The point at which this sermon begins is with a reminder of what God had already done for the people in the past. Now that’s the pattern Joshua had used earlier in chapters 22 and 23. But here in chapter 24 we have the lengthiest rehearsal of all these great works of God on behalf of the people in past days. Joshua goes all the way back to Abraham, the father of the people, and even beyond Abraham, to Abraham’s father, Terah, and his grandfather, Nahor, when in those far distant days they worshipped other gods.

A number of years ago, when the Committee on Biblical Exposition was first getting underway, the organizers had a meeting at which they attempted to define what they meant by “expository preaching.”  It wasn't such an easy thing to do. I was present for those discussions, and I can assure you it took a great deal of time as we began to wrestle together with the elements that we thought had to be present if preaching was to be what God really intended it to be. Expository preaching obviously involves a clear teaching of what the text of Scripture has to say. That in itself is difficult, but that’s not all of what’s involved. Such clear teaching has to be done in terms of the culture. It’s not enough just to say what a passage of Scripture must have meant in its own day; we have to see what it means for us today. And the first step is prior to the second.

Well, we come to the last part of Joshua’s charge, and it’s in the form of a challenge. He challenges them not to drift along, but rather to make a choice for God. Perhaps it's not as clear here at the end of chapter 23 as it’s going to become in chapter 24, where the very word, "choose" occurs: "Choose you this day whom you will serve," says Joshua. But that’s still the idea here in chapter 23.

Yesterday we looked at the first obligation in response to God’s past actions. The second obligation of the people is in verse 11, where Joshua says, "So be very careful to love the Lord your God." That hasn’t been emphasized much until now. The need for obedience has been there all along; but now Joshua is stressing, as he talks to them, that they really must love God. The clue to interpreting what Joshua means here in chapter 23 is the way he talks about love in chapter 22. It's interesting that each of these chapters throws light on the other. 

The second part of Joshua’s address is that on the basis of what God has done, you have present obligations. There are a couple of them. One obligation is the obligation of obedience. It's what he talks about in verses 6 to 8: “Be very strong. Be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. Do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God as you have until now.”