This is what the Lord God of Israel says, "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." (Joshua 24:2)  That had to be a jolt to all of the assembled that day--they had come so far.  They had survived the wilderness, fought battles, and were now enjoying the promised land, Canaan.  Joshua was old.  This was the beginning of his last speech to his beloved people.
     And the Lord continues to relate all that he has done.  How he has taken Abraham to Canaan, multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.  How he gave Isaac Jacob and Esau.  He gave Seir to Esau and Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.  How he sent Moses and Aaron and how he plagued Egypt and afterward how he brought the people out of Egypt.
     And the Lord continues:  I brought you out of Egypt and when you were pursued, I put darkness between you and the Egyptians and the Red sea came over them.  You've seen what I've done in Egypt and how you spent a long time in the wilderness.  You've seen how I handed the Amorites into your hand, how the king of Moab planned to curse you but I delivered you out of his hand.  And you went over Jordan and I handed you Jericho, the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites.  Also, how I drove out the two kings of the Amorites with the hornet. (Exodus 23:27,28)
 Now, the Lord tells them:  You are living in a land that you didn't work for, living in cities you didn't build and working vineyards and oliveyards that you didn't plant.  I have handed all this to you.
     These are all the things the Lord told Joshua to tell the Israelites now living in Canaan.  It's Joshua's turn to speak.  He says for them to put away the gods of their fathers.  The gods of their fathers!--some still carried around the gods of their fathers!  Some were still practicing the old ways of their ancestors.  They had either seen or heard all that had been done for them.  This is Joshua's last reckoning with the people.  This is the chapter with the most famous verse in the Bible:  choose you this day whom ye will serve. (Joshua 24:15)
     Pastor Josh went on to say that it wasn't enough to follow what others serve.  We, each of us, has to choose who we will serve.  And, we must make the choice daily.  His question was--How much of the devil are you willing to live with?  Just like him, one can't be a pastor for 21 years and then quit.  The 21 years would be meaningless.  They wouldn't matter--it's what you do today.  Today counts. 
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​"Jesus is a sinner's very best friend." said Pastor Josh.  The scribes and the Pharisees asked the question, "Why do you eat with publicans and sinners?" (Luke 5:30)  Jesus had just passed a publican named Levi and said to him, "Follow me."  Levi promptly got up and followed.  Levi is the Hebrew name for Matthew which is Greek.  Later Levi threw a party and invited a bunch of his buddies over and Jesus was there.  This didn't fit well with the scribes and Pharisees' idea of the Messiah.  Jesus went on to tell them that he wasn't here to call the righteous to repentance but the sinners.  So, it is true.  Jesus is the sinner's very best friend.
     We're all sinners.  Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"  Jesus has offered his friendship to everyone.  "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you...I have called you friends..." (John 15:13-15)  
     Jesus knows that he has to call us to him.  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..." (Revelation 3:20).  The sinners who hear the knock and open the door are the ones who become followers of Jesus.  From this point, the sinner's life is transformed and he is called to serve his great friend and Saviour.  "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."(John 14:23)
     What does Jesus command us to do?  Two things are given in John 15:  one, go and bring forth fruit; and, two, love one another.  Studying the Bible will help the Christian to follow the words of our Lord and Saviour.  
     Remember, we're in a race.  II Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:" but no one knows where they are in the race.  No one knows how long they have to finish it.  Because our friend was courageous, we are to be courageous.  Summon the courage to stand first for our Saviour.  (Joshua 23:6)
     Remember where we once were and where we are now.  We have much to be thankful for.  So be courageous and stand for the Truth.  Don't back up from the strength and power of God's Word. (Joshua 23:8)  Pastor Josh said that a friend of his told him to preach as though he were a dying man preaching to a dying world.
     Our faith cannot compromise with other religions.  God will fight for you when you love Him.  Be welded (cleave) to God.

​Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep...The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.(Psalm 121:4,8)  God protected Joshua and his Israelite army as they waged war on the Canaanites.  In Joshua 8 it is the people of Ai, an ancient Canaanite town.  Of course, before Ai, it was Jericho. (Joshua 6) 
    Turning back the pages of the Bible one discovers that God has been watching Canaan for some time.  Back during Abraham's time God said that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. (Genesis 15:16)  But it did become full.  They burned their children to honor their god, Molech (Leviticus 18:21), practiced sodomy and bestiality  (Leviticus 18:23,24), and defiled God's sanctuary and holy name (Leviticus 20:3).  They were so despicable that not only was God set against them but the land and people themselves were set against those who practiced such things. (Leviticus 18:27-30)  These people needed to be cut off--much like a doctor who removes a leg with gangrene to save the patient.
     Joshua had tried to whip Ai once before but he didn't get the job done.  It was because Israel had sin in their own camp.  When they conquered Jericho, all of the spoils of war were supposed to be destroyed.  But, of course, there's always one who sees something he just has to have.  Once he was discovered and the sin was destroyed, then Joshua devised another plan.
     This time (Joshua 8) part of the army lay in wait behind the town while the rest of the army approached Ai.  When the king saw them coming, his army marched out of the city and attacked the coming Israelites who turned tail and ran.  As soon as the Amorites (the people of Ai) were in the open the rest of the army attacked them from behind.  God was with them and victory belonged to the Israelites.
     This isn't the end of the story.  There's more.  The citizens of Gibeon, a nearby town, had heard that all the land was to belong to the Israelites and the inhabitants were to be destroyed.  They posed as poor distant wayfarers and talked Joshua and the leaders into giving them a treaty that they wouldn't be attacked.  Joshua and the leaders gave their oath.
     Gibeon was an important city to the Amorites.  The kings of five other Amorite cities banded together to attack Gibeon.  When they, the Gibeonites, heard what was going to happen, Gibeon called on Joshua to help them.  Joshua did because of the treaty and it's clear how the rest of the story goes--the kings were conquered, and the cities to the south were conquered.  It's all in Joshua 10.  Also, the day the sun and moon stood still are recorded in this chapter.
     Preacher, do you think things like that still happen today?  Does iniquity still abound today as it did in the days of old?  Does God still fight for his people?  "And except those days should be shortened, there should be no flesh saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Matthew 24:22)  "Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep...The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.(Psalm 121:4,8)