finances but to national existence.
3. People do not see sex as God’s reward to marriage but
rather has a recreation.
4. People do not see self control and respect as a virtue
but rather as a weakness.
5. People do not see the anarchy they are creating is one
that will engulf them as well. (Man cannot rule himself
without authority over him for he will always do what is
right in his own eyes.)
6. America has chosen the wrong god and because of it,
America is headed for a great fall.
D. In the spiritual world, we call it discernment.
1. Christians today lack the ability to discern their
spiritual enemy from their spiritual Ally.
2. Friend, God is not our enemy. God is our Ally.
IV. What is America’s greatest—and only—remedy?
A. Repentance
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
B. Repentance is a process. It has stages to it. These stages
can occur in a short time span or be spread out over a long
time period.
1. Recognize - See the problem.
2. Responsibility - Take yours.
a. As a created being, you are responsibility for giving
God all of the glory you can.
b. That is in the way you talk, worship, dress, and
live.
c. And even if you are going those mostly correct, you
can pray in such a way as to influence the world for
Christ.
(1) Prayer is a tug-of-war where the world and the
devil are pushing God out of the world and you
are pulling Him into it.
(2) We must pray as though our very existence
depends upon it!
3. Remorse
a. Remorse is sorrow.
b. We must be smitten with grief at our sins, especially
the sin of stealing God’s glory.
c. This remorse must run deep enough to ache our soul
into making some changes in the way we live.
4. Release
a. We must release our grip on this world.
b. We are holding on to the very things that Jesus died
to free us from—this generation of Americans perhaps
more than any other!
(1) What part of this world have we turned away from?
(2) What have you given up for Jesus? List them.
(3) And don’t bother listing the things you would
give up if you had to. Just list the things
that you have given up so that you can have a
closer walk with God.
(4) Then start a list of the things that you should.
5. Return
a. Return to God.
b. Return to the Bible—read it.
c. Return to prayer - talk to God but then start working
to pull Him into this world.
d. Return to holiness. Separate yourself from the world
and dedicate yourself to God.
V. What is the greatest assurance we have?
A. The greatest assurance is that God loves us.
B. Because God loves us, He will forgive us.
C. Because God loves us, He will use us.
D. Because God loves us, He will help us.
E. We put have to chose Him.
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve…
but as for me and my house, we will serve the
LORD.
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